PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | Episode 56 – How Can We Change The World? - Part 22

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

Podcast 56 - How Can We Change the World- Part 22

Rocky Barrett: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, I do hope that you are having a wonderful day, or maybe a wonderful evening. We are continuing the adjectives that I have found about the way that God wants us to work. We are up to number 22.

No. 22. WITHOUT GRUMBLING AND COMPLAINING

He wants us to work without grumbling and complaining. We all know that of course, don’t we? But often we still grumble and complain. Oh my, we have to be encouraged about this, don’t we?

I think of the children of Israel back in the wilderness, when God brought them out of Egypt with a mighty, miraculous hand and showed forth His power and might. I don’t think there have ever been such miracles as the bringing of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, how God parted the sea and brought them through and then for 40 years they wandered in the wilderness.

They could have gotten into the land much quicker, but they really just weren’t ready. God really had to work in their hearts. In fact, He had to get Egypt out of their hearts before they were ready to go into the Promised Land.

The Bible says that He tempted them ten times, but every time they failed and most of the temptations ended with all the children of Israel grumbling and complaining instead of trusting God. They had seen His miracles, they had seen His power, but they still didn’t know how to trust Him. They grumbled and they complained. They grumbled because they didn’t have enough food.

In the end God just blessed them and gave them manna every day, six days a week for forty years. Until they got into the Promised Land, God faithfully provided. They saw so many miracles in the wilderness.

Isn’t it amazing, ladies, it’s so challenging to me that of all those millions who came into the wilderness, of that generation that came in, only two went into the Promised Land? I mean, they were saved through the blood. They put the blood upon the doors, the type of salvation. They were saved through the blood, they came through the water, and they had the pillar of fire above them by night and the pillar of cloud by day. They received miraculous miracles continually. And yet, only two got in—only two.

And what stopped them? Their unbelief, grumbling, and complaining. I think we see this in 1 Corinthians 10:1-11: “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written. . . Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed. . . Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

Everything that happened in the Old Testament, every story about every person (we all know the stories), but all the stories, all the things that happened, and every word that was written, it’s all written for an example. It’s all a type for us to learn from.

So God says, I want you to learn from those who murmured and grumbled. We do have to watch that, don’t we?

Philippians 2:14-15 says: “Do all things without murmurings and disputings [or some translations say “without grumbling and complaining”] That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”

When we do things without grumbling, we shine as a light. That’s how we’re to do our work and how we are to teach our children to work too. If they see us doing it with joy, and we’re not going around the place grumbling and complaining, we’re showing them the example. We’re showing them the way.

Not only are these attitudes for us, they are for us to teach our children. So we teach them a good work ethic. These 25 adjectives are adjectives we need to put in our children.

We can give them these as they grow up and our sons get out there to provide for their families and get into their careers. If they have these attitudes, they will be successful. It’s not really how many degrees you have.

I have talked to men of recent times, CEO’s of companies, and they have told me that these days they are not looking so much for those who have degrees, but those who have intelligence, a good work ethic, and a good attitude to learn.

They said, “We can teach someone with a good attitude, a quick mind, and a good work ethic the way we want it done. They can learn pretty quickly and do better than someone who comes with all their degrees and thinks they know it all, but don’t have a good attitude or a good work ethic.”

They find a lot of these college students come out and don’t have a good attitude and are not a blessing to the company at all. Of course, if they have a degree, the good attitude, and a good work ethic, they will be a very good asset to the company. But without the good attitude and the good work ethic, they’re not going to be much of a blessing, nor are they going to be very successful themselves.

So these are wonderful things for life. These are the things that help make our home run smoothly with joy and blessing. This is the way we are preparing our children for life.

I think today we have too many lazy young people who don’t know how to work. They may know how to study, have gone to college, but they don’t know how to work in their home.

I know teens who don’t even know how to do dishes! Help! They don’t know how to do the dishes! What I mean is how to do them properly. You give them the job and it takes them so long to do it and they don’t really know the way you’re meant to do it—Okay, let’s get these dishes all rinsed and put here. Now we’re going to wash them, then we’re going to put them into the rinsing, then we’ll put them here to dry! We can do it in order and get it done!

They’ve just got it all in a mess, dishes are all over the place.

My, when I do the dishes, I’ve usually got all of the plates, maybe we’ve had 13 or 14 people around the table, I have them all washed and rinsed by the time the hot water has even got into the sink.

We need to teach our children how to work with a good work ethic, with all these attitudes we’ve been talking about.

No. 23. WITHOUT SEEKING RECOGNITION

Ephesians 6:6 says: “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ. . ..”

When we work, we’re not doing it just to please people. Although, I think as a wife and mother we do. I want to please my husband. I want to please my children. I want to do it for the blessing of my home. But ultimately, we’re doing it for God. If we get that attitude, that’s a good one—we’re doing it for God. He, ultimately, is the One Who is looking on. He is beholding.

Now sometimes your husband may not give you any compliments. He may not say, “Oh, you’re doing such a wonderful job. I’m so grateful to you for the way you’re teaching our children and caring for them.” That would be so wonderful. If husbands are listening, I hope you do that.

But dear, lovely, precious wives and mothers, if your husband doesn’t know how to give compliments, remember, you’re still doing it as “unto the Lord” and He will bless you. The Word of God says that He will reward every good work.

That is found in Ephesians 6:8 and comes after these attitudes: ^“Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing [Good thing! Did you get that? GOOD THING!] any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord. . ..”

Listen to that again, precious mothers: “Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.” Any good thing you do does not go unnoticed by God.

Oh yes, it will go unnoticed many times by man. It may go unnoticed by your husband. It may go unnoticed by your children. But it won’t go unnoticed by God. And He says that every good thing you do, He’s going to give you a reward. You’re going to receive the same.

Now, you as a mother and a wife are doing a good thing. In Titus chapter two where it speaks to the older women to teach to the younger women, what does it tell them to teach them? Do you remember? It tells them to teach them “good things.”

And what are these good things? It then enumerates them: To love our husbands, to be obedient to our husbands, to love our children, to be a keeper of our home, to be chaste, pure, and good. These are good things.

In fact the word in the Greek is kalodidaskalos. Didaskalos means “to teach” and kalos means, not only good, it means “beautiful.” It’s more than good. It’s beautiful.

These works that you are doing in your home, to love your husband, to love your children, to love keeping your home—it’s a beautiful work, beautiful! Did you get that, dear wife and mother? It’s beautiful.

God says when you embrace this and when you do it as unto Me, you do this good thing, you’re going to receive the same reward. You’re going to receive a good reward. Do you love that?

We see that again in 1 Timothy 5:10 where it’s talking about the woman and it says she is “well reported of for good works.” Once again, GOOD WORKS.

And what is the first good works that it says? That she has raised and brought up children. The work there is teknotropheō. Teknon means “child” and trephō meaning “to feed, to nourish, to nourish with food.”

So it’s speaking of a woman, first as a baby comes to her, she nourishes her babe at her breast. But then as the children grow, she’s still a nourisher as she nourishes them with food, cooks meals for them and the bigger they get, the bigger the meals she has to cook.

She is always nourishing them. She’s not only nourishing them physically, but spiritually as well, as she nourishes them with the Word of God, and she nourishes them with food. There we see it: wonderful, beautiful, good works.

And so you don’t forget, here’s the promise again: “Knowing that whatsoever good thing [and these are all good works that you are doing] any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord. . ..” Isn’t that wonderful?

I hope your husband blesses you; but if he doesn’t, don’t despair. God is beholding. God is going to reward you for these good works you do in your home.

No. 24. WITHOUT GETTING WEARY

Well, we all get weary, don’t we? I know it’s not a little thing to watch, to care for and to look after your children, your little ones, and then getting to your bigger ones.

It’s a big task and it can be wearying. Especially when they are little and often you have to get up at night to a sick child, and oh my, you just feel so wearied and worn out in the morning. That can happen because there are always times when we’re facing something with our children.

Then you may have a new baby and the baby is wanting to nurse at night. But dear precious mother, can I encourage you to take your baby to bed with you and nurse your baby in bed? You will find that this is so much easier for you.

I found this out along the way. My first babies I didn’t do that. I woke in the night, I sat up with them, fed them, and it was so wearying. Oh my! Then I learned that you could take your baby to bed with you. At first, I was very concerned because I also heard the old wives’ tales, “Oh, you could lie on your baby, you could suffocate your baby and you better not do that.” I know hospital staff even say this today.

But dear ladies, this is not true. You can nurse your baby safely in bed if you learn to do it the right way. Sometimes it needs a little bit of practice. You have to practice everything to do it the right way.

I always nursed my baby on my side of the bed, never had the baby between us because I felt that would be dangerous. If you are a mother, you’re not on drugs, you’re not a half-witted mother, but if you’re a concerned, loving mother, you can learn to do this the right way and you can learn to do it safely.

So you can bring your baby into bed, nurse your baby and you’ll go off to sleep. If you’re holding the baby securely and the right way your baby will continue to nurse off and on all night.

Sometimes, my husband, when he’d wake in the morning, he would say, “Well, did the baby wake?” and I would say, “Oh yes, here’s the baby in my arms.” But really, I’d had a good night’s sleep. My baby was so happy, instead of screaming in a little cot all on its own, screaming for Mummy and I’d get up feed the baby, then put the baby down. But the baby screams because it doesn’t want to leave Mummy.

And so you have these terrible, sleepless nights. Sometimes you’ll have a wonderful husband who will say, “Let me take the baby.” He’ll be pacing the baby around, walking with the baby and trying to get the baby to sleep. But you won’t be sleeping, neither will he, and it’s all ridiculous because all you need to do is bring the baby to bed and nurse the baby. That’s what your baby wants. He wants to be near you, he wants to be next to your skin. He just wants to nurse on and off throughout the night. That is normal for a breastfed baby.

A breastfed baby can’t last throughout the night. Breast milk has a soft curd and it digests quickly and the baby is ready to nurse again. It’s not like a formula that forms the hard curd in the baby’s stomach and the baby can last longer. But that’s not how it’s meant to be. The baby needs that constant nursing and constant sucking, but you can still have that beautiful night’s rest. Isn’t that so good?

Oh, I wish I’d had that with my first baby. I wish I’d had Nancy Campbell come and tell me. But I had to learn by experience and so I pass that on to you.

We do have to watch because sometimes we can let ourselves get too weary by not doing what is right. Sometimes we don’t get to bed on time. We stay up later and later, then feel weary the next day.

I believe, mothers, that we need to prepare ourselves for the next day. We have a big challenge, it’s a big job, to care for our children, manage our home, get everything done throughout the day and cook the meals. There is much to be done and so we have to prepare for the next day by getting a good sleep, going to bed at a reasonable hour.

My mother, who has now passed away many years ago, she used to say, “The hours of sleep before midnight are the best hours of sleep.”

I used to think that was an old wives’ tale and I used to try and squeeze out every little bit I could get out of the day. Even when I was a mother and as I started Above Rubies, I used to go down to the office at night and I had to keep going until I couldn’t keep my eyes open one minute longer. Then I would think, “Okay, now I deserve bed.”

But that was the wrong way to live, completely the wrong way. I had to learn that by experience because that is not good for your health. The old wives’ tale is now scientifically proved.

In fact, I was just reading yesterday a scientific article, which stated that every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours of sleep after midnight. In fact, after about nine or ten pm your cortisol is starting to click in and that’s a negative against you.

Instead, if we go to bed at a reasonable hour, the serotonin, the good hormones are kicking in and the growth hormones, which are good for children too, and even adults.

We need that. They have done studies to find that a woman who has five hours or less sleep a night, her percentage for breast cancer goes up about 48%. Interestingly, if she has nine hours or more, her risk for breast cancer also goes up about 38%.

It’s interesting because it’s not just, “Oh, well, I can sleep for ever.” No, too much sleep is not good either. But too little is really negative for your body.

They say that a person should get an average of seven to eight hours every night. That is good for your body and especially don’t keep it too late. Start those hours before midnight. I know it can be a temptation, can’t it?

I remember a dear friend of mine. She was running a home school Facebook group and she said to me, “Oh, Nancy, it is so noticeable. At ten o’clock at night is when the Facebook group comes alive.”

During the day hardly anybody is on. They’re with their children and life is busy. Then they have the evening meal, dishes are done, children get to bed and then ten o’clock— “Oh! This is my time! I can get on social media, on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever she likes to get on.”

This woman told me that this homeschooling Facebook group got really humming. But all these mothers were still up. Yes, they were just getting started because when you get on Facebook, then you go to this and then you go to that and it can just keep going on and on. Sometimes it gets to midnight!

And so you’re being deprived of those hours of sleep before midnight. You’re being deprived of your health, refreshing, and your beauty. Yes, even your beauty is renewed. Instead, you’re going to get cortisol, which is aging. You don’t want to do that. You want to do the things that will give you anti-aging hormones. Anyone want to say amen?

Another thing is, at ten o’clock at night, perhaps your husband is a night owl, but maybe he’s in bed. And what are you doing? You are up having a good time, doing your own thing. Maybe he needs you. But he’s being deprived.

You see our job— not our job, our delight— is to always be available to our husbands. I think it is a good thing, a beautiful thing, to go to bed with your husband. So if he’s going to bed at ten, go to bed with him. He might need you. He may not, but he might. Then you’ll both be blessed.

Not only will you be getting serotonin and growth hormones because you’re getting hours in before midnight, but then you’ll get oxytocin because you’ll be just so blessed together.

Think about those things, ladies. Yes, I know we can get weary, but just watch what you’re doing.

I know before I was married, I was a bookworm. I loved to read. I still love to read! But I don’t get the time to read like when I was young. If I had a really good book I’d read into the night, especially if it was a good story I would keep going until I was finished. Of course then you can hardly face the day because you’ve been reading all night. You’ll know what I’m talking about if you’re a bookworm.

But when I married and when children came along, I had to learn to discipline myself. I had to put my books aside.

In fact now I will only read a good, real story. I don’t read junk stories, but a good biography and a good historical novel I’ll keep them to more vacation times. Instead I will read more meditational books, doctrinal books, or theological books. Actually they send me to sleep! I only have to read a couple pages of them, and it puts me to sleep because I start thinking and meditating and I’m off to sleep.

We do have to discipline and watch ourselves. Don’t do things at night. Even reading will take you into the hours of the night. Then the next day you’re blurry eyed and can’t really focus.

Then of course we claim the promises that God gives us of renewed strength for each day, especially as we take advantage of the sleep that He gives us. God gives us nighttime to sleep, renew our energy, and refresh us.

Don’t throw it in the face of God and say, “I’m so tired, I can hardly cope. I can hardly manage,” when God gave you the night to sleep but you’ve been up for hours with the light on.

In fact, that’s not really good. None of us really live how we are meant to today. Because we have electricity, we all have the light on as long as we’d like. There was a time when night came, you went to bed and then got up real early.

I find now that if I get to bed at reasonable hour I wake early. I may wake at 4:30 or 5:00 and oh, you look out and wow! It’s getting light already, the day’s starting! Most people are still sleeping, but the day’s starting.

So instead of tempting to lie there I can get up. When I get up, I could think of one million things to do. I could do some exercises, I could go for a walk, I could get on my computer and get this done because I have ten million things waiting to do. But I don’t do any of them. I find that the Word of God, the presence of God calls me, woos me. Oh my, I just get wooed, I’ve got to get into that Word, it just calls me.

Do you have that pull on you? You just have to get that Word; you can’t do without it.

I have my little basket. I call it my meditation basket. I have it in my office in the day because it has my notebook I write my notes in, my journal, my Bible, my hymn books, and my study books. It’s all there. I carry it down to the office because I’m using it during the day.

Then at nighttime when I turn off my computer, I bring it up, put it on my kitchen table. It’s waiting for me in the morning as I come out to the kitchen table to open that Word. Oh, it is just so wonderful!

I wanted to read you Deuteronomy 33:24. This is the chapter where Moses blesses the tribes of Israel and He’s blessing Asher: “And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children. . ..” Isn’t that lovely? It’s no wonder He gave that blessing, Asher, meaning “happy.” “.Let Asher be blessed with children. . ..”

In verse 25 He says: “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.”

That’s a wonderful promise, “As thy days.” Each new day, God doesn’t give you strength for tomorrow, but each new day He will give you strength and this is in the context of having children. Isn’t that wonderful? Praise the Lord!

Last one, ladies, number 25, so let’s get it done in this session.

NO. 25. ZEALOUSLY

It is zealously. This is the way we are meant to work— zealously.

In Psalm 69:9 and John 2:17, the testimony of Jesus was: “. . .The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. . ..”

That was the story, of course, when Jesus went into the temple and He saw all the Pharisees and all the people selling their wares and everything. It just so grieved His heart that His temple, which housed the presence of God, which was called a house of prayer, had become a den of thieves.

So He began to turn over the tables and throw out everything. He did that with the zeal of the Lord.

Over in Titus 2:14 it talks about this too. It talks about Jesus giving Himself for us and redeeming us from all iniquity, purifying unto Himself a special, set-apart people, zealous of good works.

Now we were talking before how mothering and homemaking, God calls it a good work, a beautiful work and now the Scripture talks about being zealous of good works.

Therefore, if the work that we are doing is good, well, we better be zealous about doing it, don’t you think?

Zealous— doing it with all our hearts, doing it with zeal. Not half-heartedly but doing it with the zeal of the Lord! Amen.

Well, shall we pray?

“Dear Father, we are so grateful to You for Your precious Word which shows us the way. Thank You, Lord, for teaching us how we are to work, how we are to be zealous and how we are to do it as unto You and not unto men.

“Lord God, You have shown us the way, how we can do it without getting weary if we live the way that You want us to live. I pray that You will give to each one listening Your wisdom, even Your wisdom about going to bed early at night. These are such practical things. But Lord, we need to use Your wisdom even about them. We can get into the rut of doing what everybody else does.

“We’re living in a whole new era today of people getting up late and staying up late, but this is not really the way You planned and it’s not for the blessing of our bodies. So I pray that You will give me and each precious wife, mother, and daughter listening Your wisdom, Lord God. Teach us the way You want us to live. We ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.”