Light on the Hill

Jane (Guest (Female)): Living in light of the Lord's soon return. Next on Light on the Hill.

James Kaddis: Jesus could come back right now. Right now, biblically, there's not a single thing that has to happen in order for Christ to come back for his church. And some people might say, well, yeah, James, but you've been saying this for years. You've been saying it for years. Well, yeah, I have been saying it for years, but guess what? As I've been saying it for years, I'm watching the world come closer and closer and closer and closer to the formation of everything that we're talking about that's going to happen post rapture. The world is setting itself up for it.

Jane (Guest (Female)): It's time once again for Light on the Hill, the radio outreach of Calvary Chapel Signal Hill. Pastor James Kaddis is in an end time series based in first and second Thessalonians called Living in the Last Days. It's exciting to think about Jesus could return for his church at any time. Will you be ready, watching, and sober-minded, or will you be asleep? Like the Thessalonians we'll hear about today, we can and should live in expectation of the Lord's return. Here's Pastor James Kaddis to help us get ready in first Thessalonians chapter five.

James Kaddis: Okay, so we'll jump right into chapter five and of course, um this is a bit of the culmination of everything that we've been going over as we've been going through the book of Thessalonians and Paul has already began to shift gears. He sort of laid down the foundation for, you know, prepare your walks with the Lord, get your hearts right, get your minds right, you know, and he sort of laid that foundation down and then he brings us to this place where he's basically saying, okay, listen, the Lord's coming back, right? And he says that God's going to come back quickly and he's telling us he's look, he's preparing us to be ready for that.

And he's actually saying, look, with the understanding that the Lord is coming back, you know, comfort one another with those words, comfort one another with that understanding, right? And so the idea, the picture that we get is that we're running out of time and knowing that we're running out of time, we ought to really modify the way we live. We ought to change directions. We ought to recognize that, you know, we don't have much capital left in that respect and so we need to spend it wisely. And so that is kind of an important thing.

So the very last thing that he says in chapter four, verse 18, he says, comfort one another with these words. And of course, he's talking as he's beginning to describe the events of that time when Jesus will come back for his church and he sort of gets into this big description, a very beautiful description of what it's going to look like and what's going to happen. And then he says this. It's interesting as he jumps into chapter five and these are some significant words. He says, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.

So there's a pretty profound statement that he's making here. I want you to catch this. He says, concerning the times, concerning the seasons, right? Concerning the things that are actually happening in and about, out around you, you don't really need to be written to. In other words, these are things that are not difficult to grasp. You should be already able to observe the time. You should already be able to observe the season. You should already be able to sort of look around and understand the place that we're in. And I think that I could say the same thing to the body of Christ here today.

I could go to you guys and I could say, look, there's no need for me to talk to you about the times or the seasons. And that's because we already know. Truth be told, we have a very good understanding. There's a very good picture of the season that we're in nowadays, right? You get it. Look, I don't have to say. I really don't have to get into all the evidence that we are in the last days. I saw an interview that blew my mind. I could not believe I was watching Benjamin Netanyahu say this. I could not believe it.

Sean Hannity was interviewing him. Benjamin Netanyahu, you guys know who I'm talking about, the Prime Minister of Israel. Sean Hannity is on Fox is interviewing him and he asks him. He says, I got to ask you a question. What would you say is the greatest danger to Israel and to your region, but specifically to Israel? What is the the greatest danger? Is it Islamic fundamentalists? Is it the terrorists? So on and so forth. And he says, well, of course, it's the terrorism. We're the most concerned about them. And then he says this. He says, we're of course concerned with the acts of terrorism.

He says, predominantly we're concerned with ISIS. Of course, we know that they're dangerous people, whatever, but of course they're the Sunni and ISIS, you would think he would say would be the number one fear because if you know, ISIS represents 95 ready? 95% of all of the Islamic world. They are the Sunni. The the minority is the Shiites, okay? As I'm sure many of you already know that. And he says this. He says, look, I am concerned about them, but he says who I am the most concerned about, the one that I'm the gravest concerned about is Iran.

I'm more concerned about Iran than anybody else. Now, by the way, I just want you to know, people used to write angry letters to me and Don Stewart or me and Don Stewart would actually tell people on the radio that listen, don't be worried about ISIS. Yes, they're a formidable opponent and they are people that you need to be worried about. What you need to be worried about is you need to be worried about Iran. And people would write us they go, are you ignorant? Do you have it backwards? ISIS represents 95%. They represent the Sunni population.

They represent the majority population. Would you be more scared of the majority of Muslims rather than the minority of Muslims? No, we're more scared of the minority. Why are we scared of the minority? Because the Bible tells us that the attack will come from the king of the north onto Israel and the king of the north will be joined by these other nations that we were talking about. By the way, it's interesting. People used to think we were crazy. They used to think we were nuts when we would hear things like you need to be concerned about Russia, Syria, Iran.

They're going to come together and they're going to attack Israel. And what's really funny to me, what I think is astounding and just more more dumbfounding than anything is they're all getting together. And when you think about this, it makes perfect sense because this is the fulfillment of what you would read in Ezekiel 37, 38 and 39. It's it's all setting up. We know. I've been saying it for a long time. I was listening to an old recording of Chuck Smith. I thought it was so awesome. I was so proud of what I was listening to.

It was a recording of Chuck Smith in the early '80s. This is before the Berlin Wall fell. Okay? This is when there were still divides in Germany and nobody was really thinking about anything else. There was a Cold War and so on and so forth. And everybody was scared about the movement that they were seeing in Russia and everybody was saying they're freaked out about Russia, they're freaked out about Russia. And And Chuck Smith makes a comment on it because people are freaking out. By the way, it's interesting in that same study he referred to Trump back in the early '80s as a rich man, businessman, not as a president or anything like that, which I thought was kind of funny.

But in this same recording he says, listen guys, don't be worried about Russia. I would not be worried about Russia. What I would be worried about is watching the movement of Iran. You need to be worried about that. And everybody thought, what a joke, you know? They just have the the hostage, you know, situation. And of course, Reagan becomes the president and they release all the hostages and all that. Everyone's taking relationships with Iran are pretty good and even if Iran just acted up, there's nothing going on. You know, there's nothing to be scared of or there's nothing to freak out about when in reality you got to know, you have to know, you have to see that this is God allowing this to set up in order for his return.

I mean, if you can't see it, there's got to be a little bit of blindness there. I mean, it's obvious. And I think this is why it's so important to talk about prophetic events. It's important to talk about Bible prophecy and what the Bible actually says is going to be happening because as we're beginning to see this set up more and more and more, I think it's unique. It's not only unique to the region, but it's unique to our way of thinking globally. So when Paul tells the church in Thessalonica, he says, hey listen, you have no need for me to write to you about the times and the seasons.

Why? Because you're going to know. You're going to be able to discern. There's a There's a surrounding There's a surrounding that's going to happen. You know when the time is near. You know that it it could be any day now. And truth be told, I have to say this to you guys. I'm sure you know this. It might be today. It could be any day. Jesus could come back right now. Right now, biblically, there's not a single thing that has to happen in order for Christ to come back for his church. And some people might say, well, yeah, James, but you've been saying this for years.

You been saying it for years. Well, yeah, I have been saying it for years, but guess what? As I've been saying it for years, I watching the world come closer and closer and closer and closer to the formation of everything that we are talking about that is going to happen post rapture. The world is setting itself up for it. You hear all these people talking about these little chips that are being injected in the skin, you know? They talk about the all the craziness of that. People are implanting these little microchips in there and there's some research.

Look, there are chips that are small enough to be injected through a hypodermic needle. No joke. They can be injected through a needle and they have enough passive technology, basically, to be able to be picked up by a scanner, kind of like the same way your Apple Watch works or or the same way your phone works with a near field scanner. It has the ability to be able to do that. And people are talking about using these types of chips to open doors and the closed doors and the, you know, so on and so forth and to pace that way a credit card can't be stolen, a number can't be stolen.

They're protected. They're so near field that somebody can't just walk by and swipe your information. People are talking about doing this. And by the way, everybody says, well, that's the mark of the beast. That's the mark of the beast. No, it's not. Let me tell you. The Bible says that the actual mark of the beast will be a marking that's going to be on the forehead or the hand, right? It's not actually the microchip, but let me tell you how this might actually work, how this might actually play in into the mark of the beast.

Think about this. If I make it a law that every human being on the face of the earth has to have a microchip implanted in them, how do I know you have the microchip implanted in you? Do I make you walk up to a machine and put your forehead on there or put your hand on there and go, hey, let me see that microchip. Let me see. Let me You know, how am I going to be able to tell that you're in compliance? How am I going to know you're you're wearing the microchip or you have the microchip on?

Well, I'll tell you how you're going to know. Every time you go, every single time somebody goes and gets a microchip implanted within them, they're going to get a stamp. It's either going to be It's going to be in a very easily identifiable spot, maybe like the forehead, maybe like on the hand. You get it? There's a number of possibilities that could end up happening. The Bible says that this antichrist is actually going to say you take this or you die. And And if anybody's listening to this recording and we've already been taken away and you're actually listening to me, somehow you've gotten a hold of this Bible study, let me just tell you whatever you do, don't take that mark.

If you take that mark, you're going to hell. Only way you can go to heaven is by rejecting that mark. You get your head chopped off, but oh well. Right? The idea, the picture that we get here is things are setting up to make that a very very easy possibility. By the way, it's interesting. There are hundreds of thousands, I mean hundreds of thousands of people in the United States that have already taken these needles, right? They've already taken these these little chips. By the way, we have somebody that Well, not somebody, we have something that lives in our household that has such a thing because by law now you're beginning to beginning to require if you buy one of these things that are legally bred, you got to have that chip in there.

So my dog has a little chip, right? So if he dies, he's going to hell. No, I'm just kidding. I I don't know and these dogs I don't dogs they die, they just die. But I mean I Well, I really don't know. The Bible doesn't say enough, but but the point is is it's just a very common technology. With dogs it's just a regular thing now. Dogs collars are a thing of the past. Dogs really don't wear collars. Only reason why they wear collars is just for looks sometimes or, you know, basically a leash that kind of looks like a collar, but the dog collar with your identification and tag, that's old school.

They don't do that anymore. Now they do chips. That's kind of the way it works. So interestingly enough, Paul says it. He says, look, this is going to happen. You know, look, you watch the season, you watch the times, you know it's going to take place. You know you're in the season. So the idea is we know we're here. Look, the time is set upon us, guys. We know the fact that Jesus Christ is coming back soon. There's no way around it. There's no way you can beat around that bush. There's no way you can sort of walk away from it or forget it.

Jesus Christ is coming back soon. There's no way around it. Look what he says in this is verse two and it's interesting. He says this. He says, for you know know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Well, how does a thief in the night come? This is kind of an interesting thing, right? A thief in the night comes when you're asleep, right? Under the cover of darkness, when you're not aware, kind of a sneaky thing that begins to happen, right? I had a experience that scared the snot out of everybody here at the church.

Uh well, all of my staff members where um this may have been before I got married or before I even met Nicole, where I'm sleeping on my office chair. Like I fall asleep on my office chair and I have these instinctual reactions, you know, about things. And so sometimes I can be a very very light sleeper. And my sister goes to wake me up. All the staff is there to pray. I had no idea that they walked into the room to pray. I'm already asleep and my sister goes to wake me up and I almost broke her arm in half.

Like I grabbed her arm so hard cuz I had no idea like who had touched me. Like I was so out of it that I grabbed her arm and literally almost broke it in half and and like stopped. I realized oh my gosh, that's my sister. What am I doing? You know? And you you sort of realize it. Why? Because when that person overtakes you while you're asleep, you're overtaken by surprise. It's a shock. It's a oh my gosh, what? You know, what just happened? And you freak out. You realize, oh man, this is bad.

This is not a good thing, you know? And And And by the time you realize that the thief is in your midst, not that my sister is a thief, right? But when you realize that the thief is in your midst, you you begin to freak out. You realize, man, this is too late. This really isn't going to work, right? This is kind of a sort of a dangerous place to sort of be in. And so the idea is is you know that Jesus Christ is going to come when you don't suspect him. He's going to come, you know, as a thief in the night.

Now look what he goes on to say. This is kind of interesting. He says, for when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape. In other words, you're going to you're going to look around, you going to go, hey, what are they taught? Everything is great. It's a beautiful day, you know? We all the world. We all God's children. We You doing this. You all all this stuff and everybody's all getting along and everything's fine and we're making peace in the Middle East and everything is so wonderful and there's no more problems in this world.

We're civilized now and so on and so forth. And when everybody says peace and safety and everything feels like it's getting better and good and you know, the world is a better place, guess what? Bam, he comes. And you're all We're all going to be taken away, right? We're going to be taken away by the Lord. And the funny thing about this is is we are yes aware of the seasons, but that very moment we're just not going to know, which is why we need to be prepared for when it actually happens, right? Look at this in verse four and this is where it becomes interesting.

He says, but you, brethren, are not in darkness that the day should overtake you as a thief. This is an interesting distinction that he makes. Who's the day? What does he represent? What is he talking about the day represents? Well, of course, Jesus Christ represents the day. So it says that Jesus Christ is going to come as a thief in the night, but the representative of the day is not going to surprise you. Why? Because you are readily waiting. There's an anticipation. You're expecting him to come back. If you're expecting him to come back, even if it's a bit of a surprise, it's still not really a surprise.

You know what I'm talking about? You kind of know. You just sort of know what to expect and so you And the reason why it's not so difficult to be able to contemplate or understand or accept this because for a while you've been anticipating it, sort of this anticipatory uh mentality that you begin to develop where you just realize, hey, the Lord could come back today. Hey, it might be today. Hey, the Lord could come back today. It might be today. When he comes back, you're like, man, what took you so long? Right? You're anticipating it.

You're excited. You're going for it. And when he comes, you're not freaking out. As a matter of fact, when he comes, you're actually excited that he's here. I don't know about you, but I'm really excited for Jesus Christ to come back for me. There's a lot of great things that I get to experience in this world and there's a lot of cares also that we have in this world, a lot of bad things that we experience in this world and you know, truth be told, I can't wait to know what it feels like to have a day where my body works perfectly, right?

I think all of you can agree with me. All of you are in that same category. I can't wait to be able to experience what it feels like to never feel hunger or thirst again. I I can't wait to to know what it feels like to be able to be in a body that is just completely unlimited and everything that it can do, to experience the bliss and the joy of what heaven is going to be like. I cannot wait to to be somebody who just uh gets to to see what is waiting for me on the other side.

And in this case, the grass indeed is greener on the other side. As a matter of fact, there's no grass on the other side. There's straight gold, right? It's funny by the way. It talks about the streets being paved with gold, you know, in that place that we're going to go to one day. By the way, it does not mean that the streets are going to be paved with gold. Like you could have lots of gold waiting for you. The point is this. What is considered to be the most worthless part of your journey is going to be the most valuable part of your life here on this earth.

In other words, you put the greatest premium and value on gold and gold will be like the garbage that you collect in the on in that world. In that world, all you'll step on gold, it's dirt. Isn't that amazing? You think about that. That's the least precious object. And that You think about the the staggering significance of something like that. And to be waiting for that and expecting it. I don't know. I For me, I would be excited. I I am excited to see what God has waiting for me. Look at this in verse five and it says this.

He says, well, and just to preface, he says, look, this shouldn't be overtaking you as a thief because you are not in darkness, right? You don't live in darkness. If you lived in darkness, then the day would surprise you. You know, you live in darkness when the lights turn on, the darkness goes. Have you ever noticed that? You could be in a super dark room, but when you turn on the lights, guess what? The darkness instantly disappears, doesn't it? The room is now illuminated. That's the way it works. That's the picture that we get. So if you're already walking in the day, this should not be surprising you.

That's the the idea that he's talking about.

Jane (Guest (Female)): Thanks for joining us today for Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. 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. Pastor James, it's 9/11. It's been 24 years since that day when our nation suffered the deadliest attack ever on US soil. Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?

How do you think 9/11 relates to today's subject matter on being watchful, sober-minded, and staying awake?

James Kaddis: Yeah, that's a wild question, Jane, because I'll tell you, I had a very late police shift because I got called out on a homicide and I remembered coming home at around 4:00 in the morning and deciding, you know what? I'm not going into church today. I'm going to sleep or at least I'm going to sleep in. And um I remember it was a Tuesday morning and actually me, you, and mom and uh my our our younger brother were the only ones that were at home because dad and our older brother were in Egypt during that time.

And um the way I woke up and the way I found out was I got a phone call from one of the sergeants of the police department who says, look at what your people did. And he wasn't joking. He was serious. And I said, what are you talking about? He said, turn on the TV. And the moment I turned on the TV, I actually was watching live the second plane going to the towers. And uh I remember just having to immediately be available for some translation work. We were working with the Department of Justice at that time.

Uh it was It was such a wild season. Um I think that 9/11 relating to today's subject matter on being watchful, sober-minded, and staying awake really does speak to the obligation that God has given us because when you think about 9/11 as it sat and by no means do I want to minimize what took place on 9/11, but there's a couple of things to be aware of. 9/11 was very spiritual. These men were yelling out while they were flying these planes into the tower. But I think more consequentially and more significantly, we have to recognize the fact that understanding the need to remain sober.

And there was a lack of sobriety in all of this when it was all happening. And I think that more than ever, especially understanding what we know is coming, days that are going to be far more uh difficult and painful than what happened on 9/11. More than ever we have to be awake because it is a very spiritual issue. And walking in sobriety means walking in purity. And I can't think of a better time to be doing that.

Jane (Guest (Female)): Amen, Pastor James. Now let's get back to first Thessalonians chapter five for the rest of today's message.

James Kaddis: So he says in verse five, he says, you are all the children of light and the children of the day and we are not of the night. Notice this, nor of darkness. You're children of the light, your children of day, you're not of night, you're not of darkness. There's a comparison that's there, right? He says, therefore, look look at this. Here's the command. And by the way, it is a command, okay? In the Greek, present active imperative. There is a very distinct, very specific command. There's an exhortation that's being given here and it says this.

It says, therefore, let us not sleep, right? As do others, but let us watch and be sober. In other words, what you are supposed to do is you are supposed to not be sleeping. You are supposed to be watching and you're supposed to be sober-minded. Now there's a couple of There's three commands that you want to pay attention to. The first one is don't sleep. I'm pretty good at obeying that command, by the way. I sleep very little in my life and so, you know, sleep is for the dead. I get that, right? That's not what it's talking not talking about literal sleep.

If it was talking about literal sleep, I'd be one of the most obedient men on the face of the earth, right? What this is talking about is it saying, hey, do not choose to make the decision to be ignorant. Do not allow yourself to be ignorant. Don't allow yourself to go, bye bye. If I just ignore this long enough, it's going to go away. No, it's not. No, it's not. There's a lot of things in this world that if you ignore long enough, they're not going to go away. As a matter of fact, they're going to come and they're going to They're going to bite you, right?

You have a nasty infection. No way it's going to go away if you just kind of leave it to be on its own. You've got to go deal with it. If you don't deal with it, you're going to die. So the idea is don't sleep. In other words, don't allow yourself to become oblivious to what's going on. Remain awake, remain alert. But look what else he says. This is an interesting command. He says, let us what? Watch and be sober. Okay, well, let's talk about what those two things mean. First of all, when he says watch, watch is a very very specific, very calculated, very purposeful word that's being thrown out here.

In other words, what he's saying is he's saying, go out of your way to look for these things. Be aware. Keep your eyes open. Be sober about your surroundings. Develop an understanding of of what these things look like because if you're not aware, it will hit you. You won't recognize what's going on. You won't realize what's taking place.

Jane (Guest (Female)): Rather than being asleep, let's be watchful and sober-minded. The Lord could return any day. We'll share the rest of this message with you from Pastor James Kaddis next time on Light on the Hill, a presentation of Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

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