The Truth of It LIVE – Adelaide, SA

do [Music] do [Music] do [Music] do [Music] do [Music] do do [Music] do do [Music] um [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] hey um [Music] so [Music] play maybe or something [Music] [Music] ah ah amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved like me i once was lost but now i am found was blind but now i see it was grace that taught my heart to fear embrace my fears [Music] [Applause] [Music] believe the lord [Music] his word my hope [Music] as long as [Music] his grace [Applause] [Music] why don't you get up on your feet and join us for the last verse when we've been there ten thousand years bright shining bright shining [Music] days [Music] [Music] one more time we've no less days [Music] to sing god's praise then when we first [Music] well a very good evening to you please stay standing we've got one more chorus to sing together it's the rousing chorus because he lives and i'd pledge that you raise your voices and really get into the song here we go god sent his son here we go god cindy sun god sent his son they called him jesus he came to love heal and forgive [Music] [Music] lifts your voices because he lives i can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone because i know [Music] he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives [Music] [Applause] [Music] this child can face on certain days because he lives because he lives tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone because i know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives and then one day i'll cross that river [Music] and then as [Music] to death [Applause] i'll see the lights of glory and i'll know he reigns come on lift your voices because he lives [Music] because he lives [Music] because i know he holds the future and life is worth living just because he lives one more time because he lives because he lives i can face tomorrow because he lives [Music] because i know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives [Music] please be seated [Music] welcome adelaide let's all go to heaven my name is christopher breaux and i'm the south african director of the australian christian lobby normally on this tti tour wendy francis our national director of politics has been the mc but wendy can't come to south australia and attend an event with more than a thousand people and we've got double that tonight but wendy and peter her husband are watching on live stream so let's all say together hi peter and wendy [Applause] the big one of the biggest feedback we get after these events is wendy's shoes you won't get that tonight hannah welcome to you all and i want to particularly welcome some special guests senator alex antic a great friend tony tony passing the [Music] member of the house of representatives for barca jeff brock the member of the legislative assembly for from and the honorable tony passing was to be uh um frank pangala was to come but a family situation meant he couldn't come i also want to welcome many clergy particularly his grace bishops bishop ciliwan of cenopy who is one of our great supporters in this state welcome your grace the highlight of this evening obviously will be as you hear from martin i want you to know at the start there'll be a q a um we use this app called slido and you can download on your phone and send your questions in right through the evening we won't get to all your questions during the during the q a session but if any of you uh want to contact me on email we'll do our best to answer the questions paul said of his friend epaphrodite he's in the book of philippians that he is a brother a fellow laborer and fellow soldier in the gospel of christ and that is true of rob and debbie norman the pastors of southland church they have stood with us through thick and thin right from the marriage campaign and i want to welcome them now on stage to open this meeting in prayer rob and debbie [Applause] yes mike's here thank you let's stand before our king of kings and let's just be still for a moment because we need to hear him father thank you that you've ordered our steps that we would all be here tonight this is no accident you want us in this place tonight and we want to hear what you've got to say lord i thank you that you sent jesus you gave your son for us and that he died on the cross but lord we also rejoice in knowing that he's no longer on the cross he is risen he is risen and he is alive and he is actually praying for us and so we need to be attentive and we need to say yes lord when we hear his voice holy spirit i thank you that you're here and i pray right now lord that you would fill us from the top of our head down to our fingertips to the soles of our feet we love you lord come and fill us and i pray that tonight your word says that you're the way the truth and the life john 14 6 i pray that any things that we have in our mind that it's not of you that we think is you you'd shake them away you'd wash them away tonight and you would renew us with your truth i want to read a scripture from john chapter 8 and verse 31. and it says to the jews who believed him and i don't think we're being injurious to the text if we insert to the adelaideans who believed him if you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free lord tonight we are gathered here not around a concept not even around facts but lord we're gathered around a person we acknowledge you jesus you are the truth you're the centerpiece you're the one we worship exclusively and tonight as we gather and encamp around the truth we know that you're here in our midst so lord we bless you we invite you to come holy spirit we pray that every person in this room would hear your voice tonight in jesus mighty name amen god bless you guys thank you rob and debbie on the way in you may have heard some people saying some things outside and handing out leaflets don't engage with them leave them alone there'll be blind guides this is now the part of the evening where wendy usually says nice things about the state director and introduces the state director i'll pass over that opportunity but it's now my privilege to address you on the state of the state as it were in south australia as the lord jesus sat down on the mountain in galilee to deliver the greatest sermon that has ever been preached the sermon on the mount he said something amazing to that gathered group of followers he said you are the light of the world and he says that to you today in adelaide you are the light of the world but light is of no use if it's all gathered together lights in a light shop don't do much they have to be taken out and put in dark places to shed light in the darkness and so after his death and glorious resurrection on another mountain also in galilee he gave the commission which we know and love is the great commission he said go make disciples of all nations baptizing teaching in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit and that mandate has never been revoked and it will not be revoked till he returns again but in this context of acl it's a mandate to go into the public places of our society and engage for truth for the well-being of others and the glory of christ and it is a real joy that i can say that today among the people of god that is happening in this state and city these five leaders you see on this slide or you saw on the slide if you can switch it back here as gun fighters most of them are here today led a meeting at which also his grace was a partaker where they spoke to other pastors encouraging them to engage with their people to be involved in the political process it was a real joy to sit there as an observer and hear the things that seo had been saying for years from these men and women not because we told them to do it but because god told them to do it and it's a bit like revival i've never been in a revival but it's a feature of revival that it's spontaneous god touches hearts and that is what's happening in this city and this state and that is why we had that magnificent movement and we still have over the last two years which culminated in february of this year in the walk for life where in the rain about four and a half thousand people gathered to stand for life and if you if you look closely at the picture you'll see a young man with sunglasses trying to be inconspicuous among many other not so vertically enhanced young women but it was because of that movement and because of the gathering of people that even though we lost the abortion to birth debate we gained things that were not gained in any other state in south in australia gender selection abortion was banned for the first time in australia there was a duty of care for babies born alive for the first time in australia there was a mandate that counselling be offered from the get-go when a woman seeks an abortion and there were seven principles built into the legislation which have to be considered mandatory before late term abortion can take place that took place because of your involvement and in your chairs there's a card for the walk for life on the 12th of february there is no there is nothing more important that you are doing on that day but to be there be there but don't just be there bring others because we need to double triple those people to say to those in power this matters life matters but i want you to remember that we lost abortion to birth the critical part of that debate the bill was always going to pass the critical part of the debate was the amendment to restrict late term abortion and that lost 20 votes to 26. three votes were in it because we knew that that the chairman would have voted with us and these three people who are in some of the most marginal seats in the state and you will vote for them in in march next year voted against the amendment to restrict abortion to birth richard harvey is on point one percent in newland 25 votes he voted against an amendment to restrict late term abortion in the end he voted against the bill but that didn't matter the bill was going to pass and i want you we can't tell you how to vote but when you stand at that polling booth remember that remember that leon bigler in mawson on 75 votes voted to re against restricting late-term abortion and voted for the bill and rachel sanderson voted against restricting late-term abortion and voted for the bill remember that remember that the premier and the deputy premier of this state voted against this amendment and voted for the bill and remember that peter malinowskis leader of the opposition voted for the amendment he voted against the bill for the bill but he voted for the amendment and remember this that it is foreseeable that viable healthy nearly full term babies will be killed in the womb because these people voted against the amendment remember that when you vote and remember that in 2019 a bill to completely decriminalize a prostitution in this state was defeated and it's on again tammy franks has brought that bill on again and you must be in the year of your mps saying we do not want this but we want the nordic model because of very good upper house mps they labor in upper house mp the honourable claire scriven and the honourable nikola center fanty from the liberals we have a chance for the first time in australia of bringing in the nordic model bill which flips the model and decriminalizes selling criminalizes buying and provides legitimate exit options for abused women and we can do this it is opposite that south australia which was the first state to give the votes to women is the first state to protect women by the nordic model remember that and be engaged and remember the orphans of this state i don't speak of orphans who've lost their parents in debt i speak of the teenage girls who are being caught up in the social contagion of transgenderism this the article that will appear on the slide in a minute is an article from the australian only two or three days ago of a family torn apart by a young girl suddenly manifesting a desire to change her gender so-called this case was argued only two or three days ago an appeal and because the parents did not affirm it they were classed as being abusive and remember that our legislators rather than trying to turn this social contagion away and and tone it down are legislating as they have done in victoria to say that any parent any doctor any pastor tells a child not to go this way they commit a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment remember that this bill a similar bill is likely to come to our state after the election and that cook wants to bring one in remember that you have no option but to be engaged in the political process because the other side is and you are the light of this world what will happen in this state for good or ill depends on you the australian christian lobby is a movement and you are the australian christian lobby and together we can affect this state for righteousness and for good to the glory of jesus let's do it and one way you can do that is by volunteering with the australian christian lobby and i want you to turn your eyes to the screen now for a moment and watch this video on on volunteering with the acl i first heard of australian christian lobby at a conference i heard of martin and he had a session where he spoke about just the importance of government and how we should be involved i was very convicted but i think it was more not the lobby group that convicted me but it was the message in itself and i think that's what caused me to change my mind about being involved we do have the words of jesus saying be the salt of the earth stop the decay be the light of the world get out and be active and be seen for those who do good works well i grew up overseas so i didn't actually have the opportunity to be able to be on the ground but when i heard about acl got really excited you know if we as christians don't say things and stand up for what we hold is true then that vacuum is going to be filled by other voices so we need to get out at a grassroots level because we know most australians do not agree with the changes that are being made in our society at this time they volunteered from morning until evening gave up their saturdays just to because they believed in a cause [Music] we didn't get to the situation where our parliaments were like this and our communities were like this overnight we got there over a long period so we are not going to win everything back overnight so we need to have a sustained movement that grows in vigor and size so that we can have serious winds back in the other direction to turn the tide but also simply to be the testimony for christ and to be the active christians that we have been called to be and it fills me with joy to see christians stand up and be counted in this way because it's what we're supposed to do [Music] i don't see it as a lobby group i see it's a ministry really it's a very important ministry that exists in australia [Applause] [Music] public [Music] and one great difference between this movement and the other political movements is that we do everything in the love of jesus and i want to welcome up david hughes who is one of our local campaign organizers we are looking to have one in each federal electorate and david's going to talk to us about volunteering david [Applause] good evening everyone as you said i'm david and believe it or not i'm a volunteer in fact as christopher said i'm an lco a local campaign organizer which means i coordinate a team of volunteers in an electorate here in adelaide the electorate of macon volunteering with the acl is a great way that you can serve the christian community here in south australia but also across australia what do i mean by that let me explain using an example we all know people use yeast to make bread rise disclaimer i've never made bread but according to a quick google search the other day i found out that dry yeast is inactive until it's been dissolved in warm water after which the chemical reaction happens and it makes dough rise the warm water is what we call an activating agent that releases the power for change that is in the yeast and a bit like that dry yeast i think that for a lot of christians around this country even though they are concerned about where they see this society heading they're dormant they are inactive with respect to having a voice for truth in the political sphere this could be due to a lack of knowledge about the legislation being introduced in our parliaments it could be a sense of inadequacy about how to engage with their local members of parliament even a sense of laziness thinking it's all just too hard and for myself up until about two years ago i probably ticked all three of those boxes but the problem with this is that it fails we fail to take advantage of the great privilege we have in this country that of democratic representation in government because of this great privilege we there is a power for change inherent in every single person who uses their voice to speak truth into politics so what do we need we need an activating agent and that's where volunteering with the acl comes in being a volunteer is all about putting our own faith in christ into action by facilitating and enabling christians in australia to have a voice for truth into politics how do we do this well we address people's lack of knowledge but regarding what's happening by providing information through letterbox campaigns through ringing up supporters and speaking to them even going out into the community and engaging people in the general public handing out leaflets we address people's feelings of inadequacy and even laziness by trying to make it as easy as possible for them so we do online petitions for people to sign we do phone call patch through campaigns we even provide training for people to let give them confidence to engage with their mps and visit their offices for example with our phone call patched through campaigns acl volunteers ring up supporters around the country for a particular issue and right there on that call they're able to patch them through to their local mp so that in that same call they can share their concerns with their mp so if you have a heart to make a difference to this society by enabling christian people to have a voice into politics please consider volunteering with the acl you can sign up at the link i think it's there and if you not only want to volunteer but you want to have a leadership role and help other volunteers in your local area maybe consider becoming an lco a local campaign organizer we're seeking across australia to organize all the volunteers into teams based in their electorates and at the moment in south australia we have nine lcos and assistants and we need about 25 to cover the whole state so get in touch with christopher or our national office if you are interested in that so i hope that i've inspired you to consider volunteering with the acl it's a great way of serving the christian community in this country by being that activating agent to enable people to have a voice for truth in this into politics in this country thank you thank you david and with young men like him and the other young people who greeted you the future of this movement is promising time for homework you've got in your in your little books a card on the back of it is a is a qr code don't we love them um uh to register as a volunteer or there's a link so if god moves your heart do it tonight do it even now to volunteer before we move on i also want to say that we're having our first acl wedding mary ian go and tom nunn some our young people are getting married in december so bless god and well done mary and tom [Applause] many of you would have come i'm sure because you've heard martin on the truth of it live on television when martin began recording this series and and putting it out no one had any idea i'm sure he didn't of the reach this this cast would have millions of people have watched this program and it's very clear that god has raised martin up for such a time as this when god called the prophet jeremiah jeremiah's reaction was our lord i'm under your youth and god said don't say unto your youth what i tell you you speak and don't be afraid of your faces of their faces in 2017 martin had been overseas on a reformation tour and on his way back as he contemplated what the great men of old had done he prayed something like this lord show me what to do i haven't done very much show me what to do the plane landed in sydney and that martin put his phone on and as soon as he put it on large shelton the seo managing director rang him and said in laos in inimitable way martin i'm resigning i want you to take over and martin thought whoa that is too quick an answer to prayer but he took it on and with courage and grace and wisdom he has spoken truth in the public square including in lines then places like q a but it's not all seriousness i've known martin for a long time he's got a zany sense of humor loves a particular soft drink and he's great fun to be with and our family has really enjoyed him martin was named after dr martin lloyd john there's another marty here martin here who goes by marti but he was actually martin his dad would say and the doctor was famed for being a student of the word but preaching truth with fire and martin has imbibed that spirit and i could well imagine the doctor saying to his young namesake as paul said to timothy let no one despise your youth but set the belief as an example in speech in conduct in love in faith in purity and by god's grace martin is doing that so please turn your eyes on the screen for a moment to see some of the journey that god has taken martin on to this day i think calling out bigotry is always important it's the law i have no intention of repenting being gay we are in the beginning of a mass extinction and we will never forgive you g'day i'm martin isles and this is the truth of it a weekly newscast on politics and current events with a christian worldview let's start at the so-called facts destruction would play out through marxism it's not black versus white it's good versus evil it says that it's a sin to act on any sexual desire outside of marriage that god commands all people everywhere to repent a christian never looks fundamentally at another person as an enemy to be destroyed we only ever look at people as souls to be saved the policy that the government has literally adopted says that if your views do not accord with the views of the state government then you are cancelled he spoke that's what he did what happened to him was he was fired and religious freedom is the protection of that human aspiration to understand and to live accordingly there's nothing more human than that and that's the truth and it's obvious and here's why that matters because far from oppressing you that truth sets you free i'm mark niles and that was the truth of it [Music] [Music] ladies and gentlemen welcome martin owls well good evening adelaide it's my absolute pleasure to be here for what is the finale of the truth of it live for 2021 alas all of the lockdown free states that we could possibly get to have pretty much been gotten to and so we have to face the cold hard reality that we need to return to the east coast at some point so um if i talk for a very very very long time this evening it's just delaying me inevitable so please excuse me but speaking actually of covert i do want to make a couple of points beforehand which will lead us into the second segment which is really where i've saved the best for last and you'll see what i mean in just a minute but i want to make a point i thought of a striking thing recently as i was reflecting on all the chaos the division the fear and the disaster of covert 19 and i appreciate that in adelaide there's probably not as much sense of that but we're not allowed to go to sydney or melbourne to say this so we're going to have to live stream it to them from here but the thing that struck me was that in the book of job there's an astonishing thing you know satan had the power to send chaldeans and sabians in units to steal kill and destroy he also had the power to send natural disasters it was a great fire there was a tornado or a cyclone and here's the thing if he has that ability then he does have the ability to send a pandemic and i'm not actually being ridiculous because i note that so much of what is going on in response to this pandemic carries hallmarks of darkness one is fear-mongering and fearfulness that is everywhere it is not only something that we see uh from the people who are concerned about the government response to the virus but probably more commonly in the community it is fear of the virus itself that is a big problem now whenever i express a moderate view on this people get very upset they get cranky because of the conviction that the covet 19 virus is catastrophically deadly to us at an individual level and it's not it's just not now that doesn't mean it's not real [Applause] doesn't mean it's not real but it does mean it's been overblown and there is fear-mongering among us i actually read a paper i'll mention this i read a paper just this afternoon by professor john ian who is one of the top 10 most cited academics in the world and he's an epidemiologist at stanford university professor iodinius points out that up until the end of last year in 14 countries where the virus was strongest and indeed in 10 u.s states that the risk of dying of covert was similar on average to the risk of dying of a car accident in your daily commute now that's an expert a serious expert who i went to find and look into this matter and you can see that study for yourself but also it's not just that these are times of fear these are also unfortunately times of deception it's very hard to find the truth very very hard it's hard to find the truth on both sides of the argument and indeed not only is it the misinformation that gets posted on social media and the extreme stuff you come across there that misinterprets or misrepresents certain information and stats and figures but you know our leaders only have themselves to blame as well because here's the thing our leaders haven't been so keen to say what is true so much as what works they say what they need to say to get people to quote do the right thing and of course they have a political imperative which is get everyone vaccinated they have a political imperative which is get everyone to keep the rules and i understand why they need to do that but they don't necessarily say what's true do they they fear manga and there's a deception about it i heard it put this way there's something of a noble lie and of course the noble lie is that well yes to me individually and personally this this pandemic is catastrophically deadly that's not true but of course if i undermine it and there's probably people in the room already who are upset with me for undermining that because it's noble right because it's capable of getting people to do the right thing so it needs to be protected and that's the sad thing but see i don't believe that lies have the capacity to do that you know jesus said that satan was a liar from the beginning and he does not stand in the truth i think that they should just tell the truth and there's a very easy argument to be made for all of the policies or some of the policies that the government wants to see implemented that's just based on telling the truth and not only would those who are easy to convince be brought on board but those who see the misinformation would also be brought on board as well because there would be confidence in the truth but here's the other thing and this is why i nearly didn't speak about this tonight i nearly didn't speak about it because the other hallmark here is is division and strife and this is dividing us against each other phenomenally it's actually hard to talk about because people get really really upset and people are so rusted into their views and i think fear does that to us and we're seeing angry emails go back and forth we're seeing theology bombs being thrown this way and that way we're seeing families i know of families who are torn apart we're seeing people leaving churches we're seeing so much disaster do you know there's some hallmarks there and i've only scratched the surface fear deception strife and division i say again these have these are the hallmarks of darkness now my hope is that this whole thing resolves smoothly that you know the government has chosen that the way they'd like to resolve it is to hit a vaccine threshold and then apparently everything goes back to normal i truly hope that happens i truly do and it might and this might become a distant memory and the damage that's been done so far is healed in time but here's the thing it's very difficult to know how it exactly is going to end but in the meantime here's the important thing we mustn't promote these hallmarks of darkness ourselves we mustn't do you know in the book of job that's what his wife did you remember the job's wife where she says curse god and die which is amazing it hits you like a freight train when you read job because you read chapter one and what does it say it says that satan says just let me at this guy and he will certainly curse you to your face and she's overwhelmed in the crisis and she can't see her way out and so the crisis does its work on her and she says do it because that's what the crisis was designed to achieve or indeed job's friends who are apparently godly rational individuals they come around him what do they do it's your fault job you've done something wrong job and we know satan elsewhere in scripture is called the great accuser and here they are accusing him again they're overwhelmed by the crisis they can't see out of it and it's doing its work on them and i want to say this we need to be careful that we're not doing the work of the evil one and playing a role in this destruction because here's the other side of the coin job's crisis did end it did end but satan was only allowed to do for a time precisely what god allowed him to do and no more and that meant that god actually had an ultimate purpose for good out of job's troubles now covert's been hard for me to navigate it's complicated it's such a pig's breakfast of issues but it's a great metaphor isn't it but i can't get away from this thought if god has allowed all of this to happen and continues to hold back his hand and allow it to continue in the way we've described and yet it carries the hallmarks of darkness he must be more than able to bring good out of it in fact the bible shows us time and again that evil will always heal to god's purposes it will always be made to submit and the ultimate example of course where we see that the greatest darkness brings the greatest light is the crucifixion of jesus christ that was the worst thing that ever happened in human history and it created the greatest light and the greatest blessing that we ever could have imagined and here's what i think what i think we should therefore do in the face of all of this first i do think this should be bringing us to prayer and we ought to pray that despite all the chaos of what's going on and despite the uncertainties and despite the fact that we can open facebook and start getting fearful uh for many reasons but what we ought to do is that we ought to pray actually that god would use this to do a great work in our day and that it would serve his good purposes and not evil ends because there is a seismic shift taking place right now there really is and i don't have time to go into it all you might be able to ask me in q a and i don't know how this ends but god does and meanwhile we can learn something else from job remember i said the crisis overwhelmed him well it didn't overwhelm him sorry it overwhelmed his wife it overwhelmed his friends and so it did its work on them here's the thing this too shall pass it's very important that it doesn't do its work on us and we don't serve these ends for which i believe it has been sent and see the way that job you see that job didn't fall into the trap was right at the start when he gets the announcement of all the chaos and trouble that happens to him it says in all this job did not sin i think that's incredible how not well in job 19 he reveals to us that his focus is right and true and his focus is this he says yet as for me i know my redeemer lives and at the last he will stand on the earth he says you know what that bedrock of history remains it hasn't shifted and even after i die my skin is destroyed and he was he probably thought he was dying with his boils yet from my flesh i shall see god whom i on my part shall behold for myself whom i whom my eyes shall see and not another there is a great lesson in this that we must never lose our focus we must never be like peter when he was walking on the water and what did he look at he looked at the fears and the waves and the chaos on each side and he lost focus on the thing that always matters the thing that we must endure to do and to serve at all times in crisis and not in crisis and that is the risen lord jesus christ because there is a god who reigns and the most important thing that you and i can do is to just carry on and be a testimony to that fact [Applause] now this is the only chance i'm going to get to do this so hey i don't know if you know i think i said this in the last live stream but it just says good catch there's actually there's actually nothing on it i don't think anyone caught that one but anyway look this is the next section and this feeds us into it really nicely i said at the start that i'd saved the best till last and i don't mean uh my best efforts or anything like that i mean the best content because we're going to spend the rest of our time seeing our way above this chaos seeing our way up outside of uh this world in which we live into the other world in which we live which is the eternal world the heavenly world and i want to speak to you tonight about the most important thing which i've deliberately saved for now and it is the revelation of jesus christ it is the unveiling of who he is now and what it means for our world now and the best thing i can do is to actually read it revelation 1 it starts in verse 1 it just says the revelation of jesus christ the unveiling of jesus christ verse 4 john to the seven churches who are in asia grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from jesus christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood and he made us into a kingdom priests to his god and father to him be glory and the dominion forever and ever amen behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him so it is to be amen i am the alpha and the omega says the lord god who is and who was and who is to come the almighty i john your brother and fellow participate a participant in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance in jesus was on the island called patmos because of the word of god and the testimony of jesus i was in the spirit on the lord's day and i heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet saying write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches then i turned to see the voice that was speaking with me and after turning i saw seven golden lampstands and in the middle of the lampstands i saw one like a son of man clothed in a robe reaching to the feet and wrapped around the chest with a golden sash his head and hair were white like white wool like snow and his eyes were like a flame of fire his feet were like burnished bronze when it has been heated to glow in a furnace and his voice was like the roar of many waters in his right hand he held seven stars and out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword and his face was like the sun shining in its strength when i saw him i fell at his feet like a dead man and he placed his right hand on me saying do not be afraid i am the first and the last and the living one and i was dead and behold i am alive forevermore and i have the keys of death and of hades honestly one of the finest chapters in the bible you know the apostle john wrote revelation from an overwhelming time for christians it was a time in which he and all of the christians that he was writing to in those seven churches in asia would have felt like the world was in the grip of a downward spiral they were facing so much defeat they were facing so much persecution they were facing an epic crisis and they might well have been asking is anybody really in control or indeed to return to what i was saying just before they might well have been asking is satan actually in control john is writing from jail solitary confinement exile on an island and he's been brought very low and he's writing to christians with friends and family and fellow church members who have been recently executed for their faith and they might be next the deaths of peter and paul by crucifixion and beheading respectively would have been not that much of ancient history and we live in days when we are concerned about the beginnings of soft persecution and so we certainly feel that pressure but we're not like this this is something far greater and so i think that this context if this could help them in their time oh how much more can this help us in our time you know that's the downward spiral on that front and i think that is true i mean we see the cancel culture stuff popping up from time to time you see the you know canaries in the coal mine you might call them like israel falao or with the human rights law alliance the cases that i often rehearse and recite at these events and some of us know friends or have connections through church where those sorts of things have happened to them and they face legal trouble for their faith we see that we feel it we look at the laws that are passing that don't have the conscientious objection clauses like i said there's a sense of some soft trouble coming and it might get a lot worse but there's also a moral spiral i spent a great deal of time in hobart showing the decline of rome in the era of the apostles and afterwards and we talked then about how it was characterized by sexual liberation abandonment of infants to death the cheapening of human life gluttony and excesses bread and circuses and you know that's us sexual liberation has gone to a whole new level these days it's celebrated under flags with the lgbt world but we're just as bad this didn't start there this started with divorcing it started with deserting families it started with affairs fornication pornography in the church too tragic the worst of sins according to paul in 1st corinthians 6 sins against the body we don't abandon our infants we abort them just before they're born we don't cheapen life through execution we do so by legalizing suicide in queensland euthanasia and it's a criminal offence to talk somebody out of it it's not a joke we are gluttons living in an age of excess and you know it's interesting to me when covered rules are relaxed what's the first thing that gets the green light the football bread and circuses sad isn't it it's tragic for all who have eyes to see who grieve as god must grieve over a downward spiral a downward spiral and it is a downward spiral because rome was judged and fell apart i do believe we'll see the same jeremiah spoke to a nation on the cusp of judgment and they said no no no no no no oh no not us no no no no you must be joking do you know something there's never been a generation that has welcomed the news of judgment never every single time it's been said everyone's going oh no you're joking i've got other ideas well jeremiah said this is what the lord says stand by the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it then you will find a resting place for your souls but they said we will not walk in it so that's us there is an active move right through the education system the political world and the culture to cast off what was good from the past and we call it progressive nobody ever liked to hear that judgment but here's how i that news of judgment but here's how i know there is judgment because the things described in romans 1 are happening now in far greater intensity than they were happening then the moral decline described therein is very real and it seems to be out of control and romans 1 teaches very clearly that when god's hand is lifted and these things are allowed to happen because god does restrain evil in the world it teaches that we are already under judgment the judgment train is on the move we are in a downward spiral but what happens in those moments is that we tend to lose our bearings we lose sight of the things that sustain us and continue to matter no matter how the world is changing my mother is a truly excellent cook and she has a cookbook collection which should probably be in a museum it's that extensive and i remember one day she threw some of them out and when she was asked why she said she said she felt convicted that she was me reading more recipe books than she was the bible she knows something i hope i'm all right to make that analysis but anyway you know something we live in times when people are reading more cultural commentary news media political podcasts and philosophical analysis than they are feeding on god in his word do you know something in a downward spiral that is the worst thing you can do because it will overwhelm you it will be bad news on every hand and it will cause defeat in your life it's human it comes naturally but in so doing you will never be the one who overcomes the world the world and its trouble will overcome you and what's one of the reasons revelation was written it was so that you might overcome the world this sort of trouble was enveloping john in some ways far more intensely in other ways perhaps a little less but certainly his circumstances were far more extreme and we meet him there that's where we meet him he says i john your brother and fellow participant in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance in jesus i was in jail i was on the island called patmos because of the word of god and the testimony of jesus and i was in the spirit on the lord's day and heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet you know john is a pastor and he writes first that he is sharing their troubles and we share each other's troubles insofar as these difficulties are common even the concerns we have about the world isn't it wonderful to be in a room full of people who have the same concerns we share the concern of the world we are brothers and sisters in this trouble but also it is sad to me you know that worse trouble is coming to some from time to time for example the israel flowers of the world the stories we hear of through acl of people as i mentioned being cancelled and all the rest of it and sometimes people close to us and we are not so used to trouble in this world because the last few decades have been so good and our instinct is not to share in each other's trouble but to distance ourselves from those people you know even if it's just something small in a workplace do you know how one other voice can make such a difference do you know how one other person to stand by you and share with you makes such a difference and that's why we are here together to share in those troubles you know at best we so often see people say oh well i don't agree with everything they say but and you go you know as someone who's frequently on the receiving end of that kind of thing do you know how much that hurts you're putting your arm around someone and holding your nose and you're winking at the people who don't like them because you're not really on their side that's not standing with people it isn't and i think we need to get this memo because it's going to happen a little more and john says this is a feature not a bug in the christian life tribulation and perseverance in jesus and we share it because we share jesus christ who is the cause of so much of that trouble in this world he face trouble in the world we will too but back to john he's sharing in these things and for doing so he's found himself himself in very practical trouble he's found himself on patmos in jail in solitary confinement but see he's not only on patmos john is also in the spirit and we see here that the christian lives in two worlds the christian doesn't only live in the world of the downward spiral the christian doesn't only live in a world where they see things going wrong the christian doesn't only live in the world of the ben shapiro podcast and the sky news and the abc the christian actually lives in eternity with jesus and that life is as real and as vital and as genuine as the life we live in the temporal world jesus called it eternal life in fact there's two words in the greek in the new testament bios no guesses no no prizes for guessing what kind of life bios refers to biological life but when jesus says i came that they might have a life he doesn't say bios he says zoe it's a different greek word he came to bring another life that is accessible to the human soul because it is his life and he gives it to those whom he regenerates that is why the apostle paul wrote that the christian is seated in heavenly places with christ because spiritually each one of us is already in heaven we are already united to jesus christ in his life and it already fills us it already drives us it all ready dominates our thinking and our motives and our priorities and every true christian is aware of the other realm to which they belong every true christian is aware of the daily tension living for eternity and living now the tension of the spirit and this life and we are guided every day we trust by the spirit and once that's in order the rest falls into place do you see how we so often get the order the wrong way around we get overwhelmed here oh no if the spirit is in order if that life is our priority and it's consuming us the rest will fall into place these are two worlds and we're made alive from the dead says the new testament why to be awake to to live in the world of eternity where we will go and the bios life will fall away but the zoe life will continue forever do you know these two worlds you might call them time that's what we see and hear and feel and eternity and we can make the mistake of thinking of eternity as if it existed before time began and it will exist again after time finishes i used to think that eternities all the way back there and all the way over there that's not quite right eternity is always there you might think of time like a sphere and everything that's not the sphere is eternity in other words eternity is everywhere eternity is all around us eternity is well it's at your elbow or it's right behind you it's at the tip of your nose it's as close and as real as that and it can break through at any moment do you know when the people who wrote the scriptures were carried along by the holy spirit that was eternity breaking through you know when jesus came and was incarnated in human flesh and lived among us that was eternity breaking through do you know when you were converted and the life of jesus christ himself was put in your soul that's eternity breaking through into your life listen i live in two worlds tonight as do you i trust i'm a citizen of australia in the united kingdom i'm a citizen of the world but i'm also a citizen of heaven i have bios for sure but it will die like job knew it would die and the life of christ eternal life will go on and that is seen this tension comes out in our reason for being here you see john says he's in the spirit on the lord's day on patmos he's talking about his two worlds and he says for the word of god and the testimony of jesus did it ever occur to you that john is not a special case that is not a special calling we are all here we are here in adelaide in 2021 for the word of god and the testimony of jesus and indeed whoever's there's people watching on the live stream so adelaide doesn't apply to everybody but wherever you are you're in your corner of the world and the eternal life you have transforms your earthly existence that you live by the word of god you are resourced by the word of god and you show and reveal the word of god to others but also it is broken into your life this is the life of jesus himself to transform you to be a christ-like presence in this world to put jesus on display and tell others about him i think we've forgotten priorities sometimes i tell you i live in the world of politics i work in the world of politics it's all great but at the end of the day i am here finally for the word of god and the testimony of jesus and that is every one of us and so eternity actually breaks in through us and through christ's work in us not just in our soul but in our action towards the world now john has eternity breaking on him in quite a spectacular way this is the climax he gets just what he needs in the moment that he's in and you'd expect john to be weary you'd expect him to be tired you'd expect him to be defeated you'd expect him to be pessimistic and lonely an old man in this place in this condition facing a downward spiraling world when everything's going wrong he might feel a little bit like a few of you felt about 10 minutes ago i could feel it from up here a little bit disappointed little bit grieved or a lot grieved in his case but see he needed something because this chapter actually shows us that he got what he needed because it's anything but sad it's exultant it's joyful it's rejoicing it's victorious because he got the revelation of jesus christ and unveiling an eye-opener that's what revelation means it is the discovery of a reality that was hidden to us until now and here's something of that reality we need to see today he says he heard behind him eternity's behind us right heard a voice of a loud trumpet and he turned to see the voice and he sees one like a son of man clothed in a robe to the feet wrapped around the chest with a golden sash a head and his hair white like white wool like snow eyes like a flame of fire feet like burnished bronze that's been heated in a furnace so that it glows a voice like the roar of many waters i think that's my favorite one you know you hear water before you see it especially with great waterfalls in his right hand he's holding seven stars and out of his mouth there's a sharp two-edged sword and his face is like the sun shining in its strength and john sees him and falls at his feet as though dead do you know eternity breaks in in a big way and it happens for a good reason because john in his trouble needs to see jesus he needs to see his jesus right now as he is right now not so much as he remembers him because they were friends on earth he was a disciple but as he is right now because as a disciple he had seen him many times and that's why he says in his first letter he starts out like this he says he says that which was from the beginning which we've heard which we've seen with our eyes which we've looked and touched with our hands concerning the word of life he's saying hey i saw him i touched him i heard him i'm an eyewitness that's why he was an apostle i saw him raised from the dead but see at that time we know that jesus glory was veiled it was laid aside it was masked in human flesh and bone my favorite christmas carol captures that hark the herald angels sing it says veiled in flesh the godhead see hail the incarnate deity pleased as a as man with men to dwell jesus our emanuel emmanuel he's god with us but he's veiled in flesh and he came and his glory was veiled at that time and laid aside and john needs to know something he needs an update to his picture of jesus he needs to know that he is not only jesus of nazareth he needs to know that he is the lord jesus christ and it's fatal you know and this is a real cultural trend among us it is fatal to be overly preoccupied with jesus as man things have changed everything's changed things have moved on he's risen he is glorified he is lord and john sees it and he writes with his optimistic tone as if he is saying look at my jesus now and the vision that he has is that of a colossus it's overwhelming the sheer magnitude he has seven stars in one hand can you think of it it's frightening and john became frightened in the midst of it and john is jolted and shocked to reality and he's trying to describe you notice the prevalence of the word like he has a face like this eyes like this he's looking for his words and what he describes is incomprehensible to us but it is interesting to me that actually the vision described in ezekiel has a lot of overlap he's seeing the same risen christ that ezekiel saw but he's shocked to reality and he realizes there's someone in control and he was right there all along he was right behind him he was always here but what does this mean for me and you the reality is we learn from the other verses that this mighty one's might has been deployed in ways that meet us in our world and meet our needs even if we are in a downward spiral listen to this this colossus this one that he sees is none other than jesus christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead the ruler of the kings of the earth none other than him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood none other than he who made us into a kingdom priests to god his father none other than he to whom his glory and dominion forever and ever and one who is coming with clouds and every eye will see him even those who pierced him and all tribes of the earth will mourn because of him he is the alpha and the omega the beginning in the end the one who is who was and who is to come what an eye-opener and these descriptors tell us how that this mighty one's might has been deployed for us on our behalf first of all he was the faithful witness he was faithful in his witness through it all come what may in fact the word witness here is martyr and it reminds us that he was faithful to death and jesus wouldn't be deterred from obedience no matter what no matter what and here we see these people who are being offered great things to renounce their faith they are they're being offered life to renounce their faith and the question that comes to us is how faithful are we when tested you know god's great promises we don't face the pressure that they faced that i just described we're not tested by those who will kill us but we are tested by those who might mock us who might ostracize us we are tested by those who might cancel us and i used to think that the ultimate test was for me to imagine myself standing before some roman authority who was going to put me to death and i'd ask myself what would i do what would i do what would i do and i'd try and imagine i think surely i'd stick you know i wouldn't i wouldn't i wouldn't give in but here's the thing we don't need to ask that we need to ask what will i do tomorrow will i be faithful when my flesh lusts for something that god has forbidden will i be faithful when people invite me to participate in humor or conversation which i ought to reject will i be faithful when i'm challenged on account of what i believe and i have to give an answer that might cause me to be rejected will i put my flesh to death to serve christ now today we don't have to think too far ahead a christian songwriter penned these words in the 1990s he said i have heard how christians long ago were brought before a tyrant's throne and they were told that he would spare their lives if they would renounce the name of christ but one by one they chose to die the son of god they would not deny like a great angelic like a great angelic choir sings i can almost hear their voices ring i pledge allegiance to the lamb with all my strength with all i am i will seek to honor his commands i pledge allegiance to the lamb now the years have come and the years have gone but the cause of jesus still rolls on and now our time has come to count the cost to reject this world to embrace the cross and one by one let us live our lives for the one who died to give us life to the trumpet sounds on that final day let us proudly stand and boldly say i pledge allegiance to the lamb do you know the first time i heard that son i was a teenager and i said to the person singing it you need to stop singing that because how can you say those words oh when i'm brought before a tyrant's throne i pledge allegiance how can you say that careful you might get tested often the things you say do come back to test you it's really sad to me you know that songwriter who i got somewhat interested in the 90s because of songs like this became a crisis point in his life and he divorced his wife he left his four children and he announced that he was living as a gay man and i thought to myself we don't have to ask what would we do we have to ask what will we do today today and in days when our witness is tested and it is in small ways today it really is now for young people in particular it is pretty difficult i get this sense very much at our download program for young people they feel like what they believe is going to put them on the outer you can sense that but see in days when our witness is tested we see that jesus is the faithful witness and he's the firstborn from the dead you're the firstborn in a family has authority it has the authority that was the tradition at the time but jesus even has authority over death but also here's the thing the firstborn also has other brothers and sisters that follow him and that's jesus john writes in other places that he has other god has other sons and daughters his brothers as it says in hebrews chapter 2 and for them he has not only conquered death but he has conquered all of death all of the lesser enemies that we might face he has done that what can we fear with one who is the firstborn from the dead and has other brothers and sisters he is also the ruler of the kings of the earth this is a lesson that nebuchadnezzar had to learn in daniel it was a hard lesson for him to learn but daniel tried to say it in chapter two he said may the name of god be blessed forever and ever for wisdom and power belong to him it is he who changes the times and the periods he removes kings and appoints kings he gives wisdom to wise men i've had to believe this and trust this a lot even in a democracy we do what we can right we do what we can to see good come in a democratic system but at the end of the day god allows the person to be in charge who is in charge that's the teaching of the bible from start to finish and we have to accept that but see the other side of it is of course let all tyrants tremble because christ is king and the authority that every politician has today they have by the grace of god you would have no authority at all unless it was given to you from above said jesus to pilate and they'll give account for that but see nebuchadnezzar learned that god was on the throne and better that he learned it then than later you say that you know uh there was recently a case that i knew of where some people were about to get married and it fell apart at the last minute and it was really sad but someone said well of course if that's going to happen it's better that happens now than later well it's the same with the rulers of the earth they will find out but it better not be later and every one of us will have to see god and in days when our rulers our leaders our kings if you like are weak and failing christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth now there's comfort this colossus is really in charge it says here that is him him this is also him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood and notice this it's no good just seeing this great vision this revelation this unveiling of a great and mighty colossus there's something more he loves us he is for us his will is for our good he desires my best he is working all things together for good and you are top of mind for him as he is doing all those things what did he say to his disciples just before he went he said i am with you always even to the end of the age he is for us and the freedom that he gives us is that he has freed us from our sins so here's an interesting thing no matter what happens to us no matter what happens to me imagine in 10 years i go to jail let's say it gets that bad um probably won't but well who knows it's in god's hands all those things are in god's hands it could go to custard tomorrow it could go to custard in 50 years it could never go to custard who knows but let's say i end up in jail i will still be more free than the jailor because i have been set free from the greatest oppressor of all and it is sin [Applause] someone out there is having a good time i heard that oh yes [Laughter] this is how john must have felt seeing this in the pit of his despair yes he must have been so elated and you see it coming through but here's the thing the greatest oppressor of all people is sin and that's why movements that throw themselves headlong into sin they scream about oppression and marginalization and hatred and they say it's people like me who are to blame i tell you what it's not me you don't even have to think about me again for as long as you live the real problem is sin because you feel it you feel it in your soul and it goes with you and i want to say something to young people this is really important if you're a young person and you're looking down the barrel of your life i can tell you something some wisdom do not throw yourself into sin and foolishness don't do it don't taste the delicacies and the delights that this world has to offer you which god has said no to which christ has died for because i will tell you this it is true that he releases us from our sins by his blood and they'll never condemn us again but you'll regret it for the rest of your life and i have met so many people who live with regret who live with pain who live with guilt who live with heat up troubles because when they were younger they didn't hold back i just want to say it is the greatest oppressor of all and it doesn't leave you easily but here is one who died for these things and here is one who even though we may live with regret he says i've freed you from your sin it's been dealt with it's been paid for at calvary [Applause] and if you doubt that jesus loves you that this great and mighty one is for you what does it say in the new testament he demonstrated he proved his love for you and that while you were yet a sinner he died for you and he died for your sin and it says behold he is coming with clouds and every eye will see him and here's a great hope history is not running in circles i often wonder about how non-christians and non-faith not people without faith think history is actually running if it's running at all and we just end and fizzle out and then the whole thing will fizzle out one day i don't know but here's the revelation no it's not going in circles it's going to a definite end it's going to a definite object it has a conclusion and the conclusion is the return of jesus christ and he is already on the way and this should here's the thing right a lot of people say oh jesus is coming and they throw their hands up and say last days what can you do here's the thing it's true i see this all the time on my social media not that i should read it it's bad for the soul but they say they say oh well it's all over what good can we do anyway look you're thinking wrong the imminent return of jesus christ shouldn't cause you to stop the whole new testament says well you need to be ready you need to be ready to rejoice when he comes he says will he find faith on the earth well that should be you right faithful right to the end you know what if you really think that jesus is about to return it i have no idea but let's say that he is you should be more busy than you've ever been you know they say if you were gonna die tomorrow you'd live differently right gee i knew jesus was gonna come tomorrow i'd run out in that street and start evangelizing every single person because i've got nothing to lose and it says every eye will see him not one person is going to escape you know this infinite being this colossus is what i keep saying every enemy will face him every injustice will be made right and you know every one of us whether we're the kings of the earth or just an ordinary person we will face him in a condition of everlasting terror or everlasting bliss it's interesting peter hitchens for those of you who know him the brother of the famous atheist christopher hitchens who's actually a christian a really strong christian he was converted from a trotskyite whatever whatever and he became a christian when he was working in east in behind the iron curtain in russia and he talks about his conversion and he went into a church and there was a great painting in the church and it was a painting i forget which one it was but it was depicting the second coming of christ and there was jesus returning in the air and he looked down and there was the world beneath him and all the people going about their various business and there were some people reacting to what they were seeing this site in the sky and he said his eyes fixated in the corner of the painting and he said there was a man there who was so overcome with fear that he was throwing up on the ground and he said the thought suddenly hit me because he said he looked like me he said if this is real then that's me then that's me and he was converted you know it's very very important it's very very serious verse 7 says all tribes of the earth will mourn over him we will face jesus we cannot delay it and it makes me wonder that people think that they can they can't and we can either face him like peter hitchens feared he would face him or we can face him like john faced him and you know when jon faced him yeah he was afraid that's right he fell on his face like a dead man but jesus put his hand on him and said fear not fear not all this that you've just seen all this that you've just written i did it for you i have freed you john from your sins by my blood i was the faithful witness for you john that i might empower you to be a faithful witness i ruled the kings of the earth for you john i loved you john and i had that power and you were top of mind john i have the key of death john and i will unlock it and you will go free what an amazing thing it's astonishing to me and that is why when people who are in deep trouble when people are in deep trouble they need to see this reality they need the revelation they need the eye opener from beyond from eternity from the other world which is right among us that the lord jesus christ is who he is today now and he says that he is that one at all times him who was who is and who is to come the almighty he's unchanging he was that before the trouble started he will be that when the trouble ends and he is that in the midst of your troubles let me read that final section and with this i'll close in verse 17 it says when i saw him i fell at his feet like a dead man and he placed his right hand on me saying do not be afraid i am the first and the last and the living one and i was dead and behold i'm alive forevermore and i have the keys of death and of hades i just referenced this but can i just say what jesus said to all of us fear not look who is for us look who is in control what a revelation what an unveiling one theologian put it this way he said all things are now seen to work together for good to yield only holiness and love and if that is true then everything is all right it is september the 18th 2021 and all's well you ever seen those old movies [Applause] i was mimicking the night watchman from the old movies three o'clock and all's well well it's it's true all is well and can i say it's this conviction it's this knowledge it's this vision that john had that makes mighty men out of weaklings it's this that brings courage in an age of fear it's this that makes us a faithful witness in an age of compromise and it's this that made men stare death in the face and say i will not recant she know something well we need those men today because this land could be on a downward spiral and much is at stake in turning including people's souls and i want to say as i finish pray that you would be that man and why not because look at your jesus now i'm mark niles and that was the truth of it thank you ladies and gentlemen thank you martin for taking us to heaven and seeing the unveiling of the living lord jesus christ martin finished with a word for young people and it's on our hearts in acl to ground young people in the truth that brings them into touch with eternity so turn your eyes to the screen as you see this video about the download we're commanded in scripture to be the light of the world and we found that for many people that they couldn't place their faith in relation to the real world you will get the meeting of experts and they can talk about what it's like to be a christian in that sphere there is no other place in australia where you will get that to do a career in science and technology particularly cyber security i was looking to see how i could navigate that field as a christian for me it's one of the best decisions i've ever made i thought i'd like to get a little bit educated especially from a christian standpoint it's so nice to be around other people who believe the same things just gives you like a really excellent foundation get my challenge to really grow further and why i believe what i do this course really just brought it all together and made it fit logically in a way that i could understand how things had changed over time and where it was leading now and then how to respond to that it's just way more way deeper than anything don't doubt it just do it it's absolutely amazing don't doubt it what do you do do it so the download is a program for 18 to 25s it's about 10 days and we have a longer program lmi which runs for about three months they're wonderful programs many of our children have done it many of our adopted acl children have done it it's a blessing and you can sponsor young people to go sorry think about that but in tassie martin said that if we had a hundred people in tassie he would bring the download here so i'm arguing that the same should apply to south australia so if you're interested if you're a young person see at the desk there'll be someone with a computer put your name down don't doubt it do it and now we turn to q a so i want to welcome martin back on the stage i just want to say one thing population adjustment 150 in south australia come on well we won't have enough weeks in the year to fulfill the promise anyway well we've had a lot of wonderful questions but i want to start with this one martin what advice do you have for young christians in the university scene hmm oh where do i start two things one for those of you who have been watching the q and a's you will have heard the first one before but i'll say it again i would like to say that the greatest example i think in the bible for you obviously other than christ himself is daniel and the defining characteristic of daniel was that he served god in the moments that came his way no matter what and he didn't think that he could plan his future better than god could in the sense that what i mean by that is this he didn't think that when i when i when it when a moment came his way in which he was called to stand up to do right he didn't think well no i will i'll i'll cop out of this i'll take the pragmatic route i'll justify my way around it i'll compromise because it will do me well in the future because i'll be able to get up to the next rung of the ladder and have more influence or because god wouldn't have me throw away this opportunity he never thought that way and thinking that way really is the beginning of sorrows because it never ends what he did was he said oh no he said this is in god's hands i will serve god i will do the right thing and god's got tomorrow and that's the life of faith and really that day you can think of when he um refused to eat the king's food i mean a crazy call in many senses crazy he should have died for it the eunuch thought he was going to die the chief of the servants or you know in the lion's den moment when he prayed in the window he just carried on and he did the right thing come what may and i just want to say to all of you those are the first days of the rest of your life because god does see it and he does honor it the next thing i would say is if you're not reading your bible seriously as a student like studying it every day then you need to adjust that and make sure that's happening because you are marinating in anti-christian sewage every day the the way this world thinks the way the entertainment media will shape your mind all of this it really is opposed to the things of god and you really need to have an influence that overwhelms all of that and jesus said you don't live by bread alone this is not just food you're eating every day but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god treat it like food you need it that regularly you need it that much and it really you really do depend on it to that extent so read it and study it and to study it don't just do feel good stuff actually go through people who will actually expound it for you you know good preaching or good books that will take a verse by verse approach so that you understand it and i promise you it's not so easy to start with but as you start to unlock the gold it gets more and more fun and you start to really really enjoy it and you'll get to a point where you will it'll be a highlight of your day so those are two key things if you're at university obviously it's not the be-all and end-all but do it thanks martin this is a difficult but sensitive question i teach at a christian school where students are gender confused or same-sex attracted how do i manage this with grace and truth i think in all of these sorts of circumstances um you know people come up to me and they say you know how should i talk to my sister-in-law who is lesbian with three children or whatever um just the same as anybody else is actually the starting point just treat everybody with love with dignity and treat everybody uh in in a love of neighbor fashion um it's really it's really your the witness of your ordinary christian life that reaches all people we underestimate sometimes we don't necessarily have to talk to people about jesus or or actively call out what's wrong with their life we don't have to do that we just have to be who we're called to be that's that's what the salt does it's just an uncompromised presence that affects its environment and that's where we begin now of course there will be moments where a day comes where something happens or something is said and you think oh no i'm going to have to do something or say something which betrays my beliefs now i would say firstly say a quiet prayer in your head and secondly do it just do it and and go there and you know it's always good if you can think about how you might word it beforehand because in the moment you might freak out and say what you've got to say or do what you've got to do and do it do it not in a way that's fake or or dripping with condescension or anything like that you've got to do it with the right motive you've got to understand why you might be saying something in this second it's because the opportunities come you're in the moment and you've got a job to do here which is that you want to reveal to them the truth and by whatever means win them to christ and if you've just got that in the back of your mind it's not about proving yourself right it's not about any of these selfish motives it's not about winning an argument it's just about being faithful and if you've got that in the back of your mind it will ooze out of you as you say it doesn't mean that they won't be upset initially but that's probably the best advice i can give for how to how to approach those moments and i've had to do that in many hostile environments you've just got to check your motives and it does come through thank you martin that was a great answer got some favorite questions martin what's your favorite book of the bible is it roman ah hang on hang on hang on uh i like a few books of the bible if i was stuck on a desert island and i had to have one just one hmm i'm going to say hebrews whoa yeah a big plot twist [Laughter] no it is hebrews i think what is your favorite theologian uh theologian i yeah there's a little distinction between preacher preacher preacher or preacher that's easy martin lloyd jones [Music] [Laughter] without a shadow of a doubt um i've got to get martin to tour tech off of the door oh no don't what's your favorite holiday destination beecher mountains at the moment mountains but i go through phases yeah okay unstable as the wind this is something that we're often asked is there a left-wing christianity [Music] um so here's there's two ways of thinking so let me just address something first that i think is going on with a lot of these questions there are a lot of people who say i don't like the way you speak because it it favors a conservative view of the world and as christians we are not left or right and so the things we say and do should reflect a bit of both and we shouldn't be bound to one side or the other i say to those people well hang on you've just done the very thing you've accused me of doing you've started with politics and you've said here's left and here's right i'm going to go down the middle because that's being a good christian no forget the politics for a second ask yourself what does the scripture say ask yourself what is the teaching of the bible what is the way of christ on this matter and if it happens to sound conservative well all right so what in this age it'll be conservative in the next it'll probably be radical because we're going to go through a big cycle aren't we so um i would just i would just sound caution on that i would say don't try and shape what you say and do by a political paradigm shape what you say and do biblically first now that's very hard to do though because we live in a world in which these paradigms are real but i would say the more familiar you are with scripture and the text of scripture and what it says the more you will be shaped in a truly biblical way and so i don't really um care much uh what side of the political spectrum i land on with a particular view i will say this though about i could probably say something similar about the right but i haven't thought it through enough but certainly there is an element of what's coming up on the left which is directly opposed to god what do i mean i mean if you look particularly at the elements of what they call woke most of these elements actually teach false theology about creation false theology about all the things that god put together and set up in creation itself and called very good and therefore serve as the blueprint for his will for the world today like marriage like family and life and children like sexuality like gender identity not just sex biological sex but gender expression as well it's all there in creation when it was very good also actually the issue of even work for example there was work in paradise and work is good marxism was the first thing to attack that and and then you know we have the new marxism which attacks all the others um these things are non-negotiable standards which scripture reveals to us very clearly not just for god's people but all people and romans 1 teaches very clearly that an attack on these things and they pick out the example of sexuality in romans 1 where the apostle paul says that it's against he says you've got the revelation of god in creation and then you've got that which is against creation in his case he points out sexuality why because our bodies are designed creation in in the creation to be for a certain design for sexuality and people think they can mess up mess that mess that up and so he gives that example but it's the same with all the others with the gender stuff and everything and romans 1 teaches us very clearly that's an attack on the creator himself and in fact it's putting yourself in the seat of the creator and arrogating to yourself the power of the creator and it cannot last and it's deeply destructive so i would say no you can't be left in that sense and since seriously call yourself a christian because what you've just said is you know god's revealed world world god's revealed word has really no serious impact on my life or the way i view the world which is not being a true disciple of jesus because in john chapter 8 he says if you are truly my disciples you abide in my word and you know the truth and the truth sets you free so martin this is a really difficult question i'll just take a moment before you answer it what is your lapel bro i knew it wasn't there's something about the way you said that i knew it wasn't serious at all look um they really look i wish there was a cool story behind the lapel pins i often wear this one i know but i have a few uh the only real reason is that my uh i guess i've copied my brother-in-law i have a brother-in-law who's a very snappy dresser far snappier than i could ever hope to be and he wears flowers and pins and all the rest of it and one birthday a while ago he bought me some animal pins and they came from my nieces and nephews and him and i've just stuck with the tradition it's as simple as that amen what is the simplest and most practical way that the average christian can get involved with supporting the work of acl yeah look well there's a few things i mean obviously the simplest way is just pray for us and i often say to people if that's all you can do then that's enough thank you because i do believe that the prayers of um people have played such a crucial part in everything that's happened so far and all the open doors we've seen and all the great things that have happened um and i continually bump into people around the place even here in adelaide i get people come up and say g'day and one of the most common things they say to me is that i pray for you and that blows me away and i'd say pray for us all pray for the team and that really is where it's got to start if you want to do something more then that's great uh you can give us some money that's always helpful but the other thing is that just um go to our website and just put your email address into the sign up box and it you get tapped into everything from there you could end up being a volunteer you could just receive the information that comes through you get the prayer guides and all the rest of it so just go to the website plug that in and and see what god puts on your heart from there thank you um what do you do and how do you pray before you're about to enter into a lion's den type situation like q and a for example it's interesting very often in those moments um uh you know the james calls james calls um he calls the word of god a seed um in other words the word of god is it it gets implanted in you and it's amazing if you marinate on the word of god a lot it it sits with you and you will find it on the tip of your tongue at unexpected moments or you'll find it playing in your mind when you need it and it's been amazing to me whenever i am in those situations and you know don't fall into the mistake of thinking that people that go into those situations are somehow immune to the fears and all the rest of it that go along with it of course not that's not the way it works um so you know you always face a certain degree of nervousness and all the rest of it it's amazing to me how a verse will just it'll just come or i'll be reading the night before and bang there it is and you get a word in season uh for you that just gives you something uh you know i remember when i went on q a i think it was in quietness and confidence she'll be your strength um and i thought okay that's really helpful um and i think you know that shaped a lot of what i didn't said in terms of prayer um you know i always whenever before i do anything uh i always um you know i always ask god to i always confess sin um that's how it begins because i do want god to forgive me and to make me a vessel as fit for his use as possible and that's a really good thing to do regularly anyway but certainly before you think you're about to do something that you would like god to really use you in also you pray for courage you pray the prayer of matthew 10 i think it is which is he will give you the words to say don't worry about what you will say so you pray that and also i usually pray depending on the circumstances if it's media or whatever i do often pray that i would get a chance to point people to the gospel and it's amazing to see how often that has just simply come true in what i do so there's a little insight into some of the things great so what is the seismic shift taking place that you were talking about you mentioned in your address i think the size when did i say that um you said that there's a science that's specifically about covert or was it about the world at large i'm not sure not sure okay well maybe i'll answer both um i was to in with with respect to covert um there is something going on and it may come to nothing but there is something going on where there are quite a lot of people who are licking their chops and you know doing these ones because there's there's an opportu you you you look at i mean this is not a conspiracy theory this is real you look at what the world economic forum puts out for example uh you look at the book covert 19 and the great reset it's a real book and actually these are the statists these are the people we once would have called communists uh they are the people who want to see far more centralized power arrogated to the state and they want to see far more control over people's lives in the interest of finding some kind of utopia we've heard it all before right lots of people died uh the last time they tried to do that it's a horrendous utopian system of thinking and it just seems to be the way you know evil gets into politics all the time and definitely there are plenty of people in these intergovernmental bodies these globalist bodies who really do see the the power increase that covert 19 is supplying governments as a great opportunity to continue to increase that power into the future often under different excuses so the next one will be climate change and you can again read that in the policy papers that they put out start to control how much eat meat you eat start to control what days of the week the odd numbers number plates can go on the road and all this kind of stuff and worse uh and so there are that move is very real in some of those big intergovernmental and globalist bodies towards a more statist view of the world so i was talking about a seismic shift there now it may come to nothing uh and you know it's in god's hands and that's the sort of thing i think we need to be praying about that those who would want to use covert for evil ends it would not be given the opportunity um now that's one thing the other seismic shift i was talking about i guess truthfully um in the western world the sort of cultural change we're seeing at the moment it just is as simple as this isaiah 5 20 woe to those who call evil good and good evil that's what's going on in our time [Applause] thank you martin and to close wishing you an early happy birthday may the lord bless you and keep you number six 24-26 what birthday [Laughter] it is my birthday in a couple of days that's true happy birthday happy birthday to you happy birthday to you [Applause] i'll remember that in two days time [Laughter] i invite you to say a few words in closing sure no worries thanks christopher um that's right i forgot about this bit um look what i usually say at the end of these things is i just want to tell you all that there's good things that are happening and i want to encourage you and there are good things happening um when i sort of got this job at acl i read a scripture and it was isaiah chapter 59. and isaiah chapter 59 it makes this point it says for truth has stumbled in the public squares it says unrighteousness cannot enter and justice is turned back and truth is lacking and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey and what i learned through that was well firstly it resonated with me truth has stumbled in the public squares because i had just been doing this human rights law alliance work with christopher and we saw how that people who were standing up for what was true and saying what was true were pounced on they were made of prey they were shut down by cancer culture and all the rest of it and the prevalence of that i also saw you know you can think we mentioned q a just before i mean why do they invite me on q a so that i can be the fool in the corner who gets told he's the loser and the he doesn't think anything that anybody else thinks now it didn't come to that obviously because god's in control but the person in the media who stands up for what is right is the marginalized one also in the public policy sphere of our world we're seeing an avalanche of legislative changes that are opposed to the truth and i thought wow truth really has stumbled into public squares this is our time but also if truth goes then righteousness goes because you don't have the truth about what is right and what is wrong and if righteousness goes justice goes because what is right is never done and what is wrong is always done a lot of complex definitions of justice these days you know at its root it's just the doing of what is right and what i saw not only was that but you know the reality is this it wasn't going to be up to people like me going in and talking to politicians and convincing them to do the right thing because politicians are pragmatists and they'll do what they think the public wants or what they think the media wants them to do on the whole notable exceptions obviously like uh senator alex antique who's here tonight and others there's definitely exceptions don't worry about that but on the whole that is true it's a politics of pragmatism um and i realized that actually in order to get truth back into the public squares we would need a movement of australians of the sleeping giant that is the church in this country to stand up to proclaim truth in public afresh [Applause] and well may you applaud because by the infinite grace of god a lot of conservative christians have become activists which i never thought would ever happen um we have now more than 230 000 supporters at acl which makes us one of the very largest political movements in the country that's a big number for australia i'm mindful if there's any americans on the live stream that'll probably sound very small it's huge all right it's we're a small country but also among those people we have seen three thousand plus already become volunteers and actually start taking action in the field putting feet to their faith and making truth public which is an astonishing thing we have seen as a result of those campaigns so many good things uh it's you know i i can say this now because the person who made the commitment is actually now no longer the opposition leader in victoria and so the commitment doesn't exist now but we did get a commitment from the opposition leader in victoria for example to roll back the conversion therapy laws in that state which is a most astounding thing as a result of our campaign and the ongoing lingering effects of that we also saw in western australia when the event tried to cancel us the decision was reversed within a week again because people stood up and they said what was right we've also seen in new south wales we've seen a crucial parental rights bill get into the new south wales parliament through the committee stage and is now being seriously considered by the government and the untold story of that is it was acl supporters that made it happen that bill was going to die in a ditch but we had a day of action where all of our supporters in new south wales filled in the feedback survey so that more than 50 percent of the people responding to the survey supported the bill so it got through the committee phase an incredible result [Applause] at the moment we see a situation for example where this religious discrimination bill is still being negotiated at the government level but why is it that we have a privileged place in those negotiations why is it that we are talking actively with those involved it's because of you it's because of you i was told once by uh somebody uh that you know the those the politicians in the cabinet and the prime minister the question they ask is how big are you are you worth seeing and that's the calculus well here we are and it's because of your support but also what we're seeing is that the content we're putting out as christopher alluded to we're reaching millions of people every month with the content that we're putting out online we've now got hundreds of young people signed up to come to a program like the download which is equipping them discipling them and changing lives we are now even starting to see not just political wins but we're starting to see evangelistic wins we're in a situation now where sometimes our supporter relations people will ring up a volunteer and say what church do you go to and they say i'm not going to a church yet and they say well why not i said well i've only just become a christian i say how did you become a christian and it all started by watching the truth of it or encountering some of our content it's incredible to see you know no one is converted until they get to christ but it's amazing where they start from and what things reach them and i have had people come up to me at these truth of it live events to say you know what it all started with a video i even had a guy say to one of our supporter relations people that he was living a gay lifestyle and he found a video from me about the homosexuality issue and he said uh he was really angry but he said and then he realized actually he's wrong and he's become a christian incredible stuff and and i just want to say that all of this and more i don't have time to recite it all is happening and it is happening because of the support of people like you the fact that you're all here tonight i mean there's a huge number of you the fact that you're all here this evening have been coming to these events the fact that you've been praying for us the fact that you're signing up to be those volunteers uh and just the mere fact that you are our supporters it means a very great deal and it is of course ultimately by god's grace but it is by god's grace that we've been given you know all of you and i just want to say thank you very very much and that's it from me good night thanks martin we're coming to the end of our night but we're not quite finished invite the musicians to come back on and lead us all in the final song well hello again we're going to finish by singing facing a task unfinished um i'll sing the first verse and then if you could all stand up and join us for the next few facing a task unfinished that drives us to our knees a need that undiminished rebukes i'll sloth the leaves we who rejoice to know thee renew before thy throne the solemn pledge we owe thee to go and make thee known here we go where where are the lords beside thee oh there unhindered sway where forces that defied thee defy thee souls are dying no other name is power to save for jesus christ the lord we bear that torch that flaming fell from the hands of those who gave their lives proclaiming that jesus died and rose ours is the same commission the same glad messages fight by the same ambition to thee we yield our powers with your voices we go to all the world with kingdom hope unfold no other name but jesus christ the lord oh father who sustained them o spirit who wins fire savior whose love constrained them to toil with seal on time [Applause] to lay before but jesus christ the lord one more time we go to all the world christ the lord [Music] let's be seated well that's our night and it's the end of the this stage of the truth of truth of his life tour i want to thank two people without whom this tour would not have happened firstly our event manager's right hand woman cherise woodham sherry so you're wrong give her a big hand she's come from the west and she's done a magnificent job but i really want to extend heartfelt thanks to our event manager hannah moriarty hannah's been living as a for the lord since about june she hasn't gone home because of lockdown so she's been traveling around living in a suitcase and amazing work she's done to bring these events across hannah would you come on stage please [Applause] hannah give her a big hand [Applause] we've been taken to eternity and we've seen the unveil christ but i trust that he has been unveiled in your hearts and if he has do what he's told you to do you may use these cards but whatever he's told you to do don't doubt it do it and now may the grace of the lord jesus christ the love of god and the fellowship of the spirit spirit of god keep you until we see the unveiled christ in the air good night adelaide [Applause] nice rocket is can i unplug it i'm just playing [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: ACL – Australian Christian Lobby

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Id: W0263RvZHMQ

Length: 159min 20sec (9560 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021