Prophets, Problems & Promises | Pastor Shane Idleman

Shane Idleman: A healthy church needs all those. Apostolic is the church planter, the vision caster, the guy that is out there. The prophetic voice is what I just read. The pastor-teacher is the counselor and the shepherd. Then you have the evangelist who is focused on getting that—like Ray Comfort. Remember when he spoke? That is an evangelist. My goodness, I cannot keep up. You have these different giftings in a very healthy church. I just put that up there just in case you are wondering. If you need a title, I question your character and I question your gifting.
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 clarifying message titled, Prophets, Problems, and Promises. Puritan preacher and author Thomas Watson once said, "To know that nothing hurts the godly is a matter of comfort, but to be assured that all things which fall out shall cooperate for their good, that their crosses shall be turned into blessings, that showers of affliction water the withering root of their grace and make it flourish more, this may fill their hearts with joy until they run over." Today, Pastor Shane brings the truth of God's living word from Acts chapter 15, placing a spotlight on the struggles for most Christians and the promises for deliverance to the faithful. Strengthen your soul and overflow with God's spirit in this powerful encouragement to awaken the church and let the fire of God burn deep. Here on Regaining Lost Ground. 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 is Pastor Shane Idleman.
Shane Idleman: Lord, give me grace because I do not want to speak ill, but we also have to be very careful in this area. Let me clarify this for some of you young adults. Share this with your friends. Remember this message. The word prophet, actually in the Old Testament, they were first called seers. It basically meant foretelling. So, a prophetic prophet like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elisha, what they would do is speak things that were into the future. This is what God is going to do. He is going to judge, or he is going to rebuild Jerusalem. He is going to gather his people. That is what they would do. God would show them and they would prophesy. They would foretell the future. But then there is another gifting of that which the New Testament talks about also. It is called forth-telling. It is speaking forth a message based on God's word. So really, if we could get technical, the word means giving a message from another. That is what a prophetic voice is. It is not my message. It is a message that God puts on a heart based on time in his word and prayer, and it comes out as prophetic. It is speaking the heart of God. That is why we have to be careful. We do not trust men; we trust God. You line everything up through scripture. What does the scripture say about certain things? That is the key. There are also two things that are important, I believe, and I think the elders are probably on board. The office of prophet was for the Bible. God called them to be prophets; they wrote the Bible. So, I do not believe there are modern-day prophets equal with the prophets of that day writing scripture today, the office that God called. However, the gift of prophecy is obviously still available because Paul talks about it. We see it operating. It is beautiful when it is done correctly, and it is dangerous when it is not. It is hard, let me tell you, because you do not know if the person is really hearing from God or if they are just trying to be helpful. You want to be considerate, and that is why you test the spirits. It is like, "Okay, well, Lord, you show me. I will wait on you." People have good intentions, so you have to sort through it. I encourage people, if you think you have that gift, sit on it for a while. Make sure you filter it through God's word because you can hurt people, especially if they are immature in the faith. Others of you, you have been Christians for a long time. If you get somebody who says something and you know it is off, you are not hurt by it. It is not going to change your trajectory to God. But it is a gift that is wonderful. I am not going to give—you have heard me over the years give many examples where I have seen where wow, God really used that. He has used things in my life where people—there is just no way. 2003, Mario Murillo. I am digging ditches. I am in construction and he just called me out and said so many things me and Morgan just talked about that week because God was putting a spirit of boldness on me. I am like, "This is so bold, Morgan. People are going to think I am arrogant. This can't—wow." Because I do not preach like all pastors, you guys know that by now. So he said, "It is not arrogance; it is boldness." How is he going to come up with that the week I am talking about that, the week where I have to make an important decision about the ministry? That is what it is for. It is a gift to help. But you cannot live off those. What happens is people who have the genuine gift of prophecy can get a little haughty and think every little voice they hear is from God. Be careful. It has to be done with so much humility and meekness. We have to be so careful. I have been praying. I do not even know if I should share this. But just a month and a half ago, maybe two months ago, this lady said she heard from the Lord my cancer is caused because I have father wounds and I need to take it to the Lord. Okay, I have been—it does not register with me. I am trying. "Help, Lord. What do you want me to do with that?" But see, if you are not careful, that can really jack you up. Completely jack you up because, "Okay, well, how do I fix that?" Or could it be God just saying, "Hey, son, I am waking you up. I am reigniting a passion again." If that is the case, then that has nothing—so was that person—I am still praying. I am not ruling things out. I am still praying, but I am trying to tell you how important this gift is and you better be dead on. You better be right. Do not go saying things to people that you do not know for certain. We have had people leave here because people said, "Oh, God showed me you are going to have a baby." It has been years and they are still not pregnant. I am tired of that stuff. You hurt people. We will call it out. I called it out and that is why they are no longer here, because we are not putting up with that kind of stuff unless you repent and say, "I missed it." That is why it is such an important gift, but we have to steward it correctly. It is dangerous, is it not? Because she said, "The Lord told her." And then they bring in the big hammer and said, "I talked to somebody else and they told me the same thing." Lord, I am open. My point is that gift is just so beautiful but it is also that double-edged sword because I do not think she was correct. I know what is going on, but I do not think they are open for feedback. They are unteachable. Watch out for that one. I have confronted people and they said, "Oh, Pastor, I didn't really mean it like that." Just own it and God can continue to work through you. But if you are not teachable, including myself—we all have to be teachable and own it. That is why I do not think I have ever gone to somebody and said, "The Lord told me to tell you." It is like, "Hey, I feel strongly about this. It is on my heart. I need to share this with you," and let them deal with God. So, that is what the gift of prophecy is. Can God still have people foretell the future? Of course, but it is not equal to scripture. We do not use that; we use the scripture. I like what Chip Ingram said about the motivational gift of prophecy. Here is what he said: "It is the divine enabling to proclaim God's truth with power and clarity in a timely and culture-sensitive fashion. It is for correction, repentance, and edification. It is the ability to reveal God's word accurately. People with this gift often ask, 'What went wrong? What caused this?' It is someone who has a sense of the culture and the needs of the church and God gives them clarity." When they speak, they speak to where the real issues are. They are persuasive, opinionated, and prefer large groups to small ones. Pride, dependence on speaking ability, and insensitivity are the pitfalls. As I said before from 1 Corinthians, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. It means that those who prophesy have self-control over their spiritual gifts and they exercise them responsibly. As a church, we believe in the supernatural, spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit simply because the Bible teaches it. Not because some teacher teaches it. Paul says here is how to orchestrate the gifts. Here is how to steward them correctly. Here is how to identify what is true, what is not. Here is how to conduct it in the church. For us to say, "Well, no, but now that doesn't happen anymore because now we have the Bible," the Bible does not say that. The only verse many people use is the verse, "When that which is perfect comes, that which is in part will be done away with." In other words, Paul is saying right now we see dimly through a glass. We do not see that great; it is kind of shaded. But when that which is perfect comes, we will not need tongues, we will not need prophecy. We will still have love, but when that which is perfect comes, all these things will be done away with. So, some churches teach—John MacArthur, for example, a great Bible teacher, but this is one big area where I just do not go there, I cannot see that. They teach that the gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased. The supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased because now we have the Bible. That which is perfect has come. If you look up even John Calvin in his commentary, he said that which is perfect is Christ's coming. Because I still look through a glass dimly. We do not see better than Paul now. We still need those gifts. However, some churches can get weird and overly prophetic. What are the prophets saying every week? But then other churches are too conservative. They are not as open. What does it mean that all things should be done decently and in order? If somebody stands up and starts speaking in tongues, I might shut them down. What is that? Nobody with the interpretation, nobody told me about it, who are you? You just disrupted the whole service. Paul also says somebody who is uninformed, an unbeliever, is going to come in and they are going to think you are out of your mind. They create an environment in which I need to lovingly rebuke them because it is out of order. I did not create that environment. But then people will say, "Shane, you are stifling the Holy Spirit and quenching the Holy Spirit by doing that." I actually have a greater responsibility to steward and lead the church that God has given us. I even think it was small churches back then, right? 12 people, 15, 20. They all knew each other and you could operate more effectively. But if we have got unbelievers, we have got uninformed people, that is why Paul said they are going to think you are out of your mind. I would rather speak five words in a known language than thousands of words in tongues because it is not productive. Paul said he spoke in tongues more than everybody. Whether it is a private language or a known language, people get mixed up in the nuances. Paul said it is very edifying. He is worshipping and praying to God. I do not know why more people do not pray to be used of God. There is nothing to be scared of with the gifts because it is the gift giver. You say, "Lord, whatever gifts you want to give me, I am open." It is a good thing. It is actually wrong to close off and to be judgmental and critical because the gifts are from the helper. What is the helper doing? He is helping me. I need a little help. Thank God for some prophetic words or words of wisdom that have happened. How many of you thank God for some of the dreams? In the last days, when they were going crazy speaking tongues and people were like, "Oh, these people are drunk," Peter said, "No, this is that which the prophet Joel spoke of, that in the last days your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will dream dreams, your old men will have visions, and on my men servants and on my maid servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days." We are still walking in those days. You have to be careful, you have to be cautious, but you have to be open to what God wants to do. You are not open to weirdness. You are not open to, "Hey, if it is odd, it is God, let's go for it." You are open like, "Lord, what do you want to do?" Because when you see God powerfully move in a church, it is not just cemetery church. It is powerful because the Holy Spirit is moving. That is why you see sometimes that we are emotional people. When the Holy Spirit hits an unbeliever or a Christian and you are getting rid of all that baggage, they might cry out loud. They might get so excited. The joy, the depression of 20 years has been lifted. Oh God, Oh God! You might hear those things. That is a healthy church. That is healthy. It is not healthy to come in and act like statues and be in a cemetery and leave here after an hour and get a Burger King stomach and nothing happened. The spirit of God never hit. That is not a New Testament church. It is just not. I can imagine the apostles coming into some churches like, "Who got healed? Who got set free? Did you pray over—what is this?" Two songs, an announcement, 25-minute message, one song, and we are out of here. I am not mocking those things. But guys, really? Those with this gift of prophecy are in control of their own spirits when exercising prophecy, rather than being overtaken or possessed by the Holy Spirit in a way that removes self-discipline. Paul wrote to correct this misunderstanding in the Corinthian church where some may have thought that spiritual gifts like prophecy or speaking in tongues involved losing personal control, similar to ecstatic or frenzied practices common in Greek religions. That was the whole point. 1 John says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." Test the spirits. Many people are getting caught up in watching on YouTube and different things these false prophets and these false apostles that do weird, bizarre things because we are so hungry sometimes spiritually that we will consume anything. This is coming from a guy who is fairly conservative, guys. Yet the Bible is clear. If you have ever been in services or events where the spirit of God is so powerful and profound, it is a beautiful thing. You desire that. That is why they would desire revival. They would read about the old revivals and what God used to do. Does that mean he can do it again today? Does that mean he can break—I am still reading another book and it is like they would have a church service at 10:00 and they would find themselves worshipping until 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 in the afternoon. The presence of God was so tangible, people were just crying out over their sins and marriages were restored. It was just such a beautiful thing to experience. Acts continues: "And after they had stayed there for a time, they were sent back with greetings from the brethren to the apostles." Here is another word, apostle again. The office of apostle, I believe, is no longer here. The gifting, some he's called prophets, apostles—when you hear five-fold ministry, that is also a biblical term. People have made it weird, but there are five things that Jesus gives the church: apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist. A healthy church needs all those. Apostolic is the church planter, the vision caster, the guy that is out there. The prophetic voice is what I just read and the pastor-teacher is the counselor and the shepherd. Then you have the evangelist who is focused on getting that. Ray Comfort, remember when he spoke? That is an evangelist. My goodness, I cannot keep up. You have these different giftings in a very healthy church. I just put up there just in case you are wondering, if you need a title, I question your character and I question your gifting. I really do. This gets people upset sometimes but I do not care. If they need to be called Apostle such-and-such, or Papa Prophet, why do you need that? Why do you need that title? It flows right into our beliefs and I have taught before on even women pastoring, women pastoring men. Why not just call it a leader and avoid all this controversy? Do you need that title? That is really a heart check. However, it seemed good to Silas to remain there. Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also. I am going to get into it next Sunday about being led of the spirit, but it seemed good to Silas to remain there. What does that mean? How does he determine whether to stay or whether to go? How does he determine what God's will is? Well, in making their decisions—we will look into this more later—there was peace. There was peace. It was also biblical. No doubt they sought godly counsel. That is how you make decisions in the will of God. Is there peace? Is it biblical to stay there? Yes. Okay, we are going to stay here and we are going to minister to others. I have peace about that. What do you guys think? That is a great way to make decisions in the will of God. Always remember this: faith does not always step out; sometimes it stays put. Many people think faith involves stepping out and going places and doing things. Sometimes it means staying put. Lord, I am just going to stay put. I have faith to stay put. When you do not know what to do, consider staying put. I will never forget, I just came back to the Lord and was reading Charles Stanley's book on knowing God's will. I will never forget he said when you do not know what to do, do not do anything. That has saved me a lot over the years. We get in trouble, do we not, when we rush ahead? When you do not know what to do, consider staying put. What you do when you do not know what to do is really the key. What you do when you do not know what to do is going to determine a lot of things. So be very careful in that area. Faith pleases God even when we do not see clearly. 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 is 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 are 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.