Hey , welcome to Doing Life with Ken and Tabitha . We are so pumped that you're tuning into this podcast . It has been designed for people just like you . We wanna do life with you , share our wins , our defeats , our ups and our downs , in hopes that you'll grow closer to God and to the people that you love in your life . Sit back and enjoy today's podcast . Bad company corrupts good manners . That's good and that's actually straight . The Bible , the B , I , b , l , e , okay , bad company corrupts good manners . Can you talk about that at all ?
Speaker 2I can speak to my before Jesus days and you know whether it were , I don't know , just friends in college and even in high school . You know , growing up in high school my first cigarette was with bad company , bad Company . My first drink was with Bad Company and a lot of things that I did was because I had Bad Company .
Speaker 1Go ahead and tell them go through the list .
Speaker 2Now , these people I would say , I mean and it's funny , because these people , I would say , were my friends I still care for them to this day . I mean , it's who I rolled with , but it was what I would call bad company , because they influenced me to do things that were ungodly and I probably influenced them to do some things that were ungodly as well .
Speaker 1I like to say it this way Whenever God wants to do something in your life , he puts people in your life . And whenever Satan wants to do something in your life , he puts people in your life , and whenever Satan wants to do something in your life , he puts people in your life , and so the people who are coming into your life are probably there from Satan to lead you towards what is wrong , or from God to lead you towards that .
Speaker 1And I think it's so important for us to be discerning , to determine who these people came from , and so , yeah , for me it's the same . Now , I was the one probably influencing people wrong . I mean to be honest with you , but the principle is this is that bad company like so who you hang out with ? Does matter you know , and so I've always thought it's interesting when people get set free from , like say , a drug addiction , and then they want to go back to the drug house and get everybody set free .
Speaker 1But that's really not the environment right away for you to run back into because the environment suggests to you that you're supposed to be a part of it and it will probably turn you out before you turn it out . I'm not saying that five years can't go by , 10 years can't go by . God can't send you back into the prison and send you back into the drug house . Yeah , God can use you . But I think there needs to be a real season of maturity and separation , because it's just like how Lot he set his tent towards Sodom and where did he end up ? Because your environment is suggesting for you to come and be a part of it .
Speaker 1So if you get free from a lifestyle , but you still hang out with everybody who's in that lifestyle . The environment is saying no , you're supposed to be a part of it . Don't leave . And that's what happened to Lot . That's why he ended up back in Sodom to be a part of it Don't leave , and that's what happened to Lot .
Speaker 2That's why he ended up back in Sodom . And listen , that is part of the reason why I do not drink alcohol to this day or hang around a lot of people who do drink alcohol , because I don't want to put myself in that situation . The Bible says that the flesh left unchecked will always return back to where it came from . It is a way of me checking my flesh , because the first 18 years of my life were so influential . It kind of you know you're born into sin , shaped in iniquity . The first 18 years of my life were like that . That suggested being alcoholic . You need to drink like this , you need to do all of these things .
Speaker 2I've been free from alcohol sober for what ? 20 , over 20 years now , but you still won't see me hanging out at the bar , at this at the sports club . You still won't see me even when we go to restaurants . We went to a restaurant the other day and we had the option to sit at the bar Because all the other seats were taken and both of us looked at the bar . We saw the people hanging out with their drinks . We saw the drinks , you know , the bottles around and we just looked and was like no , no , thank you , we'll wait for the drink .
Speaker 1And we're not even saying that as haters . If you want to drink , drink ?
Speaker 2Yeah , you can drink if you want to .
Speaker 1But I'm saying that ain't the environment for my spirit .
Speaker 1But I know . Not for me , that's not the environment for my sober- . You need to know what environment you're supposed to be in and what relationships you need around you to be in God's best , and that's so good . So bad company corrupts good manners and I guess what we're talking about today is building some parameters and making investments in right relationships and cutting off or putting boundaries around wrong relationships . And especially for those of you all who are newer to your faith , it's like when you're newer to the faith , the people that you used to hang out with and do life with will probably be the first to say negative things about you and call you a holy roller or you just well , they say that you've changed , but you have changed .
Speaker 1Yeah , thank God I changed . Like , thank God that I'm not that struck that strip club clubbing , drinking , lying , cheating , foreign . Thank God I've changed . So when people were like man , it seems like you've changed , that shouldn't be a bad thing . Yeah , that actually should be like , thank God , you see it . You know , and I'm letting people know that , listen , you can change too if you want to . Now I can't make you change , but I'm not going to let you stop me from changing . Right , but that's what people want to do . And you know why people don't ? People persecute you and attack you for living godly . It's because the light that is in you is putting a spotlight on the darkness in them .
Speaker 2And it makes them uncomfortable . It makes them uncomfortable .
Speaker 1The light in you now makes them uncomfortable . So before you could go out and you could hang out and you could do whatever , and because both of you were in darkness , the darkness liked the darkness . But now that you're the light , the very fact that you're in the house , they're uncomfortable . The fact that you're in the car , they're uncomfortable . The fact that you're in the car , they're uncomfortable and they almost want to project like there's something wrong with you and ain't nothing wrong with you Everything is right with you .
Speaker 1The problem is the darkness that's on the inside of them . And so I remember when we first got really serious about God and I had a family member and I love this family member but they put out a magazine on the table and it was a negative magazine . There was a negative article about mega churches . You know what I'm saying and I'm talking about .
Speaker 1These are people who were in church love me and I love them , great people , but at the same time , you on the inside I had to be like , get the behind me , satan . You know it's not about that . Person Like this is a person that I love . I mean , I genuinely love Right . Might not even admit anything bad , but that , right , there was the plan of the enemy for me not to go full into my church because of some article about mega churches . Yeah , and so not only will it come from people that are not believers . Many times the persecution and the misunderstanding of relationships comes from other religious or zealous or legalistic Christians .
Speaker 2People who think they're doing good .
Speaker 1They think they're doing good , but they're being used by the enemy , and so they're going to tell you why it doesn't take all of that . And no , tongues is this and tongues is that . And money is this and money is that . And what I learned over the years is that you will know a tree by its fruit , and a stranger's voice I will not follow . So I want to be very attentive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and I also want to be a great fruit inspector , because just because you say you love Jesus , you might not love Jesus like I love Jesus , so you might not know him like I know him and you might not be able to manifest in the kingdom what I'm able to manifest in the kingdom .
Speaker 2So I'm not going to let your words and limits limit me and I think , like you said the word compartmentalize before I think you said that word when it comes to relationships and things , and I think what people do is they get someone . Let's say they have someone who is a business mentor man . They know business in and out and they are like you can go to them for business . I mean , they got books on business and all of this stuff , but their marriage sucks . So okay , it's okay to go to them for business , but don't you dare you . Better look at the fruit and don't listen to them when it comes to marriage advice , and it is okay to do those things . There are people that I listened to on podcasts , maybe politics or just any health you know that I listen to and they are an expert in health , you know , but please don't go into the bible . You preached politics and you are an expert in politics , but please don't try to preach the word .
Speaker 1I mean , it is every christian .
Speaker 2Yeah , you can preach the word . You're a christian , you have a believer , but don't try , don't do that because because I can't listen to you in that , because you're not an expert in that , but I can listen to you about this .
Speaker 1I guess one of the things that I want people to hear today is that it's okay to be misunderstood , and just because people hate on you doesn't mean that God does Matter of fact , I've realized over the years that it's actually confirmation that when people speak ill of you , it's confirmation that you might be really walking with God . For me , I've been misunderstood so much that I've actually gotten used to it now and I actually welcome it . I'm talking about family members and friends , not naming names , because it's not about people to me . I'm just talking about the principles that other people who are listening need to hear .
Speaker 1Just misunderstanding of why I can't come to a wedding or why I didn't show up for this birthday or why I wasn't able to come to this family reunion , because my life is not my own and because maybe I don't have the budget for , or maybe God has me doing another assignment , or maybe he just didn't give me peace to go or I didn't want to come . But I just feel like there are so many people that have limits in their Christendom because they live for the audience of people more than the audience of God , and there's just something about divorcing yourself from the opinions of other people so that you can be who God's called you to be and I just speak of boldness over people today to be who God's called you to be , yes , you know , I know of one young lady who was Muslim and now she's .
Speaker 1She's a follower of Jesus , she's a Christian and you know , she comes from a Palestinian family and they don't really understand her decisions . And she has to be bold , she has to say well , god has revealed himself to me , I have a relationship with God , I am healed and restored . I mean , she got water baptized , she knows who Jesus is and she's going to have to deal with the fact that her family does not get it yet , but she is the chosen one in that family for everybody else , hopefully to get it yeah .
Speaker 1Here's a few scriptures . Tell me what you get out of this . Matthew , chapter 12 , verse 46 . It says while Jesus was still talking to the crowd , his mother and brother stood outside wanting to speak with him . And somebody told him your mother and brother is standing outside wanting to speak with you . And he replied to them who is my mother and who are my brothers ? Pointing to his disciples . And he replied to them who is my mother and who are my brothers , pointing to his disciples . And he said here are my mother and brother , for whoever does the will of the father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother . What sticks out to you from that ?
Speaker 2Now , I love this scripture because there's another scripture in the Bible that's telling the same story , in the gospels . That says that his brother , his mother , his brothers were with his mother and they were going to Jesus to lay hands on him . They were going to beat Jesus up . They were going to say Jesus , what are you doing ?
Speaker 1I have not read the scripture , but I'll take your word for it . Take my word for it , okay .
Speaker 2They were going to lay hands on Jesus because they wanted to be like you know what are you doing ? You know that's family , and then Jesus says well , who is my brother and
my sister ? But I think that's so important because if you're a part of a family that just persecutes you , you can't do anything right . I mean , jesus knows all about your troubles .
Speaker 1Yeah , basically , he's not trying to diss your natural family , and that's not what today's episode is about .
Speaker 2Right .
Speaker 1But he is trying to highlight your spiritual family and he says who is my family , brother , sister , mother other than those who do the will of God ? Do the will of God and I think so many times we don't look at our spiritual family as like , really our family Like we got this thing like well , blood is thicker than water . Well , the blood of Jesus is thicker than water , and that's what brings us together as spiritual family .
Speaker 2Yeah , I think it's so important Spiritual family like church family , like our closest friends and best friends . I mean , they are the people who we go to church with , the people who we build the kingdom with the people that we pray with people together , we take care of kids and we teach the gospel to kids together . I mean , these are our brothers and sisters , our mothers and fathers . Yeah ,