SPEAKER IDENTIFICATION

Speaker 1 - Announcer / Prerecorded Promo Voice
This speaker delivers the opening introduction and closing ministry contact information. The voice is identifiable by its third-person introduction of Brother Jim Shaw and its station-style promotional language.

Speaker 2 - Brother Jim Shaw / Host and Preacher
This speaker delivers the sermon and is identified by the announcer's introduction, the first-person references to his family and ministry, and the closing identification of the program as Brother Jim Shaw Ministries.

Speaker 1 - Announcer / Prerecorded Promo Voice

Welcome to another broadcast from Brother Jim Shaw Ministries. If you would like more information or sermons, visit www.brotherjimshaw.org. Please stay tuned until the end of the broadcast for more contact information. And now, here's Brother Jim Shaw.

Speaker 2 - Brother Jim Shaw / Host and Preacher

You know, none of us have arrived. I raised eight children, and I currently have 22 grandchildren. If I had to do things all over again, and if I had the choice, I would probably watch more closely some of the companions with whom my children spent time.

Looking back, I was somewhat caught up in self-righteousness, and I wasn't listening to God's Word. I thought, since I'm a Christian, my kids could spend time around non-Christians and their Christianity would guide those people into the Holy Land. I couldn't have been further from the truth. For all I know, I could have harmed generations. I'm just sharing that with you.

What I'm getting at is this: if it's God's Word, it's God's Word. Right? It's not being prideful. It's not being snobbish. It's not believing that you're better than somebody else. It's simply God's Word, and I'm talking about companionship here: the people with whom you spend time.

Now, I know the Lord was with sinners. He was with prostitutes, but He wasn't spending time with them merely as good buddies. No, He was preaching to them. He was teaching them, just as He would His own apostles. It wasn't a bingo game in which He was merely spending time with sinners. The sinners knew they were surrounded by righteousness and wanted to be with it.

While we're on this earth, we have to be aware. It's hard for us to realize that there are only two camps: people who know the Lord and people who don't. It sounds judgmental. I get it. It sounds downright rude. I get it. But I don't go by how things sound; I go by truth. Right?

If someone does not know the Lord, I don't look at him as a filthy, rotten heathen. I look at him, first, as a stranger, and I'm to love him because I was a stranger. I'm no longer going to be a stranger because I have tasted of Christ, but the Lord tells me to remember strangers because I was in Egypt at one time, too. Still, I'm going to be aware of a stranger because a stranger is led by a different god. Right?

We're told this in Proverbs 13:20: "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." I've seen this happen.

Even just sitting back, I've seen good people, particularly good kids, start spending time with kids who aren't so good. And you know what? Just as we're told - I believe it's in Amos - I could have a barrel with 10,000 good, delicious apples in it. If I throw one rotten apple into that drum, all the goodness of those 10,000 apples will never turn that corrupt apple good. It will always be the other way around. That one corrupt apple will destroy the 10,000 good ones.

This is the world we're living in. Take it to heart. As I said, be as wise as a serpent and be in love. You're still not better than anybody else, but beware of the companionship you have and the people with whom you spend time, because suddenly sin will jump on you. Their demons will jump on you.

You see this a lot with anger. You might not even be angry, but you start talking to somebody who's angry. The next thing you know, you're ready to pick something up and throw it through a window. All right? I mean, they jump on you. These are actual evil spirits. They're demons. Yes, and they live in people. Yes. Come on, Christ cast at least 2,000 out of one man, so who knows how many there are? There could be trillions upon trillions. We don't know.

But the fact remains: beware of whom you call a friend. Beware. I'm not trying to create a division here. I'm not trying to put you in a high place, and I'm not trying to put myself on a higher level.

Actually, Jesus, through the book of James, tells me that if two people come into my church, one in good attire and one looking like a bum, I'm not supposed to play favorites. No, but I'm talking about spiritual things here. I'm not talking about how they look or how they dress.

There might be a young man living in the worst trailer park known to man, but that young man is righteous. That means he's a good companion. There might be a man living in Hollywood or Beverly Hills, in a mansion, who is a degenerate and whose fruits are nothing but evil. He's not a good companion.

You, as a parent, should be watching for this with your children. I'm just being upfront, because I had to learn from my mistakes. Now my children have learned from my mistakes because they've seen them, especially when you have a big family.

For me to have compromised would have been even worse: I'll just bring a little leaven into the house, bring a little of this into the house, bring a little of that into the house, bring the crazy music into the house, bring the crazy hair into the house, and bring the crazy piercings into the house. No. My soul knows what crazy is. Yes, it does.

Even the Bible talks about markings of the flesh. Even the Bible talks about the clothing of a woman versus the clothing of a man. Now, I get it: these are all outward conditions, and I'm not going to get hung up on them, but they're still signs. They're still signs. All right? They're still signs.

Hold fast, gang, and watch out for the people with whom you spend time, because their spirits will try to jump on you. That's a true statement, and you can see it often.

The Lord told us that a true adulterer - a true adulterer in the spiritual realm - has friendship with the world. In other words, he's a companion of the world, not a companion of God. Even then, the questions are: Who are you spending time with? To what are your thoughts directed? Right?

These are actual things we have to deal with daily. This walk isn't make-believe, gang. This walk isn't about sermons. This walk is about how you actually live your life, minute by minute and day by day.

It can become so confusing when we think of the church as a building. It's so confusing when we think of one hour, out of seven 24-hour days, in a building with a clambake and baked goods. No. It's when you wake up at 6:00 a.m. on a Wednesday morning and don't want to get out of bed, and the voices are talking to you. It's when you're talking to your wife in bed at 9:00 p.m. and something is said that you don't like.

All right, we have a chance to put up this shield of faith 24/7. We have an enemy who is trying to kill us 24/7. Now, let me read that verse again.

I'm trying to find it here. Well, that's the problem with dealing with a physical book. In this new computer age, everything is in front of you. My book has lost its page. But the fact remains, I know what it says: a wise man spends time with wise men, and you'll know people by their companions.

This is a good lesson, people. This is a good lesson, especially for parents or grandparents. Beware of the people with whom your children spend time, because the evil spirits don't care. Evil spirits will attack a person in the womb. Evil spirits will attack somebody who's 98 years old. They don't care because they want to destroy a soul. Yes, they want to take a soul away.

Parents, you are in charge of your household. You are in charge of your children, and that also means being responsible for the people with whom they spend time. If you sense mischievous behavior, stomp it out. That heroin addict probably began with one little puff on a cigarette when he was 10 years old, maybe even at a friend's house. That drunkard who's stumbling around right now could have started at a buddy's house when he was in seventh grade and went into the pantry of unbelievers who were getting drunk every night.

All right, this is how it is. This is the real world, gang. We're surrounded by evil. It's trying to kill us, steal from us, and destroy us all day long. Yes.

I know how the world system is right now. I know about the shots, COVID, Russia, mRNA, possible Wormwood, and chemtrails. I know about all this stuff. I don't know it all, but I know of all this stuff.

The fact still remains that your walk with Jesus Christ is second by second, and the devil is trying to knock you away from love. The first love is the first commandment: to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul. When He gives you the Holy Ghost, He's going to lead you to righteousness. Therefore, everything in this world is going to try to kill, steal, destroy, and lead you to unrighteousness. Yes.

So hold fast, gang. Beware of the people with whom you spend time. Beware of the thoughts you're harboring. We're told to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ, casting down all imaginations that exalt themselves against God.

If there are thoughts in your mind of lust, greed, whining, murmuring, or complaining, God doesn't want any of them. If those thoughts are trying to exalt themselves above God, you take them captive. It's a soldier's term. It's a military term. You take them captive, and you crush and destroy them.

You say, "No, Lord, I choose love and forgiveness over revenge. No, Lord, I choose purity and modesty over sexuality and sensuality." This is what we choose. "No, Lord, I choose to share and lend rather than submit to a demon of covetousness that wants me to hoard and keep everything for myself."

This is how you fight the battle, gang. You're being attacked by invisible, flaming missiles from the enemy all day long. The Lord warns us that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. In His description of the weapons in Ephesians 6, He says one of the main weapons is the shield of faith. The shield of faith quenches all the fiery missiles that come flying at you in the form of thoughts.

So stand guard. Take guard. Be strong. Be a soldier. Endure hardship and suffering, because we're told that those who wish to cease from sin are going to suffer in the flesh. Ceasing from sin is suffering in the flesh because your human nature always wants the wide way and the wide gate. It wants what's comfortable, nice, and pleasing to you and the people around you. That has nothing to do with God.

God has nothing to do with this world. It's a condemned place. Our only escape is through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our only escape is becoming the new creation in Christ, where old things have passed away and all things have become new. Our only escape is the second Adam, not the first one. The first one was thrown out of the garden, and his genetics became evil - so evil that the Lord, at one time, destroyed the whole world except for Noah.

But now He has given you and me a way of escape through trusting in Christ. Get on your knees. Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Believe it through faith. Attain the miracle of becoming the new creature, and your life will never be the same.

It's a fact, people. It's true. It's true, and the Lord is no respecter of persons. If He's done it for one man, He'll do it for you. God bless you all, and amen.

Speaker 1 - Announcer / Prerecorded Promo Voice

You've been listening to Brother Jim Shaw Ministries. If you would like more information or sermons, we can be reached at www.brotherjimshaw.org. That's www.brotherjimshaw.org.

Or write to P.O. Box 690492, Vero Beach, Florida. You can also call 717-451-9767. Again, 717-451-9767.

Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you again next time for another broadcast from Brother Jim Shaw Ministries. To view more messages on Brother Jim's YouTube page, please visit www.brotherjimshaw.org.