All of us are going to be entrusted with seasons of pain. Trouble is simply the unavoidable reality of passing through our time on planet earth. When the Christian is entrusted with a season of struggle, the intent of God is to bring us closer to Himself. Wisdom, revelation and intimacy are to be birthed from any and all pains that find us in life. Yet, pain seems to have its own agenda. Pain wants to be the predominant voice, speaking more loudly to us than God. This message from the Book of Job highlights how pain seeks to lie to us when it enters into our lives. Knowing ahead of time the potential deceptions that attach themselves to our suffering and trouble can equip us not to believe the lies and to remain resolved to magnify the promises of God to us when we follow Jesus into the deep and dark valleys.
How Pain Lies To You
Job 19:1-27
February 16, 2020 • Jeff Lyle
Harnessing Your Pain
February 23, 2020 • Jeff Lyle
One of the most challenging aspects surrounding the reality of suffering is determining the source of our suffering. Different Christian viewpoints will give drastically different answers. Did a sovereign God cause me to suffer? Is the devil afflicting me with intentional warfare? Am I being punished for my sins? Or is suffering just built in to the human experience, therefore I am to accept it? All of us have wondered about these issues at times. Paul the Apostle suffered like few others in the Bible. This message reveals an intense season in Paul’s life where He asked God to remove his suffering and God told Paul, “No.” From Paul’s response to his season of suffering, you and I are able to learn some incredibly helpful insights about how God allows suffering to work some of His most precious offers into our lives as His children. The devil may be the source of our suffering, but he never has to have the last word about the final outcome.
Turning Trouble Inside-Out
February 23, 2020 • Jeff Lyle
The modern American Church has almost zero theology for suffering. It’s like the uninvited visitor who shows up and takes over for a little while, leaves abruptly, and never announces when he is coming back again. We are unable to deny the reality of suffering, and we cannot pretend that Christians are immune from it. Yet, it certainly is not the will of God that His children remain so awkward when thinking upon suffering and discussing it within the context of the Kingdom. The words of the Apostle Paul serve as a beautiful template for all of us who are experiencing suffering or know someone else who is currently enduring painful difficulty. What good comes from suffering? Why would a loving God allow it in the lives of His people? What do I do with my fears, weaknesses and doubts that arise when the suffering finds me and does not leave? These are not questions without biblical answers. We just need to learn to trust what God says and then welcome Him to bring stunning grace to help us. That is exactly what Paul learned to do.
Worshiping In The Ruins
February 16, 2020 • Jeff Lyle
The Book of Job offers the reader a strange, unique glimpse into the interactions between God and Satan. When Satan discusses the godly man, Job, with God, he receives permission to test him. Satan aims to destroy Job. God intends to strengthen Job through whatever attack Satan launches against him. Job suffers a lifetime of woe in the matter of one singular hour. This message takes us on the emotional and spiritual roller coaster ride that occurs when godly people encounter their worst nightmares occurring in real time right before their eyes. From Job, we learn the freedom of acknowledging all the pain and loss with raw emotion, while at the same time holding onto our confidence that God is good and that He is for us. In the end, we behold a man showing us all how to worship in the ruins.