Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): Pastor James makes this observation as we begin today's Light on the Hill.

James Kaddis: I believe that the level of spiritual warfare that we are seeing right now is as about as heightened as it ever has been in human history. There are only two other times in human history where I believe spiritual warfare has been at this level, if not maybe a little higher, and if it is, it's a very close approximation. These are the times when mankind chose to disobey God and sin entered the world. That would be the first time. The second time is when Christ was crucified and rose again.

I can biblically substantiate that because I truly believe that we are in the last days. I truly believe that the evidence continues to mount up to show us that we are living in the end times. The reality of it is the time is going to come, perhaps sooner than we can possibly imagine, where Christ will come for his church.

Guest (Male): In the last several months, we've experienced an immense amount of loss. It is very easy to be distracted by the things we no longer have. However, God wants to use that to draw our attention to what we actually do have. He takes what we often perceive as little, but what is actually abundant, and uses it to bring even greater fruitfulness and blessing. Today on Light on the Hill, we're going to talk about that as Pastor James Kaddis opens 2nd Kings chapter 4.

James Kaddis: Okay, so we have to have a momentary conversation about the creation of mankind. For the sake of simple reiteration to put into play information that you already know, I'm going to do this. My hope and my prayer is that in reiterating what I've been talking about for quite some time, the emphatic nature behind that reiteration will enforce within you a principle that is so incredibly important and viable in the day in which we live, and of course, into the future and our eternity.

So we have to start with the fact that God created the heavens and the earth. Now this is something that we've been talking about, and it's important to understand that God is the one that created the heavens and the earth. By the way, contrary to popular belief, as I've said this before, there is no gap between verse one of Genesis and verse two of Genesis chapter one. When it says that God created the heavens and the earth, it means that God is the one that created something out of nothing.

But verse two declares that the earth and all that is within was without form and void. That's in essence what we talk about here. What that means is that when God created the heavens and the earth, he created the raw material first. Then he took the raw material and he formed and he fashioned it. In other words, it was his poetic creation. It was beautiful. It was an artistic rendering. The ultimate expression of God's artistic prowess is the creation that exists around us. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that God's very creation declares his glory because his creation is glorious.

Of course, God did so much in this beautiful act that took six literal days. I believe it was six literal days. As God did all of this, there were some very profound takeaways that came as a result of what Genesis tells us, specifically as it relates to the creation of mankind. This is what the Bible tells us. The Bible says that we were created in God's likeness and in his image. Not only were we created in his likeness and in his image, we also were given a series of commands by God that speaks concerning the way that we should be living.

When you go into Genesis chapter one, verse 27, you see this discussion begin to ensue and the command is very important. The command is to be fruitful. Number one, multiply. Then he talks about things like subduing and replenishing. Those are both separate commands: subdue and replenish. Then he says, have dominion over. Dominion over what? Dominion over everything. These commands are critical and they relate to the assumption of a specific identity first. That identity sits in the fact that we were created in God's likeness and in his image.

If we are created in God's likeness and in his image, the natural result of being created in his likeness and in his image is a lifestyle of fruitfulness. That's important because right now the society and the world in which we live is trying to deprogram us from the original intent that God has bestowed upon us within our very nature. We are more and more seeking to become a society that is void of creativity. As a matter of fact, we are focusing more on things like entertainment.

We're focusing more on things like literally becoming somebody that God never intended for us to become. We are literally continuing to encourage the spirit of Antichrist by removing the collective consciousness of God by assuming the role of God on our own as such. In doing so, we are endangering all that God has for us and it is becoming worse and worse. But when we go back to the fundamentals given to us in the creation account, then it teaches us some incredible things.

Perhaps when you understand all of that, what we find out later when God contacts after he creates man and says what he says, it becomes so much more viable and substantial for the way that we should live our lives today. I want to repeat myself because this is important. I believe that the level of spiritual warfare that we are seeing right now is as about as heightened as it ever has been in human history. There are only two other times in human history where I believe spiritual warfare has been at this level, if not maybe a little higher, and if it is, it's a very close approximation.

These are the times when mankind chose to disobey God and sin entered the world. That would be the first time. The second time is when Christ was crucified and rose again. I can biblically substantiate that because I truly believe that we are in the last days. I truly believe that the evidence continues to mount up to show us that we are living in the end times. The reality of it is the time is going to come, perhaps sooner than we can possibly imagine, where Christ will come for his church.

I am certainly not seeking to be like the date setters and the fools that told us that the Lord was coming on the 23rd of September. That was the big one. It seems as though there's something big about the 23rd. There were some people that made that prediction a few years ago. Even a Calvary Chapel guy made that prediction. I just think that is like cuckoo in the head. There's nothing biblical about that. If the Bible tells us that mankind will not know the day or the hour of the second coming of Christ, there's no way in the world we're going to know the day or the hour of the rapture.

That's really clear. But the Bible does teach the doctrine of imminency and I do believe that the rapture is imminent. I do believe that Christ could come at any moment. I also believe that God has called us to live with that understanding that Christ could come for his church at any moment. I don't know about you, but when Christ comes for his church, I want to be caught in school board meetings speaking up for the gospel. I want to be caught defending the faith.

I want to be caught in an environment where I am seeking the betterment of the world that God has put me in, that I might be able to see the glory of God continue to shine through my lifestyle of obedience. I hope and I pray that that is the goal of every believer because if it was the goal of every believer, we would not be contending with the nonsense that we're contending with right now in this country. Never ever thought in a million years I would see the day where it got so bad that I had to actually create a series of stipulations within our very church bylaws.

I had to explain that when we say marriage is between a man and a woman, we actually have to say biological man and biological woman. It's gotten to the point where that's no longer enough and we actually have to talk about what defines a biological man and a biological woman. We actually have to describe the chromosomal characteristics that would define a man and a woman. It's crazy that it's gotten to be that bad. But that is the function of a world that has chosen to fail to recognize the fact that we were created in God's likeness and image and that we were given a purpose in doing so.

This is where it becomes very important because we are living in a world today that is mourning and grieving and hurt by the effects of sin. What we've been experiencing over the last couple of weeks is a perfect example of this. So we have to go back to the moment where mankind actually chose to rebel against God in doing the evil that they did, thus ruining it for all of us. By the way, the Bible says through one man sin entered the world, not through woman. The Bible says actually that woman was deceived but the man was the one who actually chose to physically rebel against God.

It was through Adam's actions that we all are now born in a condition of total and complete depravity. That's a very important distinction for us to be able to understand. With all that said, the Bible tells us that when God created Adam, he told this to Adam and it was important. He said, listen, this garden that I've given you, this place that you're living in, Adam, it's all yours. You can eat freely, literally eat freely of all the trees in this garden. It's all yours. Every bit of it is yours.

But there's one caveat. That is this tree right here that I'm pointing out, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You're not allowed to eat of that fruit because the day you eat of that fruit, you surely will die. So what happens? The devil comes in and he immediately casts aspersion on the word of God. Not only does he cast aspersion on the word of God, but he goes to the woman and he tells the woman something very, very, very important for us to be able to understand. He tells the woman in essence, I want you to focus on the one thing you cannot have.

He understands fully that if he is successful in getting the woman to focus on the one thing she does not have, she will fully walk away from every abundant thing that God has given her. She did that. She focused on what she did not have. In doing so, she took it. When she took it, she literally destroyed every wonderful thing that had been promised to her. Literally, it was all gone. Since that day, that has been one of the number one tactics of the enemy that hates us.

The enemy of our soul will get us to focus on what we do not have. In many cases, he will get us to focus on what we no longer have. He will spend as much time as possible to get us to focus on what we would refer to as lack, so that we will completely forget the very premise of God's creation and purpose for us. It centers around abundance. Now this is not a health and wealth message. I think that oftentimes when I use the term abundance within the context of biblical precedent, people will immediately go to the place of accusing me of speaking in terms of health and wealth.

But here's the principle that needs to be understood. God gave you abundance. That abundance that God has promised you starts with your salvation on the grandest and perhaps most greatest scale, but it carries itself practically in the world in which you live. The one thing that the enemy would want you to do right now in this world is to focus on the loss. He wants you to focus on what's missing. He wants you to focus on what you had but you no longer have.

He wants you to focus on what you think you really want but you've never had. He wants you to focus on what you perceive to be the emptiness or what is missing. When in reality, God says stop it. God says I want you to focus on what you do have because it is my desire to take what you do have in front of you and to use it for my glory. The problem is when you fail to recognize the fact that God has given you in abundance so much, you begin to view the abundance that you do have as incomplete, imperfect, or incapable.

When you view what you have as incomplete, imperfect, and incapable in the hands of God, you immediately shut God out of your life to take what you have and use it for his glory. You know the most common manifestation of this? The most common way this comes out is in the type of things we don't even think about. You know how many times I've heard someone say, man, I don't have a lot to my name. I really don't have much, so I really can't do anything with it. That's a lie.

God's given you a lot. You just don't see it. You don't recognize it. You don't understand the value of the asset or the assets that God has put in front of you. As a result, because you're so focused on what you don't have, you stop using or you don't even start using what you do have. You allow yourself to walk for the rest of your life with the poverty mentality that rips you off from the glory that God wants to demonstrate in and through you by allowing him to do what you perceive to be as insurmountable because nothing is difficult for God.

But we forget that. I think that that's something that's very dangerous. And this story is perhaps one of my absolute favorite stories in the Bible that aptly demonstrates this principle, besides the account of creation. By the way, if you ever want to learn about biblical use of debt, this is also a good passage for that. There's many of them, but this is also a good one. But let's jump into this because this is so incredible. This story, I just love this story.

So let's dig into this. This is verse one of chapter four of 2nd Kings, which by the way, I just want to say this is a little touchy. This story's a little touchy because it touches on a series of themes that my heart is burdened with right now, some of which are consequential and somewhat significant. If I'm honest through this story, some of this is very confrontational, especially with what I'm seeing with so many people in the ministry today. This is an interesting one.

Let's take a look at this. This is verse one of 2nd Kings chapter four. It doesn't really need any background or introduction other than what I've provided for you because I want you to understand the emphasis that I'm trying to pursue here. Look at what it says. This is verse one of chapter four, and it says this: "Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen."

So let's just talk about what's happening here because sometimes you read this verse, especially in the King James Elizabethan English, and it doesn't really mean anything to you. It doesn't really seem very valuable. But let's just talk about what happened. We're first of all talking about a very valuable man in the work of God. We are talking about a man who worked with Elisha the prophet. He himself was a prophet. He was a man who was being used by God to put into effect the purposes of God.

He was a man that was living righteously. He was for all intents and purposes a good man. He was a righteous guy. He's married and he has children, and he dies. Now you have a widow who is left mourning and grieving because she has lost the love of her life. Here's the most painful thing about watching widows when they lose their husbands, whether it be at a young age or whether it be at an old age. One of the most tragic things about witnessing a widow losing their husband centers around the fact that it isn't just their own way of life that gets disrupted.

It isn't just the love of their life that they planned on living their life together with that gets disrupted. What also gets disrupted is the security that that husband provided for his wife, the shelter. You know, it's funny, even when I'm out of town, my wife will oftentimes say I feel very out of place without the covering that my husband provides. She says that on a regular basis. Now don't get me wrong, my wife is an absolutely brilliant woman, okay? She has a formal education.

She actually, according to the State of California, she's a clinician. She's a speech language pathologist. She has her teaching credential. She's a brilliant woman on a lot of levels. But as a married woman who has come to find first security in the Lord, she's also learned that there's a certain element of security that comes from having her husband by her side. There's certain things my wife will never have to do so long as I'm able to continue to provide the way that God has allowed me to be able to provide.

My wife doesn't have to go to work in order to provide for the family. She actually has the hardest job of the family and that's raising our children and doing all the other things that she does. That's a harder job than what I'll ever do. But perhaps more significantly and more consequentially in her mind, she finds herself in a position where she literally has found a new life in us being together as husband and wife. I can make the same argument for myself.

When a woman loses that in her husband, especially when the marriage is a good one, especially when the marriage is a healthy one, it goes beyond being painful. There's a loss of security. There is a lack of vision for the future in many instances because every bit of vision you did have for the future is now gone because that man has been taken away. By the way, I can just tell you this without interviewing anybody. The greatest fear of any woman who is in a healthy marriage is the loss of her husband.

If you go to a woman and you ask her what would you rather have, no money or no husband? They'll tell you every single time, I'd rather have no money because there's something about the security that having a husband can provide that is very consequential. So this woman is going through it because she's not only lost her husband, she's lost her way of life. She has lost in her mind everything that relates to anything she's ever known. So in desperation, she locates Elisha who was one of the prophets that her husband worked with and said, I'm in trouble. I need help.

Now I find myself in a bit of pain in watching this because I have seen a lot of widows who were married to men in the ministry who thought somehow it was spiritual to not take care of the financial side of things or to be concerned with the future of their spouse when they die. So when they die, their spouse has nothing. I think that's actually terrible. I think not only is it unbiblical, I actually think it's dark. But somehow, some way, some of these guys have been programmed into thinking that money is evil.

No, it's not money that's evil, it's the love of money that's evil, right? But it's just wild the mindset that people have been taught to think this is me being spiritual. No, it's not. You're actually being unspiritual when you do not allow the security to be given to your family in this way. So this woman has experienced immense loss and she goes to Elisha and she says I've lost everything. But Elisha is about to do something here that a lot of people don't talk about, but I think is remarkable because it is based on a very spiritual principle and it goes right back to the principle that I shared with you.