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[0:00] Amen. Just get things ready here.

[0:23] I'm using the iPad here for the first time.! Not that I necessarily wanted to. I just couldn't get my sermon to print. I've got this bad habit of getting my sermon ready to print like about 10 minutes before I leave the house.

[0:37] And if there's a technology failure, it's a big problem. But let's hope that it all goes well. But now this morning I want to talk about culture shift. Culture shift. Now just last week I was amongst some other Christian leaders who were meeting with the Australian Christian Lobby and they gave us some really interesting information about the culture shift that's going on and about how we as Christians can be informed about that and be alert to what's happening all around us.

[1:06] And so I'm sharing some of that this morning. And so bear with me in that much of the content will be more about what's happening in the world. But I'm going to try to translate that back into how we should then take action accordingly.

[1:19] So friends, I put to you that our culture is shifting. Our culture is shifting all around us. It's like a culture war out there. And we're constantly getting this messaging, this brainwashing, this conditioning that is telling us how to live and think, our values and such.

[1:38] It's a battle of ideologies really. There's ideologies here, anti-God ideologies and for us Bible based, founded upon the Bible values and beliefs.

[1:50] And ideologies speak of beliefs and values and they shape action. There is an outcome from what we believe and what we value. Where are we today?

[2:02] A shift is happening in our society, a culture change. Really it's a de-Christianisation. It's a paganisation of our nation.

[2:13] What is happening? We see many trends. We're talking about some trends really here. Some trends that we should be alert to and we should be conscious of and mindful this is happening.

[2:24] Various trends are taking place such that there is an increasing hostility to Christianity. Amen? People are hostile to Christianity, not just kind of blasé about it, but anti-God, anti-Christ.

[2:39] And it's like there's this sense where reason that they're defining as science is becoming more important to man than faith. There's this strange concept that reason should trump faith in the sense that as if faith is unreasonable, which it is not.

[2:55] As the Bible says, come, let us reason together. God is reasonable and God does reason with man and Christianity is the reasonable thing to do. But they're kind of playing it off as contrary to reason, whereas faith we know is very much it is reasonable to believe.

[3:10] But there's this shift going on. It's a shift in people's morality and what they consider is moral and right and fair. And people are starting from the premise that they believe that they think that man is basically good, which we know is not true.

[3:27] What should our response be? If you can turn with me to 1 Chronicles 12, chapter 12, 32. I've got it here to display.

[3:39] In part, it says that the children of Issachar were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do.

[3:52] There's these men of war and they were commended for this fact, that these men of battle, these spiritual warriors of this time were commended by God that they had an awareness, they had an understanding of the times and that they knew what they should do, what God wanted them to do.

[4:15] So I put to you this is necessary for us to have understanding, right? We can be understanding or we can be unaware. I trust that after this message you'll have God helping me a little bit more understanding of the times that we're living in.

[4:29] That's the point here, to be understanding of the times, of the trends. We need to understand the times that we are in. So we can be alert to what's shaping our world and what we need to know, what we need to do.

[4:44] Amen? How did we get here as a society? Just to kind of paint the picture, why are we in this mess that we're in? How did we get here? What's happened to the world and what's happened to the church?

[4:55] What is the church doing about it? How has the church got to this stage where the church, in some circles, is actually taking on this social justice, this social conditioning, this effectively a Marxist, cultural Marxism, which we'll get to.

[5:12] So there's this increase in competition. We see that the church is facing a competition in the sense that even to attend church, we're faced with this competition that's going on from other activities.

[5:24] That church attendance is suffering because there's so many other things that can take up our attention, our time, our energy. You know, sports, you name it. There's so many things going on on a Sunday and people think they can, you know, just take time without putting attention on worship, on fellowship, on the things of God.

[5:48] And church is just another lifestyle choice. It's a lifestyle choice. And because we've got such a smorgasbord of things to occupy ourselves with today, church kind of gets put as secondary, as third to other things.

[6:03] Then we've got television. It becomes a counter-entertainment to church. You know, as if we, as the church, have got to kind of deliver messages that are of the same quality and standard as the TV shows with all the Hollywood gloss and glitz and glamour and the funding that Hollywood has, the church is trying to compete with the Hollywood culture.

[6:25] And there's this secular programming that we constantly beset with that is systematically undermining our cultures and values today. Let's face it. The programming, and that's what it is, the TV programs, are instilling values and beliefs that are anti-Christ.

[6:45] Quite often we've got to be mindful of that. We need to be understanding, amen, understanding of the times that we're living in. There's many examples. You could think even of some subtle things.

[6:56] For example, like the Boy Scouts now. They need to admit girls in order to break down the gender inequalities. It's like everything, and that's really a very harmless example, but you think that everything is changing to fit the new paradigm.

[7:13] There's a culture shift, a paradigm shift. Really it's social engineering. That's what it is, social engineering. The social pressure is ramping up that everything is intended this way.

[7:25] It's got a deliberate intent that we conform through social media. We've got to conform. And when we see the world's fashions, the world's fads, the whole world's thinking, it's conditioning us, and with the social engineering, that we've got to march to their tune and lockstep to their marching.

[7:47] And social change is happening such that it's made people to think differently about morality, for one thing. Morality, which should be really quite plain, shouldn't it?

[7:58] Morality. What is moral? Morality now is being defined as tolerance. That's the new morality. It's tolerance. You know, anything goes. Tolerance.

[8:08] And there's a lot of talk of victim groups. It's the tolerance now. It's more important than any kind of dogma, than any kind of Bible truth.

[8:21] Tolerance has taken the trumping of truth. Tolerance. And now we've got psychologists who have become the gurus today, who define morality.

[8:32] If you want to know what morality is, go and talk to your psychologist. Of course, we know that's not a reliable source of what is moral. Then we've got this political correctness.

[8:46] And what we're seeing, what we're seeing as a result of all that is that tradition is now seen as oppressive. It's oppressive to do what is traditional. And Christianity is seen as an oppressive way of living.

[9:01] You've got to repress your flesh. It's oppressive to be a Christian. Christianity is oppressive, is what they're saying. They're painting that as overly moralistic.

[9:14] And in fact, Christianity itself, let me tell you, Christianity itself is virtually deemed immoral. Immoral. Our gathering here, our messages, our mission to the world has become immoral.

[9:33] Hate speech, yeah. It's immoral to be a Christian because Christians are hateful. Christians are bigoted. Christians are unloving.

[9:45] That's what the world is painting us as. And there's been this kind of a transfer, a transfer, a transfer of moral authority from the church to science, so-called.

[9:57] There's this transfer of moral authority to get what's moral, to get what's authorised and authoritative, go to the science. Because the science is settled, they tell us, you know.

[10:08] Today, it's as if the great social evil is bad mental health. Oh, that's the worst thing you can have is bad mental health. And it's all about happiness, finding happiness, that elusive quality of happiness.

[10:24] And they define happiness as feeling good about ourselves. In other words, if it feels good, just do it. That's the ultimate kind of mantra now, isn't it?

[10:36] Happiness. It's all about your happiness. It's all about you feeling good about yourself. And the radicals want to overthrow the oppressive institutions like the church.

[10:47] The church has to be overthrown. Bible Christianity must be demolished and destroyed, overthrown, because everyone has to feel good about themselves.

[10:59] And that's why we've got preachers who are jumping on that bandwagon of a feel-good kind of gospel. It's all about feeling good about yourself. Now, of course, the way we can really feel good is to know Jesus.

[11:13] That is the ultimate. But it's all about these other packages and baggages and this rubbish that they're front-loading. And to violate other people's rights, that's such a no-no now, that we would violate someone else's rights.

[11:30] It's an affront to the new secular order. Don't dare to say something that would question something that's sinful or wrong or something the Bible is against, that you would dare to say such a thing.

[11:42] You might offend somebody, for goodness sake. Don't violate other people's rights. That's contrary to the secular order that we live. And then we've got militant homosexual activists.

[11:55] They're pressing for the social acceptance of their sin. They're militant. Militant activists. And friends, it's becoming mainstream, something like this, maybe I'm going to get censored.

[12:09] And you see messages like this, apparently the algorithms on Facebook and YouTube are kind of filtering out messages like this so people can't even find them on the internet. That we would dare to say something is wrong with homosexuality.

[12:24] Really, it's a political activism that's going on around our world today. And we're seeing it through every quarter of life, through education, through Hollywood, through media, through politics.

[12:37] It's activism. And a militant activism, a political activism. What is going on? What is going on? Now, I'm going to use some big words here. Cultural Marxism.

[12:47] Now, this is a term that I couldn't really, I didn't know what it meant myself a few days ago. But apparently this is the terminology to describe understanding the times, what's happening.

[13:02] Cultural Marxism is what's happening. So let me try to define this term to you. Cultural Marxism. It's a light to political correctness. Marxism.

[13:13] Of course, we know Karl Marx. The great communist man of old. Marxism means government control. That's what it means.

[13:23] Government control. It means police state. It means the nanny state. Tyranny. Such that the police, the government of the day, can intervene even in your home circle to dictate to you what you do with your children.

[13:43] Cultural Marxism. Let me tell you more about this. It's a militant, anti-Christian, anti-God, anti-traditionalist philosophy.

[13:55] And there's a culture war happening and cultural Marxism is what's driving it. So let me tell you further, what is this all about? Marxism.

[14:07] Karl Marx is where it started. Karl Marx was a powerful thinker. He was a brilliant man. A powerful thinker. Smart man. But he was totally going the wrong way.

[14:20] And Marx talked about a struggle. A struggle between the oppressed and the oppressor. And revolutionary Marxism still holds the record today for having deceived, enslaved, terrorised, imprisoned, tortured and murdered more millions of people than any other ideology.

[14:45] Communism. Marxism. I know we've got a sister here from China and she knows what's happening. People are aware what's happening. When you go to these countries, you might have, in your travels, I know my mum and dad went to China just a couple of weeks back and it's another world.

[15:03] And it looks like a utopia. But really Marxism is deceived, it's enslaved, it's imprisoned, it's tortured, it's murdered, millions. And Marx saw the oppression of the poor.

[15:16] He saw the oppressed as the poor and the rich as those who exert control. And so Marx withstood this class system, promoting his philosophy in schools, in universities, in parliaments, in laws.

[15:30] And Marx held that the oppressed take over and overthrow and bring about equality. That's the kind of pipe dream. That's the theory. Marxism.

[15:41] And it's an influential political ideology. Really today it's more in a philosophical way. It's a humanistic philosophy. So nowadays it's not so much bullets and tanks.

[15:54] It's about ideology. It's about how you think. It's about philosophies. And Marxism has failed to implement government in the West. We know it's failed.

[16:04] The only place, there's few places it's succeeded. We know in the present, the secular state that would follow Marxism would be communist China.

[16:19] Communist China. It's the ultimate example of the secular state. And see what's going on in China today. I know I've been getting information about the surveillance that's going on in China.

[16:31] You're constantly being watched by cameras and recording your movements and tracking you and rating you as a citizen. Whether you conform to the cultural mandate of the government or you don't conform.

[16:45] And in China, the government is censoring speech. They control. Government control. It's cultural Marxism. Government control. Government control about what people hear and see.

[16:58] It's all filtered. It's controlled. It's censored. And radicals today are wanting, friends, radicals today want this in Australia.

[17:09] And they're on the way to it. The cultural Marxists. Their philosophy is active and alive and it's happening in Australia. In our world.

[17:22] What do they want? Marxism is especially against Christianity. They want to de-Christianise the West. De-Christianise the world. And this philosophy promotes many anti-Bible, anti-Christian philosophies and values.

[17:40] For example, for centuries we know Western culture has promoted chastity before marriage as an ideal. There was something pure and precious about waiting till marriage.

[17:51] Modern culture downplays chastity and glorifies immorality. Constantly fed this, aren't we?

[18:03] Through Hollywood. They glorify this shacking, this one-night stand, this meet them and bed them the same night.

[18:14] It's foul and vile. And this is the world we're living in. I'm talking frankly here. But the world that we're living in is anti-Christian. What was pure and righteous was lifted once.

[18:25] Now it's trashed and spoilt and dirtied. And they're glorifying immorality in its place. Friends, the world is happening. It's happening now. It's called cultural Marxism.

[18:36] It's where to speak the truth is an act against the authority of our world. And those who speak the truth are under attack.

[18:48] What we're seeing is a gradual taking control of education, of the media, of the arts, of the law and other key areas of society. When I was at this kind of information session, they were talking about how the arts has changed.

[19:03] You think about modern art today compared to what it was. You know, it's quite a contrast, isn't it? We see the beauty and the wonders of ancient art and ancient music and orchestras and that beauty of what was music, what was the arts.

[19:25] It's now a different picture, isn't it? And we see this world view of a generation. It's being transformed. There's a transformation. Transformation happening.

[19:36] A transforming to groupthink. We've got to follow the Marxism of our day. And what are these Marxists all about? They're anti-family.

[19:47] They're anti-family. Really, they want to eliminate marriage altogether. Get rid of marriage. It just doesn't fit their world view.

[19:58] And they've got the intent of a disintegration of the family unit, the traditional family unit. And you're seeing it through films, through soapies, through the regular shows that they're constantly putting homosexual actors and homosexual mantras across in their screenplays.

[20:22] They're constantly messaging these things. They want to destabilise the way people think. And look, you might be a young person today and think, this is really radical this morning. I'm telling you it's happening.

[20:34] I'm telling you it's happening. We that are older, I'm talking about myself, you've seen it happen. You've seen this is shocking. There is this transformation going on.

[20:44] It's not a good transformation. This undermining of Western civilisation. And in the schools now, our children, our grandchildren are getting this subliminal messaging constantly thrown at them.

[20:58] Ultimately, they want to overthrow society. Get rid of the family unit. Or redefine it to something that's nothing like a family. This new morality, it's one they define.

[21:09] And friends, all the terms are being redefined. There's a redefining of terminology. They use the same words, and we as Christians might use some of these same words, but they mean something different.

[21:22] For example, inclusion. Inclusion. What they mean by inclusion is, here's another big word here, queer normativity. Inclusion means queer normativity.

[21:34] In other words, it's normal to be queer. I'm talking frankly, and forgive me for using gross things here this morning. It's about understanding the times.

[21:45] Understanding the times that we're living in. There's the sense here, sodomy. That queer is normal. And it's as if we're not male and female anymore. As a male, I've got a bit of female in me.

[21:57] As a female, you might have a bit of male in you. And there's this continuum, and we slide here and forth. And so, there's not male and female anymore. We're all kind of a, I'm a little bit female today.

[22:08] Depending on what mood I'm in. Or how I feel. It's weird. This is weird, and they're calling it normal. They're calling that inclusion. And it's unloving to say that that's wrong.

[22:19] It's unloving to say that something's oppressive. And equality is another abstract word. Equality. Now, the Bible says that male and female, there is an equality of male and female in the Bible.

[22:34] It says that. But equality for these radical Marxists means something different to them. Equality means immorality, really.

[22:47] It's accepting of that. Then you've got human rights. We believe in human rights. Yes. Absolutely. We're against racism. Yes. We want to uphold human rights.

[22:58] And that people will attain and achieve the very best that they can be in God is the ultimate, isn't it? To realise that. Human rights. But human rights for them means, for example, abortion.

[23:10] People think when they abort a child, we're not hurting anyone. It's just a fetus. We're not hurting anyone except the little baby that doesn't have a voice. We're not hurting anyone.

[23:22] Human rights. Human rights to them means something different. And they will use terms like the common good, the common good. But they're selective about what is good and what is evil.

[23:33] They've got it topsy-turvy. And they use much talk of tolerance and yet are very intolerant. You know, they would be intolerant of what I'm telling you this morning.

[23:46] Whatever's seen as preventing freedom or happiness cannot be tolerated. No way. Shut them down. Shut them down. They use words like love.

[23:58] Love is love. But it's God who defines love, isn't it? God defines what love is. 1 Corinthians 13. God says what love is, not these radicals.

[24:09] They're using a different lens. It's like they've got different glasses on, a different worldview. How they see everything. And these terminology, these terms are being redefined.

[24:20] So it's that marriage, marriage today, something that is sacred and precious and to be blessed and honoured. Marriage is honourable, it says in the word of God.

[24:32] Marriage has increasingly lost its meaning and its value. Hasn't it? It's being trashed. What is called marriage today is sodomy. God help us.

[24:43] Marriage. Marriage, it is a natural institution. The common sense of it. Marriage is something that's common sense. It's a man and a woman getting together and God helping the outcome of his children.

[24:58] But now the pill has changed all that. You don't need to worry about the marriage bed. Just use a pill. Don't worry about getting married. The world's adopted this hedonistic philosophy such that sex is only a physiological response.

[25:12] It's purely physical. But marriage is sacred. Marriage is precious. And we should hold it with that sacredness that it deserves. Marriage at its heart.

[25:23] It's a sacred promise. It says, I will look after you. It's saying that a man commits to a woman and a woman commits to a man. And it says there's something precious there. It's sacred.

[25:34] It's a sacred promise. But the activists want to change the meaning of marriage. And such that it's just an emotional declaration. Oh, I love you. Today I love you.

[25:45] Tomorrow I might not love you, but... It's how I feel. It's an emotional declaration. Think of what's happening.

[25:55] The transformation that's happening. What's happening in our world. For example, science once called homosexuality a disorder. A disorder. A disorder. A disorder. It was only removed as a mental disorder in 1973 by a vote.

[26:10] Not for any scientific reason. Some scientists got together in 1973 and the definitions of mental disorders, they've got a book about mental disorders.

[26:21] They're decided by a vote to remove homosexuality. It was a mental disorder. That was what they knew it as. But now activists want to disrupt and aggressively challenge heteronormativity.

[26:34] Here's another big word for you. Heteronormativity. In other words, it's not... The normal thing is for a man to think he is a man and a woman to think she is a woman. That's called heteronormativity.

[26:47] That's under attack today. If you think that, you're wrong. That's what they're telling us. They want to undermine male, female gender roles. And friends, as parents today, you that are blessed to be parents, if you're a heteronormative parent, in other words, you want your boy to grow up to be a man and you want your girl to grow up to be a woman, if you are heteronormative, that is seen as abusive.

[27:12] It's abuse. Child abuse. An abusive parent. An abusive parent is made out to be one who actually protects their children. There's homosexual activists, and this was some of the information I gathered, that have got buses taking kids, this is before they were 18, to these parties where they can experiment with same-sex discos and same-sex parties and develop same-sex relationships.

[27:39] And the parents have just got to let them catch the bus and go off to these things. And an abusive parent is one who would dare to say, we don't want that for our children. We don't want our children going to these things and getting that kind of messaging.

[27:52] And there's a lesbian activist called Patricia Warren. She says, whoever captures the kids owns the future. Whoever captures the kids owns the future. That's what they want to do.

[28:03] Parents today, they want to capture your children. The radicals want to take control away from parents, as if it's the state that knows best. The state knows best how to raise your children.

[28:16] That's why you park them in the childcare, the kindergarten, the schools, the universities. Send them off. The state knows best how to raise your children.

[28:29] You're just a parent. You don't know anything. That's what they will tell you. Let the children work it out for themselves. We don't define what our children believe.

[28:41] Parents who promote the idea of binary is another term. The reality that you're either a boy or a girl. You're one or the other. It's called binary, two. You're one of two.

[28:52] A male or a female. Binary. Not unitary. Binary, two. Male or female. The parents who promote the idea of binary, the basic idea, the reality that there's male and female could fall foul of the law.

[29:08] It's getting like that. It's actually getting like that. To be an adoptive parent, you've got to kind of have this murkiness now. And if they're asking that of adoptive parents, what of us who are not adoptive parents?

[29:21] If parents in the UK teach their children that homosexual acts are sin, they are at risk of having their children removed by the state for re-education. They can take your children.

[29:32] That's what it's going to. That's what's happening. And we've got programs like Safe Schools that are conditioning children against binary gender. They're training them such in the classrooms.

[29:45] And it's apparent what's happening in the universities. They become commercial centres of social engineering and cultural Marxism. The universities, they're teaching this philosophy of cultural Marxism.

[29:57] They're not tolerating any dissent. God forbid that you should raise your hand and say, I disagree. Actually, it's the idea of this cultural Marxism. I don't mean to overdo this, but I think it's important.

[30:10] We're understanding the times. This is the message here. The idea that they have is that everyone who is in or traditionally used to wear robes, for example, we know the professions that used to wear robes or still do today, they want all of those men and women to march to the tune of the piper.

[30:33] For example, those who wear robes, judges. They're changing laws. They want the judges to conform. The professors in the universities.

[30:44] The pastors and the politicians. Everyone who wears robes or used to, they want them to conform, to march to their tune. Understanding the times that we're living in.

[30:58] They want to educate and mobilise the masses to march lockstep with them, to adopt their values, their norms, their ideas, their expectations, their world view. And really, anyone who fails to salute the rainbow flag, anyone who dares not to salute the rainbow flag or to salute rainbow rights is under threat.

[31:20] That means you and me, doesn't it? If you're still with me. Inclusivity is saying we must acknowledge everyone's gender.

[31:32] You know, if I come to church wearing a skirt next week, treat me as a woman, just think nothing of it, it's normal. That's normal now. I'll bring my handbag in.

[31:44] You know, this is the world we're living in. God help us people. And we dare not say anything against it. Now, if someone was to come in who was a cross-dresser, we would love them, wouldn't we?

[31:55] We wouldn't hate them. We would love them. We would reach out to them. We would care for them. We would show compassion and care for them and love to them.

[32:08] We're not against them. We're not hostile to the man, the woman who is in that confused state. Friends, it's the conditioning that's going on, the human identity, male-female relationships.

[32:20] It's all under attack today. People have been given this notion of, new notions of sexuality, of liberation, of gender stereotypes. What is happening? Understanding the times.

[32:31] Friends, we see in the word of God that it tells of the people of God in Acts 17. They came to this idol-making, this idol-worshiping city, and it says, these that have turned the world upside down are come here also.

[32:48] These that have turned the world upside down. Friends, it's upside down. This world is upside down. We are topsy-turvy to this world. And as God's people, we are countercultural.

[32:59] We need to speak out. We need to stand up. We are countercultural. We are contrary to the spirit of the world. So much so that we are upside down to them, but really it's them who are upside down.

[33:12] We're the right side up. We've got our firmly planted feet on terra firma. They're standing on their head. And we are meant to be the counterculture.

[33:23] Parents, let's help our children. Well, we've still got time to tell them the truth. A big problem is we've forgotten how to think biblically. And there's forces actively, aggressively, consciously, deliberately at work to overtake and overthrow our culture.

[33:42] The moral architecture is all under threat. The foundations. And they're deliberately targeting institutions like churches. We're seeing it.

[33:53] I've seen some stories about what's going on in some churches. It's very, very sad. The social gospel. There's this kind of, this mishmash of churches just become community centers.

[34:05] And they want to neutralize Christianity. They don't want you to give out gospel tracks. Now that's countercultural for you to give out some leaflet.

[34:15] That's countercultural. Oh, you're not following the discourse. You're contrary to the narrative. You know, it's countercultural. They want to neutralize you. They want to make your Christianity a crime.

[34:29] A hate crime. They want to label you Christian as intolerant, bigot, mean-spirited, unloving, hater. These are the trends.

[34:42] Trends. Understanding the times. These are the trends. And they're being brought into schools and universities, these leftist ideas. They run things like Diversity Week, Queer Week.

[34:56] If you raise a voice of protest or concern or just don't follow the Pied Piper, they'll be after you. You know, I've been in universities.

[35:08] I've studied in university. And I was talking with someone just yesterday who was talking about being in university. And they asked some question about biblical truth. And he was one out of 150 who stood up.

[35:20] Amazing. We are the ultimate minority group. Radical ideas are being promoted in the arts and in music. And people think nothing of these things.

[35:31] For example, oh, imagine John Lennon. People love that song. It's a catchy beat, a catchy tune. You could jive along and tap your toes. But look at the words of John Lennon's Imagine.

[35:43] Imagine. Imagine. It's full of atheist philosophy. Really, it's a humanist anthem. The song is outright Marxist ideas, denying God and heaven. Imagine there's no heaven.

[35:53] Imagine there's no hell. Imagine there's no thing like private property. And socialist ideas, which ultimately leads to the abolition of countries, of private property.

[36:04] Communism. Atheism. Secularism. The radicals want to shut the church up. They want to shut us down. It's happening. They want to shut us down.

[36:16] But we have the words of life. People of God. We must be alerted. We must be understanding the times. Culture has shifted. And it's continuing to shift. To the point where right is wrong now.

[36:29] And there's no such thing as universal, absolute, final authority, final truth, absolute truth. And the activist wants to detach parents from children. They want to groom your children to adopt their way of thinking.

[36:42] Be very careful. I mean, we've sent our children to a public school on occasion. You think, wow, what's going on now? It's mind-blowing.

[36:53] Really, there's this inversion of right and wrong. Wrong is right and right is wrong. We see this here in Isaiah 5, verse 20. Isaiah says, Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil.

[37:06] Put darkness for light and light for darkness. Put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. It's like there's this contrariness, this inversion. This black is white, white is black.

[37:18] Good is evil. Evil is good. But godly parents are now being accused of creating an unsafe home environment. Wow, if you should say to your boy and you want to raise him up to be a man, to do manly things, that could be creating an unsafe home environment for him.

[37:37] He might want to wear dresses today. He might want to play with dolls today instead of get a hammer and nail out. You're creating an unsafe home environment. The state might have to take your children away.

[37:50] There's this abuse that's going on. Really, we are being accused of psychological and domestic abuse, but they're the abusers.

[38:01] People are being punished today as wrongdoers on the job, in the workplace. I've seen it. I've been in the secular workplace. You've got to attend these training sessions that condition you to think certain ways.

[38:13] And those who are punished as wrongdoers in workplaces, those who lose their jobs, are often those who actually say, no, I don't go along with that. We're talking about people actually doing the right thing, getting sacked.

[38:26] And we're seeing churches now are being punished for promoting LGBT conversion therapy. So if we were to have, and we'd love to have some homosexual people come and be with us, because we'd love to tell them the truth.

[38:42] And we would lovingly show them the truth. We would lovingly exhort them to leave that sin and to live in righteousness. But if we were to have some program where we sought to help a homosexual person be free from that sin, then we could be seen as imposing our values on them.

[39:02] And darkness is happening. It's all around us. There's this condition in our society. And it's easy to lose sight of how bad it is, because darkness kind of creeps up on you, doesn't it? As the light gets withdrawn, as you take the candle out of the room, the darkness just takes over, doesn't it?

[39:19] And it's like we have to avoid anything that's detrimental to mental health and self-esteem. God forbid that we should say something to challenge someone about something that's sinful.

[39:30] We might damage their self-esteem. We might be damaging their mental health. But really, it's the true mental health is to have the mind of Christ, isn't it?

[39:41] The true mental health, the true self-esteem, that which truly elevates and blesses and uplifts is to know him. But we've got a new religion today, a new ethic.

[39:55] It's a new religion. It's called narcissism. Narcissism. It's the cult of self-authenticity. So, in other words, it's all about you. And you should be self-absorbed.

[40:08] It's about the love of self. The ultimate good is what makes you feel good. This age of self-worship, the selfie.

[40:19] Some would say self is good and self is God. That's narcissism. Look after number one. Don't forget it. Don't care about anything else, let alone an authority of God above you.

[40:33] Self-worship. Narcissism. And it leads people to think that they have the moral authority. They decide what's right and wrong. You've got your truth. I've got mine. That's what they say, isn't it?

[40:44] Oh, I've got my religion. They tell us at the door, don't they? I've got my religion. Oh, tell me about it. It's the worship of self, isn't it? Materialism. It's selfism.

[40:55] And we see this queer revolution now. Friends, I'm talking frankly and I don't want to be gruesome about it, but queer revolution. Such that they want to take power.

[41:07] They want to take authority. And they want to tell our society what to think about gender and about sexuality. And they believe that sexual orientation is innate, unchosen and fixed.

[41:20] So, oh, born that way. It's a lie. They've got this idea of gender orientation. And such that now it's almost being likened to race.

[41:33] Now, let me put this straight. We're not racist at all. We love people of all races, all cultures, all countries. You know, you even accept pommies in this church.

[41:44] Like me, you know. You even accept people from pommieland. Even some Scots. There's some Scottish people here. We still love the Scots despite all their faults. But, you know, we're not racist in this church.

[41:55] Amen. We're against racism. But now this gender orientation is being treated like racism. It's like the modern racism. And we've seen this skyrocketing increase in hormone therapy of minors.

[42:08] I've been told it's gone up 1,000% in the last four years. 1,000% in the last four years. I'm not sure where those figures are for Australia or some other land.

[42:19] I think it's Australia. In other words, children, minors, they're under 18. They're going to their doctor and they're saying, I feel like the opposite sex. I feel like I want to change my gender.

[42:29] They're getting hormone therapy. They're getting pills so that they make... So I can take pills to make me more like a female. To grow the female parts and to diminish the male parts.

[42:42] And it's vile, isn't it? Hormone therapy. And then they actually do surgery. Reversible, non-reversible surgery. You get your bits cut off and other bits manufactured.

[42:55] It's irreversible. But, friends, this is vile and sick. They're calling evil good and good evil, aren't they? It's horrendous. And that we would dare to think or say anything different is being likened to racism.

[43:10] Oh, how dare you? That's oppressive. They blame Christianity. They want to deconstruct Christian civilisation. Now, when I had my notes on paper, I knew where I am, but I'm nearly getting there.

[43:22] It won't take too long. But it's important to understand the times, friends, isn't it? The activists are using the language of the civil rights movement now. You know, that...

[43:35] How dare we say that male and female is what it is? Rather than this mishmash and this multiple genders, there's like 70-odd different genders you can be.

[43:52] Something crazy. And now, friends, what we're seeing is really a sheep track. Sheep track. This is what one of the lecturers at this Christian information session talked about. It's really a sheep track of popular opinion.

[44:05] In other words, people are being taught to think a certain way. It's like sheep have a tendency to follow the sheep that's in front of them. You that have lived and know about farms, you know that you look on your paddock and there's these little trails, these little tracks where they go the same way night and day.

[44:23] You see it down at the zoo, don't you? They go round and round on the same track. People have a tendency to follow the sheep track. And they don't question, in other words. They just follow the pathway. They follow the sheep that's in front of them.

[44:35] They just follow. They keep following and following and following and it makes this groove. It's like there's a groove. You can't get out of the groove. We've got to follow the sheep track. That's what they're telling us. And so society must be cleansed of people like rugby players who quote Bible verses.

[44:50] People like that have got to be cleansed from our society. That someone would dare to quote a Bible verse and put it on their social media. That someone would actually dare to quote what the Bible says as truth, that they have to be taken out.

[45:06] Take their jobs. Take them out of circulation. Take them out. And we're seeing down through history what a culture has been feeding on will show. We're seeing the result of this philosophy such that today's generation is more depressed than ever.

[45:20] We are living in a generation of young people who are more depressed than they ever have been. Such that you've got children taking all kinds of medications and pills and therapies and such because of depression.

[45:37] That's the result. Cultural Marxism. Narcissism. We're caught up in a lifestyle that's damaging. And there's truly broken people in our world who need hope and help.

[45:49] Christ is the answer, isn't it? He is the answer. Christ is the answer. We see the social consequences. What are the results of all of this stuff? We see the result is sexual sin.

[45:59] It hurts people. It damages people and others. And these philosophies that say anything goes, you know, get physical with whoever or whatever, human, animal, whatever, you can imagine.

[46:23] Children even. Anything goes. That's where it's going. That's where it's going. It hurts people. It hurts our world. It hurts people. It hurts human relationships.

[46:34] It degrades people. It diminishes people. And society as a result is more miserable than it ever has been. The statistics that show how hopeless a generation is.

[46:46] There's a hopelessness. There's sapping the strength of our young people. There's this culture of death, of despair. And friends, it's more compassionate that we warn people than to not say anything, isn't it?

[46:59] It's more compassionate that we say this is wrong than to confirm people in their sin. Not that we go out to hammer homosexuals, but we need that awareness in the sense that we need to know what's right and wrong.

[47:15] We need to be unafraid, to declare truth. In a world where truth is just so murky and lost, where are we today? It's a postmodern custard, really, isn't it?

[47:27] There's truth. Where's truth today? We need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. That's the transformation we need. Not conformed to this world, but transformed. That's the transformation we need.

[47:38] But there's this deliberate transformation, a deliberate brainwashing going on, such that there's got control of media, of public opinion, of desensitisation, and blatant propaganda.

[47:50] You've got to think like the pack. That's what they're telling us. If you dare to raise a discordant voice, they'll target you. And many people these days, they are not interested in the truth.

[48:01] You know, when we're witnessing it, often get the response, not interested. Not interested. They don't care whether it's true or not, they're just not interested.

[48:13] That's what studies have found, is actually this disinterest, is they actually are not interested in the truth. Even though deep down they may know it's true, they're just not interested in the truth.

[48:26] We've lost our moral compass as a culture. Righteousness exalteth the nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Righteousness. It's a lost concept today, isn't it?

[48:37] That there would be a righteous standard, that there is a godly standard, that there is truth that is defined, and doesn't change, doesn't get revised. It's true now, as it always has and always will be.

[48:50] It's the truth. Who cares about God's standard? Who cares? Who cares? Oh, I'm too busy. I've got this or that. I've got this or this or that to do.

[49:03] The definition of laws is a rule of right conduct. A rule of right conduct. Who tells us what's right and what's wrong? If there's no Bible anymore, who says what's right?

[49:16] Right conduct. So we see lawmakers now starting to make laws that make Christianity illegal. Ultimately, Christian actions can be declared illegal.

[49:27] And I can see it happening, can't you? And we should obey God more than men. It's what we've got to do. It's a generation that despises the truth, not interested. People act as if truth is subject to how you feel.

[49:41] Oh, I feel like this today. Oh, I don't feel like that today. And they say, your truth is hate. Truth is now being redefined.

[49:51] Your truth is hate. That's what they're telling you. And the greatest sin is to tell the truth. That's the greatest sin now. And they aim to delegitimise claims that are not in accord with their agenda.

[50:10] And unhook our thinking from God. So they say uniformity is evil. Tradition is evil. Diversity is good. Anything goes. And anyone who differs is painted as an aggressor, an oppressor, a hater.

[50:27] Everything that is not them, they are against. It's thought control. Public opinion is being manipulated constantly.

[50:39] You know, I've not watched TV for probably 10 plus years, but had occasion to see a TV set and see the conditioning. Multiple gambling adverts. Has people seen that?

[50:50] Multiple gambling adverts. Such that it's a fun thing. It's a carefree thing. It's a pleasurable thing. And you get stuff out of gambling. It's a lie.

[51:02] We're being fed lies. Friends, desensitisation. People are being shamed for not thinking like the pack. What is their messaging? Homosexuals are portrayed as an oppressed minority.

[51:14] And heterosexual couples are just like, homosexual couples are just like heterosexual couples. And we've got churches now, they're called queer theologians, that are saying of gays, this is the way God made me.

[51:30] Blasphemy. The way God made me. They exalt this banner, pride. What does the Bible say about pride? It's not something to be exalted. It's not something to be celebrated.

[51:43] Pride. Certainly not. Pride in sin. And they talk of sexual morality as if it's a tool of capitalist oppression. Cultural Marxism.

[51:55] You're oppressive. You're oppressive. You say that you should wait till marriage. You're oppressive, they say. And they promote this idea that gender is flexible and fluid according to preferences of the imagination.

[52:09] Friends, the reality is people are people. And this emphasis on sexual identity is overstated. We're all humans. And we all have sinned.

[52:20] We all need Christ to save us. What does God say that we are? That's what matters. He created male and female. God created man in his own image.

[52:31] What does God say that we are? That's what matters. It's not about some imagined identity that's being projected on people. It's about falsehood versus truth. What does God say?

[52:42] God says you're made in my image. God says I've made you male and female. Not some continuum. Not some mishmash of multiple genders. Male and female, that's it.

[52:53] That's the choice. And the choice is what you physically are. You're either male or female. God has created you. That's the point.

[53:04] And also you're known intimately by God. He's possessed us. He's possessed our reins. In other words, the fibres and core, the muscles and joints and sinews, that which makes us up, that which we've constructed from.

[53:19] He's possessed us. And he's covered us in our mother's womb. And such that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And so we should praise him. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

[53:31] Marvelous are thy works. And that my soul knoweth right well. Friends, you are loved absolutely by God. And he has made you, he's fashioned you in the womb.

[53:42] And you are fearfully and wonderfully made. And the perfect is to praise him, to know him. Friends, in contrast, we've got postmodernism. It says that there is no truth.

[53:54] So there's no standard. There's nothing to measure truth by. Throw your Bible out the window. Whatever you feel like, that's truth. And Christianity is seen as a mental health hazard.

[54:06] It's a mental health hazard for you to be a Christian. For you to be here this morning. This could damage your mental health. You know, we should put this preacher in jail for spreading these things that oppose the truth of our society.

[54:22] And then we send Christian institutions like faith-based institutions and schools. Faith-based schools are in the target sites. They're looking at faith-based schools now. What can they do to change?

[54:34] To change them? To shut down that witness? That they should dare to select teachers who accord with their values. That they should dare to have a syllabus that doesn't extend to all of this gender inclusiveness.

[54:53] There's an increasing opposition. Because Christian schools are funded by the state. Give it time. We'll see some things. I'm sure we will. God helping us. Let's pray for our Christian schools.

[55:04] We need Christian schools. And there's this increasing opposition to the knowledge of the truth. Friends, I'm nearly there. Just a few more moments. So, seeing this decay in morals and truth and abortion culture.

[55:16] It's like it's just accepted. Right to the very last knock. They're taking these lives. God help us. And then we're seeing this. The moves towards commercial surrogacy.

[55:29] Ladies who can still bear children, you might get some money out of it. Commercial surrogacy. Where's the mum and dad? Where's the normality in that? You know, if a homosexual couple wants children, they just go and hire someone to have their children for them.

[55:46] And we're seeing this radical planet's being rolled out. Deliberately rolled out. It's a gradual graduation. It's getting worse and worse and worse. Feminism. Gay marriage.

[55:58] Transgenderism. Pedophilia. Pedophilia. That's just around the corner. The social acceptance of that grossness. What we're seeing today? We're seeing drag queens reading to children in public libraries.

[56:10] What are we doing? The corruption of society. We've seen this all before. Pagan Rome had this sickness. This spiritual sickness. The idea that anything goes is now the truth.

[56:22] And that we're just seen as another animal. You're just as valuable and as important as the animals down at the zoo. That's what they're saying about you. That we're just an animal. And so sex is just a physical process.

[56:34] So just whatever you want, do it. There's no limits. The agenda is clear. The age of consent is under threat too. That's another thing. They want it to go down, down, down. 12.

[56:47] What's stopping them? Give it time. Anything goes. When there's cultural Marxism, when there's no one to answer to, when there is no final authority, who's to say what's right and wrong anymore?

[56:58] There's more in store. Friends, we should be alarmed. We should be understanding the times. And we should be aware. While all people are equal, all sexual behaviours are not. Such a way of life is hurtful.

[57:10] It's damaging. It's detrimental. And at the heart lies an unbelief in God. There's a rising scepticism. A loss of trust in truth.

[57:24] We should stand up for the truth. Friends, I'm urging you today to be understanding of the times. To know what to do. How should we counteract all of these evils? The Bible tells us what we should think.

[57:36] Whatsoever things are true. Whatsoever things are honest. Whatsoever things are just. Whatsoever things are pure.

[57:49] Whatsoever things are lovely. Whatsoever things are of good report. There be any virtue. There be any praise. Think on these things.

[58:00] Friends, I know, forgive me this morning that I've been pretty plain about some things. Things that I don't, I'd rather not talk about really.

[58:12] My message is to be understanding what's happening. We should be alerted. The truth is compelling and people desperately need the truth. We could end up like communist China.

[58:23] It's just around the corner. The things I'm telling you of are forbidden to be spoken of. Where there is no truth, there is no justice, there is no righteousness.

[58:35] The church has failed. We've been silent too long. And the truth has fallen in the street. Our culture has degraded. And it's reflected in all the mantras of this world.

[58:47] Rock and roll. This tearing down of authority. This rising up of rebellion. A revolution. The truth is in the word. He is the truth.

[58:58] And Christian morality is true. It's true and it's good for you. We're meant to be salt and light. Salt in a corrupting world. Light in a dark world.

[59:09] And so I urge you today. Do what's right. Be not afraid to be bold. Be not afraid. Be not ashamed. What is true is both negative and positive.

[59:21] We've got to alert people to what's wrong. So we can show them what's right. And really the ultimate I urge you today is to trust Christ. To trust the Lord.

[59:31] And be that city set on a hill. To be a shining Christian. Shining broadly, brightly, widely. Not a light under a basket. But a city on a hill.

[59:43] That people will see our light. And that we will be like the people in Acts 4. So we can't but speak the things which you've seen and heard. We can't but speak.

[59:55] We've got to testify. We've got to testify. We've got to tell people. We've got to take this gospel. We've got to take this message. We've got to take this saviour. We've got to bring hope in a world that desperately is crying out.

[60:09] In a hopeless world we need to point them to the hope that is found in Christ. That we can withstand the cultural anarchy of our day. We can withstand the social engineering. The cultural Marxism.

[60:20] The narcissism. The selfish world. We can get out of that sheep track as it were. We can jump out of the sheep track. We don't have to follow the crowd. And we're seeing these trends are happening.

[60:32] Evil trends. We can counteract them. We can be the counterculture. We can be topsy-turvy to this world. We can say we're not going to follow the trends. We're not going to be trendy. We're going to be righteous.

[60:42] We can see this transfer of authority from the Bible to anything goes. Make up your own truth. We're seeing this transformation of society. But we should have a transformation within.

[60:53] Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And we see truth is thrown on the street like garbage. We see truth degraded and defiled and opposed.

[61:05] We should stand up for the truth. Be bold and do not be silent. We cannot but speak the things which you have seen and heard. Let's pray. Our Lord God, we thank you for your people here, for this church.

[61:18] Lord, may we be a light city on a hill. May we be not silent but declaring your truth firmly and resoundingly. Help us, Lord, to be informed, to be understanding of the times and to know what we ought to do as your people.

[61:34] That we ought to do what you've told us to do. Challenge us, Lord. Draw us to yourself. Help us to be strong. Help us to stand for what is true and right and to declare it without fear or favour, with courage, as you enable us to.

[61:54] Lord, we pray if there's any hearing this that are yet to trust you as Lord and Saviour, that they might know that transformation that happens when our lives are rendered as living sacrifices, when our hearts are yielded to your spirit.

[62:08] Lord, when we bow our will, our lives under your hand and trust you as Saviour and Master, we receive your gift of salvation.

[62:19] Lord, we know that we have so much blessing just to know you and to trust you. We pray others might know that too. In Jesus' name, Amen.