FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 158 –  FROM GOLD TO BRASS, Part 3

What is happening behind your four walls? Are you going for gold, or are you living a replacement lifestyle? Check it out.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Today we are continuing our sessions about gold for brass. Which one are we living?

I'm going to talk about another area today, where we perhaps need to see if we've got the gold, or we've got the brass. I’d love to talk about Family Devotions, because I believe this is another area where what we have today is considered normal, but it's not really the normal.

I think that most families today most probably, husbands and wives, didn't grow up having Family Devotions in their homes, or whatever you like to call it in your home—Bible Time, or Worship Time, or Family Gathering Together Time, whatever you call it. I mean, it doesn't matter what you call it, but a time when we gather as family, a gathering of the whole family every morning and every evening to meet with the Lord.

That is a very powerful thing. It is something that was just part of godly homes for so long, I think really, up until when TV came in. I think that was what stole Family Devotions out of the home.

The family devotion book that we use in our home is called The Daily Light. It's just the Bible. That's why we use it. Many families may prefer just to use the Bible, just find a chapter, find a book, and read a chapter each day. Or if you have little children, just a couple of verses.

But we love to use The Daily Light. It's actually called The Daily Light on the Daily Path. It was put together years and years ago by a family, about 150 years ago. It's just Scriptures on a certain theme for the morning and for the evening. The reason they did that was because back then it was normal.

Yes, it was the normal for families to gather morning and evening to read the Word of God together and to pray. That was normality. So I love this book, because it has the Word of God waiting for you for every morning and evening. It is a wonderful thing for families who have never been used to doing this, especially a man who is to lead his family in the ways of God and teach them the Word of God.

But if he hasn't had it in his home life growing up, he can feel very insecure about doing it with his own family. He may feel, “Well, where do I read? What do I do? How do I go about it?” I can understand that because you do things by example. This is why this book is so great, because all you have to do is go to the date. The husband sitting at the head of the table, at the end of the meal, he picks up the Bible, well, The Daily Light. All he does is go to the date. “What's the date today?” My husband usually has to ask that every day. “What's the date?”

Then there it is! If it's morning, the Scriptures for the morning are right there in front of you. The evening, the Scriptures are right there in front of you. It takes all the sweat out. You've got no more excuses. There it is.

You may have a Daily Light already. If you don't, you may like to get one. I have two available at Above Rubies. I have the New King James Version, and I also have the King James Version. We use the King James Version ourselves. We love it, I think because we grew up with it. The language is familiar to us.

But I know there are some who just find, “Oh well, we like a more modern translation.” That's fine. you can even get The Daily Light in even more modern translations, The Living Bible, and so on.

But I do have a little word to challenge you. That is, this specific Daily Light that's the King James that I have available through Above Rubies, I have added something special to it. It's just the same Scriptures in every Daily Light that you'll ever pick up anywhere around the world.

But at the beginning of each chapter, I have given some ideas of how to keep your children on their toes, how to keep them listening. Because even though there's only a few Scriptures, it's amazing how children, and I have to confess, even me, can get into a dream. My husband starts reading, and before long, I'm thinking about something else! Oh, you don't want to, but there you are. You're doing it!

So, we give ideas of what we do in our Family Devotions of how to keep people interested, asking questions. Sometimes Colin will read the wrong word. Well, if nobody notices, it shows that they're not listening. Or maybe he'll stop halfway in a verse, and say, “Who can finish it?” Lots of different ideas, just keeping the children interested all the time. So it's a great one for you to buy.

Now, you may think, “Oh, how can my children understand King James language? They just need to get nice easy translations.” But I wonder, why do we try to limit our children's vocabulary?

Some of these modern translations . . . (I should say, although I read the King James, I'm a connoisseur of translations. I love reading different translations  of the Bible, especially some of the old translations. Some of the new ones are very good. Some, well, they've been just made so easy that we are really limiting our vocabulary, and they've been written for a limited vocabulary).

But I think when training and teaching your children, I'm sure you don't want to raise them with a limited vocabulary. I'm sure you want to enlarge their vocabulary. Sometimes when you're reading the King James, you'll find a word that's not used very much today.

But it's a fun thing to say to the children, “What do you think this means, children?“ They'll give you their ideas. Then of course, if they didn't get it right, you tell them, and they have learned a new word! It's good for them. It's good for them to learn new words, even words that are not used so frequently.

Today, in our Daily Light reading, there was a passage from Luke 18 about the story Jesus told of the widow who would not give up and consequently received her request from the unjust judge. But also, the story in Luke 11:5-8 telling the story of the guy who wanted some bread. So he went to his neighbor and knocked on the door. And, oh, his friend didn't want to answer. He said, “No, I'm in bed with my children. Go away! Go away! I'm asleep.”

No, he wouldn't give up. He just kept banging, knocking on the door. In the end, the Bible says, “Because of his importunity, he gave him what he wanted.” The whole message of course, is continued, persistent prayer. We never give up. And God says, when we have that attitude, He will hear us and answer.

But nobody knew what that word “importunity” was this morning. So we had to talk about it. So they learned a new word. And we know that it means “persistent.” Most translations say, “Because of his sheer persistence, he got what he wanted.”

So, you find words like this that are not used so often, but it's good to learn new words, So, don't feel as though, “Oh, I've got to keep my children at their very limited vocabulary.” No! Why not widen their vocabulary? You'll have fun doing it. It's really great.

Back to this whole idea of Family Devotions. We get a vision of what we are to do from the teaching in the tabernacle in the wilderness. We go back there. We find a principle that God gives. It's called “the morning and the evening principle.” You can go to my web page and look it up, so you can learn more about it.

But I'll give you some little glimpses today. We remember how they sacrificed the lamb, every morning, every evening. There's something powerful about this morning and evening principle. In fact, when we come together, and it's time for us to pray, every single day I love to take a moment to thank the Lord for His great sacrifice, and for taking my place upon the cross, for being the Lamb of God who shed His blood for my sins.

You see, back there in those days, every morning and every evening, they sacrificed the lamb. But every single sacrifice pointed to Christ, the Lamb Who would take away the sin of the world. When Jesus died, there was no more need for any more sacrifices, because He did it ONCE AND FOR ALL.

But I love, I'm no longer looking to that, but I love to look back and thank Him. I want to show my thankfulness. So I love to do that, morning and evening, when we come together.

But that was not all. In the Holy Place they had the candelabra. They had the golden candlestick. Golden. Remember, we're talking about gold instead of brass. They had the golden candlestick. It was pure gold. It was beaten out of one piece of gold. The priests had to come every morning, every evening, and they had to take out all the muck and clean up the wick.

So it was kept clean. Then they would pour in the oil to keep the light burning. The message we learn is that God said the light in the Holy Place had to burn continually. It was never to stop, ever, ever, ever, ever. And the only way they could do it was to light it every morning and every evening.

You see, precious ladies, if they only lit it once a day, it wouldn't keep going. They had to do it twice a day. That applies to our lives. We start the day with the Lord, but my, as the day goes on, things have, maybe you've even lost your temper with the children. “Oh, goodness me!” Do you ever get through a day where you are perfect?

Somehow, we get contaminated throughout the day, and we need to come again at the end of the day, to receive forgiveness and cleansing, a renewing of the Holy Spirit again. Because as they poured in the oil, it speaks of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And we need the refreshing anointing of the Spirit on our lives, not just once a day, but we need it two times a day if we're going to keep the oil burning, if we're going to keep the light burning.

You see, that's the principle. If you want to keep it burning in your heart, if you want to keep the light of God burning in the hearts of your children, and your growing children, and your teens, and your adult children, you've got to do it twice a day. That's the principle God gave.

And then, you come to the Altar of Incense. Once again, it was a golden altar. It was covered with gold. It speaks of prayer and praise and worship. Every morning and every evening, once again, twice a day, the priest had to light that incense. It wasn't enough to do it once a day because it would fade out.

It was a beautiful sweet incense. It tells you all the spices that were used in the Word of God. They were sweet spices, because God wanted a sweet aroma filling His house. And He wants that sweet aroma of His presence—of worship, of praise, of prayer, filling your home. But once a day is not enough. They had to come back in the evening, and they had to relight it again so that it would continually burn, because that incense had to burn continually. Yes, it was a continual burning.

Now, prayer and praise and worship. We see, we go over to the New Testament. As I mentioned before, what is in the Old, we'll find it in the New. We go over to Revelation 5:8. Here John is looking into the heavenly realm. This is amazing, dear ladies, because, OK, we can read about the tabernacle back in Leviticus, and we think, “Oh, how does that relate to us today?”

Oh, it does, because everything that happened there was done after the pattern of the heavenly. It tells you about that in Hebrews, that it was a pattern of the heavenly. And now John is looking into the heavenly realm, and he sees it. He sees it in the present, not back in Leviticus. He's seeing it in the present.

It is now, even in our day, this is eternal. And what does he see? And we read:

“And when He” (that's the Lamb, the Lamb of God, having been slain).

“When He had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors” (meaning “incense,” every other translation has “incense.”)

“Full,” (not a quarter full, not half full, but full of incense).

“Which are,” what are they? “Which are the prayers of saints.”

Dear precious ladies, our prayers are incense. That's what the Bible says. And it tells us how we have to come, morning and evening, to light this incense and keep it going.

We go over to chapter 8, and again, John is looking into the heavenly realm, and he sees:

Revelation 8:3: “And another angel came and stood at the altar” (that’s the golden altar of incense) “Having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense.” Not a little bit, “much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.”

Your prayers, as you cry out to God, as you come together and you cry out to God as a family, they are going up before the Lord as smoke and incense. The incense wafted and filled the house of the Lord. Our prayers, it fills our home, but it goes right up into God's heavenly home. And He hears us.

Revelation 8:5: “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.” Wow, great things happen when we pray, don't they?

And then, of course, there was the brazen altar in the Outer Court before you ever go into the Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies. That had to be attended to twice a day as well. Now let me go to that in the Word. Yes, Leviticus 6:8-13. And God is commanding Aaron and telling him that this is how it was to be done, that the fire on the altar was to burn all night until the morning.

In fact, we go down to Leviticus 6:12: “And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out.”

And down to Leviticus 6:13: “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”

But the only way they could keep it going, ladies, was to attend to it morning and evening. You see, it was a command. “The fire must not go out.” So He says, “You've got to come in the morning. You've got to take out all the ashes. And then you've got to put on the wood to keep that fire burning.”

But if they left it till next morning, it would be out. Instead, they had to come again in the evening. And once again, take out the ashes, and put on the wood to renew that fire and keep it burning.

And it's the same with our lives. When we're born again, God lights a fire in our hearts. It's supernatural. In fact, when this fire was started on this altar, it was supernatural. God came and lit the fire. It was supernatural! But then He told the priests they had to keep it going. It's the same in our lives. God comes and we are born again, miraculously, by the power of the Holy Spirit. But then He wants us to keep it going.

“Come on now! every morning, every evening, you've got junk in your life. Take it out, confess it before me. And then put on the wood! Get into the Word! Let My Word renew you, and fill you, and comfort you, and strengthen you, and make you strong in your faith, so the fire will burn brightly.”

But it’s not enough once a day, because it will go out. The fire requires at least a minimum of two times a day, a morning and an evening. So we get this principle.

Lovely ladies, is this normal in our society today? No. It's not even normal in the church! If you were to go round at church and ask the families, “Oh hey, do you have family Bible time in your home morning and evening?” They’d kind of look at you with a strange look on their face. “What are you talking about?” They wouldn't even know what you're talking about.

So, we're living in a replacement lifestyle, where the gold, the gold, ladies, this furniture, they were gold. It was the Golden Table of Showbread, the Golden Lampstand, the Golden Altar of Incense. They were gold. They spoke of something that was pure gold. They spoke of Christ. They spoke of His Word. They spoke of what keeps us going and keeps the fire burning and keeps the light burning.

It's the renewing of the Holy Spirit. It's the Word of God. It's prayer. It's praise. And it's coming to do it, morning and evening, twice a day, that keeps it going in our lives. That's the gold. That's the gold. And yet, so many have brass today.

They get up from their meals. They've only half-finished their meals, because when we come to the meal table, it's not only a place to eat food, not only a place to fill our body, but to fill our soul and to fill our spirits. If we send our children away from the table without having given them the Word of God, we haven't given them the full meal.

I love the way families in the Netherlands call Family Devotions. They call it “Finishing up the Meal.” Isn't that cool? They don't leave the meal table until they finish the meal with the Word of God. So there we go, ladies. Do you think you can get back to the gold? You're not going to be satisfied with it being stolen from you by the devil?

Because the devil has stolen Family Devotions from the family. He's stolen that Bible time. He's stolen that prayer time. He knows how powerful prayer time is. He knows how powerful it is for families to be praying together, impacting the nation, impacting the world from your little home around your table!

Of course, he's going to try to steal it from you. And what do we do? We fill it with brass. We get up from the table. We go and watch TV, or everyone goes here and there, on their iPhones, on their social media. And the gold is being stolen. Get back the gold, ladies.

Well, let's look at some other areas. I'm thinking even of church life. And oh, I have to confess here that wow, I don't think I'm even living in the gold either. Well, let me share. OK, I shared the other week, I'm 80 years of age now, so I go back a little while, even though I still think I'm only so young.

But when I was growing up, we had church three times a day. Well, two times, and then we had Sunday school. So we would go to church in the morning. We'd come home and we'd have a meal around the table. Then us children would walk back to the church to have our Sunday school.

We didn't have Sunday school while church was on as most churches do today. We were there as families for the whole service. We would come back to the church for Sunday school where we'd have special classes for us children. We would walk back to church, about a mile and a half or so, have our Sunday school, walk home, and then there was the evening meeting at nighttime, and we would all go back to the evening meeting. And so we would have church actually two times a day.

Well, we got to the next generation, and that's when we were raising our children. We degenerated a little bit in that we still kept to two services a day. Colin was pastoring, and we had our service in the morning.

Then we would come home and bring loads of people home for dinner to sit around our table and sit around our deck and sit around our pool. When we were living on the Gold Coast of Australia, we were renting a home which the Lord provided, but it was beautiful home and had a pool.

So Colin and I would ask folks, and our children, who were growing up to be young people by now, they would ask their friends, and our home would be filled with people. So wonderful! Colin and I have always loved hospitality and especially on Sunday. We have always invited folks home after church to fellowship, because Sunday is the Lord’s Day (unless you worship on Saturday (and that is the Lord’s Day). Well, it's the Sabbath, and some of you will be Sabbath keepers and worshipping on Sabbath. Others will be worshipping on Sunday. But whatever day you are worshipping, it is the day that is the day unto the Lord.

So as we were growing up, it was a day unto the Lord. The whole day was for God. We didn't do anything of our own desires on that day. In fact, back in those days, even society was with God's Word. Nobody opened any shops. There were no shops open. You couldn't even buy or sell on Sunday because it was the Lord’s Day. Even the heathen had to keep the Lord's day, even if they didn't go to church. They couldn't go and buy and sell.

But we're up to my generation now, raising my children, of course. By now, shops are open. Everybody starting to do things on Sunday, but we would keep to our two services. We had church in the morning and fellowship with everybody. The children didn't go back for Sunday school, because we had by then got in the groove of having Sunday school during the church service, which I, OK, maybe that's fine, but I don't believe it's the ultimate.

So then we would all go back for church in the evening. Two times a day. Well, there's nowhere in the Bible where it actually says, “Thou shalt go to church two times on Sunday.” But I do believe that it happened, and it became tradition, out of this same principle of the “Morning and Evening Principles.” We are doing it in the home, so we do it in church.

You see, the home is the first institution. God established the home first before He established church, before He established government. That's all secondary. The home is the first institution. And what happens in the home comes out into the church, and then into society.

So because back in those days, God's people would meet morning and evening in their homes, it was normal to meet morning and evening on Sundays. The only difference was, you were meeting with all the other families. It was just an extended meeting of families. And so that's what happened.

But now I have a terrible confession to make. Now we're into the third generation, and we are still pastoring. But we only have one service. I hate it. I so miss our second service, but somehow, we've just got into this groove of most of society today, which is one service in the morning.

Oh, my. And then we do have a fellowship meal. What we do now, because we have church in our home, but it's not like a little lounge meeting. We have our great big social room, which is our Above Rubies packaging room. We can pack if we want to, squash 100 people into that room.

FELLOWSHISP WITH ONE ANOTHER

So, we have church there. And then afterwards, everybody brings a meal, and we all stay on and fellowship. It's just so wonderful. Oh, I'm such a great believer in fellowship. The early church came together to fellowship, and to break bread, and to be taught the Word of God. They didn't just have a meeting and go.

I think, you know, I think it's because so many don't understand real church. Church is not just, “OK, I go to church. I listen to a message, and I go home.” No, it's fellowship. Fellowship with one another. Love one another. Pray for one another. Oh, there's so many “one-anothers” in the Bible.

You can't one-another unless you are together!

And I find every Sunday, as we have our service, which is always so wonderful. And then we sit down to eat and often the young people will go out and play volleyball. The children are running around. Adults are continuing to fellowship, to pray for one another, to talk over things they're going through, to share with one another, to share more revelation. You haven't got enough time in the service to do it all.

It goes on and on. Sometimes we're there till late. So we are having a pretty great Sunday. But I don't know what happened to our night one. Somehow I think we've got to get back to that. But it does show you, doesn't it, how we can sort of degenerate away from the gold.

Well, I see time is going again, ladies. One other thing I was thinking about too. Just a little comment on it as we close, and that is our clothing. Yes. I'm wondering, what are we experiencing today? Are we living in the gold, or are we living in the brass?

When I look around today, and even in the church, I have to think we're living in the brass. It seems as though modesty and femininity have been stolen from the people of God. Well, of course, you expect it out in the world. You know, they don't know the ways of God. But why is it that the people of God have followed the ways of the world?

I mean, help. I don't even know how to say it. People will come to church, I mean, ladies, I've seen young people come to church in shorts. I mean, OK, I'm not saying let's outlaw shorts. They're great for sports and swimming and the volleyball court, and out there.

But not for church! Don't we have any respect for God, for holiness? I mean, they often come with brief shorts, they come with cleavage. Oh help, you don't even know where to look. They come with tight jeans. You can see every tiny little thing. People say, “Oh, well, that's just the fashion of the day.”

Well, what kind of fashion? Is it gold or is it brass? Oh yes, I know it's normal today. I know it's just normal for young people to wear holey jeans. Well, that's just the norm. I'm not saying you must not wear them at all. All I'm saying is, they're not feminine. They're not beautiful. And many times they're so tight they show everything. They don't line up with beauty or femininity.

No wonder, even when the people of God can succumb to that sort of thing. I mean, I've seen preachers preaching in holey jeans! I mean, I'm talking about lady preachers. Goodness me. Yes. And I think we have actually degenerated into brass.

Anyway, goodness me, I'd better get you onto a happy note, hadn't I? Well, the Lord love you and bless you. I hope you still love me. Let us pray.

“Dear Father, I ask that You teach us Your ways. Oh God, save us from accepting the normal as though it's normal. We've not seen any other way, so we think it's normal. But it's not Your gold,  it's not Your ultimate plan. Help us to be those who go for the gold, and who are not content with brass. In Jesus' Name, Amen.”

Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.og

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

To order:

THE DAILY LIGHT ON THE DAILY PATH * PLUS CREATIVE WAYS TO READ GOD’S WORD TO YOUR CHILDREN (KJV)

https://aboverubiesbookstore.mybigcommerce.com/daily-light-on-the-daily-path-kjv-plus-creative-ways-to-read-gods-word-to-your-children/

Or

THE DAILY LIGHT ON THE DAILY PATH (NKJV)

https://aboverubiesbookstore.mybigcommerce.com/daily-light-on-the-daily-path/

 

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 157 –  FROM GOLD TO BRASS, Part 2

King Rehoboam exchanged gold for brass. What are we experiencing in our lives as wives and mothers? Are we living the gold, or have we exchanged it for brass?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. I'm back with you again, and I'm going back to the Scriptures we were talking about last week, 1 Kings 14:26-28, and I'm going to read it again. He, the King of Egypt, took away from Rehoboam, who was the son of Solomon: “He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. And King Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king's house. And it was so, when the King went into the house of the Lord, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.”

And so we were sharing last time how that the King of Egypt came and stole from King Rehoboam, from the temple, and from his own house, the king's house, all the treasures. And he took them away. Rehoboam inherited amazing riches. Even the temple, they say, looking at it in today's value, that that temple in Jerusalem would have been worth $56 billion.

It was filled with treasures of gold and precious jewels, and also the king's house, it was filled with all treasures. They were taken away in just three generations from David to King Solomon and to Rehoboam. The riches were stolen.

But here it talks about the shields of gold which King Solomon had made. He made 500 shields, 200 large shields, all made out of hammered gold the Scripture says. And then he made 300 smaller shields, also out of hammered gold. These were also taken.

FROM GOLD TO BRASS IN FIVE YEARS

But what did Rehoboam do? He, instead, because the gold shields were gone, which were worth, one commentator says, $53 million, another says $37 million. Quite a bit of discrepancy there, but whatever, it was still millions and millions. So Rehoboam made shields of brass to take their place.

Now these were not the real thing. They were not the gold. They were counterfeit. But they looked pretty good, because you can shine up brass pretty well. Have you ever tried to do that? You can get Brasso, and you shine up the brass and it can really shine pretty well.

But it is a counterfeit. It's only brass. It's not the real gold. And sadly, Rehoboam seemed to be satisfied with the counterfeit. The Bible tells us that when he went to the temple of the Lord, he would get his guard, I'm sure guards  (plural) too, but there would be one who was particularly in charge.

And they would carry the brass shields to the temple. It was like a parade. And then when he would come back to the king's house, they would carry them back again and put them away in the king's house again. So that every now and then they would parade the shields for everyone to see.

I'm sure the guard in charge of these shields was informed that he had to keep them shined up, so they were continually clean and shined. So they were shiny, and when they went out, people would say, “Oh, look at those beautiful brass shields!”

But there would be those who remembered the gold ones. But there would be children who were growing up who didn't remember the gold ones. They would think that the brass ones were very special. You see, this is the thing with counterfeit, dear ladies. And it's something we have to really watch, because we go from the real, the real gold, to brass. And the brass is the counterfeit.

FROM THE REAL TO REPLACEMENT

And what does counterfeit mean? I actually wrote down the dictionary meaning somewhere here. And let me see, yes, it means, “fraudulent, imitation of something else.” So it can look real, but it's not real. And we go from that to replacements. And we put something else in its place of the real.

I mean, we go back to normal. And what is the replacement? People begin to think that it's normal. And they don't know that they really haven't got the real. And this is where, in many areas of life, we have to really check it out. Are we living in the real in this area? Or are we living in the counterfeit? A substitute. A replacement. But now you're quite normal.

I'm thinking back in the days of Israel, and then Nehemiah, who came to build up the temple of the Lord that had been wiped out and ransacked by the king of Babylon. And the Jews had been in Babylon for 70 years.

God raised up King Cyrus, who was a heathen king, but an incredible king, and actually a very wonderful man. A man who was prophesied by name 150 years before he was even born. You can read about him in the last Scripture in Isaiah, chapter 44. And then in the first few verses of Isaiah 45. It talks about Cyrus, “My anointed, the one I have raised up.”

And yet he was a heathen king. But it's amazing. I have read the history of Cyrus and it's so incredible. I read Cyropedia by Xenophon. And when I was reading that book, I was getting quite convicted, like as though I was reading the Bible. And it was just about this heathen king.

But he was a special personality. When he was a child, he had this very, very generous spirit. He loved to give gifts. He was always thinking about other people. And it's amazing how God knew that He would have to raise up a personality, a man with this kind of big generous heart to fulfill His purposes. Because the people of Israel were captive in Babylon. They were slaves in Babylon. They'd been there for 70 years.

When King Cyrus came on the scene, he was used of God to release them and send them back. Now not every king would do that. In fact, as Cyrus grew in his life, and then he became a general, and then he became a king, he was an amazing king with his soldiers.

Whenever one of his soldiers would do anything that was good, he would call a meeting, and he would tell everybody about what they'd done. And he would give them a gift. And he would do this to every little thing they would do that was good. His soldiers loved him.

And even when he came to take over countries, the people wanted him to take over, because he was so good to  them. They wanted to be taken over by him. So he became the king of the four corners of the earth.

Then God raised him up. He had planned for him before he was even born. He'd even confessed his name prophetically 150 years before he was born. And God used him to release the people to go back. He said, “You can go back, and here's money to build your temple. And you can take back your treasures that were taken away from you.”

I mean, what king would do this? But that was the one that God had raised up to do it. And so they had come back to Jerusalem, and they were beginning to build up the temple again. And the foundation was laid.

Oh, so many of those had been born in Babylon. They'd never seen the old temple. And they were so thrilled, and they were shouting, rejoicing, with great shouts of joy, and they were overcome with joy. The foundation of the temple was built again!

But then there were some of the old ones who had come back. They had remembered when they were young. They remembered that beautiful temple of gold and beautiful jewels. When they saw the foundation was nothing like the foundation of that old beautiful temple. they wept. So we had some of the people weeping. And some of the people rejoicing. The rejoicing ones, they didn't know or remember the real. So they were content with that which wasn't so good, the replacement.

So here we are, back to Rehoboam. Now he is living in the days of replacement. Yes. And who came along and stole it? It was Shishak, the king of Egypt. Now Egypt in the Bible is always a type of the flesh, of the flesh and the devil and all those things that come against us. We read about it. Everything in the old has its counterpart in the new.

We go to 1 John 2:15-17: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”

And so it's talking about here, the lust of this world. And Egypt always speaks of the flesh, and the lust of this world. It's those things that come and steal from us the real. And they stole from Rehoboam. So now he's doing the replacement business. And he's got his brass shields and he's bringing them out and parading them, but they're not for real.

And he put something instead of them. In 2 Chronicles 12:10 it's repeating the same story. And it says: “Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass.”

And so, lovely ladies, I thought we'd look at a few things today where we need to check our lives and see whether we are living in the real or we are living in the counterfeit. Whether we have the gold, or whether we have the brass.

I want the gold. Don't you?

The gold is God's pure truth. And it is gold. The Word of God says, I think it's in Psalms 12:6. Let's go to it: “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”

Now both gold and silver are tried. They are tried in a furnace. They're put in a furnace so that all the rubble and that which is not pure comes to the surface. They take it all off the top until they get the pure gold. And they do it with silver too.

In this Scripture, the Word of God says that the Word itself is purified in the furnace seven times. And it's also purified like gold, because the Word is called “gold.” There's some beautiful Scriptures about that in Psalm 19:7-11. Beautiful Scriptures about the Word of God.

And then in Psalm 19:10, it says: “The law of the Lord is more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold.” David said those words, and yet David, he was the one who was filled with riches of gold. I mean, David saved up and amassed for the temple. I was telling you about that last session.

The Bible says that he got together 100,000 talents of gold, which would be worth about $45 billion  today, and 1,000,000 talents of silver, which would be worth about $10.8 million today. And he prepared all that for the temple.

So he had all that gold around him. And yet he said it was nothing compared to God's Words, His pure truth, that they were worth far more than much fine gold.

We go on to Psalm 119:72: “The law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.”

And Psalm 119:127: “Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.” And so when we're looking for gold, ladies, we're looking for God's truth in His Word.

Many times we find that we actually have brass. We are living what our culture is doing, what society is doing. Sometimes it may be gold, but many times it's brass. It's the counterfeit.

WHAT ABOUT HAVING CHILDREN?

So let's start with just the basic thing of having children. Have we got the gold, or have we got the brass? I've done a few sessions on this before, so I'm not going to talk a lot about it. But we look at our culture today and we see in our society and America, the average number of children per family is 1.9.

That is more than in some European countries, where it comes down to 1.3, 1.2. Some are even less. They barely have replacements for their children. They are already dying nations. This is not what God intended. God intended His earth to be inhabited. God created us to have children. He didn't plan for us to stop having children.

God looks for the godly seed. In Malachi 2:15, it tells us how God looks for the godly seed. He wants godly children to come into this world. And there was a time when that was what happened. People had the children that God gave to them. Often that would be an average of six, seven, eight, nine, or maybe ten children.

Of course, there have always been, and still are, those who maybe can't have children. Maybe they only have one or two, because that's all God gives to them. And even the Bible never says, you must have so many children. No, no, no, that's not Bible.

But the Bible says, “Be open to the children that God loves to give us.” Yes, that He loves to give us, because every conception is from God. And when we stop conception, we are stopping a gift from God. And it's not God's plan for us to only have our 1.9 or maybe two children. “That's it!”

So what do we have? Do we have the gold? Or do we have the brass? Older ladies listening today, what are you teaching the young generation? What are you teaching them? Gold? What God says in His Word? Or brass, what our culture is doing today?

You see, the fact is that this brass, this replacement, it becomes normal. And people think, “Oh, that's normal.” And so, some people think, Oh, I mean, the normal thing today is, people have a couple of children, and they even have three.

And people will say, “Oh yeah, I guess you're done, are you?”

“Oh, yeah! We're DONE! That's it!”

I mean, that's normal talk. Normal? Really subnormal. It's really anti-normal, because it's not Bible-normal.

And so, lovely ladies, we have to be careful we're not caught up with a so-called normality that's not a normality, that's actually an unreality according to God's plan for our lives. And according to His Word.

WHAT ABOUT MOTHERS GOING TO WORK?

What about mothers going to work? It's normal today. It's the absolute norm. I mean, mothers who are staying home with their children, I guess, if you're one of those, and you're listening today, and you are home with your children, did you get these snide remarks? You get these people saying things to you, making out you're a little bit absurd. When really you are the normal one.

Isn't it sad that that which is the brass, not the gold, not the real thing, it's not the Word, and yet people think it's normal? Dear ladies, dear precious mothers, dear young girls listening today, let's never be those who accept what society's doing as the normal, unless it lines up with the Word. If it lines up with the Word, praise God. If it doesn't, it's brass! OK.

You either go for the brass or you go for the gold. I want to go for the gold, don't you? Yes, that's what I'm pursuing. The gold, the pure truth of the Word of God.

And what does it say in Titus 2? This is a word for young mothers and it's a word for older mothers, because the older mothers are to teach the younger mothers. It's not only Nancy Campbell teaching the young mothers. We need an army of older mothers teaching the young mothers.

Sadly, some of the older mothers are giving the wrong impression to young mothers. It's often the older mothers and the grandmothers who are saying these words to the young mothers. “Oh, you don't need any more children.”

Like my own dear mother. I remember every time I conceived, I was too scared to tell my parents. Then I got this little lecture each time after having a baby. “Now, Nancy, dear, you've got a lovely little family. You don't need any more children.”

Now my mother was a wonderful woman of God. Oh, she was a wonderful woman of prayer. She was a godly woman. But she didn't know. She was brainwashed. There have been generations from about my mother's generation who have been brainwashed in humanist understanding, not the Word of God.

In her very last years, she actually came to hear me speak and heard the revelation from the Word. She said, “Oh, Nancy, if only I had known.” And so, as older mothers, we have to know the truth. This is the thing that really saddens me. Each time I send out a new Above Rubies, I'm sure you have received your new issue, # 98. I trust it's a blessing to you and you're passing it on to others to share with them.

But I received, each time it happens, and I'll receive emails from older ladies. They write to me and say, “Nancy, oh, thank you so much for Above Rubies over the years. It was a great blessing as I was raising my children. But they're all grown now. So I don't need it anymore, so I am going to cancel.”

And I think, “Oh, what's happened? Here these lovely precious mothers, and they've raised their children, but now, they don't want it? They have no more need? Oh, no! We have a greater need than ever! My, I'm just not with my children grown, I'm in the next children with them grown. And they are now raising their children!

And yet I still need the message of Above Rubies, which is the message of what God says to women. I'm coming to the Lord every day, searching His Word. “Lord, please, reveal to me Your truth. I'm open for more,” because there is always more in the Word of God.

MOTHERHOOD IS NEVER DECREASING BUT ALWAYS ENLARGING

And when our children grow, we are not finished with motherhood. We are only entering into a larger area of motherhood. Our motherhood is growing. It is enlarging. We never think, “OK, that season's over!”

No, motherhood is always an enlarging season. It goes on from season to season, and the seasons are different, but it's always enlarging. And so now, I don't have six children around me, and then we added four later. We added another four adopted children, so that was ten children.

But no, now I have 50 grandchildren, so I have to enlarge my heart. I have to enlarge my sphere. I have to enlarge every part of my being because my family is enlarging. But that's not all. I now have 20-plus great-grandchildren and more on the way. So my life is continually enlarging.

And then there are mothers all around me. There are the mothers of the world, who need to hear God's truth, and His Words, and His encouragement. And so I have to enlarge. Every older mother, we have to enlarge.

We have to be constantly seeking God. “Lord, what do you want me to say to these young mothers? I dare not pass on brass. I've got to pass on gold.” And what does Titus 2:3 say? “The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things.” Good things! Good things. We've got to teach good things.

And then it tells us what they are. And ladies, we have good things. "That they may teach the young women to be sober.” That doesn't literally mean to don't get drunk. It means to have a sober mind, to be able to pull your mind into gear, and not be overcome with self-pity and depression, and all these things.

NO TIME FOR WIMPINESS

No, mothers! We have no time for being wimpy. We have to be strong women of God who stand up for truth. We do not give way to deception. We do not give way to fear. We do not give way to all this silly nonsense of self-pity and junk. We've got to be women of strength with sober minds.

And to “teach the young women to love their husbands.” We've learned how to love our husbands, so we know how to teach the young women how to love their husbands.

“And to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home.” There it is, three words.  “Keepers at home.” That's what the Bible says.

“Oh, that's not what culture says! That's not what society says! That's not what it says in the day I'm living in!”

GOD’S WORD IS FOR EVERY MOTHER IN EVERY GENERATION

But this is the Word of the Lord. This is up-to-date. The Word of God is not old fashioned. The Word of God is for every generation. The Word of God is alive and active and it's Word is for every mother in every generation because God knows what is best. That we are to teach young mothers to be keepers at home, to be those who are the guardians of their homes, watching over their homes. You cannot be a guardian if you're not there. You have to be there to watch over your home, to watch over your children.

“And to teach them to be good, obedient to their own husbands, that the Word of God be not blasphemed.”

Pretty powerful. In other words, we blaspheme the Word of God when we don't teach these truths. We blaspheme the Word of God when we don't embrace these truths.

Dear ladies, this is the pure gold of the Word of God. Which do you have? I'm sure, most of you who are listening, you've taken hold of the gold. You're home with your children, the blessed children God has given you, that you're training and preparing for Him, getting them ready to be part of His end-time army.

Oh, you have such a great career, the greatest career there is in the whole of this nation. There's no higher career. Oh goodness me. Women can go out and get their so-called high careers. But they're going to be left behind. They're not taking them into eternity with them.

But dear mothers, you're taking your career, you're taking your children, Every moment, every prayer, every time of pouring out of love, every time you sacrifice to raise godly children is eternal. And your children are eternal souls. And you're preparing them to not only impact this world but you're preparing future generations through your children.

But you are preparing them ultimately for eternity. Oh my. you have such a great career. And this is the purity, the pure gold of the Word of God. And can I tell you, anything less is brass? Counterfeit. Substitute. And how is it that now, this can be considered normal, when it's abnormal?

And so we have to defer. Oh, let's move on. Oh my. That's going to take a little bit of time. I might have to wait until next session. So just let me mention this. I have also mothers who write to me, and they say, “Nancy, you are becoming so political! Why don't you just keep to mothering?”

Well, dear ladies, I am keeping to mothering. because when I hare certain things to protect the family, it's not because I want to be political. It's because as an older mother, I am writing up to protect families, to protect the young families, to protect the future generations from being confused and taken up by that which is deception and evil.

And so I must stick to truth. All I am doing is sticking to truth. I have to be a truth-keeper. I have to be a truth-sharer. I have to be a truth-teller, because I love truth, and I do not want to be caught up in deception.

Someone wrote to me recently and said, “Oh, how dare you say we have an illegitimate president?” Oh yes, I must say that. Because the truth is that our current president is illegitimate. He did not win the election. President Trump won by far. That has been easily shown, clearly.

Of course, there are some who do not want to hear the facts, but we are living in the days of an illegitimate president. We are having to put up with nearly every day executive orders being signed that are bringing down the blessing of this nation.

We are seeing our border once again in disarray, with terrorists coming in, with sex traffickers coming in, with gang members coming in, and allowed to be brought into our states. Even here in Tennessee, in the middle of the country, our governor has allowed for these people to be brought and placed into our state.

This is beyond us. This is not what we are meant to have. We want a country that we don't want to bring evil in, for our children to live in that. And of course, yes, I have spoken against masks, and I have done podcasts on that because they are not from God.

God created us with open face to reveal His glory. He did not bring us into this world to cover our faces for a virus that has a 99.9% cure. They have cures, beautiful cures for this virus. They don't need vaccines, but of course they have come in, which is the ultimate underlying plan, which is de-population.

So therefore, I began to speak politically again, didn't I? Yes, but why? Because I want to save families. I want to save children. I mean, there is so much information coming out now of people who have been affected physically through taking the vaccine. People have died.

There are so many scientists and doctors, you can hear them on YouTube. These are not just weirdos. These are sane doctors and scientists who are revealing what is going to happen. They believe that much of the havoc will come, not just now, although it's already happening. But down the line, maybe this fall, maybe in months to come, maybe in years even, through the effects of these vaccinations.

So when I speak against them, I am trying to save lives, save precious children, save fertility, because they will affect fertility. I hope you hear my heart, dear ones, if you are listening. Maybe you have already taken the first shot. Wow. Well, it's a free world. You can do it. But from my heart to yours, I say, please, don't take the second. Don't go any further, because it won't be for your blessing.

OK, I've got to keep sharing next time. We'll get through this yet! All right!

“Father, I thank You so much, Lord God, for the darling precious ladies, children, young people listening today. And I pray that You will bless them, that you'll keep them in Your truth. You'll keep them going after gold, Lord God. And never turning to brass. I ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.”

Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris.

The following are some latest information on Covid.

VAERS COVID Vaccine Data (Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, USA).

329,021 reports through June 4, 2021:

• DEATHS, 5,888
• HOSPITALIZATIONS 19,597
• URGENT CARE, 43,891
• OFFICE VISITS, 58,800
• ANAPHYLAXIS, 1, 450
• BEL’S PALSY, 1,737
• LIFE THREATENING, 5,885
• HEART ATTACKS 2,190
• MYOCARDITIS/PERICARDITIS, 1,087
• THROMBOCYTOPENIA/LOW PLATELET, 1,564
• MISCARRIAGES, 652
• SEVERE ALLERGIC REACTION, 15,052
• DISABLED, 4,583.

Latest news:

Simone Scott (19 years) underwent a heart transplant one month after developing what her doctors believe was myocarditis following her second dose of Moderna. She received the second vaccine May 1 and died June 11.

 

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 80^th birthday on the 27^th 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 80^th, but my husband's 81^st 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

www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Would you like to email Darlene and thank her so much for faithfully and freely transcribing these podcasts every week for your benefit? That would be so lovely.

 

 

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 155 –  ADDICTED TO BOOKS AND CURRICULUMS

Christina Friedman joins me again. Christina is an addicted woman! Join me as she talks about her addiction and how it has affected her children's lives.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. Lovely to be with you again today. Once again, I have Christina Friedman with me. I hope you enjoyed the podcast with her last week. Christina is the mother of 11 children. We spoke about homeschooling.

Now, you wouldn't believe it, but since our last podcast, and today, Christina has been back home to Minnesota where they live. And here she is again, down in Tennessee. Well, she has a daughter living here who's married here and having her third baby. They are on their way with a big family trip. It is wonderful!

But she came back, because last week we tried to do this podcast, and the recording wouldn't work. So here you are again, Christina. Wonderful to have you with us. You have six grandchildren now. Two are on the way with an exciting new life for you.

Christina: It's so exciting, with these new little babies coming. We just love it.

Nancy: What do your grandchildren like to call you?

Christina: They call me “Pumpkin Pie Grandma.”

Nancy: Oh, isn't that wonderful? I love Pumpkin Pie. How cute! I think it's fun when grandmothers have different names, and cute names. Actually I love the name “Pumpkin Pie,” but I don't really like to eat pumpkin pie.

I think the reason is that back in New Zealand, where we lived, because we are originally New Zealanders, we used to eat our pumpkins as a vegetable, never as a dessert. So we like to steam them or roast them. Mainly roast them, or sometimes mash them up. But we just love it as a vegetable.

In fact, the typical New Zealand meal is roast lamb, with roast potatoes and roast pumpkin, and roast parsnips, and roast kumara. That's our sweet potato. That was typical for us. But anyway, I haven't yet got to get the taste for pumpkin pie. But I love that name!

In fact, some of my daughters, who are now grandmothers themselves, they have cottoned on to quite fun names. Evangeline, now she could never have a normal name, because she never is normal. She decided that she would be Pippi, from Pippi Longstockings. So she is “Pippi” to all her grandchildren.

And Pearl, who's also a grandmother, her full name is Pearl Priscilla. So she decided she would be “Prissy” to her grandchildren. And Serene, she's also a grandmother, but she kept to the tradition. My mother was “Nana,” and I'm “Nana,” and now Serene is “Nana.” So she kept on. So a couple of Nanas around now, so the great-grandchildren call me “Big Nana,” and she's “Little Nana.”

It's great to have you again, Christina, and as I've been finding out more about you, I have found out that you are actually an addicted woman. Oh, wow. What is this Christina addicted to? Well, perhaps you can tell us yourself, Christina.

Christina: I am addicted to books, and also curriculums.

Nancy: Wow, that is something! Well, tell us how you got onto this addiction!

Christina: I have always loved books. It just has been a growing “sickness” maybe? I don't know what to call it.

Nancy: So, how many books would you have in your house?

Christina: I wish I would count them. We have books in every room. We always joke that we have more books than our small-town library has. And I'm sure we actually do. We have books in stairways and hallways, in every room. The children all have their own little libraries, and their own bookcases, so I don't think there's a room in our house without a bookcase, or more than one bookcase, actually.

Nancy: Wow! So you had to because a connoisseur of bookcases, I guess! Where have you gathered all your bookcases?

Christina: We buy them everywhere, from garage sales to strip shops. We also have in our schoolroom, we had bookcases made that all match on one wall. How many is that? That's about ten bookcases back-to-back that we set up in there that are all matching.

Nancy: So there are different ones throughout the house. How does your husband feel about all these books? Does he love them too?

Christina: I think he thinks he's OK with them, because I could have worse addictions than literature!

Nancy: (laughter) That's so great! So you've got books of all kinds. What kind of books do you like to get in?

Christina: I have every kind of book. Sections on childbirth, breastfeeding, a whole bookcase full of Teddy Roosevelt books. Health books, inspirational books, Christian fiction, young adult fiction, children's fiction. You name it, we have it.

Nancy: I think you also love historical books, and the classics, and all that too. As each child leaves the home . . . how many of yours have now left the home, got married, and left?

Christina: We have six children who have left, and gone off and gotten married, or working, or going to college. We try to send with them the classic books, and their favorites. I try to make sure that each and every one of them has a set of the Little House books, and C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch, And the Wardrobe series. The Hobbit, and all those books, they have them.

Nancy:  I think you mentioned to me that this is how C. S. Lewis himself grew up, with books all around him, everywhere in his home.

Christina: There is a little snippet in the C. S. Lewis book, Surprised by Joy. He describes his house growing up. And I read that years ago, and every year I read it to our children, just to assure them that I'm actually not crazy. That a brilliant man like C. S. Lewis, his parents raised him in a house just filled with literature and a love for literature.

Nancy: That's so great! Now I'm sure, Christina, you just don't have a conviction to get all these books to just fill your house. What do you do with all these books?

Christina: We read them. I love reading myself. Nancy and I were just talking. I always have five different books started, at least. One being a history book, one being an inspirational book. Reading the Bible, reading novels. There's one more . . .

But also, I read to our children and read a lot. A lot. We do most of our homeschooling through reading out loud. I read all of the history, all the science books for children sixth grade and under. We read, go through all, all of the great literature and classics.

Then they also read on their own for their age level and their grade level. So, a lot of books!

Nancy: You were telling me about your oldest son who went off to college. He somehow, he was able to answer the questions there on just about any given subject. They could not understand. Where did he get all this knowledge?

Christina: That's right. His professors would say, “How do you know this? How do you know all these things?” And he said, “Well, my mom read to me. My mom read me these books.” And then, also he would read books on our reading list. So he was just well-read, a well-read child.

Nancy:  And that paved the way for him to really know far more than all his peers. So, OK, you love to read to them. But how much reading a day do you do to the children?

Christina: Several hours. We do our Bible reading. Once a week, we read several chapters. We use the Catherine Vos Children's Storybook Bible. I read that through every year, every school year. It's such a good resource, because she writes in a way that children can understand, but it's not simple. It's very conversational and lovely. Then we read . . .

Nancy: What was the name of that book again?

Christina: It was the Catherine Vos Children's Storybook Bible. Then we also love reading the YWAM Christian Heroes books. So we read about half of one of those a week, or more. Those are lovely, lovely books about missionaries. They're so good that you can't put them down. And that is the truth.

We were at a homeschool conference years and years and years ago. A woman stopped us. We were walking by the booth. She wasn't selling the books. She just said, “Have you ever seen them? I have to show you these books. They're just so wonderful.” So she stood there, and she showed my husband and me all of the lovely Christian Heroes books from YWAM. She talked us into buying five.

I don't know how many there are, maybe fifty, sixty? I don't know, but several. So we bought them, and we came home, and she was right. She was right. They're very hard to put down, and they're hard to stop.

Nancy: What are some of your favorite heroes you've read about? They're mainly missionary heroes, aren't they?

Christina: George Muller. Loren Cunningham. There was one about C. S. Lewis. William Booth. I think I could go on because I don't know if there's been one that we finished that we haven't just loved. They're all just lovely. Elisabeth Elliot, Jim Elliot, Nate King.

Nancy: I think it's wonderful to inspire our children with men and women who have done great things for God, isn't it? Wonderful. Yes, I love those books too. So as you're reading to the children, and you say you read hours a day. what are the children doing? Do they just sit there like zombies, or how do you work that?

Christina: No, usually they don't sit there like zombies. Sometimes Monday mornings the older teen boys look a little zombiesh. But no, they don't. We always try to do some kind of handiwork, and we're really, really involved with Shoebox, the Shoebox ministry of Operation Christmas Child.

So everybody will, we make crosses out of pearler beads. There's kind of a little assembly line that goes on where people are sorting the beads and making the crosses. We have a person ironing while I read.

Then the other great project that they work on is making jump ropes out of sheets and old clothing. That's again an assembly line where we have people cutting the fabric, rolling it up, and then someone braiding them.

Also just other projects around Christmas time. You'll find them making Christmas presents. Our younger boy likes those Ultimate Dot to Dot. I don't know if you've ever seen those. They have a thousand numbers. So he often does those. Just different handiworks.

Nancy: So how did you get into doing those jump ropes? They're braided, are they?

Christina: Yes.

Nancy: Tell us more about them.

Christina: Well, our family has a huge passion for making shoeboxes to send out with Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. So always, always looking for ways to fill these shoeboxes. We have big days where we get together with our family and cousins and friends and neighbors. We sew bags. We make crosses.

The jump ropes, I'm not sure where . . . we’ve been making them for so long. I'm not sure where we saw the pattern, but our number nine and ten girls have really taken off with the jump rope making, especially our tenth.

People in our town know to save their old sheets and their old clothes for us to cut into strips. So it's our joint effort and we're so excited to get shoeboxes into the hands of children who never, who sometimes never even get gifts. So it's a big passion for our family.

Nancy: Such a beautiful thing. I love that Shoebox ministry, but I've never done it on your scale. How many shoeboxes would you send out every year?

Christina: I think the most we've sent out is maybe 1400 or 1500 in a year.

Nancy: Wow! Up to 1500! That is amazing! Goodness, I thought I was doing well, putting one together! Oh, goodness me! That is amazing! That's a vision for us, isn't it?

Christina: Well, I just want to say we're so grateful to people who hopped on our train of excitement. It's not just our family who does it. We have our t-shirt shop in town that has their mistakes screen printing. They call us to come pick them up.

We have hotels that are excited to save soap for us. We have neighbors and friends who will pick things up and bring them over or let us know of a good deal. It's just such a great effort and the community coming together for this. It's really fun.

This year, my girls are hoping to do 3000. It seems like a lot but with God's help.

Nancy: It's amazing, a vision to prepare and fill 3000 shoeboxes to go out all over the world to bless children. Oh, that's so beautiful. They're just working away with their hands and you're reading into them great inspirational books. That is just so fantastic. I love that. Yes.

What other ways do you think the reading of these books has been a help to your children as you've been teaching them?

Christina: I think it's a great model for their lives, especially the missionary stories. They can see how people have lived to spread the gospel and have suffered for it. They've worked so hard.

Also, the history books. I think we can learn so much from history and from historical figures. That has been wonderful. And also just teaching simple lovely books like the Little House series. There's many, many books, but just how to live a nice life with a nice family.

One of my favorite quotes that I read to my children every year on the first day of school is:

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”

I would say, “People, remember this. Write it down.” I have them write. They have a reading notebook. So when we get done reading a missionary story, they write a little bit about it. Or a history story, what stuck out for them. So I have them put that quote. And that's from Harry S. Truman.

Nancy: I think that is so good for them too, to not only just listen, but then to write about what they are reading. I love to do that. I have a hard cover notebook and every book that I read, I write the title and the author. One of the reasons I do that is that I do forget! I forget, oh, who wrote it, and I'm trying to tell somebody about a book, and think, “Oh, goodness, what was it called now?”

But if I've got it in my book, I can go back to it. I usually write a little bit about the story, whether it's a, whatever it is, inspirational, or historical or often just meditative. But I'll write a few quotes from the book and a little bit about it. I find that a great resource, just to remember. Do you happen to write down what you read?

Christina: I have a hard-cover notebook too. I fill them up with the books that I read. I wish that I would have done that for the books I've read with my children. But I never did that. I guess I have the teaching planning book, but I wish I would have done that with them. But I didn't.

I have one for my personal reading and I also always write when I read it, and what I was doing when I  read it. We were just at the Above Rubies Retreat and I was happy to write the books that I read there. “I read this sitting out on the beaches at Panama City Beach.”

Nancy: That's right! I remember walking up from the beach and seeing you there on the sand and you were reading. I said, “What are you reading?” How lovely .Yes. I find, don't you, Christina, that I always like to have a book with me because sometimes you're held up. You never know what's going to happen and you've got a bit of time on your hands. You've got a book, It's so wonderful! You can always read. You're not going to waste time. I hate wasting time.

In fact, I rarely get time to read in the day because when you have children, you're making time to pour into their lives. But now my children are grown, and so I need to be to be giving my whole day, every day, to the ministry of Above Rubies.

The only time for reading is when I'm going off to sleep at night. Then I'm getting tired and laying it down. But then I love to have those moments in the car, or just when I'm out, or being held up. Those moments I can fit in the book that I'm reading.

I was asking you before, “What are you reading?” And then Christina told me, 'Well, I'm reading about five books at the moment.” Well, sometimes I might have more than one, but I usually like to keep to one. But tell me, you don't have to tell us the five. Perhaps tell us about one you're reading at the moment.

Christina: Oh, well, I just started one last night. It's a new one that I found about Teddy Roosevelt. He's my favorite person, my favorite president to read about. I have a whole bookshelf just with Teddy Roosevelt books. My children, when they travel, or they go to a bookstore, they always look for the Teddy Roosevelt book that I don't have. It's getting harder and harder to find.

But I did find one online about Teddy Roosevelt called The Big Burn. I just started it last night. But I think it has something to do with him starting the national parks. It was how he got into advocating for our national parks, But the first chapter was very good.

Nancy: Well, I have just recently, I've been reading books on the Revolutionary War. I feel that at this current time in our nation, we are at a similar time, where our freedoms are being taken from us. At that time, in 1776, around about those years, they were fighting for their own freedom from the tyranny of England.

But now, we fought for freedom, we've got freedom, we lived in freedom, but now it's being slowly taken from us. I believe we have to rise up with that fury again to hold onto our freedom. So I've enjoyed reading. The ones I've read so far are 1776, by David McCullough.

And then I've read the two-part series by Jeff Shaara, Rise to Rebellion, and The Glorious Cause. Those three books were all very, very historical, factual books on the Revolutionary War. I learned so much from all of them.

And then I read a trilogy of historical novels on the Revolutionary War and loved it. Actually, I even advertised it in this latest magazine that's just gone out, Above Rubies #98. I'm sure you have your Above Rubies by now.

Anyway, you will read on pages 20-23, an article by Sarah Larue, called “Educating for Life.” And she writes as a homeschooler and how homeschooling was such a blessing in her life. It's a great article. Sarah had such a passion to write. She has written many, many books, and many are on Amazon.

She sent me this trilogy about Jim Winfield. There are three books, Under Siege, With The Enemy, and A Higher Allegiance. They are so good! Wow! It's a historical novel, but very, very well-researched historically.

It talks about this character of Jim Winfield who was an English soldier who came to fight against the Americans who were trying to rise up for their freedom. And he came with all his fighting of the English tyranny and how the Americans, they were under them. The whole books really are about how his whole brain gradually had to be turned around and changed into thinking freedom.

It was actually incredible. It was the most incredible struggle for this great English soldier. And the amazing story of what happened and how his mind was turned to understand freedom. It was amazing! Anyway, it's in the magazine. You can look it up and order it. I thought it was so good.

I should say too, although I love to read books, my greatest love is the Word. I mainly live in His Word. I am a Word of God person and live in the Word. I can't live without the Word. I love to fill my mind, my heart, and my soul, and my being with the Word of God. So that's my main reading passion. But I will add some other books here and there.

But you talked about you're addicted to books. You're addicted to curriculums! What about curriculums?

Christina: I am. I just want to say really quick about the Word. When my daughter was a Wee Bee Girl, she sent us Your Daily Blessing, is that it?

Nancy: The Daily Light on the Daily Path?

Christina: Yes.

Nancy: That's what we use as a family each day, yes.

Christina: What we've done since then is I went online, and I ordered a bunch of different translations of the Bible. After our meal, I hand out a Bible, a different one, a different translation to everybody. We read the devotion, the Scripture, and at the bottom of each devotion, the Scriptures are listed. So everybody will look up first Psalm 5 or whatever it is.

We all look it up in our different translation of the Bible. And then we go around the table and read the different translations, just to get the Scripture, and then we talk about each verse. We've done devotions, evening devotions, but this is a new way to do it, and we're really enjoying the different translations.

Nancy: I love that! Thank you for sharing that, Christina. I was just talking about this with my lovely Above Rubies helpers this morning. We use The Daily Light On The Daily Path. This is what we use for our gathering together devotions, apart from reading the Word on our own.

But we love it, because this book has Scriptures listed, not too much, just the right amount, for every morning and every evening, for every day of the year. It's so wonderful, because especially for husbands who want to bring the Word to their families, but they feel insecure. They think, “Help. Where will I read? I don't know.”

Often husbands are reticent to take the leading of Bible reading with their families because they don't know where to read. They've never done it growing up in their families, and they feel insecure. So then they don't do it.

But this book, it takes out all the stress. You don't have to worry, because all you do is, you go to the date, and presto—there are the Scriptures waiting for you to read! Isn't that cool?

We do it morning and evening. We do it from the King James version. I have The Daily Light. I have it in the New King James version and I also have it in the King James version, a version that I have put together. The Scriptures are the same as every Daily Light in the world, but at the beginning of each month, I give an idea of how you can make it exciting for your children.

We were talking about how we read from King James and some of the words are a little archaic. But I believe, although I'm not a “King James only,” I love other translations, and I love this idea of yours. I think that's so cool.

But we don't have to be scared, ladies, of reading the King James version to our children, thinking, “Oh, they won't understand!” Because if we do come across a word that's a little old-fashioned and not quite used today, well, you stop and you talk about it. “What do you think this word means, children?”

And so you get the idea, and you talk about, “It's the same word as this word that we use today. And let's look at another translation and see what it says.” So you're not stuck. You can have other translations.

And I love this idea of yours! So you're finding a Scripture and you're getting them all to read it in a different translation. It just brings out so much enlightenment and understanding, doesn't it? I think that's a cool idea.

Christina: And they're all in the Bible. They all have a Bible in their hands. And I like that.

Nancy: I love that!

Christina: Yes.

Nancy: I just love that, a Bible in the hand! Whoo! I tell you what ladies, we have to watch this today, because we are living in a high-tech age, and everybody has the Bible on their iPhone. I have the Bible on my iPhone, although I don't really read it on my iPhone. I have it to refer to it.

I have my King James Hebrew lexicon app, oh, it's the best app in the world. When I'm reading, I can go, pick up the word, and it will give me the Hebrew, it will give me every word that that Hebrew word is translated in the Word. It's so wonderful. I love it. I refer to it continually. And then I have the YouVersion, which can take me to all the different versions.

But, oh, there's something about having the Bible in your hand. Oh, I love it! And I underline, and I can put a circle around this word, because it's so powerful! Oh, I just love it! And I love to hold the Word. I love to take my Bible to church because I can look up the Scriptures, and I can refer to it. And I am not distracted by my iPhone.

Because ladies, we all have to face it, they're the biggest distractions in the world. You go to have your Bible reading, and you think, “Oh, I'll just do it on my iPhone.” And you start your Bible reading, and, ding, you get a little message. “Oh, I'd better check that.” And so you check it. And you're just taken away from your Bible reading.

Oh, it is so distracting. And so we have to use diligence. We have to use discipline. And I think if we're really disciplined studying the Word, we're going to have the Word in our hands. And I love how you've got your children with a Bible in their hands. That's just so cool. Love it!

Christina: I do too. It's been a great time.

Nancy: What are some of the translations you have?

Christina: Well, we have CSB, NIV, oh, the Amplified, the King James. I went online, and  think I've got one of everything.

Nancy: I'm a connoisseur of translations. So when I go to an old-time bookshop, and there's old books, I'm always looking, not just for modern translations. I have all those. But I love to look for old translations of the Bible. Some of them are so rich and so wonderful.

But we were talking about curriculums.

Christina: Curriculums. Yes. It's another area that I just love. When I started out with our first children, and I looked everything over . . . I was a teacher before I started, and I loved curriculums when I was teaching. But once I had children, I stayed home and went to all the homeschool conferences and got all the catalogs and picked out a curriculum.

I've tried things, trial and error. Our eleventh child, I do a different reading program, just because I had done the same one ten times! Why not? Why not do something different?

I love to meet with my neighbors and my homeschooling friends in town and share all the different . . . I've kept them all, so I let them look them over. We have a big schoolroom, and just pull out . . .

“OK, here's all the different things we've done for history. Here's what we've done for science. And this is what's worked. This is what I like, and this is what I don't. Or this is good, but my children just responded to this curriculum better.”

It's always a good day when I get a catalog in the mail.

Nancy: And do you find that different curriculums have been better for different children?

Christina: Yes, for sure. So there's my youngest son, he's such a busy guy. He's eleven, he just turned 12 actually, on Friday. But he loves engines and motors and building things. For him, he responds very well with me to reading, doing all the reading and all those things.

But if you sit him down in front of a math book, it just doesn't make any sense when he could be out there. “Mom, I could be out there. .I could be out there fixing one of my riding lawnmowers, or my four-wheeler, or my push lawnmower. Why would I sit here and stare at this math book?'

So it's been fun. I've probably spent more time and money researching and finding math curriculums. Well, mostly math, I guess. It's kept his attention and kept him going. We've moved to a lot of games and things he can do. He can do all the math but it's like torture. So I decided, “Well, why don't I try to make this more fun?” No one ever really complained quite as much as he did about it. So I tried to . . .

Nancy: Children are not going to learn if it's not fun and enjoyable. You only learn what's enjoyable, don't you?

Christina: Yes.

Nancy: Well, our time is going on, but I'd love to leave you with these lines from a poem that I love so much by Strickland Gillilan. It's called “The Reading Mother.” You can look it up. The whole poem is wonderful. But it ends with this stanza:

You may have tangible wealth untold,

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I, you can never be,

I had a mother who read to me.

Don't you love that?

Christina: I love that. I love that. That's wonderful.

Nancy: That's you, Christina. No one has read more to their children than you have. That is so wonderful. As we close, I want you to play that little snip on your phone. We mentioned at the beginning how Christina's children call her “Pumpkin Pie.” And her little boy is calling her that. I want you to hear it.

Christina: This is my little grandson, Henry. He's six years old, and this is what I said to him, and this is what he said back to me. “I love” “Pumpkin Pie!” “Good job!”

Nancy: Isn't that lovely? “I love Pumpkin Pie.” Oh yes. Anyway, let's pray, as we end this session, which always goes so quickly.

“Dear Father, we come to You in the Name of Jesus, and once again, we thank You for the opportunity to share together, to share about our love for reading.

“We thank You, Lord, that You have given to us the greatest Book in the whole of the world, Your precious Word. We thank You that Your Word is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. We thank You that it is powerful in our lives, and we pray, Father, that You will give us a love for Your precious Word like we have never ever had before. That Lord, it will truly be life to us.

“We thank You that every Word is eternal. Every word is life-breathed and given by inspiration of God. We thank You that it can change our lives. Oh, Father, Lord, we just thank You for Your precious Word.

“We thank You that we have other books too, that instruct and encourage us, and inspire us, Lord God. We ask that You will give us wisdom as mothers, and how to inspire our children, and to encourage them in Your ways. And, Lord God, to be inspired by great men and women of God.

“Lord, just show us. We know that every one of our children are different. We pray that you give us wisdom for each one.

“I pray your blessing on every precious family listening today, that You will bless them all. Bless their families and pour out your Spirit on each one of their children. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Would you like to email Darlene and thank her so much for faithfully and freely transcribing these podcasts every week for your benefit? That would be so lovely.

 

Available for you to order:

THE DAILY LIGHT ON THE DAILY PATH (King James Version PLUS Creative ideas for each month on how to keep your children attentive).

We use this devotional each morning and evening in our family. We love it because it is straight from God’s Word.

It’s your answer for Family Devotions with your children. No more hassle! No more wondering where to read in the Bible! All you do is go to the date and the Scriptures are waiting for you to read. It has Scriptures on a theme for every morning and evening of every day of the year.

If you don’t have this book already, I’d encourage you to get it.

Bonus: At the beginning of each month you can read creative ideas on how to make your Family Devotions time exciting for your children. Children can get into a dream and turn off quickly. Instead, you will find ways to keep their attention and keep them enjoying the most important part of the day—Hearing God speak to them from His living Word!

If you already have this book yourself, you may like to purchase one to bless another family and encouraged them to get started reading God’s Word to their family.

Retail: $18.95. Currently on sale for $15.95

To order, go to:

https://aboverubiesbookstore.mybigcommerce.com/daily-light-on-the-daily-path-kjv-plus-creative-ways-to-read-gods-word-to-your-children/

 

THE DAILY LIGHT ON THE DAILY PATH (The same Scriptures but in the New King James Version). Creative ideas not included.

To order, go to:

https://aboverubiesbookstore.mybigcommerce.com/daily-light-on-the-daily-path/