Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): Pastor James Kaddis paints this picture of our home in heaven.

James Kaddis: This is what I like to tell people when I describe heaven. I want all of you to think of the things that you enjoy doing in this life more than anything, right? For some of you, it could be maybe a hobby that you have. There's nothing like that feeling, right? For some of you, it could just be, you know, spending time with your spouse or whatever it might be. Maybe whittling away at wood, having a little workshop at your house and building things, whatever it might be. You think of think of whatever it is in this life that you enjoy the most.

Think about those things for just a minute. Heaven will make all of that look miserable.

Guest (Male): We may wonder at times when we look around the world, could it possibly get any worse? It's good to be reminded that Jesus is coming for his church. As believers, we have a glorious future with him to look forward to. That's the perspective we need to carry through this life, no matter how bad things get around us. Pastor James Kaddis will urge us to live with that understanding. As we do, the problems of this world don't seem so big. Here's Pastor James Kaddis who begins today with how we're to work.

James Kaddis: Don't be the busybody at work. And there's By the way, at every job, there's always a few busybodies, right? I used to remember working for the police department and when I was a 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 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 ethics 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 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, it doesn't mean When I say do your work quietly, it doesn't mean shut your mouth 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 fleshly person. Do without, you know, all the talking and all the babbling and all the all the ruffledness, 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 will 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 the kid is just special. You know what I mean when I say he's special? This kid has the it factor. Like there's just something about him. You look at 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 already saying I'm like, hey kid, 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 in critical things. These are important things for us. We need to understand that. We need to remember that. Look what it goes on to say. 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.

Look what he goes on to say. He says, he says, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. In other words, for those of us that get taken up by the Lord, right? We're not going to be limiting to those that have actually already died. In other words, they're going to be numbered among us. Look what he goes on to say. He says in verse 16, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Now some people say, well, does that mean that, you know, soul sleep? You know, that the body is asleep, you know, and and your soul sleeps with the body until you resurrect? No, that's not true. I actually believe that your spirit goes to be instantly with the Lord and when your body resurrects later, your spirit will go back and join that body. That's that's actually what I believe. I think that's kind of what happens and the body resurrects with your spirit inside there. But I will say this. Some people also ask me they go, well, does that mean that I can't um can't do cremation?

You know, is that mean the cremation is a sin because I won't resurrect and whatever? And I always tell this. I say all cremation does is accelerate what takes a few years to do by natural causes, right? That's all it does. Your body will end up the same way naturally. It will end up in ashes naturally. But it will take many many more years for that to happen. So truth be told, there's absolutely nothing wrong with cremation. Well, then how does that work? How does the body resurrect? Let's say somebody spreads ashes over here in the ocean and spreads ashes over there in the ocean and spreads ashes over here.

Like how does that work? Well, it's actually really easy. You see, all you need is what? One piece of a person's DNA, right? You know how DNA works? It has everything that there is to know about you. Your brain, your everything. And all you do is based on that piece of information, that little tiny strand, you can rebuild the whole person's body. So God can do it. He's God. He can do whatever he want. I don't have to explain it. I don't have to get into the details. But he's the Lord. We know that he can do whatever he wants.

Look at verse 17. It says, then we which are alive Look at this. This is so beautiful. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. I get so excited when I read those words because I think man, for the first time in my life, my body's going to float. I'm going to get to fly. I am going to be raised up with the Lord. I used to make this deal with mama, my mama.

I used to tell her, mama, neither of us are going to die, right? We're going to be raptured together. Do we have a deal, you know? And I just remembered when I when I saw my mom's lifeless body and I knew that she went to go be with the Lord. I go, you couldn't wait, could you, mama? You know? And And you think about it. It's like there's so much hope. We want to be where she is right now, right? We want to be taken up by the Lord. That's exciting. I used to remember as a kid I would hear the stories of you know, the rapture.

You know, you'd watch that movie The Thief in the Night. Anybody remember that that movie The Thief in the Night, you know? It was an old '70s movie, it kind of a hippie movie, you know? And you hear that You see that hippie band standing there and they're and they're playing that song. You've been left behind. You've been And those words would be stuck in my head and we'd watch that movie three or four times. I remember as a kid and every single time I watched that movie, literally I wanted to go poo poo in my pants.

I was so scared. I'm like, oh my God, am I going to be left behind? Am I going to have to take the mark and blah blah blah? And I just I would freak out. I would just It'd be so nervous. And now that I have a relationship with God, it doesn't scare me. As a matter of fact, now that I have a relationship with God, it excites me. Now that I have a relationship with God, it's the source of my hope. It's I I look at it and I go, man, I desire to do I want to be I want to have this.

I can't wait until I'm taken up. It's going to be exciting because I'm going to be living this new life, this powerful life with the Lord. And it's going to be It's going to be something special, unlike anything that that we have here. Everybody asks me they go, you know, in heaven, what are you going to be doing? My mom used to tell me that. She says, you know, in heaven, all you'll be doing is singing worship and doing this and doing that. And I used to think, how boring is that? I don't want to do that boring stuff, you know?

I mean, look, my wife is always singing a worship song, right? There's always a song on her lips and and she's always singing a song. We can get in the car, there'd be a quiet moment and she'll just start singing. And And that's her. I'm a musician. I I like music. I like all kinds of music and I'm the type of person that sometimes I just don't want to listen to music. I I'm one of the few musicians that doesn't like listening to music all the time. That's just me. That's my personality. But my wife has this this worship song always on her heart.

She's always singing worship. And you know, I used to think, gosh, you know, my mom would tell me that I go, man, how boring is that? I don't ever want to do that, right? But to somebody like my wife, that's an attractive idea. This is an attractive thought. So what does it mean? What's going to happen when we're in heaven? Well, we can There's other scriptures that we can go to to talk about this. But I can tell you this with reasonable certainty. I can actually tell you this with complete certainty. Whatever it is that we're going to be doing in heaven, it will be something that will not only keep you busy, right?

But it will be exciting to do. Okay? It's not like you're going to be up there and just play harps forever, right? It's not like you're going to be, yeah, floating on the clouds and You know, it's You're not going to be doing any of that stuff. That That's just weird. You're going to be living a life that is so incredibly exciting that your words cannot even begin to imagine what it's going to be like. This is what I like to tell people when I describe heaven. I got the okay from Don Stewart on this.

He's He's the expert in this field. He's been writing lots of books on heaven lately and so he says, yeah, that's a good one. I said this is my description of heaven. I want all of you to think of the things that you enjoy doing in this life more than anything, right? For some of you, that could be sex with your wife or your husband, right? For some of you, it could be maybe a hobby that you have. There's nothing like that feeling, right? For some of you, it could just be, you know, spending time with your spouse or or or whatever it might be.

Maybe whittling away at wood, having a little workshop at your house and building things or whatever it might be. You think of think of whatever it is in this life that you enjoy the most. Think about those things for just a minute. Heaven will make all of that look miserable. Heaven will make all of those things that bring you the greatest pleasure in life just look like manure. When you're in heaven, all the things that you enjoy now today will be nothing compared to what you're going to enjoy for eternity with the Lord. And that to me I don't know about you, that to me is exciting.

It's a weird thought to me to think that there's going to be a day where I expire physically. It's a should be a weird thought to all of us, right? You take the time to think about it. We're going to die one day. We are. It's We're going to die. If the Lord doesn't come back for us, we're dead one day. The thought of what happens to me after is so comforting. It's such a cool thing. I remember going and have surgery and I'm laying down on the surgery table and the anesthesiologist is putting the needle in me and he's getting ready to to do his thing.

And he had a team of people with him, which is not very uh common, pretty rare. And I looked at him and I looked at the guys around him and I said, I bet you I'm your nightmare right now. And he says, we've had a lot of meetings over you, young man. We've had a lot of meetings. Chances are I think that the anesthesiologist was younger than me, truth be told, but so we have a lot We've had a lot of meetings. I said, you know, oh, he tells me he says, everything's going to be okay.

Don't worry about it. I said, you know what, I'm not worried about it. I said, here's the best case scenario. The best case scenario is you're going to knock me out and I'm going to wake up in heaven with my creator. The worst case scenario is you're going to knock me out and I'm going to wake up to seeing your guys's face, right? And he starts laughing. And then then I made a bet with him that I wouldn't fall asleep until at least 10, you know. I said, I I bet you I could get to 10 before I fall asleep.

And I remember him saying This is what I remember. I remember him saying, you won't even get to two. And And before the oo in two came out, I was already knocked out. And I just remembered waking up and going, what happened? What happened? They're pulling their tube out of me. Oh, I was a miserable But just thinking, man, I made it. This is great. You know, but the idea was, even if I passed away, even if I died, that would be me entering into life, newness of life with my creator. That is so cool.

I don't know about you, that's cool. That should be encouraging to us, guys. Look what he says at the last verse here and this is so true. He says, wherefore comfort one another with these words. In other words, when you're brokenhearted, when you're sad, when things are looking rough, when things are hard, when things are difficult, comfort each other by telling them that Jesus Christ is coming back for you. Bring comfort to them by telling them that much greater days are ahead of us than are behind us. That there's hope. That Jesus himself will come back for his church.

And when he does, our life is going to take on a whole new meaning. I don't know about you, but I'm thrilled at the prospect of seeing my maker, of him taking me up. We should be thrilled about that prospect. We should be excited about it. We should find ways to comfort one another by reminding each other that Jesus Christ is coming back. And if you're listening to me right now and you're scared at the thought that Jesus Christ is coming back, you don't have to be scared because if you simply receive him into your heart, you will be taken.

You will be taken up. Well, what if I'm not walking really with the Lord at the time? Well, if you have a relationship with Jesus and you've committed to him, he's not going to say, well, you're behaving badly right now, I'm not going to take you up. He's going to take us up. Not that it's a license to go behave badly, right? But the idea is we have a hope. I wonder what it's going to feel like by the way to hear the archangel shouting. I wonder what it 's going to feel like to hear the trumpets from heaven.

I think it's going to be such a substantial moment in in world history. We'll know it when we hear it, guys. And when we hear it, we're going to be blown away with the thought that we are being taken up at this very moment. What I think is so cool is we're going to probably be in the thick of what we do in life, right? If you're at work, you're going to be doing your thing with your you know, with your job or you know, whatever it might be, you know. I'd hope that I'd be behind the pulpit when it happens, you know.

But the idea is is it'll be interesting because you'll be so in depthly just into whatever it is you're doing. You You know, you're going to have your hands full. There's no way in the world you're going to expect it. And then when it happens, you're going to know that it's happening and all of a sudden, you're not going to care about what you're doing. You're going to drop it and the Lord is going to take you to that place that you've never been. That place of glory, that place of joy, that place of excitement, that should comfort us.

That should encourage us. We should be comforting and encouraging one another with those words as he tells the Thessalonians. He says, comfort everybody with these words that I just shared that Jesus Christ is coming for his church. I always say this. I wonder what it's going to sound like. I wonder what it's going to feel like. I think that the moment we get taken up, we're just going to be in this crazy bliss like, what? Is this real? Can anything feel this good? Can anything be this incredible? Oh, I can't wait, guys. I can't wait to see Jesus face to face.

I can't wait to experience that eternal life that he has set aside for me and for you. May we continue to live our lives with the anticipation that Jesus Christ is coming back. May we continue to live our lives with the desire to live as though Christ is coming for us today. Amen.

Guest (Male): 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 First and Second 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, in today's message, you shared about the hope we have in Jesus coming for his church. Why do you personally find that to be a great comfort in days like these?

James Kaddis: Well, it's really important uh to me and I know that it's important to the body of Christ because what it does is it gives us hope for the future that lies ahead of us. The short time that we're in right now, which is our life on this earth, makes such a huge difference for what happens in eternity. And the coming of Christ for his church is representative of the promise that lies ahead. For me, that means so much and I know for you, it means that much because it causes us to remember the fact that we're going to be reunited with our mother and our father and our grandfathers and our grandmothers.

And you think about all of the wonderful things that uh lie ahead of us that we get to experience bliss in eternity. And that is the commencement of it all. And look, I got to tell you, the life that we live right now is a wonderful life. But if you really think about it, we have so much more to look forward to. And that's why the rapture of the church is so exciting for me.

Guest (Male): Thanks, Pastor James. Now let's close our time in prayer.

James Kaddis: Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word. Oh Lord, this is good stuff, Lord. The lessons that we gain from your word, Lord, in in touching up on these matters, touching up on these issues. Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray that you would inspire us to righteousness, Lord. That we would love you, that we would live for you, Lord, that we would walk with you. Lord, that it would be our desire, Lord, to do what is pleasing to you, Lord. As we go through this passage in Thessalonians, Lord, may it be a reminder to us that there is hope in your second coming.

There is hope in your imminent return. There's hope in knowing that you are coming for your church who so desperately waits for you. We wait for you, Lord. We anticipate you. We comfort one another by making the declaration that you're coming back for us soon. Get us prepared, get us excited. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): We'll talk more about Living in the Last Days next time on Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. Remember, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

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