Regaining Lost Ground

Shane Idleman: How many of you know this? This is incredible. Michael Jordan got cut from his varsity basketball team. What? Did you know that? He wasn't tall enough or quite good enough.

Ohtani, Shohei Ohtani, check out this statistic. He had, and they said this is very high, it's actually not a good stat, but nobody knows about it, 187 strikeouts last year. He struck out. He struck out way above the league average. Do you know that? Because you get back up to bat. You get back up to bat. You get back up to bat. And that's how you finish well.

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 illuminating message titled, The Anointing Part 2: Stewarding the Gift.

Luke 16:10 tells us, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." Do you know what God has given you to live out to others? Do you know your purpose in life?

Join us today as Pastor Shane brings the heat and clarity needed for a total mind-altering focus on what we need to be equipped with to answer those questions and more, all for the glory of our beautiful Savior, King Jesus. 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: The enemy knows how to plant those fiery darts, doesn't he? Many cannot enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise when they're focused on self, self-promotion, jealousy. That's a dark, demonic, fiery dart, jealousy, isn't it? Because it's envy. I want that. I want that.

God, why am I just doing this? Look at my friends. Look at this. Hey, thank God for his grace upon your life. Maybe he's working on your heart. Pride hinders worship, and it quenches the anointing. A person may not be more anointed, but they are more gifted. We see that a lot in sports and athletics and singers. Ariana Grande, kids. Four-octave, nobody's. That's gifting, not the anointing of God there.

Be careful. Gifting is not anointing, but when the two meet, it's a beautiful thing. As a church, one of the hardest things that we have to do is we have to help identify those who are anointed and gifted. One of the worst things I could do is let's say somebody's great at a Bible study, five of them at a home, great. And then I put them up here, and it's dead. It's lifeless. You're like, "What happened?" He's not anointed for that.

This might seem funny to you guys, but ask my wife. I don't like little groups, teaching five or six people, because they're asking questions. I just want to talk for 40 minutes. Let me get it all out. The group is hard. It's so good and needed, but that's not my wheelhouse. That's why doing the young men, it's going to be a challenge. But that's not exactly where he has me. I can do it, but what's the primary gifting and anointing?

Same thing in our own lives. We have to identify, "Yes, okay, you're gifted, but are you anointed?" How many people come in here who can sing? We've seen this over the years too. Oh my goodness, but a little too flashy. The anointing is being quenched and grieved. You need to spend some time in the prayer closet. Who are you to tell me my gifting? No, I'm not telling you anything. Humble yourself.

Never once in 15 years that I can think of, never once have I had somebody speak who asked me if they could speak. I get these emails, "Hey, I'm going to be in your area. I'm a famous evangelist. It's only $5,000," or "I'm in a deliverance ministry. I'll be passing through LA County." Never. Not that people don't say, "Hey, I want to share. I feel God is doing this in my heart," absolutely. But be careful. Let him promote you.

The limelight is not something to desire. It will destroy you. When you're a nobody, you don't have much of this. But if you want to start a Bible study, you want to do this for God, you want to get involved in the homeless ministry, you want to do. Be careful. Be prepared. The touch of God should humble us. The touch of God upon our lives should humble us, not exalt us.

Important point: from harp to throne, David. Did you know God is strategic? He just doesn't go put David in the king's court or go put this prophet here or go put you. There's a process of things. David, working with the sheep, shepherd, and now learned to play a harp. How did that happen? I don't know. Then word gets out. God promotes. This guy plays a harp. King Saul invites him in to play the harp.

David becomes close to him. He goes out on the battlefield, kills his giant. Now he's in command of the armies of Israel, and that's just a natural progression to be king, especially when he is anointed. That is the key. Without that, forget it. That anointing often involves time, timing. It involves God aligning you. It involves humility. It involves placement. And there will be giants to fight. There will be giants to fight.

There's a constant theme throughout Scripture: the Lord preserved David wherever he went. Why did he do that? If you walk in his ways, he will strengthen your days. David's no different. You can honestly say that this morning. The Lord will preserve you wherever you go if you stay under that covering, under that shelter of protection. Guess what? Good news for the backslider. You might be out of that covering. You can just run back to it. Lord, thank you. Get me back.

Doesn't God take a wrong way and make it right? This is not about perfection, or I wouldn't be up here. It's about getting back up and fighting that fight and running back to the Shepherd. You're a lost sheep. Just come home. Just come home. I don't know why people have this issue with God. He's always described as holy and justice and a righteous judge, but also looking, waiting for the prodigal to come home. It's absolutely amazing.

To tie this all in, I'm going to fast forward to Acts 10:44-48. This Sunday, I'm not really going verse by verse. I'm just finishing up on this topic of the anointing. While Peter was still speaking, remember Peter went to the Gentiles, he went to Cornelius. He had a dream about the carnivore diet being okay. Go read the Bible. Anyway, he went to Cornelius's house. Cornelius worshipped him, and Peter said, "No, get up."

Be careful what you worship, kids. All these people blowing up on social media, they're fragile, they're broken people. Do not look up to them and worship them. Peter's going to say, "Here, Cornelius, let me tell you about the gospel." As he's sharing the message, the Holy Spirit fell upon all of those who heard the word. I pray for this often. Lord, as I'm preaching, boom. It wouldn't be weird.

You wouldn't go acting like animals and barking. You'd be like this reverence. Your head would just bow. There might be some tears. You might be grabbing the tissues. Just a reverence, a respect, the Holy Spirit coming upon them. It's a wonderful thing. Even everybody who heard it, and then those of the circumcision, meaning the Jews, they were astonished. Why are they astonished? Because God is just for the Jews. God's for the Jews. We are the chosen people.

No, God said, "Everybody." They were astonished because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. Remember, the Holy Spirit is a gift. The anointing is a gift. You've got to steward it. It doesn't just blop and now live your life. It's a stewarding of where God wants you, how he wants to use you. No doubt these people were open and teachable. They were ready to receive.

This is what prevents a deep work of the spirit in many hearts. Many come in here judging what I say, judge the worship. It's between you and God. But if you're not open to receive from God's word and you came with a judgmental heart, I pray for you. I really do. I feel for you. You have to be willing to receive. It doesn't mean Christians throw caution to the wind and we're gullible sponges at whatever happens.

No, we check like the Bereans. We use wisdom. We use discernment. But our position should be, I come Sundays excited, like a spirit of expectation. Lord, is worship going to go off for a while? Is a message going to just? Are you going to have me preach this? Are people going to be healed and set free? I just can't wait to get there, that expectation of what God is going to do. When the Holy Spirit is poured out, he can be poured out the same way.

Why is it any different today? It's not. If there's a disconnection, it's not with God. It's often pride. It's often carnality, lukewarmness. "I don't want to fully surrender. My goodness, I'm going to get weird." If you only knew, wanting more of God, that deeper relationship, it's the pursuit of every believer. I want to show you these words. Finally, I talk about them often, but I want to show you in the Greek these prepositions.

The Bible describes the Holy Spirit as coming alongside us, the word *para*. And then the Holy Spirit is in us, *en*. And you think, "Okay, I'm good." Oh, no, no, no. There's one more very important preposition that happened. They actually used this word when it came upon Jesus and when he came upon the disciples. This can happen at conversion, for sure. It should. But often for many people, it happens later, this coming upon.

Because if you're like me, many of you, "Okay, I was saved. I remember it. Thank God I'm going to heaven." But I still can't wait to grab that six-pack of Coors Banquet. "I'm saved. I'm set free, but there are some movies though I still want to watch. I know they're soft-porn, but it's no big deal. There's freedom, there's liberty in Christ." Be careful. Liberty should never be a cloak to hide vice.

"I'm saved now, but I don't care. I'm still going to be bitter and gossiping. I've got some envy and jealousy. I don't want to repent of these attitudes." All of those things quench the anointing. You don't receive the fullness of the spirit. Again, I really try to get this point across. It's not about perfection. "Shane, you've mastered this." No. I'm repenting daily. Lord, get my heart right.

I tell you guys all the time, if I leave at the wrong time and I've got NASCAR people on my tail over the mountain, I turn into no more Pastor Shane. I actually will slow down and I just might bump those red lights. I've got a trailer hitch, so boom, that's on you. But where does that come from? That old man, if I keep feeding it. Anything upset you in life? You don't like decisions people are making or where things are going?

What do I do with those fiery darts? It's a daily battle. So here's keys to stewarding God's gift: discipline, pursuit, and perseverance. These things are so critical. Why does everybody else talk about these things? Military, discipline important? Hello. I don't know why, but some of my favorite podcasts are Navy SEALs and Delta Force. How important was discipline? Some of these athletes train four years for 45 seconds at the Olympics.

How much more for the Christian faith? The real battle that counts, the real warfare. We can become easily spiritually lazy, myself included. Discipline is so important, and then pursuit, and then perseverance. If you don't focus on spiritual survival, it will lead to spiritual decline. Once you realize, "I need to survive spiritually," doesn't that change the way you do things? Some of the relationships maybe or when you become apathetic.

Even believers after 30 years, some of the most solid people I know here, you can become apathetic, and you have no more of the anointing than the 16-year-old in here who's on fire for God. They're actually being used of God more than you. As I get older, it becomes harder. I remember the first couple of years, but now I just want to get my errands done and get home.

How does that apathy set in? Can you imagine if we would be available? Lord, you know what? If I'm going to be in line today or if I'm going to be, how do you want to use me? Can you imagine? God might use you. See, the problem is rarely on his side. It's on our side. Not a lot of amens this morning. It's heavy, but it's needed. Discipline and stewarding go hand in hand.

We have the tendency to feed the flesh and become spiritually lazy. You know where this book came from for the kids? It actually came from R. Kent Hughes's book that I try to get through every couple of years and *Surviving the Anointing* and *Dangerous Calling* by Paul Tripp, I think, or David Tripp. Just good reminders. I'll never forget what he said right at the beginning. He goes, "Discipline is everything." But you start to think about it. That's true.

Discipline: doing what I know to be right despite how I feel. I'll even get people sometimes, they don't mean it, but they'll pop off at me, sometimes here. I know how to respond, Lord help me. You guys know. God has been showing me so much about this aspect of discipline and how it plays a vital role in stewarding the anointing. To steward this gift, discipline has to be engaged. That's what keeps everything together because the enemy's waiting.

Isn't it interesting he goes about as a roaring lion, looking for he who he can devour? But then you flip to Second Chronicles: the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth. Wait a minute, they're both looking for me? Isn't that a wake-up call? The enemy's looking for me. God's looking for me. But the enemy's looking for me. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to him.

So as we pursue God with the spiritual disciplines, God finds us, and he keeps it together. But when we walk outside of that. I'm preaching myself. Don't say, "Oh, Shane's got discipline mastered." What? My flesh still screams, "Feed me! Feed me! Feed me!" And discipline says, "Shut your mouth." There are times sometimes we fall. I shared before, it's no secret, but I've never fasted 100% perfectly.

Ask my wife. She laughs. She goes, "You're not fasting. You say it, but give it a couple hours." On bigger things too, like kids, I did get upset. I'm sorry. I have to apologize to people sometimes. "Man, that text, that email, I'm sorry. Oh, Lord." Discipline isn't as much about perfection as it is about getting back up and going back in the right direction. That's really what it is.

It's to get back up and go in the right direction. Isn't it getting back up is part of the process? When you realize as a believer you're going to fall down, but you get back up and you go in the right direction. How many of you know this? This is incredible. I actually checked this morning. Michael Jordan got cut from his varsity basketball team. What? Did you know that? He wasn't tall enough or quite good enough.

Ohtani, Shohei Ohtani, check out this statistic. He had, and they said this is very high, it's actually not a good stat, but nobody knows about it, 187 strikeouts last year. He struck out. He struck out way above the league average. Do you know that? Because you get back up to bat. You get back up to bat. You get back up to bat. And that's how you finish well.

Tom Brady, second string at Michigan, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh string at Michigan. And he'll say, "I was not the most athletic. I was not the best." What was he? Disciplined. Kobe. Steph Curry. You throw 3,000 free throws in a day? Discipline. How much more for the Christian?

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.