Regaining Lost Ground

Pastor Shane Idleman: The reason this can be challenging sometimes is because we lead a vast majority of people. Some are sitting on the sidelines, some come now and then. Then there's a core group who is really involved. We know them well. Then you have the leadership. You have deacons, elders, and so you have to navigate this big picture.

Sometimes people, it's hard to submit as the enemy will plant a spirit of offense in our minds. But often what people don't know, leadership often sees a fuller picture. So leadership has dual responsibility. We have a responsibility to the congregation, to God and to others in the congregation.

Announcer: 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 third part of the message titled, "If All Is Well, Why Am I Like This?" and is from the sermon series Through the Bible.

English writer and preacher John Bunyan when speaking on humility once said, "The people of the Lord in humility are to lay themselves and their prayers and all that they have at the foot of their God. To be disposed of by him as he in his heavenly wisdom sees best. Yet not doubting, but God will answer the desire of his people in the way that will be most for their advantage and his glory."

Please join us as Pastor Shane encourages us to honor the Lord today, clothing ourselves in humility, quick to forgive and quick to submit to one another in Christ's love. We encourage you to listen to this message of hope, allowing the Holy Spirit's peace to fill you. That peace that passes all understanding found only in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

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 Idlemen Unplugged weekly podcast. And now from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idlemen.

Pastor Shane Idleman: I want to know God's will. I want to hear his voice. Do you know he has us yielding and submitting a lot throughout our lives, or throughout our week, or throughout the month? And as we yield to certain things or submit to certain things, God's will becomes clearer in us because that's a principle.

That person is like, "No, I'm not yielding to anybody. I'm the captain of this ship. I do, I don't yield to anybody." They're not going to be led of God because that's not a gentle, humble spirit.

Who is that old singer that used to sing that? "My Way." Frank Sinatra. Yeah, I couldn't get that song out of my mind. I haven't heard it in years, but you know, I'm going to do things my way. It's hard. God has a hard time moving that person who wants to do things his own way. God teaches the humble and the gracious his way. He leads those who are willing to follow.

So let's talk about submission for a little bit, because Rebecca and Isaac submitted to God's will. And this is another key of being led by God. Now for those who are offended by the word submission, is there anyone out there? No. It's okay. Balcony? Okay, you probably wouldn't be honest anyway, right?

But, here's the thing with submission. The word has been used in a bad way. It's like you think of the word fundamentalist, you think of those who blow up abortion clinics. Or you think of 100 years ago you would say, "Hey, after church we're going to throw a gay party," meaning happy.

And so, things change. And so this word submission, and what happens a lot in the Muslim countries and this, and so the word is like, "Oh, I don't know about that word." Humility is a wonderful thing.

So let's talk about this. First Peter 3:7. I think we have that one up there. First Peter 3:7. Wives. Wives. The NIV. It's not the "nearly inspired version." It's a good version.

Wives in the same way. I there's so many. Pastor Abraham, you prayed that I had freedom this morning, didn't have to stick with my notes, and I'm following that. So, I got to tell you guys a joke. I tried using the King James this week. I'm like, "What are they talking about?"

It's a great version. If you love it, stick with it. It's incredible. It's a Texas Receptus, receive tech. It's close to, I mean, it's a great translation. But I, for the life of me, go fetch a compass. And so, so that's why God has given us certain translations many times. Now there's some questions about the NIV, who was on their board and and how they take a little bit of liberty and different things.

But overall, there's a lot of translations that are off, but there's a few that will not lead you astray. Wives. There's going to come emails from that one right there too. Think about this. People get upset like, "Okay, so you're telling me your teenager is reading the NIV every day, all year, you're going to be upset at that?" They're not going to go astray. Trust me. Trust me. We need more of that and less TikTok.

So wives in the same way, submit yourselves to your own husbands, so that if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives. So the husband sees the gentle, caring, loving spirit of his wife and that love draws her to Christ.

So even the context, people take this verse out of context. The context is not just submitting like, "Women do this, machismo," you know, all this. It's actually submitting. Is that funny, machismo? Can I say that? Want me to speak Spanish? Mis padres son las tortugas y nadan muy bueno.

Do you know what I said? My parents are turtles and they swim very well. So, it's the only thing I got in high school. Raquel, you threw me off track. I don't know. It's been all over social media. I don't know if you saw that, but one of the priests or the head of a satanic church came to know the Lord this week because of the love he saw in other people.

And so that's powerful. When they see the, we need a lot more love, don't we? I posted something about, you know, the the woman's basketball player who's in Russia. And I said, "Hey, regardless of your political views, we need to lift this young lady up in prayer. I'm pretty sure she's been humbled." And you would not believe the modern-day Pharisees. "Does she still hate America? What, wait, what?"

See, we can't, we don't have that love in our heart. We have to pray for those we disagree with. Hello? Jesus said it. Love your enemies. What good is it to you if you like those who line up with you? Love your enemies. Husbands in the same way, be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

Men, could it be that your prayers aren't being answered because you don't treat them with dignity and respect? And that "weaker" there is, we were designed differently. Men by nature have more testosterone, they're just stronger because why? To be the defender. And then the wife, the woman has stronger area attributes in other areas. So that's why we believe in complementarianism. We complement each other.

And actually that word "weaker" could mean of like a vase or vas, whatever you want. You know, and and they have, they, it's this precious, expensive thing that you need to take care of. And so don't be, don't be translating scriptures based on your own pride. Let God work in your heart.

Your prayers, men, can actually be hindered by your lack of respect and reverence for your spouse, demeaning them, putting them down, calling them names, joking in the wrong type of way. Biblical intersections. Here are some biblical intersections on where we need to yield.

So you're coming up to a stop sign. Here's where God wants us to yield. Okay, it's going to get a little uncomfortable. You okay with that? Parents, yield to your parents, kids. Colossians 3:20, "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord."

Now, this has been used and abused, because obviously the context is he's writing to the church in Colossae. Christian parents, who love the Lord, or trying, they're walking, and they want the, the Lord wants the kids to submit to the leadership of their parents in everything they're doing because they know what's best.

Sometimes I laugh when my kids tell me things. They're like, "You don't think I know anything?" Man, I've been through this loop a hundred times. You put that knife in that electrical outlet. Let me tell you what's going to happen. You jump on the pool cover with the pool cover on. Let me tell you, you're going to sink and all the pool cover is going to go. That happened to me. I almost died.

So when I tell you not to do things, there's a reason behind it. Now, this is not telling kids to obey their parents and disobey the Lord. I believe. This is a clear teaching. There needs to be a respect and a reverence. Obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Even if you don't agree necessarily with them. Even if they could be maybe wrong in your eyes.

But God is using, God has called a parent, we have to be responsible men, right, before God? We have to be responsible for how we led our family. I had an interesting conversation, I'm not going to get into details yesterday, and I told this guy. I said, "I see where you're coming from. You have to do this, you have to lead this, whatever. But I have to lead my family."

And we're not going to see eye to eye on this issue, because I have a responsibility to make certain decisions. And that is the gift that God has given us. Civil authorities. Uh-oh. First Peter 2:13-14, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right."

Now, this is, I would actually need a whole teaching on this, so I want to make sure I don't open up a big can of worms. But with Romans 13 as well, God has given us the institution of government, the way it's supposed to be done, is they are to be a terror to those who do evil. So you don't like our law enforcement here in America, go live in China.

Go live in North Korea for a season. Go live in the Middle East and you see how bad suppression and totalitarianism is. We are so blessed here in this nation. Yes, we've got pimples and warts and make mistakes, but we are blessed of God. And so that's his, that's God's ideal about government, that we submit.

Now, what about though when that government then tells you to do something that disobeys God's word? See, that's, that's where, and that's where it happened with this whole COVID thing. It got really interesting. There's this, there's this friction, like anything I've never felt before. On all the churches wanting to capitulate and just based on Romans 13, versus others wanting to, you know, kind of push a little bit.

And then even in that, there were some rebellious churches that were not, I wouldn't say really led of God, just too rebellious, too arrogant. But then you had a lot of capitulating churches. Then you had those caught in the middle and like, "How do we navigate these waters?" And so, again, it would take me a whole sermon to teach on Romans 13.

And if you get a chance, go back and listen to Rob McCoy's message he gave here, probably a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago. And he actually broke it all down pretty nicely on our YouTube channel. But to suffice it to say, my attitude should be one of submission. It should be submitting to those in authority.

Now, what about if the authority is corrupt? Well, it depends how corrupt. What are they asking me to do? You see, that's why it's hard to really make a blanket statement. But I will tell you, I will tell you, that what we saw even with the rioting and different things, and this lack of respect for our military and law enforcement, that is a spirit of rebellion.

That is not a spirit of yielding to those that God has put over you. Now, of course, the argument, "But some of these people are racist and have an agenda." I got it. But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Don't get rid of the whole concept. Like, did you see these cities defund the police movement? Have you lost your mind?

And now guess who's recapturing, "Oh, let's bring them back." These, many of these cities that are ran by certain people that want to get rid of, they think you can have utopia. You can't have utopia. What you'll actually do is you'll remove the restraining force and all hell will break loose. You think we look like a zoo now? You haven't seen anything yet when you remove that restraining force.

So yes, in every area of life you have people that are racist and have agendas and are going to push you down. Absolutely. But that's not the whole of everything. There needs to be a lot more respect, and a lot more submission and yielding in this area. And if not, it has to do with a prideful, rebellious heart, arrogant heart.

And we've talked about this before, me and Pastor Abraham, it is a true statement, in the Black community you do have to teach your children with police and law enforcement, hands on the steering wheel. They're going to fear a little bit more than I would being pulled over. That's, I got it. I don't disagree.

But you don't, you don't go against the whole concept of authority. And I think a lot of the problem that we have is on both sides is people are just hitting heads and they're, they're not submitting and humbling themselves. Arrogant law enforcement officers, bold and bracing in some cases. Or, and then others who are not submitting to that.

And so my whole point in this is, if you want to be led of God's spirit, you want to have gentleness and meekness and full of the Holy Spirit. You want to do things for God. You want to make a difference. You've got to have this area of submission in order. Because if you're not submitting, you're actually out of order and God won't direct something that's out of order.

Do you ever wonder why, why have I been so miserable the last ten years, or 15 years? Why am I so unhappy? Why am I so, why is nothing changing for me? I take it to prayer and I take it to all these things, but it's not changing. Could it be your attitude? Could it be in this area of submission?

Here's a good one, each other. The next screen. Each other. Ephesians 5:21, "submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." Boy, oh boy. Could we, can you imagine just yielding to others? And just you, you take that parking spot. I, man. I've got so much I could share.

But I'll never forget, it was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life in the, because I, I thought you've heard, you've heard stories, I'm sure that never happens. But anyway, when we first came up here to this church, 2016, there was this lady, I don't know if she's, I don't see her anymore, but she would tell people, "You're in my seat."

And like kick them out of her pew. Like, "This is my seat. I sit here every Sunday." Are you listening to anything I'm saying every week? Or what about the party? You should see, I see some of the bad moods when you guys are directed the other way. "Hey, this parking lot's closed, you got, what?" "I'm running, I'm running, I'm late."

And, and see? Submission. It's hard. Why is it hard? Because inside of us is a spirit of rebellion. That's why I say you have to humble yourself when you have a renegade, cutting loose, spirit of rebellion. God doesn't bless a rebel. God blesses those who are humble and submitted to him.

It doesn't mean you're not bold, but it means you are submitted to the, to one, to the needs of others. Now, here's one that gets a little controversial. I don't think I've, I've probably haven't read this scripture in years because I don't want people thinking, "Oh, there he goes," just like tithing, right?

"Obey your leaders and submit to them. Obey your leaders and yield to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." So, another dynamic that happens in churches is, and he's not telling you to submit to false doctrine or he's not telling you to submit to a church that is ungodly or to leaders that are abusive.

You know, there's obviously something there. But as the leadership of this church submits to the needs of the body, which we do that more than you even realize. Let me tell you, it's constantly submitting to the needs of the body. And then as a result, the body submits to the direction of the leadership. It's mutual submission, mutual yielding.

And at this church, I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but I am not the CEO leader of this church. This is not Shane Idleman's church. So when you leave here, you say Westside Christian Fellowship, my church, our church. Because it's, we are led by a plurality of elders. So I think David's here, David's back there. Abraham's here. Joe's not here. I don't know. Bryan, Bryan's here.

And they, they are, they lead the church. And I'm the equal, I'm the leader among equals. So I'm the loudmouth. I'm the one that gets the most criticism. I'm the one getting the most shots. I'm the one dealing with the most issues. And then others, it's a plurality, so making financial decisions, where does the money go? Relational decisions, what happens?

Do we ever have to church discipline according to Matthew 18? Let's all get together. And then if you got four guys saying something and I'm, I'm off, I have to submit to that leadership. It's even in our bylaws that I can't do something if it's outside of the group. So far, to my knowledge, I don't think we've ever really disagreed on anything profound.

The only thing they stopped me from doing is I wanted to send out something showing the difference between Mormonism and Christianity to all these homes in Ranch of Vista because I was mad at all these Mormon missionaries going door-to-door. So, my attitude really wasn't right. And so, you know, there's other things that we just have a talk about. We, we agree.

And so what the church really does is they submit to a plurality of elders. And the reason this can be challenging, how much time do I have? The reason this can be challenging sometimes is because we lead a vast majority of people. Some are sitting on the sidelines, some come now and then. Then there's a core group who is really involved. We know them well. Then you have the leadership. You have deacons, elders, and so you have to navigate this big picture.

And what I mean by that is sometimes people, it's hard to submit for two reasons. Number one is the enemy will plant spirit, a spirit of offense in our minds, all of us, me included. And so we, instead of erring on the side of grace, we want to question and challenge everything, which again, at its root is not a bad thing because you want to know what the church is doing.

But often what people don't know, leadership often sees a fuller picture. So people are wanting answers, or let's say, "Why is this happening?" We see a fuller picture. We see both sides of, let's say, an issue. For example, one big issue, I think we're pretty much on the same page now, but we all, we're all kind of, you know, just working through this is, with the, with the seating problem, the best option is actually get chairs, nice chairs, you can actually easily sit 50, 60 people more a service because then all you have to do is screw it in, because we can see if there's an empty chair next to you.

But we're not in a real hurry to do that. Is that the best use of money? And so we actually do ask our core team, you know, 15, 20 people. "What are you, what are your guys' thoughts of this?" And then when we did the, the roof, the $50,000 roof. We brought it up to the congregation, we told them the need. So as leadership, we have to be very wise because we've learned over the years that there's a lot of chatty Cathys.

There's a lot of gloomy gossips. We've been clear for a long time. We believe that God part of our, our calling is missions, but not necessarily overseas, although we do have some. We support them, we'll support more. Our mission we feel also is to our Judea, our Samaria, Jerusalem, here to our own community and to our nation.

Our heartbeat is for our nation to repent. And so we are going to probably spend more money on buying the radio station and different things than another church would be who's gifted and maybe having missionaries. Or another church is focused on community networking and painting neighborhoods, or painting houses in neighborhoods.

So you see how that works. There's different, God has called different churches for different seasons, or different reasons. And that's why we submit, "Okay, God is doing this here." We submit to that type of leadership. If that makes sense. And there's, there's different ways of doing things. Obviously though if a church is doing something wrong or there's big concerns, you know, if, if I pulled up in the, in the 2022 Lamborghini, right?

You might want or even, I mean you have to, we have to, we live in a fishbowl, so we're very careful with things. And if you're not being good stewards and say, "We're asking for money every single week. We need money, guys, we need money. Come on." You're like, "Well, what's going on? Where's the money going?" And that's why, you know, we paid off this facility a couple years ago, completely, the whole campus was paid off. We save, we have missions. We have a pie chart. If somebody wants to see it, they can see it.

We actually operate very low on our administration cost. At this church, it's only 25%. Most churches are 50% of their budget goes to administration, church facility and all that. We are very low.

Announcer: Hello, this is Pastor Shane Idleman. Hey, I wanted to let our listeners know that due to budgeting issues, we will be removing Regaining Lost Ground from some of the radio stations that we currently air on. Therefore, to continue listening to the sermons, I want to encourage you to follow me and Westside Christian Fellowship on YouTube and Rumble today, as well as other social media platforms.

Again, due to budgeting issues, we will be removing Regaining Lost Ground from some of the stations that we currently air our program on. Therefore, to continue listening to the sermons, I want to encourage you to follow me as well as Westside Christian Fellowship on YouTube and Rumble, and also follow us on all other social media platforms as well. If you have questions, please reach out to us at westsidechristianfellowship.org. Again, that's westsidechristianfellowship.org.

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.