Light on the Hill

Jane: Looking forward to the soon return of Jesus. Here's Pastor James Kaddis.

James Kaddis: To understand the fact that Jesus Christ is coming for us. There's joy in that. There's peace in it. You don't have to worry about the the pain life that we live, the difficulties associated with the things that we face on a day-to-day basis. All we have to do is say thank you, Lord, for what you've given us because what you've given us is wonderful. What you've given us is powerful. What you've given us is special. We literally can look forward to your soon return. We can be excited about you coming back, like literally be overjoyed at the thought of you coming back because when we know that when you come back, lots of things are going to happen.

First of all, when the Lord comes back for us, guys, it's a rap.

Guest (Female): I have found that peace only comes from you. I have found that joy only comes from you. Cuz all I need is you.

Jane: We hope you're having a great day and we're thankful you could spend some of it with us here at Light on the Hill. Pastor James Kaddis is in a series entitled Living in the Last Days through both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. In these unsettling times we're living in, it's a good idea to remember Jesus is coming again. If you're a believer, that should bring you tremendous comfort and hope. Let's take some time now to reflect on that. Here's Pastor James in 1st Thessalonians chapter 2.

James Kaddis: I got caught up watching one of those crazy videos that show like the worst airplane disasters, you know, ever caught on tape. And I I saw that recent one in Saudi Arabia. Did you guys see that one with a plane just it's a big old commercial jet, a 747 that kind of goes up like this and it kind of falls over and then lands and just boom, explodes everywhere. It was a really really ugly. It was like a crew of four people that died. It was like one of those cargo planes and someone didn't get their delivery, you know, anyway.

But it was ugly. I'm watching all these airplane disasters and I start thinking in my head, you know, it's interesting because it is very easy for a disaster like that to happen when you really think about the mechanics of these airplanes. I mean, some of these airplanes, the mechanisms that control the hydraulic, you know, the hydraulics and the mechanism that control the jets, they've got wire that's so thin that literally you could probably pull it apart with your hands, no problem. I mean, just and hundreds and thousands of little tiny wires like that that are all kind of reinforced and they got these rivets that if they're placed just wrong, that the the air foil would just tear the airplane apart just By the way, here's another interesting fact about airplanes that take off.

When an airplane takes off and one taxi taxis behind another, do you know that they have to give it a certain amount of time and the air traffic controller actually has to allow the airplane or direct the airplane to actually take off at a slightly different trajectory or angle because the wash that's created by the jet in between will actually destroy an airplane that goes in its path within a minute or two of that time. You cannot fly a plane directly behind another airplane because the thrust that that jet creates for roughly around a minute and a half, two minutes will actually disintegrate.

It will tear apart whatever is in its path for a while. As a matter of fact, if you remember right after 9/11, some of you guys might remember this, there was a plane I believe that took off out of Boston, I think it was, or maybe it was Logan, I don't remember, but they took off out of Boston and upon takeoff within a few minutes of the time it took off, not even within a few minutes, I think within 30 or 40 seconds of the time it took off, it just pretty much disintegrated in the air while it was taking off.

And when they went to go investigate it, when the NTSB investigated it, you know, they found out that the air traffic controller erred and made a mistake and he cleared the airplane to take off just a little too fast. And as he took off, the wash created from the previous jet completely just tore the airplane apart. I don't know if you guys remember that situation. The point behind what I'm saying is it's dangerous to fly in an airplane. Now, with all that said, you are roughly 10,000 times more likely to die or get injured in a car accident than you would be in an airplane.

I think that's I think it's either 10,000 times or 20,000 times more likely. I forgot what the number was. I'd have to go and look it up. But the point is airplanes are are very very unsafe. They can be just like a car is unsafe. But here's the idea with an airplane. You get in an airplane, you trust the people that are handling your luggage to handle it correctly. You're trusting them. They'll put it under the plane. You have no control over how the luggage is handled or where it goes, right? You trust the pilots to know what they're doing.

You trust the security people to have done their job so that your plane doesn't get blown up for lack of a better term, right? You trust that every mechanism involved in that situation is going to get you from point A to point B. As a matter of fact, airplanes are one of the very few situations besides maybe a train, which a train is a whole lot easier to trust, but airplanes are one of those very few situations where you get in that thing, you close your eyes and you try to keep your eyes closed until you get to where you need to go and you open your eyes again, trusting that the guy's going to land okay, trusting that everything's going to go good, they're going to taxi you off to the right gate and that you're going to be where you need to go.

That is this word for believe. You are relying upon something that you cannot control. And the idea here is he says you're allowing the word of God to work in you effectually for those of you that believe. In other words, because you trusted the word of God, because you trust in God, because you can trust in the fact that God is going to move and can move in you, you're not freaking out anymore. God is doing a great work. The The idea is this. There's a lot of things that go against our flesh in the life that we live today, isn't there?

There's a lot of things that want to tell us to not trust God for a lot of different things in a lot of different areas. And every time we choose not to trust in God, we always hurt ourselves. But when we trust in God, it goes against the very nature of our being to do it because we freak out. God says trust me anyway, don't worry. And we get to see his miraculous hand being done moving because we gave him an opportunity to move when in reality when our nature and our flesh tells us not to trust in him, we always rip ourselves off of the opportunity for God to do something great.

It It's the same kind of concept here and he says because you trusted in the word of God, you sought it as the word of God, you trusted in the Lord, he has been working effectually in you. There's been a There's been a beautiful work that's been taking place in you. And he says we're very thankful for that. And he says this in verse 14 he says for you, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen even as they have of the Jews.

Now, this is kind of an important thing to understand because you have to understand that the Jews that lived in Judea, that is the region of Jerusalem in that area, when they came to accept Christ in their life, when they became completed as Jews, you have to understand they went through great persecution. And a majority of the persecution that they went through had nothing to do with the Romans. A majority of the persecution that they went through had everything to do with the Jews who were jealous and did not want to see the uprising of the name of Jesus amongst their community because with the uprising of the name of Jesus amongst their community, they would start to lose power and influence over the people.

Interesting how people are good at using religion to take advantage of their purposes, right? They take advantage of people's need and desire to want to walk with God. And And it's like what I shared with everybody in 1st Well, I didn't share this with 1st service. I said it was to 2nd and 3rd. I wanted to say it with 1st and I just completely forgot. It was an announcement that I was going to make and I was going to tell everybody if anybody if anybody at all calls you that say they're from Calvary Chapel Signal Hill or Light on the Hill Radio Ministry and asks for money, hang up on them because it's not us, right?

Cuz apparently we've heard of a few people that have called in our name to ask for money and we caught wind of the whole situation and we we just don't look. This is not us. We don't do this. We don't really We have no desire to participate in soliciting anybody for money because we trust that God is going to always provide for us and God is going to watch out for us and God knows how to how to care for our needs. We are not going to go and solicit anybody for those things. Why? Because there's too many churches out there and too many people that use the name of religion and use the name of God to fleece the flock of God and take advantage of the flock of God, right?

Here's a term. How many of you And most people who don't come from this background will understand what this word is. How many of you have ever heard of the term repass? Anybody ever heard that term? We were talking about that earlier today. Praise God that there's only maybe one or two people that know what that term actually means. Let me tell you what repass means, okay? In many of these churches, particularly churches in the inner city, the pastor will get up there and he'll conduct what he calls a service. Often times it's just sort of a an emotional rant, you know, where he's on the doing the thing, you know, kind of a And then they say now it's time for the offering, right?

And then what happens is you're going to collect the offering. And so they'll take a big offering and you know, people will give as much as they can give and the pastor will look in the in the offering bucket and and and say oh, that does that's not enough. The people aren't generous enough. So he'll do what's called the repass. In other words, he's going to pass the offering out again. In many churches in the inner cities in the United States they can have as many as six or seven repasses in a single church service.

And the idea is you're not giving enough and people are guilted into even taking the very money that they would normally spend for their mortgage and putting it in there because they want to appease God. And And that's kind of what happens. And there's a lot of people that do what? They take advantage of the religious system, right? To be able to fleece God's people. They take advantage of of people's desire to want to do the right thing and they they sort of overcome it. And truth be told, their countrymen resisted them. The Jews were resisted by the Christians that lived in Jerusalem.

In that area we were resisted by the Jews because Jesus was a threat to that lifestyle. Jesus was a threat to the repasses, so to speak, right? Now, here's the other reason why people are getting persecuted during that time. The other reason why they are getting persecuted during that time and you've got to look at history here. While the church While this letter was being written to the church of the Thessalonians, you have to keep in mind this is the time where one of the most treacherous rulers alive ever lived and that was Caesar Nero, okay?

Now, Caesar Nero was a really interesting guy because Caesar Nero was losing his mind. And what Caesar Nero started doing was he started doing crazy things that didn't even make sense. People thought that he was just delusional and nuts. Some people believed he was demon possessed. Doesn't matter, but what Caesar Nero started doing particularly in that region, the closer you got to Rome and you know, as you were there in Asia Minor in that whole area, in those regions, he was setting things on fire. He literally set half of Rome on fire. And in doing so, what he would do after setting on fire is he would blame the Christians for doing it.

He would say it was the Christians that did this and it set off some major persecution to people who said they were Christians. So when Paul tells them hey, listen, we see that you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen. In other words, we noticed that the that the Romans have been persecuting you, that he's talking to Gentiles here. We see the Romans have been persecuting you the same way the Jews have been persecuting their own people. Well, that's probably what he's talking about here. He's talking about that likely scenario that listen, we know that the persecution is being centered.

We don't know You know, here's the thing. It doesn't matter what the reason is for the persecution. We know that Christians were being persecuted on a whole bunch of fronts. The enemy will inspire anybody that he can in any way to to persecute Christians because he hates them, right? And could you imagine if you're a Jew and a Christian, Satan double hates you, right? He hates you because you're God's chosen people as an ethnicity and he also hates you because now you've accepted the Messiah into your heart. I think that's kind of an interesting thing.

And he says you suffered these things of your own country. Notice this even as they have of the Jews. They've gone through the same thing, right? Your countrymen have persecuted you the same way that the Jews have persecuted the Christians, the Hebrew Christians. And it's the same kind of concept. That's what he's talking about here. Verse 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us and they pleased not God and are contrary to all men. And he is talking about what the Jews have done to the Christians, right? The The Jewish Christians, right?

And he's going on talking about what they're doing. He says verse 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved to fill up their sins all way for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. Now, why did they object to anybody going to the Gentiles and preaching the gospel to the Gentiles? Because the Gentiles there was always a clear separation between the Gentiles and the Jews and they did not want the Jews to be free of the traditional lifestyle that Jews lived. They wanted Jews to come and to pay money to the temple.

They wanted to make money from the temple infrastructure. They wanted to continue to be away to get away. They wanted to continue to get away with literally taking everything from the people using their own power and influence as opposed to letting Christ have power and influence over them. And so it was kind of a sad thing. By the way, did you notice what Paul expounds upon the fact that they did? They said they both killed the Lord Jesus. Notice this and their own prophets, right? These are the people that killed Isaiah. These are the people that killed all these prophets that kind of that we know about the story of these many prophets, Ezekiel and Man, these were all prophets that were murdered.

They were all murdered by people who hated them, people that John the Baptist, a great example of another prophet who was murdered, right? Matter of fact, Jesus said he was the greatest of all the prophets, right? So you think about this. I mean, you look at the history of what the Jews did. And then Paul even adds on that. He says they murdered Christ Jesus. They've murdered the prophets. And by the way, they're the same people that are persecuting me. And he says I'm grateful because I know you're going through the same type of persecutions.

I can see it. The enemy is attacking you. I know that pastors like to tell people that when you come and make a commitment to Jesus Christ that everything's going to be wonderful and your life's going to be great from now on. And truth be told, you make a commit to Jesus Christ, your life might get very much more difficult because Satan hates your guts. He's not pleased with you walking with God. He 's not pleased with you loving God. That's just a simple fact, right? So he's going to come against you and that's what he was doing here.

I think it's interesting. Look at verse 17. He says but we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. In other words, even though we are taken away from you, man, we never left you in our hearts. You've always been in our hearts and we've always desired to come see you again. It's been one of those things. It's like there's that bond that's there. And I think all of you guys know what that feels like, right? You meet people that you really really love and when you're separated from them even for a while, it's hard.

It's not easy, right? I I love the experience of going and visiting other churches, but during those times where I'm away visiting other churches and speaking, I hate being away from you guys. It's not fun. I think about you guys all the time, right? And And I understand where Paul is coming from when he says this. Look at this in verse 18. He says wherefore we would have come to you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us. In other words, the enemy persecuted us. He kept us from wanting to do what it was.

And it's interesting how Paul has the wisdom to be able to discern whether or not it was the enemy that kept him or whether or not it was the Lord. He was able to recognize both situations in what was going on. And he says in verse 19 for what is our hope or joy or crown rejoicing are not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? This is interesting. Well, let me just read verse 20. It says for you are our glory and joy. It's interesting when you think about the the suffering that all of these people were going through and we'll just leave it off here for a second, but I I think it's unique when you think about or you analyze the fact that there was a lot of persecution, there was a lot of suffering going on.

It was a painful time to be living for the Lord. The whole world was angry with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Romans hated hated Jesus. The Jews hated Jesus. There were so many people that surrounded the world of Jesus Christ and hated everything about him, hated what he stood for. And the more Christ spread across the regions, the more people hated them. The more people hated Christians, it was It was bad bad bad bad bad. And Paul again, the glimpse that he gives us and we're going to see this again and again and again as we go through Thessalonians as he says, but guess what?

We have hope in the fact that not only just in the same way I want to return to you, we can also rest in in in and trust in the fact that Jesus is going to come back for us and we can we can be excited about that. That's something that gives us hope, right? And I don't know about you guys, but that's certainly a hope that I have. I'm excited about the idea of Jesus Christ coming back for me. I am. It's funny. I kind of It's It's a weird thing that I do in it.

I I do do it quite a bit is even when there are events that I don't look forward to in life, you know, I I'm about to run into something that I don't want to deal with or there's something I I just don't want to be a part of or man, this is going to be a tough season for me. I always get in the habit of saying, Lord, I know you're coming back soon. Maybe you can insert yourself right here, you know? And I'm not I not saying that as a joking thing. It's part of my hope.

It's part of the thing that that that encourages me and it's really cool because when I ask God to come for me and I notice he doesn't come for me, well then I still have hope in knowing, okay, he'll get me through this and at some point he is going to come back for me so I can rest in the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I can rest in hope of the fact that Christ Yes, he ascended into heaven, but he is coming back for me. I'm a part of his church. He's going to come back for me and for you and there is something about that that should inspire us and that should encourage us to understand the fact that Jesus Christ is coming for us, right?

There's joy in that. There's peace in it. You don't have to worry about the the pain life that we live, the difficulties associated with the things that we face on a day-to-day basis. All we have to do is say thank you, Lord for what you've given us because what you've given us is wonderful. What you've given us is powerful. What you've given us is special. We literally can look forward to your soon return. We can be excited about you coming back like literally be overjoyed at the thought of you coming back because when you we know that when you come back, lots of things are going to happen.

First of all, when the Lord comes back for us, guys, it's a rap, right? It is almost like we don't have to worry anymore. We don't have to run anymore. We don't have to run that race. The race is over. We We just literally We just get taken up and we get to experience the reward for everything that he's done for us. There is something about that that's pretty darn exciting, isn't there? I I like that idea. I think that Sunday nights for me is typically a little glimpse of what it's going to feel like when Christ comes back for the church.

I honestly say that. And I'm not saying that in a weird way. Sunday night is a little bit of a glimpse or or at the end of any week that's been very long and difficult, like the end of last week was the same way. But Sunday nights for me are cool in one sense. I get home after church, long day at church, get home after a long week. And it's the one night of the whole week that I can just be dumb. You know what I'm talking about when I say just be dumb? Like literally it's the one night where after everything is set and done, if I get home at 10 or if I get home at 7 Yeah, right, never 7.

But if I get home at 10 or if I get home at 7, it's the one night where I just get to like literally take off my braces, you know, change into night gear and just be dumb, like literally just enjoy the night, do whatever I want. If I want to watch a TV show, I can watch a TV show. If I want to get on the computer and watch a dumb video, I can do that. Not where I just literally be dumb the whole night and not worry about what I have to do the next morning.

And as a matter of fact, it's great because I can You know, I go to bed super super late like I normally do and I can wake up early if I want to and I can sleep in if I want to. It doesn't matter. And as a as a policy, as a rule, I try not to book anything on Monday because I like to leave Monday open for me to just do whatever I want. Typically I spend a lot of time doing church type stuff, but truth be told, there's just something about that Sunday night where you just get to say, man, the week is over.

I finished this leg of the race well. I 've done good. Now it's just time for me to be on autopilot and be a like literally a zombie on purpose and just enjoy myself and just relax and experience kind of the joy of not doing everything for the whole week. Now some of you are looking at me and going, what are you talking about? Sunday night for me is like dreadful. Like I get to Sunday night and I got to think, dang, I got to go to work tomorrow, you know? And that's kind of a bummer.

Well, you know what? Quit. No, I'm just kidding. I'm so silly. Anyway, Sunday night reminds me. It reminds me of this idea of Jesus Christ coming back because that's what's going to happen when Christ comes back for us. When Christ comes back for us, it's going to be like my Sunday night like on steroids and beyond, right? It's going to be like that idea of man, Lord, you came to get us. I don't have to ever go to work ever again. Oh my gosh, my body isn't freaking out anymore. I have a perfect body. But when the Lord comes back for us, we're going to look at our lives and we're going to We're going to consider everything that we've we've been through and we're going to realize, man, I don't ever have to worry about the cares in that place anymore.

I don't have to worry about the tax man. I don't have to worry about the bills. I don't have to worry about anything because you you came and got me and that's it. My that leg of the race is over and for the rest of eternity I don't have to have to worry about anything else again. That's it. It's a rap. And as a matter of fact, in 7 years I'm about to watch a crazy battle go down. I'm coming back in a big old horse and I'm watching a massive battle go down. That's going to be fun and entertaining, right?

I mean, you just think about the greatness of that thought, that idea of Christ coming back for us, the liberty that we're going to experience in knowing that he's coming back for his church. Can you imagine the thought of that, how absolutely cool that idea is that Jesus Christ is coming back for me, that he's coming back for you? That's something that you can rest in. Even when you're having a long day at work, even when you've had a long day where maybe there's an argument you've had with the family member, even when you're just exhausted and you've got nothing left in you, the ability to be able to say, wow, wow, you know what?

Christ is coming back for me. I have rest in knowing that he's here for me, that he's coming for me. There's joy in knowing that Christ loves me and he's coming back for me. And at that point when he comes to get me, that's it. I got Look, that's it. It's done. The The race is finished. I just get to literally sit down and enjoy everything that I've looked forward to my whole life. I get to enjoy the greatness of my God for eternity. It's never going to change and it's never going to get better because it can't get any better, right?

That's our hope, guys. To hope in the fact that Jesus Christ is coming soon. By the way, you're going to not see this peppered all over Thessalonians. It's not really peppered. It's covered. It's soaked. You're going to see example after example after example after example after example after example of this idea that Jesus Christ is our hope, his return is our hope all throughout these books, all throughout these letters. Find You can find hope and comfort in knowing that Christ is coming back for you and for me. That's exciting. And by the way, it's something that should not be peppered in our lives.

It's something that should actually literally cover our lives. The hope that Jesus Christ is coming back for his church. Amen.

Jane: You've been listening to Pastor James Kaddis on Light on the Hill. He'll be right back. Our current series is called Living in the Last Days, an end time study in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. If you missed any part of the series or just want to hear it again, visit lightonthehillradio.com or listen through our app. You'll also find us on oneplace.com and most of the major podcast platforms. Light on the Hill is made possible in part through the generosity of our listeners. If you'd like to support us with either a one-time gift or ongoing donations, please visit lightonthehillradio.com.

Pastor James is back with us now. Pastor James, it's becoming increasingly clear that we're living in the last days. Why do you think it is that so few pastors are teaching about it right now?

James Kaddis: * Well, Jane, it comes down to a couple of things. First of all, there's a certain laziness that exists amongst pastors right now who have been conditioned to go to a place where they do not want to do the work that's necessary to be able to bring this awareness to the body of Christ. And unfortunately, they are failing to meet the obligations set forth in front of them by the scriptures. The other area is that often times they do not want to be labeled as crazy or labeled as somebody that doesn't sort of fit inside of the mold that they want people to be able to see.

It's this ridiculous addiction that's come from people wanting to climb ladders and more about being popular than it ever has been about telling the truth. And that's very very unfortunate. Now there's another reason and that is it's a spiritual issue that the enemy is going to do whatever he can to keep Christians from fast-tracking themselves into the blessing of God. And perhaps the most consequential way to fast-track yourself into the blessing of God is to study Bible prophecy. We know that the book of Revelation, for example, is the only book in the Bible that says you'll be blessed for reading and heeding it.

And so understanding what God says about the future will dramatically change the way you live in the present and will lead to a much more fulfilled life and a happier life and certainly a life filled with greater anticipation and joy and and truth be told, a real satisfaction from what you do from day to day.

Jane: Thanks, Pastor James. In our remaining time, let's pray.

James Kaddis: Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word and for the lessons that we learn in it, Lord, to understand that there is hope in your soon return, Father, that we get to experience your glory at that vein and that level, Lord, that you are coming back for your church. Lord, we love you, God, and we pray that you would keep us looking to you, Lord, excited about your soon return. We love you, Lord Jesus. We thank you. We ask that you would go before us now. In Jesus' name we pray. Keep us looking to you.

Amen.

Jane: We've completed the first two chapters of 1st Thessalonians and we will be in chapter three next time. Read ahead and plan to join us then. Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis is presented by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

Guest (Female): I have found that peace only comes from you. I have found that joy only comes from you. Cuz all I need is you.