One of the most challenging dilemmas for Christians who strongly believe in God as our Healer is when the healing or miracle we are believing for has not yet arrived. Even more difficult is when the healing did not come and the person we prayed for passed away. For too long, Charismatic Christians have awkwardly avoided this issue of how we are to respond when healing has not come. Extreme responses like bitterness toward God or blaming others for not having enough faith are tragic. This episode of Truth Shots walks us through some considerations for believers in how they respond when healing has not yet come.

Most Christians understand the concept of Heavenly crowns and eternal rewards. But how many of us have ever sought understanding from the Bible about what those rewards actually are? From a famous parable of Jesus, we gain some insights about how Heavenly rewards might play out in eternity? There is also the possibility that the rewards we have earned thus far might not become ours in the end. Yes, we can lose our rewards by failing to finish well. This message reveals one of the most common ways believers can lose their rewards.

Can someone claim to be born again while habitually practicing sin? According to several extremely clear (And neglected!) passages of Scripture, the answer is a resounding NO. When God's seed—His very nature—dwells within us through the Holy Spirit, we cannot continue to live in perpetual, intentional sin. This isn't about perfection or never stumbling, but about the fundamental trajectory of our lives. Are we characterized by righteousness or by ongoing rebellion? The lists in these passages—sexual immorality, idolatry, drunkenness, greed, reviling—aren't meant to condemn us but to wake us up from a coma of deception. They function like spiritual pain receptors, alerting us to danger so we can change course. We are called to examine ourselves honestly: do we possess mere intellectual agreement with gospel facts, or has Jesus truly taken residence in our hearts, producing a new nature that cannot coexist with habitual sin? Eternity for so many professing Christians hangs in the balance and how they respond to these truths that lukewarm leaders avoid.

One of the clearest appointments mentioned in scripture is the day of reckoning which all Christians have with King Jesus. Individually, one by one, every child of God will stand before the gracious, merciful, and kind King who will then evaluate the eternal worth of the lives which we live don earth. Jesus promises reward for all who lived for Him! Interestingly, while salvation is equal and free, rewards are not. Salvation is freely given through faith in Christ, but rewards are all earned by the Christian. How we are living for Christ during this present life actually merits or forfeits eternal reward. This is incredible motivation for all Jesus-followers to live proactively for eternal things with pure, spiritual motivations. This message places before us that moment when we stand before the One who loves us most, and we then find out how much our lives mattered for His glory.

It is sometimes difficult for a Christian to wait upon the Lord’s timing. Deadlines approach, and God stands still. The window for a final decision is closing, and God exercises His right to remain silent. Danger is moving in, and it seems that the Father is busy with someone else helping out somewhere else. We have all had these crisis-moments of God making us wait when we are in no mood to do so. In the end, we are humbled and learn that you cannot hurry a King. This episode of Truth Shots unpacks a moment in Jesus’ life when his family was pressuring Him to act. His response empowers us to understand more about what it means to discern the timing of the Father and to crucify our panic instinct and internal impatience.

The vast majority of Christians live with an eager expectation of Jesus Christ returning to earth. This is our blessed hope. This event will begin the vindication of His holy name. Yet, Christians hold to different views concerning how and when the return of our King will take place. Many believe that Jesus will return and rapture the Church before the beginning of the Tribulation period. Because of this understanding, they do not live with much concern about what happens during the awful time period decried as the Great Tribulation. Their understanding births their expectation, and their expectation produces their preparation. But what if they are wrong? What if there is no rapture prior to the Tribulation? Because they expect to be gone, they have not prepared for what is coming. This message shares a deep concern that those who believe in a pre-trib rapture are not Biblically informed. Where does the Bible teach a secret catching away of the Church that immunizes the elect from the reign of the Antichrist? This message presents a biblical framework for a post-Triublaitonal rapture, and is filled with practical exhortations for believers at the end of the age to prepare for the trouble to come. In the end, we must remember the all-sufficient grace of God who knows how to preserve His people in times of warfare.

One of the clearest teachings in Scripture is the revelation that all true Christians will experience various levels and occurrences of suffering. Sadly, the modern expression of Christianity in America creates doctrines to deny this, presumes immunity from this, and takes offense when this arises in life. This episode of Truth Shots equips believers for their appointed times of suffering, explains why our suffering is permitted by God, and highlights the eternal benefits of our ability to endure suffering and emerge triumphant. Since we cannot avoid it, we must learn how to harness suffering as a follower of Christ.

The Church needs to get one thing straight and leave it settled forever: Jesus Christ plainly declared that nobody can predict the hour nor day of His return to Earth. Anybody that tries to do so is dishonoring Him. The sensationalized predictions of the date of the Second Coming, like the recent September 23rd rapture prediction, are not something Jesus signs off on. Yet…Jesus did say MUCH about the season surrounding His return. He also taught quite a bit about some precise things we should expect once that season begins to unfold. In this message, we take a look at what is going to be happening on earth just prior to the season in which Christ returns. Jesus connects this future season to one in the very distant past which caught humanity by surprise. Why does Jesus connect these two events? Because He does not want for the future generation to be unprepared like that past generation was. This message is a call to quit staring at the prophetic clocks and calendars and instead to start preparing our lives for His return - no matter how near or distant that may be.

Sometimes, in this hectic world that is our temporary home, we can easily lose sense of the fact that time is running out. Chronologically, we have less time today than we did yesterday. Beyond that, when we prophetically observe with discernment what is taking place globally, we can clearly see that the gap between today and the end of the age is rapidly narrowing. We are living in some of the final chapters of the book of this age. Wherever the Bible speaks plainly of the Second Coming of Christ, we find close by those verses other verses which place an urgent call on the Christian to get his/her life in line. We have many urgent callings from Heaven that we must not allow to go unanswered. This episode of Truth Shots presents four such callings from Romans Chapter 13 which, when answered by us, leave us prepared and eager for the return of our King. The alarm from Heaven is going off loudly. We dare not hit the snooze button.

The Second coming of Jesus Christ is the future event that all Christians long for. Apart from this drastic occasion, the Christian can never be truly satisfied to the fullest. We are blessed. We are empowered. We enjoy the gift of life and all that it contains. Yet, we are not perfectly content until the moment arrives when we see our King. This is the blessed hope of the Christian life, and it will not be denied us. Having said that, before Jesus returns, things will become very dark on planet earth. In this next section of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus prophesies some very dark storms which must arise before He returns. These events will shake the planet in ways that Jesus declared would be the worst days humanity has ever experienced. Why is it important that we understand these things? So we may be prepared in heart, mind, spirit and soul for them when they occur. Be sobered as we learn about the coming storms and how to be ready for them.

Gossip. Slander. Rumors, Whispers. Accusation. Most of us have been talked about before. We have felt the piercing of sharp tongues set to do us harm. In our Bible, a man named Shimei unleashes upon King David years of pent-up bitterness, anger and contempt. What will King David do - how will the man after God’s own heart respond when verbally, publicly attacked? From this moment in David’s life, we can gain both wisdom and empowerment from God when we find ourselves treated wrongly by others. Bitterness and resentment are poison to the soul. David’s response helps us to see a higher road to choose when we are attacked. This road is steep, so it is not easy; but it leads to a powerful place with God.

"Would it surprise you to know that the Jesus’ original disciples had questions about the end of the age? The ones who lived side-by-side with Jesus were startled one day when He made an alarming statement about what would happen in Jerusalem in a short time. This conversation led to them asking deeper questions about the full establishing of His Kingdom on the earth. The details Jesus shared with them mostly went over the heads. We, however, have the ability to examine what Jesus said and apply His answers in a way that makes it crystal clear that we are extremely close to the final fulfillment of what He shared nearly 2,000 years ago. While Matthew 24 is not all that the scriptures say about the end of the age, these words are certainly the strongest jumping-off point in this series of messages that will equip us to live as those who are properly discerning the days in which we are living."

Life can ravage people, and it usually does on some level at some time to all of us. God’s people are to become the heart, hands, and feet of Heaven, moving in toward those who lay by the wayside in their wounding. People expect the Christians to help. More importantly, so does the Father. In a famous parable from Jesus, we are confronted with the possibility of our religious coldness keeping us from the compassionate pouring out of oil in the wounds of those who have been mugged by life. We must make our minds up ahead of time that the oil we have been given is not just for our own anointing, but for the health and wholeness of the fallen ones.

In this message, Jeff Lyle challenges us to examine the often-overlooked virtue of deep, intentional patience in our spiritual lives. Through the lens of King Saul's story in 1 Samuel 13, we see how impatience can lead to catastrophic consequences, even costing us our God-given authority. Abraham & Sarah birthed an Ishmael because they couldn’t wait for God to ring Isaac to them. Beyond these examples, Jeff reminds us that the entire nation of Israel demanded a golden calf because they could not wait on Moses to come back from his meeting with God on the mountain. These examples serve as a stark reminder that God's timing is perfect, and our attempts to rush His plans can lead to disastrous outcomes. As we reflect on this, we're encouraged to ask ourselves: Are we truly waiting on the Lord, or are we trying to force our own agenda? The message urges us to cultivate patience as a fruit of the Spirit, recognizing that God's ways often require us to slow down, trust, and align ourselves with His timing rather than our own hasty desires.

Finishing your race well is far more important than beginning your race well. Many believers are strong out of the gate, they may be crushing it at the midway point of their faith-marathon, but many of these same people crash before the finish line. There was ancient king in Israel named Uzziah who was a person who began well but finished in disaster. This episode of Truth Shots will unpack what we can learn from his initially inspiring life. He did great things for God. But when Uzziah desired more than God offered him, he crossed a boundary from which he never returned. We must learn to never follow his example.

When we speak of an orphan-spirit we are speaking of a person who lives with sensitive wounds from previous loss. The orphan-spirit is not necessarily some kind of demon, but is more often a person who has a self-concept of worthlessness or inferiority because of rejection and/or relational trauma. This orphan-spirit is usually birthed in childhood, and is often connected with trauma stemming from painful rejection, abandonment, abuse, or frequent intense criticism. They have not yet fully found validation and worth in God, so they live with shame, fear, self-loathing, and hurt. The orphan-spirited person typically lives with hyper-sensitivity, overt insecurity, self-defensiveness, anger, self-centeredness, lack of trust, or pessimistic defeatism. The person with the orphan-spirit has not yet discovered who they are, and may look continually to the wrong sources to give them what was not instilled in them in formative years. This message points those living with the orphan-spirit to a Father who paid it all so that they might be adopted as His own children and, consequently, orphans no more. There is hope, freedom, and deliverance for any who live with an orphan spirit.

We live in some heavy and often depressing days. Threats of another World War, a struggling economy, impossible gas prices, racial strife and constant political hostility - this is the culture we awake in each day. If we are not careful, the nastiness on the outside can creep inside. We have to push back hard against fear, worry and the clouds of dread. In Matthew 6, we read the inspired words of Jesus who refused to permit us to give in to the season of gloom. His hunger for us to experience the presence, provision, and power of God was His offer in these verses. From his words, we learn how to fight back against the challenges outside of us so that they never finds its residence inside of us. It’s time to talk to your own soul about these teachings from Jesus and win the war with worry.

One’s elevation in the things of God will almost never rise above the level at which one regards the written Word of God. The Bible is alive. It is the primary source through which the Spirit matures us in our understanding of the Kingdom, and also in our personal relationship with Christ. Those who prioritize a commitment to the Scriptures will have great advantage against the corrupt culture, their own flesh, and the attacks from the demonic realm. God imparts His own heart to us through the Scriptures. Is it any wonder that Satan fights your commitment to remain a diligent student of the Bible? This Truth Shot episode motivates all of us to remain joyfully committed to ongoing pursuit of revelation from the Scriptures, viewing it as the key essential for consistently victorious Christian living.