Regaining Lost Ground

Shane Idleman: I wish God would speak loudly. There are probably three times in my life that I can remember where it was clear. It was like, what was that? They were all life-changing, pivotal moments: marriage, my calling, and buying the radio station. It was so clear. God can use those things, but be careful. As a Christian, it is easy to be careful when we say, "Lord, is this you?"

Narrator: Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear part one of this clarifying message titled, "What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do."

Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Today, Pastor Shane teaches us the importance of relying on God for everything, dismissing doubt, sin, and distraction. Learn a better way in life right now on Regaining Lost Ground. You can hear the whole message at Pastor Shane's YouTube and Rumble channels. Make sure to subscribe today. For more information, visit us online at westsidechristianfellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. Now, from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here is Pastor Shane Idleman.

Shane Idleman: The title is "What To Do When You Don't Know What To Do." Anybody struggle with that? Let's be honest. I'm raising my hand. We are in the book of Acts, chapter 12. Remember, the word of God grew and multiplied. Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry. These guys aren't yet pastors. They're not leading a church. God is just calling them to go out and fulfill their ministry. They also took with them John, whose surname was Mark. Back then, they would have different identifiers, like Jesus of Nazareth, to identify them with an area or their trade.

The word of God grew and multiplied. I just want to remind us this morning that you can't cancel God. The culture will try to cancel you, won't they? A few days ago, a friend of mine was going to boost the message I gave on Wednesday. He was going to boost it on a separate platform, and the ad manager sent him back a message saying if you do that, we will no longer allow you to boost on this platform. The initials are FB, if anybody's interested in what that means. They're trying to cancel and stop what God is doing. You can't cancel God. Right before this, the person who thought he could was eaten by worms.

God does not mess around. I'm having such a fresh look too at holiness. The holiness of God. Not out of obligation, but out of relationship. The deeper the intimacy, the deeper the holiness. They go together because the more holy you are, the more you can worship and express yourself and be passionate about God. I know it's hard for many to worship because of what they did last night. The key is to repent and let God restore your soul.

I remember hitting Schooners, the old location, on Saturday nights and then coming to church Sunday mornings. I was on the back row, convicted as could be. I didn't like the worship. Give me some George Strait right now. I need some country. "I was drunk the day my mama got out of prison." There was a fight. I couldn't worship because I was already worshipping the world. There was a conflict in my soul. I cannot serve two masters. That's why many of you are affected or not affected by worship on Sunday, because of what you're feeding yourself all week. It's hard to come in and glorify God when you've been feeding on carnal desires and living a lukewarm lifestyle.

All of us are in ministry. They fulfilled their ministry. When you leave here, you're in ministry. Where you go shop, where you go eat later. Does your waitress need prayer? Does the person in front of you in line need their groceries paid for? It's hard to even read the word without weeping these days. It's incredible. My heart broke this week. I went to Valencia and just walked around the mall to get some steps in. I noticed the Spanish janitorial lady. Nobody ever talked to her. She was just cleaning and cleaning. People were just walking by her, throwing down their paper, with no acknowledgment. God help us. Ask how they're doing. Thank you. We're in ministry. We are to bring the light.

Then we switch to Acts 13. Now in the church that was in Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers. Always remember God uses the lowly. A lot of people get excited about all these so-called prophets all over the internet. I would be very leery. God may use somebody, and then they get a little notoriety and they think every voice, every prompting is from God. How wrong are they half the time? It's sad. A true person used prophetically is going to be often lowly and humble. Those prophetic voices involve a nearness to God and a distance from the world. It's not all about them and building a platform. Be careful who you listen to.

Go to my YouTube channel and listen to some of Brian Long's sermons he preached here five or six years ago. He was a cattle rancher in Oklahoma. Talk about the anointing of God on the messages. That's who God uses. He will elevate and promote, but that person better stay close to the ground, close to the Shepherd. I'm not saying there are not authentic, reliable voices out there. Of course there are. But be careful because many people are following people who are not really following God closely.

In the church, there were prophets and teachers. Obviously, there's a distinction here. A teacher is edifying the people, encouraging them, giving them guidelines. That's what a teacher does. It's a wonderful thing. How many of us thank God for teachers? I grew up with many good teachers that built that foundation. But then you need the Ravenhills and the Tozers and the Wilkersons to light the fire of that. That's the prophetic voice that's bold. It's in your face. It's meant to wake up the church.

That's actually why they call it the five-fold ministry. He has given apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists. It's a beautiful thing. We have people here whose heart's for evangelism. People call me that all the time. We need elders that are evangelists, pastors, and teachers. You see all these roles in a healthy church. An apostle is not some big title. It's a person who is sent. That's what it means. Then you have the prophetic voices, the teachers, the pastoring. It's a perfect picture of what the church should be. Because what do you have if you just have prophecy? We need some teaching. You need apostles to be sent out. You need evangelists.

The church had all of these things. It's interesting these prophets and teachers had no social media followers. A strong following rarely equals strong faith. Now, there are people out there in the social media world who have lots of followers and their faith is strong. I'm not saying that, but we automatically equate a million followers with that person being in tune with God. Not necessarily. I'm finding just the opposite. God grows people's ministry, but they've got to stay low. The more God grows, you've got to go low. No flesh should glory in His presence. Don't take credit for what God is doing.

That breath you just breathed is a gift from God. You can say thank you for the gift God's given me to bless others. You can't explain humility and lowliness and being used by God unless you're living close to the Father. It's hard to explain that because you hear it, but if you're not living it, you begin to make excuses. "God is using me." Just look at the fruit. Don't just look at the fruit. The fruit never justifies the means. Think how foolish this is. A person's looking at porn but says, "At least I'm leading people who are also looking because of the fruit." That's a bogus statement. Sometimes it's a good statement. Look at what God is doing. Look at the fruit. If the fruit lines up with the character, it can be a good thing. But be careful when we use "look at the fruit" to excuse poor character.

As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, we cannot get away from that word. They ministered to the Lord and fasted. This is interesting. Many times, and I actually got convicted on this as well, I would fast in isolation because you don't feel good and you're grumpy and you're hungry. There are times to seek the Lord, but they actually ministered as they fasted. I believe that's why Jesus said when you fast, don't look like you are. Ministering and telling your stomach to shut up is a powerful combination.

Can you imagine going into the hospital homes? The only reason you have to go get something is addiction. It really is an addiction to chemicals. You can tell the body "no." Stop dominating me. Begin to serve others. That's what they did as they ministered to the Lord and fasted.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. The Holy Spirit said. It's a touchy subject. It doesn't need to be if it's properly vetted through Scripture, but the Holy Spirit can speak to His people. How and to what degree? That would probably take a sermon series to look at different verses. How often? I want to be careful here because I do not want to minimize the power of the Spirit. I do not want to minimize people used of God with the Spirit. But sometimes people get carried away. Not every prompting is from the Holy Spirit.

"Lord, do you want me to turn left at the green light or right? Do you want me to go to church?" I don't think it works that way because you can be misled pretty easily with your own voices. I have been. I thought it was God. What we see in Scripture is this leading of the Spirit. Of course, there's daily communion, daily communication, and daily worship. I just want to be careful on the "God told me ten times today." Take that to the Lord. A lot of those people that I know are unstable financially or relationally. There's always drama. If God's talking to you so much, why is there so much drama?

They often don't apply the word as much. I've been there. "Lord, is that you?" It's a hard balance to find. Make sure it's the Holy Spirit and not ulterior motives because we can make things happen. We have to be careful. The Holy Spirit said, "Separate to me Paul and Barnabas." Did you hear that? Probably not. But he did tell them, "Now separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

The Holy Spirit said. The leading probably was internal and not audible. Scripture and my own life suggest this. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says we don't use our experiences to interpret Scripture; we use Scripture to interpret our experiences. However, there is an internal witness of the Holy Spirit. Often, I've seen where God has confirmed it in spouses who have sought the Lord and they prayed and fasted. They came back with the same internal witness. There could be confirmation. Maybe somebody came and prophetically said, "Hey, God wants to separate Barnabas and Saul."

I've been sensing that. I've been praying. God's really put that in my heart. What about you, Saul? The same thing. So there can be an internal witness. I wish God would speak loudly. Now, there are probably three times in my life that I can remember where it was clear. They were all life-changing, pivotal moments in my life: marriage, my calling, and buying the radio station. It was so clear. God can use those things, but be careful. As a believer, just take that to the Lord.

You can be fearful. "I don't have peace. I know God's wanting me to do this, but I'm fearful of it." That's different because you know God wants you to do it, but you don't want to. That's a lot different than "I just don't feel good about this, Lord."

The voice you hear depends on what you pursue. The loudest voice in your mind is what you pursue. That's why you'll hear those terms often, "led of the Spirit." Be careful if you're living like hell and think you're led of the Spirit all the time. Ultimately, being led of the Spirit is lined up with God's word. It is lined up with what He wants you to do for Him, not you. It's an internal witness. There should be fear and trepidation. "Lord, are you leading me in this area?"

The voice depends on what you pursue. What I hear about the word this morning is a result of the whole week. This message right now is not necessarily being preached today. I'm telling you, but it's been preached all week in my heart. How I live, the word of God coming alive, praying over it. You internalize it. That's why A.W. Tozer said who a man is all week is who he is when he steps up to the pulpit. Your lifestyle preaches. The internal witness of the Spirit that hits your heart is coming from what God has been doing in my heart all week. Led of the Spirit. Thank God he works through imperfect vessels.

Throughout the Bible, very few times was it audible. Often it's an internal witness accompanied by peace and certainty. When you don't have peace, take that to the Lord. You can be fearful. "I don't have peace. I know God's wanting me to do this, but I'm fearful of it." That's different.

Narrator: You've been listening to Regaining Lost Ground with Pastor Shane Idleman. You can find more information at westsidechristianfellowship.org. That's westsidechristianfellowship.org. For all the latest on what God is doing with His ministry here, please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California. Thank you again for listening to today's message of Regaining Lost Ground, where we are reminded daily: times change, truth does not.