Our curtain will fall one day. The Scripture is clear that each of us has an appointment with death. Amazingly, what we do with our lives here on earth determines our capacity to experience the fulness of living in the coming Kingdom. As we study the last chapter of Elisha’s life, we discover that he possessed such an anointing that, even when he was dead and buried, his power was still making a difference. This message calls on us to intensify our commitments in the Kingdom while we are still alive. We too can posses an anointing that actually outlives us here on earth.
Wisdom To Write The Next Chapter
November 19, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
Wise men and women must eventually confess that they are approaching the end of their season of influence. We cannot stay at the top of our game forever, and the generation coming behind us needs a new crop of influencers. Elisha was sensing this very thing, so he employed the wisdom to help write the next chapter for the nation of Israel. This message unpacks the great need of new leaders and servants in every generation. Watch how Elisha approaches this, even investing in an unnamed servant to get some of the most important assignments in Elisha’s ministry completed. Who is coming behind you? Have you found one or two to invest in so that your influence outlives you?
Radical Faith, Undeniable Reward
November 12, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
There is a mythological view of Christianity that goes something like this: you ask Jesus into your heart, He forgives all your sins, He makes your problems go away, He immunizes you from pain, sorrow and loss, He blesses you indiscriminately with all sorts of goodies, and then you go to Heaven when you die. Because so many people have their expectations aligned with this fairy-tale version of Christianity, they stumble when reality pounces upon them. Our faith requires long-distance, all-terrain, faith. This message takes us back to familiar person in the life of Elisha and shows, once again, how she models for us what it means to walk radically with God through challenges and into breakthrough.
A Supernatural Mixed-Salad
November 8, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
The Lord loves to surprise us. Most of the time, the Father is eager to do more than anything we could ask or imagine. Sometimes, we just need our eyes open to all that He has in waiting for us. Resources, opportunities, spiritual gifts, open doors… He has everything we need to win our battles. This message reveals how there is often much more than meets the eye when we find ourselves seemingly outmatched. It is when we are in over our heads that we often experience the eye-opening power of God’s amazing goodness.
Faith For Finances
November 5, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
It seems that most Christians love to traffic in dogmatic beliefs. We are convinced that Jesus is God. We are convinced that Heaven and Hell are real. We are convinced that there is hope beyond the grave. We are convinced that God is good and Satan is bad. Our deep convictions are framed by what the Bible says. Yet, many Christians do not feel they can be dogmatic concerning the question of whether or not God wants to bless their finances. Suddenly the dogmatic beliefs come to a grinding halt when the topic of money is brought up. This message spotlights why all believers can be confident that God will bless their finances, and how they can position themselves for that forthcoming blessing.
Words of Knowledge: A Two-Edged Sword
November 1, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
Hearing from God is an immeasurable privilege. To walk in such intimacy with the Almighty that you can personally hear His voice - what an amazing occurrence! Yet we are accountable for what we hear, and He sometimes calls us to share it with others. In this message, Elisha is given three distinct words of knowledge. One is a joy to share. The other two? They would be difficult. Like Elisha, we must not only share the happy words, but also the heavy.
The Dead Are Raised
October 25, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
You know what they say about death and taxes: these are the only two certainties in life. While we may have no legitimate hope in escaping taxes, death is clearly able to be defeated. In many places throughout Scripture, God reminds us that the power of life in Him is greater than the power of death in us. Jesus emerged from the grave in victory, and so will all people who trust in Him. Before Jesus walked the earth, the power of God to beat death was still active. This message takes us into one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the bible. In the end, our tears are replaced with joy as we see what it is like when the dead are raised by the power of God.
Winning Through A Word of Knowledge
October 18, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
In the New Testament there is this mention of a particular gift from the Holy Spirit called “a word of knowledge” (1 Cor. 12:8). While we are given very little by way of explaining this gift, we can see it in play throughout the scripture. A word of knowledge is the supernatural ability to clearly know something specific which cannot be known via natural means. Elisha’s life and ministry was marked by this gift – possibly more so than any other ability God gave him. This message shows in an extremely dramatic circumstance how helpful this gift is to believers. Amazingly, it is available today for Christians and we can be enriched by both offering words of knowledge and by receiving them from others.
Building Up Through Blessing Others
October 15, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
A treasure in God’s Kingdom is to be ushered into the amazing cycle of blessing and being blessed. What does this mean? When we release, God ensures that we will receive. God declares it in the Old Testament. Jesus promises it in the Gospels. The Apostles teach it in their New Testament letters. Yet, many believers struggle to embrace the clear reality that God enriches them when they live a life of pouring into the Kingdom. There is a woman in Elisha’s life who made it her mission to bless God’s prophet. What she received on the back-end of the relationship was far more than she ever invested. As we release what God has entrusted to us back into the Kingdom, we should all expect some similar outcome in our own lives. The old adage is still true: we cannot out-give God.
The Power To Transform Your Environment
October 4, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
When modern Christians hear the word miracle, we almost exclusively think of healings in the physical body. While physical healing is certainly a type of miracle which God works today, the term miracles is not limited to these types of things. In this message, we intersect with three miracles performed by the prophet Elisha which are centered in the transformation of the natures of three elements: water, plants and iron. It may not sound too inviting, but what surrounds these miracles, and what results from them, leave the listener with a volume of help for his or her own life. The bottom line is that we must increase in our confidence that some things that are impossible according to natural means can be transformed in a moment by the power of God.
A Season of Promotion
October 1, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
All throughout the Bible, we witness God promoting people in the Kingdom. Whether it is David moving from shepherd-boy to king, or Esther moving from orphan to queen, God delights in exalting His faithful children. So what about us? Are there characteristics that those whom God promotes have in common? Are these characteristics currently in play in our lives? As we continue to look at the life of Elisha, his season of promotion reveals a handful of qualities that God seems pleased to honor in our lives. As we observe them active in his life, we are able to see if they are in our own.
The Anatomy Of A Calling
September 24, 2017 • Jeff Lyle
In one sense, all Christians are ministers. We are all called by a King, into a Kingdom where we are assigned our own purpose to fulfill. Some believers are called to do this at an elevated expectation and commitment with their entire lives. These people walk away from every previous purpose and commit themselves wholly to serve God with all that they are and all that they have. They leave hometowns, they resign from their jobs, they often reduce their standard of living and embrace a life of shoe-leather faith. Elisha was an unknown commodity to his generation. Then, out of nowhere, God put his mark on this man, and called him to leave everything to become the next prophet in Israel. This message breaks down what a calling can look like and helps all of us, as children of God, to reacquaint ourselves with the non-negotiable fundamentals of living out our own callings in the Kingdom.
