Episode 200: Turn Up Your Volume

Celebrating 200 episodes of Mavericks & Misfits, Jeff goes for the jugular in this episode. Without apology, the listener will be called into a radical commitment to Word & Spirit, which was the foundational purpose of the M&M podcast. If there was ever a time to refuse to settle for mediocrity as a follower of Jesus, it is now. In this episode, Jeff challenges both evangelicals and charismatics to learn from one another and to embrace a passionate commitment to Word & Spirit. This message serves as a rekindling of the original Mavericks & Misfits flame in Episode 200.

Episode 199: Knowing Your Calling

Most Christians sincerely want to know what their life-purpose is. The American Dream is not satisfying for the Spirit-filled believer. We know we are here for more than success, pleasure, money, and comfort. Yet not all believers have discerned their purpose from God. Today’s episode supplies three components for what it means to discern and live out God’s call upon our individual lives. There is plenty of substance supplied in this episode regarding God’s assigning, defining, and refining of His call on our lives. How do receive the initial call and steward it throughout the various seasons in our lifetime? Jeff shares some of his own story along with the testimony of Amy, his bride, as he helps the listener consider their own calling from God.

Episode 198: Receiving What God Is Releasing

It may surprise you to learn that many followers of Jesus do not live with an actual awareness of who they are in Him. When we are foggy about this key piece of what it means to be God’s child, then there arises a skewing of so much of our lives. This podcast unpacks three elements that we need to become proactive in if we are to be who God desires us to be, and to do what God has purposed us to do. These three components are, Identity, Activity, and Trajectory. This episode of Mavericks and Misfits and the one that will be released after it will help you to discern your calling/assignment and to proactively live it out in a manner that never becomes attached from your identity.

Episode 197: The Silence of God

One of the greatest challenges for believers occurs when we find ourselves in a season where we cannot hear God’s voice. We read His written Word, and we know He speaks there, but Jesus did not merely say we would have His book - Jesus said that His sheep would hear His voice. We pray and it seems that God does not respond. We plead for answers, and they do not come. We feel we have endured and waited long enough, but Heaven’s silence causes our despair. We begin to believe that nobody else has ever gone through the silence of God and made it out whole. What is the Christian to do in seasons of God’s silence? Today’s podcast will help us see that this experience is common among Christians and that there a few simple instructions available to us when we are waiting for God to speak.

Episode 196: Ignorance & Impotence in the Church

The first Christians operated with two primary forces in the Church: truth and power. Apostolic doctrine (truth) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (power) characterized all that the Church was and did in those early years. Somewhere along the line, the marriage of these two essentials experienced a divorce. The expression of the Church became one or the other, but no longer both. We need a remarriage to occur in the present day. This episode focuses on the urgent need for a recapturing of the truth of the Word of God. How do you know that what you believe is valid? Are you taking someone else’s word for it? That would be VERY risky. You may be surprised to learn from Scripture that the people who join with the Antichrist at the end of the age had one thing in common: they did not know nor love God’s truth. Listen carefully and consider the offer in today’s episode to join others in pursuing a trajectory to grow in learning and wielding God’s truth so that you live as one who is deception-proof.

Episode 195: What It Takes to Endure

When a Mavericks & Misfits listener reached out via email and confessed her desire to quit everything in her life, Jeff felt like he was supposed to honor her request to dedicate an episode to the topic of enduring rather than quitting. In this episode, Jeff shares a handful of commitments, disciplines, and values that every believer should embrace in order to continue in the things which God has asked of them. Encouragingly, there is also permission and guidance in how to say NO to other people’s expectations of you that are not consistent with God’s leadership in your life. This episode is filled with practical wisdom and guidance that helps us finish strong.

Episode 194: Knowing What Season You Are In

As we mature in the faith, we gain the ability to discern the type of season we are in as we follow Jesus. Not every season is the same, therefore there are differing challenges, opportunities, and expectations which God releases in each season. In this episode Jeff Lyle unpacks six common seasons in the life of a believer and addresses how we can go deeper with the Lord in each of them. If we fail to discern the season, we will find it difficult to know and cooperate with God’s purposes in that season. When we understand our present season, we are better equipped to receive all that the Father has awaiting us there.

Episode 193: Confronting the Religious Spirit

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 Mavericks & Misfits 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.

Episode 192: Ambition: Good or Bad?

If God were to ever promote you above and beyond your character, it would end up crushing you. In a generation wherein believers of all ages are clamoring for recognition and success in the Kingdom, we are in an hour which desperately needs a reset. Your life and ministry cannot be about your calling, your gift, your anointing, or your influence. Superstar Christianity is flawed and fragile, yet it seems to be presented as the measurable goal for so many Christians. From John the Baptist’s life we can learn what it means to submit our lives, callings, anointings, giftings, and plans to God for His glory. This episode contains questions and answers that we cannot afford to ignore any longer.

Episode 191: To Fight Or Not To Fight

Sometimes the Bible instructs us to stand down and refuse to lift a hand against an enemy. At other times, we see clearly in Scripture that God expects us to proactively defeat and drive out our enemies. When it comes to conflicts between Christians, how are we to know which is the right approach to warfare? This episode of Mavericks & misfits draws from Jeff Lyle’s personal and recent experiences of heavy conflict with other believers. Using Scripture, we find that we must cultivate intimacy with God ahead of the fight prior to gaining discernment from God about the fight. We all have battles with others, and this episode will help you slow down and receive God’s instructions for your present or next battle.