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Amen. Okay so Acts chapter 14 and we're just going to focus on the first few verses so Acts chapter 14 and starting in verse 1, Acts 14 one. And it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord which gave testimony unto the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by the hands and the multitude of the city was divided and part held with the Jews and part with the apostles and when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles and also of the Jews with their rulers to use them despitefully and to stone them they were aware of it and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia and unto the region at Lythron about and there they preached a gospel. Okay verse two there have a look at verse two, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. Evil affected against the brethren and the title of my sermon today is the stirring tactics of the enemy the stirring tactics of the enemy so the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil affected against the brethren so basically they made them think evil of the Christians they made them think evil of the Christians and this tactic continues until this day okay this tactic continues to this day stirring people up to think and behave in a certain way so how do you make someone's mind evil affected against people that are teaching and preaching grace through faith how do you do that how do you make people think evenly of people that are basically going around and preaching that you can be saved by by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ the guy to heaven that's amazing isn't it how do you stir someone up people who are trying to show you how to avoid an eternity in hell because that's what they're doing aren't they they're trying to show you how god said you can avoid eternity in hell and they're stirring up people's minds okay by stirring up the people and like i said this is something that we see time and time again we see it in nowadays and throughout the book of acts it's constantly talking about the people getting stirred up now to stir is to incite to animate to instigate by flaming passions as to stir up a nation to rebellion and it wasn't just enough that they made them think evil of them okay that wasn't enough if you have a look at verse five says and when there was an assault made both of the gentiles and also of the jews with their rulers to use them despitefully and to stone them they were aware of it and fled unto lystra and cities of lycaonia and unto the region that lieth round about so the result was an attack the result was trying to kill them so they've stirred them up to the point where they want to kill these people and we don't have to go far to see this again so jump forward just just along to verse 18 verse 18 okay they're in lycaonia they've healed someone and the people think that they're gods okay in verse 18 it says and with these sayings scarce restrain they the people that they had not done sacrifice unto them so basically at this point they've tried to stop the people sacrificing to them as gods okay because they've just healed someone they're thinking these guys are gods verse 19 there came with a certain jews from antioc and iconium who persuaded the people and having stone pool drew him out of the city supposing he had been dead so somehow between verse 18 and verse 19 they've gone from wanting to worship them to stoning them okay why well certain jews from antioc and iconium and these are ones from earlier in the chapter so they followed them they followed them and now these people have gone from wanting to worship them to now wanting to stone them now you're thinking wait a second hold on aren't these the chosen people these are jews aren't they the apple of god's eye the special ones no these were unbelieving jews the bible says oh the ones that believe in the torah those ones the ones that believe in in god the father but just not god the son the ones that believe in the old testament no these were unbelieving jews the bible says in john 5 46 jesus said for had ye believed moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me they didn't believe moses either in fact not only did they not believe they hated him they hated him turn to john 15 gospel of john chapter 15 just before the book of acts said john 15 and verse 22 john 15 22 jesus said if i had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin he that hateth me hateth my father also if i had not done among them the works which none other man did they had not had sin but now have they both seen and hated both me and my father but this cometh to pass that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law they hated me without a cause okay and he's referring to psalm 69 but you don't have to go there okay and to this day there are still people claiming to be jews who follow the religion of judaism and what that's become that hate jesus christ okay that we still see that to this day and as christ is in us they hate us too they do they hate us too and anyone that's done any proper soul winning and gone out and knocked doors and sadly knocked doors of people that clearly follow this religion they'll see they absolutely hate you okay and all the all the zionist worshipers and everything else what a coincidence none of them actually go out and try and preach the gospel do they okay they do and sadly they do now let's have a look at this then so have a quick look at revelation chapter two got a revelation chapter two okay now these were current churches at the time but like the rest of the bible we can apply it to our day can't we okay and have a look at verse nine here and i believe that being in revelation there's obviously future symbolism to it too and what the bible's saying here is that there were and still are to this day those which say they are jews but are actually the synagogue of satan have a look at revelation two verse nine the bible says i know thy works in tribulation and poverty but no art rich and i know the blasphemy of them which say they are jews and are not but are the synagogue of satan fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and you should have tribulation 10 days be thou faithful unto death and i will give thee a crown of life now verse two is implying that they will suffer persecution at the hands of these people satan and the devil being the same person right okay so who are these people who are these people that say they are jews and are not but at the synagogue of satan turn of romans chapter two so romans chapter two just after the book of acts where we were and we'll be going to the book of acts quite a bit so just keep a finger there okay romans 2 and from verse 28 the bible says for he is not a jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of god so according to the bible circumcision as we know it and as the world knows it doesn't make you a jew that does not make you a jew neither is a name with burg or stein at the end that doesn't make you a jew neither is your so-called family tree or anything else neither do curly sideburns or funny hats or any of the rest of it according to the bible it's something inward of the heart in the spirit who god praises have a look at philippians 3 and yeah this goes against what the world teaches us and for some alarm bells ring what you're saying that that that someone's not a jew says they're a jew what on earth you're talking about well let's see what philippians 3 3 says for we are the circumcision which worship god in the spirit and rejoice in christ jesus and have no confidence in the flesh so although these people are referred to as jews are known as jews and they're referred to as jews especially in the book of acts there to make it clear we're talking about here it is us as believers which are really jews in god's eyes okay the bible's clear about that isn't it the bible's clear about that we are the jews in god's eyes we are the circumcision who worship god in the spirit and rejoice in christ jesus okay and we still have to this day people that claim to be jews either religiously or genetically and it's completely unbiblical and it's racist to the core it's racist to the core okay there's no other word for it they're racist these people and the people that support it are claiming that someone has some right to a land and someone is something special because of their claim genetic tree because of their claim genetic line it's wrong and it's completely at odds with the bible and i don't care what the world says it's wrong okay now just to make it clear we don't here hate people that claim or call themselves jews i hate the religion and i do i do as the bible says i hate them that hate god okay do not hate them that hate thee i hate them with perfect hatred but people that are caught up in that people that don't hate god they don't hate jesus they just call themselves it because they've been brainwashed to do that i don't hate those people but the bible does warn us of these people that say they're jews are not but other synagogue of satan okay now on that note then the bible's clear that there is no special race of people in the world that's racist isn't it however much you shout anti-semite at someone that doesn't agree however much you shout and name call and tie with a brush that's racist but there are people that follow or at least claim to belong to what is nothing more than a blasphemous religious group isn't it it is a blasphemous religion now like i said there are people that don't even have any idea what that religion teaches and call themselves jews i i you know i love those people like like the bible teaches us to we should go out and try and get those people saved but not above anyone else they're no more worthy of salvation than anyone else but yeah we want all unbelievers to get saved but there are people that that follow this blasphemous religion now whether it's through conversion at some point and let's make it clear what we call jews this day did convert they converted majority the vast majority of what we call ashkenazi jews and they've converted it's around the 8th century ad and and these people have no claim to any sort of land no more claim than you or i do in fact probably less okay and there were converts throughout the bible we see clearly at the book of esther many many people converted to judaism okay so whether it's through conversion or because their mother claimed to be a jew because they call it a matriarchal line don't know that if your mother was you just automatically become one but again how many of these people again a lot of them don't even know what they're teaching they just call themselves it there's quite an insular sort of truthfully it's quite a xenophobic culture um and they're proud of that and they they feel that they're being persecuted from all sides or at least they told there are some of these people but the religion itself hates jesus and still persecutes his followers as well as as well as persecuting any others that they consider their enemies sadly okay now how do they do this how do they do this and how do how is this persecution on christians in general because like i say we're going to see some examples how the bible says it's jews and whether or not you want to believe that that is to this day or what they call themselves jews because ultimately they're not anyway so whatever they call themselves let's see how the bible gives examples of this and if there's stuff we can learn from this because every person pretty much i think in this room is it is is a saved christian which means that that how christians have been persecuted throughout the book of acts there's going to be some lessons for us to learn from that yeah okay so let's have a little look at how they do this now multiple times in the book of acts it's by stirring up the people okay you see this multiple times in the book of acts that they stirred up the people and like i said by inciting animating instigating by inflaming passions and let's look at a few ways that the bible says they do this i turn to acts 13 now so acts chapter 13 now paul and barnabas have been preaching the gospel in the synagogue in antioc okay and he warns them in verse 40 to 41 he says this in the synagogue he says beware therefore lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for i work a work in your days a work which shall in no wise believe which ye shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you okay so he's warning them here is he's calling them the despisers like we said sadly many despise they hate god jump forward to verse 44 and the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of god but when the jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy and spake against those things which are spoken by paul contradicting and blaspheming okay so firstly they're filled with envy they're filled with envy at the numbers the multitudes that are coming to hear the gospel they're filled with envy now provost 27 4 says wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous but who is able to stand before envy okay because envy is such a powerful thing isn't it who is able to stand before me if you've been around people that are envious they have envy for for things in your life yourself or anything else you'll know that is a powerful emotion isn't it it's a hard thing to deal with sometimes okay so they're filled with envy but now what do they do it says they're filled with envy and spake against those things which are spoken by paul contradicting and blaspheming okay so the stirring tactics of the enemy number one is contradicting the bible because paul's preaching the bible he's preaching the gospel they contradict the bible now contradict is affirming the contrary to what has been asserted denying opposing paul is preaching the gospel the word of god and we see a lot of that to this day don't we we see a lot of contradicting of the bible and the word of god okay and this is a tactic used by the enemies of christianity they contradict the bible constantly constantly trying to discredit jesus only yesterday i knocked on the door i'm preaching the gospel to a fella and he um he halfway through suddenly starts telling me that um well didn't jesus you know was jesus really sinless didn't he end up with a prostitute i mean unbelievable this is the jump that this is a guy that claimed to be a christian from a church wringler church he claimed that he was going to heaven because he was such a good person and then he's telling me this sort of filthy blasphemous rubbish and then i said so it's up to you do you want to believe the bible or do you want to believe dan brown who wrote the da vinci code well you know or is it a sin if he married her you know he's trying to be all like you know i'm so knowledgeable and cool and i'm going to throw a spanner in the works here but this is the sort of stuff people believe now stuff like those those blasphemous books which people read i mean that's not a one-off is it i mean i've seen newspaper articles claiming the same stuff claiming he was he was married to this person he had this affair he had this i've seen some real real blasphemous junk come from the media i'll tell you what if that was about any other religious religious leader you could imagine the uproar couldn't you anyone else but no jesus they will attack him they will they will blaspheme against him and they will contradict the word of god won't they they're contradicting the word of god the bible how many attacks do we see how many how many suggestions that they left out this special book or that book or this one was actually written by someone else or this one was something we see it all the time don't we all the time constantly trying to contradict constantly trying to discredit the bible the false bibles that's what they are they're an attack 400 were so-called bibles in english what are they doing and every single one has a bit of a difference doesn't it has to have a certain amount of difference to have a copyright the one that doesn't have a copyright the king james bible the word of god the preserved word of god in english yeah all these other bibles contradicting the word of god putting doubt in people's mind making people question now on that note because we look at this and i think many people will look at that and look at the world and see and they'll see yeah there's a lot of discrediting they'll see that and they'll see that from the mainstream media and there's no denying in the mainstream media there is clearly constantly discrediting contradicting of the bible the word of god jesus christ but then they'll look to the alternative media and think because it's alternative well then everything that says will be true and we have to be careful that obviously because there are fingers in every pie there's deception at every corner isn't there at every turn and obviously the alternative media doesn't suddenly mean because someone's not spouting the mainstream rhetoric it doesn't suddenly mean that everything that the mainstream sorry that the alternative media says is true does it okay so obviously we have to look through it through the lens of the bible okay and there is so much out there creation what about the creation the pushing of of of basically discrediting the biblical creation and pushing this absolutely ridiculous ridiculous big bang stroke macro evolution theory okay and you have to decide for what it is don't you because they like to lump it all together that somehow the adaptation of a species proves a big bang and fish turning into people and everything else okay which is it's laughable isn't it and how this has been pushed on on people like i said these people have been stirred up to basically believe something that's completely contrary to the bible haven't they and we see that throughout the world don't we at least in the west it's pretty big now on that creation thing just something i was thinking about with this um about that contradict to the bible it made me uh it made me remember that when um when all the stuff first come out about Jeffrey Epstein everyone know who Jeffrey Epstein was so he was this basically absolutely vile pervert who was a financier and and and quite a big player in the world who happens to have had this private jet that they nicknamed the Lolita Express to almost make it into a joke thing i mean how you even do that oh it's just a little you know like it's all so so almost acceptable but no i mean it should be called the satan expression there but this guy this guy was was basically inviting all these world leaders and and and big names in the world were coming to his island and getting up to all sorts of disgusting despicable things and this guy was making a lot of money out of this as well but from what it seems he had a lot of money he was rubbing shoulders with a lot of big people who somehow seem to still not have been arrested to this day over this but Jeffrey Epstein also one of i think he's probably his biggest philanthropy work was towards the promotion of uh evolution evolution in schools evolution studies and when it first came out i was looking at his links to that now i tried to have a quick look last actually it was first thing this morning and um and so much of it is really hard to find now when you go on search engines and stuff like that it's kind of all been overridden by some news story but Jeffrey Epstein used to basically and you know before he died apparently he's he's he's dead now some people claim he's not i don't it doesn't really matter because either way when he does die he's going to get it isn't he but Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Epstein was donating big amounts of money to the promotion to the promotion of this ridiculous evolution theory but the bible says every word of god is pure he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him so as much as they try and contradict the bible though as much as they try and attack the word of god as much as they try and do that in their stirring tactics we know that every word of god is pure don't we okay so we just need to be firmly grounded in the word of god now stirring tactics of the enemy number two blaspheming god we just saw their blaspheming god they love to blaspheme god blaspheme is uttering impious or approachful words concerning god and you know why almost everyone you meet now blasphemed so much and sadly a lot of christians do don't they as well they don't even seem to be aware of it um is because hollywood and the rest of the movie industries and tv industries everything else have been blaspheming and pushing it for years haven't they absolutely pushing it for years and years and years um to the point to the point where it's basically part of most people's speech to either exclaim jesus jesus christ etcetera god oh my god and and anything along those lines where even the point i was thinking about this recently where we as christians who understand the bible and know that we should not take the the name of the lord in vain we we then will still use words because we've been so promote like put it's been pushing us that begin with a g or or a j stroke you know phonetically don't we so a lot of people say goodness and gracious and good grief and all these things and the truth is they're just replacing it aren't they now i'm not saying that that's necessarily blasphemy some people say it is somebody so what's good who is goodness the lord god isn't he but but we all then replace it don't we we replace it for something else because it's just such a part of culture and speech it's a constantly be saying something with a g or a j jeez a lot of people say jesus what's that really saying what they're saying not saying jeez or jeez louise all these sorts of things are really they're just exclaiming jesus aren't they and use his name in vain and we see this throughout throughout i mean i i think back to when i used to watch movies and and all the old action movies it was literally like every other word wasn't it just constant blasphemy blasphemy blasphemy okay and that's a that's to take the name you know the name of the lord in vain blasphemy but the more you hear it the more you hear that stuff the more you you're kind of just getting stirred up to do that yourself and to blaspheme and he becomes almost like a mocking figure then doesn't he and not that that feared god that we should be in fear of and fear of eternity and hell and instead he becomes this sort of almost joke figure doesn't he and part of that is a blasphemy but with the blasphemy as well there's obviously much worse as well and sadly these people that hate jesus christ they blaspheme worse than that and i've heard this as well i've heard this off someone's lips i've tried to get saved um turn them to mark chapter three so you've got the gospels matthew mark luke so we're going to mark chapter three and from verse 28 the bible says mark 3 28 verily i say unto you all sin shall be forgiven unto the sons of men and blasphemies wherewith so ever they shall blaspheme amen to that hey you can get get forgiven for that but he that shall blaspheme against the holy ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation now blaspheme the holy ghost is for example because he says here in verse um he says here he says in verse 30 because they said he have an unclean spirit saying that jesus christ is a devil saying that he has a devil in him and the rest of the stuff which sadly these reprobates were saying that's it you're done you're given over that's you're you're beyond salvation you're beyond hope and i had someone say this once tried to say to me yeah but wasn't he possessed by a devil when i tried to give him the gospel i just stopped it there and said do you believe that he said yeah see you later you know done what what can i say to someone who believes that and and that is wicked isn't it when you're saying something like that that's that's beyond just saying oh my this and that and use the name of the lord in vain okay saying that he has a devil devil and sadly the religion of judaism teaches that it teaches that he was a magician that he was basically doing doing tricks from the devil and and the rest of it and anyone that really believes that the bible says they have never forgiveness okay you can't you you once you get to that point you've crossed that line haven't you okay the bible's clear there are lines that you cross okay verse 46 i back in ax back in the book of ax and we're in chapter chapter 14 weren't we okay and and uh sorry not chapter 14 i think i think we did we jump forward guys where were we uh 13 so uh okay ax 13 and verse 46 it says then paul and barnabas wax bold and said it was necessary that the word of god should first have been spoken to you but seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life lo return to the gentiles for so had the lord commander saying i've set thee to be a light of the gentiles that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth and when the gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed and the word of the lord was published throughout all the region but the jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against paul and barnabas and expelled them out of their coasts so the jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution and the stirring tactics of the enemy number three is to stir up the respected women to stir up the respected women why did they stir up the devout and honorable women because it's one thing to stir up what people might call the dregs of society but getting the respected in society on side is much more effective isn't it getting the respect in society on side is much more effective now notice how the chief men aren't described as devout and honorable it says the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city not devout and honorable women and chief men and the chief men so why the devout and honorable women well maybe maybe honorable men wouldn't be so easy to be stirred up against people simply preaching the gospel and i'm not going to have a big uh women here but i'm going to tell you why i think that is in a second okay maybe those men wouldn't have been stirred up against people simply preaching the gospel because that's all they're doing aren't they they're preaching the gospel they're preaching the word of god so how are they getting stirred up something that we see nowadays is a lot of deception aimed especially at women don't we we see a lot of deception aimed especially at women now i believe it's because it's designed to work on the emotions it's designed to work on emotion something that we as men apparently can lack a little sometimes we could be a little bit devoid of emotion can't we okay and again we're different aren't we as much as our our you know our media our mainstream our society will tell us we're the same we're not the same are we men and women are different we're wired differently um and pulling on the heartstrings i think is something that's especially aimed at women because our heartstrings men can be a little bit tighter can't they a little bit harder to get hold of and pull on um and i'm not saying that's either a good or a bad thing but sometimes that's why we need a woman to help us with that but pulling on the heartstrings like those mean christians are suggesting that your dear old work salvationist nan is in hell how horrible are they for trying to get you saved because they're suggesting that people are in hell those lovely nice people um but nowadays the attacks are to turn people against god and to make his word a stumbling block aren't they okay there's a big big part of that it's attacks against god and the feminism movement for example the feminism movement was an attack on god's roles for men and women wasn't it it was it it was and it still is okay and that is a massive one that is a massive one in society it wasn't organic anyone thinks that these things just spring up out of nowhere you live in a dream world you think that with the power the the the the basically the small amount of power and if and again this isn't conspiracy stuff just look into who really holds the power in this world look at the very small amount of people that do right at the very top and you think that organically out of nowhere that a load of women that just want to you know go and vote and everything will do that without any backing uh brother john did a good sermon on this research is showing about the suffragette movement and who was behind that and how that worked out and who these people were and it's disgusting it's disgusting how these things are pushless and promoted and then we're convinced that somehow it's just come organically and it was all just good people no it's just it's just an attack on god it's attack on god and god's word okay and i could go into that that could be 10 sermons couldn't couldn't it on the feminist movement but we'll move on the pro-choice mass murder abortion industry is an attack on god's sanctity of life and command to multiply isn't it just it's absolutely wicked yet we have been persuaded that somehow pro-choice like it's this good thing that women can can basically commit murder it is disgusting and the word and the word of god is clear isn't it that life starts conception the lgbtqrstuv and whatever the rest of it is an attack on basically just about everything godly isn't it an absolute attack on it but truthfully the women are so much more sympathetic to it that's the truth because when i was young it was nothing like now when i was young you know the people that generally were a little bit more their heartstrings were pulled a bit towards the whole sympathy and these poor people and they didn't choose it and everything else was was the women how many women i knew that we would call it you know i'm going to use the word we used to call them a fag hag yeah because basically they would love to be best friends with someone who claimed to be a sodomite and because for that but for a guy it was like no way it's like they didn't want to be anywhere near it because we're naturally we're disgusted by it but with the women there was this push there was this encouragement the the pull on the emotions the tug on the heartstrings now i noticed something recently so i noticed that the the pro mask warriors okay now i i i'm exempt from wearing a mask and at the beginning i i didn't wear a mask and and i i for me the whole thing was absolutely ridiculous i'm not ill i'm not sick i don't need to wear a mask walking around which is more likely to get me ill and sick wearing a mask all day so i wasn't wearing a mask and the people that gave me the grief the people that would make comments the people that were that would eyeball me the most were generally middle-aged fairly middle-class women that was the truth the honorable and respectable women seem to have been drummed up to almost you know that was their cause that they were fighting that people without masks were making everyone sick even though it was completely ridiculous um but turn the chat uh turn the genesis chapter 3 and just to see the first first instance of this genesis chapter 3 genesis chapter 3 and verse 1 genesis 3 1 now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the lord god had made and he said unto the woman yay hath god said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden god have said ye shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest ye die and the serpent said unto the woman you shall not surely die for god doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil so notice verse four the contradicting and blaspheming really he's saying he's contradicting he said you shall not surely die then verse five for god does know that in the day eat thereof then your eyes shall be open basically calling god a liar in that one verse verse four you shall not surely die okay so he's contradicting his blaspheming okay now look at verse five then he stirs up the woman for god doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods knowing good and evil and you could probably see an emotional angle here couldn't you how unfair god is he doesn't want what's best for you that mean old god you know he doesn't want you to you know have what's best and have your eyes opened and everything else and then what's the result look at verse six and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one why she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat and the devout and honorable women can then influence their husbands can't they they infer and i'm not saying that they necessarily mean badly they might mean well it's like well i want you to be able to have your eyes opened as well and you know to know good or to know good from evil in the same way i want you you know your husband i don't want you to be sucked in by these evil christians going around preaching the gospel trying to pull people out of the fire and you can see that can't you and in many other angles as well the devout and honorable women can and do influence their husbands don't they we see that the very first first time that ever happened in the bible now how about the chief men though how about the chief men so verse 50 back in acts 13 there okay acts 13 and verse 50 but the jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and the stirring tactics of the enemy verse sorry number four stir up the rulers stir up the rulers now nowadays how do you stir them up well they're easily influenced by lust aren't they rulers sadly are easily influenced by lust and it's usually one of two things lust for money and lust for perversion lust for money and lust for perversion it's basically bribe or blackmail bribe or blackmail i think of the two tactics we see with the chief men of the city micah seven three you don't have to turn there says that they may do evil with both hands earnestly the prince asketh that's the the principal the leader the ruler and the judge asketh for a reward and the great man that's the rich man he utterth his mischievous desire so they wrap it up basically they wrap up that gift and give it to him the great or rich man gets his mischievous desire in return for giving the chief men of the city gifts okay that's how it works and those gifts are either in money or sadly in some form of perversion now like i mentioned earlier jeffrey epstein and that was what what and i think that's the tip of the iceberg and what a wicked example that was of someone that was basically giving leaders rulers gifts and a lot of the time there and what we can see and what's coming out more and more were gifts in terms of sadly underage women men you name it disgusting filth and and and as well i would say if you look back at financial records they were giving financial gifts as well through this guy maybe but he was a big part of that and that is it that is a tactic isn't it stirring up the rulers now once you've got those rulers stirred up with their lust you've got them stood up with their lust for money their lust for for perversions and other things they're easily controlled aren't they they're easily manipulated they're easily used and we still see that to this day and that was going on back 2 000 years ago and before that you can see a lot of old testament examples as well so the stirring tactics of the enemy number five create persecution create persecution so we just we just saw there didn't we in that verse before we saw in um in verse verse 50 there we saw but the jews said that the devout and honorable women and the chief man of the city and raised persecution against paul and barnabas okay persecution now more recently we've seen we've had a great example of that where a bible preaching church in the united states got bombed got bombed for preaching the word of god how on earth have we got to that point in the united states where churches are getting bombed for preaching the word of god and that's not a one-off well that's just there no i mean throughout the world there's violence in many countries there's violence against christians in many many countries there's persecution all over the world against christians you know in israel you can't preach the gospel and the persecution against real christians there is real it's really real um that you know all sorts you've seen the videos and being surrounded spat at slapped about and everything else for daring to try and preach the gospel daring to be a christian in israel um but this is all over the world as well and we see this all over the world the banning of bibles in many countries i don't know the exact total but there's still a lot of countries around the world where the bible is banned the bible is banned and again you might think well that's just come for a lot of those will be islamic countries you might think that that's just come out of you know that's their own desires or maybe it's not maybe it's been manipulated by other people um persecution like in this country like laws against so-called hate speech how about that and we're seeing that now aren't we creeping up laws against hate speech and to the point where we no longer have freedom of religion because a lot of this king james bible this word of god this preserved word of god according to our now you know wise rulers is hate speech is it not absolutely wicked isn't it and that's going to come soon isn't it we we know it's going to come soon where we're going to be we're going to be pulled up for preaching the bible preaching the word of god and that's where we're going to have to make a stand and say no we're preaching the word of god and we're going to try that law try that well what happened to freedom of religion because i'm preaching the bible the bible which which has been in our hands in this country we've had the perfected word of god since 1611 and you're going to say that this is somehow some sort of hate speech it's absolutely wicked and what that is is that's just a sad indictment of where this nation has got to isn't it that is a sad indictment of where this nation is right now oh you know rule britannia rule britannia that says that that this bible's hate speech it's absolutely evil isn't it it's evil but but there is persecution like that persecution on the biblical view of of of how to raise a child now how about that persecution the biblical view of how to raise a child with actual punishment punishment that works punishment that we're commanded to do in the bible the biblical view on on on you know on what you teach your kids what you teach your kids about certain what they will call lifestyle choices and the rest of it now that's coming to a point where that's becoming against the law absolutely wicked isn't it okay and that's persecution that's and that's going to get worse isn't it yeah okay we're not all getting strung up yet we're not all getting arrested for it yet but we're not far off are we we're not far off and it's coming okay but they persecuted jesus didn't they so we should expect it john 5 16 you don't have to turn this is and therefore did the jews persecute jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the sabbath day just just healing people on the sabbath day was enough to want to kill jesus okay verse 50 there in act 13 and expelled them out of their coasts so the stirring tactics of the enemy number six is ban the opposition ban the opposition they expelled them out of their coast who expelled them well i don't know when you look at that it says but the jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against paul and barnaby that still seems to be the jews and expelled them out of the coast so how are they expelling them out of the coast of where they seem to be people who have dwelt there but by all means they it looks like they have some control there some power don't they at this point they've expelled them out of their coast and and we see pastors to this day men of god expelled from countries don't we don't we just we know we we know some people know personally pastors that are expelled that are banned from from countries around the world for preaching the word of god how have we got to that point well we always were at that point by by all accounts weren't we because again 2 000 years ago that was going on attempts to expel them from youtube we're seeing aren't we youtube is expelling people for preaching the bible for preaching the bible certain parts of bible they don't like they like the love love bit oh that bit's popular you know they love the you know forgive your neighbour and everything else but but you preach some of the harder parts of the bible you get expelled from youtube as well and and they are getting expelled from countries as we've seen now that was one of the concerns with part with from people wanting to come here and plant a church wasn't it one of the concerns was that they would just get expelled that if someone came here and preached the gospel from another nation they would just get expelled they get kicked out okay and and fortunately there's been a way for us to have a proper church to preach the gospel there isn't hide there isn't hiding hiding behind well not even the pulpit hiding behind the the the government or whatever else it tells you should and shouldn't do and thank god that we have a church for people here that want to hear the word of god preached because that that's what we're commanded to do aren't we preach the word be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine but sadly most pastors most churches in this world are too lily-livered they're too weak they're too scared aren't they they're too scared to preach that preach the bible the word of god but we're commanded to do it okay but how evil how evil does someone seem to be to the world if they're banned from countries what do you think because it does stir up the people doesn't it you for example talk about pastor stephen anderson to people and people have heard of him people that have no idea about christianity have heard of him because that guy was on a bbc documentary as a hate preacher because he preached what the bible says about sodomy and that guy that guy is in a lot of people they think well they're no smoke without fire they must be thinking it's got to be pretty weak got to be a bit of a hate preacher at least to be banned so again you're just stirring up the people aren't you to then reject biblical preaching to to reject biblical christianity now turn to acts chapter 6 now acts chapter 6 and verse 8 okay let's talk about stephen here it says in stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people then there arose certain of the synagogue which is called the synagogue of the libertines and syrenians and alexandrians and of them of silicea and of asia disputing with stephen and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake that wisdom and spirits the word of god so they couldn't resist the word of god the spirit and wisdom that comes from the word of god so verse 11 what they do then they suborned men which said we have heard him speak blasphemous words against moses and against god suborned is basically obtained to lie so they couldn't win the disputes with the spirit-filled man of god and just got false witnesses to lie instead and the stirring tactics of the enemy number seven is slander people number seven is slandering people verse 12 jump forward to verse 12 there and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and came upon him and caught him and brought him to the council so they stirred up the people elders and scribes with their lies they stirred them up with their lies and this happens a lot with our media doesn't it this happens a lot in the media we've seen it throughout you know the age of the newspaper especially haven't we just people being slandered people's characters just being attacked for daring to oppose what the mainstream tell you should and shouldn't think and do just slandered attacked name just just dragged through the mud without necessarily any any due cause without any you know it won't go to some sort of you know before two or three witnesses the rest of it just that's it newspaper prints it you're done and nowadays it'll be social media so-called witnesses so-called witnesses we sometimes see they just claim a person said a spokesman a witness said that's enough for most people isn't it now cue on them again no smoke without fire must be some problem and we see that the slandering it's a wicked thing as well isn't it slander is a wicked thing when you're just completely just drugging someone's name through the mud in public it's just unbelievable and and what happens is everyone gets stirred up people get stirred up they love it people love to just jump on a victim and claim how evil he is and so much worse than them because people love to have someone that they can just just really just put their own problems on to it well i'm not as bad as that person oh how wicked and get all their anger up on them now verse 13 it says and set up false witnesses which said this man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law so now they've ramped up the lie he ceaseth not okay before it was in verse verse 11 we heard him speak blasphemous words now he ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law so they're ramping it up just starting to go a bit further now verse 14 for we have heard him say that this jesus of nazereth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which moses delivered us mix a little truth and it sounds a lot more convincing doesn't it mix a little truth with a lie and it sounds a lot more convincing because jerusalem did get destroyed didn't it the meats drinks divers washington carnal ordinances were done away with weren't they they were done away with okay but mix that tree and then and then the rest of the lie just goes goes as well doesn't it okay and then well look they got that bit right verse 15 and all that sat in the council looking steadfastly upon him saw his face it had been the face of an angel and then what what happens after that steven ends up getting killed in the next chapter killed it wasn't enough just to slander him just false witnesses kill him destroy him and we see that we see that don't we and and i was thinking about this as well looking back on on um on past past for example uh pastor jack hauls i mean that guy got absolutely hammered still getting hammered now you know and the media just slander stuff without without evidence just constant constant attacks constant attacks on men of god and we're starting to see that happen more and more with with passes that we know is and respect as well and and we're going to see more and more of that um turn to acts 21 acts chapter 21 and verse 26 so paul's just been encouraged to try to appease the jews okay so it says in verse 26 and paul took the men and the next day purifying himself for them entered into the temple to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification until that an offering should be offered for every one of them when the seven days were almost ended the jews which were of asia when they saw him in the temple stirred up all the people and laid hands on him you're starting to see a bit of a trend here yeah they stirred up all the people and laid hands on him so how do they stir him up this time how do you think they did this time let's have a look verse 28 crying out men of israel help help this is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people and the law in this place and further brought greeks also into the temple and have polluted this holy place it's victim time isn't it victim time men of israel help the stirring tactics of the enemy verse sorry number eight play the victim card play the victim card he's a racist he's a racist they're saying aren't they he's saying that he's teaching men everywhere against the people against the people what a vile racist he's so sinful he's so sinful against the law an anti-semite aren't they saying and this place this place you know our religion our temple anti our religion anti our temple and the victim card is very effective at stirring up people isn't it oh that stirs them up a lot the victim card everyone loves to feel like they're helping out the victim that they're just that bit more loving and a bit kinder than everyone else oh well i'm not that tall you know i wouldn't be an anti-semite you know i wouldn't say what the bible says you know i'm not that type the victim card is very effective the race card he teaches everywhere against the people people love the race card don't they it's a great way to get support use the race card and the irony in that verse is quite amusing because if you see further on it says and further brought greeks also into the temple and have polluted this holy place you teach against the people at any point those horrible greeks in here i mean it's just ridiculous isn't it but colossians 3 11 says where there is neither greek nor jew circumcision or uncircumcision barbarian sithian bon offery but christ is all and in all it's it's again completely unbiblical isn't it they said he's teaching against the law you can imagine you know the accusations of cheap grace once saved always saved oh what once saved always so what cheap grace you can just do what you like you can imagine that can't you yet romans 3 31 says do we then make void the law through faith god forbid yea we establish the law i don't think paul was teaching us that after faith to just do what you like did he did he no we're saying we know we're saved by the blood of jesus christ but after that we should be living for god shouldn't we we should we should want to we should try our best um teach you against the temple but then first coincidence you don't have to turn there chapter 3 verse 16 to 17 says no ye not that you're the temple of god and that the spirit of god dwelleth in you if any man defy the temple of god him shall god destroy for the temple of god is holy which temple ye are what's the teacher against the temple was he okay what about acts 21 29 where they said here they said for they had seen before with him in a city trophimus an ephesian whom they supposed that paul had brought into the temple they suppose but that's enough isn't it they suppose he brought him in but that'll do it that'll do it for another slander another lie verse 30 and all the city was moved and the people ran together and they took paul and drew him out of the temple and forthwith the doors were shut but it worked didn't it it worked the victim card worked the city was moved they came together against the hate mongers didn't they those hate mongers preaching the gospel the city was moved and the people ran together and they took paul and drew him out of the temple verse 31 and as they went about to kill him tidings came unto the chief captain of the band that all jerusalem was in an uproar who immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down onto them and when they saw the chief captain of the soldiers they left beating of paul they were beating paul to death they were beating paul to death for preaching the gospel how about that the hypocrisy the so-called holiness and victim mentality and they're beating him to death they're trying to kill him by beating him to death and sometimes i think we can read this and we can just gloss over that paul was getting beaten to death for preaching the gospel that is wicked isn't it that's absolutely wicked but the hypocrisy it's not really a problem for these people if you don't know luke chapter 23 the enemies of god luke chapter 23 and just have a look at from verse one okay this is obviously jesus christ here in his in his final final hours really and the whole multitude of them arose and led him unto pilot and they began to accuse him saying we found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to caesar saying that he himself is christ a king notice the lies there again verse three and pilot asked him saying aren't thou the king of the jews and he asked him and said thou sayest it then said pilot to the chief priest to the people i find no fault in this man and they were the more fierce saying he stirreth up the people teaching throughout all Jewry beginning from Galilee to this place they're accusing jesus of stirring up the people they're accusing jesus stirring up the people and again they just project what they do onto others whilst trying to stir up the people because later we see them calling for barabbas don't they stirring up the people to do so now go back just to to acts and go to the chapter 17 now and this is paul and silas after the famous prison events i think most people have probably quote some of when they're preaching the gospel in act 16 but this is act 17 and have a look from verse one now when they had passed through ampif um amphipolis at apollonia they came to thessalonica where was the synagogue of the jews and and paul as his manner was went in unto them and three sabbath days reason with them out of the scriptures opening and alleging that christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this jesus whom i preach unto you is christ so he's preaching the gospel and some of them believed and consulted with paul and silas and of the devout greeks a great multitude of the chief women not a few but the jews which believe not moved with envy again took unto them certain lewd fellows of the base assault and gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar and assaulted the house of jason and sought to bring them out to the people the stirring tactics of the enemy number nine is let the dogs loose let the dogs loose a lewd fellow of the basis or lewd is wicked vile profligate licentious so basically disgusting the base assault are basically the lowest of the low okay the lowest of the low so and i don't mean to be crude here but think about that these are like because we saw these outside churches process protesting these are like your transsexual prostitutes aren't they these are the most vile wicked lowest of the low people protesting out of churches and and i don't know if anyone's seen any image any videos of this we're talking about showing pictures to kids as they go past talking about being dressed in all sorts of filth calling out to the kids to come over and everything else i mean it was absolutely vile what's gone on at these churches for preaching the word of god for preaching the bible it's absolutely disgusting they let the dogs loose and they encourage them and they wind them up and they work them up and then they let them loose um and and like i said these wild people were saying sick things to families as they went past it it was it's terrible i mean this has been outside quite a few churches and and here with it they it said it said here that they they took upon them certain lou fellas of the base sort and gathered a company and settled the city on an uproar and assaulted they asked jacob to bring him out for people so basically they join themselves and two and propagate people at depths of depravity so you can see how basically that how pride for example is massively sponsored now encouraged it's pushed it's used to then just attack god attack god's people anyone that says anything otherwise is evil is wicked it is some sort of you know homophobe and the rest of it again for just preaching god's word for preaching leviticus 2013 for preaching romans one and many and many other passages um okay so they join themselves and propagate people at the depths of depravity like i said and then they like i said they encourage them to oppose the righteous now but what happens with that so just quickly some 37 12 says the wicked plotth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth and that's really what they're doing there when you see say i'm gnashing upon them with his teeth but what happens when they do that is that the other people the other people the people that aren't part of the lewd fellows of the basa sort they want to join in to appease these animals that's what happens they want to join in because they don't want to also be on the wrong side of them okay so this is what happens so you get the most vile people the most wicked people and people then their their position on the fence becomes a lot further over the fence gets moved doesn't it because they don't want to be on the receiving end they don't so so basically you've just shifted the goalpost massively there because it said here that they they they took upon them lude certain loo fellows of the basel gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar so the loo fellows of the bases sort being gathered together then set the whole city on an uproar and assaulted the house adjacent so they're just like yeah yeah you know don't want to wind up these people these wicked vile people who literally will stop at nothing let's just join in with them and yeah these people must be evil and that's that's kind of that's the bully mentality isn't it and sadly so many people will just will just fall in line with the bully okay um okay look at verse six so there and when they found them not they drew jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city crying these that have turned the world upside down a come hither also whom jason has received and these all do contrary to the decrees of caesar saying that there is another king one jesus the stirring tactics of the enemy last one number 10 attack anyone associated attack anyone associated with the victim so verse six there said and when they found them not they drew jason certain brethren unto the rulers of the city so they couldn't find them they just turned on jason turned on jason for daring to house them and again this is something we see a lot of now don't we anyone in association with people that have been deemed the enemy of the mainstream the enemy of the media the enemy of the the people whatever it is they will get attacked as well and they have to distance themselves or they become fair game don't they um and what this tactic does it puts people in fear of even picking aside doesn't it also of not picking aside it puts them in fear of of just sitting on the fence they have to basically move that fence way over and basically take the side of the wicked or they will be attacked for being somehow associated even by not picking the side it's easier to join the masses isn't it than to even sit on the fence the fence can be a bit uncomfortable can't it sitting up there it's easier just to join with the masses and you're left alone and that's what that does there so you attack anyone associated and we see this in the media a lot don't we where anyone that doesn't distance and publicly renounce the latest villain they get attacked don't they and get attacked and we've seen this tactic for years um and that's happened more recently in the u.s with with bank providers we've seen this with people providing on like online donations and everything else um where the bible preaching churches owes that they'll basically distance and come away and they'll come away from them because they're worried about being attacked for being associated with them okay so you've got like these sort of online donation accounts and these easy tithe and tightly and all these sorts of ones that some of them now will distance from bible preaching churches um and there's many many examples of that and and with previous bigger churches it was the same people were getting attacked for any sort of association and and members of churches get attacked as well and they'll get it on a small scale they'll get persecution with their jobs and other things for being a member of a church which preaches the bible um so the stirring tactics of the enemy that we see in the book of acts number one contradict the bible number two blaspheme god number three stir up the respected women number four stir up the rulers number five create persecution number six ban the opposition number seven slander people number eight play the victim card number nine let the dogs loose and number ten attack anyone associated and these are common tactics that we see from from our enemies today and and we shouldn't be surprised by them should we we shouldn't be surprised by them we should oh it's just so wicked i can't believe it because this was going on this pretty much has been going on from the beginning hasn't it i mean you can go back and see story after story in the old testament we see the same thing going on and i've just gone back to to the new test at the book of acts in just the formation of the church and people going around preaching the gospel clearly preach the gospel you know we see clear examples of it um but all of these examples have been given to us haven't they for us to be aware and prepared when it comes haven't they so we shouldn't be shot but we should also be prepared now we can't always do much about it though so i'm not saying we can be prepared right we're going to counter fight with all our you know the tentacles we have in our media and everything else well we don't do it okay we're just simple humble christians trying to preach the word of god trying to be honest to the word honest to god preach and do as he tells us to do okay so we can't always do much about it so what's the answer then well turn to revelation three well i read proverbs 10 12 proverbs 10 12 says hatred stirreth up strifes because it comes from hatred doesn't it hatred stirreth up strife but love covereth all sins love covereth all sins so it comes from hatred the strife but we just need to love god don't we love god and love people enough to keep going keep working for god keep preaching the gospel and keep preaching the truth because that's the real love isn't it the love isn't pretending pretending that god doesn't have any judgment on anyone at all and that no no no all sins are equal you know i love love love the the sinner hate the sin and the rest of it no because the bible is clear about that isn't it okay that's not love that's not love for people it's not love for people pointing out sin it's it's not love if we don't point out sin sorry it's not is it if i was to just stand here and tell you how great everyone is every week we're all just these brilliant christians no one does anything wrong that's not love and is it is it love not warning people of the of the wickedness out there and the risk to our children a risk to us that's not love is it but the bible says love covereth all sins and that's the love to go out and preach the gospel the love to to preach the word of god in its entirety the love for god the love for people revelation chapter 3 and verse 9 says this so and this is something to remember behold i will make them of the synagogue of satan which say they are jews and are not but do lie behold i will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that i have loved thee god's loved us and there's a time coming when they will they will come and worship before our feet and that's something to remember because they're going to be some hard times for us there's going to be some hard times as a church we're going to be under persecution we're going to suffer it if we do things as god wants us to do we are going to suffer persecution okay this isn't some sort of liberal fun center where we just come along and play a bit of rock and roll and go home and pat each other on the back at what how great christians we are and everything else we are going to suffer persecution but but we've got a promise there behold i will make them to come and worship before their feet and to know that i have loved thee okay and and that's something that i think does apply for us to this day as well and that will happen but in the meantime in the meantime let's show that love to others let's go out and get people saved and that means all people across all people unless they literally are showing that they hate the lord jesus christ to the point of blaspheming the holy spirit or any other obvious signs of reprobation we should be going out and getting the gospel that should we guys and on that let's pray heavenly father i thank you for your word i thank you for the book of acts and all the the great lessons we can get from that and and the clear clear teachings of what we're up against and what sort of what the enemies of god will do and and how they'll persecute us how they do that how they stir up the people against us and help us to to not marvel that the world hates us because because they hated jesus christ and and they're going to continue to hate us but but help us to to understand that to accept that and to carry on moving forward and are working for you to carry on with that love for for the lost to get out they get the gospel out help us to to just be comforted by by the many words you give us by the instruction you give us by the guidance you give us and and knowing that that one day all this will end and and and in the meantime help us just get out there starting this afternoon get out preach the gospel let's people saved and in jesus name we pray amen