Regaining Lost Ground

Pastor Shane Idleman: He's calling, wake up. It's your time to shine. You were born for such a time as this, such a time as this.

Pastor Shane Idleman: It's the same thing, not to the degree of Jesus, not to the, I mean, I'm not even comparing, but what I'm saying is the same principle can be applied to a Spirit-filled believer. The Spirit of the Lord of God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. So when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you're preaching to the poor. You can heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison doors to those who are bound. That's why the Holy Spirit comes upon believers to preach and to be able to have discernment. Now let's go back to the other screen because this was so important.

Announcer: Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today in Regaining Lost Ground, we hear part one of this Spirit-filled message titled, "Don't Quench the Holy Spirit."

Revivalist preacher AW Tozer once said, "The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders and interfering with God's work within us."

Today, Pastor Shane shakes every believer to genuine humility and a contrite heart before a holy God. Learn how we may grow in the depth of the Savior's love right now. 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.

Pastor Shane Idleman: So let's turn to Acts. Again, we're encouraging you to bring your Bibles, bring a highlighter. I'd have your young adults, your teenagers, I mean, bringing their Bible, have a highlighter. And if, and God will, God will speak to you through his Word.

I mean, I've, I've, I've, there's some passages I've read dozens of times and then that one time, wow, this is for me today. This is, this is for me today. It's unbelievable. And God will use Scripture because the Word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any double-edged sword. It pierces, it divides, it discerns our thoughts with the thoughts of God.

So bring your Bibles. Wednesdays, I'm in Psalms verse by verse. And also here we're in Acts. So Acts 4:32. You can move ahead to 4:32 a little bit. Now the multitude of those who believed were one heart and one soul. So all of the believers came together.

Here goes a rabbit trail. I've noticed this, I've noticed this over the years and I've talked about it, but it fits again. When I first came to the Lord, I remember that time. Many of you do too, and there wasn't much that could divide you, unless you got around a divisive person.

We were all like, we're coming to church, we're praying. Let's pray that God's going to heal you. Let's pray for worship. Let's pray. Let's, let's, oh my, and and and we're all of one accord. We're here, but then, somebody creeps in and says, oh, the gifts of the Spirit are not for today anymore. You can't be this, what are you, we shouldn't be doing this. And that's emotional worship. That's emotional worship's too emotional.

And all this division comes in the body that's trying, remember the Holy Spirit is never divided. This has always helped me over the years. So if I'm divided with somebody or you are, the Holy Spirit's not. Somebody's wrong. And if you say, it's not me, pride. Be careful, be careful.

Paul actually says, we'll get into it in the future, that there must be division among you in the church. What? Because it will prove to the body who is right and who is wrong. In other words, when there's division, there's going to be light and darkness, right and wrong, truth and error. There's attitudes getting away. Anybody ever let their pride get in the way?

So the majority of church quarrels, where do they come from? Not the Holy Spirit. The Bible actually talks about it from the lust of the flesh, the pride. And where do wars and quarrels come from? I think it was in James. What we, lusting and wanting more and more knowledge and to be esteemed and to be recognized and to come across smart, to want to debate theology.

I learned years ago, I don't want to answer questions on social media anymore because nine times out of ten, they don't want to know my answer. What is it? It's a bait you in. "Pastor, I have a question." Oh, okay, here's my answer. Oh, no, no. Oh, oh, I see. You just want to argue. Yeah.

So now I say, call the church if you have questions and I'll talk to you. Guess who doesn't call the church ever? None of these heresy hunters because they know one-on-one on the phone, this can happen, they're going to, just. And so you, and, and, and I've caused division in the church. Haven't you? We all have. This little thing gets going a little too much. The mouth, saying too much, maybe not handling something correctly.

Do you know what? Drama does not come from the Holy Spirit. When there's drama in a church, it's attitudes. Well, I'm not going to take that. Well, they better, they better acknowledge me. I've got a teaching gift. Why aren't I doing this? Why aren't I on the worship stage? Oh, but you heard, didn't you hear? Did you hear? You didn't hear?

I saw Pastor Shane run a red light. What's the point of that? I haven't. It's been a long time. Full stops. Now that's tough, especially coming down that hill, you're in a hurry. Nobody's coming.

But they were of one heart and one soul. Told you, I can't get away from the first sentence. But that's just really, it's really resonating with me lately that, guys, unity is so important. Could it be that we're not experiencing that incredible revival we pray about because of too much disunity?

Could it be that maybe God is not working as profoundly in your life because of a divided heart? And we all struggle with it. If you're human, you have a pride issue at some point. Even those who think they're humble, they take pride in their humility. It's never ending.

But just to just throw it out there if, if you're argumentative and you're always looking for that little thing, unteachable, eager to dispute, you might want to check yourself with God. Pray and say, Lord, give me that humble, broken heart.

We're supposed to actually overlook differences on the non-essentials. Why it's the non-essentials that divide us? And I've, I've shared this before. We went through a terrible church split, three weeks, we're at this church for three weeks. Three weeks. And it's just like, most difficult thing I've, I've witnessed, and it wasn't really hard for us because we're new, but to see and witness an entire church, probably this size, right down the middle.

And I've said it before, I don't think they would care if I said it. Calvary Chapel, Mike Morris, he's actually a friend of mine, he's retired. I want him to come preach at some point and tell us, share about your life. And he came in, I think, at that time and, and or after the split actually and, and it's like, I mean, just the the meetings where they would like yell. Like when cuss words come out?

Like, we're a church, what is going on, Lord? And here we are, new church, been here three weeks. Man, it was terrible. And all the rumors and all, it's like, this is unbelievable, unbelievable. What caused this dreaded church split? The flesh, right? But what topic? The gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer available today.

Chuck Smith taught it and believed it. This other church was being influenced by the John MacArthur Study Bible. And I had talked to both sides. Unbelievable. And so that's sometimes why I get passionate about these topics.

And I, I do find it ironic. Why was the side so hell-bent against the gifts being for today, so divisive? Because when you begin to quench the Holy Spirit in that area, you begin to quench him in all areas. The same group who says that, because I get on these, these tweets with X and these guys that are sensationists and, it's like, man, they're just.

But it's not just the gifts. They also, I don't know if they ever have an all-night prayer meeting, a worship night for three hours. Are you kidding me? That's too emotional. Fasting, prayer, revival, seeking God? No, sir. Suit and tie, King James only. Theology, theology, theology. Did you lift your hands? Who lift their, whoever lift their hands today, next Sunday, don't you dare. Don't you dare.

Guys, you think I'm joking, but I know churches, I'm not going to say them, where the ushers have to go and tell people. You think the Holy Spirit's happy with that? No. Now, to their credit, there are some weird stuff on YouTube. It's like, and I've said it before, I have lots of questions and concerns about the Bethels and the Stephen Furticks and the the weirdness and the tunnel fires and angel feathers and it's like, don't even, wow.

But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just because Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons misinterpret the Bible, doesn't mean I'm going to throw the Bible out. So just because you have people misinterpreting the work of the Holy Spirit, especially if you've ever experienced the gifts of the Holy Spirit, then you, you can never go back.

You can never. Well, but you read, but Paul, but Paul did that. Paul told us how to act. So that doesn't happen anymore? Do you have a chapter and verse for me? Of course not. And so I've seen it and and often that side is very divisive because when you're quenching and grieving the Spirit, you're also quenching and grieving the fruit of the Spirit.

So you will have less love, gentleness, kindness, self-control, without a shadow of a doubt. And I know this is going to upset people, not here but later. Hopefully this, maybe the editing won't work and YouTube won't be able to release this, but it's true. The true of the the people that I know, let me be careful before I say it, 99.9% of the people I know who are loving, gracious, right, you've, you've got the fruit of the Spirit, what I guess they would call Spirit-filled believers.

All of them believe in the active continual work of the Spirit. I don't, I don't know. I just, I again, personally, I'm not saying they're not out there. I'm not, personally, I don't, those who are against the deeper works of the Spirit, against the gifts, man, they're like, dude, you're a little hard. You've got some, you've got some abrasiveness there. Yeah, but I have theology.

Yeah, calm down. So do I. And actually, the theology says the Holy Spirit still moves in the miraculous. I mean, you actually have a harder job proving he doesn't than I do, he does. So who's questioning, who's, who's got their issue with theology now?

And so the only reason I say that, is it going to, is it going to change the critics? No. But I'm trying to meet the people caught in the middle who this destructive doctrine is hurting their relationship with the Lord.

So, pass the first sentence, okay? You guys ready? But if we can't get past that, they're now one heart, one soul, they're united. And I probably won't say any of that the second service, so maybe somebody need to hear that. Also, I don't know what service we'll choose for YouTube, so maybe it won't go out, but it's important. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own.

So nothing that I possess is my own. Well, there you go, it's socialism. Communism, the Bible's teaching it. No, it's not. Anything but. All they're saying is God owns this, I'm the steward.

And they had all things in common and with great power. Power always goes with unity. Power. And again, I love big services, but the most, when I, the times I've seen the most power of the Holy Spirit have often been in smaller settings. Correct? Those who want to be there. The prayer meeting, the worship night, those, I mean, it's like I'm coming come hell or high water.

You get that group together that's united and the power seems to flow more freely. Not weird power, but you know, power to break, power to encourage, power to rebuild, power to maybe heal, maybe set somebody free because God is moving.

And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. Remember, grace falls on an obedient heart. And I would love to fully exhaust this Scripture, but it says, God, and I believe he's talking to believers, God resists the proud.

Is God fighting you today? Man, this sermon has got so many rabbit trails. I just feel strongly. Is, is, are you fighting against God? Is God fighting, you feel like God's resisting me. God resists the proud. And let me tell you, let me tell you, as God is my witness, he doesn't give up.

Have you noticed that? Man, Shane, you've been resisting me all year. You got it. I'm tired. God's tired. You won, Shane. No, what does he try to do? He tries to get me down. The older I get, the harder it is to get up.

Grace falls upon an obedient heart. God resists the proud. If God is, if you feel God is resisting you, if you feel hard this morning, but he gives grace to the humble. Humble yourself. Even on that topic, let's say I went too earlier, even on the topic of the gifts, you could pray, Lord, I don't know, I don't, I don't know what Shane's saying is true, but I trust you. You show me.

You show me, God. What, what, you show me. I'm humbling myself to hear from you. But if we're prideful and we're resisting the work of the Holy Spirit. Isn't it funny? Jesus said, I believe it was Jesus or no, actually it might have been Peter, Paul, in the book of Acts we'll get to. He called them out. He said, why are you always resisting the Holy Spirit?

Resisting the Holy Spirit. That tells me you can allow. People get, but Shane, you'll, you'll get misled if you're just, you're just open to all this stuff and, no, no, the Word is our grounding. The the Word is the foundation. Stop worrying too much. You're not going to get misled if you're Spirit-led, Spirit-filled, and buried in God's Word and allowing his standard, his guidelines, his principles to guide you. That's the foundation.

Yes, you'll get carried away if you're open to, I heard a voice. I felt a prompting. I felt this. I had a dream. I had a dream. Don't go off those alone. The Word is what guides us and directs us.

It is, I mean, it is ironic. You can't get out of the first couple chapters of the Gospel. God gave Joseph a dream. God gave Joseph a dream. God gave the three wise men a dream. God gave this person a dream. God, it's like, but he doesn't do that anymore? Because we have his Word?

Well, sometimes I need a little help. I can't just turn to John 12 for my question. All principles are here, all truth. But sometimes I need a little help with the Holy Spirit. Would you show, would you help me here? I need a little confirmation. I know the Bible says step out in faith, but I don't know if this is presumption or faith.

I don't know if I'm moving too quick or if it's faith. I have Scripture telling you all about faith, but I don't, I don't trust me. Have you ever done that? Weeks will go by and then, Lord, and then he, clear as day. Clear as day. He, he, in some supernatural way, he shows you, yes, that's the direction. Without that, sometimes, and sometimes he doesn't say anything.

It's just stepping out in faith. And so, but we don't want to limit God. Great spiritual power equals great boldness. We have to remember that. We want the, the, the, the power of the Holy Spirit. If you want it for yourself, if you want it for yourself, you're not going to, you're not going to receive this great outpouring of the Holy Spirit into your heart.

Because that is for self-exaltation. And actually, I'm going to, let's, let's, I'm going to come back to this in a minute. Let's go to the next screen because I think I just added this verse too. And it just fit with where I was going.

He, the Holy Spirit is in you for you, in in you for you, to save you. But he's upon you for others. And if I misspoke, elders will bring it up at the next meeting. I'm open, I'm teachable. Think about it. Is the Holy Spirit upon me for me? Oh, this feels great, worship. I can just worship. Can I come here tonight by myself? I don't want anybody here. This is all about me coming upon me. And man, I just, I just, oh, I just, the Holy Spirit is upon me. That's great. Oh, and and, no, he's upon me or upon you to bless others.

The Holy Spirit came upon them and they did ministry. He came upon them and they did this miracle. It's never upon the person. Maybe he come upon you for a powerful prayer life, but you're probably going to be interceding.

And the key, what's so important about this verse is, it's about Jesus, correct, written 700 years or so before Jesus. But Isaiah quoted it and what's interesting is the same thing, not to the degree of Jesus, not to the, I mean, I'm not even comparing, but what I'm saying is the same principle can be applied to a Spirit-filled believer. The Spirit of the Lord of God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. So when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you're preaching to the poor. You can heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty of the captives and the opening of the prison doors to those who are bound. That's why the Holy Spirit comes upon believers.

To preach and to be able to have discernment. Now let's go back to the other screen because this was so important. Great spiritual power equals great boldness. We have to remember that. Look at these two martyrs in the early church.

Polycarp said, your fire, he's, I believe he's talking to, one of the, the, the leaders of, of was he in Rome? I'm not sure. One of the, then Caesars. But he said, your fire burns for an hour and goes out, but the fire of the coming judgment is eternal. Before he got burned. He could have been to the papacy even. Oh no, the third first century that would have been that.

You can kill us but you cannot do us any real harm. Justin Martyr. Do you realize the early believers were were killed for their faith? Man, we have a, we throw a fit if there's something said negative about us on social media.

Why? Because the more spiritual power they had because of the, the empty themselves, the greater boldness they had. And then Acts 4:32-36 continues. So what, what we just read, the multitude who believed there are of one accord. Great, doing great miracles, nor was there anyone among them who lacked.

Wow. Now again, it's an early church setting, right? It's smaller meetings, house churches and different things. They would meet at the temple probably together and then they would break up into smaller groups. So there was not anyone who lacked, for all who were possessors of land or houses, sold them and they brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and they laid them at the apostles' feet and they distributed each as anyone had need.

So we see in the early church, and this happens, maybe you've experienced before. And I tell people, you don't just go sell everything and go live in a tent out in the Mojave Desert off the grid. Unless you want to. What it is though, it's an attitude of, Lord, this is yours.

And they did. They had, the early church felt compelled. God led them, hey, I'm going to sell this land, I'm going to give this up and and we've got people in need and we're going to help meet all those needs.

Pastor Shane Idleman: He's calling, wake up. It's your time to shine. You were born for such a time as this. He's calling, wake up. It's your time to shine. You were born for such a time as this. He's calling, wake up. It's your time to shine.

Announcer: 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." He's calling, wake up. It's your time to shine. You were born for such a time as this. Regaining Lost Ground is sponsored by the generous supporters of the Ministries of Westside Christian Fellowship.