Mavericks & Misfits

Episode 115: Our Ignorance At The Altar When people come forward during altar calls at the end of Christian gatherings, most come seeking something which they need from the Lord. They come in faith. They often come in desperation. Some come forward, compelled by the Spirit of God to receive something for which He has given them hunger. We all come forward with a need, and there is nothing wrong with any of that.   Unless we are coming in ignorance about what is required for what we want to receive.   In this episode of #MavericksAndMisfits, Jeff addresses the misconception that the best things in the Christian experience can come via an in-the-moment impartation from some spiritual leader. While impartation carries validity in the kingdom, most people ignorantly view it as some “holy zap” that transmits something valuable to from one who has paid the cost to one who has never even considered the cost. This episode calls us to increase our hunger, consider the costs associated and then to pay the full price to receive all that God has for us. [...]

Episode 114: Why Your Opposition Will Fail Christians living for the glory of God will be assigned territory to claim for His glory. Sometimes this territory is geographical. Sometimes it is relational. Sometimes it is cultural. Regardless of how the territory is defined and assigned by God, the Christian life is one of Kingdom advancement.   And all of Hell will fight against that victory happening through you. This is why we need an impartation of holy, Spirit-filled confidence.   In this episode of #MavericksAndMisfits, Jeff challenges the listener to be emboldened in the will of God. What if you were called to believe that you were invincible as you walk out God’s will for your life? Joshua was told exactly that, and then he was able to impart that same truth to others. The result? Israel brought conquest to the promised territory wherein there were fortified cities, trained armies, and demonized opposition awaiting them. Joshua needed to hear from God at the onset that God would not let him fall. We need to hear the same thing, and today’s podcast is an ear-opener. [...]

Episode 113: Anointed… But Waiting A great moment in the Christian’s life occurs when he or she understands what God has gifted and called them to do in the Kingdom. Everyone desires to know their purpose, and life takes on new dimension when God clearly communicates His desire for the direction of our lives. What God assigns to the believer He also anoints for the believer. He infuses the right gifting, the right spiritual resources, the right location, and the right recipients of what He will pour through us.   Oh, yes, there is also this: He assigns the right timing. And that is where most of us will be tested. Most Christians receive their call and anointing from God before they receive their full release to what God has determined for them.   In this episode of #MavericksAndMisfits, we follow the anointing, calling, and establishing of King David. His own example carries rich lessons for those who know their Kingdom purpose, but who have not yet found themselves able to fulfill it. These lessons are crucial for all of us. If we cannot pass the present waiting test, we will likely not pass all the future tests which accompany our assignments. What do we do when we are in the challenging season of being anointed but waiting? King David helps us to find the answers. [...]

Episode 112: Peace Instead Of Fear Most Christians would recognize the words of Jesus in John 14:27 where He promises His peace to all His followers. When He commands us to “let not your hearts be troubled”, we tend to experience a sense of reassurance and comfort. We all know these words of Jesus…but are we actually obeying them? In this episode of #MavericksAndMisfits, Jeff Lyle calls the listener to pinpoint the thing(s) that may be causing him/her to be living with a consistent thread of anxiety or fear in their lives. Then Jeff asks the listener to discern where it is that they turn to find relief or protection from what they fear. In the end, Jesus expects us to receive by faith the Peace that He promised each of us. It is not necessarily a feeling of peace in the beginning – it’s a confidence in His peace, that leads to the feelings of peace. Also included in this episode is a strong pastoral challenge for the listener to take ownership of limiting the voices that undermine the peace of Jesus in their lives. [...]

Episode 111: The Unwavering Voices The Church in America has a speech impediment. It is not that Christians are not talking. In fact, we seem to talk quite a bit. We have the ability and vocabulary to speak. The issue is not in our ability to speak, it is in our discernment of what to actually say. The bold, biblical, loyal spokespeople for God seem to becoming more rare. Jeff Lyle shares in this podcast a charge to all the listeners to push back against this trend and to recapture the voice of confidence and conviction within the Church.   Pastors, prophets and teachers have a call from God to speak His words in His way to all people assigned to them. The widescale prostitution of the call to preach has undermined the authority and relevance of the American Church. When Christians in the pews and seats presume to be authorized to tell the prophets and pastors what needs to be proclaimed, they trespass on what God has established as holy ground. Worse yet, when those prophets and pastors submit their callings to the demands of the people, they have committed an even worse sin. Listen to this episode of #MavericksAndMisfits and consider becoming one of the unwavering voices that refuses to cave in to the demands of a culture and Church which has lost its way. [...]

Episode 110: Killing The Victim Mentality Christians typically live with one of two possible mindsets towards life: I am a victim who is helpless. I am a conqueror and overcomer. Our culture today feeds the instinct in most humans to deflect, blame others, shirk responsibility and avoid accountability for their lives. From media to government –and even some within the Church –there is a line of thinking that seeks to empower people to find excuses as to why they are not living a triumphant life. Once we adopt the belief that we are a perpetual victim of past or present forces, we embrace a lifestyle of defeat. Can this be consistent with what it means to be made alive by Jesus Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit? Absolutely not! In this episode of Mavericks and Misfits, Jeff powerfully calls us into accountability for our own lives and reasons with the listener concerning why they are empowered to live a life of victory, not victimhood. If you are comfortable in your misery, do not listen to this. If you want to escape your misery and defeat, listen to this episode…twice. [...]

Episode 109: Deep Concerns About The Sinner’s Prayer For close to 80 years, most church attendees have been invited into an eternal relationship with God via the repeating of what is commonly known as the sinner’s prayer. The motivation behind using this prayer as a means to welcome sinnersinto the Kingdom is to honor the requirement of confessing Jesus as Lord with the mouth. The weakness of emphasizing this prayer is that it does nothing to gauge whetheror not the hearts of the people repeating the prayeris actually engaged while their mouths are moving.Jeff Lyle’s opinion is that we are now reaping in the American church the heavy consequences of this longstanding, superficial mode of evangelism. This episode of #MavericksAndMisfits calls the listener to deeply consider everything elsethat the Bible communicates about what it means to be saved. An ignorance of these crucial scriptures has likely left countless people in churches wrongly convinced that they are in right standing with God. To date, this may be the most important episode of Mavericks and Misfits that has been released. Consider deeply what you hear. [...]

Episode 108: Prophets In Hiding In Elijah’s day, he once complained to God that he was the only true prophet. Have you ever wondered why he felt so alone and isolated in prophetic ministry during the days of wicked Ahab and Jezebel? Well, there may be a small clue in 1 Kings 18 as to whyElijah felt that way. In a discussion with another prophet named Obadiah, we learn that at least 100 prophets of God had been hiding together in a cave while Elijah put his neck on the line by doing the difficult task of confronting the wickedness in the land. You heard me right: while Ahab and Jezebel were ruining the nation, 100 of God’s prophets were playing it safe in a communal cave. In this episode of #MavericksAndMisfits, Jeff calls forth the prophets of this present generation. Too many are hiding out in one particular type of cave. What is this cave? Tune in and discover for yourself. [...]

Episode 107: How The Baptist Guy Met The Holy Spirit In today’s episode of #MavericksAndMisfitsJeff shares two powerful accounts in his own story which God imparted to him in order tobring Jeff into a fuller experience and expression of what it means to be a Jesus-follower. These two encounters were separated by twelve years, but they worked together to free Jeff from religious bondage, denominational chains, and the fear of man. While these accounts are written of fully in Jeff’s book “Figuring It Out As I Go”, people still frequently ask to hear it from Jeff himself. Today’s episode uses the accounts in the book and also some additionalbackground information to help the listener understand just what took place to usherJeff from the world of Baptist fundamentalism into the fullness of Spirit-baptized Kingdom living. In the end, all of us know for certain that God still has more for us as we follow Him toward the Second Coming of His Son. [...]

Episode 106: Getting Free From The Fear Of Man Most of us prefer to be liked than disliked. We would rather experience acceptance than rejection. Normal and reasonable is the desire for us to fit into a larger community and to be warmly received, secured, loved, and affirmed within that community. There is not necessarily anything wrong with caring what people think of us. Being controlled by what people think of us is a different issue altogether. That corrosive activity in our hearts is attached to what the bible calls “the fear of man.” In today’s episode of #MavericksAndMisfitswe listen to the words of God Himself as He calls us all out of living to please other people or to gain their approval. This fear of man potential in us is not a personality issue –this is a soul-issue and we must overcome it through the Spirit. When people become too big to you, God will become small to you. He expects us to cooperate with Him to live entirely and permanently liberatedform the fear of manso that we can live joyfully and freely in the identity and purposeswhich He has assigned us. [...]