LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 274: God Loves Togethering, Part 4

A soldier cannot win a war on his own. He must be part of an army. We can't win our battles against Satan and evil on our own either. We need one another, and we need to be part of a prayer army.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.,

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! We are continuing our series, “God Loves Togethering.” Now, because God loves togethering, I hope you love togethering! If you’re not so sure about it, ask God to give you a love for it, because this is His heart.

We are now going to be looking at some of the Hebrew words, just seeing what they mean. I talked about yachad last time.

Psalm 34:3: “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.” The word in the Hebrew means “unity, together in one place, all together at one time, mutually with one another.”

The real meaning of that word is that God wants us to be all together in one place, magnifying and worshipping Him. It is wonderful, isn’t it, when you come together with a lot of people, and all the saints, to worship the Lord. Oh, you can worship the Lord on your own, but to worship with others brings such a greater joy and depth, doesn’t it?

Psalm 50:5: “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

 Psalm 55:14: “We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.” Back in those days, they were walking to the house of God. That’s a beautiful Scripture.

Psalm 102:22 talks about “When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.”

Psalm 122:1: “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.” God didn’t want all His people isolated around. He loved them coming together.

Psalms 147:2: “The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.”

ASAPH

Let’s look at another Hebrew word: asaph. This means “to gather together, to assemble for a purpose, put all together.” I love that meaning, “together for a purpose.” And, of course, we do this in our homes. As I was sharing in a previous podcast, everything starts in the home. It starts at our table in the home.

We gather our family to the table to eat together, fellowship together, and to hear the Word of the Lord, and pray together. The table is the place to feed our families, body, soul, and spirit.

The home is the first gathering place. It’s not much use being a gathering people at all the other functions if we’re not gathering as a family in the home. Even families can become fragmented and isolated, everyone doing their own thing. We, as mothers and wives, we have that responsibility to keep the family together, to keep those family appointments, to keep the appointments that God wants for our family of coming together every morning and every evening, to listen to His precious Word, to hear from Him, and to cry out to God in prayer.

He established a morning and evening principle. We have talked about that. Are you doing that in your home now? I do hope so. I do hope you’re seeking to establish these set times. I know, it’s not easy. Life is busy. Life is full of so many things happening. It won’t happen unless you make it happen.

Ask the Lord to help you, because this is so important. We start in our homes. We have a purpose and that’s why you do that. You can’t do it unless you have a purpose to do it. Of course, your purpose is that God has given us this revelation. We purposely, purposely make it happen.

YOU CAN’T WIN THE WAR ON YOUR OWN—YOU NEED A UNIFIED ARMY TO WIN THE WAR

Let’s look at some other Scriptures. Oh, yes, this word asaph is often used in the context of war. You see, you can’t go out to war on your own. One soldier cannot win a battle. It has to be an army. It’s the same with us. It’s the same in spiritual warfare. We cannot win a battle on our own. We need all the other soldiers. We’ve got to gather together if we’re going to win the war against the devil and all our enemies that we are facing at this time.

Judges 20:11: “So all the men of Israel were gathered,” (asaph, there’s the word. “against the city, knit together as one man.”

2 Samuel 12:29: “And David gathered,” asaph, “all the people together,” asaph. Already two times. “and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it.” How did he take it? Because they all came together. They were out with all the soldiers as one man. David couldn’t have done it on his own.

1 Chronicles 19:17: “David gathered all Israel, and passed over Jordan, and came upon them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him.”

1 Chronicles 12:1: “Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, . . . the mighty men, helpers of the war.”

For a while, David established himself in the city of Ziklag. It was there that many, many men heard about David. They knew who he was. He was the one who killed Goliath. He was the one who fought the battles for King Saul. They began to come to him. They were called “the helpers of the war.”

You can read about these mighty men in 1 Chronicles 12. What were they like? Let me read you some of their descriptions:

“Men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains; mighty men of valor,

ready armed for the war

men of valor for the war

men that hath understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do; expert in war, which could keep rank

they were not of double heart

ready for the battle

men of war.”

And so, it kept describing them throughout the chapter.

Now, of course, we are not going out to war in a physical way. We have our military who do that. I believe that men should be part of the military although there can be some places in the military for women. But not going out to war. No, it is the men who go out to war. It is the women who hold the fort at home.

WE MUST COME TOGETHER TO FIGHT THE ENEMY

But there’s a spiritual battle also. And we are all facing a spiritual battle, dear ones. We’ve got to gather together to come against the enemy. Yes, we can pray personally, and that’s important. But to really head off the enemy, to come against this huge Goliath enemy that we are facing in our nation, this tyranny that they’re seeking to bring upon us, we need to gather together. We’ve got to come together to pray.

Yes, we can pray as a family. That’s important. That’s togetherness. But we need even more than that. I believe we need to be part of a prayer meeting as well. Praying morning and evening in our homes together as a family, but also, we need to praying with others.

Are you part of a prayer meeting? If not, you can even start one in your home. Gather some other friends and families. Say “Look, let’s come and pray for the nation.”

We have always had a prayer meeting in our home. It’s been part of our lives, just about the whole 60 years of our marriage. When we were facing all the issues in this plandemic, it was so concerning that we began to pray every night of the week. We were having a prayer meeting once a week until then. Then we began to pray every night of the week. Of course, that was difficult to keep up, so we didn’t keep it up forever. After a few months or so we came back to two nights.

Now we have two prayer meetings a week where we gather together. We have Monday nights here at our home and we have Wednesday nights over at Serene and Sam’s home. They are powerful meetings where we come together. We have worship, which is powerful, and then we pray. We’re praying against the evil, pushing back the evils of this nation.

Dear ones, it has to be more than just a few. If only every one of God’s people could become part of a gathering, to pray, what great things we could see happening. In fact, tonight, which will be before you hear this podcast, tonight we are having a SOLEMN ASSEMBLY. We are all fasting and praying today. We’re in tonight with our usual prayer meeting, but we’re calling in everyone. I hope everyone comes. I hope it’s not just the faithful few. We have the faithful few. Well, they’re not just a few, because our rooms are pretty packed out on prayer meeting nights.

INCLUDE THE CHILDREN

Another thing I must tell you, we don’t just have adults at our prayer meetings. There are the young people, and the children, and the little babies, even those nursing at the breast. That’s what we are calling for tonight, a solemn assembly, even as God called for a solemn assembly in Joel. Have you read that passage in Joel 2:12-17? Let me read a little bit for you. I believe it’s something we should all be involved in at this time.

“Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.” The word there is another Hebrew word, atsarah, meaning “assembly, a meeting.”

“Gather,” asaph, “the people, sanctify the congregation,” qahal, another Hebrew word, “assemble,” qâbats, another Hebrew word! Oh, God uses so many words for the gathering of His people!

“Assemble”  that means to collect them together, gather them together. “Assemble the elders, gather the children.” Notice the children. God doesn’t want anyone left out. When you have a prayer meeting in your home, you don’t have to put the children to bed. “Oh well, we’ve got to get the children to bed because we’re having this prayer meeting tonight!” No! Just let the children be with you! If they go to sleep, that’s fine! Let them go to sleep when they’re ready. But let them begin in the prayer meeting with you. Let them be in the presence of God.

Often Colin will say at the beginning of the prayer meeting, “Now, children, who wants to pray now? You children pray because you might go to sleep later.”

“Gather the children and those that suck the breasts.” Even the little nursing babies because He doesn’t want the mothers to stay home. He wants them there too. If you’ve got a little baby, you don’t stay home. You bring that little baby with you.

When our children were growing, our children used to sleep on sheepskins. We are New Zealanders. Down in New Zealand, sheepskins were everywhere. But we had sheepskins that were especially for babies. After they were born, I’d put the sheepskin in their little cradle, then, their crib, then, as they got older, in their bed. Our children still slept on their sheepskin, right until they were older. They just loved them. In fact, if you get on the internet and see the benefits of wool, you’d want to go out and buy a sheepskin and sleep on it yourself! It is so amazing.

But another wonderful blessing was that, because they were so used to sleeping on sheepskins, I could just pick up the sheepskin and take it with me wherever I was going and lay it down. The baby thinks they’re in bed because they’ve got sheepskin, and they’re quite happy to go to sleep. You can take it to a prayer meeting, you can take it to church. Just lie the sheepskin on the floor. The baby is fine. The little toddler is fine. They can go to sleep when they’re ready on their sheepskin. God wants the babies. God wants the children.

And it goes on to say: “Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.” Wow! This sure was a solemn assembly, wasn’t it? Well, actually, did I ever tell you this story? This actually happened to Colin and me when we got married.

Colin went full-time for the Lord when we were engaged. We were involved in a wonderful ministry in New Zealand called “Tell New Zealand Crusade.” He, along with other members of the team, were taking a gospel of John personally to the door of every home in the nation. They completed that task and then later we went out to the Philippine Islands to do the same thing, taking the gospel of John to the people out there.

The date was planned the day after our wedding (for three days of prayer and fasting). I don’t know how that happened. The whole team was coming together for three days of prayer and fasting. Of course, we never even dreamed of going. Colin never dreamed of going to that. We had our glorious wedding. It was actually like a conference.

I can remember at the end of our wedding, Colin’s brother, who was the best man . . . This was not at the service. The service was amazing. This was at the reception where we had all these speeches. At the end, Brownie, his brother, was standing up on his chair, leading everyone in that great anthem hymn, “To God be the glory, great things He hath done.” Then Campbell McAlpine, who was the man of God who was the instigator of “Tell New Zealand Crusade,” and later, “Tell the Nations Crusade,” who we were with, he got up and prayed for revival.

We all went home after the wedding for a cup of tea. People came to visit and see the presents and so on just like normal protocol. But unbeknown to me, Campbell McAlpine came to Colin. He gave him a Scripture.

Well, eventually that evening we were driving away on our honeymoon after they had done all the tricks on the car, as they used to in those days, we were driving away, and in fact, we weren’t going that far. Ooh! All of a sudden, we heard this siren! Oh, help! Now, what have we done? It didn’t look as though we were going over the speed limit.

But here’s the cop pulling us over. We pulled over to the side of the road. Then we found it wasn’t a cop at all, but it was one of our friends from the wedding who could make a sound just like a siren! He was pulling us over once again, to trick us on our way out, on our honeymoon.

Then Colin got to tell me about this Scripture, and guess what? It was this Scripture: “Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. And let them fast and pray and seek the Lord.” Colin said to me, “What are we going to do?” I said, “I guess there’s nothing else we can do but obey.”

So, we had our first night together, and the next day, the three days of prayer and fasting were beginning. Colin went off to be with the men for three days prayer and fasting. I went and stayed with Joy and Jim Dawson, who later were with Youth With a Mission, an incredible man and woman of God. I stayed in their prophet’s chamber for three days’ prayer and fasting. That’s how we started our married life together.

Let’s go on. Joel 2:17: “Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O LORD, and give Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” 

Dear ladies, we’re living in this hour when the heathen are ruling over us. Are you aware of that? The heathen are ruling over us. They are seeking to take tyranny over our lives.

Have you heard that Biden is now mandating again, and saying, that in the fall, there will be another virus? Well, how do they know, except they’re planning it? Of course, another plandemic, as the previous one was a plandemic, or a spamdemic, whichever you prefer to call it. They are mandating and planning another plandemic and saying they will be mandating masks and vaccinations and social distancing again.

Well, what are we going to do this time? So many people gave in last time. I pray that people have woken up to their tyranny, to their lies, to their deception, and will say “No,” and will not comply. Because if everybody does not comply, they cannot do anything. They cannot put the whole nation in jail. Let’s not comply. We dare not give in to their tyranny.

But this is one of the reasons we are having a solemn assembly tonight, to pray against this overreaching. This government is not our ruler. What does it say here, in this passage, where we’re called to fast and pray, that the heathen should rule over us. Our government, none of our government mandates, none of Congress, none of our senators are to rule over us. They are our servants. We pay them. We pay our tax dollars to them to serve us, to be our servants. They are the servants of the people.

Instead, they have become our tyrannical rulers and think they can rule over us. When last time it happened, there were so many Christians who said, “Oh, but we must obey them! Romans 13! We must obey them!” But they didn’t even read Romans 13 properly. In that passage in Romans 13, it’s talking about how the government is to protect us from those wicked people and those who are doing bad things. That if we walk in righteousness, they won’t even have to touch us.

But the opposite is happening. They have become the evil people who are going against the Word of the Lord. Therefore, we cannot obey that, for we are to obey God, rather than man. But those words, “that the heathen should rule over us,” it makes me think of one of the saddest questions that I’ve ever read in the Bible. I read it years ago. I still can’t get over it.

It was in Judges 15:11, the story of where Samson had gone down to his wife to find that his father-in-law had given his wife to his best man! Help! That didn’t go very well with Samson. So, he went out and killed a whole band, a lot of the Philistines. That wasn’t enough. He decided to catch these foxes, and he tied their tails together with torches and set a light to the torches. He let them free amongst all their grain and their vineyards and everything. All the harvest of the Philistines was completely destroyed and burnt up.

Well, you can imagine. The Philistines were mad. So, they come to the people of Judah, and they say, “We want Samson! We want Samson!” They go down to the cave where Samson’s living, and these people of Judah come to Samson, and they say to him . . . listen to what they say. “Samson, know ye not that the Philistines are rulers over us?” Can you believe it? Here were these people of Judah saying, “Don’t you know the Philistines rule over us?”

And yet God had given them this land, by divine decree, for an everlasting possession. It belonged to them. It did not belong to the Philistines, but because of their sin, of course, God had allowed the Philistines to overtake them. Now they were servants to them.

But that wasn’t the whole truth. They were living a lie! Because they were not living in righteousness, and they were letting, they were letting the heathen rule over them! But it’s just about the same today. Even Christians are sitting back, putting their heads in the sand, allowing these people to rule over us. That is not God’s plan. It’s time we got to prayer, to push back the enemy.

We think of Nehemiah’s time. They were also suffering then.

Nehemiah 9:36-37: “Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that Thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it: And it yielded much increase unto the kings whom Thou hast set over us because of our sins: also, they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.”

We dare not let this stolen government (this government is a stolen government, a corrupt government) take over our bodies again. There were so many people who were taken to hospital with the C who died. They did not die of the C. I don’t even want to say the word. They died by them being remdesivir which completely destroyed their kidneys. They died of kidney failure. People weren’t even allowed to go in and be with their loved ones. They were killing people off. They had dominion over our bodies.

In fact, ladies, please keep watching and listening for the next two or three weeks. I’m going to be having with me on my podcast two precious ladies with very powerful testimonies. One is the lady, a physician’s wife, whose husband was actually slowly murdered in the hospital, because he stood against the vaccinations. They got rid of him. You’ll hear the story, how it happened.

I’m also going to be interviewing another woman, the wife of Paul Vaughn, who currently has a court issue against him for trying to save babies. They want to put him in prison for 11 years for trying to save babies. We’re going to hear about this story.

Our nation is no longer for the righteous, no longer for the Christian. It is for the transgender, and for the homosexual, and for all those who are anti-God and anti-family, who do not even believe in saying the word “woman.” There are so many now who will not even use that word. They have devised all different words to use instead of the word “woman.”

We are living in such a deceived society. Dear ladies, does this do anything to you? How can we keep going, just as though nothing’s happening? We must pray. We need to come together for the war. Yes, to pray together. We can’t do it on our own. We’ve got to be praying together, to push back the enemy.

Talking about taking control over us, the other night we watched the documentary “Into the Light.” It was a sequel to “Out of the Shadows.” I would encourage you to see these documentaries, especially “Into the Light” that we saw the other night. I think we’re going to play it again so we can all see it again, because you can’t really get it all in one showing.

But on this documentary, I watched with my eyes and heard with my ears, Yuval Harari, do you know who he is? Yuval Harari is an Israeli, but he is the lead advisor for Klaus Schwab who is the inventor of the Great Reset and the World Economic Forum, which is seeking to take over the world.

On this “Into the Light,” Harari talked about how no longer will people have a free will because he said this phrase, help! “Humans are hackable animals and free will is over.” They believe that with all their computer technology, they will be able to gradually overtake the free will of people through artificial intelligence and so on. Oh goodness me! I was listening to that, and I said, “Help!” Who does he think he is? He’s talking from the pit of hell. That’s the devil’s language because God has given to us a free will.

Well, I do concede that people who will not listen to the truth, who do not know the truth, who do not live in the Word of God, and are listening to every crazy junk that is coming out in the media, and all the diabolical deceptions that they are filling people with today, if their minds are filled with them, maybe gradually they will succumb to that. Their “free will” will become very dormant.

I believe in this hour, ladies, that we need to be filled with the Word of God. The Word of God is truth, and it is the antidote to deception! We must know it. We must have it in our hearts, and our children have got to get it. Look, if you were just teaching your children to memorize the Word, that is the greatest thing you can do. It wouldn’t even matter if they didn’t learn everything they’re meant to do in their curriculums you’re teaching them.

What about public schools? Help! Do you know what they are trying to do today? They are trying to totally make your children humanists. No true believer in the Word of God can let their children stay in this public school system today. You’ve got to get them out. We can’t let our children be infiltrated by the enemy.

Harari was saying these things on this documentary. This morning I thought, “I’d better check it out. I’d like to get the quote. Maybe it’s in print.” I was checking the internet. I found a few other quotes by Harari. I’ll read these to you. He says, “If by free will, you mean the freedom to do what you desire, then yes, humans have free will. But if by free will, you mean the freedom to choose what to desire, then no, humans have no free will.”

Again, he says, “Governments and corporations will soon know you better than you know yourself. Belief in the idea of free will is dangerous.” Then, you couldn’t believe it. Before you could read those quotes, and many, many others, at the top, always at the top, if you go to the top on the internet checking out a subject, guess what’s at the top? Do you know? The fact checkers. Oh yeah, they’re always at the top.

And guess what the fact checkers said? They said, they stated, they could not find anywhere where he said or wrote these things. But underneath the fact checkers are the quotes!

He also says, “Humans invented God, and humans invented heaven and hell, and humans invented free will. There is no more truth to free will than there is to heaven and hell.”

Quotes from Harari, and you can actually even see him saying that if you go to FrankSpeech. Bring up “There is no such thing as free will,” and “Humans have invented God,” and you’ll hear and watch him saying it.

And who is this man? As I said, he’s the lead advisor for Klaus Schwab. Oh help. Do you know who he really is? He has a husband. Yes, not a wife. He has a husband. Yes, and back when President Trump wanted to defund the World Health Organization, it says, I read about this. Harari, and Itzik Yahav, his husband, can you believe it, made this statement: “Luckily, there are more than seven billion of us humans on this earth, and we can do better.” They pledged $1 million to the World Health Organization.

We have these people who are the ones who can be in all those big conferences in Davos and Switzerland. All these people are flying on their jets to these conferences, the ones who are trying to overtake the world. But we can overcome in prayer, dear ladies. Pray together with your families, morning and evening, and gather with others. If you can’t find others, well, start a prayer meeting in your home. Begin to pray for this nation.

Leviticus 26:7-8 talks about chasing our enemies. The greatest way we can chase our enemies (we’re not going to do it physically), we’re going to do it in prayer. It says: “And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.”

Take those words into prayer. Even a little family with three children, praying. That’s five. Five can put one hundred to flight. What about a family with nine, ten, eleven, twelve children? You’ve got a bigger prayer meeting than some churches! What about when you gather some families together and you pray? You can put ten thousand to flight.

Oh, let’s get a vision for coming together, for war, for battle! To come against the enemy in the spiritual realm and to pray and to intercede. Amen?

“Dear Father, help us to see the power of coming together. Oh, Father, help us to see that when we come together to pray, that You love to see it as a family thing, Lord. You love everyone in the family to come, the young people, the children, the nursing babies, the moms, the dads, everyone. Oh, Lord God, we pray that You will give us such a vision for prayer and pushing back the enemy in the power of the Name of Jesus. For Lord, You have given us this privilege, for us to pray, and to determine the courses of nations as we pray.

“I ask that You will bless every precious family listening today and pour out Your Spirit upon them. Lord God, take away from all of us every spirit of apathy and normality, and help us, Lord, to become passionate people of You. In the Name of Jesus, amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 273: God Loves Togethering, Part 3

We discover more today of how much God loves the togethering and assembling of His people. He doesn't want anyone to miss out.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Well, since I shared my last podcast with you, my husband and I have been on a wonderful trip to Scotland. We were so blessed. Actually, it was Serene and Sam who were going on a trip to celebrate their 26^th wedding anniversary. Allison and Daniel Hartman, who put on the Above Rubies Family retreats for us down in Florida, they heard about it. They said to Serene and Sam, “Well, you’re not going without us! We’re coming too!”

Sam and Serene and Daniel and Allison are very special friends. Of course, now, their children are marrying into this family. Cedar, Serene and Sam’s son, is married to Halle, their daughter. They are expecting a little baby very, very soon.  Now their other son, Vison, is engaged to another of their daughters, Eden! So, they are really getting tied up together.

But then, they decided that they would bless Colin and I, and take us with them, and even pay for our trip! We felt so blessed. It was an amazing time. Great time to go back and check out our heritage.

A couple of years ago, our son, for Christmas, got our DNA checked out. Both Colin and I were exactly one-quarter English, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. We are very, very UK.

We thought when we went back, we’d be able to check out some of the Campbell castles. We have been to Scotland many times before with ministry and haven’t really gone on a holiday. We’ve had the opportunity to see a few things. We have been to Castle Campbell a number of times. This was the summer castle of the Campbells.

But we had never ever been to the main castle out in Argyle, near the west coast. This time we were able to do it. It was so great! Actually the 14^th Earl of Argyle, this guy Campbell, he and his wife and family currently live in and own the castle. They are the direct descendants of the first owners of the castle. They live in one private part, but the rest is open to the public.

Before we went, my sister-in-law, Colin’s sister, said, “Hey, you’ve got to check out Auntie Anne’s picture on the wall!” Because we actually come from the Argyle Campbells. There was a reunion of these Campbells in New Zealand down in the city of Dunedin. Colin’s aunty went to that. She was pictured with all the others and this picture is on the wall in one of the towers of the castle.

So, we actually found the picture. I found the photograph of Auntie Anne in the picture. We felt quite great that our family was actually pictured in this castle.

Then we stayed in lots of other wonderful places. Sam had booked us into a different place every single night for two weeks! We would cart our cases in in the evening and then we would cart them out in the morning. He wanted to stay in a castle, so we stayed in what was called Stonefield Castle. When we got there, we actually found that that was originally owned by the Campbells also. Then we stayed in another place that was like a castle. It was originally owned by the Campbells. That was rather fun.

But one of the most incredible things that we were able to do, and something Colin and I have longed to do for so many years. We have read over the years about the wonderful revival that took place in the Hebrides of Scotland. That’s the outer islands of Scotland. We were able to go to the Isle of Lewis, one of the outer islands where the revival of 1949-1953 actually started. It was such a blessing.

Now, as I said, Sam had booked us in at one place every night. So, he, not knowing anything about Scotland, in fact, he didn’t know a thing about Scotland, and yet he organized this most amazing tour. It turned out incredible! He didn’t realize what would be entailed in this getting out to the island. We were so late in booking that we couldn’t even get our car on.

So, we went over on the ferry, a three-hour trip on the ferry, and landed there on foot. Here we are, we have no car, and we don’t know where, actually, this revival started. How are we going to find it? We’ve got one night and have to be back on the ferry the next day at one o’clock. How are we going to do it?

Well, we thought, “What can we do?” We couldn’t even get a hired car. “Let’s just get on the public bus!” We get on the public bus and drove up to the north of the island. Then we just drove back! We stopped about halfway, where the Airbnb is, where we’ll stay the night.

Next morning we get up and get out onto the road waiting for the public bus to come past. On we hopped and we go on until we think this is about where this church would be, where the revival started in a little village of Barvas. We got out, and yes, we could see the church! I had my book, which is called “The Sounds of Revival.” It’s worth getting and reading if you can get it.

There was the picture of the church, and there was the church. Wow! We’ve found it! How wonderful! So, we walked over, but it was shut. We thought, “OK, we’ll go to the little house behind, obviously the manse.” And we asked the lady if she would mind letting us go in. She was kind enough to do that and we were able to go in and kneel down and pray for revival to come to Scotland again, for revival in our own lives, and for revival here in the USA. It was such a wonderful time. We were so blessed to do that.

Having read the book and read of how wondrously God came down, it was a revival that was nothing of man. It was only God. Even when people began to cry out in repentance (because it was a revival of repentance, people becoming aware of their sins). They didn’t even counsel the people. They never had any appeals They just left them with God, that God would come through, and they would be gloriously saved.

And then they would not want to go to bed. They just wanted more and more of God, so they would have a meeting every night. But that wasn’t enough. After the meeting was over, they’d go to a home and there they would pray and fellowship and receive more of the Word of God. Then, when that was ended, that was not enough! They’d go to another home, and they’d be up all night!

Sometimes they’d get home, back to their homes at four in the morning, even later, have breakfast, and go out to work. The miraculous thing was that no one got tired. It was just a miraculous move of the Holy Spirit. They were so under the presence and awesomeness of God that no one even got tired. It was so special to go to that place. We were very, very blessed.

Scotland was once known as “The Land of the Book.” That means it was the land of the Bible. But unfortunately, that is no longer so. It has become a very woke, liberal country. We were amazed. Going around all these places we saw so few babies and children. The number of children per family in Scotland is only 1.5. Well, we’re only 1.8 or 1.9 here in the USA, so we’re not much better! But it’s getting pretty low. In fact, I read the statistics that in the last few years, there have been more people dying each year in Scotland than there have been born! That’s a sad state of affairs for a nation. They certainly need another mighty revival, as we all do, don’t we?

Let’s get back to our series. We are talking about how GOD LOVES TOGETHERING. We’re up to Part 3, and this is podcast 273.

Dear ladies, I hope that as I share these podcasts with you on this subject that you can really get a feel of how God feels. You see, we can only feel like God feels, we can only begin to think like God thinks when we read His Word. That’s why we have to be Word people. We’ve got to have His Word filling our hearts.

I am so amazed as I read the Word to see how much God speaks about togethering. I think I told you on podcast 271 that I found 12 different Hebrew words in the Old Testament that are all to do with togethering and assembling. But since then, I’ve actually found two more!

So, now I’ve found 14 different Hebrew words to describe how God loves the assembling of His people, and the gathering of His people, and the fellowship of His people. The words “assembly, congregation, convocation, together, gathering, fellowship,” oh, they don’t occur just a few times. They occur over and over and over again!

And then we go to the New Testament, and we continue to read the words “gathering, together, assembly, and church.” Yes, the word “church.” When you say the word “church,” sometimes you think of a building. Yes, a church is where we go to meet together in a building, but as we know, the church is God’s people.

The word “church” in the New Testament occurs 120 times. It is the Greek word ecclesia. It literally means:

“a gathering of people called out from their homes into a public place,

an assembly,

an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting,

a calling out,

a religious congregation, which can be a Jewish synagogue, or a Christian community.”

It can also talk about faith in heaven too.

So, this is Ecclesia. It means “calling out, a gathering of people coming together.” It actually means to come out of our homes and meet together. There are some folks who don’t go to church. They think, “Oh, well, I can’t really find a church that is suitable to me. They’ve all got this wrong with them and that wrong with them.” Well, that’s true. No church is perfect because it is filled with imperfect people. Once we go to it, it’s going to be imperfect, isn’t it? But even in all our imperfections, God so wants us to meet together.

Yes, that’s what this word is. Ecclesia. It’s coming out of our homes to meet together! Now, of course, if someone is living in some isolated place and they can’t get with other saints, well, yes, meet together as a family. Amen! But when we have saints around us, God wants us to meet with them. You see, we’re with our family all throughout the week, but on one day a week at least, He longs for us to come together.

We were talking last podcast about all the set times that God has given, where He wants to gather us. He loves gatherings! Yes, we’ve got to get it, ladies! God loves the gathering of His people.

I must mention a few Scriptures again, but before I do, let’s go to the Lord’s Prayer. I wonder if you’ve ever noticed this. We read the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. This is in the Sermon on the Mount. The disciples asked Jesus if He would teach them how to pray.

He says: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.” Do you notice how this prayer starts? It doesn’t say, “Oh, my Father.” No, “our Father.”

Yes, even in our prayers, in fact, it's great to pray personally, but God loves us to come together to pray. He loves the corporate prayers of His people. But even in our personal prayer, we’re still praying “Our Father,” because it’s not only me and God, it is me and all God’s people.

“Our Father which art in heaven, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.” We’re not only praying for ourselves. “Oh, God, please give me my daily bread.” No, He wants us to see beyond ourselves, beyond just little me, and how the world is revolving around me. No, it’s “give us our daily bread.” We’re praying not only for ourselves, but for others, and all the saints.

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” Do you see it, lovely ladies, that even the Lord’s Prayer is a corporate prayer that includes all of us? Isn’t that amazing? Yes! So, let’s be reminded of Scriptures you know so well. But let’s look at them again and see what they’re really saying.

Hebrews 10:23-25: “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised;)” That can also be translated: “Let us hold fast the confession of our faith.” The word in the Greek is homologio. It means “to say the same thing that another is saying.” In other words, “to be in line with what God says, to be in line with what His Word says.”

What His Word says, that is what I will confess. I’ll hold fast to that confession no matter what anybody says, no matter what anybody thinks. I will hold fast to my confession of the Word of God.

“And let us consider one another . . .”  Oh, do you notice that, again, “let us”? Us? Plural? Yes, God wants us to think in the plural of our being together with all the saints. “And let us,” not just me.

“Consider one another.” That word is also translated “our mutual faith.” It’s a one-another faith. Not just me and God, but me and you and God.

“Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling . . .” Assembling. Yes. That’s a word that means “to get together.” It’s not isolated. It’s assembling. The word in the Greek is episunagoge. I think I’ve pronounced it correctly. But it comes from the word “synagogue,” and it means “the place where they meet; a complete collection.” That’s interesting, isn’t it? Not anybody left out. “A complete collection.” Everybody meeting! “Especially a Christian meeting; assembling or gathering together.”

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” Together. It doesn’t mean isolated. It doesn’t mean on your own. It means “together” with the other saints. “. . . as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

We can’t really get away from those words, and yet there are still those today who think they can just have me and God. “Yes, I believe in God. I can do it on my own. I don’t need to be with others.” Well, it’s not only the fact that you actually do need to be with others; we do need one another because our faith is strengthened as we meet with one another. But also, when you don’t turn up, and you are missing, you are depriving the other saints. You’re depriving them of the blessing that you can give.

You see, church, which is the people of God assembling, it’s not just a building. It’s the assembling of the people. It’s not just coming to hear a message, not just coming to worship. They’re important parts. But it’s coming TOGETHER. It’s coming TO BRING YOUR PRESENCE.

ARE YOU STRENGTHENING THE BODY?

Did you know that even coming, just your presence, and especially when it’s all your family, do you understand what that means? Your family added to the others brings more strength. It brings something more into that body. When you are missing, there’s a weakness. When you come, there’s more strengthening. It’s more exciting.

In fact, sometimes when we’re meeting together, we’re assembling together as the body of Christ, and I look around. I see those who are missing. My heart is so sad! I’m missing them. There’s something missing. There’s a weakness because they are not there! If only people could realize they are missed! Yes, there is such strengthening of the body when they come.

It’s more exciting, more strengthening, more building up, and more opportunity for the blessing of the Lord, because as we each come with a smile on our face, to give to everyone we see a blessing and a word of cheer and encouragement. The more people who are doing this and giving it, the more the body is strengthened and built up! That’s God’s heart. That’s what He longs for.

Let’s look at a few other Scriptures.

Act 2:42: “And they continued steadfastly . . .” This was the new converts. They’d all been saved, 3,000 of them, “And they continued steadfastly” in four things. Now, dear ones, this is the foundation of the church. This was the early church. These are the four things that they did, and the four things that we should be continuing to do today. What are they? OK. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Firstly, THE APOSTLE’S DOCTRINE

That is the teaching from the elders of the church and the apostles. How can we get that if we don’t come? We think, “Oh, well, maybe I could just listen to a message on Zoom.” So many began to do that when the plandemic came. But it is a counterfeit. Oh, yes, you can get a good message, that’s true. But you’re not assembling. You’re not together. You’re not doing what the Word says. There’s something about being there. Oh, yes! Because that’s what God says. Anyway. I’m just trying to reiterate what God says in His Word.

Secondly, FELLOWOSHIP

We come, and we hear the message. But that’s not all. Oh, and fellowship! We can only have fellowship when we’re together! You see, FELLOWSHIP IS TOGETHERING. Fellowship is part of church life. I think that’s why, when the plandemic came, so many thought they could do just as well watching a Zoom meeting. But you see, they weren’t having fellowship, and many people didn’t miss it because their church doesn’t have fellowship. They come, they worship, they hear a message, and they go home. But no, there has to be fellowship in some way or another.

At our church fellowship here, we have a fellowship meal. Every Sunday, everybody brings a dish, and we all sit and eat together and fellowship. We can encourage one another, pray for one another, bless one another, find out where one another is in their life. We can laugh with one another. Oh, it’s one-anothering! One-anothering is not some little thing you do if you want to. It is part of church life. In the New Testament there are over 41 different one-anothers that God has specifically given us to do to one another. We can’t do it if we don’t meet together.

Thirdly, THE BREAKING OF BREAD

The breaking of bread. Well, yes, they had communion together but many times in the early church, the communion was part of the fellowship meal. Breaking bread can be just a meal because that’s how they ate. They would break the bread, the flat bread, as they would dip it in the hummus, the baba ghanoush, whatever they were making. That’s how they ate. It was called “the breaking of bread.” That also is fellowship and hospitality.

Fourthly, PRAYERS

Then prayers! Oh, yes, that’s part of church life. And yet many people come to church. They hear the minister pray as he begins the message, or he prays at the end. Sometimes there’s not much more than that. And yet, prayers! That’s a very big part of church life. That should be very much a part of our meetings as we come together.

We see that togethering with fellowship. Acts 20:7: “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them.” Notice, “they came together.”

THE WHOLE CHURCH

Let’s go to 1 Corinthians 14:23: “If therefore the whole church be come together in one place . . .” It goes on to talk about what they were to do when they came together. In this little sentence, we see the whole church.

The word in the Greek is holos, and it means “whole, all, complete, all together, every whit.” In other words, God’s desire and longing is that all His people in a community will come together. All of them, not one missing. I like “every whit.” That’s real King James language, isn’t it? I haven’t checked any modern translations, but I like those words. “Every whit.”

They are used also in John 7:23, when Jesus said to the people, “Are you angry at me because I have made man every whit whole on the Sabbath day?” Jesus didn’t make him half whole, but He made him fully whole. That’s the same concept God wants when we come together. He doesn’t want half the people to come together, or three-quarters of the people, or even 99 percent! He wants all of them to come together. He says when you all come together in one place, we get the spirit of what it was like in the early church. “To come together.” The word there is sunanakeimai, and it means “to convene, to accompany, to assemble with, to come together.”

1 Corinthians 14:26: “How is it then, brethren? when ye come together,” there it is again. “Every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.”

Philippians 1:27: “. . . Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” Now that word in the Greek is sunathleo. It means “to wrestle in company with, to see jointly, to labor together, to strive together.” It comes from the root word athleo, where we get “athlete,” meaning “to contend in competitive games.”

The thought here is that we’re not striving together on our own. No, we can’t strive together on our own because we’re not together. Striving on our own. We’re not meant to strive on our own, dear ones. I need others. You need others. Our faith will become stronger as we fellowship with one another, and as we pray with one another, and as we strive together for the gospel with one another. There is so much more strength. I hope you’re getting this feel of it from the New Testament.

But let’s go back to the Old Testament, shall we, where I found 14 different Hebrew words. I don’t know whether I’ll give them all to you, but I’ll just talk about some thoughts from some of them so we can get the feel of God’s heart for us.

Why am I saying all this to you, as mothers? You’re saying, “Oh, well, this is not a podcast about motherhood.” Oh yes, it is! Because, dear lovely wives and mothers, we are the heart of the home. We cause to make happen what should happen in our home. Unless we have God’s heart, unless we understand the vision that God wants our family to join together with other families so we can strengthen the body of Christ, well, we’re not going to do it. It’s not going to happen.

It’s pretty hard for a husband to get it to happen if he doesn’t have his wife with him, if she doesn’t have the vision. Because to think of even meeting as we meet once a week, OK, maybe on Sabbath if you’re a Sabbath-keeper, on Sunday if you’re a Sunday-keeper. Whatever day. It takes us, the mother of the home, the heart of the home, to get it together.

We’ve got to think about it, not just, “Oh, help! Sunday!” No, we think about it the night before, or even before that. We’re thinking about the family. Are the clothes all ready? Have we got all the clothes ready for Sunday? Or if children are looking for socks and this and that at the last minute on Sunday morning, or Saturday morning, you’re not even going to get to church on time.

Darling ladies, can we get God’s heart? Can we go beyond just, “OK, church. Oh, well, I guess we’d better go.” And we sort of get ready and go. We haven’t really got our heart in it. If our heart is in it, we’ll be preparing the night before. We won’t be staying up late watching some movie. No, we’ll be preparing our hearts. We’ll be preparing the household, and what time we’re going to get up, and how we’re going to have breakfast. We’ll make sure all the clothes are ready, and we’re going to be able to get there on time.

Because our heart beats like God’s heart. We want to do what God wants us to do. That is to be a togethering people, to gather with the saints, to help build up the body, to help strengthen the body, to bring life, and smiles, and love, and cheer, and blessing to all the others who are there. We’re not going to be missing, because when you’re missing, it brings a heartache for those who are waiting for you. It really does.

OK, Old Testament words. There are many different words for “assembly, congregation, convocation, together, gathering, fellowship.”

Here’s one word: YACHAD

Psalm 34:3: “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.”

Dear ladies, oh, you know that Scripture, off by heart, I am sure. It’s a basic Scripture, but how true. God wants us to exalt and worship His Name together. Yes, we can do it personally, but He wants us to come together to do it.

We’ll continue next podcast, OK? The Lord bless you.

“Oh, dear precious Father, we love You. We love Your Word. Help us, dear Father, to let Your words fill our hearts, Lord, that we will live by Your Word, not the way we want to live, and what we think, but Your Word and Your heart. We’ll get in sync with You.

“Lord, we’re only just looking at the very, very tip of the iceberg of what You talk about, gathering together. Lord, there’s so much more. It’s so much Your heart. I pray, Lord, that You’ll help us all to be faithful, and that You will help every precious wife and mother and family to be committed to the gathering of Your people, to the assembling of your people with others, Lord. Oh, Lord God, You want us to join together with the other saints. Lord, help us to be faithful to You. In Jesus’s Name. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

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You can order this book from Amazon:

Sounds from Heaven: The Revival on the Isle of Lewis, 1949-1952 (Biography)

by Colin Peckham

 

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 272: God Loves Togethering, Part 2

Today I discuss how God made plans for us to spend time with Him. God orders His kingdom and in His Word, He gives us daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly appointments to come into His presence and to assemble with one another. Check them out.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, everyone! Last podcast I told you I would tell you the story about Ten Peas in a Pod. It’s a story of the Pent family. The father was a wonderful man of God who loved to preach the Word of God. He traveled throughout the USA and Canada preaching.

He was also a man who loved the Word of God, and loved to read it to his family. Not only when they were home, but even when they traveled, he would never forsake that reading of the Word of God to his family. He didn’t only do it in the morning and evening; he did it three times a day. So, every morning, after breakfast, he would read to his family for one hour from the Word of God.

Now there were eight children in the family of varying ages. That’s why it’s called Ten Peas in a Pod, because it tells the story of their travels throughout the USA and Canada. It’s a most wonderful and exciting story. He never forsook the reading of the Word. Lunchtime came, and after lunch he would then read to his children from the Word for another hour.

Suppertime! At the end of supper, he would once again read to his children for one hour. Whoo!

Well, I do have to confess that we haven’t kept up to his standard. It’s a wonderful inspiration. I was so inspired when I read this story of this family. It goes on to tell us in the book that because they listened to the Word daily, it became part of them. Most of the children could recite the whole New Testament verbatim, plus many, many passages of the Old Testament.

Another interesting thing is that the eldest son, who wrote the book, he said that when they traveled, they often stayed in different people’s home. His father would say to the people at the end of the meal, “I love to read God’s Word to the family. Would you be happy for me to do that?” Of course, they were Christian families, and they would always say, “Yes, of course! Just go ahead.”

And then he would say to them, “Would you like to join us?” The saddest thing is, their son wrote in this book, that there was never one family who joined them. They all had their excuses. “Yes, we’re so happy for you to do that. Just go ahead. But I’ve got this to do, and that to do.” And they always had their excuses. Not one ever had time.

But I was so blessed, just a couple of years ago, to meet that son, who is now a grandfather today. He actually was sitting in the very chair I’m sitting in now talking to you. We were able to fellowship with him and share how I’d read that book many years ago and how it had so blessed our family.

But I asked him, “Is this continuing down the generations?” Yes, he was able to share beautiful testimony of that.

But that was really an inspiring story. Not only did he read after each meal for an hour a day, but once the children got to an age of where they could read well, he would encourage them to have their own quiet time, reading the Word of God before breakfast, 15 minutes when they were younger, and increasing to an hour a day so that they would actually be getting the Word four hours a day! Isn’t that amazing? Wow!

It makes me think of how I literally believed that a young person, a child, as they’re growing up in a godly Christian home where they’re hearing the Word of God read to them daily, they’re discussing it, and talking about it together, should never have to go to Bible school. It amazes me that when Christian children come out of a godly home and think, “Well, I need to go to Bible school.” Well, why? Haven’t they got their Bible school for the last eighteen or so years every day of their lives? That’s how it’s meant to be.

MORNING AND EVENING APPOINTMENTS

So, there it is. They did it three times a day. But I think that the minimum should be that morning and evening principle where we come two times a day, because God loves that daily meeting with Him. He loves to meet with us. He loves intimacy. God loves our fellowship. He wants intimate fellowship with us.

I think of that Scripture in the Song of Solomon 2:14. Let me read it to you. “O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is beautiful.” This is a picture of the Bridegroom, Christ, Who is our Bridegroom, speaking to the Bride and speaking of His longing for intimacy, personally, and even as we come together, morning and evening, on a daily basis.

WEEKLY APPOINTMENT

But God then goes on to give us a weekly time when He loves us to come into His presence specifically, and to come together. That is the Sabbath day. He has a weekly appointment with us also. We’re either keeping the Sabbath day or we’re keeping Sunday as the Sabbath day. But God gave a day, a day to put aside, specifically for Him. A day for rest from our work, and a day to be with Him, a day to not do what we do every other day, but a day to fellowship with the people of God, a day that we give to God.

All these things that we see in the Old Testament are only types and shadows of truth that is to come. Let’s have a look at one or two Scriptures here.

Colossians 2:16-17: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come.” So, these things speak of truth. The Sabbath day speaks of our rest in Christ. The ultimate Sabbath is our rest that we find in Christ. But He gives us a day. God always gives us something tangible to understand. They are shadows of things to come, or types of truth that God wants us to understand.

1 Corinthians 10:11: “Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

Romans 15:4: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

I often think of Paul, in the last chapter of Acts, chapter 28. It talks of Paul, who was living in “his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.” He was preaching the kingdom of God.

Now, as we read the New Testament, we read much of the kingdom of God. But Paul didn’t have the New Testament! What did he have? He had the Old Testament. And he preached the kingdom of God from the Old Testament. Everything there, every story, everything about the offerings and the feasts and the tabernacle, everything we read is a shadow of the reality of truth.

I am thinking just now also of Luke, the last chapter of Luke, where Jesus was talking with those two disciples as He walked toward Emmaus. Let’s go to it here. Jesus came and began to talk with them. They were so sad because Jesus had died. They thought that was the end of everything.

Luke 24:25-27: “Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.” 

Jesus didn’t have a New Testament to talk to those disciples. Jesus spoke to them from the Old Testament, from Moses, from those first five books of the Bible, the Torah. And what does it say here? “Then, in all the Scriptures, He spoke to them.” They were all from the Old Testament. We don’t discard the old because we learn so much from it, don’t we?

All right, we’re talking about this weekly Shabbat. We have our Shabbat meal every Friday night in our home. I did a podcast on that, podcast #240. If you didn’t hear it, you can hear how we do that in our home. Once again, we don’t do the Shabbat meal because we are Jewish. We don’t do it because we want to come under some law.

We do it because it is the most beautiful family meal that you could ever enjoy. It brings us into the presence of the Lord. It ties the bonds of family. It is a great unifying of family where the husband blesses his wife and blesses his children at the table. It’s so beautiful. You can read about that, or you can go to podcast #240 and learn more about it.

MONTLY APPOINTMENT

And then, God speaks about a monthly celebration. The monthly celebration was the celebration of the new moon. That’s something rather, help! Speaking about a new moon . . . wow! Whenever I read about the new moon in the Bible, I would gloss over it as quickly as I could, because I thought, “Oh, that sounds so New Age-y!”

I have come to realize that it was really so practical because God’s calendar is a lunar calendar. God’s calendar goes by the moon. The beginning of every month on God’s calendar is the beginning of the new moon. When they see that sliver of the new moon, that is the beginning of the month. The word in the Hebrew is Rosh Chodesh. It’s called “the head of the month.”

The Israelites had certain people who had to look out. They were appointed to look out for when that sliver of the moon would appear. Then they would go to the Sanhedrin, and they would confirm it. Then they would light fires to let everybody know it was the new moon. Usually, they would have a family celebration. Sometimes, it wasn’t commanded, but some would go to Jerusalem to offer offerings. They would have more of a Sabbath day when they didn’t do all their business and work.

I remember reading in 2 Chronicles 2:4. I love how Solomon talks about it. He’s building this beautiful, glorious temple to the Lord. “Behold, I build a house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to Him, and to burn before Him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.”

David was saying, “This is what I long to do. I want to keep these times unto the Lord God.” One of them was the new moon. Well, it’s not something that we are most probably going to keep, as gentile Christians, because we don’t even live by the Hebrew lunar calendar. We live by the Gregorian calendar, which is a solar calendar. It goes by the sun. So, really, we’re out of sync with God. But one day, I guess when the millennium comes, we’ll be back to the lunar calendar. We’ll get back to God’s way.

Well, I know we will do so, because it says in Isaiah 66:23. I only noticed this Scripture recently, and I was amazed. It says: “And it shall come to pass. . .” Well, that’s pretty certain, isn’t it? If God says “And it shall come to pass,” well, that means it’s going to happen, “And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.”

That’s obviously going to be in the millennium, but it is going to come to pass. And there will be a time when we get back to God’s calendar. The new month will be the beginning of the new moon and we will all come and worship before the Lord.

There are some Christians who already love to do this. They’re not doing it out of law. They’re doing it. “Well, one day we’re going to do it. Let’s do it now!” They’ll come together at the beginning of a new moon, which is really the new month, and they’ll have a time of fellowship, have a meal together, and a time of worship. That’s a beautiful thing. But maybe there’s something else you want to do as a family every month. But God plans the daily, the weekly, and the monthly, because He loves these set times. Yes, God loves set appointed times.

YEARLY APPOINTMENTS

Then He has the yearly feasts. I mentioned last week about these feasts of the Lord. A lot of people think, “Oh, they’re all the Jewish feasts. Passover and Tabernacles and so on.” But in the Bible, they’re not called the “Jewish feasts.” They are called the “Feasts of the Lord,”

Leviticus 23:2: “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts.” That’s what God calls them. “My feasts.”

OK, they were given to the Jewish people. But they are not only for the Jewish people. If you would love to celebrate them, you are free to celebrate them. Not out of law, but out of delight, because they are God’s feasts. When we do decide that we’d love to celebrate them, they teach us so much of Christ.

I love to celebrate Passover. Many Christians celebrate Passover today, because it’s such a revelation of our salvation. It points to Christ. There is so much the whole way through the Seder. It’s speaking of Christ. In fact, the Seder that we had this year, I think it was the most beautiful Passover I have ever experienced. My husband led it, and he pointed everything to Christ. It was the most Christ-centered, honoring Passover. It was beautiful. We enjoyed it in the presence of the Lord. It was so amazing.

There are some churches who like to put on a Passover feast. Maybe your church has done that. I have to confess that, personally, I have been to big Passover celebrations, and they’re never quite the same as having one in your own home with your family and children. It’s a very, very children-orientated thing. God loves His feasts to be family-orientated. Of course, we always ask other families in too. But we don’t make it too big because then it gets not-quite so personal.

Talking about “My feasts,” I was just reading the other day in Ezekiel 44; just seeing how God sees things. I’m not going to read the whole chapter to you, but I’m going to read you the things where God calls them “My things.”

In verse 7, it starts off with “My sanctuary.” He’s talking about the sanctuary, actually Ezekiel’s temple. In the Bible, it starts off with the tabernacle in the wilderness. Then later, Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem. Then sadly, that was wiped out. Then, again, they built another temple, rebuilt it when they came back from Babylon. But then, there is going to be another temple, called “Ezekiel’s Temple,” which is not yet built. But God calls it “My sanctuary” six times in that one chapter.

He calls them . . .

“My sanctuary,

My house,

My bread,

My covenant,

My holy things,

My hand,

My holy things,

My sanctuary (again),

My table,

My charge,

My purpose,

My judgments,

My laws,

My statutes,

My assembly,

My assemblies.”

MY ASSEMBLIES

‘We’re going to be looking into so many Scriptures. Our God loves us to assemble. As He calls them “My assemblies.”

They’re not just something . . .  “Oh, well, you know, we’ll come if we feel like it.” No! God says, “They’re My assemblies.” If they’re God’s, well, we’ll want to be there, won't we?

“My Sabbaths.” It goes on in another chapter in Ezekiel where He says: “And My children” (Ezekiel 20:21). He’s talking about their children, and He says: “They are My children.” Our children belong to God. Everything belongs to God. So, there it is.

“And they are My feasts.” Let’s just mention them. There’s the Passover. There are three main feasts, and four subsidiary ones that go with them, so there are actually seven yearly feasts. So, the Passover, and then the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is for a week immediately after the Passover feast. Each family in Israel was required to prepare before that feast. They had to go through their homes. In fact, they had to go through the whole land and check out that there was no leavened bread in their homes, or anywhere.

Even today, Jewish families will do a little type of that. Sometimes the mother will put a few crumbs somewhere on a window sill, or somewhere, so the children will learn the lesson. They come, oh, the children find some crumbs, and it’s made out of yeast bread! “Oh, we’re not allowed to have that this week! So, they have to come and brush them all into the dustpan and get rid of them! It’s quite a fun thing for the children if they see any crumbs. They’ve got to look in every part of the house, so they sweep them up.

There’s no leavened bread in the whole house, because that week speaks of Christ, who is our unleavened bread. There was no sin in Him. Leaven speaks of sin, and so, for that week, they have unleavened bread because there was no sin in Christ.

Then the Feast of First Fruits, which relates to Jesus raising from the dead. And then, 50 days after Passover comes Pentecost. That’s called the “Feast of Weeks,” or Shavuot in the Hebrew. In our language, it’s called “Pentecost,” because it means “fifty,” fifty days after the Passover.

Actually, it was 50 days after the children of Israel came out of Egypt and how God saved them out of Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea. It was 50 days later that He gave the law on Mount Sinai. That was 50 days.

And then, it was 50 days after Christ died and was crucified and rose again, that God came and outpoured His Holy Spirit upon the new church.

Isn’t that interesting that He brought the Word back in the Old Testament, and then on Pentecost He brought the power of the Holy Spirit. The Word and the Spirit go together. We really can’t have one without the other. We must have the Word of God. We must have it daily. That’s why we come, morning and evening, to get the Word into our hearts, to get the Word into our children’s hearts. Not only into their hearts, but into their mouths!

But we need more than just the Word. We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon the Word, so that it brings revelation of the truth, because we can read the Word and it can become a dead letter unless we have the Holy Spirit anointing. That’s why I love that Scripture in Isaiah 59:21: “As for me, this is My covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee,” the Holy Spirit, poured out upon them. “. . .And My words which I have put in thy mouth.” I love that! “My Spirit, which I have put upon you, and My words, which I have put in your mouth.” Did you notice? He doesn’t say “in your heart.” He says, “In your mouth.” God wants His Word to be not only in our hearts but bubbling up in our hearts and coming out of our mouths. It goes on to say: “My Word that is upon thee, and My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy children, nor out of the mouth of thy children’s children, saith the LORD, from henceforth and forever.”

This is God’s mandate to parents, the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon our children, as it says in Isaiah 44. Let’s look at that. Isaiah 44:3: “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon thy children, and My blessing upon thine offspring.” We need the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon our children and the words of the Lord in their mouths. Amen. So, that is Pentecost. The Holy Ghost and the Word.

And then, number five, the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah, the blowing of trumpets leading up to the Day of Atonement. That’s the sixth feast, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. That is the only feast where they did not rejoice and dance and feast. God told them that in all the feasts that they were to enjoy one another, enjoy the food, enjoy the drink, enjoy dancing. But on Yom Kippur, they had to fast. That was the Day of Atonement for their sins.

Then, number seven, the Feast of Tabernacles, where for a week they lived in booths. So, those are the yearly feasts, although, there were two more. They weren’t the feasts of the Lord, but they are two feasts that are written in the Bible.

One is Purim. Of course, we read about that in the Book of Esther, where Esther was saved, and the whole of the Jewish people were saved through the help of Mordecai. Haman had such a hate for Mordecai and the Jews that he wanted to eradicate them from the whole of the land. Esther was used. You know the wonderful story. That’s an amazing story. Of course, now they have the feast to remember that.

It’s a fun feast for children. Have you ever enjoyed it with your family? You can do that. What we have done, we haven’t done it for a while as all the children have grown up. It was actually more fun when the children were little. We would get them to all dress up. The girls had to dress up as Esther. Oh, they all loved dressing up as the queen. The boys had to dress up. They could dress up as Mordecai, or the king, or they could dress up as Haman. They would come in all their dress-ups.

Then we would have someone to read or tell the story of Esther. We would usually get Evangeline’s husband, Howard. He could really tell a story. Everyone comes with their little noisy banging toys. Whenever the word “Haman” is mentioned, everybody has to boo and yell. Then whenever Mordecai is mentioned, they all have to cheer. It’s all so very exciting for the children. And, of course, they get to remember this wonderful story, another deliverance for the Jews, which was also very powerful, because if the Jews had been destroyed at that time, our Savior, Jesus Christ, would not have been born. It was a powerful deliverance.

The other feast that we remember, and Jesus even came to this feast, it tells us in John 10:22-23, when Jesus went up to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Festival of Lights, or the feast of Hanukkah. Many of you know about Hanukkah and the time of the Maccabees when Antiochus Epiphanes was once again trying to destroy and eradicate the Jewish people. He wanted them wiped out.

But these Maccabees rose up, and it was amazing how God used them to deliver the Jewish people. They were able to get back the temple. When they got back the temple, it was totally a mess, and grown over. Everything had to be renewed. Of course, all the furniture in the temple had to be brought back. The table of showbread and the table of incense and the beautiful golden candelabra which was made out of one piece of pure gold.

Of course, they actually did find enough oil to light the candle for one day. But, how were they going to keep it going? They couldn’t use any kind of oil. It had to be the exact recipe that God gave in His Word to use. Tradition tells us that God miraculously kept that one light burning for the eight days while they prepared the new oil for the candelabra. It’s called the Festival of Lights when they dedicated the temple again.

That was also another time when, if it hadn’t been for those brave Maccabees, a father and his sons rising up to come against this evil to wipe out the Jewish people. Once again, if they hadn’t had this great deliverance, our Savior would not have been born.

These are great feasts to also remember and remember how God came and saved them and protected His people to protect His beloved Son Who would be born from this people. So, there we go. Time is up again, isn’t it?

I told you about these appointed times that God gave to His people to keep them coming to Him and to keep them together. There’s nothing like celebrations to keep us together as families and extended families. Now, you are welcome to celebrate these feasts, even if you’re not Jewish. You don’t ever have to do it under any law because they’re blessed times of revelation of Christ.

Or you may have other things that you love to do that you celebrate to keep you together as a family, and also as an extended family, and also as a church family. God loves the gathering of His people. He is a gatherer. But most of all, lovely ladies, gather your family together, your immediate family. Always think of how you can make things happen to keep yourselves together, to do fun things together, family things together. Become a togethering family.

“Father, I pray that You will bless every family listening today. Pour out Your Spirit all over them. I pray, Lord, that they will be family who know the precious anointing of your Spirit filling their homes. Also, Lord, that they will be families who are filled richly with Your precious Word in their hearts and coming out of their mouths. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

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

TEN P’S IN A POD

A Million-Mile Journal of the Arnold Pent Family

By Arnold Pent III

I love this book. It is the story of the million-mile journey of Arnold Pent, Jr. and his wife and eight children as they travelled through US and Canada together. The father preached along the way. But no matter where they were, or whoever they stayed with, they never gave up their practice of daily Bible reading and memorization. It will inspire you like no other book to begin reading God’s Word together as a family, but it is also a great adventure.

The author of this book wrote it when he was 21 years old, and it is still popular today Recently my husband I enjoyed meeting this wonderful couple in our home and he testified of not only the impact of the Word in his own life as a child but in the following generations. This habit is now continuing with his grandchildren.

Go to: https://tinyurl.com/10PsBook

WHAT DO PEOPLE SAY?

“TEN P’S IN A POD should be required reading. I still count it among one of the handful of most important books I have ever read.” 

~ Andrée Seu Peterson, World Magazine Columnist

“Your book is a breath of fresh air.”

“In a society where the Bible is rarely read, even in Christian homes, this book should be necessary (but enjoyable) reading for EVERY Christian family.”

 “How this husband and wife were able to take a family of eight children across both the United States and Canada throughout the 1950s and early 1960s in various old cars is a story worth reading.” 

—

The following book is a wonderful children’s book written by the son of Arnold Pent who wrote TEN P’S IN A POD.

A GOOD LIFE

by Jeremiah Pent

A unique and delightfully illustrated book. It is definitely a classic with 22 beautiful watercolor illustrations. The intent of the author in writing this book is to keep the attention of children but at the same time.

1) make parents think about ideas that engage their own minds and imaginations; 2) know the children are learning something valuable; and

3) display beauty, creativity, or ingenuity.

This book is about 10 different metaphors, something we should learn at an early age. The story follows a young orphan boy who leaves his hometown and difficult background to find a good life. As he journeys, he meets people of various professions, and each character gives the boy a different metaphor for thinking about life.

This beautiful story ends with a couple who hear the boy’s story and offer their home as his own, the promise of a new beginning.

This HARD-BACKED children’s book is worth gracing every home.

Go to: A GOOD LIFE - A Book for Children (and Adults) - By Jeremiah Pent (mybigcommerce.com)

 

 

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 271: God Loves Togethering, Part 1

Togethering begins with God, who is the triune God and who live in unity, harmony, and fellowship together. God also created man for the purpose of communication and fellowship. We are not created for isolation but for togetherness. That’s why God planned marriage and family life. This is the most wholesome and healthy way to live. Join us as we discover this truth from Genesis to Revelation.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, everyone! Good to be with you again—mothers, young people, and even children. Oh, I hope I have some children listening today! Now, children, any of you listening, put up your hands! Oh, I wish I could see you! I love to have the children listening, so I hope you are with us today too.

I’m going to begin a new series today. It is called “God Loves Togethering.” Each time I share with you about a subject I usually find that it begins with a series because we can never talk about it all in just one podcast. There is always so much to talk about. There’s so much in this wonderful subject of togethering.

God did not create us for isolation. God created us for connections, for community, for fellowship. He wants us to be a together people, not isolated individuals. I want to reveal this to you from the Word of God. And guess where it starts? Can you believe it? In the very first verse in the Bible.

Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning, God . . .” God. The word is Elohim. It’s a plural word for God. It’s not singular. It’s speaking of God in the plural, the triune God. God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, dwell together in harmony and unity. They are One, but not an isolated one, but three in one. Communicating together.

And then, of course, we read how God created man in His image. We go down to Genesis 1:26, same chapter, first chapter in the Bible. “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” So, we see again, how God is revealing that He is not just an isolated One, but One-in-Three, in communication and harmony and unity.

All the previous accounts of the creation, creating the world, it says: “And God said.” When He spoke, it came into being. But now, when He comes to create male and female, He doesn’t only say the words, “Just let it be.” No, He says: “Let Us.” It’s a personal thing. When He comes to create man, it is very personal.

We also see again this community even in the Godhead. God created us in His image. He created us to be someone who communicates. Firstly, He created us to communicate with Him, to be able to fellowship with Him. God longs for fellowship. He desires fellowship but He also created us to fellowship with one another. He did not create us to be isolated beings.

That’s why He created marriage. Marriage is the most beautiful thing for communication. You have one special person who is closer than anyone else on this earth that you can communicate with. You can share your heart. You can share what you wouldn’t share with anyone else. God gives this beautiful privilege. It was His divine plan that we would have this wonderful fellowship and communication in marriage.

But then it extends into family. Our families are meant to be homes of communication, of fellowship, of togetherness. We must remember that. In our building of our families, the building of our homes, we create fellowship with one another. We create communication. That’s why we have the table. We’ve been talking about that in the last couple of podcasts, of how important it is to come around the table and communicate. It’s a great place for communication.

This wonderful revelation of truth that begins in the first chapter of Genesis, goes right through, winding itself throughout the whole of the Word of God, right up until the last book, the book of Revelation. We see it again. We see it in Revelation 3:20, when Jesus was writing to the church of Laodicea.

He said in verse 20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with Me.” That is the most beautiful picture of communication. When God comes into our lives, He comes in to communicate with us, to talk to us, to listen to us, to fellowship with us.

That word “sup” is the Greek word, deipneō. It literally means “the chief evening meal of the day.” Jesus is thinking of that picture, of when the family comes together at the end of the day, or even extended family added to the table, and everyone is enjoying fellowship together, and talking with one another, discussing things. It’s that kind of fellowship that He wants to have with us. We see it in the beginning, and we see it right over at the end of Revelation.

And again, Revelation 21:3. We go over to this beautiful Scripture. Here John is looking into the eternal realm in verse two: “And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. They shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

So, it begins in the beginning, with communication. It’s not long after Adam and Eve are created that we read how they, each night, at the cool of the day, they walked and talked with God in the garden which He had created for them. The Bible says He didn’t come in the daytime, because God established work right at the very beginning.

When God created Adam, one of the first things He did to Adam was, give him a job! Yes, God believes in work, and He gave Adam the job of tending and guarding the garden, and working, guarding it. So, each day, Adam worked in that garden.

But as the end of the day came, and the beautiful cool breeze came, it was time to rest, and time to fellowship. God came, and He came . . . and He walked with them, and talked with them, and told them of His ways. What wonderful times they must have been!

In fact, I think that maybe Adam and Eve began their first day with God, because God’s first day after creating them was the day of rest. Remember that? Back in Genesis 2:2, after God had spent six days creating the world, “And on the seventh day, God ended His work, which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day, from all His work, which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.” That means He made it holy, because in it He had rested from all His work, which God created and made.

I am sure that Adam and Eve would have been with Him on that day, resting and fellowshipping, because the Sabbath day, which was later given as a law, it wasn’t then, it was just a principle. It was later given again with the Ten Commandments. It’s given as a day for us to rest. On that day of rest, it’s a great day to fellowship.

There are many who keep the Sabbath day. There are many gentile Christians who don’t keep the Sabbath, but they keep Sunday as the Sabbath. Well, I say that with a grain of salt, because sadly, so many Christians today don’t even keep Sunday like a Sabbath. They go to church, and that’s the end of that! Get home from church, go to their sports, go and do what they want to do. They haven’t seen the vision that this is a day of rest, a day that is holy, a day that is set apart for God.

It’s also a day for fellowship. I love to think of that day as a day of fellowship, not only with family, but with the saints of God, as we come together as the Bible says. Each week we come together, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but so much the more as we see the day approaching.”

Actually, when we look at the context of that Scripture, the Scripture preceding it is Hebrews 10:23: “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.”

Do you notice that that is all one sentence? It continues on: “let us consider one another to provoke [one another] unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” How can we provoke and encourage one another in good works and in our faith, if we’re not meeting together? The only way we can do that, to encourage one another, bless one another, is as we come together. We see that is God’s plan. He loves our togethering.

Now God has so many words for togethering in the Word of God. We have the words “assembly, congregation, convocation, together, gathering, fellowship.” Oh! There are so many words, and they’re repeated over and over. In fact, in the Old Testament, I found 12 different Hebrew words to describe our assembling together! (I’ve now found 14!) God didn’t only use one word. It wasn’t enough. He needed 14 different words to describe the assembling of His people together. Hopefully we’ll get onto those, and I can share them with you at some time. But at the moment, I just want to mention that.

We’re talking about how this is God’s plan. Psalm 68:6: “God setteth the solitary in families.” God wants every person to live in a family. Family is God’s idea. Family is God’s heart. Family is the way He planned for us to live. It’s a togethering lifestyle.

As I mentioned before, we must watch that even in our families, we don’t become isolated. It’s easy in families for everyone to become isolated and just do their own thing. No, we are a family. Dear mothers, encourage family life, not isolation. Well, there will be times, of course, when different ones want to get away, read a book, do something on their own.

But don’t allow complete isolation. Really work on gathering time. Think of the ways that you can do things together. Encourage doing things together. Plan doing things together. Promote it in your family. Be a togethering family! Amen? I hope you can all say “amen” to that.

I discovered an amazing Scripture a while back. It’s found in Romans 1:12. Paul was writing to the new Roman believers there. He says: “that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.” Can I just go over that Scripture with you? Let’s look at it a precedinglittle more closely.

We see here, as Paul is writing, he’s explaining to these new Christians that their faith is not an isolated faith. It’s not just you and Jesus. Well, yes, we can get away in prayer and have our quiet time and our special times with the Lord. It can be me and Jesus. But is can’t be me and Jesus all the time because God wants us to be a togethering people, even in our faith.

If we are isolated, we will not grow as much as if we are with the saints, because we do grow by encouraging and being with one another. He says: “That I may be comforted together.” Notice that word, “together with you.” Yes, not just me, “together with you by the mutual faith.” Once again, that means our together faith.

The word in the Greek is allēlōn. It literally means “one another.” Every other place where that word is used, it’s the Greek word (well it’s the English word) that’s translated “one another.” So, “by the mutual faith both of you and me.” Do you notice that? Not just me and Jesus. You and me. It’s a togethering.

I love the Passion translation of that Scripture. It says: “I yearn to come and be face-to-face with you and get to know you.” We can only get to know one another as we are with one another. We have to assemble. We have to get together.

“For I long to impart to you some spiritual gift that will empower you to stand strong in your faith.” Now this means that when we come together, and are side by side, something wonderful will be released. We can expect to be co-encouraged and co-comforted by each other’s faith. Do you get that?

Face-to-face, side by side, encouraging one another!

I did a study about one-anothering in the Word of God, and I found, guess how many one-anothers? I wonder if you can guess? Any children listening? Do you think you could guess how many times God says we are to do something special to one another?

Well, let me tell you, and I’ll see if you got it right. I found 41 different times where God tells us we are one-another each other. How about that?

Well, do you want to hear some of them? Maybe I’ll read them to you. Of course, there are Scriptures to go with them all. If you would like to get the Scriptures, well, I am happy to send them to you if you email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or you can purchase 100 Days of Blessing, No. 4, because these one-anothers are mentioned in that book.

OK, number one:

Admonish one another.

Bear one another’s burdens.

Bless one another.

Take care and concern for one another.

Comfort one another.

Have compassion for one another.

Confess your faults one to another.

Consider one another.

Do good to one another.

Encourage one another.

Edify one another.

That means to build one another up.

Esteem and delight in one another.

Fellowship with one another.

Forbear with one another.

Forgive one another.

Help one another with your gifts and abilities. We’ve all got gifts and abilities, special gifts that God has given to us. We can use those for remunerative help for the family, but in that Scripture, God says that He wants us to help one another just because of one-anothering. We don’t always have to get money for everything we do. We do it because we want to love one another.

Let’s see. What’s next?

To honor and prefer one another.

Show humility to one another.

Practice hospitality to one another.

Be kind to one another.

Lay down your life for one another.

Be like-minded to one another.

Look out for one another’s interests.

Love one another.

Have peace with one another.

Pray for one another.

Realize we are members, one of another.

Receive one another as Christ received us.

Rejoice with one another.

Serve one another.

Speak and sing to one another.

Speak truth to one another.

Stir up one another to love and good works.

Suffer with one another.

Submit to one another.

Teach and instruct one another.

Be tender-hearted to one another.

Think more highly of one another than you do yourself.

Wash one another’s feet.

Be on the watch to look after one another.

And weep and mourn for one another.

Well, how about that? All those one-anothers! And for most of them, we need to be together. These are beautiful things that we can operate in our own family life. You do need that list of one-anothers. In fact, you need all the Scriptures so you can read them with your family.

You can take one of them for a week, and you can say, “OK, children, let’s make this one-another something that is so big in our family this week. Let’s all do this together and work on it.” Then you can do another one the next week. You will find it such a wonderful blessing, because there is such blessing in togethering and one-anothering. Amen!

Let’s go on here. This is something I wanted to share with you too. That is, that when God decided, well, He did this back before even the world began, because God’s plans were in His heart before even the world began. He planned to take out of the Chaldees a man named Abraham, and to make from him a people, a people who would be a special people unto Him, a people who would be a holy people unto Him, although they haven’t always been a holy people unto Him throughout the years.

But this is God’s plan, and one day they eventually will be as God fulfills all His promises for Israel. But if God began to create a people, and an example people for all of us to follow, and those of us who would become the children of Abraham by faith, He established certain things. Now God is a God of order. We see this in many Scriptures.

I’m just thinking now of Isaiah 9:6, that wonderful Scripture that we all know so well, where it says, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice, from henceforth, even forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.”

We see that God orders His kingdom. He made Israel to be a kingdom of priests. Now we, who have been born again into His kingdom, in Revelation it tells us that He has made us kings and priests unto God. We have become part of His kingdom. It’s a kingdom that’s not just haphazard; just anything happens at any old time. No. God orders His kingdom. Did you hear that? Yes, Isaiah 9:7: “To order it.”

God planned times and seasons for His people to come and be in His presence, and also to come together. God understands who we are. Although we, especially those of us who now live in this age, and live in this age of grace, we are so blessed to receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, and to have fellowship with the Father, with the Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit.

As it says in 1 John 1:7, let me read that Scripture to you: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” He wants us to have fellowship with Him and also with one another. We can do that. We can do it 24-7. How wonderful, to just be able to talk to the Lord whenever you want!

But God also established times and seasons. So, I thought I would share some of these with you. Most of these, of course, are what God established for Israel. We today are the Gentile church, and we, specifically, are not commanded to come together on certain of these feasts. But did you know something?

We can. We can if we want to, because, interestingly, these feasts and celebrations, many of them are called “holy convocations,” meaning God calls His people to come together at a certain time and a certain place. They were very special to God, very special to Him. We can also enjoy them if we want to, because, if we go to Leviticus 23, where it talks about these feasts, it doesn’t call them “the feasts of the Jews,” or “the feasts of Israel.” It calls them “the feasts of the Lord.” They are the Lord’s feasts.

Every one of these feasts reveals Jesus. It reveals the truth about Christ. It reveals our salvation. It reveals so much of what He wants us to understand. To keep them can be a wonderful, beautiful thing, even for us as a Christian.

But He starts off with a daily meeting. God’s gatherings are appointments. Actually, that’s another one of the meanings of some of the Hebrew words for assembling and for togethering. Quite a number of the words mean “an appointment, an appointed time.”

Firstly, God establishes daily appointments with Him. Colin, my husband, and I have been talking to you about them in the last couple of podcasts, and how, in the tabernacle, we see the wonderful truth of the morning and evening principle and how God wanted His people to come and to do their offerings. It says, “before the Lord.” That means “in the presence of the Lord.”

And they were to come every morning and every evening to do the sacrifice of the lamb. They were to come every morning and every evening to keep the fire lit so that it would never go out. They were to come together every morning and every evening to light the candlestick to keep that light burning. They were to come into His presence every morning and evening to light the incense which speaks of the prayers of the saints.

We’ve talked to you all about that. If you didn’t hear those, go back and listen to those podcasts. You can also go to my webpage and pick up THE MORNING AND EVENING PRINCIPLE and learn more about it.

But that is the principle. It’s a daily thing, something God wants us to do daily, morning and evening. Something we do in our home every morning, every evening. We make sure that everything in our lives fits around it. We don’t fit this around what we have to do, or we’d never do it! We make sure we do this, and everything else can fit around it because it is so important.

Although you can go one step further, yes, because there were those in the Bible who not only came before the Lord two times a day, but three times. Do you remember how David came before the Lord three times a day?

We read in Psalm 55:7, where David said: “Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.” David couldn’t get enough of the presence of the Lord. He came three times a day.

Do you remember Daniel? Daniel also came three times a day. We read about this when he faced going into the lion’s den. It says in Daniel 6:10: “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.”

In other words, this is what Daniel’s habit was every day of his life. Even when he was faced with being thrown into the lion’s den for kneeling down and praying, he did not waver. He continued in his habit of three times a day.

You can choose; two times a day, morning and evening. I think that’s the least. Or you could even go to three times a day if you want. I love the story of the Pent family. I wonder if any of you have read that story called Ten Peas in a Pod? Well, I think I’ll tell you about it in the next podcast, because our time has gone. Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, I thank You so much for the revelation of Your truth. Lord God, You created us for fellowship, for communication, for togethering. Help us, Lord to be this kind of family. I pray that You will help us all to promote and encourage togethering times. Lord, You delight in our togethering times. We thank You. You are a God Who loves togethering. We praise You, and we bless You, and thank You. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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

TPT translation of Romans 1:11, 12:

“I yearn to come and be face-to-face with you and get to know you. For I long to impart to you some spiritual gift that will empower you to stand strong in your faith. Now this means that when we come together and are side by side, something wonderful will be released. We can expect to be co-encouraged and co-comforted by each other’s faith.”

 

TEN P’S IN A POD

A Million-Mile Journal of the Arnold Pent Family

By Arnold Pent III

I love this book. It is the story of the million-mile journey of Arnold Pent, Jr. and his wife and eight children as they travelled through US and Canada together. The father preached along the way. But no matter where they were, or whoever they stayed with, they never gave up their practice of daily Bible reading and memorization. It will inspire you like no other book to begin reading God’s Word together as a family, but it is also a great adventure.

The author of this book wrote it when he was 21 years old, and it is still popular today Recently my husband I enjoyed meeting this wonderful couple in our home and he testified of not only the impact of the Word in his own life as a child but in the following generations. This habit is now continuing with his grandchildren.

Go to: https://tinyurl.com/10PsBook

WHAT DO PEOPLE SAY?

“TEN P’S IN A POD should be required reading. I still count it among one of the handful of most important books I have ever read.” 

~ Andrée Seu Peterson, World Magazine Columnist

 

“Your book is a breath of fresh air.”

 

“In a society where the Bible is rarely read, even in Christian homes, this book should be necessary (but enjoyable) reading for EVERY Christian family.”

 

 “How this husband and wife were able to take a family of eight children across both the United States and Canada throughout the 1950s and early 1960s in various old cars is a story worth reading.” 

—

 

100 DAYS OF BLESING, 4

Devotions for Wives and Mothers

By Nancy Campbell

These devotions take you into God’s Word to give you meat for your mothering soul.

You will be refueled and strengthened each day.

You will be inspired and encouraged.

And you may be challenged too!

 

Go to: https://tinyurl.com/100DaysBlessingV4