PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 144: WHO ARE WE LISTENING TO? Pt 5
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 144: WHO ARE WE LISTENING TO? Pt 5
God works in harmony, unity, and togetherness as the Triune God. Because we are made in His image, He also wants us to live a togetherness lifestyle. Are you living “individually,” or experiencing a “togethering” lifestyle?
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. I mentioned last time that today we would look at some of the “let us” Scriptures in Hebrews. We have been discovering that our faith is not an individual faith only. It is a mutual faith. God wants us to walk together as His people.
The writer of Hebrews, when he is writing to them, inspiring them in what they are to do, he doesn't say, “I want you to do this.” No, he says, “Let us.” Let us. We're going to do it together. There are ten times the writer says “let us” in this book.
Number 1:
Hebrews 4:1: “Let us therefore fear, lest the promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” Now, the ultimate rest for the children of Israel was the Promised Land. God's great intention was for them all to come in and enjoy that wonderful land, flowing with milk and honey.
But how many got into the Land? Out of all those who came out of Egypt, twenty years of age and upwards, only two got in. I mean, they had seen all the miracles. They came through the Red Sea. God had provided them with heavenly manna for 40 years. They saw miracle after miracle in the wilderness.
But only two got in, because they did not believe. They did not trust God. This Scripture encourages us that we'd better fear. We'd better not just take things for granted. My, if only two got in, we'd better make sure that we're getting in!
Of course, we're not getting in by our works. It's through the precious Blood of Jesus. But we have to always be pressing on. Our Christian walk is not a stalemate. It's not stagnant. It's always more and more. Always increasing. Always moving forward.
“Increase” is such a common word in the Bible. I love that Scripture in Proverbs 4:18: “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Now, I've been walking with the Lord most of my life, for so many years, and yet I feel I've hardly started. There's more and more, and I keep finding out more. I keep discovering more. Everything is more, and that's how it's meant to be, every single day.
Oh, I must give you this Scripture though, before I go on. 1 Peter 1:17. It always challenges me. Peter is writing and says: “And if ye call on the Father, Who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.”
We just read, “Let us therefore fear . . . ” There needs to be a certain amount of fear otherwise we kind of can get too complacent. We're meant to walk in the fear of the Lord. I think that's something that is missing today, walking in the fear of the Lord. We can't take things for granted. We must walk in the fear of the Lord.
Number 2:
Hebrews 4:11: “Let us labor therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” And so, it's a rest that we're going into, but we have to labor to get into that rest. We have to work at it.
Now, rest, of course we have our rest in Christ. He is our rest. He also gave the Sabbath day as a rest. “Six days shalt thou labor . . . But the seventh day you will rest.” There is a day of rest, but ultimately, Christ is our rest. You can keep a Sabbath day, and still not live in rest. So, let's learn to live in His rest, but we are also laboring to make sure we don't fall from that rest. All right. The next one.
Number 3:
Hebrews 4:14. Let's look at this here. Verse 14: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.” Now, that word, in most translations, is the word “confession.” It means, “to speak out what we believe.”
The word in the Greek is homologia, and it means, “to say the same thing that another is saying.” In other words, we are going to say the same thing that God says in His Word. We're going to line up our profession with His Word. What we say is not what we just hear from fake media, from what people think, or say, or whatever. No, we line our profession up with God's Word, and we hold fast to it.
Now we have to hold fast, dear ladies, because often God's Word is totally opposite to what everybody else is saying, or what everybody else is doing. God doesn't line up with the status quo. He doesn't line up with culture. No, He has already imparted His way to us, the best way, the ultimate way. It's the divine way, the heavenly way, the best way. So we've got to line up our profession with His ways.
We go over to chapter ten, verse 23, and it says the same thing again: “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised.)” You can count on His promises. You can stand on His Word.
Ladies, the moment you are getting weak about something, you're faltering, you're doubting, you wonder if you can really trust God in this issue, or whatever it is you're facing, dear precious mother, remember He is faithful. He is faithful. His Word is faithful, and you can stick your life on it. You can set your confession on it. So hold fast the profession of your faith. Don't let it go. Everything around you may seem the opposite but hang on to God's Word.
We often have to do that when we're trusting God for healing. We don't see any signs. We're not healed, but we hang on. We stand fast on God's infallible Word. Hold fast. And we have to do it together.
“Let us.” Sometimes we can't do these things on our own. We just need one another. That's why it's so good to meet with one another. It's why God wants us to be a together people, a one-anothering people, a gathering-together people, so we can encourage one another in the faith.
Number four:
Hebrews 4:16. Let's go to that one. 4:16: “Let us (once again, “let us.” We're doing it together). “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” We can come boldly into the throne of grace.
We now, through the Blood of Jesus, can go behind the curtain, into the Holy of Holies, where God dwells in all His glory. And He's invited us to come in. We cannot come in on our own, but because of the blood of Jesus, we can come boldly, boldly, into this throne room! We can put out our hand and we can request of Him. Oh, He's made a way through His precious blood!
And we can do that together. We can pray on our own, but oh, there's something so powerful about coming in prayer together. Don't you find that? Oh yes, I love to pray on my own, but I love to pray with people. Corporate prayer meetings are so powerful, when we are all coming, “let us,” we're all coming boldly into His throne room, He has said: “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).
I'm looking forward to tonight. We'll be having another prayer meeting tonight. How we love having prayer meetings in our home where we come together to His throne room.
Number five:
“Let us.” What's going to happen this time? Hebrews 6:1: “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.” So, here we are encouraged to go on. Yes, we started at “the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” But we are to go on! We're to go on, and on, and on, because there is always more and more!
Number six:
Hebrews 10:22: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” Let us draw near. God wants us to be a people who draw near to Him. It's an invitation, “Draw near, My people.” This is what He wants.
We go back to the Old Testament to the Tabernacle. It was all a type of our salvation and our walk with God. And in the outer court, they had the brazen altar, where they did the daily sacrifices, and the blood was shed. It all pointed to Jesus, who was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It speaks of our salvation through Christ, but it was in the outer court. We were still on the outside.
And then the next thing was the laver made of brass, where they had to wash. It was like a baptism. They had to wash before they could go into the Holy Place. But that was still the outer court. They were still on the outside.
Many, many believers are still in the outer court. Yes, they're saved by the blood of Jesus. They've got salvation. They have their earnest, their promise of eternal life. They've been baptized. They've been washed, but they hang around there. They don't keep moving on.
But you see, you go into the Holy Place. There was the Table of Showbread with the Bread upon it, where we can feast on Christ. Feast on Him. Feed on Him. Grow in His likeness and learn more of Him.
There was the candlestick, the golden candelabra, and it was shining down on the Bread to bring revelation. It also spoke of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. They had to put new oil, morning and evening, into that, to keep that light burning. It speaks of the continual filling of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Then we would go to the altar of incense, which speaks of praise and worship, just entering in, closer and closer to His presence, because the altar of incense was right next to the curtain. Just behind that was the Holy of Holies, where God's shekinah glory dwelt.
So God was always drawing His people closer. Today, He still wants to do the same thing. We can be people of the outer court, just staying on the outside. Yes, we're saved, we're born again, we're baptized, but we don't keep moving nearer. It's a challenge to me, too.
But God wants us to draw near. He wants us, as mothers, to be mothers who will be gathering our families to draw near into His Presence. That's why we love to gather our families, morning and evening, to hear the Word of God and to come into prayer, so we can all as a family draw nearer and nearer.
“Nearer and nearer, my God, to Thee,” the hymn says. And so, we do it together. We do it individually. We do it as a family. We do it when we come to meet with the fellow saints. We come, and we go to draw near to God, and we're going to do it together! Isn't that a wonderful thing? To draw near together? That's what God wants us to do.
Number seven.
Hebrews 10:24-25: “And let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting” or encouraging, “one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” And so here God is drawing us again. And the writer of the Hebrews is saying, let us, “let us consider one another, to provoke” each other, and let's not forsake “the assembling of ourselves together.”
Do you notice the word “assembling”? That means “coming together.” But “exhorting and encouraging one another.” We can't do that unless we're meeting together. It's a together thing, it's a “let us,” Let us. We're going to come together. We're going to provoke one another to love, and to good works, and to encourage one another. We'll do that as we come together.
So, no more of this social distancing and staying away from church. It's anti-Bible, and it's actually disobedient to the Word of God! And according to the Hebrews 6:5 “let us,” we can't go on, we can't move on unless we are doing what God has already told us to do.
Number eight.
Hebrews 12:1: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.“ What a wonderful Scripture! And we do that together! We run the race together. We encourage one another to hang on. Many times, one is in doubt, oh, they're going through something. The others will lift that one up. That's why it's so glorious to come together as the saints.
Once a week, at least, we gather. That's just the least, the very least, the very least! I mean, it's so good if we are meeting mid-week to pray, or even more than mid-week. We have more than one prayer meeting in our home every week. And so we meet as much as we can, but we're meeting so we can encourage one another, and lift one another up, to help one another to run with patience and endurance this race that is set before us.
At our fellowship, we always have a fellowship meal afterwards, so everyone stays on. We eat together, and we sit around the tables, and we fellowship together. It is so powerful. I mean, there's never even enough time to get to fellowship and talk with everyone!
And there's always ones who need prayer, those who need to pour out their hearts, those who just have to talk and share, and share what's going on. Others can pray with them. This all can't be done in church. There's not enough time for all that! I mean, when people come, there are so many needs. We just have the church meeting, and we have the Word, and we have prayer, and we have worship. We can have also prayer at the end. But still there needs time. We need to have that fellowship together. This is what it's all about.
Number nine.
Hebrews 13:13: “Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.” We have to encourage one another, to bear His reproach. We're not going to be the most popular people in the world as we follow Jesus, especially in this hour. It's getting less popular to be a God-fearer, a God-believer, a Word-believer. But together, we will encourage one another to go out to Him, without the camp. Jesus was crucified outside the city. We go out to Him, bearing His reproach.
The last one, Number ten.
Hebrews 13:15: “Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His Name.” So, together, we encourage one another to constantly give thanks to the Lord, no matter what we're going through. Continually praising Him. So there you go, ten “Let us” things that we should do together.
Let me give you a few more Scriptures, because in this podcast, I'm mainly giving you some Scriptures about the facts of our meeting together as the people of God.
Should churches be meeting? Well, I think a good majority are now back meeting. I've heard of some that still are not doing it, and I've heard of some that are doing it, but doing it with all this junk of social distancing. No, that's not even biblical! You can't find one biblical reference for that.
We are a together people. We are a one-anothering people. We cannot do that as we're socially distancing! And God wants us to be together. I want to remind you again to go back and listen to the podcasts if you didn't before. I did four podcasts on being together, what God says about that. And two podcasts about meeting together at church, giving you the Scriptures.
But today, I'm, going to give you some more, because I didn't actually give you all of them, even in those six podcasts! And so, here's a few more. There is so much in the Word.
1 John 3:14, 16: “We KNOW that we have passed from death unto life, BECAUSE WE LOVE THE BRETHREN . . . Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
Dear ladies, if we love the people of God, we will want to be with them! And this is one of the ways we know that we have eternal life. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the saints, and we want to be with them! And there's something about a fellowship of people gathering together. When one is not there, you miss that person. You feel something is missing.
Sometimes people stay away from their church gathering, from their fellowship, and they think, “Oh well, I've got things to do today. I won't go.” Or they have some other excuse. They don't realize how much they are missed! Oh, when people are not . . . when hen they don't come to our fellowship and they stay away because they're doing this or doing that, I don't think they even really know how much I miss them. I look for them.
We are a body, and you don't feel as though it's right if not everyone is there. I think you know, when we stay away, we're really saying, “Oh well, I don't really worry too much about those people. I've got other things to do.” I think we've got to get a greater love for the people of God, don't you? Because it will really show in what we do. And we'll just want to be there! Oh, goodness me! Absolutely!
I love that beautiful Scripture in Psalm 16: 2, 3. David is speaking. He says to the Lord, “O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, 'Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to Thee; but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.'” David was saying, “Lord, God, I just love You. You are such a good God! But how can I show my goodness and my praise to You? This is the way I can do it, by showing it to Your people, to Your body.”
So we show our love to the Lord, by showing it to His people. David said, he said, “Lord God, my goodness extends not to Thee, but to the saints that are in the earth.” When we show it to the saints, we're showing it to Him. Oh, I'm always so challenged that how I show God's love and how I treat even the most lowly saint, is really how I am treating God, and showing my love to Him. So that's a good challenge, isn't it?
Yes, and in Luke 4:16, we read how Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, “as was His habit.” It was His habit. He had been trained from a little baby to go on the Sabbath day. So whether you meet on Saturday, or you meet on Sunday, well, whatever day that you meet, make it a habit. So you're going to be there, rain, hail, sun, or snow!
I mean, it's amazing, amazing, what weak excuses people use to not come to the weekly service which God delights us to do. We've got to become a little bit tougher and not give into all these little excuses. I can remember one time, we were in a different place than we are now, and it was Sunday. It was a real, real snowfall. We had to drive I think, oh goodness me, it was a good . . . how long would it have been? Yes, a good half-hour drive, and it was all on a road that was so scary. I mean it was icy snow.
But my husband, nothing would stop him. “This is the Lord's day; we're going to be there!” So we drove right though that icy snow to be there. There was hardly anyone else there, but we were there! Let's just get such a something in us, that nothing's going to stop us!
All right. 1 John 1:3, 7: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye may also have fellowship with us: truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ . . . But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
So, number one: We have fellowship with the Father. Number two: We have fellowship with one another. If we have fellowship with Jesus, with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit, we’ll also be wanting to have fellowship with His people.
1 Corinthians 10:17: “For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.” I remember when I grew up in the church that I grew up in, they didn't have for communion all the little pieces of the wafer, or the pieces of bread that most churches have today. We always had one loaf. I think they were taking it from that Scripture.
Of course, we don't have to do that, but it is a beautiful picture. We are one bread. We are one loaf. And so it was a picture. Pictures are good. They help us to understand truth. So that loaf was passed around to everyone, and each person would take a little piece from that loaf. But they were understanding that as they took that little piece, they were part of the one loaf. I loved that.
All right. Well, let's just go . . . here are a couple more.
Psalm 55:14: “We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.” That word “company” in the Hebrew there actually means “a noisy crowd.”
I imagine all the people back then. They were most probably walking to church. We drive to church. Maybe it's pretty rowdy in your car as you drive to church with children screaming and babies crying. So maybe, you know, you're pretty scriptural! You've just got a noisy car ride.
I can remember when we were taking our children. It wasn't always perfect. Baby would be crying, and children would be fighting. Sometimes you get to church, and you don't feel very holy, do you? Goodness me, you feel the opposite, because you've been having to deal with children. And you could be getting mad. Oh, wow! Anyway, you've just got to ask the Lord for His grace, don't you?
But anyway, David loved to go the house of God in company with this noisy crowd of everybody talking, and rejoicing, and praising . . . most probably singing as they were all walking there together.
Psalm 92:13: “Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.” Get planted! Don't just hop around from this church. “Oh, I think I'll go to that one. Oh, check out that one!” Get planted into a body where you can bless other people and they can bless you. And you will begin to flourish.
Now let me give you a few Scriptures here. Oh yes, I wonder, I had something I wanted to give you, but I don't think I brought it up here. It was about assembling, and the word in the Old Testament, “assemble,” it occurs many times. God loves to assemble His people together. His people. I forgot to bring up here where I'm doing this podcast all those Scriptures about how God loves to assemble His people together.
Well, that's what it says, isn't it, in Hebrews 10:25: “Don't neglect the assembling of yourselves together.” And even in the New Testament, there's so many words about assembling. I think I gave those to you in a previous podcast.
But let's look at some of the things that David confessed about being in amongst the believers.
Psalm 22:22, 25: “I will declare Thy Name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation.” The word is “assembly.” (These are apart from these other ones I wanted to bring to you.) But this also means “assembly,” in “the midst of the assembly.” That means the “gathering together of the saints.” “Will I praise Thee . . . My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation, ( or the great assembly) I will pay my vows before them that fear Him.”
Psalm 26:12: “My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations in the assembly will I bless the Lord.” The New Living Translation of that Psalm is rather lovely. “I come to your altar, O Lord, singing a song of thanksgiving, and telling of all Your wonders. I love Your sanctuary, Lord, the place where Your glorious presence dwells. Now I stand on solid ground, and I will publicly praise the Lord.”
Psalm 35: 18 “ I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise Thee among much people.”
Psalm 40:9, 10: “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation: I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth from the great congregation.”
When we come to assemble ourselves, to the gathering of the saints, dear ladies, we come ready to give. Not to hide Christ in us but to reveal Christ in us. We reveal Christ to one another when we come together. As we smile at one another. As we give one another a hand. As we show some kindness. As we give them a hug. As we talk together, and fellowship together. All this togetherness, we are revealing Christ to one another.
We don't hide. We don't come with a mask. We don't come social distancing. We're coming to be together as God intends, and when we are in the togetherness of His people, it's the most safest place we can be. Unless we're sick (and we'll stay at home). All this nonsense of all this social distancing is ridiculous! We use common sense. If anyone's sick, they stay home. But if we're well, we are there! We are being a together people, and we're not hiding.
Psalm 107:31, 32: “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the congregation (the assembly) of the people, and praise Him in the assembly of the elders.”
Psalm 111:1: “I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.”
Psalm 149:1: “Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise in the congregation of saints.”
Oh yes! It's not an individual walk.
It's a together walk.
A mutual, faith walk.
A gathering-together walk.
An assembling walk.
That's what God wants. And there is strength in God's people coming together. Satan knows that if he can dissipate, and weaken, and separate the Body of Christ, that he weakens them.
We are not meant to be separating and social distancing. We are meant to be coming together, and “so much the more as we see the day approaching.” These are the Scriptures, lovely, precious ladies. Let's walk according to the Word and not according to our humanistic culture around us. Amen?
Dear Father, we have mainly just spoken Your Word in this podcast. But we thank You for Your Word. Lord, I pray that Your Word will just, Oh, Lord, it will just sink into them, and become part of them, and overflow them, Lord. And Your truth will become flesh and blood. And they will walk in Your truth, Lord, that their hands, and their feet, and their face, and every part of their being will be revealing Your Truth. We ask it in the precious, lovely Name of Jesus. Amen.
Transcribed by Darlene Norris. If you would like to thank her, her email is: momcat617
More podcasts for you to listen to on this subject:
Podcasts 102 – 103: SHOULD CHURCHES BE MEETING TOGETHER?
Podcasts 104 – 107: FOUR PART SERIES ON TOGETHERNESS.
MORE SCRIPTURES FO YOU TO LOOK UP:
Psalm 27:4; 50:5; 65:4; 68:26; 106:47; 122:1; Isaiah 2:3; Jeremiah 50:5; Zechariah 8:21, 22; Matthew 18:18-20; Acts 2:42-47; 4:31; 14:27; 20:7, 8; Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 5:4; 12:20; 14:23, 26; 16:2; Ephesians 4:15, 16, 25; 5:30; Colossians 2:2, 19; 1 John 3:14, 16; 2 John 1:12; and 3 John 1:14.