========================================================================
  PURE RELIGION
  by Eli Brayley
========================================================================

Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of caring for the poor and
vulnerable, and warns that neglecting them can lead to unanswered
prayers and a lack of intimacy with God.

Topics: "Social Justice", "Compassionate Living"
Scripture References: Proverbs 21:13, Amos 5:24, Matthew 25:40, James 1:27

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eli Brayley preaches on the importance of not shutting our ears to the
cry of the poor, emphasizing the need for compassion and care for the
less privileged. He reflects on the convicting truth that neglecting the
poor can hinder our prayers from being answered and render our faith
ineffective. The sermon challenges Christians to examine their hearts
and actions, urging them to keep themselves unstained from the world and
to show love and kindness to those in need, as if they were serving
Christ Himself.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and
not be answered." - Proverbs 21:13

One night in prayer, the Lord pressed upon me this Scripture, which
rather shook me at the time. I have never 'shut my ear' to the poor and
have often been filled with compassion for them and done this deed here
or there on their behalf, but, as the Lord Jesus so often does, He
revealed to me my neglect in the caring of those less priviledged, my
unmoved heart and my terrible poverty in my religion (James 1:27). I
immediately came under conviction of not doing more than I was able.

There is an awful promise to be considered in this passage. Do we wonder
why so many of our prayers remain unanswered and our praying rendered so
ineffective? Could it be that we neglect the poor and continue to lavish
ourselves in North American normality? The latter part of James 1:27
reads: "...to keep oneself unstained from the world." In it's context,
this accurately defines our sickly condition.

Be pricked to the heart, Christian! "For as much you do to the least of
these brethren, you do to Me." (Matthew 25:40) Am I moved for Christ's
sake?

Dear Lord, help me to love others as I love myself.

Let me not live selfishly by filling up on wealth.

May I see You, Jesus, in every soul I see,

May I always remember You hanging on the tree.

========================================================================
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/eli-brayley/pure-religion/
========================================================================