Honoring Rev. Ben Shaw- “The Church”

We want to honor the ministry of Bro. Shaw. He will definitely be missed in the Holiness Movement! He was wonderful man and wonderful Preacher! 

Who do we say Jesus is—and how does that answer shape the way we worship, persevere, and live together as a church? We open Matthew 16 and sit with Peter’s confession, then follow its implications into the life of a people built on the Rock. From near-miss moments on foggy highways to the ordinary grind of hard weeks, we trace how gratitude, identity, and courage turn routine gatherings into living worship and replace a defeated posture with durable joy.

We talk candidly about dryness and formality, not to scold but to heal. Loving Scripture and loving the Spirit belong together; preaching deserves an altar; pastors need congregational backing, and congregations need pastoral support. When we show up with open hands and honest hearts, the room changes—because we remember who leads, who saves, and who keeps us through every storm. This isn’t hype; it’s the slow strength of a people who carry crosses now and trust that crowns come later.

Anchoring it all is a fresh look at Jesus as the last Adam, driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to defeat temptation with the Word. That victory isn’t a story we admire from afar—it’s a life we share. The old ship of Zion keeps sailing, stocked with salvation, sanctification, the Holy Spirit, healing, and encouragement, pulling into heaven’s harbor right on time. If you’ve felt stuck, dry, or discouraged, consider this an invitation to remember the Rock, recover your praise, and live like someone who knows the gates of hell cannot prevail.

If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Sermon Setup
• 4:10 Text: Matthew 16 and Identity of Christ
• 8:40 The Church: Not Defeated but Victorious
• 13:45 Testimony of Protection & Encouragement
• 18:20 Confronting Apathy and Dry Formality
• 23:15 Enduring Church on the Rock
• 28:10 Cross Before Crown: Perseverance
• 33:20 Some Will Fall Away—But Not All
• 38:40 Participation, Pastors, and Congregational Support
• 45:20 Praise Without Starch: Keep the Fire
• 50:30 The Old Ship of Zion Metaphor

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Welcome to Foundations of Truth Podcast, where we are laying strong foundations for a holy life. Here we return to timeless truth, building our lives on the solid rock of Scripture with preaching. Join us as we grow in wisdom, faith, and understanding. Rooted in Christ, the cornerstone. Now on to the next sermon. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_05: 2:02

Lord willing, nothing happens. We're gonna make our plans. Come next year. Hadn't been offended yet this year.

SPEAKER_03: 2:11

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05: 2:14

I know him every time.

SPEAKER_03: 2:17

We just really met him one time, just about halfway. I didn't know him too. Good and I knew a pretty little girl. We just loved her and she did us and her family, her mother and dad. And if one day when when she was just a young lady, she and uh and uh a young man drove up in a 1956. Do you remember that car? 41. 414, the 414 Army Army Green. Army four forty-one four. And brother Ben weighed every bit of a hundred and nineteen. Did I miss it much if I did? You you did weigh more. I may I might have weighed 120. And I don't know. His ears doesn't look it now, he's all thickened out. But when you wait 119 or 20, you might get the ears. And a little thin face in here, and I don't know, just somehow, knowing Sister Opalie, Sister Shaw, she's over there smiling, but we just thought so well of her, I thought, who is that? Who is that fellow she's with here? I I don't know if I like the way he looks or something to that effect. Turned out to be brother Ben Shaw. Well, Glory, I'll sit down. So if he got over being offended at me then and I did him, we made it all the way from then.

SPEAKER_05: 3:55

I don't know whether I'm coming back next year or not now. Come on back.

SPEAKER_03: 4:00

Come on back. That's all we're running the bridge. You even weigh more now.

SPEAKER_05: 4:10

If you have your Bibles, turn to the 16th chapter of the book of Matthew. I hope I can be a blessing to you this morning. I want to be. I hope I can be like Brother Crane if I don't get anywhere this morning. Let somebody else come and try it a while. Sixteenth chapter of the book of Saint Matthew and verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. And he said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonh, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. I want to preach from these scriptures this morning as the Lord would help us. Even Jesus was concerned about what men were thinking or saying about him. Probably he had something in mind that that uh maybe I can't see through it, just uh hold the whole meaning of it. But uh probably he was getting to the place where he got to when he asked his disciples. He was wanting to make sure that they knew who he was. But uh some say the answer from the disciples said, some say that thou art John the Baptist. And of course, we know that Herod thought that when he heard about the things that Jesus was doing, he said, This is John the Baptist, raised from the dead. And some Elias, Elijah, and others Jeremiah, are one of the prophets. And then he said, He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Glory. I want to preach this morning about the church a while, and then maybe on something else a while, and maybe on something else a little while. Just as the Lord would lead us this morning, that's the way I want to go. I'm glad that I know who Jesus is. He is not John the Baptist, he is not Elijah, he is not Jeremiah or one of the prophets, but he is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And I'm glad that we can become personally acquainted with him and know without a shadow of a doubt that you have him in your life. You can have an experience with God that you can know about. Amen. God has called some of us out of the mills, some out of the hills, some out of the fields, and some out of the stills. Praise God, but we're in the church, aren't we? Of the living God. Hallelujah. I don't know how you what you think about yourself, but I think if God has saved you, washed you in the blood of the Lamb, wrote your name in the Lamb's Book of Life, you are somebody. Amen. And we are going somewhere. I am amazed at the defeat that is in our churches nowadays. The feelings of defeat. I'm wondering if we've forgotten who we are. What about people that God has favored and God has washed our sins away, wrote our names in the Lamb's Book of Life, and give us special favors, watches over us and supplies our needs, and helps us in every way. Mindful of us when we're not mindful of ourselves. I remember coming over here one time to preach Brother Butler a revival. And I started off uh pretty early in the morning from Mobile, Alabama, or Mossbourne, or wherever we started out from, and uh either from my house or Sister Opalie's folks' house, and we started this way, and it was real foggy that morning. And uh, and I understood after everything was said and done, I understood that this man had been trying to get around this 18-wheeler for miles and miles and couldn't do it. And it just so happened that he tried, he took a chance and tried to come around that 18-wheeler as we were passing this 18-wheeler. And uh I changed, I whipped off of the road, and when I did, his mind changed, and we were still coming head on. And I pulled that automobile in between that 18-wheeler and that car, and we all most collided right there on the highway coming over here to preach a revival. Can you think about me being and feeling defeated when the angels of the Lord are encamped around about them that fear him and delivers them? Thank God for his protection. Sister Sue, that's what had a hold of y'all coming over here yesterday was the angels of the Lord were encamped around about. They almost had a serious accident yesterday. Thank God I feel like that we're somebody. Hallelujah! Glory be to God. It's pitiful the way some of our people come to church with a defeated attitude, head bowed down. My Lord and my God hardly got a praise in their heart for the Lord, can't hardly lift up their hands toward the God of heaven in honor. It's pitiful. My Lord and my God, when we know Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, come on now, is trying to creep into the church at Fairland. People in our church that don't believe hardly in the moving of the Spirit of God, or they act like they don't. Y'all hold on this morning. Hey, Sister Joyce, Sister Helen, and Sister Shaw is here this morning. Y'all know I preach like this sometimes over there. I don't hold back because those old boys are sitting around that act like they don't hardly believe in the movement of the Spirit no more. Hey, when the Holy Ghost gets to moving and you bow your head and twiddle your fingers and you don't try to get in with the flow of the Spirit of God, you don't like it. Or you give me the impression that you don't appreciate the moving of the Spirit of God. I'm gonna say we're a victorious people. Not because we're so high and so mighty, but because of who we got on the inside. Amen. We are victorious. If you're in the church of the living God, you are not a defeated people, but you are a victorious people. I'm not talking about shouting all the time, I'm not talking about running the aisles all the time, I'm not talking about that, but I'm talking about living a victorious life. Go through some hard trials and come on to church, anyhow. Have it hard, lose your job, come on to church anyhow. Your family's sick, and things is not going too good. Come on and let's serve God anyhow. We've got an old boy in our church now that he's been without the Holy Ghost so long that he feels like you can have the Holy Ghost without talking in tongues. I want you to know every once in a while I mow around that stump. Glory be to God, and I let everybody know that you gotta get it like you got it. Thank God years ago, amen, on the day of Pentecost. That was the example, that was the pattern, and I believe when you get the Holy Ghost, thank God the initial evidence is speaking in tongues as the Spirit give utterance. I don't know about y'all, but I feel it coming on this morning. I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired of the devil or wrangling God's people around. Hey, let the charismatics do what they want to do. Don't you let that put the damper on us.

SPEAKER_07: 16:05

If you live holy, if you live right, you got a right to shout the victory of God.

SPEAKER_05: 16:19

Hey, I was doing this a long time before the charismatics got here. My Lord and my God. Maybe I was doing a little worse than what I'm doing now. Hallelujah. Glory be to Jesus. One time as a lady and a daughter went to a service, and they had one of them good, good shouting services where the Spirit of the Lord was moving, and they got in and got left. And they went back home and started telling the husband and the daddy about it, and he didn't like it. So the pastor, he didn't know nothing about him, didn't like not liking it. And uh he went over and knocked on the door, and the husband met him at the door. He says, You that pastor from over there at that church where my wife and girl went to? He said, Yes, sir, I am. He said, Well, I want you to know that I don't like it. Don't like what? That shouting and that praising God and getting rambunctious. And that pastor said, I never had done anything like I had done. Amen. He looked at him and said, I don't like it because you don't like it, because I like it. Glory. And that daddy says, Come on in here, preacher. Glory be to God. I tell you what, I don't like it because you don't like it, but I like it. Glory be to Jesus. Brother Ben, I've been serving the Lord off and on for 40 years. Hallelujah. Amen. I've nearly been saved 40 years. I got to get off of that maybe a couple of years until I get past that 40 mark. But I tell you what, I'd hate to know that I'd been in the way 40 years. What we need to do is get out of the way and let God bless. Amen. Oh, I've been enjoying this camp meeting. Brother Moore has been doing good. I appreciate him. Amen. I appreciate him because he's a good man. Glory. If you say something to me about him and I don't open my mouth, you better move on. Whoa, glory be to Jesus. Amen. Praise God forever. Oh, we are a victorious church. Amen. I believe the Lord says, upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Oh, yes, that's where the church is, is on the rock. The storms may come, but the church remains on the rock. The storms may blow, but the church remains on the rock. Brother Butler, it must be enduring because you've been over here a long time. I've been coming over here 30-something years. Thank God it's enduring. Some of you've been over here ever since I've been coming. Brother Clisten, where you at? Glory be to God. It must be enduring. Brother Polk, I know I maybe you got in right after I started coming over here. But it looks like to me it's enduring to me. Glory be to Jesus. Brother White was over here when I first come, and it looks like to me that it's enduring. Oh, hallelujah. I'm glad to be in the church of the living God. Hallelujah. I'm glad that it is a victorious church. Amen. I'm not saying that there's not a cross in this. Amen. When you get saved, you don't get a crown, you get a cross. We're going to get the crown after a while. Amen. But did you know the Lord promises us, thank God, victory and carrying that cross? Amen. You know, we can look at the scriptures in the wrong way. I've heard preachers preach on that scripture over there about said some uh shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Oh, and they'll really bear down on that, you know. About all of them and all of us that's losing out. Glory. I'm glad that it didn't say all. Amen. But he said some. Hallelujah. And get on that scripture over there in 2 Thessalonians. Is it about the great falling away first before the Lord comes and before they get through? They got us so discouraged and feel like we can't make it another step of the way. But I'm telling you, it don't have to be us to fulfill that scripture. I know there's gonna be some falling away, but I believe God's gonna have a church that'll answer the call when He comes with a shout from the clouds of glory.

SPEAKER_07: 22:25

Hallelujah!

SPEAKER_05: 22:31

Why should the Lord even return if nobody's gonna be ready? Come on now, there's some gonna still be living holiness, walking uprightly, shouting the victory, and glorifying God, Brother So-so, are you in the church? There's victory in Mexico. Whoa, glory be to Jesus. Hallelujah, Brother Morgan. Are you in this church? There's victory here in Savannah. Brother Butler, are you in this church? Thank God forever.

SPEAKER_07: 23:19

Amen. There's victory here in Savannah.

SPEAKER_05: 23:28

I'm gonna use those few old women that used to be in your church. And said the church is going down. You remember that? You told it years ago. Church is going down. Church is going down. Church is going down. Glory, brother Butler get up there. Said the church is going on. Hallelujah. The church is gonna go on. Bless the Lord. You can look around here this morning and find out, thank God, that whoever that was didn't have a revelation of God because the church is still going on. I never have seen a day in time when people were inspecting people so closely. Some good child of God get up and shout. See who it is. I wonder if that's the spirit. Hallelujah. I reckon every church has got them. They're gonna make sure it's the spirit before they get in. They are not gonna be deceived. And those kind, after the service is over with, they hadn't hardly moved a muscle. They hadn't decided whether it was the spirit or not yet. Whoa! Hallelujah! I'm not depending on Brother Miles' blessing, I'm not depending on Brother Soso's blessing. Praise God. I've tried to pray a little bit today. I've tried to look to the Lord a little bit today, and my feeler has nothing to do with your feeler.

SPEAKER_07: 25:47

Amen. If God blesses me this morning in a special way, don't look at me out of that evil eye. Hallelujah. Brother, we need to obey that that God has put in us.

SPEAKER_05: 26:26

I'll tell you something else too. We've got some over there. We got to have the word. Give us the word. And I've noticed them guys that love the word so much. I know some of you think you got your venom built up over Fairland, you coming over here and letting it out. Hey, I see a danger of our holiness churches drying up.

SPEAKER_07: 27:14

Amen.

SPEAKER_05: 27:24

And them guys, you can't preach but about twenty or thirty minutes, and they're fidgety. Well, they love the word, but it don't take much of it to satisfy. That's when I get worried. We throw off on the Baptists and the Methodists and the Presbyterians about being so formal and about being so dry. I tell you, we ain't got nothing. Some of our churches ain't got nothing on the Baptist and the Methodist. Now somebody said, Brother Ben, Brother Butler, you've got somebody up there this morning that don't love the word. And I'm going to have a little talk with you after this camp meeting. The older I get, the worse I am about those things. Oh God, help our churches. Some of our holiness churches, the preacher gets up after testimony service and preaches. And after he gets through preaching, is that everybody stand? No altar calls. If that's not fast going in the direction of formality, I don't know what it is. If some of you don't move or say amen or something, I'll know you're guilty. Hallelujah. Blessed be the Lord. I believe that we've got some people here this morning that are in the church. Hallelujah. I believe we've got some people here this morning that's got the victory. Amen. Glory be to God. And you've got a determination. What no matter what comes or what goes, you mean to hear the shout when it's made. Or you mean to answer the call when God says it's enough. And you're living a victorious life. On this rock I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. For years over there at Fairland, I don't know who it was that said it. I don't even want to know. They say some of these days this thing's gonna blow up. Hallelujah. They're still sitting there. They said it years ago. I don't know who said it, but they're waiting for it to boom. Hallelujah. Say that again. Got a long, long fuse. Hallelujah to Jesus. Glory to God. Some of you lay members can make a lot of difference in your home church if you'll get all the starch and the stiffness out of you. What would the pastor give? Every once in a while, three or four of the deacons just to us to wave their hand. Come on, Pastor! We already know what he's gonna preach. And we know more than he knows. Why say amen? A little old two before preacher like me come over here and just about tear up the place and won't even move for Brother Butler. Now it's gonna get tighter. I'm gonna tell you right off, I'm for the pastors. Amen. I'm for the pastors. I wanna see everybody that's in the church just wave your hand.

SPEAKER_07: 32:42

I said, wave it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_05: 32:59

Brother Wright, the church is victorious. I wished every one of us had a palm branch in our hands.

SPEAKER_07: 33:14

Victory.

SPEAKER_05: 33:22

I'm on board this old ship of Zion, and I hadn't got a thing to do with guiding it. I hadn't got a thing to do with it pulling in the harbor.

SPEAKER_07: 33:32

I'm just on board. Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_05: 33:35

Well, thank God and brother Number Surely that it's gonna pull in to Heaven's Harbor. Might be a board or two missing, Brother Morgan, but it's gonna pull on in to heaven's harbor. Everything I need is on that old ship of Zion. Whoa! Salvation is on board, sanctification is on board. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is on board, healing is on board, encouragement is on board.

SPEAKER_07: 34:17

Hallelujah! Everything we need is on board. This old ship of Zion that's sailing toward home.

SPEAKER_05: 35:00

Hallelujah. I know I'm not hitting Brother Butler. He's good to get behind you, isn't he? I'm talking to the Savannah folks. When you sing, when you testify, he's good to get behind you. But some of our pastors, they sit over in the corner like a bump on a log. And they don't even back up their singers, back up those that testifies, and they wonder why their congregation don't back them up when they get in the pulpit. I believe that works both ways. You misinterpreted that. Instead of established, you're just stuck. You're just stuck. Wherein the Bible said, the older you get, the less praises you'll have. The older David got, the more fanatic he became in praising God. If you don't believe, turn over there to the last few Psalms. Turn over there in one of those chapters, and he says, I don't know how many times his mercy endures forever. His mercy endures forever. Some of you would feel like looking at him and saying, We unheard that. Go ahead and say what you're gonna say, David. We unheard that. And I can hear him say, His mercy endures forever. God brought him across the Red Sea, His mercy endures forever. He brought them up out of the land of Egypt. His mercy endures forever. Jesus saves, his mercy endures forever. That'll encourage you a million times, brother. Oh glory. I've looked around at the brothers and the sisters. I don't know, it touches me every time I see God's people. Thank you, Lord, for giving us grace to live right up until now. That we can call you brothers and sisters. Hallelujah to God. Oh, I love him this morning. If I know my heart. Hallelujah. Oh, yes. Oh, blessed be his name. Let that old ship of science sail on. Hallelujah. Thank God there's something behind it that all hell can't stop it from pulling in to heaven's harbor. It's gonna pull in there. Glory be to Jesus. We're gonna be victorious because Jesus was victorious. Brother Butler, I used to think that the devil came willingly in the wilderness to tempt Jesus. It wasn't like that. Jesus wasn't driven into a corner to be tested. The Bible said he was driven of the Spirit into the wilderness. He was actually looking for the devil to have a showdown with him. I believe with all of my heart the devil wouldn't have had it that way if he'd have had his way. I said, come on now. And we've still got the victor in us. Hallelujah. Glory. Satan had his first showdown with the first Adam. And now Jesus is having the showdown with the devil, the last Adam. Won't be no more Adams. He's not the second Adam. He is the last Adam. Amen. Blessed be God. Brother, and I want you to know the devil wouldn't have had it that way. Amen. This last Adam, amen, in Eden. The first Adam was a man that God made. But in the wilderness, thank God was a man that God had begotten. Hallelujah. Amen. Glory. This is the second showdown now. Will this last Adam fail? Will he fail? Glory. The first temptation come and Jesus knocked him down with the word. Second temptation come and Jesus knocked him down with the word. Third temptation come and Jesus knocked him down with the word. Glory. If you please, the devil struck out, and Jesus knocked a home run that day. The Bible said, and the devil leaveth him. That's V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. Hallelujah. Any of y'all ever been in the pep rally at school and used to go to school?

SPEAKER_04: 43:45

Hallelujah. How do they do it? Glory be to God. Y'all want to help me?

SPEAKER_05: 44:03

Give me a bee. Now I know some of you is not gonna say it. Because you're whole. She hadn't been saved long. And I didn't I didn't look down on her in disdain. But all she heard was Elvis' version of that down from his glory. And she got offended when we played that in church. She thought we were singing now or never. Elvis is now or never. Bless the Lord, glory to God for her. But when I explained it to her, I said, Sister, Elvis stole that from the church. And he put that old love words to it. Sensual. Devilish. That wisdom that is earthy of the earth. But I told her, I says, thank God. I said, the real name for that tune and that song is Down from His Glory. Brother David Robinson was helping me build a set of cabinets one time. And I was whistling that all day just about it. And Brother David just about marked me off. Hallelujah. Glory. He didn't believe in whirling music, neither do I. Glory be to Jesus. We're gonna get back to that three cheers for Jesus in a minute. Y'all just hold on here. And after a while I got to singing the words to that song. Down from his glory. Ever living story. Dave said, Brother Ben, where do they put them words to that song? I said, What do you mean, Dave? He said, When I heard that Elvis sung it, now or never, I reckon he's talking to his girl or his woman or something. Now or never. I said, say. I said Elvis stole that from the church, Dave. He said, Brother Ben, I was losing confidence in you from whistling that now or never. Glory be to Jesus. Give me a V.

SPEAKER_07: 47:09

Oh, that sounds good for Jesus. Give me an I give me a C Tells what give me an R. Give me an in that spells what? Whoa. Victory in. Give me the chimney. Give me an E that spells what? Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever.

SPEAKER_05: 48:34

In Jesus' name, Mary Magdalene was saved. In Jesus' name, Peter followed Jesus. In Jesus' name, Matthew dropped his pencil and followed Jesus. In Jesus' name, the sick was healed.

SPEAKER_03: 49:27

You're right. Come on, devil.

SPEAKER_07: 49:36

Woo! Claim the victory. Claim the victory in Jesus.

SPEAKER_00: 49:55

Thank you for joining us today on Foundations of Truth. We hope today's message has strengthened your faith and helped you grow in understanding. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And share this podcast with others who seek the truth. Until next time, stay grounded in God's word and walk in his life. God bless you.