PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 156: GUARD YOUR TREASURES, Part One
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 156 – GUARD YOUR TREASURES, Part One
King Rehoboam inherited the richest kingdom the world in his day. In only five years everything was taken away! We must hold fast that which we have!
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. It's always so great to be with you. And maybe children listening too. I love to hear that children are listening. Sometimes when I go to Above Rubies retreats, I meet children who come with their mothers, to find that they love to listen my podcasts.
I hope also the older women are listening. We, as older women, we have to constantly be encouraged in the ways of God for women because we have to know God's way to pass it on to the next generation. So mothers, encourage your mothers to listen, the grandmothers. And grandmothers, encourage your children, your daughters, and grandchildren to listen. I pray that you are all blessed.
Well, I have been blessed the last couple of weeks. I celebrated my 80th birthday on the 27th of May. And I have had three parties to celebrate. Wow! That was really special. We had a great big family party here at our home.
That was so wonderful to have most of the family, not all, because some are in different states, and some weren't able to come. But a good part of this family was here and a few very close family friends. That was just a wonderful, wonderful night.
And then a dear friend, Erin Harrison, who lives here on the Hilltop, she said, “Nancy, I'd like to put on two parties for you. One for the older women, and one for the young mums.”
“Oh,” I said, “That would be so great. I'd love to have one for all the young mums and their little babies and toddlers, because I didn't want them to miss out.” So we were going to have a beautiful picnic out by our playground on our front lawn, near the volleyball court, so the little ones could play in the sand.
But it ended up a very, very wet, cold day, even in the summer! So we had it at Erin's place, and it was a beautiful luncheon. Just so lovely to enjoy the young mums around the Hilltop, and family young mums, and their little children.
And then last night we had a beautiful, beautiful evening. Erin called it “Fancy for Nancy.” Everyone came dressed up. It was just for ladies, a special ladies' night. So they came dressed up in their beautiful dresses and hats. It was a high tea, with lovely dresses and hats, and a beautiful meal.
In fact, Erin went out of her way. She usually does. She just goes to the very limit when she does something. Everybody was going to bring a dish, but instead, Erin suddenly got the idea to make it a queenly night, a royal night. And she decided to make ten different English dishes, specifically English eating.
Oh, goodness me, I don't even know how she had time to make them all. What she did before we all ate, she had someone who would bring each dish out, and pass it around for us to see. And we all had to write down what we thought it was and to see if we could know what these ten different dishes were.
Well, nobody got ten correct. I think a few people got five. I didn't, and here I am, from English descent, living in New Zealand, which is a British colony, and grew up with English foods. Anyway, I must tell you what she did.
Of course, the first thing she did was scones. Some people say scones. But we always called them scones. So we all guessed that one, of course. And she had made everything with einkorn flour because Erin loves to cook with einkorn, a very, very healthy flour.
And then number two plate that she brought around was Victoria Sponge. Sponge cake was very popular in New Zealand as I was growing up. We always made sponge cakes for every party. So Erin also made one. She made a beautiful Victoria layered sponge cake with cream between each layer. So delightful.
Then number three plate was Chelsea Buns. They are made with currants, or raisins, and cinnamon, allspice, and lemon peel.
And then number four plate, she made English Shortbread. Now everybody knows English Shortbread is very buttery. And you can buy it. I don't like to buy it. Usually I don't eat shortcake. It's sugar and a lot of butter, but I did eat some of Erin's last night. It was so delectable, the best shortcake I ever tasted. And she made it with the einkorn flour. So it was just delectable.
Then number five. She made Figgy Pudding. Now we sing about that at Christmas time, don't we? “Give me a figgy pudding, now give me a figgy pudding.” Well, I used to sing that and wonder what they were singing about. And even from my English descent, I have never tasted Figgy Pudding. Well, Erin made it and it, was delightful! I just couldn't believe it!
It's a dessert, and made with currants, and I don't know what else she added. Raisins and prunes and sugar and spices. But it was very delightful. First time I've tasted it. Have you ever tasted Figgy Pudding? It's called Figgy Pudding, but it doesn't always have figs in it, although I love figs. Dried figs are one of my favorite foods, especially Turkish dried figs.
Number six, she made an English Trifle. Trifle is so common back home. It's another dessert that we always make when we have a party back home in New Zealand. We will still do it here. Making a trifle out of sponge cake, custard, jelly, whipped cream, and berries, all layered. It's always a favorite.
Although here you can't go to the supermarket and buy a packet of custard powder. We always used custard powder back home in New Zealand and we used it a lot when the children were growing. We'd have for dessert fruit, and I would make a custard to pour on it. But Erin made her own custard with eggs, and it was so lovely.
And then, number seven. Spotted Dick. Well, to tell you the truth, I'd never even heard of that one. Have you ever heard of Spotted Dick? Well, I was surprised, my daughter Pearl has heard of it, and I hadn't myself. So I tried it for the first time. It's a dessert too. It's a boiled pudding.
Of course, I made so many steamed puddings back in New Zealand. Every now and then, I'll make them here. It's where you make a pudding, and you put it in (we have special dessert steamed pudding bowl with a lid on), then you put that in the bowl with the lid on, and then put it in a bigger pot with water all around it. The water boils it and cooks it. That's a steamed pudding.
You can also put it in, let's see, what do I use? That particular material—calico. And I put it in the calico, and I pull it up, and I tie it up, and I throw it in the pot and boil it. I do this for every Thanksgiving and every Christmas. I make a great big, huge, what we call Down Under, the Plum Duff. But it's a big, steamed pudding filled with raisins and all those kinds of things. We boil that too.
But this was different. Apparently, it was a favorite of Queen Victoria's. It had to have a very lemon undertone. It could be just spotted with raisins. So it was called Spotted Dick. Dick was another name for pudding, derived from the word “dough.”
Number eight, she brought round a plate of Cornish pasty. Wow. That took a lot of work for her to make those. They were pretty amazing too.
Number nine, mincemeat pies. These aren't made with meat, but with raisins and such in little cases of pastry. People make them for Christmas time.
And then the last one she made was Bubble and Squeak. Have you ever heard of Bubble and Squeak? You make it out of leftovers. I would often make that when the children were growing up. If we had potatoes left over and cabbage left over, you mix cabbage and potatoes together. You don't start from raw. They're just leftovers from those that are cooked.
And then you fry it all up together. Erin had fried them up into little patties. So there were her ten different English dishes, which we all had to try. So we were getting rather full!
It was just a wonderful time, beautiful fellowship. And then after that, after we'd all eaten, she had a “Pass the Parcel” which Erin has actually learned from us, because Erin came into our Hilltop community, and then became a part of so many parties that we have here. We often love to do “Pass the Parcel.”
Each time we do it differently, and this time she had done questions about me that they had to answer. About my childhood, which hardly anybody knew, and about my courting, and about our marriage, and about this and that. It was amazing though. Some people did know some of these things from hearing me speak and telling stories from time to time. But that was a wonderful night. So I have been so blessed.
Now on our family night, we had speeches. We always have speeches at birthdays. It's part of our family tradition, so of course, we did that also that night. We celebrated not only my 80th, but my husband's 81st birthday.
So the children all got up to give speeches and a few grandchildren. By that time, it was getting late. There wasn't time for anymore. Except Colin and I got up and shared something on our hearts. I had a word that I wanted to pass on to the family.
I want to pass it on to you because I believe it is so powerful. It is a challenge. It's something I read the other week. As I read these words, I was so challenged. We're going to go back to 1 Kings, 1 Kings, chapter 14:26-28 and it's about a time in the life of Rehoboam.
Do you know who Rehoboam was? He was the grandson of King David and the son of Solomon. And when Solomon passed away, Rehoboam took his place and became the king of Israel. He didn't last very long as the king of Israel because the people of Israel came to him and said, “Your father put a lot of pressure upon us and a lot of work. We want you to lighten his load.”
So he said, “I'll think about it. Come back in three days, and I'll give you my answer.” So he went to the elders who had been with his father and said, “What do you think that I should do?” And the elders said to him, they said: “If you will be a servant to these people, and will serve them, and answer them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever” (1 Kings 12:7).
Now that was good, wise advice. But Rehoboam didn't take any notice of the elders. He decided to go his contemporaries, the young guys who hung around with him. And he said to them, “What do you think I should do?” And the young men, who'd grown up with him, they said, “This is what you should say: “My father made our yoke heavy.” No, sorry. This is what the people said to Rehoboam and he's now telling it to his young friends. And this is what he said. “Your father made our yoke heavy, but please make ours lighter.”
And anyway, the young men said to him, This is what you should say: “’ father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions’” (1 Kiangs 12:14).
Well, that wasn't very good advice. But he took notice of the advice of his contemporaries. And he went to the children of Israel, and he gave them this advice. And what happened? They said, “Well, that's it! We're not following you! Good-bye!”
And the ten tribes left and no longer followed Rehoboam. After a glorious reign of King Solomon, he was now left with only the tribe of Judah, and of course the Levites, who of course, stayed there to be the priests and do the work in Jerusalem in the temple. So he was left bereft.
Now it gets worse, because it says in verse 25 of 1 Kings 14:25: “And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam,” now he's been reigning for five years. He doesn't have the twelve tribes. He's only left with Judah and the Levites.
The king of Egypt comes. And he comes plundering the land. And he comes into Jerusalem. It says here in verse 26: “And King Shishak, the king of Egypt, took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house: he even took away all. He took away all the shields of gold, which Solomon had made.”
Did you notice sometime there? Three times in this one little Scripture we read the words: “He took away.” He took away. He took away. And two times we read the word “all.” “He took away all.”
Now, this kingdom of David, and then Solomon, was a glorious kingdom. It was a kingdom of riches and glory and gold. It was unbelievable. And David, who had the vision to build the temple for the Lord in Jerusalem, God came to him and said, “David, you are not the one to build the temple. Your son is going to build the temple. But it was good that it was in your heart.”
I am always encouraged by that Scripture. God sees our hearts. He sees your heart. Maybe you have a vision for something you are longing to do for the Lord and yet it's not working out. Maybe it will be someone in your family who will do it. But God sees your heart. He sees it in your heart, and He says, “Oh, it is good.” It is good that it's in your heart.”
But David didn't just leave it to Solomon. No, he prepared. He prepared with all his might. 1 Chronicles 29:3 in the New Living Translation says: “Because of my devotion to the temple of God, I am giving all of my own private treasures of gold and silver to help in the construction. I am donating 112 tons of gold from Ophir, and 262 tons of refined silver and so much more.”
If you read that chapter, you will read more of what David amassed, and prepared, and laid out for Solomon to build the temple. Apart from his own private treasures, he put aside gold and silver and everything he could for the building of the temple.
So when Solomon came to build the temple there was gold in excess. It was amazing, and the Bible tells us that silver in those days was just like little stones on the ground. It was so plentiful.
And in 1 Kings 10, the New Living Translation says: “Each year, Solomon received about 25 tons of gold.” One commentator says that would be about $3 million worth of gold in today's standards. That's just what he had incoming every year, apart from what he already had.
When Solomon began to build this temple (you can read about it in 2 Chronicles 3), he covered all of the walls with gold and beautiful jewels. Can you imagine it? We read about the temple, and we don't understand how rich it was, how glorious it was. Can you imagine t walking into a place which is gold? Every wall is gold and covered with beautiful jewels.
The wealth they say . . . I was reading an article, “The Treasures of the House of the Lord” by Lambert Dawson. He says that the first temple that Solomon built would be worth about $56 billion today in its wealth of gold and silver and beautiful jewels.
And now, can you believe it? Here Rehoboam is David's grandson. In just three generations, it's stolen! Can you believe it? I mean, I began to see the power of generational parenting and how we must pass on God's truth and how we must guard from deception and evil as each generation comes. Because one generation is a generation away from degeneration! Or we would pray, regeneration!
But degeneration can happen so quickly! And here in three generations only, I mean, I have not just three generations. I not only have grandchildren, but I also have great-grandchildren! In my lifetime, ladies, can you believe this? In my lifetime I have experienced six generations.
It starts with my grandparents because I knew them well. Wonderful, godly grandparents, praying grandparents. So first generation that I remember.
Second generation, my parents,
Third generation, myself and Colin.
Fourth generation, our children.
Fifth generation, our children have now raised their children, mainly. There are a few young ones coming up.
But many of them are now married and raising their children which is a sixth generation. Six generations in my little lifetime! And yet, praise God that all these are continuing godly generations.
But we see here, with Rehoboam, in the third generation, it was gone, stolen. David and Solomon filled the temple with riches and gold. Rehoboam allowed them to be emptied so quickly! And in just five years of his reign.
He took over the richest temple and land in the world at that time. And in five years it was gone. So this is a great warning to us. I'm thinking of my husband. He actually can remember seven generations. Isn't that amazing?
That starts with his great-grandmother. He didn't actually know his great-grandmother, but she was alive, and he was in the room when she was there, because she lived with his parents when she was older. She was in her nineties, and she was blind. She would sit in the corner of the room, in her rocking chair, and she would be gently rocking. But she would also always be praying. She was an intercessor. She prayed. She prayed for the family. She prayed for those around.
My husband's mother would say that sometimes people would come into the room. She'd be praying for them, and she did not know they were there because she was blind. But she also had one very particular prayer. And Colin's mother would often share of how she would hear her praying for the generations to come. Isn't that powerful? She prayed for the generations to come.
I believe that is such a powerful thing that we can do as parents. When you're praying for your children each day by name, you're praying for your grandchildren, and for those who have not yet been born. Pray for them too. Pray that God's Word will continue in their hearts into the coming generations! Yes, we have the privilege to pray for coming generations.
So he was there when she was in the room just as a little toddler. So that was part of while he was alive. First generation.
Second was the generation that came from this intercessor.
And then came his parents. Third generation.
And then Colin and I got married. Once again, fourth generation.
Our children, fifth generation.
Our grandchildren, sixth generation.
And now our great-grandchildren, seventh generation for Colin in his lifetime! Now, isn't that amazing, how the generations come and how we are responsible for these coming generations.
EACH GENERATION IS RESPONSIBLE TO THE NEXT GENERATION!
And more than that, if we go to Deuteronomy 4:9 and it says here: “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons and thy son's sons.” Or we could say, “Teach them to your children and your children's children.”
There is a direct command there to the third generation, the grandchildren. But we go over to Psalm 78 and it goes further than that. Here we are, verse two: “I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come. (the generation to come) the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works which he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers . . . “
He didn't suggest. He “commanded” our fathers “That they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children” Wow. We're getting down a few generations there!
“That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.” And therefore we have this command to pass on God's truth.
Going back to the temple, ladies, come back with me there. I want to just show you a little more of the temple back in Solomon's day. The Holy of Holies, now that is at the very far end of the temple. That was a secluded place where God dwelt in all His Shekinah glory.
You didn't just run into the Holy of Holies. No, because the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and then the temple (which was built according to the same pattern but on a larger scale). it had the outer court, and that's where everybody could come, where they did the sacrifices.
Then they went into the Holy Place, and then, of course, only the High Priest went in once a year to the Holy of Holies. But in that Holy of Holies also every wall, the roof, the floor, the walls, were all covered with fine gold. The Good News Bible says, putting it in today's language, that there would have been 25 tons of gold just in that holy place, 30 feet by 30 feet square.
The New Living Translation says 23 tons of gold. I guess they're just kind of approximately working out the scale for today. So it's anything from 23 to 25 tons of gold just in that one 30-foot square. And that's apart from the Ark of the Covenant, covered with gold and the cherubims with their wingspan from one wall to the other, covered in gold. And each nail that was used was 20 ounces of pure gold. Wow!
And yes, all that dazzling, dazzling gold was nothing compared to the true riches of the Shekinah glory of God that dwelt there.
And then we come back into the Holy Place. And in the Holy Place, there were three pieces of furniture. Do you know what they were?
The first one, which was on the right, because the Tabernacle and the temple were in the shape of a cross. In the Holy Place there was a piece of furniture on the right and on the left, and then ahead, just before you went into the Holy of Holies. It all came into the shape of the cross.
Now the first one that God told them to put into the Holy Place was the Table of Showbread. And it was a table covered with gold. See, everything was covered in gold. The Table of Showbread, that's what it was mainly called.
The Hebrew is Lechem HaPanim, which means the Bread of Faces because on the table was the showbread which is Bread of Faces. It's speaking of Christ. As we look at Him, He is the Bread of Life, and He has many faces, many revealings of His character. As we look at Him, and we wait on Him, we learn more and more of Him. The Bread, which also speaks of the Word. As we read that Word, we seek Him in the Word, we begin to behold Him.
And so it was called the Table of Showbread. It was called the Pure Table, the Continual Table, because the bread had to continually be on the table. It was never allowed to be off the table, although it was changed every week. They put 12 new loaves of bread on the table every week.
The way they did it was as the priests who were taking the bread off the table, the priests who were putting the bread on the table would be right there to put it down immediately. So there was not even a little second when the bread wasn't on the table. It was also called the Table of Gold. So there's gold again.
And then there was on the left, the candelabra, the Golden Candlestick, made out of one piece of beaten gold. Can you imagine this? They had to light that candlestick morning and evening.
Then they had the Altar of Incense, which was just before you went into the Holy of Holies. Well, before the high priest went in. And it was also gold. It was called the Golden Altar of Incense. It speaks of prayer, and worship, and praise to the Lord. These were all covered in gold.
And then, oh my, what is our time? How much time have we got? How much time left? That's what I need to know. Oh, we're 35 minutes. I should be stopping, and, oh, I've got so much to tell you.
Well, maybe I'd better stop. Can you just hang on till next week? Because I've got to tell you about some more gold stuff! Because this was specifically some of the things that the king of Egypt stole out of the temple, and out of the king's personal house. So we've got to find out more about them.
But I'm sure you're getting the message already, aren't you, that we have to guard over what God gives to us. The riches that He gives, the gold, oh, because we're going to find out a little more next time. Let's pray, shall we?
“Dear Father, we just thank You so much for all that You teach us in Your Word. Lord, we think of Your temple, Your house, the House of the Lord, which was filled with gold. And yet, Lord, that was just pathetic compared to the riches of what You were portraying in that temple, leading us to see Christ and His great salvation, and all the blessings that you have given to us in Christ.
“Lord God, please help us to hang onto that which You have given us, and to hold fast that which we have. That we will not let any man take it or steal it from us. Oh God, help us to be mothers who hang onto the riches that You give us, Lord, the riches of our homes and our children, and Your precious Word. And the truth that You've given us that, Lord, enables us to live in joy and victory.
“Oh, God, we pray that You will help us, Lord, to be guardians of our homes, Lord God, watching over our treasures and never letting them be stolen. We ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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