(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

If you have a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4, let's start there in verse number 16. There was just one thought that I want to give you today, verse number 16. It says, For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. And you know, as you read through your New Testament, you're constantly being confronted with this idea of the flesh, the spirit, the new man, the old man. This way, in verse number 16, it refers to it as the outward man. Of course, the outward man is the flesh. And then we have the inward man. And we all have this dual nature if you're saved. You know, listen, the outward man is no good man. Trust me. You know, I don't think how, I don't feel, you know, how much you feel that you're living a righteous life, that if you let that outward man have control, you're going to mess up your life. You're going to make major mistakes. That's why we have the inward man. The outward man will perish. This outward man gets old, he gets sick, he will perish one day. God's going to give us a new resurrected body. But it says, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. The inward man. And we also have Bible verses that speak about our minds, the importance of renewing our minds every day. And we need to remind ourselves that, you know, we wake up, we wake up in this outward man, we wake up in this outward temporal earthly world that we live in, and we're constantly faced with things that affect the flesh. But we need to remind ourselves that we need to renew this inward man day by day. You know, this inward man needs God's word. This inward man needs church. This inward man needs fellowship with brothers and sisters in the Lord. This inward man needs prayer. To the Lord God. And so it's reflected here in verse number 16, the difference between the outward man, the inward man, the flesh, the spirit, you guys know these terms. Look at verse number 17. But our light affliction, which is but for a moment. Now I don't want you to think that what the apostle Paul is saying here is that all our troubles and all our, sorry, that when we look at all our problems that we have just, some of us have light afflictions and some of us have heavy afflictions. No, when he says for our light affliction, he's talking about here all our problems that we have through this outward man. All the suffering, all the pain, all the sadness, all the suffering that you can possibly go through, all the trials, all the tribulations that you go through in this earth. In context of verse number 17, the Bible just refers to it as light affliction. Do you feel that way? Many times when we're suffering, we don't feel like it's a light affliction, do we? We feel like it's some heavy burden that we're going through. I can't handle it anymore. I can't live this way anymore, we kind of think. But brethren, that's the outward man. We need to renew that inward man. That inward man will say to you, actually this is a light affliction. Okay, let's keep going there. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, our life on this earth is really just a moment, brethren. Work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. You see, if we go through the difficulties, we go through the light afflictions in patience, long suffering, in faithfulness toward God, it'll produce this eternal weight of glory. Great rewards in heaven. We're going to look back from heaven and go, man, I wish I suffered more for Christ. I wish I went through a greater amount of faithfulness toward the Lord, and I wish I didn't give in to that outward man as often as I did. I wish I renewed that inward man more often. You know, this hope, the perspective that we're looking at here, is looking at things from the inward man perspective, looking at things from a heavenly perspective, looking at things from an eternal perspective, rather than an outward, earthly, carnal, temporary perspective. Let's keep going there for some 18. Well, we look not at the things which are seen, but we kind of do, don't we? The outward man looks at everything that is seen. The outward man looks and goes, man, you know what, I wish I had a little bit more money in the bank account. You know, I wish I was doing a little bit more well successfully in this earth. And I kind of wish that, you know, I kind of had just more friends and, you know, that people just would accept me, even though I'm a Christian, and you start to look at all the things of this earth. But, again, the inward man, if we renew the inward man, we don't set our sights on the things that are seen. It says, but the things which are not seen, for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Notice that this is talking about how we see things. We can either see things earthly, carnal, temporal, but that's the outward man. The outward man looks at all these things. And, of course, when we look at the earthly, we're going to be bothered by many great things. You know, this whole COVID world, this whole mandate vaccinations and this whole mask wearing, the whole QR codes, you know, you can either get really frustrated about it, but the Bible says it's just a light affliction. Okay, but you know why you get frustrated about it? Because you're in the outward man. You're focusing, you're looking at things. From the outward man perspective, you're not renewing the inward man. The inward man goes, it's light, who cares? It's 2022, who cares? We can still see souls saved. It's 2022, I can still be a better husband. It's 2022, I can still be a better child. I can still be a better wife. I can still be a better church member. I can still be a better pastor. I can still love the Lord more. I can still sing him praises more. That's the inward man. Who cares what's going on in this temporal, you know, carnal, earthly world. Brethren, we need to change our perspective. The title for the sermon this morning is Have a Heavenly Perspective. Have a heavenly perspective. You know, a few of my kids, they wear glasses. You know, and we didn't know for a long time that they were suffering with their eyes. You know, they were doing a lot of homeschooling. They were doing a lot of reading afterwards. Some of my kids are quite academic, so they like to get their heads in the books. We didn't understand that it was actually causing them, as they were growing, you know, their eyes were getting used to basically having this kind of vision. This is all you need to see, not all of that over there. And so three of them have a short side. They need glasses. Maybe we can fix that later on with some laser surgery or whatever. But, you know, we didn't know. None of us, like my wife and I, we never wore glasses really. I wore glasses a little bit when I was on the computer a lot just to relax my eyes. But we didn't understand the signs. And the kids, they're just growing into, you know, having bad eyesight. And they're not realising just gradually, as they're having bad eyesight, that it's normal for them. This is what the earth looks like, okay? But once we found out that it's the glasses, they put the glasses on, it's like, whoa, I can see, wow, this is what it's like to see. They had a new perspective. They had a new perspective. And, brethren, we need to take those glasses, not the earthly ones, not the carnal ones, not the temporal ones, we take the heavenly ones. We take the ones that the inward man wants to see through, we put those glasses on, and it's going to change the world around you. It's going to change the world around you. When you suffer, when you go through difficulties, you go through difficulties, a lot of affliction. Who cares? I'm going home to heaven. Hey, that's my place. That's my home. And so we must have a heavenly perspective in this life. Can you please go to Ephesians chapter 2? Ephesians chapter 2 verse number 4. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse number 4. The Bible says, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, have quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. Look at verse number 6. And have raised us up together. Now, I want you to notice the next phrase. And made us. If I said, you know, the Bible says here, And made us, is that present tense? Is that future tense? Or is that past tense? He's made us. It's past tense, isn't it? He's made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You see, if you are in Christ Jesus, from God's point of view, you already sit in heavenly places. I know we often talk about being excited about heaven. We're excited about going home to be with the Lord. But really, from God's perspective, we're already there. We're already seated in heavenly places because we're in Christ Jesus. And brethren, let's just pretend right now that we are in heaven. Let's pretend we've all passed on. And the world continues as it is. And we are literally seated in heavenly places. And the Lord allows us to look down upon the earth. Don't you think we're going to have a different perspective of the earth, seated from heaven, than when we were seated upon the earth? Well, if we're going to have a different perspective when we go home to be with heaven, then brethren, we need to have that perspective now. Because from God's perspective, we're already there. We're already seated in heavenly places. We have the inward man. We have Jesus Christ. We are in Christ. We need to make sure we pick up the right glasses when we wake up in the morning. And we need to renew ourselves all the time. Because sometimes, you know, when you put on the new glasses, oh yeah, I can see heavenly. And then through the day, you kind of forgot which glasses I can't see anymore. And you pick up the wrong ones and you've got the earthly ones again. That's why you've got to renew yourself day by day. Constantly remind yourself to have a heavenly perspective. Now, all of this is an introduction to get to things a little bit later. But I'm going to read to you some quick passages. Actually, you turn to 2 Peter 3. You go to 2 Peter 3. I'm going to rattle off some verses here just to build upon this introduction, upon this foundation. And then we'll take it to another point, okay? But you go to 2 Peter 3. And I'm going to read to you from Hebrews 11 verse 8, which we've read through many times through this Perfect Man series. But Hebrews 11 verse 8 says, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. And then it says, For he looked for a city which have foundations, whose builder and maker is God. I love this passage. I love it so much. I feel like I can create 20 sermons just out of this one passage. But what I want to take out of this passage, brethren, is that God did call Abraham to go out into that promised land, and he sojourned that land. You know, he wasn't bothered about the land so much. He was thankful that this was a place that was promised unto him. He was aware that his future descendants would one day live on this land. But really, where was his perspective? Did he pick up the earthly glasses and go, Man, this is such a great promised land right now. I can't wait to live on this land, on this soil forever. You know, I can't wait to start building houses and building properties and farms and being great in this earth. No, he says, You know what, forget the earthly glasses. It's good for now. We've got to live on the earth. We've got to sojourn. We've got to live. We've got to function. But you know what, even though I need to function on this earth, I'm going to pick up the heavenly glasses. And my heavenly glasses say that the building that I'm looking for, the city that I'm looking for, is the one that is being created by God. He had an eternity perspective. He had a heavenly perspective. He did not have a temporal, carnal, earthly perspective on this earth. The passage I got you to turn to is 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3. Say, What's your point, Pastor Kevin? My point is this, we all live, I'm sure we all have a roof over our heads. Well, thank God. Thank God for the roof that we have over our heads. God's allowing us to live and have our provisions met on this earth. But brethren, don't make that your heart. Don't make that your eyes. Don't lay your eyes and just think, Man, this is it. I made it. Thank you, God. You've given me the land. You've given me a house. But really, Lord, I'm looking forward. My eyes are focused upon the heavenly places. My eyes are focused on eternity, Lord. That's the house that I'm looking forward to, the mansions that are being built by Jesus Christ. It will change your life. It will change your perspective on this world. This world is looking to how much can I make in investment properties and make this much money and have this big house. And brethren, that's what they're chasing. They've got the earthly glasses on. They're in the outer man. We have the inward man. So who cares? Okay, we have somewhere to live. Praise God. Hey, you've got a nice place to live. Praise God. But really, your heart, your minds, your eyes are on the future to come. The heavenly places. So that's your home. We're talking about your home. What about this world? What about this earth? Please look at 2 Peter 3 verse 11. 2 Peter 3 verse 11. Seeing then, there's that perspective again. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? So look, consider your holy conversation. Consider your godliness. Consider your life. Knowing that all of these things are going to burn up and be dissolved. I mean, think about your favorite places that you like to go to. My brother Jason likes to go to some nice cafes and sometimes he takes his daughters out there. I see it on Facebook. Nice places, right? There are beautiful places here on the Sunshine Coast. Beautiful beaches in the hinterland. Some nice bush walks and things to have. And I look at Sydney. I think Sydney is a beautiful city, really. I mean, I don't think about the wickedness so much. I just look at the city itself. On the harbor, it's quite a beautiful city. There are nice things, but really, Brevin, if we just have that earthly, carnal, temporary perspective, our hearts will be upon this earth, okay? But really, we need to remind ourselves it's all going to burn. It's all going to burn. It's not going to remain as it is. So in that knowledge, with that perspective, how ought we to live our lives? It says in verse number 12, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we. So what if the earth is burning? Ah, but my home, my land, my possessions, Pastor Kevin. You know, all the things I've worked for my whole life, it's all going to burn. But this is about we. Hey, okay, the outward man. Forget the outward man. We, the inner man, okay, the new man. But we, sorry, nevertheless we, sorry, where am I reading from? Verse number 13. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for, hey, what's our perspective? We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwell of righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. Brethren, what's going to help us have peace? What's going to help us be without spot? What's going to help us be blameless? Putting on the right glasses, having the right perspective, having a heavenly perspective. It all burns. And you know what? This new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Hey, I said to you we have a lot of beautiful places in this world, a lot of beautiful places in Australia. Yeah, I just said to you Sydney kind of does look beautiful. But you know what dwells in Sydney? Wickedness, okay. Wickedness, sin, selfishness, fornication, adultery, all kinds of wickedness. And, you know, they're gearing up now for the pride festivals again. That city is sick, okay. But you know what? The city that we're looking forward to is a place where righteousness dwells. What a great place to look forward to, okay. Have our eyes on heavenly things. Put on your heavenly glasses. Have a heavenly perspective. Can you please turn to, where are you? You're in 2 Peter. Please go to Colossians chapter 3. Go to Colossians chapter 3. Now we looked at our home. We've looked at our world. Next thing I want to look at is our works, what we accomplish on this earth, okay. We're all required to be productive. We're all required to do things, okay. Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. For example, getting married, having children, men going to work, ladies raising a family, et cetera. We're all called to be productive, all right. And we do works. We all do works. And Matthew 6 verse 1. You're in Colossians 3. Stay there. Matthew 6 verse 1. You guys know this passage. Jesus Christ says, Take heed that you do not your arms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine arms, do not sound a trumpet before thee. You know, I was told to basically do what Jesus says don't do. One of my managers. She said to me, Kevin, you've got to toot your own horn. And then Jesus Christ says, do not sound a trumpet before thee. I went with Jesus, all right. And then it says, As the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have the glory of men, verily I say unto you, they have their reward. You know, we're all doing works. We're all doing, the idea of the arms is, you know, we're all doing good to other people. We can do good to other people, right. We can either do good and not blow a horn about it or we can. We can. Hey, look at all the great works that I'm doing, guys. You know, Hollywood stars and millionaires. You know, put it on Facebook and social media. They're, you know, they're donations to charities. Look at me, guys. I'm such a great man. All right. You can do that if you want to, but there's no rewards in heaven. You get some earthly, carnal, well done applause, but it's just temporal. It's all going to burn. It means nothing in the long run, okay. It says in verse number three, But when thou doest arms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine arms may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. So it's saying, don't do, it's not saying don't do arms. It's not saying don't be productive and don't be helpful. It's not saying that. It says have the right perspective, right. Yeah, go and do the work, but don't pick up the earthly glasses because the earthly ones, the carnal ones, what's the praise of men? Well done. Okay, well it's all going to burn. Who cares about that? Put on your heavenly perspective, okay. When I do a work, I do it for Jesus Christ. And you know what? God's going to reward me if I don't make, you know, make nothing of it. If other people rejoice and they observe and they rejoice of you, well that's one thing. But, you know, your heart, if you have the right perspective, is not to get the earthly, carnal, temporal recognition, otherwise you will not have the heavenly rewards that come with it. So we've looked at our home, we've looked at this world, we've looked at our good deeds. You're there in Colossians chapter 3 verse 22. This is for the workplace. And again, this is another passage that I love. It says, servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service, as men please us, but in singleness of heart, fear in God. Brethren, when you go to work, you put on your heavenly perspective. I'm going to work for God. I'm going to work for Jesus. When I go to work, I'm going to fear God. I'm going to make it as though it's God that gave me this contract, has given me these hours, has given me these tasks to do, and I'm going to do it, fear in God. Verse number 23. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men. So when we go to work, men, what do we do? You've got a choice. Which glasses am I going to put on? Put on the earthly ones. I want to make the boss happy. I'm not going to be productive. I'll do the minimal. I'll do the minimal. I'll just get the paycheck and then I'll complain about workplace when I get home. I'll complain about how much money I'm making. I'll complain about my colleagues. I'll complain about my boss. Yeah, that's all earthly perspective if you want. It's not going to give you peace. Or you put on the heavenly perspective glasses and say, you know what, I'm working for Jesus. These hours I'm committed to Jesus. I'm going to fear God as I work. I'm going to work hard for God. And if I go through problems with my colleagues and my bosses, give me a hard time. Praise Jesus Christ. I'm serving him. It's a light affliction. Light affliction. Who cares? I've got a place at home in heaven. So we looked at our home. We looked at this world. We looked at good deeds. We looked at work. Can you please now go to 2 Corinthians again. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And this is still an introduction. Still the introduction here. But I just want to lay this foundation which you already know. What I'm saying, I've already preached sermons about this. Nothing that I'm preaching right now is new to you, I think. Just a reminder to lay that foundation once again. So obviously we started the sermon reading through 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And we looked at the idea of having our mindset based upon eternity. Heavenly perspective, not a carnal earthly temporal one. So we get to chapter 5, the next chapter, and it builds upon that. Because then it says in verse 17 here, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Reverend, the inner man is a new creature. Again, this is just different words for the same thing. The spirit, the new man, the inner man, new creature. It's the same being that is inside of you. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Reverend, if you are in the inner man, you have a heavenly perspective. All things are become new. You look at the world, you look at life very differently. You're going to function very differently. You're going to function knowing about eternity rather than functioning just for temporal issues. Verse number 18. And all things are of God, and have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to witness that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation, so we know our main ministry is to win the loss, to reconcile the loss to the Lord God. Look at verse number 20. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. Brethren, if we're an ambassador, are we of this world really? We're not. Okay, when you're ambassador, you come from another nation. You come from another world. Brethren, we're seated in heavenly places. God has made us his ambassadors. We're walking this earth representing heaven. We're a new creature. We're not here to look at the world with an earthly lens. We're here to look at the world with a heavenly eternal lens, to see our brethren who are saved are going to be with you for all eternity. We look at our lost community. We know they're going to die and go to hell and be tormented day and night forever and ever. Doesn't it change your mindset when you think about eternity, when you think about what truly matters, when you realise you're an ambassador, an ambassador not for Australia, not for Queensland, not for, I don't know. We're an ambassador for heaven. We're an ambassador for Jesus Christ. Verse number 20. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Alright, say, well, this is all introduction. Can you now please turn to 1 Samuel chapter 8. 1 Samuel chapter 8. 1 Samuel chapter 8. 1 Samuel chapter 8. I'm sure there's nothing that I've already preached just now that you don't already agree with. Maybe you've been reminded, you know I've preached about this stuff before, but I want to apply it to our current world, okay? Because one thing that I feel very, is the word disappointed the right word? The word maybe disappointed is just how much Christians are still earthly. You know, they're saved, right? Me included, right? We're saved. We love the Lord. We know all these truths. We know that we are sitting in heavy places. We know we're ambassadors. We know we need to have an eternal outlook to life, the right perspective, a heavenly perspective, and we spend so much time having our eyes, picking up the wrong glasses, and looking at this world, and being hopeful that this world will change with an earthly lens. It's not going to change with an earthly lens, okay? Now let me explain what I'm going to be going through. I'm going to be talking today about the political and social landscape that we're in. The political and social landscape, okay? Now, before we read 1 Samuel chapter 8, let me just quickly explain that a lot of you guys will understand this concept, the left and right paradigm, okay? The left and right paradigm. And we, and maybe you, maybe, I don't know, I don't know where you sit as far as your perspective on things, okay? I know that the previous generations, the baby boomer sort of generations, they get stuck, a lot of them get stuck in this left-right paradigm. Say, what does that mean? I'll explain it to you in a minute. But they see the world through this lens, and this lens is an earthly temporal lens. It's the wrong glasses. It's the wrong glasses, okay? The left-right paradigm is this. Where a society divides itself on opposite political and social ideologies, okay? Just summarize it very quickly. Pretend, you know, we're going to the election. And the two major parties are the Labour Party and the Liberal Party, alright? And we think of the Liberal Party as the conservative right-wing party. We look at the Labour Party as the, as the devil. No, we see the Labour Party as the, what's that, the left-wing social justice, you know, take down capitalists. No, that's the Greens. Anyway, you guys know what I'm talking about, right? There are different ideologies. And we look at the world through this lens. And we divide ourselves. Say, well, I'm on the right, and I'm on the left. And the previous generation, they've been caught by this. They've been caught into seeing the world through this lens. And this is all they see. You know, and they think, you know, in order to change the world, we need to go, you know, when the rights are in power, the left are like, we need to take over, we need to fix this world. We need to vote them out, and we can come in power. And when the left are in power, the right's like, no, we need to vote them out. We need to come in power. And then you're like, when your party wins, when your side wins, you're like, yes! You know, my candidate got in, yeah! You know, and we think we've fixed the world. Brevin, it doesn't matter if you're on the left or the right, it's earthly. It's earthly. It's the earthly perspective. It's a carnal, temporal perspective. Alright? Jesus Christ says in John chapter 18 verse 36, Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. This kingdom is not of my world. My kingdom is not of this world. Okay? But we kind of think sometimes, I see this in churches. If we just get the right candidates, they're going to help us! They're going to help churches! They're going to help Christians! And you know, this is basically the idea of, you know, Roman Catholicism, where, you know, in the past, the Roman Catholic Church, they got into politics. They ruled countries. You know, they were literally, you know, the kings of nations were afraid of the Pope. Okay? You know, they had power. And you know, a lot of Protestant churches also have this idea, that if we just get the right candidate in, you know, we can enforce Christianity, and then we can fix the world. But that's not how we fix the world. We're not ambassadors of this world. We're not ambassadors of the left or right paradigm. We're ambassadors of Christ. We're ambassadors of heaven. People have a free will to decide whether they receive Jesus as Saviour or not. You don't force it. You can't vote something in and think it's all going to be wonderful for heaven's sake. It's still earthly. Okay? And then a lot of us that have broken out of the left and right paradigm, we recognise that the left and right wing are the wings of the same bird. Right? Like, you know, the things that Labour says they're going to do, they don't end up doing it, but the Liberal Party ends up doing it. Or the Liberal Party says they're going to do things they don't end up doing it, it's the Labour Party that ends up doing it. Doesn't matter who you vote in, eventually it happens. Doesn't matter which side is arguing for what as perspective, the Labour Party does the complete opposite. They never keep their promises. They don't stand by their ideologies. You start to learn that they're left and right wings are the same bird. Okay? But some people are still, they're stuck. That's how they see the world, left and right. Okay, left wing and the right wing represents Christianity. Okay, they're what we hear in America as the Fox News Baptist, for example. We just get the right wing in power, you know, then everything will be all right. Some of us have broken out of that paradigm. Some of us have realised, you know what, it's two wings of the same bird. You know? And you're still there in, sorry, where are you again? You're there in First Samuel, right? We'll get to that in a moment. We'll get to that in a moment. And then we break out of it. We break out of that system and we start to realise, okay, well if I can't trust the left and right there, you know, I can see the corruption. You know, these politicians, they're corrupt, they're wicked, you know, a lot of just downright filthy weakness taking place. You know, maybe even the most scum of the earth are in power sometimes. Okay? So we break out of it and then we have, okay, well I don't want to align myself. I realise, yeah, that's, man, I can't believe I got caught in all that. I must have been brainwashed this whole life. Now I've walked away from that idea and where do I go now? Where do I turn to now? And then, and I couldn't, for the lack of better words, it becomes this. You look at the left and right paradigm as the establishment. Okay, that's the establishment. And by the establishment, what I mean is, this word the establishment is used to describe the existing power structure. How everything's set up politically and socially, okay? And, you know, and not just the political realm but also mainstream media, you know, the social engineered education system. We see it all under this umbrella. We call it the establishment. And we look at the establishment and we go, man, look how corrupt it is. Look how wicked it is. Look at the powers that be. And then you start to hate the establishment. You say, man, I want nothing to do with the corruption because I know how worldly and how wicked they are. But what do I turn to now? Because all I knew before was left and right. And so you turn to the anti-establishment. You become anti-establishment. I'm against that. And we need to take them down actually. And then I start watching the YouTubes and I start watching the big shoots and I start watching all these truth videos and the truer movement and I start to look at all these alternative media things and they help me understand just how corrupt the establishment is. And we as anti-establishment people, if we just take down the wicked guys, we just take down the current power system, we take down all these wicked paedophiles and child ring molesters and we just take them all down, then we can bring something in that's even better. But you know what? You're once again caught. You're once again caught with an earthly perspective. You once again, yes, you broke out of that and instead you picked up another earthly glasses. I've been brainwashed. They're the sheeple. The sheep! Oh, look at the sheep getting vaccinated. Look how stupid they are. I'm smart. You just picked up earthly glasses again. You just done it all over again. And now you're another left-right paradigm. You're another left-right paradigm. It's like, look, the devil's smart. He knows how to keep us focused on this earth. We can't fix this earth. We're sinners. Brethren, even if I was the most powerful man on this planet, I promise you I'd become corrupt. I promise you I will chase power. I will chase money. I will chase fame. Because when I look at the Bible and I see great men of God, like King Solomon, who gets everything that he could possibly have, he ends up having his heart turned away from the Lord. Because we're all sinners. Doesn't matter if it's the establishment. Yes, they're wicked sinners. You get the anti-establishment power in place. Yeah, it's going to be wonderful for a period, but they're sinners as well. Eventually there's going to be corruption there. Eventually the anti-establishment becomes the establishment. And now you need a new anti-establishment to take down the current establishment. Because it's all earthly, brethren. And we get caught up in this and we get emotional and attached and I can't wait for these people to die. Yeah, then the people you're supporting, they're going to be wicked as well. Where they're in 1 Samuel, look at 1 Samuel 8. 1 Samuel 8. And when I think about this idea, I think of this story here. 1 Samuel 8, remember that when the Israelites went into the Promised Land, went into the land of Canaan, that God had set up a system of judges. There wasn't like this one central king. There were representatives of the people and the judges would often, you know, they were kind of the government of the day. And Samuel, we often think of Samuel as a prophet and of course as a prophet, but he was a judge, he was one of these judges as well. And it says in 1 Samuel 8 verse number 1, And it came to pass, when Samuel was owed, that he made his sons judges over Israel. That seems to make sense, that he's a judge himself, he makes his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of the first one was Joel, and the name of the second, Abiah, is in Beersheba. But look at verse number 3, So what is the establishment at this point in time? The system of the judges. Okay, hey we have some good people. In whatever political realm or system there is, there's always some good people. But notice that when Samuel is getting old, he's ready to pass responsibilities onto his children, his children are wicked. Yeah, he might have been good and righteous under Samuel, but eventually some wicked person gets in power, his own kids, and what are they in it for? For people power? No, they're in it for the money. They're in it taking bribes. They're corrupt in judgment. And so this current existing power base has become corrupt. This is the establishment at this point in time for Israel. And it says there in verse number 4, And all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. They're like, look, they're all coming together. It's like a grassroots movement. They're all coming. Man, look at the corruption. Look at these wicked judges. Samuel, we need to change system now. You know, we can't continue down this path of judges because look what's happened. There are wicked, corrupt people in power, even your own sons. Give us a king like the rest of the nations. We need to change the system. We need to take down the current establishment and bring in something new. That's basically what's happening here. Verse number 6, But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us, and Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore, hearken unto their voice. So God says, look, yep, let the new power structure come into place. Listen to what they say. Give them the kings, right? And he said unto them, sorry, what am I up to guys, sorry, what verse? Verse number 9, I'll read it again. Now therefore hearken unto the voice, howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king, and he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots. He says, all right, you want a king? You want to change systems? Fine, but he's going to take your sons. Your sons are going to serve him. Okay? Verse number 12, and he will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his instruments of wool and instruments of his chariots. They're going to be in complete submission to this new power, this new king. They're going to go and fight the wars that the king starts. What else? And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries and to be cooks and to be bakers, and he will take your fields. I mean, look, yes, it's corrupt. You want something new, you're going to have a new king? Yeah, all right, but it's going to be worse. He's going to take your fields. He's going to take everything that you own and your vineyards and your oil yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. He's going to tax you crazy and give them to the people he sees fit. All right? Verse number 16, and he will take your men servants and your maid servants and your goodliest young men and your asses and put them to his work, and he will take the tenth of your sheep and ye shall be his servants, and ye shall cry out to that day because of your king, which ye have chosen over you, and the Lord will not hear you in that day. Stop there. So what did we learn there? Was the current establishment, the current power, the current political realm corrupt? Yes, it was. Oh, so let's take it down and start something new. Give us a king like... It's worse. It's worse. There is no answer from an earthly perspective, brethren. Men are sinners. Okay? If you're stuck in the left and right paradigm, the left are full of sinners. The right is full of sinners. If you're stuck in the establishment and the anti-establishment paradigm, the people in the establishment, they're sinners. The people in the anti-establishment, they're sinners. They're sinners. People are wicked, brethren. You know, I know it's hard to accept, but I tell you this. If you had everything in the world, everything in the world, everything went well for you, you would have a corrupt heart. You will. Why? The outer man. You won't have the heavenly glasses. You'll be putting on those earthly glasses. You'll forget about the heavenly glasses because things are going so well for you. You'll be doing so well. You'll be prospering in this world. And your heart will turn away from the Lord. And the outer man only knows how to please itself. The outer man only knows how to be selfish. The outer man has no desire to serve God. We can all become corrupt. You know, I kind of look, oh man, this guy, the richest man in the world, look how wicked and corrupt he is. Yeah. If you weren't saved and you had all his power and money, you'd be corrupt too. This is mankind. We have a sinful nature. This is the outer man. It perishes. Okay? It's sinful. It's contrary to the things of God. And so we see that story there that you think you can change systems. You think you'd fight against the establishment, and maybe you succeed. Maybe someday the anti-establishment becomes the establishment. I'm telling you, it's not going to fix things. This world will still continue to be as wicked as it's ever been. The people that promised you everything in the world, they're going to take it all for themselves. They're going to take your lands. They're going to take the best of what you have unto themselves, and then you'll be rebelling against that establishment that you put into place, that you hoped for, because man is wicked. That's why. Okay? You know, the Bible says in Psalm 14 verse 2, the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. You guys know that passage from Romans 3.10. Okay? The Lord looked down. Is there anyone that seeks God? No. They're all filthy. This is why we need a Saviour. Including us, brethren. We're all filthy. We're all sinners. Fix my life. I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person. Rubbish! Rubbish! We needed a Saviour. We needed the Father to send the Son to die in our place. Praise God. And then we can have the inward man. We're in Christ. We have the inner man. Renew ourselves. Renew our minds. Put on the heavenly glasses and live for Jesus. Okay? Live for Jesus. This world is not going to fix itself. There can be cycles. There can be cycles of good and bad. It always happens throughout history. Okay? But this world is just going down the toilet. Okay? Please take off your earthly glasses. If you think you're successful because you're no longer left and right paradigm, but you're stuck in the establishment, anti-establishment paradigm, you're still earthly. You're still carnal. You're still looking at things from a temporal perspective. You've got to break free. Take off those stupid glasses and put on your heavenly glasses. Look at things from a heavenly perspective. Can you please turn to Revelation chapter 17? Revelation chapter 17. There's a lot that's happening in the world right now. I'm sure you guys have heard of the Canadian truckers and say, you know, Pastor Kevin, which side do you prefer to, I guess the truckers? The people. Okay? Those that are seeking their liberties and their freedoms, but my hope is not on that. Like my hope is not, I hope they, man, if they just succeed and they can tackle and destroy the Canadian wicked governments, you know, and take down the wicked prime minister and it's going to be good for the people. Brethren, just give it a couple of years. It's going to become as wicked as the original establishment. You know, I know there are protests going on. I actually, in one part of me, I kind of hope they succeed. I want liberties. I want freedom. I want peace. You know, I want righteousness at some level. But, brethren, we can't rest our hopes on these things. Yeah, you've got the wrong glasses on, if you do. If you think this is the answer to the problem, you're just creating another problem. And it can be worse. It can be worse. I don't care about the politics. I don't care about the social, the social political framework that the devil and this earth wants to get you trapped in. No, we've broken free. That's the outward man. The outward man. Yeah, he pops up from time to time. Got to remember, hey, outward man, you stay there. You stay down. I'm in the new man. I'm in the inner man. I've got to put on my heavenly perspective. I'm just a sojourner. I'm just passing through. Oh, Russia, you want to go to war with Ukraine? I'm just passing through. I can't fix this world. There's always going to be wars. There's always going to be armed conflicts. There's always going to be people that hate each other because they're sinners. The only hope for this world is Jesus, when Jesus comes back. And we can bring a little bit of Jesus back when we see souls saved because then those people are in Christ Jesus. They can also put on their heavenly perspectives, you know, when they're saved. Revelation chapter 17, verse number 1. Revelation chapter 17, verse number 1. Where's my brother Callum this morning? Hopefully he's listening online if he's not here. But this is something that both brother Callum and I, I think we see this on the same page when it comes to the end times. And I'm not saying we are living in the end times. I'm not even saying that we're close. I don't think we're close at all. But I could be wrong. That's just my opinion. I don't know. Who knows? It could be around the corner. Maybe Russia goes to war, Ukraine, everything blows up and there we have that world war that we read about with the first seal being opened up. Who knows? I don't know. Whatever. Again, it's earthly. It's earthly. But, Revelation chapter 17, in the end times. Revelation 17. You guys are very familiar with the whore, Mystery Babylon, the whore, which is a city. But I just wanted to show you a couple of things in verse number 1. Revelation 17 verse 1. And there came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. So, he's going to show him this woman. This woman is a great whore. What's a whore? A woman that is used basically. She gives of herself. Right? She's got no modesty about her. She's used and abused, that kind of idea. Who is this great whore? Verse number 2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So, this fornication, this whoredom, is with the kings of the earth. You see, in these last days, there's going to be this major power, this Babylon, this Mystery Babylon, this great whore, and all the kings of the earth will basically use her, abuse her. It's the establishment, brethren. That's what it is. It's the current establishment of that day. It's the power of that day. And the Bible refers to her as that great whore. Look at verse number 6. Drop down to verse number 6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. So, this woman, what is she responsible for? The murder of Christians. The murder of God's people. This is throughout history, by the way, okay? You know, I don't have time to go through it all now, but she doesn't just represent the power of the earth, but the accumulation of the wickedness and the great powers that have come before, okay? But we have this great woman who's this city, this whore, and she's definitely guilty of killing God's people. Say, that's the establishment, Pastor Kevin. If we just take down the great whore, if we just wipe her out, then Christians can live godly lives. We can have peace and freedom. Let's take down the whore. That sounds good. It sounds good, I guess. It sounds good. Take down the establishment, yeah. Get those earthly glasses on. Let's take them down. Let's have peace on this earth. Let's drop down to verse number 12. It says, and the ten horns, and she's right upon a beast. I haven't got time to go through it all. You can read it in your own time. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet. So they don't have a kingdom yet. We saw that the whore, she's committed fornication with the kings of the earth. These kings have no power yet, meaning they will get power. They will get power. They haven't got the power yet, but they will get power. And what I propose to you, brethren, is this is the anti-establishment. This is a new system that will take the whore, have his way with the whore, and they start a new system altogether. Okay? Let me just show you this. They haven't got power yet. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. So when do these ten kings receive power? When the beast has control. That's the antichrist. When the antichrist gets control over this world, that's when the ten kings will also have power. Verse number 13. These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. So you notice that there are two powers right now. You've got the whore, which the current kings are committing fornication with. That's the establishment. She sits upon many waters. I think we'll see later the many waters represents all the people, all the countries, all the nations, all the people, all the powers of that land. Then we have a power to come, okay, which will be with the beast, the antichrist. And it says here in verse number 14, this is the new power base, the beast and the ten kings. These shall make war with the lamb, the lamb is Jesus obviously, and the lamb shall overcome them. He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest were the whores sitteth, and here it is, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. Look at verse number 16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore. Do you notice that? The ten kings that rule the antichrist, they hate the whore. They hate the establishment. They hate the current power base. Say, Pastor Kevin, it would be so good to overcome the whore. Let's join up with the ten kings. Potentially, if you have earthly lenses, if you think we can fix this world with the men, the wickedness, the sins that we have here in this life, I'm sure they're going to rally great numbers of people. I'm sure people are going to finally see the corruption and the whoredoms and the wickedness of the great whore, and they're going to demand a change. Hey, the beast and these ten kings, and they hate the whore. They're contrary to the whore. It's a separate power. Say, man, that whore used to kill God's people. Yeah, but what did we learn about the beast and the ten kings? In verse number 14, these shall make war with the lamb. And we know, if you know your book of Revelation, when the antichrist gets in power, he makes war with the saints. Oh, we're delivering the Christians from the power of the whore. Yeah, the next power is going to kill Christians. It's going to be the worst tribulation that's ever been faced on the planet. The greatest death of Christians that's ever been faced. That's the anti-establishment. It's the new power base. They hate the whore. Don't we hate the whore as well? Aren't we on the same page? See, that's a problem with earthly glasses. You know, yeah, you see the wickedness, but you're supporting more wickedness. You're supporting another power that can become wicked. Yeah, okay, the judges had wickedness. Demand a king. The king's become wicked. You know, and if you've got your hopes and the earth changing and things being well with Australia and the world, and you put on the earthly glasses, you're going to be disappointed. You're going to be disappointed. And if we do live in the end times, you're going to be rallying around the antichrist. I'm not saying you're going to take the mark of the beast. Eventually, you're going to wake up to yourself, hold on, this doesn't seem right. Hold on, this base that I've been supporting, oh, I better get away from here. I better not support them anymore, because I know what's coming. Okay, this world is not going to fix itself. Don't have earthly perspective. You know, don't put on the earthly glasses. Don't be hopeful for the earth to fix itself. It's just corruption. It's wickedness. Let's accept it. Let's understand. We know, we know this. Right, we know it, but again, we get caught in this trap. You know, take down the wicked, you know, the wicked whore that forced the vaccinations. Let's take it down. Let's bring in this new power. Yeah, that new power is going to force the mark of the beast. It's the same thing. These wicked people getting power, it just becomes worse and worse and worse. I do believe the antichrist and his power base will be a grassroots movement. I do believe, when we look at here, the hate in the whore, that yeah, he represents something new. Hey, you know what the system we have, the Bill Gates of this world, the Prince Andrews of this world, look how wicked it all is. Let's take it down. Sounds good. Let's take it down. Hold on, who's getting power now? Hey, what's these ten kings? What's this guy that's forcing people to take the mark of the beast? It's worse. It's worse. Verse number 16 again. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. So they destroy the establishment. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will. And so it's actually God's will that they take down the whore. Remember, God allows judgment to come upon this earth, and to agree and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. I kind of find that funny because I think sometimes Christians think, if I go against the whore, that I'm actually going against the antichrist. No, you take down the whore, you hate the whore, you burn the whore, you're actually opening the doors for the antichrist to come into power. Okay? But stopping the antichrist doesn't change. It's God's will. Did you guys see that? This is God's plan. God's going to let this earth destroy itself. Okay? This is God's plan. This is part of God's judgment. He allows these things to happen. He allows the wickedness of man to destroy itself. And so, brethren, I'm telling you this because I don't want you to be hopeful that some new system, some grassroots, Canadian truckers, Canberra protesters are going to change the world and make it better. Okay? Look, do I hope for the best? Of course. Okay? Remember what the Bible says? Pray for your kings. Pray for those that are in authority. That's how we change the world. Brethren, we've got the most powerful being on our side. Actually, we are on his side, I should say. Okay? This is how we change the world. We go to the Lord. We bow our knees and say, Lord, forgive us. We live in a wicked country. Lord, forgive me, I've been wicked. Lord, forgive me, I've been putting on the earthly glasses. Forgive me, I've been living in the outward man. Lord, forgive me for not having heavenly perspective on the affairs of this life. Forgive me for being cast down and depressed because I feel like nothing's changing. Nothing will change until Jesus comes back. That's our hope. And we're going to live with Christ. We're going to rule and reign with Christ. And the earth will finally be exactly how we all want it to be. And we won't be fighting the outward man anymore because we're going to have new resurrected bodies. And we're going to be living in righteousness. And the wicked will be destroyed. Christ will be exalted. Christ will be honoured. You know? And having that perspective changes everything. Alright, please turn to one more passage. Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3 verse number 17. Philippians chapter 3 verse number 17. It says, Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk, so as ye have us for an example. Then it says this, For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. Who minds earthly things? Who loves, putting on the earthly perspective, who is it? Those whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, hey, they're to serve themselves. Wicked people that answer the churches, false prophets, false brethren, these people mind earthly things. Let's not fall in that trap. If your brethren are following you, videos of earthly things, brethren, don't get involved. You put on heavenly glasses, and you let your brethren eventually figure out they're in another paradigm. They're still stuck. They're still brainwashed. They still need to put on the heavenly glasses. Look at this, verse number 20. For our conversation, this is a conversation about your life, your behaviour, for our conversation is in heaven. From whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body. Remember that vile body? That's got the earthly perspective. Change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. So brethren, which one are you? Is your mind on earthly things, or is your conversation in heaven? That's my challenge for you this morning, brethren. Is your conversation, is your lifestyle, is the things that you meditate on, the things that you spend time on, the things you spend researching, the things you talk about, the things you share on social media, is it earthly things, or is it a conversation that is fit for heaven? And I know myself, there's plenty of earthly things that I've been thinking about and meditating on, because I've still got that outward man. This outward man's going to perish. I need to remind myself, you need to remind yourself to put on your heavenly glasses, okay? Is your perspective earthly and temporal, or is it heavenly and eternal? Okay, let's pray.