Simple Faith

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry coming to you from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today, we bring you Pastor Bill's weekly prophecy update. He'll be taking a look at current events and he's going to share how they relate to end times prophecy we read in the Bible. Obviously, there's a lot going on in the world, so let's get right to it. Here's Pastor Bill.

Bill Henry: Hello and welcome once again to Stay Awake Radio. What a blessing and what a privilege it is to be here with you today just talking about the things in the world. We like to take this Friday, Saturday, Sunday program and just kind of talk about the things of the day. This is usually pre-recorded a couple of days before, but there are just so many things happening in the world.

As Christians, how do we look at these things? How do we react? May our hearts always be to seek the Lord through His Word first and foremost by the power of His Spirit and walking in the Spirit of God and the things of God and even the reactions of God, the words of God. Yes, we're going to disagree with things. Yes, we'll be saddened by things. Yes, we'll be angered by things, but may we always respond as Christ would have us to respond and has shown us so clearly within His Word.

Today, I just wanted to talk about leaven. It's interesting, Jesus said that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Leaven in the Bible is representing, especially there in the New Testament, sin. Once we let sin into our lives, once we embrace sin—I know a lot of people today embrace sins like pornography, homosexuality—they'll embrace anger, outbursts of wrath, or gossip or jealousy, envy.

We could just keep going on and on down the list. For some people, it's drugs and others it's alcohol, and it can be all these different things. Lying, all these different sins that the Bible says are sins. We kind of, even as Christians, can embrace them and not realize that pornography destroys, that sex outside of marriage destroys, that anger, outbursts of wrath, destroys. All these things destroy because that's what leaven does.

Leaven corrupts. That's all the bubbles that you see when you're baking or you have bread, it's leaven and it's corrupting. Sin is also likened unto leprosy within the Bible. It's a very interesting thing. It's not really that it decays your skin. It basically just causes numbness and you can't feel. So if all of a sudden you have a bug bite or you bang your leg or you get a sore, you don't know about it because it doesn't hurt, it doesn't itch, it doesn't anything, and it turns into more and it's just a very terrible, terrible disease. Thankfully today, they can counter it, they can stop it, even though it hasn't been fully cured.

My point is it's the same with sin today. Although there is a full cure, and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My point in bringing up leaven today is because a lot of people are now welcoming sin into the church, welcoming leaven into the church. It's a wickedness. Even within our society. Let's start with society first. There's a story this week, and David Harris Jr. broke this story.

Here's the headline: "Chairman of Washington D.C.'s Police Union Arrested for Solicitation for Sex from a Minor and Child Pornography." It goes on to say the first openly gay chairman of the D.C.'s police union arrested on child sex abuse charges. I can't tell you, I'm probably reading a story like this once every week or two weeks. Somebody famous, somebody who is in a powerful position that is openly homosexual that is now been caught with child pornography, doing other things, solicitation from a minor.

It's wickedness. Why? Because maybe they didn't start that way, but when you open up to any perversion of sin. When I was a drunkard, I didn't start by getting drunk. I started with a few beers at my friend's house out of his dad's keg that his dad would never miss. Next thing you know, I turned into a drunkard. When you are a drug addict, I don't know of anybody that's in school—"Hey Mary, what do you want to be when you grow up?" "I want to be a movie star."

"Hey Joey, what do you want to be?" "I want to be a musician. I want to be an electrician. I want to be a fireman. I want to be a mom." None of them say, "Hey, I want to be a drug addict addicted to drugs, living on the street, stealing stuff from my family." That's not where it leads to. Most drug addicts don't start just by all of a sudden shooting up heroin.

Usually, it'll start with something like prescription drugs, it'll start with something like marijuana. Marijuana is the huge gateway drug even though people lie all the time. Anyone who's ever done marijuana and been around drugs, you know that the first thing most people try is marijuana. But again, it's like leaven. You can never get enough. That's what sin is. There's never enough.

You don't go to bed after you've binged—let's say binge eat, some people do that. The next day you don't wake up and say, "Okay, I don't need to eat anymore." No, you binge eat again. It's the same thing with sex. If you're having sex outside of marriage or pornography or homosexuality, whatever it is. Any kind of sexual sin, you don't do it and then, "Okay, I'm done. I'm never going to fall into that." No, your flesh wants to continue into it. Why? Because the Bible says you become a slave to that sin.

Jesus again mentions sin is like leaven. So you have this leaven within our society that is going to lead to things like this police chief, not just stopping at homosexuality, but again, going into further sexual perversions because that's what sin does. It enslaves us and we continue to go. How about within the church? There's a story from The Dissenter this week.

Here's the headline: "Disqualification of Homosexual Pastor Russell Moore's Church Should Not Shock Anyone." This is a fellow that was on staff at Russell Moore's church, a very well-known church. Basically they were saying that you could be homosexual and be a Christian, just don't have any sex outside of marriage. Well, guess what? He ended up having sex with a man and now he's stepping down.

Why? Do I think his motives at the beginning were right and even maybe Russell Moore's? I think they were probably right but they weren't biblical. That's a huge difference, isn't it? We can have right motives if you will. In other words, "We just want to help people, we want to embrace what's going on in the culture," instead of "No, no, what does the Bible say?"

The Bible tells us that homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God just like liars, just like thieves, just like adulterers, just like fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God, those who practice that sin. The Bible also teaches us that when we get born again, we are born again of the Holy Spirit and we become a new creation in Christ. In other words, you're no longer a homosexual, you're no longer a drunkard, you're no longer a drug addict. You are now a child of God.

Some of you are listening right now and say, "Oh, this is all pie-in-the-sky. This is just crazy. You don't really deal with real life." No, this is real life. The Bible is real life. The Bible is the Word of God, guys and gals. It is living, sharper than any two-edged sword. You're just believing the lies of the world. You're believing the lies of the enemies and we can't do that.

We have to be those that are walking in the Spirit of God according to the Word of God. That's where our freedom comes in. We've been set free from our sins. While we will sin here and there, we won't continue to practice that sin. I remember I think it was Greg Laurie used to say, "I can't stop a bird from flying over my head and pooping on me, but I can stop that same bird from coming in and making a nest in my head."

You can always tell who's really a pig and who's not when you fall in the mud. Do you stay there and wallow in it, or do you get out and repent and confess it? First John chapter 1, confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we're staying in the mud, then we need to repent. We need to get born again of the Spirit of God for real. Look, we need to get rid of the leaven.

Again, if you were a homosexual and you got saved and now you're no longer a homosexual, yes, you'll still be having temptations to that sin. But so what do you do? You cut off those temptations. I remember again, I got saved when I was 19. I was a surfer down in Huntington Beach, California, Newport Beach, California. When I got saved, I went to all my surfer buddies who we used to get high with, we used to get drunk with.

I'm like, "Man, I'm saved. I've been forgiven of my sins. I've repented, I've turned away from them. You guys need Jesus." It was like I was a vampire. They were putting up their fingers in a cross, "Get away." "Who are you? We don't want this." But my point is I couldn't. They kept inviting me to come to parties. "Well, come party with us, come party." It's like, "No, I don't do that anymore. Why don't you guys come to a Bible study with me? Come to church with me." And they wouldn't do that.

So be wise. It's the same if you've gotten out of drugs. You don't hang around the same people. If you need to get a new phone with a completely new number, do it. If you need to move to another city, do it. Be free from those sins, but be careful to put yourself back in that place where you're tempted. It's like right now I'm trying to lose weight. I heard this story of a fellow who's trying to lose weight.

As he was driving to the donut shop, he said, "Lord, if I drive by the donut shop and there's an empty space right in front of the donut shop, well, then I'll know that it's of You and I can go get a donut." Sure enough, the tenth time he drove around the block around the donut store, finally there was an open space. "Oh, that must be the Lord." No. What you do is you take a different way home so you don't drive by the donut shop ever.

That's the same with our sin. We need to stop playing with it, flirting with it. The church is sadly too much welcoming it into the church. We have to be those who are seeking to be holy as He who has called us is holy. Yes, we will fall every day. Yes, we will sin even as Christians and that's the beautiful part of grace. But we can't use that grace—read the book of Jude—we can't use that grace as an excuse to sin, which sadly a lot of wicked people are doing today even within the church.

So where do you get what you believe from? That's a huge thing. I love what the Bereans did in the book of Acts. When Paul came and he was preaching the Gospel, every time they heard him preach, it says they'd go home and they'd search the Scriptures to see whether what he was saying was true or not. Notice they didn't go home and say, "How do you feel about this? Does this make you feel good? How do you feel? What's your feeling?"

Look, everybody has feelings. Everybody has belly buttons. Some are innie, some are outie. Our opinions don't mean nothing. What does God's Word say? What does the Bible say? Joyfully so, though. We have to be careful not to be those that are just the letter of the law, but it's the spirit of the law. What does Jesus say?

Then that's our heart's desire for it because we're so full of joy. "Lord, we love You." As John says in First John, His commands aren't burdensome to those who love Him. Do you love the Lord? His commands won't be burdensome. They are a freedom. Even as we're walking in them, we don't want sin in our lives. We don't embrace sin in our lives and we shouldn't be embracing sin in the church. If you're in a church that's embracing sin, confront your pastor. Bring your Bible, show him where it says it's sin and if they won't repent, then leave the church.

Find a church that's teaching the Word of God verse by verse, chapter by chapter. But not only that, a church that is also full of the love of Christ. I've been to different churches. It's all the Word of God, the Word of God, which Amen to a point, but if there's no love, forget it. Then it's just Pharisees and Sadducees. If there's no grace. So it has to be the combination of both.

I just want to encourage you guys and gals that in our own lives, first and foremost, maybe there's a television show, maybe there's somebody on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook you shouldn't be following. It stumbles you. You see them, it stumbles you. The things they talk about, it stumbles you. Or a musician—"Well, this is my favorite musician." Well, if they're stumbling you, get rid of them. Get rid of those things and let's be at enmity with the things of the world. That means we go out and we share the Gospel, we love on people, but we also don't embrace the things that they embrace. Why? Because it always leads to sin and we have to be so careful of that, especially in these days.

It's interesting, I saw this other story that I wanted to share with you, it's from Lifesite News. It says, this is the headline: "Young German Socialists Demand Abolition of Marriage." It goes on to say the youth wing of the Social Democratic Party of Germany claims that the institution of marriage has a millennia-long history of oppressing women and calling for its abolition.

Now, what's interesting to me is I remember about 10 or 11 years ago now, I played an audio recording for our church and it was from a conference—homosexuals getting together down in Australia. It was somebody from America who flown down for this conference and they were talking about that they want to get rid of marriage. Now we have gay marriage in the United States, now we need to get rid of marriage completely.

So now you're seeing these young socialists there in Germany saying, "We need to get rid of marriage." Now, why is that important? Because I find it very interesting in First Timothy chapter 4, verse 1, it says this: "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared."

Now check out this next verse, verse 3: "Who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that are created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth." Now, what's interesting, it goes on to say for everything is created by God who is good and nothing is to be rejected if it's received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the Word of God and prayer. Marriage is, by the way, that's how marriages are made good. Made holy by the Word of God and prayer. Men and women following after the Word of God, applying the Word of God in their marriages towards each other, towards their kids, our kids towards their parents. Love it. And prayer.

God ordained marriage in the beginning. That was at the very beginning. A man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife. We see God basically overseeing the first marriage in the book of Genesis with Adam and Eve. Jesus re-emphasized the importance of marriage, that it's between one man and one woman. I hear people say, "Well, He didn't say that it wasn't homosexual marriage."

Well, Jesus never condemned marrying a tree. He never condemned marrying a goat. Why? Because He didn't have to. He did the positive. That's the negative. In the positive, He told us what marriage is, one man, one woman, and He points all the way back to the beginning. By the way, He didn't just say this once, He said this several times and He refers to what marriage truly is. So marriage is done. We know what it is.

But here's the thing. We also know in Ephesians chapter 5 that marriage represents Christ and the church. That we are the bride of Christ, the church is the bride of Christ. So what does the enemy hate? The enemy hates God. He hates the expression of God. Guess what, he's going to hate marriage too.

So again, another sign of the last days, which again, we see back here in First Timothy chapter 4, verse 1, "The Spirit says expressly that in the latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons," or doctrines of demons, I like in the old King James. Here's the thing, that's what we see today.

We were talking about that at the beginning of the program, how this leaven has made its way into the church and it's literally doctrine of demons. But here's the thing. It goes on to say though, through insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods. Both those things are basically on the warmer plate, if you will.

Bill Gates wants to get rid of us eating normal foods and let's turn everything into insect Big Macs and all these other different gross things. They're already doing these things in certain countries and even here in the United States, there are certain things I won't eat anymore because there's literally ground-up bugs for the protein, but what they don't tell you is all the negative effects of those ground-up bugs—cancers and all these other things. And again, this isn't some conspiracy, that's just plain science.

But my point is "who also forbid marriage." We're seeing this push underlying that they're going to want to forbid marriage. Why? Again, because it represents Christ and His church. It goes all the way back to what God said in the beginning. Everything that the world rebels against are everything that are holy and everything that they are embracing is everything that is unholy. Then they do what Isaiah warned about, right? "Woe unto those who call evil good, good evil, light darkness, and put darkness for light." That's what we're seeing today.

So when I saw that story about these young socialists in Germany who want to get rid of marriage, how do you not go back to this Scripture? Look guys and gals, as we're getting ready to close here, I just want to take these last couple minutes to encourage you. Yes, these things are crazy, but for me, here's what I love about it. It shows me once again that the Word of God is true, that it is God's Word. Not just the prophecies, everything else too.

Look, we may not understand everything and a lot of it will go against our flesh, and praise God, those things show us that this is the Word of God. God's Word is true, so guess what? We can rest, we can stand upon it, we can build our house upon His Word and loving obedience to His Word and we will have a strong house in these days. Maybe you haven't had a strong house.

Maybe you're weak. Maybe you're in your car right now and just crying out to the Lord. Here's your answer. Come back to Jesus. Come by His Spirit. Come through His Word and be a man or a woman of the Word of God like you've never been before. Start reading your Bible every day. At least one chapter. I recommend starting in the Gospel of John reading a chapter, going back to the book of Genesis reading a chapter, and then going to the Psalms and reading one Psalm.

Do that every day. Just go next to chapter 2, Psalm 2, and go back every day and pray before, pray after, and then start seeking to apply that into your life. You're going to see God change and work like you've never seen. I pray that as you hear this, just know something, that you've been being prayed for. You're continually being prayed for.

I pray that these words, again just the words from the Word of God, will help you, help you in your walk with Jesus, help you maybe come to Christ, maybe repent of your sins and believe in Him as your Lord and Savior and be born again of the Spirit of God. If you need to contact us, the announcer will give you the contact. We'll give you a free Bible, free information.

We're not about making the money. God provides that. That's His thing. We're so grateful and we're thankful that you listened today. I pray the Lord blesses you, keeps you, makes His face shine upon you and as we like to say, we'll see you here, there, or in the air. God bless you.

Guest (Male): This has been Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today, we brought you Pastor Bill's weekend prophecy update. It's our sincere hope and prayer that you've been blessed by the words you heard from Pastor Bill today. If you'd like to hear today's message again, go to oneplace.com and search for Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry.

We also have a large number of Pastor Bill's Sunday and Wednesday messages archived at simplefaith.org. That's our website. Just go there and click the media tab and you'll find a huge archive of Pastor Bill's past messages. And if you'd like to contact us, just click the contact tab at our website again at simplefaith.org. And there's a tab at the top of the homepage where you can also send in a prayer request.

And if you'd like to call us, our phone number is area code 833-BY-GRACE. That's 833-294-7223. And if you'd like to write us, we love hearing from you that way as well. Our mailing address is Post Office Box 55, Battle Ground, Washington, 98604. Here at Simple Faith Calvary Chapel, we have three services on Sunday morning at 8:00, 9:45, and 11:30.

We also have a great time of studying God's Word on Wednesday night at 7:00. For more information and directions, go to simplefaith.org. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks for joining us today. Be sure to join us next time here on Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry brought to you by Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington.