When All Hope is Lost Call on Me | Pastor Shane Idleman

Pastor Shane Idleman: When you lay hold of God, never let go. Sometimes all hell is breaking loose, but I've learned that the God of the mountains is still the God of the valleys. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil. Though all hell is breaking loose, though we are living in a sewer system, God will pull you up and set you back up and you can be the flame of his spirit. Even you, the least I I've learned God uses the least likely. I love when people ask them, so where did you get your degree? Do you have a PhD? Uh school of hard knocks? But don't count on that. Count on the spirit of God as you study, as you educate yourself.
Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, 1 hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear part one of a profound message from Pastor Shane titled When All Hope Is Lost, Call On Me. Pastor and theologian R. C. Sproul once said, Hope is called the anchor of the soul because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a wish, rather it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made. When we cast all our cares, all our anxieties on Jesus, he is faithful to lead us through life's storms. And that is the topic for today's message as Pastor Shane reinforces this through the truth of God's living word in Psalm 91. 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: I am so happy to be here. And thank you Pastor Jeff for trusting me with the pulpit. It's a big responsibility. Is it not? Cuz I've I've learned the lesson the hard way over the years to, you know, who you who you have in the pulpit matters long as you're consistent too with what your views are. And then also many of you don't know, but Pastor Jeff is on our radio network in Southern California. So we do air these sermons Monday through Friday, I believe around 11:00 a.m. And I'm in Los Angeles County to be more specific. And there is there's a there's a a light everywhere. The God has the flames of revival in all areas from, you know, Texas to California to many different areas. And we have to be encouraged in that. And Pastor Jeff mentioned my daughter Gracie is here with me. I try to take one of my kids on each trip. She can stand up. Say hello, Gracie. And I have five kids 18 and under. So you can pray for us. Three teenagers at home. And before you preach it, you got to practice it. And God has a funny way of giving you a crash course in theology through your family. The title this morning is When All Hope Is Gone. When all hope is gone, call to me. And the magnitude of what go is going on in our nation demands that we look at scripture seriously. And the theme verse is Psalm 91:15 Psalm 91:15. He shall call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble and I will deliver him and honor him. And what I love about this ministry is you have something that I also believe in. It's called context is king. You have to put Bible verses in their context or you can have it say whatever you want. And so I'm going to pull a little bit from Psalm 91. I didn't have a lot of time to go through all of Psalm 91, but there's some key points here. And we agree on one thing for sure. America has stage four spiritual cancer. It has metastasized into all areas of life. It is shocking. It is alarming. But thank God there is always hope. And I remind people God doesn't need the majority. He is the majority. You you plus you plus God is the majority. Did you know that that should that should fuel your prayer life? You plus God is the majority. The only reason I'm standing here today is by because of God's power of the Holy Spirit into my life. I should not be here. I should not be here. I was a mess in my in my especially my early 20s. But thank God that God revives or renews. And anytime there is spiritual cancer, there is only one hope. There is only one remedy. There is only one solution. And that and that is when God brings a spiritual awakening. And we use the term revival a lot. And that's a very biblical term. And sometimes people get confused. Have you ever seen weird things on YouTube under the name of revival? Mm that's not revival. Or you can have, hey, we're going to have revival meetings. That that's good, but that's not really revival. Revival the root word is a spiritual awakening. Any paramedics here or EMT? What What am I doing? Reviving. Reviving the dead. And that's why now more than ever before we need the pulpits of America to be a flamed with righteousness to awaken the sleeping church. You are dead spiritually and God says awaken spiritual church. Let me breathe life into you. Stop the seeker sensitive messages and let the spirit of God fall upon the church again. That's revival. And he's given me a desire for this 23 years ago when I came back to the Lord. I love reading books on revival. The Welsh revivals of the 1700s and New Hebrides and what God did in our nation and you look back at any great moving of God's spirit and there was always a call to repentance and prayer and fasting and holiness and desperation. It's like a magnet that draws the spirit of God to your life. And we're missing that because now we want to be popular and not controversial. And I hear this a lot. Shane, you offend people. Well, here's what I am worried about. I don't want to offend God because when you when you when you preach the God's word and all of its purity through a heart of brokenness and humility, you will offend. It offends. It quickens. The word of God is like a fire that devours, a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces, and a sword that cuts and divides. Oh, we need the pulpits of flame with righteousness again so people come in hungry for more of God. I love what you're doing on Wednesday service Wednesday night, but can you imagine people saying we need to do that every night of the week for a season and begin to grab the heart of God because we are desperate for more of him. He shall call upon me and I will answer. God says I will answer. 91:1, He who dwells in the secret place He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. This isn't a secret thing like you hear on Oprah. It's a it's it's it's actually not a secret where God is saying, oh no, you can this is secretive. The thing is very few find it. That's why it's secret. Something not known to most people. Most people don't know the fire of the spirit, the call to revival and awakening, the hunger, the desire for God. And when you get into the the presence of Christ and you're worshiping and I'm abiding in the secret place and God begins to work in your heart and break you and build you up and and strengthen you. That's secret place. Did you know that there is a place the father waits for you? Unless I'm mistaken, Jesus said, when you go in your prayer closet shut your door and my father will meet you there. There's a place where God will meet me at 2:00 in the morning. He's not on break. There's a place where I can cry out to God and say, God, we are desperate to hear from you. We need to hear from you. Our nation is in shambles falling. Children are falling apart. Families are disintegrating. When is the church of the living God going to wake up? Business as usual is not going to cut it anymore, sir. Business as usual. Something's got to break. You have to seek in order to find. If you seek me with all of your heart, Jeremiah 29, you will find me, God says. Look at these promises. If you seek me I've done whole whole sermons on this topic and people where I pastor at the church Westside Christian Fellowship are familiar with this, but maybe you're not. That word seeking is that word seeking, especially if you go back into the Hebrew, is not casual. It's like, I don't know. Oh, I looked. Oh well, back to normal. I believe it's bakash. And it means you don't stop until you find. So if Pastor Jeff said, hey Shane, come here. Your daughter went to the restroom. We can't find her. You think I would continue preaching? So hold on. After a second service, let's look for her. Can we eat first? Everything would stop. The microphone will be I have to find that which was lost. That now now think about that. Oh God, I've got to lay hold of you. I don't feel it, but my feelings are going to come. My feelings are not the engine of the train. They are the boost. They follow self-discipline. God, I'm going to lay on this altar until I find you because desperate people do desperate things. And I know this is a little extreme for most of America, but we've got to get back to extreme Christianity. We have extreme snowboarding, extreme mountain biking, extreme makeovers. Why can't we have an extreme and intense love for God and get back to that passion and that purity of his word? Listen, I'm I'm not trying to just make up emotions. I know I'm close to Hollywood and the and I see a lot of acting, but I'm not acting. The spirit of God has revived my heart. The fire of God is true. What you don't know is I barely graduated high school at the 1.8. Still struggle with dyslexia, learning disabilities, writing books. That's a miracle. I was called stupid, overweight. I turned to steroids, crystal meth, alcohol about destroyed my life. And the power of God came in and touched me and transformed me. So so so forgive me. Some of us might get a little emotional during worship. I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. See is it has Christ awakened you? Has Christ has Christ come into your heart and truly transformed your life so there is a passion for God and his word? Well, I have good word for you. This is not a loving rebuke. It's an exhortation to turn back to God. In the church, we hear a lot about meditation, don't we? Thank God. But when do we hear we need to hear more about adoration? Adoration, adoration. And we are waiting for God, are we not? But it could could it be that God is waiting on us? Think about that. Oh God, would you move? And I was convicted that some years ago, God, would you just move? Shane, I'll move when you move. He's a rewarder of those who seek him from time to time. He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And again, if you I love word studies, you have to you have to look at what the Bible's trying to It's it's like it's like a drop of water on a stone. A couple years later, it's going to begin to weave indentations into that stone. He who diligently seek me I'm a rewarder. I will reward that. How does he reward us with gold and riches? Oh, praise God. No, but with the fire of God. Worship comes alive. The word of God came alive in my life when I turned Oh, I've been missing this. I've been missing this. No wonder my mom put her Bible over my AC/DC albums. No wonder. And called down heaven said, Devil, you will not have this child. And the power of prayer Oh, if we could get back to the power of prayer, church, where is that call to prayer? And a lost a lost discipline that that that that I'm I'm so glad I discovered the early church had it. We even had it up to 100 years ago. I'm not I I don't want to offend, so please understand my heart. But this word Oh, this word is life changing. It's called fasting. When I tell King Stomach, shut your mouth, I need to seek God because there's a fleshly appetite and a spiritual appetite. And whatever you feed grows the most in your heart. That's the power of fasting. It's not dogmatic and legalistic. Elijah fasted, Jesus fasted, Moses fasted, Ezra fasted, Esther fasted, David fasted, Paul fasted, and much fastings often. It's not God doesn't love me more, but I sure love him more. 91:14 because he has set his love upon me. Talking again God saying because we've set our love upon him, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high because he has known my name. One thing I love about the Bible is is the promises of God. But what many people don't understand is they claim the promise, but forget it has conditions. His call is not to Washington and Hollywood and the media. If my media humbles himself if Washington if Sacramento would just humble themselves if my people and again a God of context, I know that was applied to Israel under the reign of Solomon, when I bring pestilence, when I bring famine, when I bring drought if my people humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways it if And I love those armchair quarterbacks. You know, Shane, that's out of context. Okay, I'll give you the context, but are you telling me that if the church humbles themselves and pray and seeks his face and turn that God might not revive us? Are you Are you seriously telling me that? Because the principle still applies, the principle of brokenness and humility, conditional. Because he has set his love upon me, set his love upon me. And that word is like setting a bone in place. And let me be an encouragement to you. Sometimes I don't feel like preaching. Sometimes I don't feel like going to prayer meetings. But that's when you drag your flesh. Your flesh doesn't lead you. You lead your flesh because your flesh will flesh just takes you in all the wrong places. I want to sleep in. I want to eat too much. I want to drink too much. I don't want to do that. I don't want to forgive. I don't want to humble myself. And we've got a church that is given up to the appetites of the flesh. 91:15, He shall He shall call upon me and I will answer and I will be with him in trouble. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God is our only hope? And we're going to all look at where America is going. Yeah, but look at what the possibilities are because I I'm I'm naive enough to believe that when it's so dark, God can bring the light even brighter. You look at the you look at the um you look at during the first great awakening, you read the the journals of Wesley or Whitfield or Jonathan Edwards. And Jonathan Edwards was was writing, I believe, to one of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court. And they acknowledge there there's decadence across all of the land. Religion is is barren. Drunkenness is abounding. What is going on? Our nation is crumbling. Oh, could you imagine that being fast forward to now? But God rose up and revived in that darkest hour because I believe in the God who brings promises. And the negative Nellies and judgmental Jerrys but Shane, haven't you read Revelation? I sure have, but I've also read the rest of the Bible where God says, call upon me and I shall answer. We don't know the timing of things. We don't know that God might give us a measure of revival in our bondage. I'm not going to be buried 6 ft under and wish that I would have contended for revival for the generation next generation. Look at our kids. Look at our grandkids. Where where is the desperation? So what do you do when all hope is gone? I want to share a few points with you because you can get spiritual you can get revived spiritually. I'm not as concerned about national revival as I am with individual revival because that's what fuels the fire of a spiritual awakening, getting a passion for God. Shouldn't there be a passion for God? Hello, the church of the living God, the word of God is the living word of God igniting the soul, bringing passion to the heart. There should be a fire and a zeal. Let me open up the word of God and see what thus saith the Lord means and how it changes my heart. Desperation. Folks, we've got to get desperate. We've got to get desperate. Desperate people do desperate things. They might say business as usual is not going to cut it anymore. I'm contending for my family. I'm calling a prayer prayer each day. I'm calling a fast. I need to hold on to God again and and never let go. I think it was said of the the Welsh revival 1904 1905 Evan Roberts. They're interviewing a very old man. And they said, what what happened to the flames of that fire? What what what happened? What why? And he remembered back and he he looked at the gentleman and he he says his eyes were like fire. And he said, young man, when you lay hold of God never never never let go. Oh, that could preach. When you lay hold of God, never let go. Sometimes all hell is breaking loose, but I've learned that the God of the mountains is still the God of the valleys. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil. Though all hell is breaking loose, though we are living in a sewer system, God will pull you up and set you back up and you can be the flame of his spirit. Even you, the least I I've learned God uses the least likely. I love when people ask them, so where did you get your degree? Do you have a PhD? Uh school of hard knocks? And I'm not again. I think people should study. And and and think, but don't count on that. Count on the spirit of God as you study, as you educate yourself. So a couple points that will help desperate and just give me this when it's times up. Desperate for brokenness and humility. Desperate for brokenness and humility. Do you know when the church humbles herself, God will listen? You see many in America are angry and rightly so, rightly so. Angry, but we're also arrogant. Oh, we're mad and we'll tell people off, but we're not broken. Because I believe you can be just as bold but also broken. And as a matter of fact, you'll accomplish a lot a lot more when your boldness is underscored by love. Because boldness boldness is a direct fruit of the Holy Spirit. You know, we think the Holy Spirit and you know, this and no, boldness. Boldness to share the gospel, boldness to confront this this culture that is spinning out of control, brokenness and humility. Humble yourself before God that he may exalt you. What does that look like? You go to your spouse and you say, I I've been wrong. I've been an angry man. I've been an arrogant woman. God, help me. I need to seek God again like never before I want. I I know I need to work on things, but God, please I want to be used by you. I don't do always have to be right. Critical Cathys. Listen, I always had to be right. I came back to the Lord and and I was reading systematic theology and I could quote Calvin Hodge and and and of course and and lectures to my students and I had all this knowledge. I was going to go tell people off. I was a sin sniffer. I'm going to walk around and find you today. And in 2005, my mom gave me a wakeup call. She said, Shane, nobody wants to be around you cuz I was too arrogant. So you can be straight as a gun barrel theologically, but just as empty. But you get a man who's on fire for God with a theological underpinning. That is how God changes the church and changes our nation. You have to have both. You have to have the the the spirit of love and humility, but also the boldness and the preaching. D. Martin Lloyd Jones said that preaching is theology coming through a man who's on fire. You need you need both of those things and and I I I just released a video on YouTube the other day. Um and I don't know the exact title, but a plea to conservative voices. I'm not going to name names. We know who these conservative voices are, but I want to say, guys, where is the humility? Where is the humility? This side says this, you come back with this. You do this mean mean. They do this mean. This is attack attack attack. Arrogant, where's the call to repentance? Where's the call to humility? Where's the call to prayer meetings? Yes, be just as bold and say what is happening on our watch is is a perversion at the highest level and we will not allow it, but I need to get on my face before Almighty God before I post something or before I make a video that is full of arrogance.