Regaining Lost Ground

Shane Idleman: I'm like, what's going on here? Let's get through these three songs and let me open up Leviticus. Where were we last week? And guys, I'm being honest, but I'm showing you the difference between being on fire for God. I want to hear from a pastor who spent time with God, and they're going to tell me what the word of God says.

It's applicable. How did you get through life? How did you overcome discouragement? How do you defeat lust? How do you deal with marriage and kids? What is it? It's living. It's vibrant. And so I saw those things lived out.

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 the third and final part of this encouraging message titled Sitting In The Silence: Passing The Waiting Test.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us, "Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary." If this describes your need today, join us here on Regaining Lost Ground as Pastor Shane gives us the keys to unlock the chains and run this race for Jesus well.

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.

Shane Idleman: Acts, when we worship Him. Probably top 20 verses in the Bible. I love this one. God said, "The battle is not mine—I'm sorry." Just testing you again. "The battle is mine, not yours." And remember, it was Second Chronicles, Jehoshaphat, I think. Jehoshaphat. Three armies were surrounding Israel. We're done, we're toast.

God is just—words do not even describe. I just love to see throughout scripture it's not a cookie-cutter thing. I mean, sometimes He'll just take an angel and say, "Hey, go wipe out about 185,000 Assyrians while they're sleeping." Done. This one He goes, "The battle's not yours, it's mine. Here's what we're going to do. Just go send out the worship team."

What? Just go have them worship, go before Me. Go before Me and worship, and I will take down your enemies. My goodness. And then sometimes He says, "Get the sword and fight." Sometimes go in the rear guard, the front guard. I'll draw them out and you come in. See, God has multiple ways of defeating the enemy. But I know this for sure: worship brings us to our knees and it crushes the power of the enemy. "This battle is not yours, it's mine," thus saith the Lord.

Those who worship Him—what about those who call upon the name of the Lord? Everybody who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He acts upon the one who calls upon. Some of you, I know people come in with heavy bondage, heavy demonic bondage, and you just don't know what to do. Call upon the name of the Lord. Don't trust your feelings.

I think one of the tricks of the enemy, and when you have a demonic oppression, is he traps us in thinking we can't do anything about it. We can't do anything about it. But God says, "Look to me. Look to me." Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How much more, believers? If this has to do with unbelievers in context, an unbeliever just has to say, "Lord, help. Help."

That's why you don't have to have a perfect prayer. Do I have to say it just right and make sure I have theological corrects and the Romans Road and the nuances of propitiation and salvation? Just say, "Lord, help." He sees the heart, not just the words. And if He does that for those who are not believers, how much more so for those who are believers? Lord, help. Help, I need salvation in this situation.

And He also acts on the one who prays. Psalm 34: "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles." And of course, you might think like I have many times before: I'm still in this trouble. It's interesting when you do word studies and things. It doesn't always mean immediate deliverance.

I don't know about you, but I'll take God in the midst of my troubles than God without and not in any troubles. Life is great, but I don't have God. I'll take Him in the midst of my troubles. And that's how He pulls us through. Sometimes, thank God for some troubles. Some of you should thank God for what you're going through because it keeps you humble. It keeps you humble.

Because if you're like most people, when things are going good, you think you're awesome. It's hard for a rich man to enter heaven because of that very reason. We think too highly of ourselves. And I'm going to end here with Isaiah 40. God is responding to Israel and they are complaining that He forgot about them. But He promises strength to those who wait on Him. In other words, yes, it's difficult. Yes, it's challenging. But wait on Me.

"Why do you say, oh Jacob? Why are you speaking, oh Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord. The Lord can't see my way. He's not answering my prayers. God has passed over me. He's not listening to me." And the Lord says, "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, He neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. Who can know God?"

He gives power to the weak. And the word is so strong. I don't know about you, but just reading that, it strengthens me. Reading that, it's like I just ate after being starving for a day. You just pour in the word of God into your heart. He is unsearchable. Who can understand God? I love the rebuke to Job: "Where were you when I created the universe? Where were you when I told the Atlantic and the Pacific and the other oceans, stay here and no further? Where were you when I hung the moon and put the sun 93 million miles away? Where were you, Job? Answer me like a man."

And that's the God we serve. Why do we fear man? And those who have no might, He increases their strength. Even the young, the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men, they will utterly fall. In other words, they would trust in youth, trust in strength. That's why God would always rebuke trusting in strength. You prepared the horses, you're ready for battle, victory comes from the Lord. Your strength will not save you, only the strength of God will save you.

But those who wait on the Lord, those who humble themselves in worship—in order to go up, you got to go down. Those who humble themselves and they wait, and that's why I gave you that challenge tonight. Maybe some of you need to come to this altar and lay down that pride and say, "God, take this pride out of me. Take this out of me, God. I want all of you."

And those who wait on the Lord—and sometimes it might take weeks, it might take months. You're pressing in, you're crying out to God, "Lord, I want more of you." Then He renews their strength. And He gives an illustration that they mount up with wings like eagles, like they soar above things. And they run and they don't get weary. Life does not weary you when you are serving the Lord. They walk and they do not faint.

As I think I read this a few nights ago, Psalm 27: "One thing have I desired of the Lord." This is so cool. If you could sum it up, I don't know how many of us would say this. Okay, if there's just one thing you desire of God, one thing. Oh, a billionaire and I could retire. Great health till I'm 300. One thing. When you get to that point, guys, everything else dies. What compares to seeking God?

Your vacations will be changed. The way you spend money will be changed. Who you date will change. How you conduct yourself and live will change. One thing have I desired, and that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. You don't go sit in a little house. What you do, His house—the power of the Holy Spirit, the anointing of God upon your life. You are the temple of God residing in you.

Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within. Not quenching and grieving the Spirit, but worshipping God, entering into His courts with thanksgiving, into His house with praise. All the days of my life, I will dwell in the house of the Lord. And I want to behold the beauty of the Lord, and I want to inquire of His temple. But here's the closing key: even when God is silent, His word still speaks.

Even when God is silent. Isn't that so comforting? We might not sense what God is doing. He might not be answering our prayers, but His word comes alive. His word comes alive. Guys, we got to become worshippers again. In case you missed it, I think it was last time I want to put up the final screen. Our kids will remember our tears spending time with Jesus more than our rules about following Him.

Did you catch that? You know, come on kids, do this, do this, do this. We got the word of God. Let's get our devotionals out. You better do this. Don't talk to your mother that way. Respect this. Don't do this. Integrity, integrity. Do this. It's all good. We're called to teach. But the best lesson you will ever give is how you live. How you live.

Oh, the sermons you give me may be very wise and true, but I'd rather observe what you do. For I might misunderstand you and the high advice you give, but there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live. Become worshippers. Let your kids see that. Can you imagine the impression of month after month, year after year, your kids see you in the word? They see you have worship on, they see you forgive people.

Yes, they might hear you cuss. They might hear you get angry. But that's not what is going to be remembered for the rest of their life. They're going to remember that the parents loved the Lord and they sought Him. That's the model. You know character is not only taught, it's caught. Ask most kids who follow the Lord, or even you who follow the Lord. Often it's because of the example we saw.

Sometimes it's not. Many of us came from hard, difficult homes, but we saw it in others. Do you know why this church is unique? I don't know if I've ever said this before. I mean, most of you are here because it's unique. It's not the standard protocol. The worship—I mean, it's unique. It's different in many ways. But because when I came back to the Lord, I visited, I traveled, and went to different churches all up and down Southern California.

And there was only a few where I said, "I want what they have. I want that God." I'll never forget. I think it was Reality Church, Carpinteria, Britt Merrick. He actually retired after he lost his daughter to leukemia. And I walked in, their front rows were back, and I'm like, "Why are there black mats down there?" Mats. And the worship started, and you know when you feel goosebumps aren't necessarily bad.

They're not good. You can get goosebumps over the national anthem. Okay, I got it. But you can tell when you feel—I mean, I just felt like I had to just bow down and, oh my God. I'm back some and I see people coming and they're kneeling, some are laying down. It's just like, did we just do an hour of worship? And people are praising and there's tears, and it's an incredible environment. And I said, "That's what I want. Oh God, we need that."

Then there was worship at a church pastored by a man named Jack Hayford. I think it was a Sunday night. And they're crying out to God, there's tears, altars full. Like, that's what I want. That's what I want, God. I don't want the gimmicks. I don't want the games. I don't want to play church. I want the real thing. I don't want to have anything to do with church. I don't want to come and posture and talk the right thing.

"Brother, how are you doing? I'm doing great." Bull! You've had a very difficult week. You're about ready to give up. Let's be honest. Let's be honest. Get rid of the Christianese. Let's say when I'm about ready to fall apart, I'm about ready to run to my addiction. Good, then you need to run to this altar and you need to say, "Create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit in me."

That's what hunger is. And then here's the thing though. My wife will remember. Then I'd go to normal churches and I'd fall asleep. I'm like, what's going on here? Let's get through these three songs and let me open up Leviticus. Where were we last week? And guys, I'm showing you the difference between being on fire for God. I want to hear from a pastor who spent time with God, and they're going to tell me what the word of God says.

It's applicable. How did you get through life? How did you overcome discouragement? How do you defeat lust? How do you deal with marriage and kids? What is it? It's living. It's vibrant. And so I saw those things lived out. I saw genuine worship and genuine prayer. My mom would meet with her prayer partners once every Thursday for like three hours. Like, what do you do for three hours?

"Son, we pray for you. We pray for your wife, we pray for the grandkids, we pray for the church, we pray for our prodigals." And you never forget those things. You want that hunger. Guys, make no mistake, you influence people. You influence people. And again, I think some of us do need to find our way to this altar and humble ourselves. Humble ourselves.

And I remember that. God was working in my life. And that's why we encourage people. When you want to follow the Lord, the world wants you back. I mean, it was a tough first year for me. I loved the Lord. Oh, I loved Him. I was so happy at church. Oh, I'm on fire. Then you know when you leave here? Right, I'm leaving here. Gosh, that was so good. How'd I end up at Schooners six hours later?

How did that happen? The pull, the struggle within. You wake up, "Oh God, I'm so sorry. God, I'm so sorry." And then that shame and guilt keeps you away. And then I remember that's why I say I'd sit in the back row and the pastor was like, "Come forward if you need help." I'm like, I'm not coming, that's embarrassing. I'm a tough guy. I don't—that's kind of for women, let them do that.

But see how pride had to die in me? If pride doesn't die in you, nothing of heaven can live in you. Andrew Murray said that. It has to die. Maybe God's highlighting certain areas of pride in your heart and in your life. There's a lot of different areas that pride can creep in. One of the biggest areas is: I don't need more of God. I've had people tell me that.

"I don't need to go to Rend the Heavens or do all this stuff or worship more. I don't need to do that, I do it at home." Well, that's good. We should. What about pride in theological study? That's really big. Pride in our Bible knowledge. Oh man, you are straight as a gun barrel, but you're empty inside. You're dead inside. Pride in your job. "Oh, I'm way up in such and such company. My employees go here. I got it all together."

I'll never forget, and I'll close with this. When Pastor Abram first started coming here, he's like, "I've never seen a pastor go to the altar. We don't do that. We're not supposed to do that. We got it all together. Marriage problems? Guys, I mastered that 10 years ago. No issues. Life is—I've never been depressed, never struggled." That's pride, and they're lying.

We come up here as broken men, pointing all of us to the only one who can repair us. That's what we do. There's no pride in that. God holds your breath in the palm of His hand. That heartbeat. How do you take pride in that? Sounds more like dependence. Every breath I take, I'm dependent on Him. You don't have to, but think about: is there anything holding you back? Holding you back from fully surrendering to the Lord?

Because let's be honest, there's a spot in Christianity that's pretty comfortable, isn't it? "I'm a Christian. I'm going to heaven. I'm going to enjoy my week. I'm not going to stop to the homeless guy and pray for somebody in Vons who I know is going through a lot and their kid's acting up. I'm just comfortable." But you start praying for people, watch demonic opposition.