Regaining Lost Ground

Guest (Male): They gave up the dead and they were judged each one of them according to what they had done and then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And if anybody's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Guest (Male): This brings it home. If there's that conviction you have in your heart that you don't know God, don't leave it there. Conviction is a gift. Conviction is a wonderful gift. It's actually probably the best way to be led of the Spirit, led of God, led to know that conviction says I need to listen to that call of salvation.

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 and final part of this truth-telling message titled, "How to Hear the Spirit".

A.W. Tozer once said, "When a person yielding to God and believing the truth of God is filled with the Spirit of God, even his faintest whisper will be worship." Today, join Pastor Shane as he teaches how we may be more obedient to the Lord by learning how we may hear the Spirit of God living in us, here on Regaining Lost Ground.

Pastor Shane Idleman: And that's how these dreams and visions will work. It's sometimes a confirmation because I don't know about you, but sometimes you need a confirmation. Anybody ever need confirmation on things? That's what God does. So that's probably what it means, led of the Spirit, heard of the Spirit, told the Spirit is internal because you know that leading sometimes.

And the closer you are to the Lord, the more "my sheep hear my voice, a stranger they will not follow." Are you following the Shepherd or are you following TikTok, Instagram, YouTube? And that's what's influencing you. Then that's how you'll be led astray more often than not is the wrong voice.

I saw something I wanted to share for you, share with you that is a little humorous and it's a good time to interject it. But I saw on social media of all places, "Do I need the Holy Spirit to go to heaven?" And underneath it said, "Bro, I need the Holy Spirit to go to Walmart." Do you guys get that? Like, yeah, amen.

And so the Holy Spirit is so active in all of our lives. It's not an it. It's not a force. The Bible says that we have one God. We worship one God, but He reveals Himself—and this is all scripture—He reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So theologians call it one God, three persons of the Godhead. How that works, good luck.

I've spent 26 years trying to wrap my mind around it and I can't. All I know is the Bible says, "Let us make man in our image." And the Bible will use the word El, E-L, which is God in singular. And then Ella, E-L-L-A, I believe, and that's plural. But then He often goes by Elohim. Ever heard that? What does that mean? Plural, Elohim.

Jesus was baptized, the Father spoke, the Holy Spirit descended. Let's leave it at that. Three persons of one God. "Hear, O Israel, your Lord God is one." And it could be the Holy Spirit is the helper, that aspect of God that helps us and comes alongside. That's what the word means, come alongside of us. And it's a Greek word you can remember every time you drive by Paraclete High School. Paracletos, I think it is. It's a comforter that comes alongside, an advocate. And that's the role of the Holy Spirit.

But let me, before we get into, I've got 10 steps that we're not going to get to. That's why we're going to come back next Sunday, right? Okay. But let me—I've got to set the groundwork because this topic is so important. I didn't want to rush through it. Number one: we must be careful of our own leadings. Do you know you have your own leadings? We want to do what's—don't you want to do what's comfortable?

So that's why our own leadings sometimes, because we want what's comfortable. Maybe what will promote you sooner. And we've got to be careful of all that stuff. "Lord, is this me leading you, or you leading me?" I'm glad I thought of this. I don't have—here's the slide. Can you guys see it? I just wrote it down this morning during morning worship.

When it has to do with my leading or the Holy Spirit's leading, here's the bottom line, guys. This will be really helpful. I heard from people at the first service about this that they didn't realize it and they're so glad that they realize this because we think that being led of the Holy Spirit is kind of like walking on clouds or ecstasy, or it's "this is fun" and being led of the Spirit, and life is easy, life is joyful, and this is just great, man, I love it. No, being led of the Spirit actually is hard.

Why is it hard? Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So you're basically doing what your flesh doesn't want you to do. Anybody have a hard time with that? Just try fasting tomorrow. Eating nothing, just drinking water, and see how much your flesh argues. Right? And that's what walking in the Spirit is. It's making choices that are hard but right. That's why it's challenging. So if we view it as, "Hey, this is difficult, this is challenging," it will help you get through it a lot easier.

So here's a couple areas where it's harder: you must be the better person. This is a tough one for me and for many of you. You know you didn't do anything wrong, but you have to be the better person. You have to reach out, you have to focus on unity, you have to fix the issue, you have to apologize even maybe though you didn't do anything. Being led of the Spirit—that's hard, isn't it? Like, "I don't want to. That's up to them. They need to come to me. I didn't do anything wrong."

So led of the Spirit is very hard in relationships. What about lifestyle changes? Is the Holy Spirit convicting anybody of lifestyle changes? I'll wait. Oh yeah. That's probably the number one thing to change in our life, to make a difference in our lifestyle. And it's hard. We don't want to do that. We have certain maybe addictions, cravings, and the Lord's convicting us, but it's hard to do that.

So being led of the Spirit, here's what happens: it's hard, but the joy and peace follow. We want the joy and peace before we make the right decision. But the joy and peace will follow. For example, getting out of a hard relationship. Anybody been there? Too many of you. Okay, lots of hands go up. But it was hard, wasn't it? It was really hard. And so just to encourage you, being led of the Spirit doesn't often mean it's easy. It means you have to do hard things, really hard things. That's the Christian faith.

What about this one? He has already spoken, we just don't want to do it. Anybody been there? This will be for next Sunday, but I wrote it down yesterday. Answers we don't like, we act like we didn't hear. Ever been there? You know that answer, and like, "Nope, I don't like that answer. I don't like that answer."

And here's what you do: you keep praying for confirmation about what you already know. "Lord, please show me, give me some confirmation, give me a sign." And you already know what to do. You've got to start there. To be led of God—God doesn't play games. It's not Let's Make a Deal. You guys remember Let's Make a Deal on TV? God's not saying Let's Make a Deal. He's saying, "This is the deal."

And it will hold you back. I've been held back before because I didn't want to listen. And we think, "Oh, I don't want to deal with that, Lord." He says, "No, go back and deal with that. Go back and deal with that first." Because without dealing with that, it's called disobedience. And disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft. The Bible says that in the Old Testament; I believe it's still for the New. Disobedience is like the sin of witchcraft.

Saul was told to annihilate King Agag, I believe it was the name was, and he didn't annihilate him. He kept a lot of the sheep and things and he didn't listen to God. And there's another time he went and he did sacrifice because he didn't want to wait for Samuel anymore. And Samuel said, "God does not hearken"—the King James depending what you're reading—"God does not hearken or accept sacrifice when there's disobedience." He says that the sin of disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft.

And if you get into what that is, it's divination, it's not trusting God, it's following familiar spirits and being led astray by a different influence. That's the same. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. So if there's area—guys, I don't want to maximize this and blow you out of the water and have you leaving here depressed, but I also don't want to minimize the power of listening and obeying that still small voice.

And there's so many things in this room. We could stay here the rest of the morning. Some of you need to give up relationships that are hurting you. Some of you need to give up a computer that's hurting you, or a phone, or an addiction. God's wanting you to give up something that's got control of you. And there's certain things God's showing us, and what might be for you might not be for me, and vice versa.

And as soon as you listen to that, there's freedom, and there's peace, and there's joy. And you feel like a release that's come up. I mean, I've had people in there justify marijuana, alcohol, whiskey at night because they need to relax. And I know God's convicting me about this, and even overeating and their doctor says they're going to get diabetes. Guys, take control of your health again. "I know, but it's..." And they're not listening to the still small voice of the Spirit.

He leads us in all areas, not just spiritual things. I thank God He's led me in physical things just as much as spiritual things because the physical and the spiritual are interwoven. When I take care of things physically, I often feel better spiritually, and that discipline flows over into spiritual life. Have you noticed that before? That's the power of fasting, too. It gives you that strength back to say no and feel empowered by the Spirit.

So we must be careful of our own leadings. Jesus said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your own hearts?" What that is, it's a deep inward debate. You're questioning, you're arguing, you're harboring hostile doubts about what God's word says. We automatically read into something and we hope for the best. This is why we must be careful of our own leadings because when we want to do something, we want to make a decision, we put our own feelings in there, do we not? Again, comfort, "here's what I want to do," and we'll read into things because we hope for the best. And that's good to hope for the best, but also be open to what God wants to do.

And I already said this before, but a good thing isn't always a God thing. Be careful. Just because it's a good thing, just because it's an open door doesn't mean God opened the door. Do you know that? I've seen a lot of people, especially men when I came back to the Lord. I was still in construction and guys at church, and I was involved in men's ministry. All I did was travel and I spoke at men's conferences all over. And how many guys really ruin their life, or temporarily hopefully they got, because they took, let's say, a good-paying job?

Maybe they're gone a lot more now. They're away from home a couple days a week, but they're making more money and it's a good thing. "God obviously opened the door." Well no, not necessarily. The enemy wants to get you away from home too, by the way. He wants to get you so busy that you can't focus on God anymore. I don't know if that's—you've got to be careful on all these things. I'm not saying God didn't open the door, either.

But do you see what I'm saying here? We have to be careful just because it's an open door does not mean that God opened it. You can't just throw a fleece out there every time. "Well Lord, if this happens, then I know it's you." I talked about this before, but it might be good to remind some of you. But I also was in real estate for a while before I planted the church. Allowed me to do that and this. I got really good; it was short sales and working with asset managers and things like that.

And then God called me to plant the church. But I'd see so many Christians. I mean, it would be like, "Oh gosh, I don't know. We barely qualify. Let's make an offer and if they accept it, then that must be God." I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no. If you make an offer, they might accept it. That's just the way the world goes. Like live below your means, come way down to what's affordable." And pretty much everybody regretted it later because the devil can open up that door.

The seller can say, "I'll take that offer," and that's not God. So be careful. "Lord, if that light turns green, I know you want me to stop at Starbucks." Alright, I haven't spoken to them in three weeks, I believe you broke off that bad relationship. They just want to use me for my body. And if—but Lord, if they call me today, then I know maybe you're working in their heart, maybe I should get back. And guess who calls? Look at this, it's interesting. And the devil put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus.

Wow. Talk about a fiery dart. So the enemy will influence you too. I've seen guys over the years; I've seen some nasty, nasty divorces. They went here. And "Hey, how's it going?" "I don't know, our attorneys are talking. I'm going to go after him for everything he's got." "Wait, is that the right—who's planting those thoughts? Who's planting those thoughts?" Because God might be saying, "You know what, tell them whatever they need. I want to make this work. Whatever you want to do, I blew it. I'll give you whatever you need."

Who's influencing you? "Oh, I just want to..." Be careful because the enemy will plant those thoughts too. And then you go to the lady who does your hair and she'll confirm it. "Girl, you need to take him for everything he's got. You take him. Yeah, that's right. That's right." Listening to the wrong voices. What's God saying to you? We must be careful to avoid the enemy because he'll usually plant thoughts that are not God, not godly, not good, and something you do want to do, I should say. The enemy will tell you, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

How many times in 16 years had people in the prayer room—we started it right off from the beginning. And I mean, one lady I saw at the first service, her husband—I mean, I see it all the time. And they get back into, let's say, alcoholism. It's been a year, six months, two years. And I say, "What happened?" "Ah, just kept thinking just one, just one to relax. Just one to relax. One won't hurt." Well, one will turn into 12.

But see, who's saying that? Who's telling you that? That's not God. If you have a problem, you have a problem. You haven't been able to handle it for 32 years, you're not going to accomplish it this week and conquer it. That's not God's voice. Or they go back to marijuana, or they go back to pills. It's almost that "I just had this gnawing just like, oh, just this time will be different." That's what the enemy whispers, doesn't he? "This time—this time I can handle it."

That's the wrong voice. We also must be very careful of the world's influence. Did you know the world—so now you've got yourself, if that's not bad enough. You've got the devil and the world. The world does influence you. Especially just ask young adults. Why do they—where does all this dressing, like where people dress, where does that come from? It comes from watching people on YouTube. Or when I was younger, watching them on TV.

And you have to—"I want to be like that guy." They influence you how you want to dress, how you want to act. And it's a huge—the world will influence you. That's why it says be careful. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them." You say, "Well how can we not love?" Here's what this really—the word actually, the world, they translate it "world," they probably could have said "the world's mindset" because it comes from the word "cosmos."

And it's basically—do you know you think differently than the world? If you don't, you might want to repent today and become a believer. But there's a different influence. And so it says here, "Do not love the world. Do not love the world's thinking, the way you dress and act, and you look just like the world, you sound like the world, you're following the world, the world's influencing you. The love of the Father will not be in you."

That influence is drawing you in. That's why people get in so much trouble is they're led by their own impulse, fiery darts of the enemy, and the influence of the world. We can look at the Prodigal Son, we can look at a lot of great examples. Many of you are here today, I'm here today, I can tell you those three things took me down in my 20s. Absolutely. And they're still after us today. All the things in the world.

And it goes on to say the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are the three things the world uses. What does that mean, the lust of the flesh? What the flesh craves after. "I've got to have that." Or the eye, "Oh look at this influencer, this YouTuber, he's got four million followers, makes a hundred thousand a month. That's what I want to do." Lust of the eyes. "I want that Lamborghini in the driveway." Or the pride of heart, the pride. The pride, thinking—thinking that none of this applies to you, maybe. Not being teachable and humble. Remember the teachable and the humble are those who God directs.

So instead of going through all the points, I'm going to do that next. This is where I left off at the first service. There's 10 ways to hear more clearly, basically remove the earwax from our ear, spiritually speaking. And as we end on conviction, there's a closing conviction. Okay, we've been talking about conviction, right? The conviction of the Holy Spirit, being convicted by the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus said in John 16:8 that when the Holy Spirit comes—and He had already come, He's here now—He will convict the world of what? Of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. That's why the world doesn't like the Bible. That's why the world doesn't like your message. That's why the world doesn't like—they're fine with everything else, aren't they? They don't go after anything else, they don't care. They don't care about anything but the Holy Spirit convicts them.

And that's why I try to tell people even this big sexual thing with the rainbow color and all these—even if everybody accepts that lifestyle, the Holy Spirit won't. You're still going to be convicted, you still won't be able to sleep because it's wrong relationship with God and God wants to restore that and fix that. That's why conviction is a beautiful thing. But look at this conviction: Revelation 20, "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence the earth and the sky fled away and no place was found for them."

"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the book according to what they had done." This is why there's conviction. People know this internally. There's an internal clock that reminds them. And what happened? So God is sitting on this great throne and even the sea gives up the dead. Death and Hades, this place of holding of people until judgment, they gave up the dead.

And they were judged each one of them according to what they had done. And then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And if anybody's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. So I know the message was a lot of positives and encouragement, but this brings it home. If there's that conviction you have in your heart that you don't know God, don't leave it there. Conviction is a gift. Conviction is a wonderful gift. It's actually probably the best way to be led of the Spirit, led of God, led to know that conviction says I need to listen to that call of salvation.

Hello, this is Pastor Shane Idleman. I want to tell you about a new booklet I just released titled, "The Dark Night of the Soul". This booklet came from a very challenging season in my own personal life. Dark seasons reveal what we actually believe, not just what we say we believe. The phrase "the dark night of the soul" captures a moment we all dread. It's the moment when the floor drops out from underneath us and we realize that we are not in control and we come face to face with something we cannot fix.

Time and time again, God demonstrates that what appears to be the end of something is actually only the beginning. So again, I want to encourage you to take time today and download my new booklet, "The Dark Night of the Soul", for free right now at westsidechristianfellowship.org. Again, download it for free at westsidechristianfellowship.org. It is on Amazon, but we're encouraging people to go to our church website where they can actually download the booklet for free, the PDF, and share it with friends and family at westsidechristianfellowship.org.

Guest (Male): 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.