Episode 178: What If It’s This?

NOTE: Please use discretion if you regularly listen to Mavericks & Misfits with your young children as this episode holds candid discussion of sexual issues.

Now more than ever, American Christians must take a difficult look in the mirror to become sobered about sexual sin among Christians. The slow drift that has been occurring for decades is no longer a drift. It is a full force torrent that is capsizing individuals, families, churches, and major movements within American Christianity. This episode of Mavericks & Misfits releases unfiltered considerations about the likely reality that it is our tolerance of sexual sins within churches that is currently stagnating what would otherwise be great outpourings of power and glory from Heaven. We have time and space to repent and remedy this issue if we choose to come out of passive tolerance of sexual sins in the Church.

Episode 177: Hypocrites In The Church

You do not need an anointing of spiritual discernment to know that the Church has hypocrites within it. You do, however, need an anointing of biblical discernment to understand the difference between true hypocrites and true Christians who fail to always live up to the righteous standard that God offers us. If a Christian failing or sinning is ALWAYS evidence of hypocrisy, then you yourself would be a hypocrite. Fortunately, the bible clarifies for us the difference between a behavioral failure of a believer that is not equal to hypocrisy. This episode calls all of us to pursue lives of consistent righteousness while also giving us biblical definitions of what a Christian hypocrite actually is. You may discover that you have falsely labeled someone as a hypocrite who actually is a faithful believer who, like you, is seeking to wage war against all sin. This episode will be an eye-opener for many.

Episode 176: Blowing Up Christmas For Everyone

Who would have ever thought that the season on the calendar wherein the world considers the birth of Jesus Christ would have ever ended up being a rope with which Christians play a spiteful game of tug-of-war? If nothing else, Christmastime proves yet again that Christians have learned to fight each other over anything. While each is free to decide for themselves whether or not the modern modes of observing Christmas make sense to them or not, we do well to at least examine what Scripture says about the First Advent of Messiah. From an ancient prophesy, this Mavericks & Misfits episode traces the birth of Jesus all the way to His titles of divinity and His coming return to this planet. What began in Mary’s womb culminates in an eternal throne. This should become the focus of Christmas.

Episode 175: What God Is Offering You

There is a standing offer from Heaven to which not enough people say YES. If God offered to make us all millionaires, nearly everyone would say YES. If God offered to make us all beautiful and healthy, we would rush to sign up. Yet, God has permanently offered to make any child of His incredibly wise…and too many shrug, sigh, and walk away. This is the generation that needs to value wisdom more than gold, beauty, or health. There are a couple of verses in Psalm 119 that should grip us. They speak of being wiser than your enemies, your teachers, and those who are older than you. This does not come to the casual, and it seems that most people would say YES to wisdom until they learn what is required to obtain it and keep it. Listen today and find your own YES to God’s open offer to make you incredibly wise.

Episode 174: The Spirit of Offense at the End of the Age

When Jesus talked about the signs that will precede the Second coming and the end of the age, we are most familiar with the global wars He foretold, the earthquakes, and the famines. Many are unaware that He also spoke of people being deceived into offense, hatred, and falling away. In fact, Jesus taught that so many people will be offended that they will betray their Christian family along with their blood family. Today’s podcast seeks to provide a means by which we can progress unscathed by the spirit of offense and the defilement of bitterness in our hearts.

Episode 173:Why We Need A Five-Fold Comeback

Pastors cannot move a flock into breakthrough. Prophets cannot do it all. Evangelists are insufficient to finish the task. Apostles begin much, but usually aren’t equipped to finish the task alone. Teachers can tell us what, but rarely how or why or where. Do these statements offend you? They shouldn’t. God never intended the Kingdom mission to rest on one leader or even one type of leader. In these last days, we are seeing a clear resurgence of five-fold ministry being initiated and cultivated by God. Do all local churches need to explore this? Yes. Is your home church the exception to the rule? No. When we embrace God’s original design for Kingdom ministry…the Kingdom manifests. Today’s episode reveals the blessings of team ministry and also exposes the downfalls of churches who still prefer a one-man show.

Episode 172: When Do I Walk Away?

There is only one Savior…and it is not you. Many Christians are surprised – even shocked! – to learn that the Bible communicates clearly that there are times to sever ties with certain types of people in our lives. While we live with the awareness that we are forbidden to live with bitterness and resentment toward others, the Scriptures are equally clear that we are permitted (and at times we are even commanded) to draw boundaries that result in people no longer being allowed to interact with us. Today’s episode walks us through several passages of scripture that help us understand when it is time to evict toxic people from our day-to-day living and to entrust their futures to the Lord who has unlimited capacity to bear with them.

Episode 169: The Mind: Renewal & Removal

It is clear in Scripture that the world, the flesh, and the devil work in a concentrated effort to imprison people with deception. The difficult truth is that we do not rise above what we believe is true and prioritized. What we believe to be true owns us. While God has empowered us to defeat the enemies which seek to dominate our thinking, He expects us to personally and proactively enter into a strategy that secures the victory of the mind. This message equips us to know how to proactively protect our minds from deception. Once a believer masters these truths and the necessary disciplines that must accompany them, that same believer will know what it is to defeat demons, deception, and discouragement.