PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 303: Is There A Better Word Than "Kids", Part 5
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 303
: Is There A Better Word Than "Kids", Part 5
Do you have sons? Today we talk about raising princes for God. We also look into God’s word to see some of the great things that were accomplished by young men in their teens.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Good to be with you again. We are still on our series, “Is There a Better Word Than Kids?” And now, we are up to Part 5. I can’t believe that we’re doing so many on this series. I wonder if you have already kicked the habit. I hope you’re still not using the word “kids” after all this time.
Well, I got some news last night. We had another great-grandbaby born into the family. Always so exciting! Cherish and Ben gave birth to another little baby boy. They have Legacy, and now they have Jace. She had a beautiful birth. This little baby is 6 lbs. 13 oz. It was just a lovely little baby.
Who is Cherish? To remind you, Cherish is one of Serene’s daughters. She is married to Ben. They are such a precious couple.
So, we are going to continue talking about all the words that God calls our children. We’re up to number 16! Remember? I’ve got 20 different words that God calls our children. It’s good for us to know these words.
Of course, you will use your own lovely words, and endearing words that you have for your children, but eliminating the word “kids.” We found that that’s really a very humanistic word. The goat company are not really God’s company. It’s the sheep company that belongs to God. So, if you didn’t hear the first session on this one, go back and listen to that.
We are currently on . . .
No. 16. GOD’S CALLS OUR SONS PRINCES
God calls our children, well, specifically our sons, He calls them “princes.” I love that word. If you have sons, dear mother, you are raising princes, young men who belong to the kingdom of God, who belong to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. They belong to royalty.
Psalm 45:16: “Instead of thy fathers, shall be thy children, whom thy mayest make princes in all the earth.” Isn’t that wonderful? Isn’t that a wonderful vision? To be making princes for God?
As we look into this word “princes” in the Hebrew, it’s the Hebrew word sar. It has a number of meanings. We found out that it means “to be the head. It means to be the ruler.” Now we’re carrying on again.
Thirdly, sar mean TO BE A MASTER
It also means to be a master. God wants our children to be those who can master their lives, who can master their feelings. Yes, our children have feelings, and we need to, as parents, discern when they need ministering. [Talking to children who are whispering among themselves.]
As we are raising princes, God wants us to teach them to be masters of their emotions. Of course, we know that children have all their little emotions. As parents, we have to discern when we need to minister to their emotions. But also, when we see that they’re being led away by their feelings, because as they’re growing, they can very easily get into habits, habits of whining, and grumbling, and always being unhappy about something.
Those are negative feelings. Many times they’re not something that really needs to be ministered to. They need to be dealt with. We need to teach our children that they have to be masters of their feelings. They don’t have to give into whining and pouting and grumbling and feeling sorry for themselves all the time. No! We’ve got to teach them how to put a smile on their face, because as they grow, and as they get older, life will never be perfect. It’s not even perfect as a child. It’s not going to be perfect when we’re an adult.
We have to learn to be master over our feelings, unless it is something, of course, that we understand, and know that we need to minister to them, and love them, and pray with them. But many things are just bad habits. We don’t want them to get into these bad habits that they keep carrying with them into life, because remember, mothers, we are raising, yes, we’re raising our sons to be princes. Then we’re going to talk about raising our daughters to be princesses. But we are also raising our children for marriage.
Dear ladies, remember you are preparing your children for their marriage one day. They’re either going to either have a successful marriage or they will have an unsuccessful one if they go into marriage with all these habits of moodiness, and whining, and self-pity. We don’t want them to do that. We want them to be young children, even growing up in their youth.
Remember, I think we’ve talked about this. In Psalm 144, it talks about our sons being as “plants grown up in their youth.” That even in their youth, they’re learning to master their emotions, growing into young men. We teach them to put a smile on their face, instead of having a grumpy face. We don’t want children to go round with a grumpy face! That’s not the prince!
No, so we teach them to put a smile on their face instead, and to be master of all their fickle feelings. Even in our own lives, we know, don’t we, that feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are not the reality. They’re not the truth. They’re just how we feel. We have to learn to live by the truth. Amen?
Fourthly, sar means TO BE A LEADER
This word sar also means to be a leader. That is a person of princely character. It’s not one who’s easily led to follow others, especially in devious and evil ways. No, they are a leader who is one who knows how to, as we’ve been talking, to be master of their own life, and who can also lead others.
That’s why we have to continually impart God’s truth into our children, into our sons, so that they’re strong in truth. When someone is strong in truth, the truth is really there in them, not just on the outside. They may read the Bible, but that’s not enough. It’s got to get into them. Then they’re not going to be led away and led astray. But they will be those who lead others. That is a princely characteristic.
Fifthly, sar means TO BE A NOBLEMAN
That also means a prince. We are training our children and our sons to realize that they belong to royalty. I wonder if we realize ourselves that we belong to royalty. I think we often forget that don’t we?
It talks about this in 1 Peter 2 that we are a royal priesthood. We’ve been brought into a royal kingdom. God’s kingdom is the highest kingdom in heaven and in earth! Any person who is part of a royal kingdom learns how to live as royalty. But we have been brought into the greatest and highest of all kingdoms.
Therefore, we need to have that sense and that awe about us that we belong to royalty. We’re going to train our sons to act like princes and to act like royalty. They need to be true representatives of the King of Kings, and have about them a heavenly aristocracy, because they belong to God, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Amen?
And lastly, this word sar, which has so many meanings, also means TO BE A PRIEST
We also know that back in the tabernacle days, and the temple days, God had priests to attend to the sacrifices, and to the altars. But now, He has made us all kings and priests unto God. You are a priest. I am a priest. We’re training our children to be priests unto God, because that’s what He said. “You are now kings and priests unto God.”
That is so amazing. There are so many Scriptures that we read that I think we don’t really take them in. We don’t really embrace the truth of them. I know I don’t! And yet I long to come into the truth of all that God has said. Even to take this phrase, “You are now kings,” kings, that means we’re royalty, “and priests unto God.”
Back in the Old Testament, the priests actually served on the behalf of God. They interceded for the people, and they prayed for them. They also ministered to the people. They attended the sacrifices at the altars. When we are teaching our sons to be priests of the home. One day when they have established their own home, they will be a priest of their home. They will be leading their family in the ways of God. We are preparing them now to do that.
I think a lovely thing we can do as our sons are getting a little older, and they’re now learning to read the Word of God on their own. They’re coming to a good age of understanding so that at the family meal table we can sometimes give them an opportunity. You can say, “Bobby, I want you, when you come to the table tonight, to bring a Scripture that God has been speaking to you about. You can read it to us and tell us why it means so much to you, or what God is saying to you about this Scripture.” That’s wonderful training for your sons.
I wonder how many sons you have. You can give them all their turn at doing this. This is important. You are training them to one day be a priest of their home. Then perhaps if you have older sons who are in their late teens, but they’re still at home, maybe there are times when your husband is not home to take the family devotions and read the Word of God to the family. Well, then, you can give that opportunity to your oldest sons, older son or sons, plural, who can have turns.
I think it’s important for them to have this opportunity, to learn how to lead their family, how to read the Word of God to their family, how to conduct a family altar. Because the sad thing is, that today, many, many families don’t have family altars. The reason is because most times the father of the home doesn’t really know how to go about it.
And why? Because it never happened in his home. He’s not used to it. He doesn’t really understand what to do. How do you do something that you’ve never seen done? So, it’s very important that we’re raising a generation who will, when they establish their homes, will establish the family altar, the bringing together of the family to read the Word and pray. That they’ll establish it in their home.
Of course, if they’ve had the example in their home, they should be ready. But it would be good even for them to have the opportunity. That can happen when the husband is away or cannot be there. If you don’t have sons, of course, you can then do it yourself on your husband’s behalf. But that’s a wonderful thing that you can do.
Of course, at our family devotions, we’re teaching our sons to be priests, and our daughters, because we’re all priests, actually. God is talking about all the saints when He says you are all kings and priests unto God. One of the main things of the priests was interceding on behalf of the people. That is prayer. We’re teaching our sons how to pray, so that prayer is part of their lives. It’s so familiar. It’s just like breathing. They grow up praying, so they grow up into their own marriage, bringing this into their own marriage, and being true priests unto the Lord.
We are doing this as we’re preparing our princes. Oh, I hope you’re getting a revelation of this, precious mothers, to raise princes. It says, “princes in all the earth.” We go back to 1 Chronicles 12. We read here about the young men of Israel. They weren’t only raising ones and twos. They were raising thousands of young men who were princes in all of Israel, and princes in all of the earth.
Let’s read about some of them, shall we? You can go back to 1 Chronicles 12 and read more. But it says here:
“The children of Judah ready armed to the war.” How many of them? One or two? No! 6,800!
Isn’t that amazing? These were young men who were ready. They were ready. Did you get that, dear mothers? They were ready, and they were armed to war. They had been trained, and they were prepared for war.
We are all in a war. We’re fighting against the kingdom of darkness. There is such a fight between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God. We’re facing it in our nation at this moment. We will face it in our own lives. Every one of the children will. We need to teach them how to fight against the enemy, and the weapons that we have against the enemy. The weapon of prayer, the weapon of the Word of God.
That’s how Jesus came against the devil. Each time the devil came to Him, He said: “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4.) The Word of God is a weapon against the enemy. When we confess out loud the Word of God, the devil runs! When we begin to pray against the enemy, he flees. And so, we have these weapons of war that we are teaching our children.
Here were young men who were ready. They were ready. It is so sad that there are many young people today who are not ready to face the war. They’re not even ready or prepared for marriage.
“The children of Simeon, mighty men of valor for the war, 7,100.
The children of Zebulun. Such as went forth to battle, expert in war, which could keep rank. They were not of a double heart, 50,000 of them.
The children of Dan, expert in war, 28,000.
The children of Asher, expert in war, 40,000.”
And so it goes on. Thousands of them. They were raised to be mighty young men who were ready.
This is talking about young men. Young men. The ages of 13 to 18 are usually considered the time of adolescence. In our society today, that age, 13 to 18, is often a time of what we all call teenagers. Just on social media, on their video games, hanging out. They’re just being teenagers.
Did you know that the word “teenagers” is not in the Bible? It’s not even in the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary. They didn’t even have it back then. It has been added in later times to accommodate a time frame when many young people waste their time.
We know that in Israel, they have their bar mitzvah. When a young boy turns 12 years, actually 13 years of age for a young man, they have their bar mitzvah. It’s coming from childhood into adulthood. They become more under the tutelage of their father who is training them for maturity, and for adulthood. Then the daughters of the age of 12 have their bat mitzvah, where they are coming from childhood to be a beautiful young woman.
Let me give you some examples in the Bible, shall I, of some of these young men.
What about JOSEPH? Most Bible commentators say that he was only about 17 years of age when he was torn from his family and sold as a slave in Egypt. Imagine, just a young man, torn from his family, whom he loved—his father, whom he loved.
But he was a young man who was ready because he stood strong in faith. He stood strong in truth. He was strong in his character. Even though continually even worse things happened to him, he never caved in. He stood strong. Remember, he was brought into Potiphar’s house to work for Potiphar. Because of the character of this young man, everything he did was blessed. The whole of Potiphar’s house was blessed because of Joseph.
But then we know how Potiphar’s wife thought this young man was really cool. She tried to intimidate him sexually. But of course, he ran from her. His clothes tore, and she had some of his clothing. She turned it on him and blamed him, that he was after her. Of course, then he was thrown into prison.
Well, help! He’s taken away from his family. Now he’s thrown in prison. Did he just curl up in a ball, feeling sorry for himself, and that’s the end of his life? No. No. Then he began to become the one who was looking after everything in the prison! Wherever he was, he prospered, because of who he was, even as a young man. We know the story of how eventually, because of the dreams of the butler and baker, he came out of the prison and became next to Pharoah in the land. But he started just as a young man.
What about DAVID? Most commentators say he was only about 17 years of age when he took on that giant. There were all the others in the army scared stiff, but he was a young man, a young man, a prince in Israel. He was “but a youth” the Bible says, but a youth. The word is naar, meaning “the age of infancy to adolescence.” It’s usually those ages of about 13 to 18. Adolescence, the state of juvenility. So, he was but a youth.
And yet, we see him taking on a giant! I love these words that this young man said. Just think of it! OK, you may have young sons, maybe 15, 16, 17, 18. Can you imagine them taking on a giant, and speaking out these words?
“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the Name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. This day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air, and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
Wow! That’s a young man who knows God. He knows His God. He knows he can trust God. He’s not even afraid of the enemy because he knows His God is bigger. This young man was trained and ready to face the battles of life.
What about SOLOMON? David’s son, who was chosen to be king. Once again, most commentators say that he was about 20 years of age when he began to reign over all of Israel. Josephus, who was the great Jewish historian, puts his age at only 14 years of age. His father David called him “young and tender.” So, we know that he was young.
Yet isn’t it amazing? I have to confess that I often just thought in my brain of wise old Solomon. Oh, goodness me, and how God came to him and said, “What do you want?” Solomon said, “All I want is that I can have wisdom to lead these people.” Because he didn’t ask for riches, God gave him riches.
But when God came to him, do you know that was right at the very beginning of his reign, when he was a young man? It was as a young man that he answered the Lord, “I don’t want riches, oh God. I just want to have a hearing heart, to hear Your voice, and to have wisdom to rule Your people.” He began to reign over the biggest kingdom in the earth at that time, just this young man.
OK, what about JOSIAH? Josiah became king at only eight years of age. But then, he had one of the priests who was looking after him and guiding him. Then the Bible tells us, at 16 years of age, still a young man, just a youth, he began to seek God with all his heart. Then, at 20 years of age, still a young man, you want to know what happened?
It tells us in 2 Chronicles 34:3: “In the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young,” (that’s when he was 16 years of age) “he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year,” (when he was only 20 years of age)“he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.” And so it goes on.
If you want to read chapter 34, you’ve never read anything like it. It was the biggest revival in the whole history of Israel and Judah when he got rid of every evil thing and totally cleansed and purged the land! It was unbelievable! He was only 20 years of age.
I think in our society today, we have put such a low estimation on our young sons. We’re thinking, “Well, one day they’ll grow up, but they’re just in their teenage years. Let them get on their social media and waste their lives.” No! These are the years that they are meant to be growing up into maturity! And they can do great feats. All these ones that I’ve been sharing with you, they did great feats for God in their teens!
JEROBOAM, 1 Kings 11:28 tell us about him. “And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor: and Solomon seeing the young man,” (he was but a youth) “that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.” And yet he was a young man.
What about ZADOK? 1 Chronicles 12:28. You all know we have a grandson called Zadok. The word zadok means “turning many to righteousness.” Zadok, from a little boy, has always known the meaning of his name. It’s been so implanted into him that that has been his life, from a little child, even to this day. At over 30 years of age, he’s always leading many to righteousness. But this young man in the Bible was called “a young man, mighty of valor.”
What about DANIEL AND HIS THREE FRIENDS? I’m always amazed when Bible commentators say that Daniel and his friends would only have been between 11 and 15 years of age! Wow! We think of Daniel as an old man, too, don’t we? Well, he did become an old man as he lived in Babylon. Some of the stories about him are when he became older.
But at the very beginning, when they first went to Babylon, Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, had to come before the Babylonian king. They were meant to be trained in all the ways of Babylon and brainwashed with their deceptions and their false gods. And yet, somehow, in the midst of all that, Daniel stood true. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood true. They never, ever bowed. They never bowed.
In fact, here we are today. We’re talking about them. We read about them in God’s Word, and yet, all the other young men that came to Babylon with them, we don’t ever read about them again. We never hear another name, but we hear the names of those young men, because even at a young age, they stood strong for God.
Oh, wow! I can’t believe this session is going so quickly! Just one or two things.
What about the DISCIPLES? We think of them as old men too, don’t we? We see pictures of them with their long beards and so on. But no. No, they were actually young teens as well. Maybe from even 13 to 20 years of age.
We know that Peter was at least 20 because back in Israel, every male over 20 had to pay the tax. It was half a shekel. Remember when Jesus said to Peter, “Go down to the fish, and you’ll find a shekel there to pay the taxes for you and Me.” It was only for Jesus, only for Peter, because all the others were under 20 year of age.
Back then, they matured very early. They were trained for maturity and adulthood. They were well educated at a young age. Often by 13 or 15, they could recite the whole of the Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament. At about that age, they would either then apprentice with their father in the family business, or they would go and be with a rabbi, and have further learning as the disciples did. Jesus called them.
A rabbi couldn’t be a rabbi until he was 30 years of age and then he would gather young disciples around him. This was what Jesus did. He gathered these young disciples. And yet these young disciples went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing everywhere. They were young men! Isn’t that amazing?
Just one little thing as we close this session. Wow! Still got so much more to share with you on this subject. But I just wanted to share this as we’re talking about young people. We need to get with Bible language, because we read in Malachi 2:15 about “the wife of your youth.” It talks about getting married at a young age.
That word “youth” in the Hebrew is the word that means “a state of juvenility.” It was most probably late teens. We know that Peter was married. Then, it talks about the daughter having the “husband of her youth.” Once again, it’s youth (Proverbs 2:17 and Joel 1:8).
Then we read Psalm 127:4, where it talks about the “children of the youth.” It’s talking about the husband and “the wife of your youth,” and then “children of your youth.” Having children in your youth. This is Bible language. I know it’s different to our society today, but which are you going to go along with? Do we go along with the Bible, or with our humanistic society? I think I’ll stick with the Bible! Amen?
Well, we’ve got to close this session. I pray, dear lovely mothers, that you have got a vision today, to make your sons princes in all the earth, princes who belong to royalty. Get a vision of training your children and your sons for royalty. Let’s get with the truth! Let’s get with who God want us to be, and what He wants our children to be. Amen?
Let’s pray.
“Dear Father, we thank You so much again for your precious Word, that shows us the way. Lord God, I pray that You will give all these dear mothers listening today who have little sons, and middling sons, and big sons, that You’ll give them a vision, Lord, of making them princes in all the earth. Because this is Your Word, this is the vision You give to us.
“And Lord, this is what You are looking for, when You’re talking about marriage in Malachi 2. You’re saying, “What do I want from your marriage? I want a godly offspring.” You are looking for godly offspring, princes in all the earth, who will reveal Your glory and Your character, and Your royalty.
“So, we ask for this, Lord God, especially in this society and this hour of such deception. We pray for a new caliber of young men to rise up in our nation, young men who will rise up to maturity, even in their youth, like we’ve been reading about these young men of the Bible. We ask it in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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