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by the crimes laid against them. We thank you, heavenly father for this wonderful church to your God, for dear brothers and sisters, we ask that you please bless our pastor tonight as he preaches your word in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. Okay. We're continuing tonight with the book of acts and we are in chapter 25. Now let me do just a little bit of review from chapter 24. Of course, we're still involved in Paul's predicament here, and this is what we're seeing over these last couple of chapters that he made a decision to go back to Jerusalem, which is just a bad choice to make, and he's really suffering the consequences of his actions because of the fact that now he's being persecuted heavily and really he's being hindered from the work of God to a certain extent. Now, uh, we see that he was put to trial and the high priest basically hires a lawyer to prosecute him falsely and just bring up these railing accusations against him that are obviously false. He is permitted to make his case and just begins to explain his beliefs. And what he believes and really the leaders, the higher powers begin to see this guy's not worthy of death. He's not doing anything wrong. He's just, he believes differently than these Jews is what it is. And so as they examine, you know, what his beliefs are and the actions that he's taken, they're starting to see this guy's not a bad guy, you know, he just a preacher. He affirms that Jesus Christ has risen from the, from the dead and that's who he's preaching. And so, you know, they're kind of confounded over what to do with him because they want to please the Jews. They want to please the Jews. They want to placate the mob and therefore, you know, they're, they're kind of not releasing them as of yet. And we see that the mob, they're making a considerable effort to put them to death. They still want to kill him. Now keep in mind that right here in chapter 25, we're actually at a point in Paul's life where this actually has taken place. I mean, two years have gone by since the time that he was rescued by Claudius. If you remember a couple of chapters back, he was rescued from Claudius with the military escort since then. And then he's in prison. He's been here for two years, so he's been imprisoned for two whole years. Now, you know, when you read the Bible, two whole years can happen within a chapter within a couple of verses. So you kind of breeze over there and like, okay, he's been there for two years, but two years is a very long time. Okay. To be in prison. And so, uh, what is the, what is the, the lesson that we can learn there? Well, you know, bad decisions can cost you time. And what we see here is that, you know, obviously this wasn't God's original plan for the apostle Paul. This is not what he wanted for his life. And obviously it became acceptable because Paul still loved the Lord. He had the, he had good intentions, so to speak, and he loved the Lord. He loved his brethren. According to the flesh, he wanted to see people saved. He wasn't necessarily trying to do his own thing. He just, his motives were just wrong. Okay. His actions were wrong and look, God sent preachers, sent people to warn him and say, Hey, you're going to be persecuted. You're going to be hindered. Don't go. And in spite of all those warnings, he still decided to do it anyways. And now he's paying the consequences because of it. Now, I believe he's winning people to Christ because throughout the other epistles, we see that he wins people in his bonds. So we still getting people saved. He's still in God's will, but you know what? It's like the acceptable will is what it is. Okay. And the lesson to learn there is that, you know what? Yes. All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. But the reality is, is that sometimes we can make decisions that will hinder us from receiving certain blessings immediately. It'll prolong those blessings a little further down the road, or maybe God has to basically reroute his original plan for you. And it'll take longer for you to accomplish the work of God. Look, in these two years, he could have started more churches. He could already been in Rome. He could have won more people to Christ, but obviously that's not the case. He made a bad decision. And now two years in a sense have, have been wasted, so to speak, you know, dealing with this Jewish mob, dealing with, you know, the leaders and being in prison and going in and out and in and out. Cause they're examining him. I mean, how many times do they have to examine the apostle Paul? Right. I mean, he's been there for two years. Every time they bring him out, he just tells them what he believes. And they're just like, all right, go back in. You know, it's just like, what should we do with them? I don't know what to do with them. I guess we'll just move them somewhere else. And then they bring them back out again. And he's just like, all right, you're good. Go back in. And it's just like, it's like a waste of time. So the lesson that we can learn there is, Hey, don't waste your time doing your own thing. Serve God, seek the wisdom of God, seek the wisdom of Godly leaders. So you make the right decisions and you're not wasting your life. Okay. You know, where you can really operate at max capacity, you know, you can, you can serve the Lord and win as many people to Christ as you possibly can and not be hindered from the work of God because of a bad decision that you make. And really a lesson that we can learn there is don't make hasty decisions, right? You know, don't say, well, you know, I just need to do this right now because this is what I feel like I need to do. You know, just sleep on it, pray about it, ask God for wisdom, ask for Godly counsel, et cetera. So this is where we find ourselves. And really chapter 25, not a whole lot is happening in 25, just a lot of the same thing. It's him going before magistrates. And we see the, uh, the introduction of Festus. We see the introduction of King Agrippa and Bernice, and, uh, they're basically examining him and he's telling them the same thing that he told Felix a chapter before. So let's start in chapter 24 and verse 24 and segue into chapter 25, it says in verse 24. And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife, Jerusalem, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. Now, some people will say, yeah, but pastor, I mean, like he got to witness to like these governors though. He got to preach the government, the gospel to governors and to Kings. Yeah, but he didn't win them though. So what would you rather do, preach the gospel to like the mayor, to the governor or preach the gospel to who's not receptive, especially Newsome, you know, I mean, good night. You know, I think I would have a better chance preaching the gospel to some worldly person in Hollywood than preaching it to governor Newsome. Well, what would you rather do, preach the gospel to like the mayor, the governor or preach the gospel to the common people, which will hear you gladly. So, yeah, yeah. He was given a platform to preach the gospel to these magistrates and these important people, but he didn't even win them. It makes for a good story. You know, I know the Fox News Baptist love these passages of scripture when they want to do their American hero Sunday and invite, you know, the mayor and the governor and all these people to their church so they can say that they came to their church, but they're not being won to Christ. Okay. As far as I know, I've been to many, I've attended many American hero Sundays, so I know what I'm talking about. And not a single magistrate ever got saved. So just throw that in there. So we see there, look at verse 26. He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul. He might lose him, wherefore he sent for him the oftener and communed with him. So basically Felix is like, come out. So, you know, I'm giving you, I'm trying to give you a hint here. You can give me a bribe and then, you know, I can release you and you can, you can go about your way. But Paul is obviously a man of integrity and it might be that he's broke too, but it could, but I don't, you know, there's, I'm sure there's people who are willing to pay his bail or whatever, pay his bride. So, but he's a man of integrity. He's like, I'm not going to pay my way out of here. You know, that's not right. Verse 27, but after two years, Portia's Festus came into Felix's room and Felix willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound. So what do we see here? We see that, uh, another individual has taken this, this person's office and Felix is like, you know what, I want to placate the Jews. I want to placate the mob here. So I'm just going to leave Paul bound. I'm not going to put him to death. I'm not going to kill him because he's not a bad guy, but I'm just going to go ahead and leave him bound. Verse one of chapter 25. Now when Festus was coming to the province, after three days, he ascended from Caesarea to Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem in respect to Caesarea is actually south of Caesarea, but in regards to elevation, it's a lot higher. Okay. So he is ascending from Caesarea to Jerusalem. That would make sense because of the fact it's a higher elevation. It's more mountainous, so to speak. And therefore he is ascending from Caesarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul and besought him and desired favor against him that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying weight in the way to kill him. Now, obviously he didn't admit that to Festus. He said, Hey, can you bring Paul over here? Because we've been trying to kill him for these last two years. It's just not working out. This is obviously the Holy Ghost allowing this to be penned for us to know what their motive is in bringing Paul back to Jerusalem. So they've obviously failed with Felix. So what the high priest Ananias is doing is he's going to the new governor and saying, Hey, can you do us a favor? There's a guy over there in Caesarea. He needs to be here in Jerusalem. He's a criminal. You know, can you bring him over here? Verse three, let's read it again, desired favor against him that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying weight to kill him. So look at verse four, but Festus answered that Paul should be kept in Caesarea and that he himself would depart shortly thither. So he's just like, no, why wouldn't we bring him over here? He's locked up over there. He's just going to stay there. Let them therefore, said he, which among you are able, go down with me and accuse this man if there be any wickedness in him. So he's just, you know, he's not a respecter of people, so to speak at this point, because what is he saying? Look, we'll keep him there. There's no reason to bring this guy all the way over here to Jerusalem, escort him all the way over here when he's already in prison there. Why don't we just do this? Get all your able men, the guys who are accusing him, the guys who supposedly have all this evidence against him. And then you can come down to Caesarea and accuse him there. And then we'll basically do due process is what he's talking about. Okay, he wants him to see his accusers. In fact, skip down to verse 16 verse 16 says to whom I answered, is it not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face? That's referred to as that's known as due process, right? The sixth amendment that tells us that criminals have the right to know their accusers and the nature of the charges and evidence against them. So he's just like, hey, you got to make if you really want to do this justly, if you guys are really have the right motive about this, then what you're supposed to do is come with me so that Paul can see you to the face. As you're accusing him, let him see who his accusers are. So it's not just some random person who's just calling in this crime or whatever, and they don't know who he is. Okay, because obviously they can just make stuff up, which is exactly what they're doing. They're making that up. Go up to verse six. And when he had tarried among them more than 10 days, he went down unto Caesarea and the next day sitting on the judgment seat commanded Paul to be brought. So Paul is making a stir. He's getting the attention of a lot of people, including the magistrates. And so, you know, Festus is like, you know, bring this guy up here. I want to talk to him. Who's this guy who's just making all this ruckus? Is this guy really as bad as people say? I mean, there's a bunch of people who want him in Jerusalem. We know that he's a Roman, but he's a Jew. What's going on with him? Verse seven. And when he was come, the Jews, which came down from Jerusalem, stood around about and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove. Funny. You get this. You get like 10 people. Let's say there's 20 people here. You have 20 people who are there to complain about Paul, but not one of them can prove what they're saying. Not one of them can prove the accusation that they're bringing forth. It's just like, well, where's the proof? Well, we don't have it. We don't have the proof. Now, look, it's not that they couldn't prove it because of the fact that Paul like buried his YouTube channel or something. Right? It's not like Paul when he just deleted all his videos and hit his stuff and got rid of his channel. That's not the case. It's just that there's just no evidence. And look, Paul even said, everyone heard me. Everyone's listening to my preaching. You could ask the Jews, you could ask the disciples, you could ask the churches. My ministry is very open. He's not like, well, hey, go hide that scroll. Please go erase that scroll before anybody finds it about all the stuff I said about the Jews. You know, is that what he's saying? He's like, it's open. But here's the thing. They have all these grievous complaints about Paul, but no proof whatsoever. So what are they probably saying about it? They're probably just lying is what they're doing. Now, hold your place there. Go to Mark chapter 14. Mark 14. Let me read to you from Exodus 23 verse 1. It says thou shall not raise a false report. Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil. Neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment. Neither shall thou countenance a poor man in his cause. So what is the Bible telling us? It doesn't matter how many people you've rallied to your so-called cause against one individual. If it's wrong, it's wrong. And you would think if you have 20, 40, 50 people who are all accusing this individual, you would think at least one of them would have some evidence. You know, if you had a church of 50 people, a hundred people, they claim that their pastor is not teaching false doctrine. You would think that they have some sort of proof about that other than, oh, you guys are just being, you guys are just, you guys just don't believe the Bible. So tell me what part of the Bible I don't believe because my ministry is open. My channel is open. My doors are open. Not to reference, but it's open to anybody to come and see what we do here. Don't want to get ahead of myself here. But the Bible says don't follow a multitude to do evil. So guess what? The majority is not always right. In fact, the majority sometimes is wrong. And we have a multitude of Jews here seeking to persecute Paul and accuse Paul and not a single one of them has any shred of evidence against him to validate that what they're saying is true. Look at Mark 14 verse 55. It says the chief priest and all the council sought for witness against Jesus. That's interesting. We had a chief priest in the book of Acts. We have a chief priest here to put him to death. So they're looking for a witness against Jesus to put him to death. And what happens? They found none. They have all these people that are trying to accuse Jesus and they're bringing up false witnesses and they just can't find any. Verse 56, for many bear false witness against them, but their witness agreed not together. Here's what's funny when it comes to these individuals who are just a bunch of liars. When they both lie, they never agree with one another. They always contradict one another. Like Manly Perry, right? Saying that Jesus didn't burn in hell and then you have his church members preaching that Jesus burned in hell when they're out sowing him. Right? You know, how about he's saying that Jesus didn't burn in hell and then you rewind to a couple of years back when he's preaching and he's preaching that Jesus went to hell. It's like, hello? Your witness doesn't agree together Manly Perry when you're saying that this is the most blasphemous teaching you've ever heard in your life. But yeah, you were preaching this a couple of years ago. I've never heard a Baptist preacher ever say such a blasphemous statement. Yeah, he's the one preaching that. What in the world? Your witness doesn't agree. You know, when people lie, how many have ever met a chronic liar? When they lie so much, it's like they have a hard time keeping track of their lies. I personally knew a chronic liar and it was just like they could not keep up with all of their tales. I remember one time, this person who I knew, I was working at a restaurant and I was gone for about three days or something like that. I was sick or something and then I was driving down the freeway down 710 freeway and one of my coworkers, a girl, one of my coworkers was driving and I see her and I'm like, hey, what's up? You know? And she's like, what are you doing here? And I'm like, what do you mean? She's like, so-and-so told me you're in Brazil. I'm like, what? They're like, oh, and they're like really mad. So I went to that person. I was like, did you tell this person that was in Brazil? And he was like, yeah. I'm like, well, I just saw them on the freeway. He's like, you didn't tell them. Oh, you should have went along with it. I'm like, why? I wasn't in Brazil. I haven't even left California. I'm still, you know, I think at that time I was living in Paramount. I was like, we're still in Paramount. But he had told this lie to this individual and I guess he forgot to tell me about it or whatever or forgot that he told her that lie. But that's the thing, when you lie, it's a lot of work, isn't it? Because you have to keep like building upon your lies to make sure no one finds out. Folks, when you tell the truth, it's just super easy. You don't have to keep track of the truth. You just keep preaching the truth. You keep speaking the truth. You don't have to worry about anything. But when you're telling lies, then your witness doesn't agree together. You look like an idiot. I've never heard about the preacher, ever preached or anything like this. And then they post the video of him preaching that. And you know, this is what Manly Prayer does. He prays in the comment section. Oh, Lord, forgive me for preaching this damn boy heresy and being deceived by the... Like, is the computer your God or something or what? Is the computer a confessional booth or something? Folks, what in the world is that? And this is who Bob Gray wants as a friend? A dude who types out his prayer of confession on a YouTube channel? We're not talking about they're just speaking it. He's typing it. You wonder how many times he backspaces like, oh, I got to make it more humble. God made this more humble. I got to make this more genuine. Honey, what do you think about this? Does this sound real or what? She's like, you might want to take out the part where you say you fast twice in a week or something, you know? Just kidding. I'm kidding about that part. Verse 57, and there arose certain and bare false witness against him, saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands. And within three days, I will build another made without hands. Now, this is the only thing that people can do, right? Is take something that we literally said, okay? And just completely take it out of context. Because that's what they did with Jesus. But he was referring to his body, okay? Verse 59, but neither so did their witness agree together. But here's the thing. This is what I like what Jesus did. This is what we should do. Like, yeah, I said that. Yep. Did you say, you know, you hate people and all? Yeah, I've said that. Instead of kowtowing and just bowing down, capitulating, like, well, no, yes, no, but yes, but no, but yes, but no. Just like, yeah, I said it. Or just don't say anything at all. Jesus was just like, as the sheep before shearers is dumb, he opened out his mouth, the Bible says. Neither did so their witness agree together. The high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, answer is thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked them and said unto him, art thou the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power coming in the clouds of heaven. He's like, you'll see it. Go back to or hold your place there. So what do we see here? We see that in order for wicked people to wage war against us, they have to lie. They have to lie and come up with these, you know, just complete made up stories, things that they cannot prove. And it's foolish. Okay. Now people complain about us, but, you know, their accusations are unfounded and they have zero evidence for a lot of the things that they say. You know, oh, you guys are false teachers. Show me the false doctrine. You know, you guys are wicked. Show me the criminal activity. Oh, you say, well, show me where I'm double-tongued. Show me. And look, this is the only thing that they can come up with because they can't, they can't accuse anything about our doctrine because they know we prove it from the Bible. And every time we preach something and someone comments and says, this guy's out to lunch. He doesn't know what he's talking about. It's like zero versus. So show me where I'm wrong. Right. And this is the only thing that they can come up with. Well, they just have a bad spirit. They're wrong because they just have an icky bad spirit. They just have a bad spirit is what they say, right? You can turn that off by the way for the mark. Let me read you, cause I'm not done with this. Let me read you Bob Gray's statement that he made. Cause you know, Bob Gray Jr., he went on a podcast with Manley Perry and they went on this campaign. The podcast was like literally about me. That's that. That was like the purpose behind the podcast. Okay. And you know, Manley Perry is just like buttering him up with flattery and go listen to yourselves. That's exactly how it sounds. Any individual who's heard it, they're just like, oh man, this guy's just flattering Bob Gray Jr. And obviously because Bob Gray Jr. is not educated when it comes to false prophets, he just doesn't see it. He can't identify flattery. He doesn't know how to identify false prophets to his detriment, unfortunately. Okay. But you know, Bob Gray wanted to go on this podcast because he has certain opinions about the new IFB and about yours truly. Which by the way, he knew I was part of the new IFB from long ago. When I first talked to him, he knew I was part of the new IFB because I specifically told him, hey, the new IFB, which you know that I'm a part of, you know, they're reading this statement that Manley Perry put out there. And a lot of these people respect you. Do you want me to clear your name before them? He said, absolutely. He said, absolutely. But now he's just backpedaling. And look, if you listen to the video that I made and the statements that he made on that podcast, it's basically the same thing. He didn't take anything back. The only thing he's doing is, this is how he answers Manley Perry. Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. It's very vague. But he wanted to go on record to say this. So this is something that he wants people to know. He said, I quote, I would go on record to say this, the new IFB has an attitude problem. And they are contentious by nature. And usually that falls with people that are mid-trip, post-trip, pre-wrath. By the way, what's Manley Perry doing this time? Cricket. Cricket. So does that apply to him too? Because isn't he post-trip? Because they truly, listen to this, the statement is truly telling, folks. He said, that falls with people that are mid-trip, post-trip, pre-wrath, because they truly believe that they're going to have to contend and fight to the very end. Now, look, when it comes to end times Bible prophecy, it doesn't matter whether you're pre-trip or post-trip, don't we all believe that we're supposed to fight until the end? Regardless of when you think that end is. Right? So even if you're pre-trip, don't you have the integrity and the desire to say, I need to fight in the Christian life to the very end. Now, maybe what he meant was they believe they have to endure until the end, you know, because they believe they're going to go to tribulation, but that's not what he said. He said they're contentious because they literally believe that they have to contend and fight until the end. Now, what does that tell us? Well, by his own admission, he's saying that he's no longer fighting by his own admission. By Bob Gray's own admission, he's saying, look, they think they have to fight and contend to the bitter end. What he's saying is, I'm not fighting to the very end. I'm done fighting. And again, regardless of what your view is on end times Bible prophecy, even if you think that it's a pre-tribulation rapture, the end is referring to the coming of Christ. When we talk about the end for us as Christians, we think of the second coming of Christ. That's the end for us. That's when we finish our work. That's when we go to heaven, we receive our resurrected bodies. That is the end for us, for anybody, as long as you're not a preterist. So he's basically saying you shouldn't contend and fight until the second coming of Christ. What in the world? Now I'm going to address that statement a little later. Go to 1 Samuel 11. 1 Samuel 11. Let's address this whole thing about having a bad spirit. Haven't you heard that? You guys have a bad spirit. You guys are so mean, not nice, bad spirit. It's like, well, are we in the fifth grade here or what? Now look, folks, you know, I hope they're not referring to the Holy Spirit that dwells within me. I hope they're not calling him an unclean spirit. And then you got yourself a problem. Okay. But look, when the Bible says, or when someone says that we have a bad spirit, well, let's look at the Bible to identify what this really means. Because what they're saying is, well, because you call out people, false prophets, you preach against doctrines, false doctrines, you call people out, you call churches out, you're always fighting. Therefore, you have a bad spirit. But hold on a second. We have examples of people in the Bible who were filled with the spirit who did those things. Would we say that that person has a bad spirit? Look at verse number one of First Samuel chapter 11, it says, then Naash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said unto Naash, make a covenant with us and we will serve thee. And Naash the Ammonite answered them, on this condition, when I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes and lay it for reproach upon all Israel. And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, give us seven days respite that we may send messengers unto all the coast of Israel. And then if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee. Then came the messengers to Gibi of Saul and told the tidings in the ear of the people and all the people lifted up their voices and wept. So a bit of a background story. What we have here, Saul is the king of Israel and we have these foreigners coming in threatening one of these tribes here. They come and they basically say they're going to pluck our eyeballs out if we don't capitulate to what they want. Verse five, and behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field and Saul said, what aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh and the spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings. And he said, let's just do it. Let's just surrender, guys. They need grace. They don't know any better. They've been serving false gods their whole life. And that poor king probably was abused as a child. He has a complex about his eyes and therefore he wants to pluck everyone else's eyes out. Let's make an affinity with them. And look, folks, nothing in the Bible is accidental. The Bible says here that the spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings and his anger was kindled greatly. What does that mean? He's pissed off. Oops, did I cuss? That's another thing about the new, I mean, you guys cuss behind the pulpit. He's mad. He's angry. And guess who's the one who facilitated that anger, who helped him to get angry? It was the spirit of God. But you know, that's foreign. To a lot of Christians today, is it not? They think, well, the spirit is just some effeminate Casper-like ghost that wants us to just have peace with everyone. Folks, the spirit of God gets angry as well. He's not some, this is not Star Wars. It's not The Force. This is the Holy Ghost who is grieved. He can be quenched and he can be angered. And you know what happened when he heard those glad tidings? God put his spirit upon Saul, and he was greatly angry. I mean, it says his anger was kindled greatly. Picture of fire. So what did he do after that? He's like, No, he took a yoga voxen and hewed them in pieces. He's like, Bring that yoga voxen. My yoga voxen? Yeah, your yoga voxen. What does it mean to hew them in pieces? You just cut them up. This is a bad spirit. No, it's God's spirit. And sent them throughout all the coast of Israel by the hands of messengers saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done into his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people and they came out with one consent. Yeah, you better believe it. They're like, You had me at hello. Where's the enemy? I'll take him out right now, King Saul. Look, this is all when the spirit of God was on him. It's like basically like the president. Let's say the president of the United States, okay? He comes out and he hears that like people are approaching the name of God and they're threatening our land and they're mocking Jesus Christ. Let's say we had a righteous president and he just gets a dog and just hews it in pieces. It's like whosoever does not come to fight against this army, I'm going to chop up your little chihuahua too. Especially what he's doing. And they all came with one consent. He didn't go recruit them. He just said, Look, if you don't come out, this is what's going to happen to your oxen. PETA would just like just die. Okay, but I want you to notice this folks to send the pieces of the yoke of oxen throughout all of Israel is very creative. It's the spirit of ingenuity. I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions, referring to the spirit of God. You know, when the spirit does things, he doesn't do them like all boring. He's just like spirit of God falls upon him. 12 yoke of oxen, you know, 12 yoke of oxen, chop them up, send them out. They'll understand what I mean by that. It gets the message across. Well, that's a bad spirit wrong. Go to 1st Samuel 16. This is when Saul was right with God. And when Saul was right with God, folks, the spirit of God would come upon him and he would fight against the enemies of God. He would threaten them. He would fight against them. He would preach and prophesy. He would be turned into another man. That's what he did. Oh, you bring this, Saul, back today? Independent fundamental Baptist today would be like, oh, you got a bad spirit. That's not the kind of spirit that I would want to have in my church. You must be a post-tripper. That's very contentious, Saul. Now, obviously, we know that Saul backslid hard. Right? He backslid super hard. And he wasn't right with God. He began to disobey the commandment of the Lord. Look at verse 13. And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, referring to David. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Rhema. But the spirit of the Lord, look what it says, departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servants said unto him, behold now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Go to chapter 18. So what do you see? When he backslides, he receives another spirit, an evil spirit. Now, this doesn't mean he's not saved. It doesn't mean he lost his salvation. We obviously understand that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not something that took place until the New Testament. Old Testament saints were still saved the way New Testament saints are. That doesn't change. But we see that God sends an evil spirit upon Saul because of his rebellion, his disobedience, and it troubles him. So we see that when the spirit of God comes upon him, how does that manifest itself in Saul's life? By taking out the enemies of God? By hewing a yoke of oxen in pieces? Well, let's see how it manifests itself when he has the evil spirit. Look at verse 8 of 1 Samuel 18. And Saul was very wroth. And the saying displeased him and he said, they have ascribed unto David ten thousands. And to me they have ascribed but thousands. And what can he have more about the kingdom? So what do we see? Envy? Envy? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. And it came to pass on the moral that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house. So he's still preaching. And David played with his hand as at other times. And there was a javelin in Saul's hand. And Saul cast the javelin for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. So what is the manifestation of an evil spirit upon Saul? He tries to go after God's man. So if we're going to apply it because look, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. That which was written before time is for our admonition. So when people say you have a bad spirit, well, am I attacking good men of God? Am I envious of Bob Gray Junior's church? Am I envious of, you know, all these other great men of God or winning souls? Do you see me like doing anything like that? No. What is the bad spirit characterized when you start attacking good men? Right? Oh, like Bob Gray Junior, who for no reason has decided to attack me. A person who was my friend, who took sweet counsel together. My own friend. Folks, I didn't even know he was going to do that podcast. The last I heard from him, I said, I love you. That's what I told him when I took down the video. And look, I didn't take down the video because it was inaccurate. I took it at his request because I wanted to honor what he wanted. He didn't even ask me to take it down. He's just like, he's like, and I'm like, do you want me to take the video down? And he said this, or you can make a new one. That's what he said. You can make a new one. And I'm thinking to myself, like a new one saying the same thing? Like, what's going to change? You want me to change the color grading? You want me to put background music, lower thirds? Or like, you want me to enhance it a little bit? You think I didn't look very sharp in there? Like, you want me to shave? What's the problem? And you know, when we left that conversation, I told him I loved him and that was it. And then he gets on this podcast and begins to rail against me against the movement that he knows that I'm a part of. Why? Oh, because he has the bad spirit. Not me. I do not have a bad spirit. Amen. Yeah, but you're angry. Yeah, but anger is part of getting angry at sin, false doctrine, heretics, damnable heresy. That's because I'm filled with the spirit. When you see me getting mad and angry and calling out wicked false teachers like Manly Perry and calling them out of the carpet for a stupid heresy and you see me spit and cry and yell, that's because I'm filled with the spirit. That's what it is. The spirit of God has come upon me and I'm angry at that. Well, how do you know if you have an evil spirit when I start attacking my friends? When I start going after men who love the Lord, who are preaching right, who have done nothing against me, who are not preaching damnable heresy, they're winning souls to Christ and just attack them for no reason whatsoever. Folks, no one knows the definition of loyalty anymore. People don't know what loyalty is anymore. I don't have a bad spirit. And look, anybody here knows after church, half the time I'm just laughing too much. I'm having a blast. I'm just laughing my head off and just like having a good time and joking around with the brethren. I'm not an angry person at all. I'm angry when the spirit of God comes upon me to rip on sin, to rip on false heretics, you know, to rip on these people who are just wicked. That's when God says, let me just give him a portion of my spirit to rip on this so the congregation knows how I feel about the situation. Don't tell me I have a bad spirit. No folks, Saul has the bad spirit because Saul is attacking David, because Saul is envious of David, because Saul is eyeing David, because Saul is trying to kill David. Saul is trying to take him down, so he has the bad spirit. You know what, Bob Gray Jr.? You have the bad spirit. You know what, David? He loves Saul. He loves Saul. He wanted Saul to get right with God, but you know why God sent Saul an evil spirit? Let me just let you in on a little secret. God gave Saul an evil spirit to his demise. Anytime in the Bible where God would send an evil spirit, it was for the demise of the recipient of that spirit. You remember the lying spirit that came in the mouth of the prophets for Ahab? What was it for, so Ahab could go to war and die? Why did God send, why did God remove his power from Saul to give him an evil spirit so that he would die? Because he crossed the line. And I'm not saying that every pastor who has a bad spirit, who is a compromiser, you know, they're just going to die tomorrow. I'm not pronouncing, I'm not predicting Bob Gray Jr.'s death, but you know what, like spiritually he's dying. And look, I'm just saying what he said, which is he's not fighting anymore. He specifically said, they actually believe, they actually believe that they have to fight until the end. DiCaprio, do you believe you're going to fight and contend until the end? Hey, isn't there someone in the Bible that says, you know, that he that overcometh and keeps my commandments until the end, he rewards people who do it until the end? Folks, this is God's spirit. And look, the common thing right now is just like, well, man, when people get older, they just compromise. Sometimes they do, but you know what, that it doesn't have to be that way. Jack Hyles, who is a major pre-tripper, that guy kept the spirit of God upon him until the very end. He fucked until the very end. He fought for the King James Bible until the very end. Oh, and he's a pre-tripper, that's funny. Oh, there's these mid-trippers, post-trippers, they just want to fight and contend and contentious. No, it's men of God. Spiritual judgeth all things, the Bible says. Go to 1 Peter chapter 4. I'm going to read to you from 2 Corinthians 11 verse 3. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled the eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preached with another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if he received another spirit, which he have not received, or another gospel, which he have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. That's a scary thought. That ye can be so blinded, so beguiled, so unstable, that if someone comes preaching another Jesus, unlike Manly Perry, someone has another spirit like Manly Perry. And what does it say? You will bear with him. Amen, brother. Amen. Hey, he says, but though I be rude in speech. This is in that same chapter. Though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, we have been thoroughly made manifest among you all in all things. You just have such a bad attitude. All right. But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge. The only thing you complain about me is that I'm mean behind the pulpit, I'm rude, but you can't complain about the knowledge. Because though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge. Look at 1 Peter 4. How do we keep the glory, the spirit of glory upon our lives? Well, we know that by staying humble, right, is one way. Look at verse 14 of 1 Peter 4. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part, he is evil spoken of. That's a bad spirit. But on your part, he is glorified, the Bible says. Hold on a second. How does someone get reproach for the name of Christ? Oh, by preaching things that are controversial, by preaching negative sermons, by preaching against false doctrine. What is Paul doing that's getting him persecuted? Oh, he's preaching against the Jews. And you know what gets us persecuted by the old I.F.B.? Preaching against the Jews. Hey, but I'm happy. Don't worry. Be happy. Why? Because the spirit of glory of God resteth upon us. So when we're reproach for Christ's name, when we're being criticized because of what we preach, because we simply repeat what God says and what Jesus says, I'm happy. I am happy. Why? Because the spirit of glory. That's a confirmation that the spirit of glory resteth upon me. Now, obviously, look, that can change if I start compromising. That can change when I start disobeying God's word and disobeying his commandments because God is not a respecter of any person. So what is my marker to make sure that the spirit of God resteth upon me? Well, I need to make sure that I'm preaching the whole council of God and still taking people off. Right? Go to 2 Timothy chapter 4. Getting off Acts 25. But this is it applies. Okay, it applies. Paul's the new eye of beer, folks. At least he would have been if he would have been here today. Oh, can you say something like that? Because we preach everything that Paul preaches. That's why we call Paul like every single Thursday, Sunday, Sunday morning and Sunday night here. We preach everything. I mean, we preach Romans one. You name me and all that be preacher. They're willing to preach to Romans one. You can call us Paulitians if you want. Look what it says in 2 Timothy 4 verse 2. So he's given this admonition to Timothy, right? Paul is a young preacher. Timothy is a young man. He's a young preacher, a little fearful, a little scared. You know, he has a tendency to be a little anxious and afraid. And Paul, what he says, preach the word, be instant in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and Paul Chapel sermons and his books. No, all long suffering in doctrine. Why, Paul? Well, because for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. They'll become little softy effeminate people and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. They want that cotton candy preaching, that soy boy preaching, that tofu preaching. He says, hey, but watch thou and all things, endure afflictions. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, are you telling me I have to like fight and contend until the end? Endure afflictions? I thought the Christian life was like a playground. What are you talking about? So when he says endure afflictions, what is he talking about? There's going to be fightings within and without. Endure afflictions, do the work of evangelists, make full proof of thy ministry. Look what he says, for I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departures at hand. He's not at LAX right now. What is he talking about? He's talking about dying. He said, I'm about to die. So this is like the end for him then, right? Isn't this like his end? And what does he say at the end of his life? I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. So finishing the course, keeping the faith is synonymous with fighting the good fight. Now, verse eight is the kicker. Because remember, what is the end for us? Well, it's either when we die, obviously, or when the second coming of Christ comes. So what he's saying in verse number seven is directly connected to verse number eight, because he says, henceforth there is later for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only. Look what it says. But unto all them also that love his appearing. What does that mean? They love the end. So because Paul loves the end, he loves the appearing of Jesus Christ. That's why he fights. He's not like, we're not Timothy. Quit being a post river. Don't be contentious. Is that what he's telling Timothy? Don't be contentious. Don't fight? No, in fact, he's saying, follow my example, because I fought the good fight. Why? Because I love his appearing. So what does this tell us? This tells us that if we love the end, we love the appearing of Jesus Christ. In anticipation of that, we fight the good fight of faith. We don't put this thing on cruise control. We don't pussyfoot around biblical truths. We don't tiptoe around the tulips. We don't beat around the bush. We preach the word. We're in the end season, out of the season. Why? Because we love his appearing. We anticipate it. We're waiting for it. We love it. And you know what? If we don't, if the tribulation never comes in our time, you know what, and we die, well, at least we die fighting. Just like Paul did. Paul didn't make it until the rapture, but he made it to his end. Never be the kind of Christian that feels like, well, I've accomplished so much in my past that I can just take it easy in the future. I'm just going to not fight, criticize those who do, throw a javelin at David. That's what he did. I, them, they're only ascribing to me 1,000, and David 10,000. I only get 100 subscribers, they get 1,000 subscribers. This guy thinks they are. Where's that javelin? Don't have a bad spirit. Hey folks, if you get anything from this sermon, get this, don't have a bad spirit. All right, let's go back to Acts 25. Let's just finish on Acts 25. Just kidding. So look, they couldn't find anything against him, obviously, but they're just complaining about him. Why, why do they want Paul dead? Why is, why do they hate him so much? Because he took all their converts. He's taken all the Jews, he's taken, he's making a big splash. He's winning a lot of people to Christ, he's starting a bunch of churches where there's synagogues. He's making them look bad because unto them were committed to oracles of God. They're supposed to be alighted to the Gentiles. They're supposed to be the ones who are teaching the word of God to everyone else and they failed at it. And Paul's like, I'll do it. Looking for a saying, while he answered for himself, neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar have I offended anything at all. But Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul and said, will thou go up to Jerusalem and there be judge of these things before me? So he's saying, he's like, hey, because you know, he wants to still be good with the Jews and he's just like, why don't you just come to Jerusalem? You know, where all these guys are at that want to kill you and you know, you can make your case there. Well, Paul's, he's really smart. So obviously he already knew that this was going to happen, that he was going to present this before him. Look what it says in verse 10, then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat where I ought to be judged. To the Jews have I done no wrong as thou very well knowest. For if I be an offender or have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die. It's like, if I'm a murderer, put me to death. Well, that sounds like he still believes like in the death penalty and stuff. But if there be none of these things, where if they accuse, these accused me, set them at liberty, they can't punish them, they can't put them to death because apparently this basically means like, all right, now you really have to go and see Caesar. Now, why did he appeal unto Caesar's because he believed in the justice system? You know, is it because, you know, he was just a really, he voted Caesar. He's like, I'm a Republican. He's a Republican. I'm going to tell him about the constitution and I'm just going to lay it out there for him. He's going to be good. Is that why he's doing that? No. You know why? Because it's his ticket to go to Rome, which is where he intended to go in the first place. And if you remember the vision that God gave Paul was that he must bear witness at Rome also. So he's like, I'm going to go to appeal to Caesar because Caesar's at Rome and that's where I want to go because that's where I want to win more people in Christ. He's using this world is what he's doing. Okay. Verse 12. Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, hast thou appealed unto Caesar? Not to Caesar, thou shalt go. And after certain days, King Agrippa and Bernice came into Caesarea to salute Festus. And when they had been there many days, Festus declared Paul's case unto the king, saying, There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix, about whom when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priest and the elders of the Jews informed me, designed to have judgment against him, to whom I answered, It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die. Before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him. Therefore, when they were come hither, without any delay on the morrow, I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought forth, against to him when the accusers stood up. They brought none accusation of such things as I supposed. They're like, Man, I thought these guys were going to make a good case. Like their cases just suck. It was like they didn't have anything. Verse 19. But have certain questions against them, he says, of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, look what it says here, which was dead. That's interesting. So even the unsaved Roman guy knows that Jesus died. Okay, just thought I'd throw that in there. Whom Paul affirmed to be alive. So he's basically saying, look, they keep talking about like their superstitious beliefs. He's talking about Christianity. He's like this one Jesus who was dead and Paul affirms to be alive. Now, another thing that this proves is that pretty much a lot of people have heard the word of God, even if they know just this. Right? So this guy knows enough to say, well, he believes in a guy named Jesus who died and Paul affirms to be alive. Verse 20, because I doubted of such manner of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem and there be judge of these matters. But when Paul had appealed to reserved until the hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I might send him to Caesar. Then Agrippa said to Festus, I would also hear the man myself tomorrow, said he, shalt thou hear him. And on the morrow when Agrippa was come and Bernice with great pomp, great pride, in other words, and was entered into the place of here with the chief captain to principal men of the city at Festus commandment, Paul was brought forth and Festus said, King Agrippa and all men, which are here present with us. You see this man about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem and also here crying that he ought not to live any longer. But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death and that he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him of whom I have no certain thing to write into my Lord. So in other words, he's saying, I got to send him to Caesar, but what am I going to send him with? There's no like reason. There's no crimes that he's committed. So what am I going to say to him? What am I going to say to my Lord? In other words, it's like, where are the crimes that he's committed? What am I going to say? So Paul's just going to show up at Rome and say, all right, what's up with this guy? He's like, I don't know. They want him dead for what? I don't know. He's not worthy of death. I don't know what we're going to say. Wherefore, I have brought him forth before you and especially before the King Agrippa, that after examination had, I might have someone to write. So he's basically saying, hey, the ball's in your court. This is your baby. These are your bananas to take care of here. Can you examine him and figure something out? Because I need something to write. You can't just have this guy show up at Rome and there's nothing against him on paper or on skin to say, hey, this guy's guilty. For it seemed to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not with all to signify the crimes laid against him. So what do we see here? We see that the Romans are actually being pretty just. It's a lot different than what independent fundamental Baptists have portrayed Romans to be in the Bible. Now, obviously, we know that Rome was wicked. It's a pagan culture. But here's the thing. Christians today want to blame the Romans for crucifying Jesus. They're the ones that killed Paul. I mean, you look it up. How did Paul die? Oh, he was beheaded by the Romans. But is that what we see here? What we actually see is that the Romans are trying to do Paul justice. They're constantly trying not to kill him and like, well, just release him or he already made an appeal to Augustus. You know, I don't see why he's should be put to death. They're constantly trying to help him. And in fact, we'll see later on in the coming chapters that they do help him. You know, but you said, why do Christians do that? Because they want to get your attention away from the real enemy of the New Testament, which is the Jew. That's what it is. There's nothing to see here, guys. It's all the Romans. The Romans did it all. But when you actually read the New Testament, you see all the Jews. They're the ones who are trying to kill Christians. They're the ones who are persecuting them. They're the ones who are responsible for this stuff. It's not necessarily the Romans. Okay, we'll finish there. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for Paul's example. And Lord, I'm thankful for everything that he had to go through because it's an inspiration to me as a young preacher. I'm sure it's an inspiration to many pastors out there. And Lord, in a time of shifting sands when older preachers are just given over to compromise and they're given to change, Lord, we know that you'll never change. The men in the Bible will never change the men of God. And I'm thankful that I know men personally who have not changed. And I'm thankful to have friends like that. And Lord, I pray, God, that you'd help us to have the right spirit and the spirit that exposes wickedness, that exposes false doctrines and false prophets, but also is out there preaching the gospel, seeing people save and loving them. Help us to never have a bad spirit where we would attack men of God who have done nothing wrong. We love you so much, Lord, and we thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.