Regaining Lost Ground

Pastor Shane Idleman: And just loved him, like I truly did. I just loved this little guy. He's not that way, but I shot him straight. I shot him straight. And his head's down and he said, "I've never had anybody tell me that." Almost invited him to lunch, but I don't think that would have been a good idea with Morgan.

But see, that's what, it's not always loud in your face. Sometimes it's learning and listening and saying, "But have you thought?" Because they're broken, they're dying, they're looking, they're looking for what you have. Open your mouth and lead them to the cross, church. Open your mouth and lead them to the cross.

Announcer: 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 truthful message titled, "Why We Can't Always Be Nice."

1 John 3:18 tells us, "Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth." Are you tired of the wokeness of the false churches today? Are you looking to hear truth, unwatered and on fire? Join Pastor Shane as he brings the truth powerfully straight from God's living word, uncompromised. Find out where your faith really lies and why your need for more of God's spirit is essential in these times.

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: God says, if you seek me, you will find me. Why doesn't that hit us hard, church? Why doesn't it? Why doesn't it hit us and drop us to our knees? Why? If you seek me, you will find me, if you turn to me with all of your heart. God, we need you.

How are you going to handle bad news if you're not full of the spirit? How are you going to handle that, folks? There are things money can't fix. As you get older, things break even more.

Four facts about a fresh filling. Number three, they prayed and they prepared. I felt God had me do this. They prayed and prepared. Did you know that they fasted before they were sent out? Did you know that? Fasting was preparation. It filled them. It's hard to defeat darkness if we can't even defeat King Stomach.

You know how many people I upset when I say things like this, but I don't care. That's the truth. That's the truth. It really is. And I have a King Stomach, so I'm on your side. I shut his mouth though recently for a while, that's for sure. But he loves to rise again. You have to defeat King Stomach and bring in seasons of prayer and fasting. But Shane, I don't know. Well, Jesus said it. Not me. When you pray, when you give, when you fast.

And that doesn't mean wait until January 1st. I truly believe, here's the other side though, you don't want to get weird and legalistic and rigid. And even George Whitefield had a great point when he was trying to find God through all this fasting. You don't want to turn into that, but there should be a type of discipline. I would say weekly, where I'm going to silence your voice on Friday.

And you watch the demonic opposition. You watch how loud, and that's between you and the Lord what that looks like. But there should be seasons. Why? Because you have to regulate. The flesh gets out of control. You say, "Hey, stop it. I'm going to trip you." And it falls, and you get submission again. "I discipline my body and I bring it under subjection, lest when I preach to others I myself should become disqualified," Paul said. So it's a discipline.

I just, no, I'm not going to go there. I'm not going to go there. Maybe it's just harder for me. Can anybody else relate? You have to silence that voice. I'm still fighting it right now. I peeked in the usher room. Who brought the donuts this morning, you guys? Why can't I get that out of my mind? King Stomach.

Spiritual pressure must be maintained before there is breakthrough in heavenly warfare. That's what fasting is. Arthur Wallis wrote an incredible book, I think it's called *God's Chosen Fast*. Spiritual pressure must be maintained before there is a breakthrough in heavenly warfare. Realize that about the demonic. It does not leave easy. It does not submit easy. It's a fight. It's a fight. And sometimes you have to keep breaking it down, breaking it down, one brick at a time.

For example, fighting disease. It doesn't always just, oh, it's gone, praise God. Sometimes you're fighting and fighting, changing diet, adding these things, doing these things and trusting God, and it's a fight. And here's one I'm sure many need to hear. All listening at the sound of my voice, whether it's now or later, need to hear this one. Repentance will refill you. Repentance will refill you.

Two months ago when I found out, I spent a lot of time with the Lord saying, "God, I'm so sorry." Just going through the motions, growing cold, growing callous. Everything's good, no major things, but apathetic. Thank you for the fresh fire. And I had a choice to make that week. I did. Bitter and anger versus surrender. And I believe that's where the fresh fillings come from, that repentance.

Because see, now with repentance, you clean out what's preventing a mighty moving of God in your spirit. That's what it does. That's what repentance does. It cleans out all the junk that's preventing. It reminds me because I did this, I put in a lot of storm drains in Leona Valley. And they'd call us out sometimes when they weren't working. And usually you had to go in with heavy equipment and remove all the debris that was building up slowly.

And once that debris was removed, out to Edwards Air Force Base, Dry Lake bed, it would go. The same thing happens in our hearts. Repentance restores that relationship. That's why many aren't applying that verse: "If you seek me, you will find me." They need to repent of apathy. And the final fact, I guess there were five facts, I must have added that later. Not afraid to speak the truth and live it out. This will lead to a fresh filling.

Because, and I know I've been there, there are times when I know God is going to, and instead of obeying, I want to be nice and just kills the boldness. Kills the filling of the spirit. See, what happens is the spirit usually comes upon the boldness. I have a decision on Sundays, am I going to say that or not say that? And I say, "Lord, I need to say that," there's a boldness that comes from it.

Can you imagine if I came up here and said, "No, I'm not going to say that about Harry Potter, I'm not going to say that, and I'm going to be nice, I want to be nice, I'm not going to challenge." Lord, let me just get out of here nice and neat. There would have been no filling. Sure, I can give a good talk. That's what I was. I was a motivational speaker for the first couple of years. Morgan remembers. I would go to conferences and they would fill out forms. "How was our speaker today? Was he nice? Was he to the point? Did you learn something?"

And then they'd rate you on what you all thought. Gosh, if we did that here, I'd be in trouble. My goodness. There's only one person that I care what thinks of what I say, and that's God. Now, that doesn't mean you run around like a loose cannon. Actually, after second service today, we have an elders meeting and I often say, "Hey guys, if I'm too political or saying too this, let me know." And a lot of times it's just we're on the same page because this is what we need to hear.

So when you're not afraid to speak the truth and live it out, that boldness will come upon you. And you don't have to be like Paul did here. I love that actually, but you don't have to be like that. But not afraid to speak the truth and live it out. And when you decide to make that decision, even though here's what happens too, it's going to take some courage. And you step it out, the filling follows. Sometimes the filling doesn't come first. God honors when you step up to that platform and will begin to exalt what you say.

When we compromise the gospel, we quench and grieve the spirit. Our culture is looking for authenticity, isn't it? Our culture is looking for authenticity. Even it understands that a compromised life sends a compromised message. A.W. Tozer said this, "Where does Christianity destroy itself in a given generation? Where will Christianity destroy itself in a given generation, where we're living right now?" He says it destroys itself by not living in the light, by professing a truth it does not obey.

Like the Old Testament prophet, the same plea goes out today. How long will you waver between two opinions? If God is God, follow him. Isn't that so true? Acts continues, and now indeed the hand of the Lord is upon you. So Paul didn't even give him a chance to talk. He just told him off. And they said, "Now God's going to show you, you little sneaky devil. And you shall be blind and not see." I wish we could do this nowadays.

And maybe you can if you're filled with God and God directs you. I mean, I'm all, maybe more so. Maybe we're not filled as much as these guys and that's sometimes what I think the problem is. And immediately a dark mist fell on him and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. And then the proconsul believed. I bet he did. The governor saw the sorcerer in darkness and he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And a type of darkness still falls today when true preaching takes place.

When true preaching, there's a conviction of the spirit. Or the darkness will come over them and try to prevent them from hearing the light of the gospel. There's either a conviction, and what they do with that conviction is up to them. William Still said this about preaching: "Many, many people who for the first time come under the sound of Holy Ghost preaching, they are mortally offended because they've never been exposed to the white light of the spirit."

That's what happens when somebody is filled with the Spirit of God and there's boldness. Many people are like, "What is that? I'm not used to that. I don't want to hear that. Tickle my ears, don't challenge my heart. Who does that person think he is? He's judgmental." They're like, "Whoa." They just got hit with the gospel. Here's why. The white light exposes sin. It calls for repentance. It seeks holiness. It desires purity and there's a hunger for righteousness when you want the white light of the spirit, when you want the totality of God's word.

But I want to give you a warning. Boldness stirs conflict. Let me tell you, you guys think, "Oh, this church is so nice and quiet, no conflict." You have no clue. It hates it. It tries to stop it. And don't you see that? You see all the woke pastors and leaders, and then you see these guys that are being highlighted on Instagram, like Andrew Martines and his wife, Milas Eddis coming out in June and then Philip Anthony Mitchell, the Black pastor from Georgia. Dang, whoa.

I hear my son listen to them all the time. Like, "Turn that up. Dang." That's exactly what you don't think there's conflict going on? Destroy those voices. Shut down those voices. It stirs conflict. There's just no way around it. It may be health issues. It may be demonic oppression. It might be people coming against you. It might be all of them. Hello. I live in that world. Every weapon known to mankind demonically is thrown at us.

That's why I love the Bible verse, "Having done all, just stand." Just stand. "Lord, I can't fight this. I'm going to stand." I don't know if I ever told you this, I might not have. But about a year ago, YouTube shut us down. So 15 years of church sermons, everything, all kinds of stuff gone. Thousands of videos, gone. What? And then Luke was uploading something. He goes, "Hey, oh, by the way, they reinstated our channel." I'm like, "Oh, well, there you go. Isn't that nice?"

Like 28,000 subscribers and all the channels. Like, what was that? They don't just redo that a year later. You know, God's doing something. I've been praying for it because it's changed millions upon millions of views, changed lives. There's opposition in social media. I talk to other pastors, they don't have one fraction of the problems we have with sound. And it's not the sound team at all. Kevin, John, they do an amazing job.

They come in here dedicated their time. It's amazing. It's stuff we can't figure out. Like it was fine on Thursday for practice. Now all hell's breaking loose on Sunday. Livestream feeds, attitudes, attacks, personal attacks, health issues. I mean, you just boom. That's what I was going to do to the guy at the mall, so I'm glad I didn't go. So let me close with this statement: "Then the proconsul believed."

That's the most important thing. God often uses miracles and things to get us to believe. Then the proconsul believed. And here's the final point. We can't always be nice because conviction converts. Guys, here's probably the most important key of today. When we're always nice, that won't convert. I have these talks just like you. "Well, I believe all roads lead to God and all religions," okay, cool. Yeah, you found your inner self. Just want to be nice.

Just want to be nice. Their soul is going to hell and I want to be nice? No, you don't go off like Paul did. But you can say, "Hey, have you thought that all religions can't be right?" "Well, what do you mean?" And then you got to, there's, and then the spirit will bring things. Have you ever done that? Have you ever talked to people and you're like, "Where did that come from?" That happens all the time in the sermons, by the way. Second service probably going to be a lot different, so you might want to watch that one.

But there's just when you honor God and you begin to say things and the word, I remember that scripture and you begin to quote things and people are like, "Oh, you gave me a lot to think about, a lot to think about." And you have to be bold. I haven't told the story in a while, so if it's okay, but me and Morgan were in Palm Springs. Remember that? And this guy's checking me out. So finally, "What are you looking at, dude?"

"I just haven't seen you in this area before." Because I'm jogging to meet her for lunch and she's like, "Where are you?" I go, "Come over here." So I'm telling this guy and I shot him straight. I said, "You know what the Bible says in Romans 1?" And I just loved him, like I truly did. I just loved this little guy. He's not that way, but I shot him straight. I shot him straight. And his head's down and he said, "I've never had anybody tell me that." Almost invited him to lunch, but I don't think that would have been a good idea with Morgan.

But see, that's what, it's not always loud in your face. Sometimes it's learning and listening and saying, "But have you thought?" Because they're broken, they're dying, they're looking, they're looking for what you have. Open your mouth and lead them to the cross, church. Open your mouth and lead them to the cross. Paula just had me visit somebody, remember Paula?

And I walked up to the fourth floor, the oncology unit. I didn't know it was the oncologist unit. Holy smokes. Next time warn me. So there's just so much brokenness and just talk to, "Hey, I know I can relate. Let me give you the hope." Just be used of God. Be bold in that way. Watch what God does with boldness and humility. But church, it isn't we aren't designed to come here and just be fed. We have to burn the fuel, the spiritual fuel that comes in.

We can't always be nice because conviction converts. Closing verse, Acts 16. Sirs, we're going to get to this in the weeks to come. "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul gets thrown in jail because of his boldness. And he leads the jailer to the Lord. He hears him singing in the midst of suffering. And he says, "What must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Now look what else it says. I guarantee this does not mean some supernatural umbrella that saves everybody. Paul's saying you'll be saved and you'll lead your family to the Lord. That's the key. Men, women get filled with the spirit of God. Lead your family to the Lord. If that's you, you need to repent and believe if you're listening, you don't have that relationship.

Sure, you've been coming to church. Sure. I was going to church sitting there unconverted. Don't play games with me. Going through the motions. I went to a Christian school. My parents were Christians. What have you done with the cross? What have you done with Christ? Nobody's going to be standing next to you on the day of judgment. Nobody. Teenager, you can't call on your mom. You will stand before Almighty God with eyes like flames of fire and you will give an account. Do you know Christ?

There's nothing more precious on planet earth than this relationship. And as a believer, I want to encourage you as well. Fully surrender this morning. Fully surrender. Say, "God, I need a fresh filling." I love that song we sang on Wednesday night, "Not for a minute was I forsaken. Not for a minute was I forsaken. The Lord is in this place." There's a verse I added, I don't think we have the slide, just yesterday. It says, "Therefore, strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight the path of your feet."

It's basically saying, get up. Strengthen those feeble feet. Stop that wavering between two opinions. Get rid of that critical heart, that arrogant heart. Humble yourself before Almighty God. Strengthen yourself in the Lord and watch what he does.

(Singing outro plays). He's calling wake up church / It's your turn to shine / You were born for such a time as this / Such a time as this. He's calling wake up church / It's your turn to shine / You were born for such a time as this / Such a time as this.

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.