Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): Do you have difficult people in your life? There are probably some names you immediately thought of. Then there are likely others that you gravitate toward and love to be around. Today on Light on the Hill, we'll learn to love them all like Jesus.

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

Guest (Male): We talk about it often as believers. Jesus loves us. That's true. But did you realize that we're to love others as God has loved us? Today on Light on the Hill, we'll get right back to our study of 1 Thessalonians and Pastor James Kaddis is in verses 9 through 13. Lately, we've been discussing how to have a life that pleases God. As we learn today, loving others is a very big part of that life.

James Kaddis: Initially, Paul has been sort of congratulating the Thessalonians for their faithfulness and for their love for the Lord and for the fact that they've been very loving brothers. And so, brothers and sisters, of course, and we're going to back up just a little bit. I know we ended on verse 10 last week or a couple of weeks ago. But what we're going to do is we're going to actually go back a few verses. We'll go to verse 9 and we'll jump in right there. And it says this. It says, now touching as touching brotherly love.

In other words, concerning the issue of brotherly love. Okay? That's kind of what he's saying. He's saying, dealing with the issue of brotherly love, right? He says, you need not that I write unto you, for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another. In other words, listen. I don't have to write to you to tell you guys about the love of God because you yourself. That's what he's saying. You yourself have been taught by God himself about his love. In other words, you because of your relationship with the Lord, because of your walk with the Lord, because of the fact that you are close to the Lord, you have learned to love the other people around you.

And I think, by the way, I'll just tell you, I think it's a natural response if you are walking with the Lord. If you have a close relationship with the Lord, it's a natural response to actually begin to love people, to learn to love people, right? To learn to have a a desire to grow close to people. There's something about you that changes, right? And and you you you know, you sort of learn as you look upon people, you you sort of learn that they're human beings that God loves and you begin to love them, right?

And so, if you're walking with the Lord, if you have a relationship with God, you will love people. I mean, that's just the bottom line, right? You will have a love for people. And that's just evidence of your faith. I mean, if you if you have a relationship with Jesus, you will not have a problem with that. And so he's saying, look, I've watched you. You've been taught this by the Lord himself. And so, look what he goes on to say. He says, and indeed, you did it toward all the brethren which are in Macedonia.

So, in in the region of Macedonia, you guys showed great love. He says, but we beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more. In other words, you've done such a fine job of loving these people, but we beg of you. We literally we come to you and we say, please, please, please, please, we want you to display more and more of that. It needs to be something that's an embedded part of your heart and embedded part of your life. And this is a a verse that really speaks to me. I think it's a it's a verse that ministers to my heart because I think this is what happens with people in ministry.

And I'll talk about myself for just a minute, you know? You come to know the Lord, you walk with the Lord. You know, I've been walking with the Lord now for well, around 25 years. And and I remember when I first started teaching the word of God, how excited I was to actually bring the word of God to people. And not only was I excited, but I even got emotional in bringing the word of God to people because I loved the people that I was bringing the word of God to. And I used to remember doing a home Bible study.

That was kind of what where I first started teaching, right? And I used to remember doing a home Bible study where sometimes I would only have one person show up and that would be my worship leader. And he would be the only one that would show up to the person's house. Of course, with the person that was hosting. And sometimes the person that was hosting wouldn't even be there because he'd have an errand to run. And I would sit there and I would say, okay, bro, let's do some worship, you know? And he'd just go for it.

And then I'd sit there and I would teach him as though I had 100 people there. And it was funny because my mindset was not, well, there's only one person, so I better not teach. My mindset was, I love to teach and I love this young man. I love him to death. And so, you know what? I'm going to give him the word of God. I'm going to just give him whatever he needs. And it got to a point where the study grew and grew and grew and grew. But but truth be told, it was this thing where love literally motivated me.

I mean, the love of God inside of my heart is what motivated me to care for these people. It was the love of God inside my heart that motivated me to to want to spend time with them. And then what happens is this. After 25 years or so, right? The years go by, what begins to happen is you develop a little bit of cynicism, don't you? You you get to a point where so many people in the ministry have burned you and so many people have hurt you and so many people are are demanding your time and they're looking for you and they're asking about you and they're going to you and and they they just want everything.

I mean, they literally just want you at every bend and at every corner. And and you just get tired. And it kind of gets to a point where you just think, man, just get away from me. I don't want to talk to you. And the reason why that happens is because with time, you begin to really forget about the love that God first showed you. And then when people begin to to need you and want you and talk to you and burn you and hurt you and stab you, you know? You become cynical. And And I see this, by the way, the the most common This is why I think I have so much in common with police officers, right?

I see this happen most commonly with law enforcement officers, right? Uh it's my favorite thing to hear guys say. And I am sarcastic sometimes. I talked to a young kid who was telling me, I asked him, I said, why do you want to be a police officer? He goes, man, I can make a difference. You know? And I'm like, yeah, you'll believe that for probably the first 6 months, you know? And I shouldn't have said that. I mean, I was a bit cynical in saying that, right? Because what happens is the first few months you're a policeman, you're like, yeah, I'm going to get out there.

I know nobody feels this way, but I can make a difference, right? And as time goes on, you meet all of the people that are the worst of the worst. You meet the the most evil people out there. All the people that hate you and want to kill you and curse you and spit in your face and beat you up. And with time, as time goes on, you begin to hate people. You begin to not stand them and And And I know what it 's like. I mean, you get in a patrol car and sometimes our whole conversation I used to have to catch myself as a chaplain.

You know, the whole conversation would be putting down, you know, some of the people that we would contact, you know? We'd say, oh yeah, that animal, you know, and that that and and we just get all upset when in reality what God's heart is is God's heart is to love those people. But the problem is is with time, as I said, the cynicism grows with time. The lack of desire begins to settle in to want to spend time with them. The lack of desire to want to break of yourself, give of yourself to them and and literally you begin to become stale in your relationship with God and which means you become stale in your relationship with others.

I I I have learned this. I've learned that when I'm faced with an opportunity to either minister to somebody or not minister to somebody. When I'm faced with an opportunity to love somebody or or do something for somebody or not, every single time I'm going to try and do something for them. No matter how tired I am, no matter how much in pain I am, no matter how sick I feel, no matter how a difficult of a time I'm having physically, I am going to ignore all of those things that are screaming in my body because the love of Christ constrains me, right?

It's the people of God that sit here, that listen, that day by day they come and they they want to hear the word of God. And yes, they struggle and yes, they go through problems and yes, things are tough. And often times you get discouraged as a pastor ministering to them. But God says, what you need to do is to continue to love them. By the way, here's the rule. Ready? If you ever want to avoid becoming like that person who gets cynical after 6 months, pastors do it by the way. They're the worst at it.

If you want to avoid it, make sure you take special care, special care to love God with all of your heart. Make sure you take special care to make the things. Make sure you go out of your way to make the things a priority in your life that need to be a priority, to say God, I'm going to put you first no matter what. I've had some days. They're not a lot, right? But I've had some days where we face the nighttime. And upon facing the nighttime, my wife has upset me. You know what I mean when I say that?

There's a button she may have pushed. Maybe it 's my heart that's wrong. Maybe it's an attitude issue that I'm having. I don't know. But I've had a few of those days, right? And those days can be very difficult for me. And I have this rule. And it's a very important rule to me. It's a critical rule to me. My rule is this. I will not join my wife in bed. I will not go and lay by her unless the Lord has completely changed my heart about how I look at her. Because if I allow the sun to go down, literally if I allow myself to go back to bed with that anger in my heart, I will never have victory in my walk with God and in my relationship with my wife.

Some of my favorite times with my wife have been on those nights where maybe she has upset me and I've allowed the Lord to change my heart. And while she's asleep, I just jump back in the bed and I just this I'm overwhelmed by my love for her. There have been times where I've been brought to tears laying down by her side just filled with love. There's only one person that can do that to me. There's only one person that can soften my heart that way. It's Jesus. You have to be close to the Lord.

You have to walk with God to give you that determination. I feel the same way about the pulpit. I try. I do my best. And there are times where that's not the case. But most of the time, if not all of the time, I do my absolute best that by the time I get behind the pulpit, my heart for people is aligned with God's heart. That I would not be frustrated or bummed. Oh my gosh, I can't believe I got to do this. I don't want to do this. I can't do that. Why? Because the love of Jesus constrains me within my heart.

You guys get what I'm saying? In other words, my relationship with the Lord is what stirs me in my love for others. My relationship with the Lord is what motivates me in my love for others. My desire to know the Lord is what motivates me in loving others. I think that's why my wife is so good at loving people because she is the best at loving Jesus, right? I see it. I see it. Sometimes I I see it and I feel like, man, that 's a little too much, isn't it? It's a little over. You're going overboard, aren't you, babe?

You know? That's what I think in my head. But no, she's not because her love for Jesus is real. It's powerful and it's changed her heart and changed her life to the point where she has learned to love even the people that have hurt her. And I think that there's something to be said about that. It's our relationship with the Lord that fixes that, you guys. Look what he goes on to say. This is some heavy stuff. He says, and that you study, right? To be quiet. By the way, when it says that you study, literally in the Greek and by the way, there is an example of this where you see this again.

It says, study to show yourself approved, right? Some of you have heard that. The word here is not study, okay? The And I think it's incorrectly translated. Although the King James is a great translation, it says that you do your best. That's actually what it should be said. It said that you do your best to be quiet. That's a hard one for me, right? And to do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. In other words, don't be the little snitch that sees somebody doing bad or doing evil and goes, look at them, look at them, look at them.

Be the person that just minds your own business, that lives a quiet life, that puts your hands to the plow and that works. The idea behind doing that, the thought process behind doing that is that people will see your work ethic. And through people seeing your work ethic, they will see your love for Jesus, right? I I I I've told this to many people, especially young kids. I get this a lot from young kids. They They come up to me they go, Pastor James, could you please just pray for me? I'm being persecuted at my job, you know?

I They're persecuting me at my job. Oh, what are they doing, you know? Well, I choose to read the Bible, you know, sometimes at my job. I go, okay, well, in what context are you reading the Bible? Well, you know, sometimes there's nothing to do in the store, you know? And so, I'll just open my Bible right there on the counter and and and just read it or whatever. And And I would tell them I go, I'm not going to pray for you being persecuted. I 'm going to pray for your stupidity, right? I'm going to pray for you being a bozo because here's the reality.

You're ripping off your boss. You're not being persecuted. You're being reprimanded because you're behaving like a fool. You need to be the type of person that when there's no downtime when there's just a bunch of downtime, that you find other things to do to make your boss look good. That you go out of your way to take charge, to do something that when people see your work, they see you put your hands down and they And you do your work and you do it with vigor and you do it effectively, they're going to respect you because you are good at what you do.

They're going to respect you because you are a hard worker. And no matter where you are, when you do your job, it could be something as simple as working at a retail store all the way out to being a nurse or a doctor, whatever it might be that you do in life, do it with all of your heart for the glory of God. In other words, put your hands to the plow, work hard and allow your work, allow your labor to speak. Allow the fact that you are that you are dedicated to what God has put in front of you.

Let that speak. Don't be the busy body at work. And there's by the way, at every job there's always a few busy bodies, right? I used to remember working for the police department and when I was the chief information officer over there and And so, I my office was in the basement. And I got to tell you it was the best place to have an office, right? It was kind of interesting. You'd have to go into the jail to take the elevator upstairs because I never liked taking the stairs, you know? So, I'd have to go through the jail and you hear people, what's up, Holmes?

And all that stuff. But you go up the stairs. And it always killed me because as I would walk out of the elevator, there was always a few people, whether it be in the administrative office or in the detective bureau, you would hear them. Did you hear And there was literally water cooler talk. And And I would hear them talking and then I go, okay, interesting. Go downstairs, knock out a bunch of work. Literally an hour would go by, I would go back up only to see them at the same spot talking. And I'm thinking in my mind and in my heart, I want nothing to do with that mess.

I don't want to be the guy that sits down and has these conversations. By the way, it is very interesting. At one point it got to a point where I had to sit down with my chief of police who by the way loved the Lord. A good man. He He became a very dear friend of mine and And I I asked him. I said, hey Keith, look, I got a little bit of a problem here going on. He says, what? He says, look, I got a lot of people coming into my office while I 'm working during the work day and they want to sit down and they want me to be a chaplain.

They want to get advice and they want to deal with things or whatever. I says, I don't mind doing that. I want you to know that if I do do that, I'll stay late to do the work that I missed out on doing it. I just want to make sure you're okay with it. I want to make sure that it's something you're fine with. He goes, dude, you don't have to stay late to do the work. You What you're doing with our officers is just as valuable. I said, no, I will. I will. But the funny thing was was my work ethic spoke volumes to them.

It was interesting when I left there. And even this happened when I left Calvary Chapel Downey, it was such a compliment to me. It was such a great compliment that when I left, when I took off, they actually had to hire three people to do my job. That to me was a great compliment that they had to hire a team of three people to do what I used to do alone. At Calvary Chapel Downey, that was the same case. They hired two people to take a stab at what I did alone. And then they added a third, you know?

And to this day, it's the same way. And I think about it and I realize that is the ultimate compliment that when people see me work my tail off, when they know that I'm dedicated to my craft, that I do what I do, it brings glory to the Lord, doesn't it? Could you imagine what would happen by the way if I wasn't dedicated to my craft? Could you imagine if I did not dedicate myself to the word of God? You guys would be sitting here listening to Bible studies that had no content. You'd be listening to me read a verse or two and go, you know?

Which I do sometimes still. But you know, hey, but it's funny. There's a part of me that says I have to labor in this. I have to get to know it. I have to own it so that I can bring it to the body of Christ so that they can understand it. That's the idea. Put your hands to the plow. Don't look back. Be a hard worker. Be quiet in your work. Work hard. Keep your focus. Don't allow people to discourage you to take you away from that which God has called you to do. So what if you've been taking out the trash when you aren't supposed to for the last 20 years?

Keep doing it. God will glorify himself in you. So what if you have to do somebody else's job? So what if you have to do all kinds of extra work? It doesn't matter. God is going to use you to glorify himself. You know what's really funny? My sister has perhaps one of the greatest testimonies in the county job that she has. She just left by the way the probation department to work for ISD, which is basically the county's Information Technology Department. So they basically do all the repairs, they build networks, they you know, they take care of everything.

And my sister was recruited. And what's really funny is my sister works so hard, so hard to just simply do what God's called her to do in her job. And it's gone to a point where she's doing the job of many people. But here's the cool thing. Here's the amazing thing. My sister is constantly looking at opportunities to witness to people and to bring them to Jesus Christ. The most recent opportunity she had was she got a call from several of the chiefs and several of the people that were that are associated either from the old probation department or that she was at or or from ISD and said, that's your brother that was on TV.

Yes, yes, that's right. Yeah, that was my brother. You know? Man, no wonder why you you're the way you are. You love the Lord and it's just it's an amazing thing to see the Lord using her witness, the fact that she just works hard and she doesn't waste her time, right? She's She's taking full advantage of every moment that she's there to glorify God. She's doing her work quietly. When I say quietly, doesn't mean When I say do your work quietly, doesn't mean shut your mouth and and and do your job. In some cases that might be the case, right?

But what I'm saying is do it without being a a a fleshly person. Do it without, you know, all the talking and all the babbling and all the all the ruffleness, right? Just get and do your job. I think that's a a great place to be. So look what it continues to say. He says, and that you may walk honestly toward them that are without and that you may have lack of nothing. In other words, that you might be the type of person that you go and you you walk with a true sincerity before others that have a need.

Then you'd be the type of person that people would look at you and they would say, yeah, that guy's for real. That guy's the real deal. He's the real McCoy. I like him because I know there's something about him that that is the real deal. I have this young kid that every now and then he he listens to me on the radio. He lives in Nevada with his with his mom and dad, of course. And in Las Vegas actually, outside the town. And every now and then they'll come to church. They'll come to this church.

They'll come and visit maybe once a month, once every couple of months. And the reason why they come to church is because this dedicated little dude, he's 15 years old, he's a godly little kid, right? He listens to the word of God every single day. He listens to me on the radio and he says, I got to go visit Pastor James. And so, he'll come every every now and then. And when you see this kid, he is he The kid is just special. You know what I mean when I say he's special? This kid has the it factor.

He Like there's just something about him. You look at and you go, man, you have Jesus inside of you. And I told him I was kind of selfish. We're talking and we're going back and forth and I just interrupted him in what he's saying. I'm like, hey kiddo, can you just do me a favor? Look, can you pray for me? I'm sick out of my brain. I told him this this morning, you know? I'm sick out of my brain. He goes, no problem. He lays hands on me. I literally wanted to weep the way he was praying for me.

It was like, you can tell that that little dude is the most sincere little guy I've ever I mean, he is a 15-year-old person whose love for Jesus is so real, it's not even funny. I am convicted by a young man like that. I'm blown away by a man who lives his life that way, who who just his his walk with God is real. It's sincere. I can't imagine what it would be like to be his parents. You're looking at your prodigy child and you're you're realizing that there's there's Jesus in this kid in a way that I see Jesus in this kid in a way that I don't see Jesus in most people.

I want us to be that way. That's the heart that Paul is saying. I want you to be sincere that when people know you, when they see you, they know that you're the real deal. They know that you're not a hypocrite. Like you go to church and you say one thing and you go home and you're completely another. You don't want to be that person. These are critical things. These are important things for us. We need to understand that. We need to remember that.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today for Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. We'll get back to the study in just a few moments. What you've heard today is part of an end-time series called Living in the Last Days. Listen again at lightonthehillradio.com, at oneplace.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Light on the Hill app is another great way to access these teachings. It's free and can be downloaded simply to your mobile devices. Just look for our current series called Living in the Last Days. Have you had a chance to see Pastor James's daily videos?

Many of them relate to Bible prophecy and the end times. You'll find them at jameskaddis.com or at the YouTube channel James Kaddis. If you appreciate the teaching you're receiving, there are a few ways you can support us. One is through prayer and we covet that. And another is financial provision. Both play key roles in helping us advance the good news of Jesus Christ in these last days. You can support Light on the Hill at lightonthehillradio.com. If you have a question about the end times or would just love to send Pastor James a message, we'd like to hear from you.

Our email address is radio@calvarychapelsignalhill.com. That's radio@calvarychapelsignalhill.com. What happens when you die? That question is addressed beautifully here in 1 Thessalonians with Pastor James as we close.

James Kaddis: It says in verse 13. And this is where it gets really cool, right? This is what we've been The culmination that we've been looking to. We've been waiting to get to this point. It says, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope. In other words, he says, you shouldn't be ignorant about death. There's this great mystery in your heart that says, what happens when you die, right? It's one of the number one questions that get asked by people.

And Paul is saying, you should not be puzzled about this issue. You should not be puzzled about those that have died. Let me shed light on this. And this is powerful stuff and it's hard for me not to read this without crying. But it says this in verse 14. It says, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. In other words, those that have died, who had a relationship with Jesus Christ, they are alive in him today. They're more alive now than they ever have been.

That is something special, guys. You think about that. You think about the power in something like that. We have a God that we worship, that we love, that we have a relationship with, who's special to us, that really lives inside of us. And he gives us this motivation of understanding that even when we die, we have victory because he gave us that victory through his finished work on the cross.

Guest (Male): Join us next time when Pastor James Kaddis will pick up where we left off in our series Living in the Last Days. That's right here on Light on the Hill, a presentation of Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

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