Light on the Hill

James Kaddis: Jesus is saying in essence, I have given you the authority. I have rendered to you the authority that is God's to do work on behalf of God. And if you will so much as have a little bit of faith, I'm going to meet you there. All it takes is a little bit.

Now, there is an application that we can draw from this, right? And that is whatever God calls us to, may it be said of us that we are willing to extend our faith, our trust in him to accomplish it, because even with a little bit of trust in him, he can move mountains.

So the idea first starts with knowing what your call is, understanding what kind of fruit you're supposed to be bearing, and then walking according to that in that you trust God for that manifestation to take place.

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

From Calvary Chapel Signal Hill comes another edition of Light on the Hill. Here in Mark chapter 11, Jesus curses a fig tree and the tree withers away. In doing so, he communicated a powerful lesson to us. As you examine your own life, is there fruit to be found? Are you trusting in God or relying on yourself? Keep these questions in the back of your mind as you listen to today's study from Pastor James Kaddis.

James Kaddis: Jesus just finished cursing a tree because the tree did not do what it was purposed to do. He walked up to the tree and he cursed it because not only did it not do what it was purposed to do, it pretended to do what it was purposed to do, but deceived people into thinking that it did what it was purposed to do, but it didn't.

People walked up to the tree hungry and never ate because the tree never produced fruit. Likewise, people going into the temple hungry, desired for spiritual change, desired for spiritual renewal, famished from the attacks of the enemy and of the world, wanting to be reconciled with God and were not because of the thievery that was going on.

The house was a house that was designed to be a house of prayer and you guys have made it a den of thieves. You've put the leaves on it, you've made everybody think that it's the place to go to find that reconciliation, and you've turned it into what is exactly the opposite of it, just like Jeremiah told all the people in that day. Same kind of thing, you took it and you turned it around for evil. Very powerful here.

Look what Jesus goes on to do because it is important to see this. And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. And when the even was come, he went out of the city. They were shocked by it.

By the way, how many people do you think had the lights turned on when Jesus did what he did in that moment? If Jesus did not explain what he explained and said what he said, how many of them do you think would have continued to be ignorant of the kind of lying and thieving that was going on?

I want you to notice one subtlety that I think is very important that most people don't catch and very few people even talk about. And that's this subtlety. Look what Mark says about what Jesus did in verse 17. Did you notice that it did not say Jesus said? Did you notice it didn't say Jesus responded?

It says Jesus taught. Did you notice that? And he taught, saying them. What was he doing? I guarantee you he was acquainting them with what was happening in Jeremiah's world during Jeremiah's time to understand that the same thing was happening with the temple.

And just like in Jeremiah's time, when people took the temple and did not do with it as God intended for them to do with it, and just like in Jeremiah's time, the temple was destroyed as a result. Jesus is saying the same thing. You guys get it? There's something very powerful here that we've got to recognize.

Now, this is really interesting because you're about to see what appears to be the gears shifting a little bit. And when people teach this and they don't recognize what's actually happening, then they make this all part of the same discussion, when in reality, although they're all related, they definitely have a much different emphasis placed upon it that I think is very remarkable.

So look what happens here. So Jesus gives this powerful lesson. They leave the city. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, calling to remembrance, saith to him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

By the way, it would appear as though Peter is not asking Jesus about the tree. I just want everybody to know that. People read this as though Peter is asking Jesus about the tree. He's not. What Peter is doing, and you can verify this in the language if you want to dig deeper, what Peter is doing is he is expressing shock at the fact that he came back to a tree that was destroyed.

Almost as though he did not expect for that to happen when Jesus made the declaration. Shocked by, I mean merely just shocked. Like, whoa, the tree is destroyed that you cursed. Funny thing is, we do this a lot with the Lord, don't we?

We see God make a declaration or a promise that something is going to happen that appears to be very supernatural or miraculous, and when it does happen, we are shocked that it ends up happening, when in reality, we need to start getting in the habit of being shocked when it doesn't happen. That's where we need to go.

We need to get surprised when we don't see it work than when we do, because that's how God operates. So look at how Jesus responds because Jesus sees the shock in Peter and is now going to go back into addressing the same exact problem that brought on the culture that we just witnessed in the temple.

You see, let me just explain this for a second before we go on to what Jesus said. The culture that Jesus condemned in the temple, which was very similar to the culture of that during Jeremiah's time, was created by a group of people who did the outward appearance things that they needed to do with no expectation of any spiritual return or physical return for that matter.

In other words, we go to church to hear the Bible study because it's part of paying our dues. We pay the tithe because that's kind of what we have to do, but in reality, we're not expecting anything to change. It's part of the status quo, it's part of what we do because our families did it, previous generations did it.

We're not going to break the tradition, we're just going to simply do what everybody has always done, not expecting anything miraculous to take place, not expecting any hunger to be filled, not expecting any result or any fruit to come from it. Why? Because this is what we've always done and this is sort of a myth to us. We really don't believe it.

That's the culture. The culture is we praise God because we know that we're supposed to, but we really don't believe that God exists. Now Peter was a lot closer than everybody else in that. He truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

But him and all of the other disciples had a very difficult time having faith and trust in the very fact that Jesus was who he said he was and could do the things that he said he could do. Because it was more an issue of a social inclination, because it was more an issue of what they were doing to maintain the pure existence between all of them as disciples.

They're following Jesus, they're listening to Jesus, but when Jesus does something miraculous, they're shocked. By the way, the Bible tells us that the same disciples were astonished when Jesus actually fed more than 5,000 people.

The same account tells us that the disciples were astonished when Jesus calmed the Galilee. They were shocked when they saw Jesus say and do the things that he did and watch how nature literally submitted to him. Why? Because they had become accustomed to being close with the Lord and going through the motions, literally having leaves on their tree, but there was no fruit.

So Jesus is going to now address the core issue with them, knowing full well that these are people who are in this redeemable state, understanding that if he could align the heart issue that led them to doubt Jesus in the first place, then they will be the people who truly produce the fruit.

Which, by the way, hit the fast forward button. Peter, just a week later, ends up denying Jesus three times. Not only does he end up denying Jesus three times, but the last time he denies Jesus, he curses to a little girl.

It ain't me, trying to sound like somebody who wouldn't follow Jesus in order to convince the little girl that he was scared of that he didn't follow Jesus. But then forty days later or so, he's the same Peter that gets up in front of everybody and preaches the gospel and thousands are added to the church on that day.

He's the same Peter who literally goes up to the stairs of the same temple that he's having this experience in, and he sees a guy that says, I need money. Can you help me? And Peter says, silver and gold, I don't have any. But you know what? In the name of Jesus, get up and walk.

And what happens? He gets up. The people in the temple are shocked that this is a tree that's actually producing fruit. And you know what they want to do? They want to put him in jail. They want to arrest him. How many times do you think Peter was arrested? Probably way more times than we even read about in the Bible.

Why? Because Jesus is about to teach him something that I guarantee you he did not forget. I guarantee you he did not forget, and I want you to not forget this either, because Peter is shocked by the fact that Jesus could speak to a tree and the tree would die. The same Jesus who created the world.

The same Jesus who spoke us all into existence. He was shocked by that. Look what Jesus says. This is so heavy. And Jesus answering saith unto them, not just Peter, saith unto them, have faith in God. That's about as blatant as it gets.

By the way, why would he say have faith in God? Why would he even put it that way? He's putting it that way, he's saying it that way because he wants them to understand that what they have had faith in as of late is not working for them, that the faith that they need to have, the reliance upon, the trust that they must place, must be in God.

Put your trust in God. Don't put your trust in the system, don't put your trust in the thing that you think is going to work, don't put your trust in your peers, don't put your trust in anything, put your trust in God. That's what he's saying.

But look what he goes on to say. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith.

By the way, I want to point this out. This is not a passage that applies to every single person who reads it. This is Jesus talking to his disciples, number one. That's a very important point to bring out. So when you hear these people say, if you have the faith of a mustard seed then you go get rich. No, sorry. Doesn't work that way.

That's not what it's talking about. Jesus is saying in essence, I have given you the authority. I have rendered to you the authority that is God's to do work on behalf of God. And if you will so much as have a little bit of faith, I'm going to meet you there.

All it takes is a little bit. Now, there is an application that we can draw from this, right? And that is whatever God calls us to, may it be said of us that we are willing to extend our faith, our trust in him to accomplish it, because even with a little bit of trust in him, he can move mountains.

So the idea first starts with knowing what your call is, understanding what kind of fruit you're supposed to be bearing, and then walking according to that in that you trust God for that manifestation to take place. It's not that you're going to get what you want because you said it, because you got trust in the Lord and you're rich. No, doesn't work that way.

It really doesn't work that way. But look what it goes on to say. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.

I think there's a real truth in this. Some of you have heard me say, how many of you have heard me say that I don't like setting goals like I but I never really contextualized that statement for anybody. Have you ever heard me say that? I think I've said it from the pulpit, I kind of say it personally sometimes to some people.

Here's the problem. I just mentioned this to some people I was talking to earlier today. Here's the problem with the general mindset behind people setting goals. Can I explain? Let me just explain. When someone sets goals typically based on human nature, they set goals based on past performance.

You know what I mean when I say that? You own a business, okay? And let's say in the last year, you have sold a million dollars worth of product. And the year prior, you sold $900,000 worth of product. And the year prior to that, you sold $800,000 worth of product.

So if you set a goal based on the way the world teaches you to set a goal, you might be inclined to say, next year I'm on track to sell 1.1 million dollars. Right? Typical business mind. You say, this is what I've done in the past, so this is what I expect in the future. I think that's hugely erroneous.

Hugely erroneous. You know the businesses that win? The businesses that win are the ones that say, yeah, we sold a million dollars last year but this year we're going to sell 15 million. Why? Because the loftier the goal is that you make, the more you learn to use that goal to direct how you're going to act today to get yourself to that place.

Makes sense? What we do is we look at God's actions in our lives and we say, God did this for me, so my goal is to do this and stay within these lines because I know this is what God has done for me in the past.

Instead, what we should do when we make the goals that we make, for lack of a better term, is we should say, I watched God do this for me when it felt like it was insurmountable, when it felt like it was impossible, because it was, and God did it.

So now, before I ever establish any goal that sits in the future, I must go to the Lord and say, God, what do you want? Because if it's what I want, it will never ever come close to how lofty God's desire is for me.

So God, is it your desire for me to think like this? Yeah. Then that's what I'm doing. This is I'm preaching to myself when I tell you this because my mindset tells me, well, in the last several years, we haven't been able to find a building, so I don't know if we're going to be able to find one in the next few years.

I'm just giving you one aspect of my weakness in faith that exists sometimes. And I have to ignore that. I have to ignore that voice. I have to spend time saying, God, what do you want? And then I have to push for the better because I know that in doing so, it's my expression of faith to God in trusting that he can do what I believe I can't.

And when I allow him to have that room, when I give him that space, the mountains get moved. You understand what I'm saying? The way you get to the place that these people got to at the temple is doing the exact opposite of what Jesus is describing here. We'll finish this off and then I'll explain it.

Verse 25. And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought against any, that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Okay, now this is interesting because you look at verse 25 and 26 and you think that Jesus is making a massive shift. He's moving into a different direction. No such thing is happening here.

Jesus is not only telling them how important it is to put their faith and trust in him for the future and for miraculous things to happen, he's also communicating how important it is that when they go to him, they go to him with humility, being void of any vengeful thinking that exists within their heart because of the difficult time that they're going through and the infliction of that difficult time by anybody else.

Why? Because the difficult time you're experiencing is because God allowed you to experience it in order for a future result to take place. Jesus is conditioning these men to seek him for the future and for his will without the reliance upon self.

Self-reliance brings lots of anger towards other people for wrong that they've done to you. Because when people have done you wrong, when you rely upon yourself, then you can blame them and them only for you not achieving the result that you think you should achieve.

But if your reliance is upon the Lord and somebody does something wrong to you, you know what your instant response is going to be every single time? Praise God for you doing that to me because God used that evil that you did to me to drive me in a completely different location, to do a completely different thing.

You know, there are many, many times where I could go back and look at the painful things that people have done to me over the years, including people that have tried to split this church. I've looked at situation after situation where I've been terribly treated.

And you know what ends up happening? I say thank you, Lord. Why? Because it has nothing to do with the people that did what they did. It has everything to do with God making this a part of a much bigger plan in my life. Much bigger plan.

You have that perspective, then when you go seek him, you're going to seek him without bitterness in your heart. You're going to seek him with forgiveness concerning the things that have happened to you. Why? Because you know that God allowed those things to happen because he was using the stinkiness of that person to make you better, to grow you.

That's why every single night I go to bed, when I observe the blatant rebellious behavior that sometimes comes out of my children, I go to the Lord and I say thank you, Father, for giving me my children. Not what kind of sour apple did you give me, Lord?

It's thank you for giving me my children because the behavior of my children has taught me lessons that I never thought I needed to learn. Even my own children, look, I'm all about male leadership. I am not one of these, honey, come here, everything's going to be okay. I'm like, hey! That's me. That's the way I am.

Do what you were told! That's me. But you know what I do every single night? I go out of my way to do it. I make sure my children know that they are not only a treasure to me, but they're a blessing from the Lord to me and to my wife. Why? Because they are.

We can go back and forth and we can be hard and we can be rough and tough and we can tell them no, no, no, and we can create all the boundaries, the wise constraints that keep them safe. But at the same time, I want them to understand that the difficulties that they bring upon us doing what they do is something that we even thank the Lord for because they make us better.

Jesus is telling these people to go to prayer. When they go to prayer, don't go to prayer with the heart of unforgiveness, understanding that God is sovereign in what he's allowing to happen.

Now, why is this such an important lesson and why is Jesus talking about this in context of what happened with the fruitless tree and what happened in context of the temple? Because the lesson that we learn here, and this goes back to Jesus teaching here, the lesson that we learn is that you get to the place that the money changers were, and you get to the place where the religious leaders were, and you get to the place where the plotters and the haters are, when you choose to make it more about yourself than you ever would about God.

If the temple becomes an opportunity for you to make an extra dollar or to get another notch on the social circle in which you're in, you've lost. You have become one of them. You have taken the house of prayer and you have said, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.

But if you allow the construct by which God has created for you to establish fellowship with him to become the very tool that awakens you to a humble heart and a mind that says, Lord, I need you, I rely upon you, you will always be the tree that bears fruit in its season.

You will always be the one who does exactly as God indicated, and the results that come from that are astronomical. You would never be able to know it if you did not trust in God enough to let him show it to you.

And that's the exhortation that I want to give you today. If you're feeling like you're going through a time where you're seeing the leaves but you're not experiencing the fruit, go and examine your heart. What are you trusting in God for?

Are you asking God for vision for the future or are you sticking to what you think you needed to do but could never accomplish because God in his grace kept you from accomplishing it? Think about it for a minute.

Ask God to give you deep-rooted insight and understanding and discernment concerning these matters, and then go to him and say, help me set your goals.

Father, we just thank you, Lord, for your word and we thank you for what it means, the insight that we gain from it, Lord. What a powerful lesson, Lord, as you declared judgment, as you literally judged something for not bearing the fruit that it was designed to bear.

Help us to never be those subjects. Help us to be people who heed the warning and do what you've asked us to do. Lord, that we would see miraculous things happen, Lord, for your glory and that we'd be blown away at the effectiveness of your hand in our lives. So Lord, we love you and thank you, we look to you, Lord, and we ask these things now in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Guest (Male): This is Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis, and we're currently going through the Gospel of Mark. Listen to this study and more at lightonthehillradio.com. Pastor James's teachings are also available through the Light on the Hill app and at oneplace.com. You can listen to us wherever you get your podcasts as well.

Pastor James, I know you addressed this in the first half of your study that aired last time, but for the benefit of those who missed it, address this widely held belief. Many think that the cursed fig tree here in Mark chapter 11 is Israel. Why do you believe that's a great misunderstanding?

James Kaddis: You know, the answer to that question is really simple. I believe it's a great misunderstanding because Jesus didn't characterize the fig tree as Israel and people make the general assumption or conflation for that matter, to think that the fig tree here is Israel because they want to believe that based on a bunch of nonsense teaching.

It's very sad to say this, but a bunch of teaching that does not appropriate correctly what's being communicated. Jesus doesn't associate it with Israel, and so we shouldn't. It's very simple. The text does not show us that, so why should we hold to a widely held belief that's not even predicated upon what's fundamental to the text?

Guest (Male): Thanks, Pastor James. When you have a moment sometime today, send us an email. We'd love it. It's encouraging to hear what the Lord is doing in our listeners' lives and it's an opportunity to thank the Lord for what he's doing. There's a place to contact us at our website, lightonthehillradio.com.

We've been blessed by the feedback we've received thus far regarding Pastor James's new book, *The Last Book*. If you haven't ordered a copy yet, we'd encourage you to do so. This guide to Revelation covers the first half of the book giving you what you need to know about the Rapture and the end times in a clear and concise manner. Request your copy today at lightonthehillradio.com or through Amazon.

If God is leading you to support this radio outreach, there's also a place to make a donation at lightonthehillradio.com. Throughout the week, you can watch our live shows and short videos, many of which relate to Bible prophecy and help you to see current events with a biblical worldview. Look for these at jameskaddis.com. More from the book of Mark coming up next time on Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. This listener-supported program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

I have found the peace only comes from you. I have found the joy only comes from you because all I need is you. All I need is you.