Light on the Hill

Announcer (Male): Next on Light on the Hill, we'll hear of a woman who saw what most didn't, and it will encourage us to stop and consider the things we cannot see.

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

Announcer (Male): Welcome once again to Light on the Hill online at lightonthehillradio.com. Pastor James Kaddis will begin in a few moments as we continue in Mark's Gospel in chapter 14. Here we read about a woman who poured an expensive jar of perfume on Jesus. While some viewed this as a waste, she actually saw what they missed beyond the physical to the spiritual. Here's Pastor James with all the details.

James Kaddis: Okay. Let's jump right into this. We're going to start in verse 1 of chapter 14. Now, there is something that I would like to say, and I think it's really really important, and it relates to something that we've already been talking about, and that is the fact that for everything that happens in the physical realm, there is something that is happening in the spiritual. And guys, I want to say this because it's important. So much of the stuff that we've been seeing today, in these days, in these weeks, in these months, they've all been a reflection of lots of inner workings happening in the spiritual.

And I truly believe that the enemy is working extremely hard to take advantage of us. He's working extremely hard to destroy us. He's working extremely hard to get our eyes and our focus off of what's really happening. And I love I'm so thankful to the Lord that he gives us passages like this to regain our focus, to help us better be able to understand what the real issues are. And we're going to learn about a woman right now who seems to be able to see through the bigger issue, the issue that's driven by the spiritual as opposed to the issue that is driven by what might be superficial.

And it's interesting because we're given certain facts at the very beginning of this chapter that help us to understand just how hard the enemy of our very soul is working and what he's actually doing. And so this is the thing I want to tell you before we even get into this passage. And that's this. There's a temptation right now. And And please believe me when I say this. There's a temptation to get thrown in the mix. There is a temptation to feel like you have to make a comment about all of the things that are happening controversially right now, and there's even a temptation to feel like you have to kind of get in the middle of the dog fight when in reality the whole time that's what the enemy has wanted you to do.

He has wanted you from the very beginning to get in the middle of the dog fight because he wants you to be ignorant of where the real fight is. You see, if he can get you distracted by the superficial back and forth that's taking place and get you distracted by the things that most eyes are on because most eyes are blind to the spiritual, then he wins because you become the easy casualty of where the real war matters, of where the real battle matters. And I think that this is really important. Now, I think this will fall well upon people that have a military background or have a police background, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

And look, when I was in the Reserve Academy many many years ago, they dedicated a whole two days worth of instruction for you to understand this. They say, listen, you are going to be instructed by whatever city you work for or entrusted by whatever city you work for, whatever chief signs off on it, whatever sheriff signs off on it, to carry a weapon off duty. Forget the responsibility of carrying one on duty. You're going to be required to carry a weapon off duty or trust entrusted to carry one off duty. And when you do, there are lots of considerations you need to make.

It's not just because you have a weapon on you that you can feel this liberty to all of a sudden engage in every opportunity that you see yourself being engaged in because the reality of it is there are lots of people who are a lot more keen to what their plans are than you ever will be. And whatever you do, you must learn how to see things through your instincts and be slow to react unless you have what they would call typically an active shooter situation. And the idea behind it was always so simple because when I was doing it, you know, back in the day, we ran these little scenarios.

And so they would say, well, here's your here's your your your off-duty weapon. It'd be one of those orange guns, you know, they really can't do anything. You know, here's your off-duty weapon. And then they would say, go into this bank and conduct your business. And we're not going to tell you what's going to happen, but you kind of know already what's going to happen. A bank robber is going to walk in there and then you're going to be called upon to make a decision as an off-duty person who's armed what to do. So almost every single time, even with all the instruction they would give you, you would go into the bank.

You thought, you know, you think you'd be Mr. Hero and everything would be great. And this guy would come in, break yourself, give yourself money, blah blah blah, and get all crazy, right? And then you think you're going to be a hot shot and a hero. You pull out your weapon and you go off-duty police, get your hands up, don't move. And you know, you're you're all into the moment when you don't realize literally you're dead less than 3 seconds later. Why are you dead less than 3 seconds later? Because that guy who came in to go rob the bank, he had four other people with him.

All of them were at the tellers. All of them were doing something like they were minding their own business. And when they noticed there was a hot shot in the room, what did they do? They eliminated the hot shot first. That is a powerful picture of what the enemy is trying to do to each and every single one of you. He wants to distract you by what would appear to be the important engagement. Oh, I have to respond to this. And while you do, all of his minions are surrounding you, literally taking you out before you even know what happened.

And that is the thing that we have to think about. We have to think about things from a completely different perspective. And then when we think about it from the perspective that God wants us to, then we need to allow ourselves to be moved, motivated by what we do not see, but understand what God says is there. Makes sense? So watch this story because this study is going to be kind of a short one. But the principle is important, right? It's one that I want you to really see. Look at this in verse 1. It says after two days was the feast of the Passover and of unleavened bread.

And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft and put him to death. Now, I want you to notice what's happening. Okay? It's hilarious how this is working. Mark points it out, makes it known very easily very quickly that two days was the feast of the Passover. So they're celebrating the Passover. And while they're celebrating the Passover, there are the spiritual leaders who are supposed to appreciate the true value of the Passover, planning to actually kill Jesus. Do you understand the the irony of the sentence that you just read?

Do you understand the irony of the paragraph that was just read? Think about this. The ceremony of the Passover was designed to make people aware of the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It makes people aware of the fact that without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission of sin. The idea in the Passover celebration is that during the days of Moses, God said, I going to send the first born and the first born. I'm going to send the death angel and the death angel is going to kill every first born of every single spot.

Doesn't matter where. If you want them to be okay, if you don't want the first born to die, you've got to take a perfect lamb, one that has no blemish, one that has no spot. And you must kill that lamb. You must take the blood of that lamb, put it on the door post of your home, and whoever is in that home will be protected because the death angel will see the blood of that lamb and will pass over the home. Thus they called it the celebration of the Passover. Now, what's interesting is later on the book of Hebrews eludes to the fact that the blood of Jesus Christ, who is the perfect lamb who takes away the sins of the world, is sprinkled upon the door post of our heart, thus causing the death angel to permanently pass over.

Isn't it ironic with the fact that these men, as they are celebrating, these are the spiritual leaders of this celebration. As they are celebrating what God did in sparing them through the sacrifice of the perfect lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, they actually want to kill that lamb of God. And it funny how that works? They plan during the Passover to have him killed. Now, I'm going to make this clear. I'm not so sure that the disciples saw through it at the time that it was all happening. But I am very clear on the fact based on the way Mark is writing this that he clearly understood it now, that he clearly understood it at the time that he was writing because the irony that fell upon them was one that was greatly unique.

I think it's important that as we go through the routines and the rigamores of what we do every single day, that we stop for a moment and we consider the spiritual matters, that we stop for a moment and we consider the things that we cannot see, that we stop for a moment and we consider the the things that are invisible. You know, I was reminded of this this week, and it was a it was a very God-set reminder. God sent some precious people my way this week to remind me that sometimes we have to stop the busyness of what we're doing to focus on the importance of what we've been called to.

You know funny how that works? Because we we can do things to be busy just because there's a need. But if in the process of the busyness of doing those things we neglect the call that God has placed upon our life, it just completely changes everything. I was holding my son just right now, almost to tears. He's 3 years old. I'm holding him in my arms. I heard people these these people are very close to me. They're some of the godliest people I know, really amazing people who alluded to the fact that they recognize that their time with their children is limited.

So their idea is to focus on the importance of what God has entrusted them in that arena even if it meant walking away from some of the responsibilities that they've taken on as a result of their observance of the needs. It brings tears to my eyes. Why? You know, when I used to hold my my oldest in my arms, I never thought about it. I never thought when is the day going to come where I can't hold her every day like I do right now? When I began to hold my middle in my arms, and she's beginning to outgrow the the stage where I could hold her every day.

Now, I'm holding my precious little son in my arms, and I'm thinking that time's going to go by quickly, isn't it? Like I'm limited. I'm very limited. The thought process goes back to what have you called me to, God? What is my responsibility? What responsibility have you have you put in front of me? You know, I think that there's a lesson to be said about this because people who think about the spiritual, they think about those things. It's very eye-opening. It's a It's a critical place to be. But then look at how these people think.

Look at how evil they are and how inspired they are by the wickedness. Look at what they say in verse 2. But they said, not on the feast day lest there be an uproar of the people. We can't try to kill Christ on the feast day because the people will lose their minds. Like did you guys stop to listen to what you were saying? Like did you take a moment to understand what you're doing and how you are being influenced by the spiritual realm that is completely causing you to lose every bit of understanding concerning what matters?

That's what's going on here. I think there's a point in time where we all have to stop and we really have to think about that. And by the way, I personally don't think it's a coincidence that we would see these first two verses in chapter 14 only to be met with the story that comes after it. I don't think it's a coincidence. Why? Watch this. Verse 3. And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at me, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment and spikenard, very precious.

And she broke the box and poured it on his head. So this is very expensive very expensive stuff. Some people estimate that the value of what was broken upon Jesus's head was in essence close to about a year's worth of, you know, high earning like literally a year's worth of wages. I mean, imagine having an ointment that would have cost you, you know, $70,000. Just think about it in more modern terms. She takes this and she breaks it upon his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves and said, why was this waste of ointment made?

For it might have been sold for more than 300 pence and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. So this could have been worth a whole lot of money. And so they just said, what a foolish woman. They are talking terribly about what she did. And I can understand how the average person not seeing clearly or recognizing clearly what's going on would look at this and would actually condemn this act because what they're doing is they're thinking in with respect to the area that they should be thinking the least about. They're thinking from with respect to the amount of money that may have been saved or spent or used, but they're not understanding the purpose.

They're not understanding what's being done in the invisible. It's a very interesting way to look at things. It's a very interesting way to see things. You know, when I first started in the ministry, we would have people that worked in in ministry with us. This was many many many many years ago. This was even when I wasn't even before we even started this church. Which do you guys believe that a week from Sunday will be at our 20-year anniversary? Like it's wild to think about the goodness of God in that, right? But there would be people who would serve in the ministry in our church and they would come and they would say, hey, I I can we borrow this table?

We've got a family outing that we've got that we are going to do and it's a it a it's a party that we're doing and and we are wondering, you know, the church has tables. Could Could we borrow the tables? So you know, oh yeah, sure. So my pastor at the time, Pastor Debbie, yeah, yeah, let him James, we got lots of tables. These people are asking just just let them They serve in ministry. Let them borrow the tables. Okay. So I give them the tables. And then almost always inevitably there would be one or two of these tables that would come back and they'd be broken.

And I would get so mad. And And in my mind, I'd be like you got a lot of nerve. Like you borrow these tables and you bring them back broken. What kind of human being are you? You know, I mean, like I'm not talking that harsh, but I might as well be. Like just harsh. And And Pastor Jeff, I never understood it at the time. Matter of fact, I thought it was ridiculous. Pastor Jeff would come up to me and he'd say, stop freaking out. He would use those exact terms. Stop freaking out, man. So we'll just go buy new ones.

What do you mean we'll go buy new ones? They broke it. They should take responsibility for it. He would just wave me off, you know. And he just it it wouldn't move him at all. One day, I think he done this to me probably the maybe been the third or the fourth time something like this happened. This time it was an instrument that someone bought back that was broken, you know. I was mad. And then I And Jeff did the same thing. He He you know, waved me off and you know what? I'm not going to let him get away with it.

So I go into his office and I give him a piece of my mind. And I'm going to tell him how I feel. And I tell him, this is ridiculous. You're a bad steward. You know, this is a guy who who started the church before I was even born. Okay? I mean, like this is a guy who knows way more than I He's forgotten more than I know about ministry. Okay? I'm just telling you that right now. I'm 25 years old going to his office Mr. Mr. Big Shot, right? It looks at me and he says, let's suppose I buy that guy a new guitar.

How much do you think that guitar is going to be worth? That's what you don't get, man. That's going to be $500. $500. How is that? $500. I didn't realize it was that much money. Yeah, $500. How much do you think that guy's soul is worth? What are you going to do? You're going to be a deer in headlights when you hear that being said, aren't you? Because all of a sudden there's a whole bunch of other things that start going through your mind. I actually had the nerve to tell him, stop trying to be super spiritual.

This is practical, you know. That's what I said. And then believe me, I walked out wanting to cry after we finished talking for a little while. But he was right. Okay. It breaks. Okay, something happens. What do you think they're going to remember more? Are Are they going to remember more you jumping on them and saying go buy a new table or you should have done this or you should have done that? Are they going to remember more you saying thank you and it's all good and who cares if it broke as long as you guys are okay, doesn't matter.

We have a rich father. He can take care of the cost. What do you think happens to the soul of the person that you're that you're ministering to? See, that's the thing that Jeff saw that I didn't at that young age. Jeff saw what we refuse to see sometimes. It was the invisible realm. He saw the world that we often times refuse to see because we're so distracted by what's happening right in front of us. Makes sense? What's it worth? Look, you could ask that question about so many things. And don't get me wrong. I think we're called by God to be good stewards of what we have, absolutely.

But at the same time, there's a certain point in time where you have to value the soul of the very people that you're loving on and ministering to and you have to recognize there's a bigger picture. And if something costs more money, so what? So be it. Pay the extra money. Don't worry about what happens. God has a way of working it out. These people are seeing this woman do something that they don't understand. They don't understand what she's seeing. They don't understand the fact that she's placing a much higher value on the person that she's breaking the ointment over then the ointment itself.

They don't recognize the fact that she has a better head on her shoulders than anybody else in that room at the moment other than Christ himself because what this woman is willing to demonstrate is the very security that would drive her life is worthless compared to the moment that she's in with Christ. Think about it. If she was a woman in that position and she had something that valuable, I promise you the only reason why it would be in her possession is because it was some type of a collateral object that would be used as an insurance policy to make sure she can sustain her livelihood if something were to happen to somebody that was helping her.

That's all that was. But she chose to not worry about it.

Announcer (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. 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. Now, let's return to Mark chapter 14. We left off at verse 6.

James Kaddis: Look at what Jesus says cuz this is so important. Verse 6. And Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble you her? She hath wrought a good work on me. In other words, leave her alone. What reason do you have to bother her? What she's doing to me is good. And they must be way more confused at that point, and Jesus knows they're way more confused. He knows based on what we know he says here. Look what he says next. For you have the poor with you always, and when so ever you will, you may do them good.

But me, you have not always. Ooh. When I first started in ministry and people came to me with needs, I had always felt obligated to handle those needs no matter what they were. Every single day, it was always that way, especially as a single man. You just you see a need, you deal with it. Nowadays, when I see needs put in front of me, of course am I going to want to meet those needs? Of course. Am I going to want to try to be help? Of course. But you know the one thing that I often times say more importantly than than than anything else, those needs are always going to be there.

What am I doing right now in the eyes of God that is going to help me fulfill the mission he's put in front of me? The needs are always going to be there. Verse 8. Look at what Jesus said. She hath done what she could. She has come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. Jesus actually understood being able to read her mind, knew the reason why she was breaking that open.

Jesus said it. Jesus said the reason why she's pouring that over me now is to prepare me for what eventually will be my burial. In other words, she is recognizing that she has a short time with me. When while I'm alive in here, she has chosen to show me how much she loves me and how she recognizes what I eventually have come to do. That's what Jesus is telling us. That's not like we're not guessing that. We're not playing any metaphorical games. Jesus is telling us that this woman had a sharper discernment than her own than than his own disciples.

She could see in the spiritual realm clearer than anybody else. She knew exactly what was going on. And so she took every expense and did not spare it to honor God because she knew she didn't have a lot of time with him. Imagine if we thought that way. Imagine if our mindset was adjusted at that level. I think we'd be very different about the way we did things. I think we'd be different about the way we handled our money. I think we'd be different about the way we invested in things. I think I think we would have a completely different outlook about the way our lives were lived.

Announcer (Male): 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.