Regaining Lost Ground

Pastor Shane Idleman: To the believer, when we repent from something, what follows? Refreshment. Refreshment. That's why God said to one of the prophets—I think it was Amos—"Break up your fallow ground. Break up your fallow ground for it's time to seek the Lord and I will rain down righteousness on my people."

Repentance anytime. "Lord, I've been doing this and I've been holding this in. I'm letting this go. I repent." Here come the rains of refreshment. "I've been harboring this sin, unrepentant sin. I've been struggling with this. Lord, I want to let it go." Repentance, here comes the refreshment. Repentance always brings in the refreshment.

Guest (Male): 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 the second part of this fresh message titled "How to be Spiritually Refreshed."

1 Peter 2:23-24 tells us, "And while being abusively insulted, Jesus did not insult in return; while suffering, He did not threaten, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously. And He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds we are healed."

Today, Pastor Shane gives us the truth of God's living word in this refreshing message of hope. Listen now. 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. And now from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idleman.

Pastor Shane Idleman: And that's why we're so passionate through faith in His name. There's no other name that can save. Buddha, Allah, Hare Krishna, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Eddie Mary—whatever—just enlightenment, Buddha, nothing. Nothing can save. No salvation outside of Jesus Christ. The Bible says He's the only way, the only truth, the only life. Nobody comes to the Father except through Him.

When you talk to people, be careful because they're going to say, "That's pretty narrow. You're pretty arrogant. That's pretty narrow." Well, two plus two equals four is pretty narrow. Gravity's not really negotiable. There are certain things that are set in stone. They're truth. I thank God for the truth, don't you? Thank God for the truth that is set in stone. So the worst thing in human history, Christ on the cross, became the best thing in human history.

I want to pause here for a minute because it's important. You can know the name but not have faith in the name. Are you aware of that? You can know the name of Jesus but not have faith in the name of Jesus. There's a verse that even today I read it and I'm like, man, I remember 25 years ago highlighting that thing. It said even the demons believe.

How many of you did not know that? It says even the demons believe. Wait a minute, why aren't they saved? Because they have head knowledge. They know there's a God. They know Jesus, but they're in rebellion against Him. Their heart is not engaged.

I love the rest of the verse: "Even the demons believe and tremble." What can you do with Jesus? What can the demons do? Satan and Jesus are not equal opposing forces here. The devil is an arch-enemy, of course, but he sits underneath God's sovereignty.

1 John 2:4: "He who says, 'I know Him'—those who say, 'I know Jesus'—this is going to be a bit of a rude awakening for some people, maybe. Those who say, 'I know Jesus' but if you don't keep His commandments, you're a liar." I didn't say it. If you don't keep His commandments, you're a liar and the truth is not in you.

Here's why that's so important. We're not saying it in a spirit of arrogance. We're saying it in a spirit of challenging the listener, challenging the person. Wait a minute, if I don't keep His commandments, man, I messed up yesterday. Me too.

The key is in the word "keep." What does the word "keep" mean? It actually comes from a word that talks about a ship being navigated by the captain who keeps the course. So he says, "We're going from New York to China." I don't know, help me out here. What's across from New York? China? I don't know. Come on, guys, you know. Okay, we're going.

But do you think he does a straight line the whole time? What happens? The wind knocked me off and I kind of—but I'm getting back on. Now not too far this way and I blew it. The devil hit me with a right punch and I fell yesterday. I got so angry and I let my flesh come out. But you get back up and you keep the course.

The person who knows Jesus but says, "I don't care. I don't care. I'm going to continue in my sin. I love my sin. I'm actually planning my sin tonight. Ha ha, what do you think of that?" I don't think anything of it. That's between you and God. They're not keeping the course.

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, we did all these things in Your name.' He'll say, 'Depart from Me. I don't know you. Those who only do the will of the Father enter the kingdom of heaven.'" It's those who have a desire for the word, a passion for the word. They've repented and, come hell or high water, they're following Christ.

They might get there with a limp. Ever been there? They might be missing a leg. But they're going through life bruised and battered and broken. They might have even lost a child. They might have even been a failure in certain areas. But they're keeping that course and they're going to finish strong. Those who keep the course, those who persevere till the end shall be saved.

But this is another important point that we can learn: here's how you can increase spiritual fervor and desire. Speak the truth in love. I can imagine Peter saying, "You know what? There's a big group of people here. I'm not going to upset this crowd at all." What did he do? He did the complete opposite. He spoke the truth.

What I have found is cowardliness is contagious, but so is boldness. If I know God wants me to say something and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, that's not going to go over well. I don't think so. Some big tithers are here. I've got some people from the other political party here. I better not say that. Oh, some people brought their friends who are Mormons. I better not say that."

And you allow the opinions of men and the fear of men to override what God has called you to do. When you do that, you will quench and grieve the Spirit. I truly believe that's the problem with many churches across our nation. Boy, if we could get that boldness back in the pulpit. Could you imagine? Calling people to repentance, calling sinners to their Savior with the boldness of the Spirit.

So what happens is once you speak the truth—it's interesting, we're going to keep reading I think chapter four maybe or so—it says and Peter, filled with the Spirit, spoke boldly. And Paul, filled with—and filled with the Spirit. Anytime you see that, the characteristic that follows is always boldness.

We think of "filled with the Spirit" means you're gentle and singing. That's more New Age. The person who's worshipping and filled with the Spirit but you're not bold, you're not confronting, you're not talking to anybody—I don't know. Check yourself.

Because as a filling—now when you're filled with the Spirit, that boldness comes out. And boldness leads to the filling of the Spirit. Isn't that interesting? When you're filled, you're bold. And if you walk in that fullness, you will continue walking in the filling of the Spirit. That's why Paul said "be filled with the Spirit." Don't be drunk as dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

So that boldness is so important. Ephesians 4: "Speaking the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love." So when we speak the truth in love, people grow up in all things. Isn't that cool? Well, if they listen. Or if you listen, if I listen. Whoever's speaking the truth, if they listen and grow from it, they actually mature.

I've talked about that a lot, so I'm not going to do it this morning. But when people come to us and they speak the truth in love, if we embrace it, we grow from it. If we don't embrace it and we push against it, we hold on in the offense. We don't grow from that. We stay stuck in that mode and it really stifles the work of the Holy Spirit.

So speak the truth in love. Loudly and publicly they rejected Christ, and loudly and publicly Peter rebuked them. They rejected, didn't they? They had no problem in front of Pilate raising their voice. "Away with this man! Give us Barabbas!" So Peter said, "Okay, hotshot, I'm going to equally rebuke you loudly and publicly."

But let me tell you just a quick helper here on speaking the truth in love. By the way, I have not mastered this. So what I'm about to tell you applies to me too. We have to be very careful when we do this because it must come from a heart of brokenness and humility, not a heart of anger. Because then it's not boldness, it's arrogance, and then it's ineffective.

So that's why Jesus said confront your brother but first—don't you love this? I wish He said remove the speck from your eye and then you can go get the plank out of your brother's eye. Yeah, that plank. Oh my goodness. Wow, he's got a lot to work on. Doesn't say that, does it?

First remove the plank out of my eye and then I can see clearly to help my brother in this area. Acts 3:17-18. So what have we covered so far? Number one, make sure you're looking for opportunities to share. Number two, speak the truth in love. Number three—oh boy, this is going to be hard for you Type A truth-telling people like me.

"Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance." Peter, man, you had them. You're slamming them! And now you just—now you bring in some grace. Oh, why didn't you just keep going at them? But it's what we call in the business world the sandwich approach. How many of you have heard of that?

Unfortunately, I'm not proud of it, but I had to fire lots of people in my younger years—well over 200. And you would always get them in: "Hey, you've been a great asset to the company and I know your attitude's great and we love you, but your numbers aren't there and I'm going to have to let you go. I don't want to, but we're going to have to let you go."

And then you build them back up: "But hey, I'm going to help you. I'll give you a reference. You need anything?" And they leave and they're happy. You sandwiched it versus just out the door. And so that's what he's doing here. He drilled them!

Can you imagine saying, "You put Jesus on the cross, the Messiah you've been waiting for? You put Him on the cross." But he said, "I know you did it in ignorance, so did the leaders. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ would suffer, He has fulfilled." Fulfillment.

So the third way to really get encouraged spiritually and get refreshed is to season your words with grace. Season your words with grace. I know in my own case, when I go through seasons of having a hard heart, hard hearts are never refreshed; they're always drained.

Have you noticed that? Man, when you're hard, you're hard. Your heart is hard. You're just always drained. You're walking around Mr. Grumpy, Mr. Pharisee, Mrs. Pharisee. You're just always drained because the hard hearts are never refreshed. Because usually there's a lot of pride there and God has got to break us of that.

So we have to season our words with grace. Colossians 4:6: "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every person." So every dialogue, every conversation, even preaching, I've got to make sure I have some grace on there.

And that's why you'll notice sometimes when it's a hard message, we still want to build people up. We want to strengthen them. We want to season the words with grace. You can say some hard things and say, "I know it's difficult. I've been there." But you know when you miss that grace? It's bad, isn't it?

It's like, man, you just let them have it. Usually, it's a reaction, a reaction to something versus a response. Season the words with grace. And when you start to do that, the refreshing spirit, refreshment comes spiritually speaking.

You know, you're ready to say something, your mouth wants to say it, but, "Lord, help me. Thank You, God. If it wasn't for Your grace, there go I. I know they're in a bad spot." And you season your words with grace. And that brings refreshment.

Listen, I've heard sermons exactly like I'm preaching from guys that are as hard as concrete. We can say the same thing, but when you season it with grace, that's where the Holy Spirit comes in and grips the heart because they say, "That guy loves me. I don't like what he said."

And that's why I often quote Leonard Ravenhill. He said, "You must weep before you whip." You must weep before God over your message and over your word before you bring out the hammer of the Spirit.

Let me take a quick side note here because this is important. We've been talking about spiritual disciplines, basically: speaking the truth, go out and serve, season words with grace. Spiritual disciplines actually refresh us. Does everyone know what those are?

Spiritual disciplines are when we talk about finding that time with the Lord, the prayer closet, or reading the word, worshipping, praying, walking in holiness, turning from sin. When you begin to do these spiritual disciplines, the byproduct is refreshment. Anytime you obey God, eventually you'll be refreshed.

How many of you understand that? Well, if you don't understand it, how many of you understand this? Anytime you're in disobedience, it's not fun, is it? When you're in disobedience, there are no times of refreshing.

And the reason I highlight things like this is I don't want people to stay there. They can stay there. I mean, it's bad enough for a day or two, but weeks or months or years because they don't want to obey God. What's the number one reason why I do not want to obey God? Pride. Pride. My way. I want my way.

And that's why Paul said, "I discipline my body. I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection." Why is discipline so important? Do you want me to tell you why discipline is so important? Spiritual disciplines. I'm going to read the word even if I don't feel like it. I'm going to pray even when I don't feel like it. Because it builds spiritual muscle.

If you're not disciplining your body, your body is disciplining you. Who's in control? And that's why I've said before, God often doesn't give us overcoming life; He gives us life as we overcome. I first heard this in devotional. I'm like, "I'm not sure I believe that." Then the more I thought about it, I'm like, "You know what? That's a good point."

Because one way is like, "Lord, You do it." And God is saying, "No, you do it and I'll give you grace as you overcome." You walk out that discipline. Now, sometimes, of course, this isn't applicable to everything. Sometimes God gives us that grace, He gives us that overcoming life, and then we can move into what we need to do.

But many times, as I move into what I'm called to do, here comes the overcoming life. Here comes the passion and presence of the Holy Spirit. So choose your words and responses carefully, especially as we're talking about seasoning words with grace. Harness your anger and control your emotions. Be temperate in all things and pursue righteousness while avoiding laziness.

And here's an important note: the word of God energizes you when you read it and when you obey it. I just said that, but I want to reinforce this. It actually energizes you spiritually. How many of you get down reading the news or listening to the news?

You go insane if that's all you had. That's why you can see the world—what's all these shooters, all this? What's going on? Because they have no God in their life. But when you read the word and you open up the Psalms and God begins to speak to you through His word and you remember, "Oh, God is awesome. God is bad."

God told Job, "Where were you when I created the heavens? When I told the Atlantic and the Pacific to go no further? Where were you when I did this? Where were you? What is this counsel that darkens words?" And you realize God is awesome. I'm fired up again. And so obeying and reading the word of God can energize you.

But let me tell you an important tip: do not focus on defeating sin; focus on seeking God. Because if I'm focused on defeating sin—obviously, that needs to be a part of your focus—but if that's my focus—I've got to do good, I've got to walk on this line, I can't do this, I've got to defeat it, I don't want it to overtake—and your focus is on the wrong things. It becomes works and performance-based, doesn't it? "I'm performing very well today." In comes the enemy.

So the focus has to be on seeking God. And of course, as we seek God, you do what pleases Him and what builds your relationship with the Lord. It's so important. Then Acts 3:19, we finally get to it. So here's what Peter did and the final point.

He spoke pretty rough to them, pretty direct, but then he encouraged them, "Hey, but you did it in ignorance." And now he offers the solution. So here's where that famous verse comes in. That's the context. He's got this whole audience in front of him and he says, "Repent. You killed Jesus. You have no covering for your sin. Repent and you'll be converted and all of your sins will be blotted out and times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord."

And that context is a sinner coming into salvation, experiencing the release and the freedom of that load being lifted, which leads to the final point: repentance. Repentance rains refreshment. That's why I love this word "repentance."

The sinner, of course, the person who doesn't know God, they repent and they are spiritually reborn before they become spiritually refreshed. They're reborn. But this can also apply to the believer. When we repent from something, what follows? Refreshment. Refreshment.

That's why God said to one of the prophets—I think it was Amos—"Break up your fallow ground. Break up your fallow ground for it's time to seek the Lord and I will rain down righteousness on my people." Repentance anytime. "Lord, I've been doing this and I've been holding this in. I'm letting this go. I repent." Here come the rains of refreshment.

"I've been harboring this sin, unrepentant sin. I've been struggling with this. Lord, I want to let it go." Repentance, here comes the refreshment. Repentance always brings in the refreshment. Like I said, it's salvation for the sinner and it's refreshment for the saint.

In case you're curious what this word means, biblical repentance involves turning from sin and turning to God. It's a condition of the heart. So what it is, a person is in sin, they're living in sin—a good indication of this is they don't like what I've been saying, so that's a good indication—but they're living in sin, they want to continue it.

Here's this guy calling it out, and they have a moment like, "You know what? I don't know God. That makes sense. I'm changing my mind about how I live and how I view sin and how I view Jesus and how I view God. I'm repenting. I'm changing my mind." And instead of going away from the cross, what do I do now? Go to the cross. I repent. That's actually what it means. It means to change your mind.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Regaining Lost Ground with Pastor Shane Idleman. You can find more information at westsidechristianfellowship.org. That's westsidechristianfellowship.org. And 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. Regaining Lost Ground is sponsored by the generous supporters of the ministries of Westside Christian Fellowship.