Light on the Hill

Narrator: Coming up next on Light on the Hill, remember God is faithful no matter what we are going through.

James Kaddis: We are a people that fail to take into account the things that are good that God makes perfect, yet we oftentimes take into account the things that have nothing to do with God, more so they have everything to do with us.

We remember the things that we do to make things broken. We remember the effects of sin. We remember the effects of the destruction that we bring to this earth. We remember all the bad, but yet when God comes through for us again and again and again, we're shocked when He comes through again.

But we shouldn't be. Why shouldn't we be? We shouldn't be because He's demonstrated to us again and again and again that He's faithful.

Narrator: We see the forecast. There's a major storm coming, and the only way to be prepared for it is by knowing one thing and understanding another. What are those things? You're about to find out on Light on the Hill through a study in Mark chapter six. Here's Pastor James Kaddis with his message, "The Storm is Coming: This is What You Can Expect."

James Kaddis: Can you imagine how fearful of a moment this must be for them? They start off on the Sea of Galilee and I'm assuming this, but I think it's a safe assumption, relatively calm. Almost guaranteed they are on very smooth water. How do I know that? Nobody gets in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when the storm is raging. No way that's happening. There's no way that could possibly happen. That would be a suicide run. It's just crazy. Nobody does that.

Things get really bad really fast. And you can see that the disciples are beginning to frantically seek for a way to get themselves out of trouble. By the way, if they're panicking, and I want you to think this through, if they're panicking, then it has to be super, super bad. How do we know that it has to be super, super bad? Because several of them are fishermen. Several of them know how to navigate boats.

Several of them know exactly what to do and how to handle the situation, how to deal with the circumstance as it arises. And right now they are just completely flailing, trying to navigate themselves out of what appears to be a very ugly situation. Only to see what would appear to be a silhouette of some guy walking on the water. Can you imagine how spooky that would be? How absolutely heart-wrenching that would be?

Look what it goes on to say. And by the way, this isn't giving us the account that we are so familiar with respect to what happened with Peter. That's another story, but it is interesting to look at the perspective that Mark shares with us. Imagine being on the boat where you're panicking and then a guy passes by you like you're on a sidewalk. At that point, you have to think that's the Grim Reaper coming. You're about to die and now you're hallucinating.

But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit and they cried out. Look, I don't know if I would not find myself in the same situation or be in the same mistake. I remember this was probably one of the biggest mistakes I ever made because I paid the price for doing it. I remember when I first became a chaplain at the police department, there was a guy who was probably one of the most gifted policemen I'd ever worked with.

He was a great detective. He had been assigned to gangs for a long time. If he was ever in trouble, we knew he was in trouble because when he would ever get into a fight or something aggressive would happen, he would get on the radio. The way we always described it was that he would cry like a little girl. He would literally go, "Help, help! We need help!"

And we knew it. We didn't even have to listen to his voice. If we heard on the radio somebody talking like that, then we knew our buddy Tommy was in trouble. So sure enough, we would always get there. He'd be in the middle of some gnarly fight, guy with a gun or someone's got dope or something like that. Really crazy situation. He always had a good eye for that kind of stuff.

You'd get the situation under control, the suspect would be in custody, and every now and then some guy would get away. That didn't happen a lot. And it would be all over with. Then the guys would give him a hard time. So one time, he cried exceptionally well in this fight that he had gotten into. And turns out it was a pretty ugly fight.

At the end of the whole thing, no one really said anything. So I took it upon myself as a chaplain to say something. I said, "Bro, you really cried like a little girl this time." Everybody's laughing and we're all making fun of him and it was just funny. And he goes, "Oh yeah? You wait and see. Wait until you get in the middle of that situation. We'll see how you handle yourself on the radio." And everybody's laughing at him, saying he's a chaplain and that's never going to happen.

I think it must have been maybe a week and a half later. It had to have been that little of a time. A week and a half later, we get into a situation where my partner is beginning to not win the fight that is happening right now. So I have to get involved and I remember this. I'm not going to get into all the details of what happened, but I remember finding myself in a situation where I knew I needed to get on the radio because my partner's microphone was ripped out of his radio.

It was an ugly situation. So I remember grabbing my radio and not even being aware that I didn't take it off the swivel, so I'm pulling it up with my pants. One of those situations. And I just remembered going, "Help! Help!" I said the things I was supposed to say, but I was screaming. The dispatcher had to ask me on multiple occasions for the address.

You'd hear the guys saying, "I think he said this. I think he said that." You realize very quickly, oh yeah. Oh, the guys would not let that one go for a very long time. It was the last time I cried on the radio, but I will tell you it was one of those unique situations. So when I look at this situation here, I don't ever think in my mind anymore, "Oh yeah, I wouldn't cry like they were doing." I probably would. If I saw something like this and I didn't even think it was Jesus, I just saw a spirit, I probably would scream.

Honestly, they're filled with fear. There's a reaction. Look, I can relate to this. I'm making a big deal of this for a reason and I'll go back to it. It's really important. Here's the reason why they cried. Verse 50. For they all saw Him and were troubled. Yeah, you think? And immediately He talked with them and said unto them, "Be of good cheer. It is I, be not afraid."

I'm going to guess that at the moment they heard His voice, although there must have been a little bit of confusion and it may have taken a few seconds for them to settle into what was actually happening, I am willing to bet that hearing His voice may have been the single most comforting thing that they'd experienced at that moment. Now, here's where I want to just back everything up a little bit. Gain some altitude and kind of look at this from a bird's eye view.

Because I believe that what happens here is a very common thing for us. We just don't make the connection. I think we find ourselves in places where God shows us His glory and He gives us a glimpse of His miraculous capacity and we oftentimes rejoice as a result of it and we get excited to move on to the next thing. And in moving on to the next thing, God knows we're never going to be able to be the same.

By doing the same thing again, He needs to up the ante for us because that's how our faith works. If Christians stay stagnant, they never actually move forward, they go backwards. So my guess is God is pushing the window a little bit. He does it for all of us. Yeah, James, there was a time in your life where if you had seen this happen, you would have went "Wow." Now you see it happen and you think, "Yeah, so? I see it all the time."

I think that God understands that and wants to take us to the next level. We'll go there in a second because this becomes very important for us to understand and to see through and through. Verse 51. And He went up unto them into the ship and the wind ceased and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened.

I don't know about you, but what I can tell you is that specific story puts the fear of the Lord in my heart on more levels than you could possibly even begin to imagine. Let's work this through for a second because there's an aspect of this that I want us to consider and it's critical. Let's go through the timeline. This is important.

I just described to you what they're going through in the current moment that they're in. But let's back out and let's go back to the feeding of the 5,000 men. When they were met with the overwhelming task of having to feed what could have been as many as 40,000 people, they were so overwhelmed by the possibility that they met Christ with sarcasm. You remember that?

And God said, "Bring your whatever you have to me." They bring the fishes and the loaves, which is in essence nothing. And Jesus takes it and multiplies it and with the amount of food that probably should have been enough for one or two kids, He ends up feeding thousands of people with so much food left over that it filled 12 baskets. We're not talking about some little tiny Yogi Bear picnic basket.

We're talking a lot of food. Not some small amount. What they saw was extraordinarily miraculous. But let's hit the rewind button for one second, can we? Before that, they just finished watching the Lord heal a man from his demons that he could never have been normally dealt with. They couldn't do it on their own strength. That's impossible.

There's no way. He watches these demons, thousands of them, beg the Creator of the universe for mercy. And the Creator of the universe takes them and throws them in a bunch of pigs and the pigs basically run over. Think about that for a second. They also witness an insane amount of healings. They even witness the miracle that took place when Christ spoke to the weather.

So they find themselves on the boat. They're a little spooked because they're disoriented. And I get that, and I even understand why they would scream. But then they hear the voice of the Lord. The Lord in essence boards the ship, quiets everything down, and they are so completely amazed and dumbfounded by what happened and shocked. And the Bible says that they were that way because what? They were hard-hearted. They didn't consider the miracle of the loaves.

What is He saying? It's really simple. Folks, we are a people that fail to take into account the things that are good that God makes perfect, yet we oftentimes take into account the things that have nothing to do with God, more so they have everything to do with us. We remember the things that we do to make things broken. We remember the effects of sin. We remember the effects of the destruction that we bring to this earth. We remember all the bad, but yet when God comes through for us again and again and again, we're shocked when He comes through again.

But we shouldn't be. Why shouldn't we be? We shouldn't be because He's demonstrated to us again and again and again that He's faithful. Every time I tell this story, somebody has to always remind me the name of the coach that did this. I don't remember. I think it may have been Ditka. I don't remember what coach it was. I'm not really a sports person, especially after all this woke nonsense they've been doing over the last several years.

But I remembered reading a story of a coach who, in my opinion, had a fascinating rule and I love the rule. The rule was remarkable. He had this rule with his players that if they got a goal, if they made a goal and they were in the end zone, if they danced in the end zone, these were NFL players, if they danced in the end zone, then he would fine them an insane amount of money. I think it was like a $10,000 fine.

And it was pretty interesting because it got to the point that as his team became more and more acclimated to winning championships, when they would be in the end zone, they wouldn't dance like all the other teams would. Finally, the coach got asked this question, "Why don't your teammates dance when they're in the end zone?" And he said, "Because I fine them if they do dance." "Why do you fine them if they want to celebrate their accomplishment?"

And he said this. It was interesting. I'll never forget this response. He said, "If they dance when they're in the end zone, it means they're not used to being in the end zone. But if they don't dance, it means they're there every day." You understand the significance of that kind of statement? Here's the thing that I think is so remarkable with Christians. Every single one of us dance like crazy when we're in the end zone because we act as though we've never been there before.

Think about that for a second. I think it's amazing to be the type of people who experience the miraculous hand of God moving in our lives on a day-to-day basis, yet when it happens again in a different way, we're actually shocked that it's happened because we have still developed a heart that is so hard that the expectation is for the natural and not the supernatural. Isn't it funny the fact that the disciples being shocked by what Jesus had done was a description of the function of a hardness of heart?

The first time you see Him do it and you're amazed, okay, I get it. The second time you see Him do it and you're amazed, I get it. The third or the fourth time, I get it. It's a track record that you're looking at. You're going, "Wow, that's amazing." But when He keeps doing it every single time, and He's doing it again and again and again, why should you be amazed? You expect it.

You know the way it should be for us as believers? Listen to me good when I say this. For those of us that are believers, we should be amazed when He doesn't show up in the end zone. We should be dumbfounded when He doesn't do what He says He's going to do. Why? Because it'll never happen. It'll never happen.

I'm not interested in the guys that come to me and tell me they're surprised when God talks to them. I'll never be interested in a person who comes to me and says they were shocked when God talked to them. Maybe if they've been walking with the Lord for five minutes, I'll appreciate that. I'm more surprised or appreciative of the person who is shocked when God doesn't talk to them.

If you've been walking with the Lord for a long time, you have to be able to understand and discern and know and recognize the pattern of God's movement in your life. Folks, the storm is now. It's here. It's happening. Storms happen all the time. I can sit down and honestly tell you right now, the storm is coming. And I can say the storm is coming while we're in the midst of one.

That's a normal thing. We're supposed to expect that. But the other thing that we should be expecting is for God to show up in the midst of that storm because that's what He's in the business of doing. He's the God of all strength. He's the God of all power. He's the God that created us. He spoke us into existence. Why is it that we're surprised when He shows up? I think we've got to get in the habit where we are surprised when He doesn't show up, right?

And then when we're surprised when He doesn't show up, then the analysis has to be, what did I not see? Because He was probably there, but we missed it. So this was because their heart was hardened. Look at this. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the ship, straightaway they knew Him and ran through that whole region roundabout and began to carry about in beds those that were sick where they heard He was.

And wheresoever He entered into villages or cities or country, they laid the sick in the streets and besought Him that they might touch if it were but the border of His garment and as many as touched Him were made whole. Let's close the loop on the pattern, shall we? I've heard a lot of people preach and I think there's a partial truth in this, that you have to go through the storm because on the other side of the storm is always victory.

I can understand and identify with that message, but can I take it a step further? You have to go through the storm while carrying the expectation that God will act in the storm because He's in the midst. And when you witness the hand of God calming the storm as you expected, on the other side of that journey will be far greater things than the storm you just experienced.

Think about this for a second. They watched God do another miracle on the Sea of Galilee, and now they go and they watch the Lord do miracles that they had probably never seen, not with the kind of veracity that they were seeing it in. My point is this, guys. If you expect God to take you to the next level in your life, then embrace the storm that you are in because you can rest assured that God is in the midst of the ship with you.

And if He doesn't feel like He's in the ship, know this. He's about to appear because He's coming your way. He's never left you. He's never abandoned you and He's never going to. Here's my piece of advice to you. When He shows up for you, and He will, don't be surprised. Recognize that this is what He's in the business of doing and start getting excited for what He's going to do on the other side. Because there is so much that God wants to do if we'll allow Him to do it. Amen?

Father, we thank You, Lord, for Your word. And we thank You, Lord, for so much of the word that You've given us, Lord. And Lord, I just pray that we would take it and hold fast to it. That we wouldn't be shocked when we see a miraculous hand moving, but rather, Lord, that we would be blown away because You're consistent, because You never will leave us disappointed, because You're faithful.

Help us to be the type of people who are shocked when we don't hear from You. Help us to rely upon You to understand and know, Lord, that You're the one in control and that we can trust You in all things. So Lord, we love You, Father, and even in the midst of exhaustion or busyness or all the other things that we face on a day-to-day basis, Lord, we ask for Your supernatural intervention that we know can only come from You. So we love You, Lord. We thank You. We look to You. We ask these things now in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us today for Light on the Hill. What you just heard is one part of a study in Mark's Gospel from Pastor James Kaddis. You can hear it again at lightonthehillradio.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Not long ago, Pastor James released his new book on the first half of Revelation. It's entitled "The Last Book." He points out that Revelation isn't a book of fear, but rather a book of hope.

Pastor James will help you understand the world we live in and current events through a biblical lens, preparing your heart for what lies ahead. Get a copy by going to lightonthehillradio.com or through Amazon. We're so grateful for your support. Each donation that's sent in is an investment in what God is doing over the radio and internet. Lives are being impacted daily for the glory of God as a result.

If you'd like to stand with us through providing either a one-time donation or ongoing monthly support, please visit lightonthehillradio.com. While you're there, you can also send us an email. It would be great to hear from you and have you share the station you listen to as well. Just visit lightonthehillradio.com and then click on "Contact."

Pastor James, it's possible someone listening right now is in the midst of a storm. You reminded us today that God is right there with us through it all. Yet like the disciples we heard about today, we're very often afraid. When those feelings start to creep up on us, what would you suggest we do?

James Kaddis: You know, it's really simple. When those feelings creep up on us, we have to learn to deny the emotion by inundating ourselves with what the Word says concerning the thing that is creating the doubt. So you look at the things that bring the fears to you, and then you look at what the Bible says concerning those things, and you constantly repeat what the truth is. Hands down, it's one of the greatest formulas for dealing with it, as well as praying and saying, "God, I know what Your Word tells me. Help me to find confidence that will literally dispel the fear." And I think that that's one of the most effective ways to deal with it.

Narrator: Thanks, Pastor James. I'm sure someone needed to hear that. Remember, you are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.