Regaining Lost Ground

Pastor Shane Idleman: Because you're full of what is pure and noble and right and upright. He also says what is admirable, something that is excellent. It is worthy of praise. Much of the garbage out there that we're viewing, the reason I spend so much time on this is this is where I believe many people are at right now.

They are filling their minds with things that are not true. They're filling their minds with things that are not noble. It's not right. It's contaminated. It's sexually perverted. It's not beautiful in God's sight. It's not excellent and admirable and worthy of praise.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today's message on regaining lost ground is titled "The Fool Says There Is No God." In this message, Pastor Shane reveals the timeless truth of God's word through a sobering look at man's propensity to rebel against the authority of God.

An incredible encouragement of Christ's enduring love and grace displayed at the cross and for all those who would heed the Shepherd's call. 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 Idleman with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And now, from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here is Pastor Shane Idleman.

Pastor Shane Idleman: The media outlets do not care anymore if they lie as long as it hurts the church. At some point, I think we need to speak against that. Be loving, yes, but also be bold. Be as gentle as a dove, yes, but also wise as a serpent. From Psalm 94, "Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law, by legislation, shall you have fellowship with them?"

We see here that there has to be a line drawn in the sand. What he means by fellowship is influence. Shall this throne of iniquity continue to influence you? So, my first point was we have to overcome the throne of iniquity with the truth. What are the facts? Drawing a line in the sand. To overcome the throne of iniquity, another point here is crystal clear.

Many of you listening to this might be driven by fear. You might be beholden to a certain political party. You might be embracing some of this iniquity. There has to be a clear line of demarcation drawn in the sand. You must not allow this throne of iniquity to continue to influence you. That mainly comes from the mainstream media. That mainly comes from fear-mongering and wanting our nation to not thrive.

It's ironic now. I look at, let's say, the Drudge Report, and I just laugh because it's so obvious. They're trying to inflate the numbers. Here comes another wave, here comes this. They are just trying to create this fear frenzy. But then we also see here that unity is not a recommendation from God, it's essential. Evil is uniting right now, so Christians also must unite.

We have to get away from the petty arguments, the bickering, the complaining, and the hardheartedness. This has united Christians so much, and we need to keep that unity going. That is where the power of the Holy Spirit comes from. I believe sometimes God will clean house and remove things, remove people, and remove situations to get the church united and to show us our flaws so we come broken before Him.

There is a united cause. Isn't it interesting that next week we're going to talk about the Bible? It says that when the believers were bickering and complaining, the Holy Spirit fell? No. It says when they were in one accord, united, not divided. When they were seeking God as brothers and sisters, united, the Holy Spirit said that is fertile soil for my Spirit to fall. And He did.

Unity is essential. Be crystal clear. Evil is uniting; we must unite as well and not be caught up in all the gossip, the slander, and the backbiting, even denominationalism. I am of Peter, I am of Paul. We are going to be united on Your essentials, and we're going to move forward in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I could read to you things that would be alarming, but I just chose one. I don't know how many of you have heard the words from the Harvard professor, Elizabeth Bartholet. She claimed that homeschooling is a health and safety risk for children, a threat to society, and that homeschooled kids could become enemies of the state. It's out there. These are her exact words.

You see there is a clear line of demarcation being drawn. You've got the wickedness and the evil being drawn, and now you have the good and the light trying to shine. That's why there must be a uniting. That's why the Bible says they condemn the innocent. Why is Planned Parenthood trying to get millions of dollars? Why are they trying to condemn the innocent blood? Because evil is being united here in this area.

We have to speak up and be united because I just got an email a few days ago from a member here. She travels with her work to different places, and apparently she was exposed possibly to someone who has COVID. By the way, you've probably all been exposed to someone. I believe it's been in our nation for quite a while. I think it's run and affected so many different people.

I'm not minimizing any deaths or anybody being sick, but we have to look at this for what it is. Her work told her she needs to self-quarantine for two weeks and cannot leave her house. You might say, "Wow." Well, guess what? They went by and checked on her yesterday to make sure she was staying home. This is getting very interesting.

This is where we need to be united in our cause, united with one voice. Why is that? Because a divided church is powerless. When we start worrying about the non-essentials and arguing over the non-essentials and putting down this and putting down that, basically a critical heart is powerless. The church must repent and be filled again with the spirit of unity.

So, unity. We overcome the throne of iniquity by unity. Remember, Satan's kingdom is not divided, is it? Why is the church so divided? Satan's kingdom is not divided. Jesus said they're not divided; they are united in their cause. When that man was filled with the demonic spirits, they said, "We are Legion. We are united in the cause of evil and darkness."

The church must put down her preferences, put down her dispositions, put down her critical heart, and come united. Say, "God, I repent of my division. I repent of my hardness, and I want to love fellow believers." God, that is fertile soil for the power of the Holy Spirit. Another area where we must overcome the throne of iniquity is this: you must overcome fear.

Why is that? If you don't overcome fear, fear overcomes you. You can't walk in between both of those types of scenarios I just laid out. You don't even have a spirit of fear. You overcome fear or fear will overcome you. And here is my big concern, to be honest with you. How many people are so fearful right now or have been in the past?

Very few people are prepared for something worse. Granted, God spared us. God had His mercy. We understand that the numbers were off. What about when the numbers weren't off and we have something that comes against us far greater than what this was? If we're fearful now, I hate to see what happens when something of a stronger magnitude comes against us.

Thank God, but also be prepared going forward in this battle. We thank God for His mercy, but we're also going to be prepared going forth, recognizing that this is a battle. I don't know how many of you realize this, but I want to tell you that this is a clear battle, and it's not going to let up anytime soon.

The floodgates, I believe, are going to pour in because leadership plays a huge role in how the people experience religious freedoms. Look at Russia, look at North Korea, look at China. Look at all the countries. Look at America. Leadership matters. God has an opinion about leadership. God wants godly people leading people.

He does not want the throne of iniquity leading people. He often chastises the thrones of iniquity. He would judge the Assyrians and the Babylonians and even the children of Israel when they got wayward. Leadership matters. We need to get away from this idea that all this other stuff doesn't matter. That's not biblical.

We trust in Jesus. That's why we are concerned for the poor and the innocent. That's why we care that they slaughter hundreds and hundreds of children per day in abortion clinics, just like giving and offering sacrifices to the god of Moloch. We care that people are being taken advantage of. We care that political people are lying and deceiving.

We should care about those things and we must make a difference. But you must overcome fear. Here is what living in fear is. The first thing you have to do is repent of it. We don't even have a spirit of fear, God says. As a believer filled with the Holy Spirit, you don't have that spirit of fear in you. It comes upon you.

I believe it's demonic, and we either embrace it or we remove it. We cast it away. Here is what living in fear is, especially relevant to what we're going through now. If I find out that a family has COVID-19 or has the flu or is sick or has chickenpox and my kids haven't had it, wisdom says I'm probably not going to go there.

I'm going to use wisdom. That's probably not a wise thing to do. I don't want to tempt God. I don't want to presume that we'll be okay. God gives us wisdom for a reason. Proverbs says wisdom is the principal thing, the main thing. Therefore get wisdom, and in all your getting, get understanding. She will exalt you, she will promote you, she will be your safeguard, she will cover you.

Wisdom is a precious gift that God has given us. Living in fear looks like this when it paralyzes, when it controls, and when it inhibits you from being who God has called you to be. We're not going out of our house. We're not doing anything. We're listening to what the state recommends, and we're living in fear.

So now I'm paralyzed. Now I'm useless for the kingdom of God. Now it's controlling me. Now I won't go here or do that because now I'm living in fear. That's a big difference than using wisdom and saying if they have that, then I'm probably not going over there right now. Or maybe God will call you to go and lay hands on the sick if God strengthens you and confirms that in you and the power of the Holy Spirit is residing in you and you make that decision.

But that's the difference. When a person lives in fear, all their choices are manipulated by the fear: the way they spend their money, the way they spend their time, who they don't see, who they do see, where they go. It's all controlled by fear. They're paralyzed.

You'll see that's why many people across the United States will not come back to church. They can go in Lowe's and stand in line and grab carts that weren't cleaned and touch ATM machines a hundred people touched already, but they won't come to church because fear is paralyzing them. So that's the difference.

You can use wisdom, like we're going to use wisdom when we open up and go by the guidelines they put out. I have personal thoughts about that, but I'll leave it for later. We want to be respectful, but also we're not going to live in fear. Philippians 4:4 on this idea of overcoming fear: "Rejoice in the Lord always, always."

And he says, "And I say it again." You don't see that too much in the Bible. Three times you see in the book of Hebrews: "Harden not your heart, harden not your heart." But often you don't see, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say it, rejoice." Why is he saying that? Because it's a commandment.

We have to get our hearts right and rejoice in the Lord, even when I don't feel like it, even when all hell is breaking loose, even when I'm fearful. Lord, I'm taking my thoughts captive. The mind is a powerful thing. Rejoice. And then it's interesting he says, "Let your gentleness be evident to all men. Let your gentleness be evident to all men."

Here is what happens when you're not rejoicing and you're fearful: you're not gentle. They go together. Rejoice in the Lord. Again I'm going to tell you, rejoice in the Lord. And the church in Philippi, if you think we have it tough, they knew real persecution. Let your gentleness, let your meekness be known, be evident to all that the Lord is near.

Fear causes you to snap at your children. Fear causes you to yell. Fear causes you to go back to that addiction or that bondage. Fear causes you to make bad decisions. When you're trapped in that sin of fear, it's hard to rejoice. You can't rejoice. You're not gentle with people. It all goes together.

Taking pleasure and delighting in the Lord is foundational. How could I rejoice right now? Because you should thank Almighty God this could have been way worse. This could have been a hundred times worse. God in His mercy allowed it and exposed our hardness and our hearts and our fearful hearts. We should rejoice. Thank You, God.

You are good. We don't know what the future holds, but we know the God who holds the future. And again, I don't believe gentleness is an accident here. It's a byproduct. If you want to work on gentleness, if you lack love and you have a hard, critical heart and you lack gentleness—that would list most guys out there—I got you.

It's not an accident. The more you rejoice in the Lord, why? Because a thankful heart is not angry. It's thankful. It's rejoicing in what God has done. Often when they put "re" in front of it: rejoice, remind, redo, renew. Finding joy, find joy again. Rejoice. So yes, you had the joy, find that joy again. It's a matter of taking your thoughts captive.

We all know this. This is not rocket science. This is biblical truth that we know, but sometimes we have to be reminded of it. This is why gentleness, I believe, is so important right now. We have to be gentle with people because they're searching. See, many people are searching for God.

We need to be careful when we make fun of wearing masks or when we make fun about what we have to do because people are searching. We have to be careful that our overbearingness doesn't hurt others. I just talked to somebody today who lost a loved one to COVID-19. So we have to be careful that our abrasiveness doesn't hurt people.

They have to see that gentleness in there. I know it's hard. Trust me, this is a very difficult season for me to try to remain gentle and understanding when you've been played. I got it. I understand it. Don't drink the Kool-Aid. But at the same time, there has to be a gentleness. So just pray for me as I work through this.

Because you know when you've been played, when you see really what's going on, it's hard. It is very difficult to remain optimistic and positive and joy-filled and not step on toes. Sometimes I think we do need to step on toes, but you have to be careful whose toes you're stepping on. It reminds us here, the Lord is near.

What speaks here to me, too, is He's near to the brokenhearted. He's near to those who cry out to Him and He looks to that gentleness of heart. He's reminding people here the Lord is near. Then he goes on to say, "Do not be anxious about anything." Boy, Paul, isn't that easy? That's easy to say.

Don't be anxious about anything. What does he mean there? Because you're going to have anxiety about something. You're going to be anxious about this decision. So when that comes to you, that's normal. But what we do with it is what makes the difference. So when that comes in, I'm not to be anxious about these things.

But in every situation, by prayer and by petition, I go to God with thanksgiving and I present my requests to God. You take that anxiety and you take it to God. It's very hard to be anxious and fearful when you're praying. Try it. Open up the Psalms and start praying and crying out to God and worshipping.

Fear and anxiety will run. The problem is many people aren't running to God; they're running to fear and anxiety. Have thanksgiving, present your request to God, and the peace of God which transcends all understanding—in other words, I have this tremendous peace that doesn't make sense.

When you look at the Book of Martyrs by Fox, and all these people who went to be burned at the stake—I don't know if you're having a bad day, but I don't think you're being led to be burned at the stake right now or being hung or being beheaded—and many of these men and women, they would have tremendous peace that surpasses all understanding.

How can you have that? Because their eyes are fixed on Christ. God gives them this peace and it guards their heart and it guards their mind in Christ Jesus. But you have to bring your thoughts captive. That's why it begins with, "Do not be anxious." Instead, give these things to God. Do not be anxious, actually, if I read this correctly, is a command.

So if I'm being fearful and anxious and I'm entertaining those thoughts and I'm not doing anything about it, I'm sinning in this area. It's a command not to be anxious. Also, many people, you know why they're anxious right now? They're consuming anxiety. They're consuming things that make them anxious.

Mentally, of course, or even what caffeine and alcohol and drugs and all the people are taking—all these things that actually fuel anxiety, not fight it. They actually will fuel this area of anxiety. And then he gives unconditional peace, but it is conditional. And it's interesting here. He said pray. "By prayer and by petition."

You have to understand there's two separate words here. Prayer isn't always asking. Sometimes many of us think that prayer is, "Okay, I'm going to pray. I'm going to ask for this, ask for this, ask for this." This type of prayer is not asking; it's receiving from God. I think it was Robert Murray McCheyne who said he spends the first hour of prayer getting ready to pray.

That's true if you've ever spent extended time with God. You don't just go right into heartfelt, passionate prayer. Sometimes you have to spend that time getting your heart ready for prayer. So this kind of prayer is receiving from God. What do I mean by that? Well, you sit at the foot of the cross, or you sit in your chair, or you kneel at home or somewhere.

Or go take a walk out in the desert or up in the mountains, wherever you're at, and you receive from God. "Heal my spirit, God. Fill me with Your presence. I need to hear from You." You're just open to receiving God. And then he says, and then also you can bring in petitioning. That's where asking comes from. Have you heard that word petition?

"God, I petition You. I ask You, Lord, would You do these things?" So we see a clear call here to prayer in the sense of receiving and waiting on God, and then there's a time for petitioning God. And then he says, and then the peace. Isn't it interesting? He doesn't just say, "Give up anxiety, don't be anxious about anything, and then you'll have peace."

No, it says, "And then bring it to prayer, bring it to petitioning, and have thankfulness in your heart, present your request to God, and then the peace will come." So that one we just covered was we must overcome fear to overcome the throne of iniquity. The next point is this: improve your mental diet. Amen.

Most of you know this. I'm not going to spend lots of time here because I do often, but Paul goes here, so I have to go here as well. He says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is true, whatever is true, meditate on these things." Why are you meditating on the fake news?

Why are you meditating on news with an ulterior motive? I'm all for getting information. I'm getting some information, but I'm not allowing that news to affect me. So he says, "Whatever is true, meditate on these things." Too many of you are meditating on what is false. You're meditating on things that are not true, and they're building fear and they're not sustaining us.

And then, "Whatever is noble." Meditate on what is noble. So what is noble? Well, here is what it is: it means morality, it means a person who is principled. It means what is noble, like purity and nobility and things that are good and pleasant. So Paul says, meditate—you know what, that would just eliminate 99.9% of your Netflix diet right there.

You're done with Netflix and Vudu and all of this if we focus on what Paul says. "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure." What does that mean? It's free of contamination. It's free of sexual perversion. It's free of mocking God. And then he says, "Whatever is lovely," meaning whatever is beautiful in God's eyes.

So let's take a break here for a minute. How are you doing? How are you doing in this area if you're struggling with fear, you're struggling with anxiety, you don't know what to do? Are you following Paul's advice? Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is clean, whatever is uncontaminated, whatever is of God, fellow brothers and sisters, meditate on these things.

Let your mental diet be focused on the glories of God and the purity of God and on worship and on His word. As you begin to fill your heart with these things, the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ will come out of your mouth and you'll begin to live it, you'll begin to lead people to God because you're full of what is pure and noble and right and upright.

And he also says what is admirable, something that is excellent. It is worthy of praise. Much of the garbage out there that we're viewing, and the reason I spend so much time on this is this is where I believe many people are at right now. They are filling their minds with things that are not true.

They're filling their minds with things that are not noble. It's not right. It's contaminated. It's sexually perverted. It's not beautiful in God's sight. It's not excellent and admirable and worthy of praise. They're meditating on these things. And as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth is going to speak.

When you turn on the media, why do you keep gravitating towards darkness? True and undefiled religion, James would say, is to become unpolluted and uncontaminated by the world.

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.