FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

PODCAST 95: BUILDING A HOME FOR GOD, PART 2

We find six adjectives regarding the kind of home God wants us to build for Him. Are you ready for them? EXCEEDING, MAGNIFICENT, FAMOUS, GLORIOUS, GREAT, AND WONDERFUL! Does that sound too much over the top? Sorry! They are all Biblical words. Join with me.

Announcer: 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 be giving you a podcast that I had already shared with you, but you didn't get. Because Number 94 was Building a Home for God. Number 95 was also building a home for God, Part 2. Now somehow Part 2 disappeared into thin air! When you got sent out Part 2, it was the same as Number 94, Part 1.

So I'm so sorry about that. Some have called in, and said, “Oh, we want to hear Part 2.” So I'm doing it again for you today. Trust that you will be blessed.

Let me start by sharing a poem with you, an old, famous poem called “The Builder.”

I saw them tearing a building down,

A team of men in my hometown,

With a heave and a ho and yes, yes, yell!

They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.

And I said to the foreman, “Are these men skilled

Like the ones you’d use if you had to build?”

And he laughed and said, “Oh no, indeed,

The most common labor is all I need,

For I can destroy in a day or two

What it takes a builder ten years to do.”

So I thought to myself as I went my way,

Which one of these roles am I willing to play?

Am I one who is tearing down,

As I carelessly make my way around?

Or am I one who builds with care

To make the world better because I was there?

Of course, this applies to us as mothers, doesn't it? Proverbs 14:1 says: “Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”

A true builder is a professional. He knows what he is doing. If the builder is hiring people to pull down something, he doesn't have to hire professionals. He can just get any old laborer because any old laborer can just pull something down.

So we must be those, dear mothers, who are the professional builders of our homes, not the foolish ones who can tear it down. Anybody can tear down. It's easy to pull down, especially by the words that we say. But it takes training to be a real professional builder.

Anyway, as we go into Part 2 of Building A Home for God, we are looking at the example of David and Solomon. Remember how David got the vision to build a house for God? David talked about the kind of house that he wanted to build. We read about it in 1 Chronicles 22, verse five: “The house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnificent, a fame and glory throughout all countries.”

This is the vision that David had. He used four adjectives here. Did you pick them up? Exceeding. Magnificent. Famous. Glorious. David didn't want a house like any other house for his God. He wanted a house that was greater than any other house.

Dear precious mothers, we are building not just a house, we are building a house FOR GOD! Yes! Just as David wanted to do that. This should be our passion and vision too, to build a house for God. Now if we're building a house for God, we're not going to just want it to be like any other house. We want it to be GREATER than any other house.

So shall we look at these adjectives and see what they are? We'll talk about “magnificent” first. Now this word “magnificent” in the Hebrew is gadal. It means “to make large, advance, exceeding, excellent, grow up, increase, magnify, and promote.”

My, that's a lot of words for one word. We find this so many times, don't we, that when we look up a Hebrew word for the word we read in our Bibles, that it gives us so many adjectives, because there's not, not one word is enough to describe that word.

So this word “magnificent” means “to be increasing, getting larger, growing.” It's never the same. Our building a house should never be stagnant. It's always increasing, always something more. We're always seeking to strengthen our family that little bit more.

So, in fact, I may have shared this with you before, that this is a great principle to keep in your lives as you're building your families. When you're facing a situation, or you're facing a decision that you have to make for your family life, this is the great thing to do. Think about it. If it's going to weaken your family, or fragment your family in any way, don't do it!

But if what you're planning to do will strengthen your family, and make it stronger, and keep it together, do it! Because that's what you're wanting to do, you're wanting to make your family stronger and stronger all the time.

So, do you think we could build a magnificent home for God, dear ladies? That means your home will never be stagnant. It will always be growing. You will always be thinking of new things to do to make it better, make it more wonderful for your husband and your children. It'll always be growing.

I think of some ways that we can make our homes more magnificent. Of course, the word before “magnificent” was “exceeding.” We'll talk about that word later.

# But we should make it exceedingly magnificent in godliness, don't you think?

I love that old quote, do you know it? It says:

“The beauty of the home is order.

The blessing of the home is contentment.

The glory of the home is hospitality.

The crown of the home is godliness.”

And so we should always be seeking to increase in godliness. Sadly, there are some homes that start out well, and then down the years they become less godly, more worldliness comes in. They end up going to church less and less. They're not growing at all in godliness. But let's continue growing.

# We should be exceedingly magnificent in the beauty of order and simplicity, as is shared in that quote I have just given you.

# Exceedingly magnificent in family togetherness. We're always seeking to bring the family together, do things together as a family. It seems in our society today, that most of the things we do tend to fragment the family. Many things that we get involved in, maybe they just involve one member of the family. So not everybody is involved in that. We've got to try and think, where possible, to do things that we can do as a family.

I know some families who, they don't get involved in individual sports because they find that it just takes their children all away in different directions. Instead, they choose to do the things that will keep their family together.

# Exceedingly magnificent in the disciplines of prayer and love for God's Word. That means you're seeking to have a time with your family every day where you read the Word together and you pray together.

The ultimate, of course, is two times a day, because that's the principle we read about in the Word of God. If you want to know more about that, you can go to my website and look up “The Morning and Evening Principle.”

Here is the link: http://aboverubies.org/index.php/2013-11-12-17-55-51/english-language/bible-in-the-home/901-bible-in-the-home-the-morning-and-evening-principle

So that's what we do in our family. We meet every morning and every evening to pray and read the Word.

Of course, there is more than that, too, because we read about David, who came before the Lord three times a day. He came morning, noon, and night. Daniel did that too, remember? Three times a day he bowed before the Lord.

# Exceedingly magnificent in peace and harmony. Exceedingly magnificent in joy, gladness, happiness, laughter. Oh, we want to make our homes places of joy, places of laughter, places of happiness, don't we? 

I love the Scripture, Romans 14:17: “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” So if we're building a home for God's kingdom, it should be a home of joy and happiness, and where we laugh, and we work, and we play. I believe in playing and working. So we do both, don't we?

# Also, exceedingly magnificent in the manifestation of the Presence of God. That's the most beautiful thing we can have in our homes, isn't it?

And so, dear ladies, take that word “magnificent.” Let's build a magnificent home for God, always growing, strengthening, increasing. Amen?

Well, let's look at the word “exceedingly,” shall we? Because David didn't only want to build a magnificent home, but an exceedingly magnificent home. Now the word “exceedingly” is maal. This word means “above, very high, the upper part.”

This word is translated in the Bible as “above” 53 times, and “upwards” 59 times. So it actually means “above the normal.” It is not status quo, it's not mediocre, it's not normal. It's above, it's higher.

So, ladies, now we've got to think about building our homes above the normal. It's easy to look around at your neighbors, and maybe other Christian families in your church, and think, “Oh well, I'm pretty much like all of them.”

But that's not our standard. We, our vision should be, to build a home (because it's not for us. OK, if we're just building it for us, we can have it normal if we want to), but if we are building it for God, I think we want to make it above the normal, don't you?

Let's get a vision for going beyond the normal, status quo, mediocre, apathetic, boringness of most people's lives. No! We want to go beyond that. Let's have a look, shall we, maybe at some of the average homes in the nation.

# Well, in the average home today, most people like to do their own thing, each one going here and there. Most are glued to their iPhones. Consequently they're shut out from each other . Or they're listening to other things on their earphones. 

Now ladies, I guess we have to acknowledge that this is becoming the norm in our homes today, because we're living in a different society. Never have we lived in a society like this before, when everybody's on their iPhones, they're glued to them. And in fact, in some homes, they even bring them to the table!

I beg your pardon. I trust you don't allow that in your home. That's one thing that I will not allow. I will not allow iPhones at the table. Or people having them down under the table, and their eyes are looking down. They're so glued to them, they're so addicted, that they find it hard to leave them. It is good discipline for us to leave our iPhones for certain times, especially at the time at the table.

Maybe there's other times where you're doing some special family things together—get your children to put their iPhones away. Of course, I'm talking about older children. I don't think you'll allow younger ones to them, for sure. But you know, when you're doing things together, put iPhones away. Don't let other things and other people intrude on your family time.

When you go to restaurants, or have a family meal, put your iPhones away. Isn't it sad when you go to a restaurant, and you see a family, and they're all sitting looking at their iPhones? Why do they waste their money going to the restaurant if they're all just going to look at iPhones and be texting other people when they're there to have a family meal?

So that's the normal home today. But you're not building a normal home, dear mother. You're building an above average home, above the normal. That word “exceedingly,” have you got it? It means “above, more than, above, higher, upwards.” OK? You're getting it.

# In the average home, there are more TVs in the home than children. In the above normal home, this home has more children than TVs. So we can kind of get which home we are. Do we have more TVs than children? Oooooh. Or are there more children in our home than TVs?

When you've got more children than TVs, you don't hardly need a TV, because you've got so much entertainment and so much life going on in your home. You don't need all that other entertainment, do you?

# In the average home today, most families don't even sit at the family meal table together. Maybe, perhaps once a week. But in the above average home, the home where they are building an exceedingly magnificent home for God, they're trying to meet together and sit at the table every night of the week.

Of course, there's times where maybe you're all going out somewhere else, or something has happened. But on the average, you'll be sitting together every evening at the family meal table. You'll be sitting there to, you're not just going to eat a meal. No!

The family table is so much more than just eating some food, dear precious mothers. Maybe that's why a lot of people don't sit around the table together. They think oh, well, mealtime is just eating some food. No! Mealtime is far more than eating food. Mealtime is interaction, discussion, dialog. It's gathering together to talk to one another, to communicate with one another. That's why we gather.

We gather around the table where we can look at each other eye to eye, not looking at iPhones. We're looking at one another. We're sharing together. So when we come to the table, (and, of course, I don't always do this now as my family has grown although I often do, when I have extra people around my table), I would always bring to the table a subject for discussion or a question.

“All right, children, what do you think about this?” We'd give them a subject that they can discuss together. Or a question, “What do you think about this?” It's a good thought-provoking question.

If you have little ones, you can keep the questions simple. “All right, children, we want each one of you to tell us what was the best thing you did today?” Or maybe if they're getting a little older, “Tell us something new that you learned today.”

So there are loads of ideas and questions. I have a list on my website if you go to, I guess it's the Family Mealtime Table. You can find “Table Conversations.” Maybe something like that and look it up. It's handy to have.

Here’s the link: http://aboverubies.org/index.php/2013-11-12-17-55-51/english-language/family-meal-table/797-family-meal-table-dinner-time-conversations

Let me read you another poem. This is a poem I wrote years and years ago about the table. The table is such a wonderful place. This poem says:

AT THE TABLE

Where can you communicate while you eat?

Where can you enjoy real fellowship sweet?

Where can you laugh with friends who are neat?

At the table.

Where can you pour out your heart and soul?

Where can you explain what is taking its toll?

Where can you share your vision and goal?

At the table.

Where can you dialogue and sift through ideas?

Verbalize thoughts and yet still be at ease?

Discover new subjects to debate if you please?

       At the table.

Where can your hearts be knitted as one?

Where can you yarn and old stories be spun?

And feel accepted so you don’t have to run?

       At the table.

Where can your children learn to sit still?

Acquire eating habits that won’t make them ill?

Be taught good manners of which some have nil?

       At the table.

Where to imbibe values and ethics for life?

Learn to eat correctly with fork and knife?

Observe how “to father” and be a good wife?

       At the table. 

Where can you reveal God’s ways to your kin?

Teach them His Word will keep them from sin?

And to follow God’s laws is the way to win?

       At the table.

Where can you encourage your children each day?

And boost the confidence of these “jars of clay”?

Give counsel that will keep them from going astray?

       At the table.

Where can you make your house feel a “home”?

With a lovely warm ambience and happy tone?

From where your children will not want to roam?

       At the table.

Where can you show love to God’s special “flock”?

Feed those who come to your door and knock?

Even those who don’t know God can be their Rock?

       At the table.

Where does God love His presence to fill?

Where does He want His blessings to spill?

Where does He want restless hearts to be still?

       At the table.

Dear father and mother, look again at your table,

Family meals together will make your home stable!

Make it a priority--your God will enable!

       Sit at your table!

 

So I believe this is what we'll do when we are seeking to make an above average home.

# In the average home, most families are so busy that they don't have time to have family Bible reading and worship. But in the above normal home, they make everything else fit around their morning and evening times to pray and read the Word.

I've found that, ladies, do you find the same thing? That you have to MAKE IT HAPPEN?  You'll find, I know, that if you just hope it will happen, or think it's a good idea, which we all know it's a good idea, but it never happens unless we MAKE IT HAPPEN. Over the years, for years and years, I sought to make it a habit in our home. I made it happen.

Everything in our home revolves around our morning and evening gathering together to hear from God and to cry out to Him. I don't think there is anything more important in the whole of the day. So I have to make it happen. See what you can do about making it happen in your home too.

# In the average home, there is often bickering and fighting. In the above average home, the siblings are friends, rather than fighting with one another.

# In the average home, most families live to themselves. But in the above average home, they love to open their homes in hospitality. They love to invite others to their table to share their meals. They enjoy food and dialog and fellowship with others. I believe this should be just . . . well, I was going to say the normal home, but the normal home is not the normal home today. We are seeking to have to build an above average home.

The above average home will be a home of hospitality. I was so blessed to be brought up in a home of hospitality, where our back door and front door was always open. People coming in, people sitting around our table. Oh, it was the spice of life.

So it was something that we carried on in our home. It has been the spice of life in all the years of our marriage together, having people in our home, coming to stay, coming to our table for a meal. In fact, as time goes, and I haven't had someone, I'm in withdrawal. I've just got to get someone to come and sit around our table.

Because we love  it. We love sharing our meal. We love the wonderful fellowship of kindred spirits. Of course, we don't always invite kindred spirits. We love to reach out to others too, who may not be kindred spirits, and who need encouragement, who need to get a glimpse of the different way of living. So hospitality is part of the above normal home.

# In the average home, families spend a lot of their time running here and running there to sports, extracurricular activities, and this and that, and everything. But in the above average home, they realize it's more important to spend time together.

Of course, they will be doing certain things that they know are very important, but they're not going to be pulled away by everything. They're going to discern what is the best. They will discern what is important, and what they can let go. So they can keep their family intact, keep their family together.

Well, there's many other things. Those were just a few. I trust, dear lovely ladies, that you will seek to build a home that is beyond the homes of everyone you know. And build a home that goes higher, that's above the normal. Amen?

All right. So David said he wanted to build this exceedingly magnificent home for “fame” and for “glory.” He wanted it to be famous for God because he was building it to the Name of the Lord. That's why he didn't want it to be famous for his name. No, he built a home for himself but this was the home for God.

When we're building a home for God, we are not wanting to make it famous for ourselves, but for God's Name. We don't want to do anything that will bring shame to the Name of the Lord. We're building a home that will bring glory to the Name of our God.

That's why David said “for fame, and for glory.” He wanted this home that he was building for God to bring glory to God. Not only the people there in Jerusalem, but the whole then-known world would know that this was God's home. It was a home that was going to be a place of prayer for all nations. It became famous.

I mean, this home became such a glorious home. When Solomon began to build it, there was no other building like it. It was completely covered inside and outside with gold. Oh, I mean, it was just filled with silver and gold and precious stones. It was just unbelievable.

I'd better talk about the glory. The word “glory,” tipharah, means “beauty, bravery, honor, majesty, glory.” Once again, lots of adjectives for one word.

So now we're going to get on to the words that Solomon used, because David, although he had this great vision to build this exceeding magnificent, famous, glorious house, God said, “Sorry, David, I don't want you to build it. I want your son to be the builder.”

So Solomon took on the same vision. He used different adjectives. He said, “The house which I'm going to build for God will be great and wonderful.” So now we've got two more adjectives. SIX ADJECTIVES in all to describe this house for God.

OK. The word “great,” well, of course, it just means “great, exceeding (again) mighty.” And then the word pala, oh, well that's the word “wonderful.” The Hebrew word for “wonderful” here is pala. Oh, it is an amazing word.

Oh, now have I written down here what it means? Oh yes! Look at all these adjectives to describe the word wonderful, which is pala in the Hebrew: Distinguished. Extraordinary. Miraculous. Astonishing. Marvelous. Yes, it goes beyond, it means that it goes beyond the bounds of human power or expectation. This was the description that Solomon used for building this house for God.

Precious ladies, all these adjectives I'm talking about, do they seem a little bit over the top? Do you think, “Oh goodness me, here I am, just in the throes of diapers and little babies and children screaming and other children fighting . . . and oh, this is happening, and that is happening, and you expect me to be building a house that's glorious and magnificent and wonderful?”

Well, darling ladies, I'm not making it up. These are Biblical words, and this was the vision that they had. I believe God doesn't put anything in His Word for a joke. I believe that He wants us to take on this vision. Let's begin to think like this, and to believe for this, and have a vision for this. So we're now going to make a GREAT and WONDERFUL house.

Now let’s look at some other Scriptures where this word pala is used. It was not only used for building this house for God. It was used for a baby being conceived. It was used when Sarah was not able to conceive, and she had waited years and years and years and years and could never have a baby. Then God came to her and said that He would give her a baby in the time of life.

At the next season she would have this baby. And she laughed, we know. But then God said to her, in Genesis 18:14: “Is [the word is pala] anything too hard [pala again] for the Lord?” In other words, “Oh, nothing's too hard for Me,” God says. “I am the God Who is the God of the miraculous and the astonishing and the marvelous, and that which goes beyond human bounds or human expectations.” So this is the word He gave to Sarah, and we know how God blessed her. She conceived and gave birth to a baby.

This word is also used in Psalm 139:14, talking again about a baby, about how the baby grows in the womb. “I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Thy works [that's the word pala]. Marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.” A little baby growing in the womb is wonderful, miraculous, astonishing, marvelous!

Yes, Psalm 111:4: “He has made His wonderful works to be remembered.”

Psalm 96:3: “Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders, [His pala] among all people.”

And so, lovely ladies, that's an amazing word to take on. But let's build a marriage and a family and a home that is wonderful. To build a wonderful marriage takes work, doesn't it? Oh yes because it's not always perfect. And your husband's not always perfect, but you're not always perfect either.

So here we've got us two imperfect people, and how on earth are we going to make it? We're going to make it by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, and by having a vision. Keep the vision before you that you're going to make, and you're going to build, a wonderful marriage.

You see, lovely ladies, you can have the marriage you want. It's true . . . now don't blame it all on your husband and all his faults, oh goodness me, because it's so easy to see all the faults in them. Oh yes, I have seen faults in my husband. I can remember seeing all those faults. I had to learn not to see them, and instead look at the good things, and love him anyway.

Build a marriage of love. It's your choice. It's not the faults they have. No, it's your choice. You choose. You choose the marriage you want. And it is possible to have a glorious, wonderful, astonishing, amazing marriage, if you're prepared to build it.

Yes, you'll have to sacrifice your own feelings, and your own self, and your own ways. Put them aside. Instead, pour out love. See what you want and go for it! And you can have it.

So you're going to build a wonderful marriage and a wonderful family. You're not going to settle for the ordinary. You're going to make marvelous things happening every day, because remember, lovely ladies, that marvelous things are little things. Just hugging your little children, smiling at them, having a forgiving spirit even when you've been hurt. Making family togetherness happen. Making little things, just the little things, that add up to the big things that become marvelous. And you will build a wonderful home. I know you're going to do it.

Let me end with another poem. This is a poem podcast, isn't it? It's another poem about building, also called “The Builder,” an old famous poem.

A builder builded a temple

He wrought it with grace and skill.

Pillars and groins and arches,

All fashioned to meet His will.

Men said, as they saw its beauty,

“It shall never know decay,

Great is thy skill, O builder!

They fame shall endure for aye.”

A mother builded a temple

With loving and infinite care,

Planning each arch with patience,

Laying each stone with prayer.

None praised her ceaseless efforts,

None knew the hidden plan,

For the temple the Mother builded

Was unseen by the eyes of man.

Gone is the builder’s temple,

Crumpled into the dust;

Low lays each stately pillar,

Food for consuming rust.

But the temple the mother builded,

Will last while the ages roll,

For the beautiful unseen temple

Is a child’s immortal soul!

Shall we pray?

“Dearest Father, we thank You that You give us a vision, a vision beyond the normal. You don't want us to live the average, normal, mediocre life. You don't want us to build average, status quo homes.

“Oh God, You have a greater vision for us. Help us to take hold of it. Help us to build a wonderful marriage. Help us to build a wonderful family life. Help us to build a wonderful strong home for God.

“Lord, we thank You that we, as mothers, have power to impact the nation, because as we build strong homes, the nation becomes strong. Help us to see our worth as we build these exceeding, magnificent, famous, glorious, great, and wonderful homes! In the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris