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 once again. Welcome to Stay Awake Radio. What a blessing it is to be here with you again today. Thanks for tuning in just as we cover some of the things usually that are happening in the world today. We like to take just a moment away from our Bible study as we do the rest of the week and just address things that are happening in our world. It's interesting. So many things continuing to happen with Israel, with Iran, just keep going down the list. Politics. Last week another attempt apparently outside the White House, an attempt on the president's life. So many things continue just to spiral out of control here within the world, at least that's how it seems.

As we look at the scriptures and we look with an eye on our eschatological views, at Calvary Chapel we basically take the Word of God literally. Prophecies literally. There are obvious times when there are metaphors and different things being used, but in prophecy, sometimes there are pictures, but most times it's just prophesying what's going to happen. God has just given us what's going to happen and what it's going to look like. Whether you're going from Daniel to Ezekiel, whether you go to Matthew, Luke, Mark, John, or the book of Revelation, whether you go to Peter or Paul, there are so many perfectly clear statements about what the end times are going to be like.

As we look around, as we've seen Israel become a nation, as we see the great falling away, as we see the world just continuing towards that thing of lawlessness, and as we see AI so prevalent on the scene, artificial intelligence, a lot of people say it's spiraling out of control. Again, as we read in the scriptures, we see everything is actually falling into place. My heart today, it's interesting. I like to kind of look and see sometimes even what we're teaching on Sundays. Usually the Bible study we're doing, I think it's on Revelation on the radio right now. We did that last year.

Right now, we're currently as a church on Sunday mornings going verse by verse. Wednesday nights we go chapter by chapter. Sunday mornings we're in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. We just finished that up this last Sunday. I just wanted to share part of that with you today. That was my heart, just to encourage you in these days. I love how as Paul is writing there to the church there in Thessalonica, he's talking about how I'm mentioning you in our prayers in verse 2. This is in chapter 1, verse 3, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

I love how Paul is saying we're praying for you. This is what we're praying for. We remember you before God and we remember your work of faith, your labor of love, steadfastness of hope. What a great reminder for each one of us that our faith would be working, that our labors of love, that we'd be doing labors of love and our steadfastness of hope. It's interesting. When we're working in our faith, faith that works, the work of faith, labor of love, when we're serving the Lord, it's a labor of love. If it's not for you, then there's something wrong with our Christianity. If it's not for me, there's something wrong. My heart's in a bad place or I'm living with some unconfessed sin or I'm just living in my heart, my mind set on the things of the world or my problems instead of on Jesus Christ.

Our works and our works that we have that are the result of grace, Ephesians 2:8-10 talk about that. All of our faith should lead to works in our lives, a transformed life by the Holy Spirit of God. Your work of faith, your labor of love and as we're laboring for Jesus Christ in love, it's always driven by love. The commands of the Lord are not burdensome to those who love Him, John said in 1 John. When we do these works of love, labors of love if you will, I pray that we're doing those things, first for our families and our church family. Are we serving at our church and doing it with love?

Are we serving those around us and doing it with love? A lot of us again, in the American culture, we love to be served. Yet we're to be servants just like Jesus came and He was a servant. Steadfast in our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. I love that. So we're steadfast in hope there. Hope is not the well, I hope that Jesus saves me. No, it's a certain hope in the Greek. I love that. Our hope isn't in the world, although we're involved in the world. We're the salt and light of the earth. Although our hope isn't in politics, although we're to be involved in politics and to be that Christian light and salt there.

Our hope is not in our own strength, not in our own education. Not that those things are necessarily bad. It's why are we doing those things? Our hope is in Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ. I love that when I was teaching on this it's like, no that's not His first, middle, and last name: Lord Jesus Christ. Lord is His title. He is our Lord. He is the Lord of Lord, the King of Kings, He is Lord. Is He our Lord? Do we allow Him to be the Lord of our lives? That's what we need to understand, that He is to be the Lord of our lives.

I remember years ago a sweet lady came up to me after one of our Bible studies. She goes, do you believe in lordship salvation? I'm like, well it depends on what you mean by lordship salvation. If you mean does Jesus Christ become our Lord after salvation, of course. Do you mean if I believe that Jesus is Lord right now, Lord of all the universe, of course. She got a real furrowed brow and was real disappointed. It's really sad to me when professing Christians say that Jesus doesn't have to be our Lord. What? That's part of being saved is now we declare, and by the way, with great love, that He's our Lord.

I don't want to be the Lord of my life anymore. I don't want to be the Lord. I messed up my life. That's why I came, one of the reasons I came to Christ. I'm a sinner. Now I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God. I still don't trust. My heart is still deceitfully wicked. Even though, yes, we get a new heart. Don't forget we still have our old heart, our old fleshly heart that wants to deceive us. That's where that battle comes from in Galatians chapter 5 and Romans chapter 6 and 7. Anyway, so He's the Lord. He's Jesus. Basically means that the Lord is salvation. That's what the word Jesus means.

It comes from Yeshua, Joshua if you will, in the Hebrew. So Jesus, and He's the Christ. He's the Savior. He's the promised Messiah. That He's our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Lord. He is our salvation, Jesus. He is our Christ. He is our Savior. He is the propitiation for our sins. He died for us. So they stood fast in hope. For we know brothers, loved by God, he goes on to say here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, now verse 4. For we know brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

There are so many different things I could touch on right now that He's chosen you. But I want to just talk about kind of I'm going in one direction here with this because there are so many different things that Paul is pointing out. But he just said, look, our gospel came to you not in word, only in word. But notice it first came in word. When we present the gospel, I remember years ago hearing a guy say basically that we need to earn the right to preach the gospel. In other words, we need to get to know people, whether it takes months or years before we can share the gospel. Well, that's not a biblical thing at all.

That's the woke new thing that's in the church. Oh, you know, become somebody's best buddy before you can share the gospel. Jesus didn't do that in the gospels. Peter didn't do that in the book of Acts. Paul didn't do that. Neither did John. So why would we? That doesn't make any sense. We preach the gospel. So first the gospel comes by words. I heard somebody else say, preach the gospel at all times, but if necessary, use words. Words are always necessary. Now, I understand what they're saying. They're saying to live out the gospel and we should be. But we need to be preaching the gospel at all times to go out and make disciples of all men and women.

And so to be planting seeds, to be watering those seeds by the word of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. So he says here, our gospel came to you not only in word, but also he goes on to say, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit. It's interesting to note in 2 Timothy chapter 3, it says that in the last days, perilous times will come. It goes on to say they'll have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. I think that's the power that Paul is talking about here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 5.

He said, but also his gospel came in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. So his gospel when he preached it, it came with power. Power isn't in you and I as far as what if I'm clever or how well I know the gospel. It's like I remember years ago reading about a guy who went on to become an evangelist, Greg Laurie, preached to tens of thousands and even more hundreds of thousands over the years. All glory to God on that, by the way. But he started out by walking on the beach as a saved teenager. Hey, can I read to you these four spiritual laws from this tract?

And he would just go and he'd read these tracts to people. And that's how he started sharing the gospel. But it was in power. Remember the power is in the Word of God. It is powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. What did Spurgeon say? We don't defend the lion in the cage, we just open the cage and let the lion out. So we give people the gospel, we give them the Word of God. That's where the power of God is. But here's the thing: in the last days people are going to deny that gospel power, that saving power that saves us from our sins.

And that's what we see today. So many even in the church. Well, I'm still a recovering alcoholic and I'm a Christian. I'm a homosexual and I'm a Christian. I'm this and I'm a Christian. Look, once we are born again of the Spirit of God, all those sins are forgiven. We are not to identify with our sin any longer because of the power of the Spirit of God that we've been now born again by the gospel of grace. That Jesus died for our sins, that He rose from the dead on the third day. We believe in Him to be the Lord as our Lord and as our Savior.

We are then born again of the Spirit of God and this is a powerful thing. In Romans chapter 1, it talks about the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. There is power in the gospel. It is a life-changing power. Do not believe the lies of the world or in some milky pulpits today. Look, the gospel says there is power in the Word of God. Believe God rather than other people or even ourself. Oh, I could never do it. I'll always be a drunkard Christian. No. You have been made a new creation. Well, I'll always be a homosexual Christian. No. You are now a new creation in Jesus Christ.

You've been made new by the blood of Christ. And there's power in that. Tap into that power. And I love it: and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Look, this isn't, you know, I believe in the Holy Spirit today that He's still working. I believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that they're still to be used today. But not in the hyper-charismatic way. I was just talking to somebody just literally yesterday who went to a prayer meeting and it was this charismatic thing and it was like, wow, I always heard you talk about when you came out of the charismatic movement and how weird it was some of the stuff.

People sitting over there, and I'll just tell you, I went to this prayer meeting when I was first saved in the charismatic stuff and there was this older lady sitting there and she was sitting in the corner going hee hee hee, hee hee hee. And I'm like, dude, what's that? I asked the guy who brought me, what's she doing? And there was a lot of people there and so I didn't want to interrupt too much. I'm like, what's going on? Because I was freaking out. And he's all, oh, that's the gift of joy, brother. She just has the gift of joy. And I'm like, oh, okay, it's still kind of weird.

Well, look, that is not in the Bible. And so we have to be careful with stuff like that. Being slain in the Spirit's not in the Bible unless you're looking at Ananias and Sapphira. And again, I could go on and on. I believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit today, but first of all, biblically and decently and in order. And if you don't, I have people get mad at me all the time. Oh, you know, don't put this down. Look, that's just the truth. If it's not in the Bible, I reject it with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, period.

Because the Bible is our guide. This is what we look to. We don't need to make up more gifts or make up how this gift is manifested. We look to the Word of God to show us. So they came to them in power and in the Holy Spirit and in full conviction. They believed what they were preaching. And he goes on to say there in verse 5, you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. In other words, hey, we lived out, remember earlier, preach the gospel at all times, but if necessary, use words. No, use words first, but then go live out the gospel.

He said, you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. So Paul, when they came, they weren't just saying they were Christians, they were living out their Christianity. Sadly, I've seen too many people over the years as a pastor, whose kids have gone off. Their parents, they come to church and they do this stuff. They even bring their kids. And later on their kids are going off into this wacky stuff or completely away from the Lord. They say, I don't understand. Well, tell me about how was it in your home.

And always without fail, well, I really didn't get really saved. I didn't get really on fire until this time, several years into a marriage and the kids kind of grew up during that time. And it's like, well, there you go. You see, if we profess to be a Christian and we're not living this out, if we're not proving it at home first. You don't go to church and be a Christian. You go home and be a Christian. You go to work and be a Christian. You go to school, you go with your friends. That's where we're to be a Christian.

We come to church to be stirred up to love and to good works and we go out and we do that love and we do that good works. And so again, we need to prove out our Christianity in our marriages first or in our singleness first and our homes first to our moms and dads or to our kids. They need to see that it's real. And that's what Paul said, look, we came and we proved to be among you for your sake. But here's the awesome part. Check this out. In verse 6, it says, and you became imitators of us.

Look, when you're a Christian, find somebody that you love, that you know has finished well. First I start with the old dead people. I remember the first one I started with was DL Moody. And I'd heard these things, okay, he loved the Lord and this and that. And so I started reading his books and I'm like, okay, this is really, and then Charles Spurgeon and then other guys and gals that I read throughout the centuries that had finished well, Matthew Henry. I could just keep going. Martin Lloyd Jones, Tozer, just all these different Ironside, wonderful men of God.

I just loved it. And you just read about them and you grow. But here's the thing: I learned early to become an imitator. I remember when I was blessed and I went, I was on staff at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. My pastor was Chuck Smith. And so I'm like, okay, well I'm going to, I need to learn how to pray better. So I'm going to watch and listen to how he prays from the pulpit. And when he's praying with other people, I want to imitate that. And so as he was praying and the all the hands would be held or whatever and their eyes were, you know, head bowed or whatever and they're praying.

Somebody else was praying and I heard Chuck would go in the middle of the prayer, Amen and praise the Lord and he was like agreeing with their prayer out loud. And so, okay, that's how I'm going to pray. And others as I was leading worship at that time too, I'm like, well gosh, I'm going to look at other worship leaders that love Jesus and are on fire for Him and I'm going to kind of imitate them a little bit. And the same thing with preaching. When I started to preach and teach, I'm going to imitate this guy for a while, this guy and just learn from them and then go off and be who God has created me to be.

And I love this because this is completely biblical. That's called being a disciple, by the way. We follow people. Paul even said, imitate me as I imitate Christ. And so here he's saying basically look that you became imitators of us and the Lord, he goes on to say. So as they imitated Paul and the guys that were with him there on the missionary trip, then they were imitating as they imitated Paul, they were also then of the Lord. And it goes on to say, and you received in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

Notice he goes on to say, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere that we need not say anything. What's Paul saying here? He's saying, look, you became, you started by being imitators of us. And then you became imitators of the Lord. And then you received this word even in much affliction and with the joy of the Holy Spirit. So that you became an example to all believers.

All of a sudden now people were following them. They were examples, them. They followed Paul's example and that led them to Jesus. And go read John chapter 4, it reminds us of the woman at the well where the guys say, hey, to the lady, we believe, you know, because of your word, but now we believe because we've heard him for ourself and it's that same thing. But here's my question for you today as we're getting ready to close, time goes so quick. Are you an example that others can follow?

If you've been a Christian for more than honestly a few weeks, a few months, let alone a few years or 30 or 50 or 60 years, are you an example to other believers around you or to other people? Paul said they became such great examples that they didn't need to go say anything to anyone in that area, those areas. Is that how it is with you and in the realm that God has given you influences? Is that how it is in your family? Do they see you and want to be, are you an example of Christ?

How He talked, how He walked and how He loved and how He lived in holiness. And again, here's the thing. If you're hearing this and you're not like that, guess what? Here's the awesome part. You can just repent and ask the Lord for forgiveness. Lord, I am kind of in Hebrews, I should be on meat but I'm still on milk. Well, then graduate to meat, the meat of the Word of God. Become a leader. Now, again, this doesn't mean you're going to go start a church. Maybe it does.

You're going to go be a missionary. Maybe it does. But it just means you're going to follow Jesus' heart and then people are going to say, look, that guy, that gal, they're following Jesus' heart. I'm going to follow them as they're following Christ. And then all of a sudden it's going to be, oh, I'm just following Christ now on my own because I'm more mature. I want to encourage you as we're closing. You know, it's interesting, Paul goes on to say that you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

Look, guys and gals, again, as we're closing, turn away from those idols in your life that are in the world to Jesus Christ afresh every day. So many different things to be careful of. Hey, as we like to say, we'll see you here, there, or in the air, and may the Lord richly 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 1place.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 home page 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.