PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | Episode 86 – EVEN SO, COME, LORD JESUS (PART 1)
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell
Episode 86 - EVEN SO, COME, LORD JESUS (PART 1)
Rocky Barrett: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello ladies. Today I’m going to start at the end. I love to go to the beginning of the Bible because the beginning lays the foundation for all the truths that God wants us to know about. But today I’m going to the very last chapter of the Bible, Revelation chapter 22.
Jesus says in verses 12, 13: ”And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”
We go over to verse 20: “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
Actually, I want to also give you verse 17: “ And the Spirit and the bride say, COME. And let him that heareth say, COME. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
The Word “come” is a beautiful word. It’s one of God’s favorite words. He loves to say, “Come.”
“Come unto Me. Come to Me. I’m always available.” “Come to me you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
His Word is COME.
He also talks about how He is coming to us. He will be coming again. He came the first time as a little baby. It’s not long since we have celebrated Christmas time when we remember how Jesus came to this earth.
Most people don’t believe that He was actually born at Christmastime. It may have been at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall; but He was most probably conceived at that time.
This is how He came. Isn’t it unbelievable? He came as a seed conceived by the Holy Ghost and He grew as a little baby in His mother’s womb. It is so amazing and so incredible.
He came to bring salvation and He came to die upon the cross for our sins. What a coming! Oh we will never fathom it all! My mind cannot fathom the greatness, the awesomeness of our salvation. It is beyond what we can ever understand with our finite minds. I don’t know whether we will understand the fullness of it even in eternity.
Jesus did not only come the first time when He died and was buried and rose again and now lives ascended at the right hand of the Father, but He is coming again.
He is coming a second time. Are we ready?
Well I’m sure you are ready. You have invited Him to come into your life and to cleanse you of your sin. You’re seeking to walk day by day in His presence being ready for His coming.
But the Bible also talks about how we are to be LOOKING for His coming. That is always rather a challenge to me. I find in this very affluent world in which we live we have everything we need.
Often, we think we don’t (have everything we need). We think we need this or we think we need that but really we have more than we need.
Because we’re comfortable, we’re not desperately saying, “Lord Jesus, come!”
I remember reading a novel by Randy Alcorn. Have you read any of his books? He is a great writer. He wrote a wonderful book about Heaven, which I haven’t read yet. I’ve just had it on my heart that I must get that book and read it; so I’m going to be reading that very soon.
But I have read a couple of his Christian novels and they are very powerful. This one was called Safely Home. A lot of it was about the persecution of the Christians in China.
He talked a lot about prayer meetings and how in these prayer meetings in the underground church where they had to hide to meet with one another. He said they would be down on their knees with their hands raised to Heaven and crying out, “Lord Jesus, come! Please come, Lord Jesus!” Because their lives were in peril and they were suffering persecution they were desperate. They so longed for the coming of the Lord.
I’m so often challenged that I don’t have that desperation for the coming of Jesus.
Yes, I want Him to come. I am looking for His coming. I confess it. I am looking for His coming and longing for His coming. I am longing for that day when we will meet Him face to face.
I love to dream about eternity and what it will be like.
But then again, I get taken up with life. I’m not saying on a day-to-day basis, “Oh Lord Jesus, please come!”
Oh my, I could tell you one or two stories. In fact, I feel so guilty about this, but I can remember away back when I first fell in love with my wonderful husband and I just couldn’t wait to get married.
I remember saying, “Oh Lord Jesus, I love You but would You mind just waiting until I get married before You come because I so want to get married to this man that I love.”
I’m not sure whether or not I held back the Lord’s coming!
Then I said another prayer: “Lord, would You mind just waiting until I have my first baby?” because I couldn’t wait to have my first baby.
I remember after being married and I had my second period. I just cried and cried, “Oh goodness, am I going to be able to have a baby?”
I don’t know, I think of so many couples today who get married and get on the pill and wait two or three years. I can’t even understand their brains! I mean, do they not want to know and be sure that they can get pregnant ? And yet they just hang out and do their other things and not wanting another baby? I don’t know. I can’t get around that. I was just crying after I had a second period.
But then God blessed us with our first baby and then blessed us with more babies. I was so blessed.
But then, oh! Our children grow up and they began to get married and our oldest son got married. He was the first one.
Then I prayed again: “Oh, dear Jesus, would You mind if You just waited until I have my first grandbaby?”
Oh my! Can you believe how bad I was? But these were the longings of my heart and I think God understood.
I remember when we all came to the States. We were New Zealanders and then we moved to Australia. We lived in Australia for ten years where we pioneered and pastured a church.
My husband always knew that at some stage we would come to the United States. Eventually God opened up the right time. We came to the States and in sovereign ways God brought all our children here. Some were already married, and some were already here when we came.
Our oldest sons were here. In those early days they were just getting the Newsboys, a big Christian band, off the ground. So they were here and eventually we were all here together except one of our sons. Our son, Rocklyn and his wife, Monique, were still in Australia.
We actually waited fifteen years before they came to join us. Those were long, long years.
We were so blessed to have most of our family around us, which was still amazing when we have lived in three different countries.
Then the day came when we heard, yes, they had decided to leave Australia and they were going to come and live with us all. But they were going to make it a surprise. We knew they were on their way, but we didn’t know their plans. It turned out they went to New Zealand first. They were going through New Zealand.
We didn’t know the day they were going to arrive. It was like the coming of Jesus. We know He is coming. We know He is coming soon but we don’t know the day or the hour and so we must be ready.
We were ready and looking and waiting for the coming of our son and his wife and child. Yes, it was only one child then. Every day we would call each other and say, “Do you think this will be the day that they will come?”
We were all waiting, and we could hardly wait, and we were just filled with anticipation and excitement.
Every day we would say, “They haven’t come today! Where are they? What are they doing?”
Finally the day came. We didn’t know till they were here in Nashville. We couldn’t believe it. It was just so exciting. They were here. Our family was complete.
Although so many have been added since that day! I can’t count how many!
It was an amazing experience but at the same time I felt guilty. I thought, “Wow, am I looking for Jesus like I was waiting and looking and just so aspiring for our son to come and be with us?”
May God put that desire within us, that longing and waiting and looking for His coming.
Let’s look at some other Scriptures, shall we?
We will start with Titus chapter 2. I love these Scriptures here.
Titus 2:11, 12 says: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”
That’s interesting, isn’t it? The grace of God which brings salvation teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly. Sometimes people think the grace of God gives us license to live however we would like.
No, it’s the grace of God that teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, “LOOKING for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar [or set-apart] people, zealous of good works.”
Here it talks about looking for His coming. Another Scripture says He is coming for those who look for Him. That is the challenge, isn’t it? That we are looking for Him.
We go over to 2 Timothy chapter 4:8. Paul is speaking and he says: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that LOVE his appearing.”
Yes. Are we those who LOVE His appearing?
Let’s go over to 2 Peter chapter 3:11, 12: “ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, LOOKING for [there it is again! Looking for!] and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?”
There we read it again: we are to be looking for and hasting. We don’t use that word “hasting” very much in our vocabulary today, do we?
Let’s look at the New Living Translation of that verse. It says: “Looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.”
We’re meant to be hurrying it along.
The Holman Translation says: “Waiting for and earnestly desiring the coming of the Lord.”
The Complete Jewish Bible says: “As you wait for the day of God and work to hasten His coming.”
This Scripture even says how we must do something to help hasten the day of the Lord to come.
I think of Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 is a beautiful passage, the latter part being about husbands and wives and how they are to act together.
Starting at verse 25 going straight through verse 27: “ Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
This Scripture tells us that Jesus is coming for a bride that is holy and without blemish. No spots, no wrinkles, or any such thing.
Wow, I don’t think we are there yet, do you? We are not the bride of Christ that is pure, holy, and without spot, or without wrinkle.
We’ve got so many spots and wrinkles and sins. There is such a spirit of the world and materialism. There is such apathy in the church today and yet is this the bride that He is coming for?
I believe that if we are going to hurry it along, we have got to start purifying our lives, don’t we? I am sure this is part of hasting the day of the Lord.
As we look at these last verses of the Bible in Revelation 22 where we started, Jesus says: “Surely I come quickly.”
Then the response of the Bride: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
Then as we read in verse 17: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come . . ..”
The Holy Spirit in us is saying, “Come! Come, Lord Jesus!”
It says the bride (the bride, that’s us), we who are part of His family, we who are part of the church, we who are called His bride should also be saying, “Come! Come, Lord Jesus!”
Yet I also believe that although that is the literal prayer we should be praying, “Come, Lord Jesus,” I believe that sometimes we have to pray preparatory prayers before He can even come because we need Jesus to come to us in so many ways before we are ready for His coming.
We first of all need to pray, “Come. Come into my life, Lord Jesus.”
Do you remember that little song? When I was a child, we used to sing it and I won’t sing it to you because I’m not a very good singer! I can’t even believe how I could raise daughters who could sing in perfect pitch and who were signed by a record label and I can’t even sing in tune!
We used to sing these words:
“Into my heart, into my heart,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
Come in today. come in to stay.
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.”
We pray a prayer like that when we first ask Him to come into our hearts and we’re born again by His Spirit. But I believe we can still pray that. I love to sing that little song, “Oh come! Come, come!”
Do you want God to come to your life continually? Come into my life, Lord Jesus. Come in today. Come in to stay. Come, come, come, I want you! I want Your presence every moment of the day.
Dear mother, in your home, pray these prayers of “Come.”
“Come, Lord Jesus. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” He’s coming a second time, but we need Him to come today. “Come today into my heart.”
We need Him to come today into the hearts of our children. Do you pray this prayer for your children? Come, Lord Jesus, even so, come, Lord Jesus, into the lives of my children!” Oh how we need to cry that prayer. I pray it so much. I need God for my children.
Yes, you need Him for your little ones and your middling ones and your big ones because as you know, your children aren’t perfect.
The enemy wants your children and you see that as things come into their lives and we must pray that God will come into their lives. Pray it. That’s one of the greatest prayers that you can pray: “Lord Jesus, come. Please come into the lives of my children that they will be born again by Your Holy Spirit. That they will know Your presence in their lives. That they will know that You are real and that You are their Savior and their Lord. That they will know Your presence in their lives.”
We pray it but then of course we also must do that which will help that to happen.
I love that Scripture in 2 Timothy 3:15. Paul is writing to Timothy and saying: “ And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
How do our children get this faith? They get it by the Scriptures! That is what the Bible says. It is the Scriptures that prepare them for salvation, the Scriptures that make them wise to salvation.
So a child in a godly home, in your home where you are opening up the Scriptures to your children morning and evening and they’re hearing the Scriptures, that living Word of God goes into their hearts and prepares them for salvation so that they can come to know Jesus at a very early age.
Maybe at three, four, or five years they can be ready to open their hearts to Jesus because the Scriptures, the living Word of God, opens their hearts. That is such a good thing.
The earlier your children come to know Jesus, the earlier that they invite Him into their hearts, the better it is because when Jesus comes into their lives, He comes in to stay. He comes in to live and dwell in their hearts.
When that happens you are able then to teach your children how they can live in victory when they get into these states of defiance, and when they become rebellious, and when they lie, and are being very naughty.
Because that’s what children do, it’s just their flesh nature and we’ve got that flesh nature, too, but we have to learn to say no to that fleshly nature and yes to Jesus and His life, the life of Jesus Who dwells in us.
We can teach our children that. We can say, “Children, you don’t have to give in to that temper. You don’t have to get mad at your brother and sister. That’s just the devil. That’s just your old flesh and you can say No to that.
You can say, “’Jesus, help me!’” because Jesus is living in you and Jesus is filled with love and grace and patience and He will help you.”
You are teaching your children at a very young age to live in victory.
But we must pray for them because the enemy is out to get the souls of our children.
We can pray, “Oh Lord Jesus, Come! Come to my children.”
Maybe you have an older child who is straying away from the faith. Oh, they can’t get away from your prayers.
Cry out, “Oh come, Lord Jesus! Come . . . come . . . come! Come to my child! Come by the power of Your Holy Spirit!” because it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Zechariah 4:6: “ . . . Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
What could I do without that promise? Who is speaking in that Scripture? It is the Lord of hosts! Who is the Lord of hosts? He is the Lord of the armies of heaven.
That’s what the word “hosts” means. It is speaking of an army, an army organized for war. God Himself is the great Warrior. He is the One Who is the Leader of all the armies of Heaven.
He is the One Who will work as we cry out to Him and say, “Lord Jesus, come! Come by Your Spirit. I can’t do it. I can’t change them.”
We can’t change our children. We can’t make it happen. It’s only by the power of the Holy Spirit. So cry out to Him.
Dear mothers, let’s become those who are constantly crying out, “Come, Lord Jesus. Come into my home. Come to my table.”
As we start every meal, we usually say grace, don’t we? Don’t just make it a parrot-thing that you say when you have grace. Truly ask the Lord to COME!
“Lord Jesus, come to our table tonight! Come to our table this morning. We need You.”
You do need Him at your table, don’t you?
When your children are little or middling and you’re still training them how to sit at the table, because they are still little children they can sometimes get into fights or squabbles, groaning and complaining about this or that, when we just want our table to be filled with the presence of the Lord. So pray it: “Come, Lord Jesus.”
You could maybe give thanks all together and all say, with all the children, “Come, Lord Jesus to our table.”
As the children are praying that, too, it is going to change them.
God wants to come at all moments and at all times in our lives. He is “always there” to come. He wants to be dwelling continually in our hearts.
But there are specific times that God does love to come. One of these we find out at the very, very beginning.
We know that after Adam and Eve had taken of the fruit and sinned, it tells of how God came to the garden. He came into the garden in the cool of the day. That was His habit. Each day He came to talk with Adam and Eve at the cool of the day.
That was at the end of the day. It wasn’t in the middle of the day when they were working because God established work in the very beginning. Did you know that God established work when He created the man and the woman? It says that God put him in the garden to work in it and to guard it.
The word “work” is a real word that means “ work, to work by the sweat of your brow, to work hard.” God established work. It came in before the fall.
When I was a young child I used to think, “Oh, work came in after the fall because of sin.” That’s how I used to think of work! But I don’t think of work like that now. I LOVE work because work is therapeutic. When you do a good day of hard work you sleep so much better.
When you work you learn to do things better. Out of work comes great inventions and wonderful creativity. Work is good for the soul and good for the body.
They had to work in the garden, so God didn’t come in the day when they had to work in the garden. He came when it was time to relax. He came to talk to them at that time. It was the time when they would eat at the end of the day and they would sit together. What glorious, glorious times they must have had as they walked and talked with God Himself in the garden.
God still wants to come at this time of the day. He loves to come at this special time of the day. Did you know that, ladies?
Make it wonderful for God to come. The sad part about it is, is that many families are missing at this time of the day. They’re out on the sport’s field. They’re out somewhere doing this or doing that. They’re out in the traffic.
It seems that the enemy loves to get the family out of the home at this very special time of the day.
Oh goodness me, the enemy is subtle, and he knows what he is doing, and we need to be up to what he is doing.
Dear precious mothers, this evening time is a special time of the day. God established it in the beginning. It is when He came to Adam and Eve. He wants to come to your home, to your table, to your family around your table at this time of the day.
Now what happened after they had sinned? Oh yes, they were there every day but after they sinned, they weren’t there.
What does the Bible say? That Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of the Lord (Genesis 3:8-10). Yes, they were hiding because now it wasn’t the same. Sin had come in.
We must watch, lovely ladies, that we don’t hide ourselves from the presence of the Lord just like Adam and Eve did.
Let’s be in our homes ready for God to come. He wants to come to your table so be there to prepare that meal, to get a lovely meal ready for your family, to draw your family around the table to eat and fellowship.
Then you can hear from God as you open the Word of God. Never leave the table until you have fed the spirit as well as the body. So you listen to God speak to you because He comes to speak to us. Then of course, we pray together, and we speak to Him.
We meet with Him at the end of the day, this special time of the day when He wants to come to us.
Amen?
Let’s pray:
“Dear Father, Oh, we just want to confess today how we love You and how we want You to come. We look for Your coming.
“Oh God we see all this sin in this sin-sick world and we long for You to come. But, Lord, we also long for You to come to us now and to bring Your powerful presence into our lives and into our homes and come and meet us at our tables.
“Oh, God, let us be people who just constantly cry out for Your coming in the name of Jesus. Amen.”