Transforming Truth With Jeff Lyle Jeff Lyle

Theology is essential but theology is not enough on its own. God created man for the purpose of interactive experience with Himself. He is a glorious being who delights in pouring out His goodness into the lives of His people. For some reason, many in the Church are reluctant not only to believe this, butter also reluctant to live and pursue this truth. Is it spiritual to not pursue God's blessing? Are people who live with a poverty spirit somehow more mature than those who desire all that God may have for them? This Truth Shot dares the listener to first recognize that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him, and then to pursue Him as their foremost priority. Those who do so are in position to experience the blessings of the Father through the fullness of the Spirit. Theology teaches us that God is good. Personal pursuit of Him teaches us that God is good TO US.

John the Baptizer appeared out of nowhere to break a 400 year long prophetic silence in Israel. God used John to shake a nation out of spiritual slumber so that they would be awake when Jesus the Messiah came behind John. The messaging of the Baptizer is similar to what Holy Spirit is releasing today in the Church. Messengers are being called and dispatched to prepare this generation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in a manner similar to how John prepared his audience for the first coming of Jesus. Prepare for messengers with direct hits, zero polish, and intense calls for hearts to bow in holy faith and submission to the coming King.

Jesus wasn’t always polite. He did not always speak with gentle tones. He was not committed to making conversations easy on people. Jesus said the hard things…and sometimes He said the hard things in a hard manner. This episode of Truth Shots takes us through six separate and intense statements that Jesus made against the religious leaders of His day. Rarely do we stop and recognize how offensive these statements would have been to the Pharisees. In fact, when He delivered all six of his indictments against them, they looked for rocks to use to stone Him to death on the spot. When confronting the religious spirit, Jesus did not hold back. If we are to be like Him, there will be times when we will need to be as direct as He was.

Most people think about what they wear at the beginning of the day. We dress for school, work, the gym, or maybe a ballgame or job interview. When special occasions arise, we are more intentional about what we put on. A fancy dinner, a costume party, or a dance require us to be a little more thoughtful about our attire. The United States armed forces all have strict requirements for how military dress is displayed. Did you know that God’s word teaches us all how to dress for the occasion when it comes to spiritual war? God expects us to put on the proper battle gear so we can fight well and win. This familiar passage from Ephesians 6 calls us all to check our armor and discern if we have put on what it takes to win the battle against the intensifying forces of darkness coming against us. Armoring up in the Spirit is not a suggestion for a certain set of elite saints. It is a requirement for all Christians to withstand the assaults of the enemy and to put them in the place of defeat.

When Jesus taught His listeners the value of learning how to turn the other cheek, was He instructing us to never, ever fight back? Is pacifism a pillar of the Gospel? A comprehensive view of what the Bible says about fighting back does not leave the Christian in a position of being a doormat to his or her enemies. There are times when God calls us to protect and defend our lives. Scripture even goes so far as to declare that the Lord is “a man of war” (Exodus 15:3). In the continuing story of Esther and the Jews, there is still a date on the calendar when they will be attacked by their enemies. This message reveals the amazing providence of God and how He leads His children to fight back against a hostile assault on their well-being. We can also learn much about how we are to fight our battles.

After John proclaimed Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away sin, his own ministry began to immediately and visibly decrease. As his followers became followers of Israel’s Messiah, John retained his ministry of proclamation and calling people to repent. When wicked Herod was rebuked for immorality by John, the angry ruler imprisoned him. Alone and isolated in a filthy cell, with his powerful ministry now shut down, John’s struggle revealed that he was merely human as he began to wrestle with intense doubts about Jesus. This message reveals the tenderness of God toward all believers when we enter our own moments of weakness, limitation and doubts. We will also see that Jesus is not so compassionate with us that He allows us to stay in the place of doubt. He calls us to remember and recommit. Jesus will not forsake us in the hour of our troubled soul.