Few things dent the human soul than the experience of rejection, abandonment and betrayal. Nearly every family you know has been impacted by one or more of these painful events. When these experiences occur during one’s childhood, it can be catastrophic and result in lifelong struggle for the one who experienced them. This message reveals the grace and faithfulness of God to a mom and teenage son who were rejected by their husband and father. While there is complexity in the reasons behind their rejection, the bottom line is that it bruised their souls. How does God minister to those who have been rejected and abandoned? From the story of Hagar and Ishmael we see the caring heart and restoring hand of God on behalf of those with an orphan-spirit.
Encountering The Orphan-Spirit
Genesis 21:8-21
July 1, 2018 • Jeff Lyle
Elijah’s Bounce-Back Encounter
July 22, 2018 • Jeff Lyle
The life of faith can be a roller-coaster ride. Elijah had experienced incredible, supernatural victory on the top of the mountain. What came after that was the darkest season that he had ever experienced. People turned against him. Physical exhaustion dominated his body. Fear was owning his thought-life. Elijah wanted to die so he could experience relief. When depression finds Elijah, God moves toward him in loving firmness. We cannot become prisoners to our most melancholy thoughts. This message reveals how God brings the discouraged and depressed out from their caves of fear and self-pity. What Elijah needed was an encounter that offered him a bounce-back.
Peter’s Mind-Bending Encounter
July 22, 2018 • Jeff Lyle
All encounters with God leave us changed on some level. Perhaps in our day of post-Enlightenment Christianity, the hardest thing to change about us is our minds. Whoever got to you first as a christian likely laid the foundation for much of what you believe and practice today. That is wonderful…if they taught you in Spirit and Truth. What is difficult is when you were not taught properly and God must later encounter you so that you can un-learn some things. Such was the case of Peter in Acts 10. This message reveals how God reserves the right to reform our personal convictions, enlighten our incomplete beliefs and reorient patterns of conduct. Mark it down: if you are encountering God, He is intentionally removing you from your comfort zone. Peter can stand up and testify to this.
Encounters That Accomplish The Impossible
July 15, 2018 • Jeff Lyle
God wants all His children to be convinced that He can accomplish the impossible. The only way that this can happen is for Him to lead us into life-circumstances that we simply cannot handle alone. the Bible consistently reveals that God will MOST DEFINITELY give you more than you can handle. This message highlights that truth through an encounter with Ezekiel that would not only give him greater faith and hope, but all of Israel would learn that nothing is impossible for their God.