Shane Idleman passionately delivers a message titled 'Drive It Out - Obedience Brings Life,' emphasizing that true obedience to God stems from love and loyalty, not legalism. He highlights how disobedience can lead to spiritual unrest, depression, and anxiety, urging listeners to drive out sin and false influences from their lives to experience the blessings of God. Drawing parallels from the Israelites' journey to the Promised Land, he stresses the importance of removing distractions and false worship to maintain a strong relationship with God. Shane encourages the congregation to seek the Holy Spirit's power to overcome sin and to fill their lives with godly influences. Ultimately, he calls for repentance and a return to a spirit-filled life, reminding everyone that obedience brings life and blessings.

The title of the message tonight, and I love messages like this because it's been burning in my heart all week. And usually if it's burning in my heart, guess what? You're going to leave here with a burning heart. That's the goal, and I believe that's one of the wonderful things about preaching is some pastors, some pastors, you know, they preach because that's their job and that's what they need to do. Other pastors preach because they entertain and they're good speakers, but some pastors, when they're filled with the Spirit of God, there's a burden, there's a burden that has to be lifted and they have to declare to you what God has put on their heart. And so the title of the message is Drive It Out. Drive It Out, Obedience Brings Life. Obedience brings life, and I'm not one of those guys who will shy away from the word obedience. If obedience is done out of love and loyalty for the Lord, it is powerful. If you obey because of legalism and rules and God is a hard task master and I have to do these things, you will be miserable. Obedience comes from a loving, loyal heart. What child would not want to obey his father that knows what's best for him? So obedience brings life, and I don't know, you know, any PhD professor or theologian will probably tear this sermon apart because it's all over the place. I couldn't get it to tie in, you know, you want those three good points, you want it to flow, and I'm just going to share my heart with you tonight if that's okay. Because I truly believe, and please don't misunderstand, I believe that a lot of depression and anxiety in us and Christians when they're miserable can be tied often to disobedience. Now hear me, I'm not saying that's the case all the time. I know there's serotonin levels and noradrenaline and neurotransmitters. I have a history in health and fitness and I know sometimes those chemicals are off and it will really affect the way we feel. That's genuine. But there's also something known as sin that comes in and makes a Christian miserable. And because we're disobeying God, we can become hard and callous and cold and anxious and irritable. And I want to speak to that a little bit tonight. And our marching orders are from the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 33. I'm going to be all over the Old Testament, so I'm not stopping at every single verse. And what I mean by marching orders for the promised land, many of you know the story, but I'll just give you the abridged version. For those of you who don't, God led the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. He led them through the wilderness. And what should have taken, now I've had to check this out a few times, you'll laugh at this. What could have taken the children of Israel maybe 11 days or a month or so to get to the promised land, why did it end up taking them 40 years? If God says, I can get you there in a few weeks, but it takes you 40 years. The problem is not the distance. The problem is the heart. And it's grumbling and complaining. Grumbling and complaining and not trusting in God and not obeying God. He just kept them. You know what the definition of insanity is? Doing the same thing, expecting different results. And he led them through the wilderness and now they're getting ready to go into the promised land. He actually wiped out the entire generation except for Caleb and Joshua. And he allowed the children of those grumblers and complainers to go in the promised land. And the grumblers and the complainers said, oh, our children are going to die in the wilderness. And God says, no, you're going to die. I'm going to bring your children into the promised land. So here's their marching orders. And there's so many parallels that we can get from the Old Testament Paul actually said that the Old Testament was given for our admonishment, our encouragement. The principles are timeless in the Old Testament. And you can draw so many things out from it. So God said this in Numbers 33, when you go into the land, drive out, drive out all of the inhabitants of the land before you destroy all their carved images and cast down all their idols and demolish all of their high places. Basically get rid of their worship because it will influence you. It will pull you in the wrong direction. You can't worship both God and another system. You can't worship both the Bible and some other book. We don't worship the Bible. You know what I'm talking about. You can't get direction from the Bible and direction from some other book. And you can't serve two masters. So God said, when you go into this land, drive out the false worship. Why is that? Well, you have to remove places of worship that influence you. And we don't realize it today, but we do worship certain things. And when we read the Bible, we think of this word worship, we think of a carved image, and they're bowing down and giving homage to it. And it's no different today than having a 50 inch screen, something that we give homage to it. It's whatever we give our time and our energy and our influence, whatever influences us and we begin to give our attention to it and that we begin to worship it. And there's a parallel there. God says drive out these things. And that's why there was a prescribed place and a way to worship in the Old Testament. God said, get rid of that and bring in the true worship of Yahweh. He also said, after I give you the land, do not be enticed back to the way they worship. Isn't that interesting? God says, drive them out and don't be enticed. Don't be enticed to come back and worship like they worshiped. I was going to get to this in a little bit, but I just, I just, it's so heavy in my heart right now. There's something, if you've been coming to Westside Christian Fellowship a few years, you know, I've talked about this. There's something called the Doctrine of Balaam. How many of you have heard of that? The Doctrine of Balaam. Well, if you read the Bible, you'll, you'll know that Jesus talked about the Doctrine of Balaam. What Balaam was, was a prophet and King Balak hired him to come and curse the children of Israel. So this King, King Balak, Balak looks down and he sees all the children of Israel all throughout the land. And he said, Hey, come and curse these people. So Balaam came and, and instead of cursing God's people, what did he do? He blessed them. He blessed them again and he blessed them again. And the King said, what are you doing? I called you to curse them. And then he says something very interesting. I cannot curse what God has blessed. I cannot curse what God has blessed. And that principle is for us today. God cannot curse. I'm sorry. The enemy cannot curse what God has blessed. But what did the Doctrine of Balaam do? He taught the people to seduce the children of Israel and draw them back into false worship. Draw them, the women of the land begin to entice the men. See, you got to drive sin out. You can't play patty cake with it. You'll lose. It will destroy you or bring you down. So the Doctrine of Balaam basically teaches you cannot curse what God has blessed, but the enemy will try to remove you from that blessed place. And let me tell you tonight, man, there is a blessed place. When you lead your family, when you say we are going to church, when you, when you say we are removing that filth from our TV and from our internet, when you begin to stand up and begin to build the sanctity of marriage in your home, and you begin to love your wife and die for your children and lead your family. And when you begin to stop flirting with Delilah, oh, I can go there if you want. But that's the blessed place. Don't you understand? There's a shelter. There's a covering. As we stay in God's word, as we obey God's word, that's the shelter. That's the covering. And when we're enticed to go back and go back, that's how the enemy pulls us away. That's why God says drive them out, drive them out. So they do not influence you any longer. And of course, in Deuteronomy, many of you know, there are the blessings of obedience. When God says you obey me, I will bring water. I will bring rain. I will bring the harvest. I will bring things into your life. There's, there's something about obeying God that brings the blessings of God. And if you're getting discouraged, let me encourage you. All you have to do is, is switch those words around. Discourage and say encourage. To get back in the center of God's will just involves a beautiful word called repentance. We say, Lord, I'm sorry I've been out of your will. I've been disobeying and I want to get back in your will. And when the heart changes, you're once again in the will of God and that obedience begins to bring blessings into your life. And the children of Israel were, were marked by God. And Moses would often teach to mark, you know, to put something on your forehead and in your thoughts, your head, your, your, your, what they would, the phylacteries that the Pharisees would put in different things. And it would, it would mark you. And they also would, we talked about marking your hand for doing things and, and the way you think. And I just thought of, we're all looking at what possibly the mark of the beast could be. The, you know, the number six, six, six, the number of a man. And there is a, a mark that people have to take. And it's pretty clear. I know there's different thoughts on eschatology on this. And, but I don't, if it doesn't look like it's going in that direction, I don't know what it does because it looks like we are going in that direction. And that I believe that mark is going to be a clear line of demarcation where you say, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I am marked by God or he is not. So I want to just share with you three signs that you may be off course. Are you ready for a conviction alert? Three signs that you may be off course. Number one, there is a restlessness because of disobedience. There's a restlessness in your spirit. Psalms 32, when I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groanings all day long for day and night. Lord, your, your hand was heavy upon me. So when we've drifted off course, there's a restlessness. There's a, there's a, there's a discord with God. I don't know if this will work. Let me see. I'll probably won't, but I can try to do what Brant was doing and it's not going to sound real good. Is it disc? There we go. How's that? Is that? And I'll say, what was that song? I can only imagine. I can only imagine. What is that? That's discord. That's that. Stop it. Shame. That's discord. That doesn't sound right. And that's what happens when there's a restlessness and there's a discord with God and things don't sound right. And, and I'm off and Lord, I need to get back to, there's a restlessness that creeps in. And then number two, as a result, there is a critical spirit. There is always a critical spirit that comes in. And that takes a form of, of being disgruntled and discouraged and critical and negative. Amen. Can anybody relate yet? And then finally there is barrenness. When there's something in our hearts that we need to drive out and we're being disobedient, there's a barrenness. There's we're there. We're being unfruitful in the things of God. And how many of you are just existing, just going through the motions? Shane, I came to the stadium, but, but I was dead during worship. I get in my car and I just don't do anything for God. And I just go through the motions and there's a barrenness. And I, I want to submit to you that there might be something that you need to drive out. That's why numbers continues. If you do not drive out, if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, in other words, if you do not push out those people who will lead you in a wrong direction, if you do not push out that ungodly entertainment, if you do not push out that influence that is taking you down, if you allow them to remain in the land, they will become barbs in your eyes. Your translation might say irritants in your eyes. Have you ever got a little something in your eye? Something you can barely see? I remember I was in, when I was in construction many years ago, it was a little sand pebble or something. It was all day just doing this. It just, it just, it's an irritant. And, and they said, there'll be thorns in your side and they will harass you all the days of your life. Amen? That sounds like sin. That's why God said drive them out. Don't play around with sin. Don't play around with Delilah. Don't play around with compromise. Drive it out. Set a nail and a hammer. Nail it to the coffin and close that coffin. And if you do not drive them out, if they remain, they will be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your side. Don't worry, folks. It gets encouraging. Sometimes the surgeon has to cut us before we get healthy. And God's word cuts us deeply. But I want to tell you tonight, you do not have to walk in defeat when you understand the battle. So many people walk in defeat because they don't understand the battle. God says, drive it out. And it's interesting. I don't know how many of you caught this, but God said, go in and possess the land and you'll have a land flowing with milk and honey. They, they will carry grapes on their shoulders that would almost be down to the ground and just go in and possess it. And just, it's all yours, but you're going to have to fight for every square inch. They had to fight for every square inch of their blessing. And you need to be encouraged tonight. You don't have to walk in defeat. God says, here is your blessing. Now fight for it. He says, here is a place of safety. And he said, stay here in this covering of obedience. Obeying God's word brings life. Obeying the principles of God brings life and fortitude and strength and disobedience makes us miserable. And I love this verse in Proverbs as a warning, like a bird that wanders from the nest. So is a man who wanders from his place. Isn't that interesting? Like a bird that wanders from its nest. So, so high and protected way up there in the light stands. But when that bird comes down, it becomes easy prey. And he says, so is a man who wanders from his place, who departs, who strays, who retreats. And like I said earlier, there, there's a place that God wants you to be. And in that place, there is safety. So I'm going to also share just a few ways that will help you. Here's some practical application to drive these things out. You need to completely push something out. You know, when somebody walks out the door in a relationship and they say, I'm done, that's what you got to do with the sin that is pulling you down. I'm done. The problem is sometimes we begin to, to, to not dry things completely out. We begin to play patty cake with it or, or bring it back in. And it begins to pull us away from God. Is it interesting? If I was up even a little higher, it would be just as easy for a little child almost to pull me down to them than it would be for me to pull them up. And these influence can pull us down. Number two, I want to encourage you destroy its influence, destroy its influence, whatever is influencing you destroy it. And it's funny. Sometimes when I preach like this, people say, Oh Shane, you're radical. You're a holy roller. You're extreme, man. Well, it's either those options are lukewarm. Choose today who you will serve the Lord. As for me in my house, we will follow our God wholeheartedly with our eyes set before him. There is no second place. The race goes to the swift, to the strong, to those who persevere. There is no mediocre. If God's in God's word of finishing half-heartedly and embracing sin and compromising, God says, drive it out. And yes, you will fall. And yes, you will fail. That's why the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and the Lord will hold you by his right hand. When you fall, he will lift you up. He will promote you. He will exalt you. If you turn to him in your failures and your defeats, think about that. We don't want the consecrated life anymore. We don't want the consecrated life. We want the compromised life. And I'm going to share something with you I wish I knew many years ago. It's the small compromises that get you in trouble. Is it not? It's the small compromises that get you in big trouble. Why is that? Because the enemy doesn't show you the pain and the anguish and the depression of that affair or that bad choice or the abortion. He tempts you with the immediate gratification. And you begin taking the small compromises. The small moves in the wrong direction. Isn't that how the enemy works? Oh, come on. That wasn't that bad. That wasn't that bad. See, that wasn't that bad. And then you get over and you wonder how you got here. Watch out for the small foxes. They spoil the vine. Watch out for the small things that begin to, I don't have time for God anymore like I used to. I don't need to read the word as much as I used to. And I kind of cringe when men tell me this. Well, Shane, I don't have time to do all that. I'm paying the bills. You've got to put God first. And when you destroy its influence, let me tell you this. Don't invite it back in. Don't invite it back in. And many of you have heard of deliverance ministry. And I don't know why people sometimes today don't believe in the demonic. Jesus cast out demons. He told his followers that you would speak in new tongues. You would drive out demons. You would do great exploits for God. I don't know why that has shifted and changed now. And I guess we don't do that. I believe that we do. I believe that there is a demonic element. And I believe that you can, that people can experience massive deliverance. But why is it when someone often, when they've been delivered and they're set free, they're back in bondage sometimes? Why is it? Because they invite things back in. They go back to relationships they should never have went back into. They start to experiment again with darkness and they never should have done that again. They begin to invite back the very thing they threw out. And when you do all this, when you push something out, when you destroy its influence, you better put something in its place. Amen? When you remove ungodly entertainment, you better put godly entertainment in. When you remove an ungodly relationship out of your life, you better put a godly relationship into your life. You can't just have a void, a vacuum. The enemy will work in idle hands. You've got to be busy doing God's work and bring in things that build you up and strengthen you. Come on. We know this in the health and fitness industry. If you get rid of a lot of junk food, you better put a lot of good food in. It was funny. I started my YouTube channel just a few years ago just to help some people with weight loss. And now it's grown into more of theology and politics and different things. But I still like to talk about health and fitness. And somebody called me the pantry pastor. And I think you can still find it on YouTube. I went into somebody's house and I went through their pantry and the refrigerator with a big hefty trash bag. And boy, do we clean house. We got rid of all that junk food, all the sodium nitrates and artificial colors and aspartame and the junk and the processed foods and the genetically modified and all. We just clean house. But what happens if I leave that way? No, no, no. You got to bring in. You got to bring in the good stuff. And then you hide their car keys for about a week. But you get the principle, right? You got to put something in its place. I want to drive these things out, Shane. And we get emails, it seems like daily now. Shane, I want to drive out the pornography is so strong. The opiate addiction is so strong. The alcohol is so strong. The marijuana is so strong. The sexual lust is so strong. And I tell the people, you can't just grin and bear it and white knuckle it. You need to put the power of the Holy Spirit into your life. Be full of the spirit of God and let him fight that battle for you. Get on your face and worship God. Yes, the addiction might start to draw you back, but you discipline your body like Paul said, I discipline my body and I put my body in subjection and I trust in Christ to see me through. Yes, there is a battle. But at the end of the day, you can stand strong because God is your strength and God is your fortress. See, we make we make two mistakes in this area. We tell people what just just just pray a little more and just just grin and bear it. We don't tell them that the strength is in the power of the spirit and fully surrendering their lives. But on the other hand, sometimes you say, well, just cave in, you know, just, you know, you're just flesh like Nike slogan. Well, if it feels good doing, you know, many times that slogan has got me in trouble. Temptation. The truth about temptation is there is a battle. It's called spiritual warfare. And when temptation is at its greatest peak, that's when you call on God to say, Lord, I need you. I surrender to you. And you begin to fill your mind with the thoughts of Christ, of holiness and of obedience and not out of obligation, but out of the dire necessity to love and be loyal to Jesus. And that was my next point, ask God for help and rely on him. I have to get this point across because I don't know how this happens. But sometimes people think I'm talking all about willpower and you're just not self-disciplined enough. And I'm not, I'm not saying all that, but I am saying that self-discipline is a fruit of the spirit, at least in my Bible. Is it erased in your Bible? Love, joy, peace, contentment, long suffering, gentleness, kindness, self-control, controlling yourself through the power of the spirit. It can't be done in the flesh. It can't be done naturally. It has to be done supernaturally. So you ask God for help and you rely on him. And then I've said this before, you obey out of loyalty and love, not about following rules. And that's what you have to make sure you teach your children, parents, maybe even tonight, maybe do a study tomorrow, everyone on the grass on this side and the grass on this side with the kids, make sure you teach them this. We don't have to do all these rules because there's a mean, angry God ready to kill you. It's a loving God that wants what's best for you. The guardrails over the canyons of life are there to protect you, not to stop you from having fun. God loves you, so he sets these things in place to help you. And we have this view though that can get really distorted if we're not careful. Can I tell you a story about Robert Robinson? Robert Robinson. I love this story. He went to mock George Whitefield in the 1700s. That's not a good idea. I don't know if you know who George Whitefield is. He was one of the flames of fire of revival that God used in the first great awakening. And this man went to mock George Whitefield, but the message haunted him for months. The message haunted him and it was a simple message from John the Baptist, George Whitefield. And I can picture him with no microphone or anything. And he preached what John the Baptist preached. He said, you brood of vipers, not very seeker sensitive. You brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come. Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance and don't say we are Abraham's children. God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these very stones. And even now the ax is laid at the root of the tree. You brood of vipers repent from the wrath that is to come. And then Whitefield began to weep and he would say, oh my hearers, my hearers, the wrath that is to come, the wrath that is to come, the wrath of the Lamb, God's judgment being poured out. And this man began to break and he began to weep and call out to God later on. And God saved him and he got involved in the ministry. But guess what? He strayed by everything I just mentioned earlier, began to stray from God, a true prodigal story. And he was being, he was in a miserable spot and he was on a stagecoach. And a lady said to him, oh listen to these lyrics. I love this hymn. I love this hymn. And he ignored her and just kind of pushed her away in his mind. And she said, oh you have to listen. I love this hymn. And he finally set up and he said, ma'am, ma'am, I'm numb and happy. I'm the unhappy fellow who wrote that hymn. And he goes on to say, oh, if I could get back that joy again. Oh, if I could get back the joy again, the joy of my salvation. When I first came to the Lord and I was filled with fire, I was filled with the spirit. Joy marked my heart. If I could just get back to that joy again. And thank God he penned the famous lyrics that most of you know. Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Lord, here's my heart. Take and seal it. Seal it in thy courts above. Oh God, take my heart and you seal it. I'm prone to wander. I can feel it. God, would you hold me? Would you draw me back? You're my anchor. You're my security. And then there's a line that many people are confused about. When he says, here I raise my Ebenezer. And we think, uh oh, he's lost us. Here I raise my Ebenezer. You'll remember this. I hope you never forget it because it's so important. Here I raise my Ebenezer. All you have to do is go back to the Hebrew language and it's within the prophet Samuel. The Philistines were defeating the children of Israel a few different times. And the prophet Samuel took this stone and he said, here I raise my Ebenezer, which means stone of help. God, we are calling on you. I raise my voice. And the nation, America, needs to hear our voice. And we say, God, we cry out to you. Our children need you. The pedophilia that is happening. God, break it to an end. The sex trafficking. God, would you eliminate it? When was the last time you went to a prayer meeting and got on your face and you cried for our nation? And we wonder why this is happening. Listen, you can post some nice little thing on Facebook. But that's a far cry from what Joel said. He said, wrench your hearts and not your garments. Call on the name of the Lord. Call the sacred assembly. Sound the alarm. God says, turn to me with fasting and weeping and mourning. So let me leave you with that thought. Obedience brings life. Obedience brings life. And the spirit-filled life, folks, drives it out. Drives it out. I'm hoping before this ends, we might be able to let this go into October as well, depending on what God does. And one of the nights I want to talk to you about the spirit-filled life because it is so important. So many Christians are not operating in the life filled with the spirit. Oh, they know their Bible. They come to church. But they're missing the spirit-filled life. And that's why I love so many Old Testament imageries of when God said, I will send rain on a dry and barren land. Isn't that interesting? He says, I will send rain on a dry and barren land. Well, okay, what does that mean to me? It means you have to prepare the soil. God says, if you prepare the soil of your heart, I will bring rain down on a dry and barren landscape. Oh, God, let it rain in our culture today. Don't you love that song? Let it rain. Oh, God, if you would let it rain in our homes, let it rain in our private lives. God, we need you. We call out to you like Joel said. Call the sacred assembly. Sound the alarm. Turn to God with all of your hearts with prayer and mourning and fasting. And I love if you keep reading Joel, you'll know the passage in Acts where the promise of that is, and I will pour out my spirit. I will pour out my spirit on your sons and your daughters. Your old men will dream, dream. Your young men will have visions. They will prophesy. I will pour out my spirit on my men servants and on my maidservants on that dry and thirsty and barren land. I will pour out the spirit of God. Let me submit to you that that is our only hope. It's going to get really bad come November 2020. We have to turn to God Almighty. Let us stand and worship. Let us stand and worship. And I want to just encourage you, cry out to God, say, Lord, let it rain. How many of you are dry and barren? How many of you are dry and barren tonight? I want you to meet us in the prayer tents. Let's pray for a fresh feeling of the Holy Spirit. I might I might even be bold enough to pray for healing. Amen. Amen. Do you believe in a God who still heals? A God who still heals and sets people free? God can restore your marriage and break your addiction. So meet us at the prayer tent. And I also want to baptize you. If you don't know who Jesus Christ is tonight, the Bible is clear. All you have to do is repent of your sin. Say, Lord, I repent. I've been a prideful, arrogant man. I've been a prideful, arrogant woman, and I repent of my sin tonight. I need the Spirit of the living God to save me and set me free. Oh, God, I need you. Let it rain in my heart. Let it rain in my life.