Regaining Lost Ground

Pastor Shane Idleman: Wake up in the morning, and my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness, how good You are, Lord, and praise You all the day long. Start to push out the negative. You are good. Lord, You are a good God. Look at how blessed we still are in our nation. You're raising up godly leaders in good churches and families. You're making a difference in this darkness. Lord, show me how I can make a difference. Get rid of my critical spirit and my negative attitude. Lord, begin to just bless me as I bless others. Lord, I want to lift You up, and I want You to be exalted in my life today.

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 the message titled, "The Lord Avenger of His People."

Hebrides Revival leader Duncan Campbell once encouraged his congregations with this: "It has been a source of great comfort and strength in the day of battle, just to remember that the secret of steadfastness and indeed of victory is the recognition that the Lord is at hand."

Today, do you find yourself spiritually weary, feeling despondent or indefeat? Please join us for this uplifting message from Pastor Shane as he prods us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, always resting on the sovereign assurance from our Heavenly Father that when we allow Him to fight our battles, we will always be victorious.

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. Please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. And now from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idleman.

Pastor Shane Idleman: And so without cause, they have hidden their net for me. In other words, it's talking about how you catch a bird or how you catch an animal. Their trickery, their deceit, they're trying to stop certain people from doing God's will.

For without a cause, they have no cause against me. They want to put me in a pit, which they have dug without cause. For my life. When the innocent goes before God and pleads his case, God listens. God listens to the cries of the innocent. He is their avenger. He is the one who will see them through.

Sometimes, though, things get more difficult. Sometimes things get more challenging. That's what I was thinking about when you heard sister Sarah's testimony. Listen to it on YouTube if you can. Saturday, November 5th. The whole time, I sat there thinking, "How did she put up with that for so long?" To be in a Chinese prison for no reason? There's no reason for her to be in there, other than she wasn't following what the Chinese mandated a church should teach and what they should say. She was telling people what the Bible said.

And so she was pleading her cause month after month. Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly, and let his net that he has hidden catch himself. Into that very destruction, let him fall. You see also when we get into Esther, the man who built the gallows, Haman, built these gallows, this huge place to hang Mordecai. Because the Jew, he goes, "I'm going to hang him from these," and God reversed the plan. Esther went into a three-day fast and prayed for such a time as this. "If I perish, I perish." And the same gallows that he made to hang Mordecai, he himself was hung on.

God will do that. God will do that. If things aren't happening in your time, it doesn't mean God's not moving. Anybody want to push God quickly through things? Just me. "Lord, come on, what's going on here?" And we might see it, I've said this before, we might see our nation continue to plummet deeper into the moral cesspool. But it doesn't mean we give up.

It means we trust God and His sovereignty. We've also read the end of the book. We know things are obviously getting worse, but I also believe that God can bring His revival fires from time to time and an awakening, and we're contending for those things. That's what God will often do is tilt that scale back into the favor of the light and for people contending for the truth.

What concerns me a little bit about this topic is a Christian can have a good cause or have righteous indignation, but then they have a bad attitude. The grumbling and complaining will overshadow the other areas. For example, "I'm ticked off with what's going on." You fill in the blank. Where do you want to start this list?

Everything from politics to the LGBTQ issues to your workplace, whatever it is. But if you have a bad attitude, grumbling, complaining, it's going to be really hard to get God to move on your behalf until you deal with that. I see it a lot. People come in, and it's actually sad. I leave sometimes thinking, "Lord, I don't know what to do." They come in the prayer room and you can just tell they're ticked off. "Yeah, but, I know, yeah, but." Their attitude's wrong.

I'm just telling you because I love you. If anybody can have a critical attitude, it's me. I struggle with it daily sometimes. You get cynical, you get negative. You watch the polls and you watch what's going on and you're like, "Oh God, help me. What is going on here?" But the attitude, that's what tilts the scale. Because I can have a right cause but a wrong attitude, and I have to deal with my attitude first.

If God has been convicting you about a critical heart, an overbearing heart, a fearful heart, always conspiracy theories and always down and always being negative, I would encourage you to repent of that and change that. Allow the fruit of the spirit, the Holy Spirit, to come in and fill you with love and joy and peace and contentment, gentleness and kindness. Because that's how you make a difference.

I was asked today, I don't know how many of you have heard of Victor Marx, somehow I ended up on his podcast today, and we were talking about this very topic on pastors that are not saying anything or people, Christians, who are getting bitter and resentment and we're angry but we're not humble. God doesn't bless anger. He blesses humility, and then from that can come righteous indignation.

What I do and what you do comes often from anger. Correct? If things are going great, political things are going great, everybody's coming to know the Lord, things are going great, there's not a lot of anger, righteous indignation to make a difference. Martin Luther was angry in 1517 in Wittenberg, Germany. John Calvin was angry. Wesley was ticked off. Whitefield was kicked out of churches.

Did you know these guys that we read and we like were not allowed to preach in churches? They got so ticked off they went and preached in open fields. But their attitudes were right. Amy Carmichael, you should read her story on the mission field, her attitude, getting her attitude right. And so we can have these right causes but wrong attitudes. And that's where God's going to say, "Hey, until you get that right." Personal testimony, God, I know He's held me back many times until my attitude's right. Especially preaching. "Lord, I don't want to go up there in anger. I'm going to have Pastor Abram preach this Sunday because I'm a little too upset."

I've had to deal with those things because it's normal to feel those things, but you don't want to hold onto them. Then they begin to define you. Then you're critical to your spouse, you're mean-spirited to your children, you're negative and you're toxic. Toxic, toxic, toxic.

And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord. Let's go back, let's put this in context. He's ticked off this whole tirade here. Okay, then you can switch to the next screen. Then it's about, it's like, "Okay, I released it all. I feel better now." And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord. He really switched. But see, that's how it works with praying and meditating. You let God have, you throw up verbally.

You let God, "Lord, here's how I'm feeling. Here's what I'm going through. Here's the challenges. I don't understand. I don't know what to do. Would You avenge them? Would You be my rear guard? Would You be my protection? I don't know what to do with these jokers that are putting me down or these people coming against us. God, I don't know what to do." And after you get that out and God begins to rebuild you from the inside out and redefine your thinking and get you on the right path, then the joy will follow.

The joy of the Lord. David goes on to say the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strong tower. The joy of the Lord is my buckler that I'll hide behind there. There's something about where you can't, when somebody has the joy of the Lord, it's pretty hard to put out their fire. And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord.

And I also, this could get real creative because how we read these often, if you look at the Hebrew layout of the sentence structure and different things, sometimes they're saying things a little bit differently. And it's almost like he's commanding himself. "My soul shall be joyful." He's basically telling himself what he's going to do.

It's like, "Shane, you're going to be filled with joy towards the Lord." I'm telling myself. "Self, flesh, shut your mouth. Be quiet. Negative Nelly, you go home. Judgmental Jerry, you go sit in the car and wait until services are over." I'm telling my soul to be joyful, joyful in the Lord. And because of it, it's going to rejoice in His salvation. I love that song Natalie sang about the salvation and rejoicing in that.

Why are we so bored during worship, many people? God has set us free, His Son has died for us, and it might as well be just sitting watching a boring movie because it doesn't register. Sometimes you have to tell yourself to be joyful, filled with joy, rejoice in His salvation. All my bones, basically all of my being.

It was the same David who said, "Blessed are the bones that You have broken that they would rejoice in You," when he was caught with Bathsheba and God confronted him. "Even my bones hurt, my bones are weak, blessed is the name of the Lord." It's the same type of imagery here. All of my bones shall say, "Lord, who is like You?" All of my body is, I'm getting excited, I'm encouraging myself in the Lord.

David would encourage himself in the Lord often. Delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him. The Lord is your redeemer, the Lord will set you free, the Lord will go to court on your behalf. Yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him. So God will be the strength in these difficult times.

And poverty often, it's not just poor financially, although it could be. It's also a person could have wealth but be taken advantage of by others. People could come in and just walk all over them, steamroll them. And God says, God is going to still guard those and guide those who are poor financially, of course, but also poor in spirit, as we already know from the Bible that God blesses those who are poor in spirit.

Fierce witnesses rise up. Here he goes again. He's upset. Does that sound like you ever? Get it off your chest but then you get upset again. Fierce witnesses rise up, they ask me things that I do not know. Oh, that challenging, they're asking me things I do not know, they're coming against me, they're attacking me. I don't even know how to answer them. Any of you been there before?

If not, get into the ministry. They reward me evil for good. So I give them good, they reward me for evil. To the sorrow of my own soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. In other words, I mourned for them. When they were sick, I mourned for them, I prayed for them, and it sounds like he's been hurt by somebody he was close to.

Anybody relate to that in the church? Actually those who hurt us the most are often those closest to us. Those in the church. That's where that term backstabbing comes from. With an enemy you're ready. You know you're getting stabbed, okay, that didn't hurt too bad. But when it comes from within, when those you trust the most, that's why it hurts the most because there's more to lose there.

And instead they reward me evil for good to the sorrow of my own soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled myself with fasting. And see, that's a key thing with fasting that a lot of people don't realize. It's not works-based, it's not trying to be super spiritual, it's recognizing, "God, I need to humble myself." And one of the best ways to do that is through prayer and fasting.

And my prayer would return to my own heart. In other words, as he was praying for these people, as he was reconciling this relationship, strength returned to his own heart. I paced about as though he were my friend or my brother. I bowed down heavily as one who mourns for his own mother. And so again he's feeling the pain, probably betrayal.

Probably somebody just really was trying to take him out. I mean the Old Testament was brutal. We think we have it bad now, but go live back then. It was bloody, it was brutal. And he recognizes here that somebody has turned on him. But in my adversity, they rejoiced and they gathered together. Attackers gathered against me and I did not know it. They tore at me and did not cease with ungodly mockers at feasts. They gnashed at me with their teeth.

So we find out what he's talking about here. How did they come against him? They came against him with mocking. And that's one thing we want to get across to our young adults and our teens and ignite, prepare for mocking as you get older. It's not like when I was younger or you, or even some of you who aren't too old, in your 30s in high school. The mocking now, it's getting even worse with the TikTok and the Instagram and Twitter.

They're mocking your looks, mocking this, everything's poking fun. Bullying's getting huge. Suicide rate is alarming on the young adults because of the mockery. And there's so much at a young age, you're just learning who you are at 14, 15, 16, and you need encouragement and not belittling. And that's why the mocking is so difficult because they put so much emphasis on the words of others.

And not a lot has changed in some adults. They can't handle a lot of mocking, they get hurt too easily. They gnashed at me with their teeth. Oh Lord, how long? How long will You look? God, have you ever said that? I'm saying it right now. How long will You look upon what's going on? Lord, look at this. Can't You act on our behalf? Can't You do something massive and cataclysmic?

So have any of you been here before? How long? And if we stop and think about it, I know we can get real negative on what's going on. But there's a lot of positives too. You know, I've talked about before, and I don't want to get into a lot of that now, but with the people I mentioned at the beginning of this service, coming to know the Lord, standing up for things that are right.

You can see what maybe is going on with Twitter now, at least my posts aren't getting banned and shut down and things. And God's raising up voices and raising up movements and young adults and others. And you see that there is some things to be rejoicing in. And I hope you realize that our hope is not in those people, but it is good to see that God is raising up certain people that will help fight in these areas.

So Lord, how long will You look on? Rescue me, rescue me from what? Their destructions. My precious life from the lions. I will give You thanks in the great assembly. I will praise You among many people. In other words, he's saying no matter what happens, I will praise Your Holy Name. I will lift You up and You alone. Let them not rejoice over me who are wrongfully my enemies.

Nor let them wink with the eye who hate me without a cause. For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful matters against the quiet ones in the land. Now be encouraged, if people are devising things against you, God knows. God might allow it for a little while. God might even allow it to look like they're prevailing.

God might even have them think that He's not doing anything and you feel the pressure of this. But in the end, God will get the last laugh. God is the avenger of His people. God is working behind the scenes. And that's why it's so important to keep the right attitude, to keep the right focus, to keep persevering until we see that through.

But they devise deceitful matters against the quiet ones in the land. They also open up their mouth wide against me and they say, "Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it." In other words, they're trying to falsely accuse him of things he didn't do. And we're seeing that play out in our culture as well. This You have seen, oh Lord. Do not keep silence, oh Lord.

In other words, "Hey God, did You see that? Did You see what's going on? Let me remind You. I need You. Do not be far from me. Lord, stir up Yourself and awake to my vindication. Come on God, hurry up a little bit. To my cause, my God and my Lord. Vindicate me, oh Lord my God, according to Your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me. Let them not say in their hearts, 'Aha, just like, we got our way, basically.'"

So we would have it. Let them not say we have swallowed him up. In other words, don't let their fear, don't let their intimidation intimidate me. Don't let their plans come to fruition. Don't let them be successful in this area of attacking me. And I think he goes on to say, "Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who rejoice at my hurt. And let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who exalt themselves against me."

"Let them shout for joy and be glad who favor my righteous cause. And let them say continually, 'Let the Lord be magnified.'" If we could say that every day. "Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant." Did you know that's biblical? God has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. But for just a minute, remove the dollar signs.

That word has a much fuller meaning. The Lord takes pleasure in seeing His servants flourish or their children prosper, or what he does have significant results, have fruit. It's not necessarily bling-bling. But I believe also God will bless His people financially from time to time too. That's a whole another teaching, of course.

But that prosperity is God's people are prosperous, their children are honored. Even though there's difficulties and challenges, the kids are raised in a godly home and things are, there's favor upon their life. Have you ever had the favor of God? It's amazing when you have the favor of God. Doesn't mean life is perfect, but there's a prosperity there that what you're doing has benefits and there's fruit. It's very rewarding.

And he said, "My tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long." And that's what I want to challenge you with tonight. Wake up in the morning, and my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness, how good You are, Lord. Lord, I will praise You.

Pastor Shane Idleman: 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 book 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.