LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 244: Mothers Are the Transmitters of God’s Truth to the Next Generation, Part 2

Erin Harrison joins me today as we speak together about elevating motherhood to a higher level. It has been degraded to a low state, but God wants us to come up higher, to come up to His marvelous ways.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Always great to be with you! And I am so excited today, because I have my dear friend and neighbor, Erin Harrison, with me again. We’ll be talking together today. Erin has done a number of podcasts with me. In fact, you’ll most probably remember that she did the “We Love Our Kitchens” series. We did that together, three podcasts and they were the most popular podcasts of 2022.

As I started last week, we are on this new series of transmitting God’s ways to the next generation. We’re going to talk more about that today. Before we get on to a new subject under this heading, I do want to give you one more testimony. I ended last week with sharing with you how Evangeline came to know the Lord at only four years of age, but how all these years later, that moment is still as real with her today as when it happened.

I’ll just read you what my son Rocklyn, what he said when I asked him, “Do you remember when you came to know Jesus?” He was also only four years of age. Rocklyn is 55 years today, so this is something that is still lasting all these years.

He said, “After my mother read the story of Nicodemus to us in our kitchen, I asked her if I could also be born again. I look back at this experience as the start of my conscious relationship with Jesus Christ. This experience burned into my life. Many Christians who are saved when they are adults see part of their life from a worldly aspect. Now they have a Christian aspect. I found that growing and learning with Christ in my life affected my understanding of everything in life from a God point of view. I saw and learned everything from a biblical perspective. This shaped my life.”

Remember, lovely ladies, we were talking about how it’s such an important thing to seek to bring our children to Jesus at an early age. The devil wants them. He’s out to get our children. The sooner that Jesus can get hold of them, the better. When Jesus comes into their lives, even at a young age, they have living within them, as the Scripture says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

That changes how we can train them in the ways of the Lord. How can we really change of our own volition? It’s only the work of Christ in us. When they’re being disobedient and rebellious, we can talk to them and say, “Jesus is living in you now. You’ve got to choose whether you’re going to say ‘Yes!’ to the devil who’s still wanting to get at you, and your old nature that still wants to rise up. But Jesus is in you. He wants to live His life in you. You can say, ‘Yes!’ to Jesus.” As we teach our children this way, they learn to walk in victory from a young age instead of starting it when they’re an adult. It’s a wonderful thing.

Now, OK, I will introduce Erin to you again, although you already know her. Did you read Above Rubies #99? Because Erin shared her testimony. Well, she’s written a number of times in Above Rubies. But she shared the testimony of her adopting Alex and Kathryn, both very special needs children. Oh, I can hardly even explain to you the miracles! It’s unbelievable! When Erin got little Alex, he was a vegetable, and was going to be a vegetable for his life. Tell us. 

Erin: First of all, I will give a virtual curtsy with my little dress on. Curtsy?

Nancy: Oh, yes! I should have told you! Sitting beside me I have this princess. She’s in the most beautiful gold dress. It looks so gorgeous! I wish we were on, what would you say?

Erin: TV.

Nancy: No! A Talk Show. But then, I’m glad you can’t see me! [laughter]

Erin: When we first got him, the first thing that came to my mind when I saw his little body coming forth out of the vehicle in the parking lot, I thought, “This is not what they told me.” They told me he was just a normal little four-year-old boy. Here he was, he had this huge head. His head was almost the size of his entire body. He was grunting and throwing things across, and he couldn’t walk. He couldn’t really do much of anything.

Nancy: Well, they said he would never walk.

Erin: He was tube fed.

Nancy: He would never eat.

Erin: Never talk. Never do anything! They didn’t give him very much hope for his future at all. In fact, I didn’t even know how many years that he would even live in that kind of condition. He had so many different medications and so many different . . . I had to have a room made just for him in our house. My husband made it, just to store all of his medical equipment, because he had all these different machines that he had to be hooked up to, just to help him to live.

Nancy: When he first came, you had 24-hour nurses coming in and out to keep him alive.

Erin: Right. That was a big deal because most of us in this homeschool, homechurch-type realm, in our communities, we often shy away from things that kind of put us into a precarious situation where we’ve got somebody monitoring everything we say and do, like you’re in a court of law. Right off the bat, I was on the edge of my seat, thinking that they could call CPS at any moment for any sort of reason because you hear about this stuff all the time. It wasn’t a real desirable situation.

The doctor even asked me if I wanted to change my mind, because he was like, “This is a lot! This is a lot to bite off. This child isn’t getting any better. We don’t blame you one single bit if you turn around and walk the other way, because this is a lot. You didn’t know what you were bargaining for when they called you. They were not very honest with you.”

That night, I told Nancy Campbell here, and I told my parents, and I told Evangeline, and they tried to give some wise counsel. Everybody told me to go the other way because it just seemed like such an impossible situation. Everybody thought it was scary and I won’t be able to have a life anymore. I would be chained up to this medical suite that I would have to be nursing over this child and dealing with all these nurses.

I had a dream that night, and the Lord brought me into. . . It was a very prophetic dream. I saw myself walking through a biblical-time type of scenario where there were people dressed in robes. They were all over the ground, crying and crawling around. They were scared. They were in pain, and they were reaching to me with their hands for help.

I reached towards one of them, without thought, because that’s the kind of person I am. I try to jump right in and help people when I see a need. The Lord Jesus’s nail-pierced hand went right though my hand and picked the person up. Then I knew that I was called to take one of the least of these. Because what you do to the least of these, you’ve done unto Him. It was a real calling. My husband and I knew that God had specifically called us to take care of this little boy.

It wasn’t love at first sight. When you have your own baby, you can’t stop looking at him. This little guy didn’t look normal, of course. You can imagine, when we first saw him . . . He doesn’t look anything like us, of course. That’s one thing. He wasn’t very friendly.

It wasn’t a warm cozy feeling at all, because there was this thing coming out of his throat. There was mucus and all this. It was a very, like you really had to get your hands dirty when you’re taking care of this child, with the diapering, and the changing of the trach, and all this stuff. It’s a whole new territory.

Basically, we CHOSE to love him. It didn’t come right off the bat, but we chose to love him. Now it’s as if he’s been grafted into our hearts as if I carried him in my womb. I feel like when I got him, he was like a newborn. I feel like I’ve nursed him at my breast, even though I never actually nursed him at my breast.

But I felt like all the nurturing that I’ve had to put into this child because of all his special needs, it caused us to have this eternal bond that is so divine. It's like we are one. This child is as if he was born from my own womb. That’s how God had knit him in and grafted him into my heart.

Nancy: It’s so amazing. Erin would not take sitting down the fact that he was just this little vegetable. She fought and fought and fought for him. Now, through operations, he is walking! Running! It’s unbelievable. I never could dream the day that I would see him running everywhere.

Erin: All the specialists, I had to fight against them, actually. I was like their worst nightmare. You can remember, Nancy, the times I’d come and tell you the other fight I had the other day. You guys would get so excited! “Whoo! I don’t want to go against that lady! Boy! She’ll get you gone!” [laughter]

I had to fight tooth and nail against some of the specialists and the therapists and everything. I had to fire doctor after doctor after therapist. You don’t have any idea how many people I have fired! I went to get different doctors because I wasn’t messing around. I needed a doctor that was willing to listen to me, and to help me help this child.

I’ve had doctors tell me that I was the worst pain in the neck, the thorn in their side, because they said they couldn’t believe that I actually thought this kid was going to walk. They were like, “He has cerebral palsy! He’s never going to walk! You can fix his leg until the sun goes down, and it’s not going to ever come right.”

I said, “But God can work a miracle on this child. I see it in his eyes. I see that he wants to do stuff and be normal. He was crippled because of all the drugs, and how they didn’t believe in him. He was completely left a vegetable in a cage, like an animal in a cage! It was absolutely detestable what they did to this child!

Nancy: And they were quite prepared to pour out this money from the government, all over him for the rest of his life.

Erin: Half a million a year!

Nancy: Yes, for the rest of his life.

Erin: Oh, yeah. He was like, what you call it, a cash cow. I believed, with all of my heart, that the neglect that was for this child was unbelievable and unacceptable. I couldn’t accept that any human being should be made money off of like that. I said, “I don’t care what I have to do. I’m going to get them all broke. They’re not making any more money off of this child. I’m done!”

I fought hard. This child, within about, I think it was about nine months, I was able to fire all the nurses, and I was able to fire all the therapists, and I was able to fire all of them and get him out of DCS clutches. I had adopted him, and he was starting to take off and thrive. He didn’t need a whole entourage of caretakers. He just needed a mother. He didn’t need . . .  

Many hands make light work. But sometimes, there are too many cooks in the kitchen, and it gets really confusing. Too many handlers and too many people’s pocketbooks getting filled up because of this child. It was absolute nonsense. Now this child has . . . You have to work really hard to find something wrong with him now.

Nancy: Yes. It’s unbelievable. I wanted you to know about this absolute miracle. Read the story again in Above Rubies #99, but the miracle is just far beyond when she wrote that article. It’s so amazing.

And then, Above Rubies #100, that latest one, Erin has two of her daughters on the front cover. Both Megan and Molly with their beautiful little babies. Little Isla, Megan’s baby, is my great-granddaughter, and Erin’s granddaughter, and Pearl’s granddaughter. That’s so wonderful.

Erin: We’ve been grafted into the Campbell family! We’re all family now, for sure, for sure!

Nancy: Yes, so great! Yesterday Erin and I actually did another Talk Show together, which we hadn’t done for about three-and-a-half years.

Erin: Right. Because I had my hands full, really.

Nancy: Because she adopted Alex, and in the midst of fighting for Alex, and doing all that she had to do, full time, absolute. Goodness! Three hundred percent mothering! She also adopted little Kathryn, a little Down’s syndrome girl. She has both of them.

Erin: I must say, Kathryn gives you a run for your money! That one there, she’s about ten Alexes! But we love her. She's amazing.

Nancy: We got back together and we did this Talk Show yesterday. Oh, it’s a real radical one. You’ll have to watch it. How do they watch it?

Erin: They go to my Facebook page, which is called “Keeper of the Homestead Blog.” You go on there, and it’s a regular Facebook page. It’s not a profile. It’s a business-type page. It’s my “Keeper of the Homestead” blog page. They can see this right there. It’s the first post right now. There might be added things by the time this is posted.

I’m going to try to repost it on YouTube. I’ll try to repost it also on my www.KeeperoftheHomestead.com blog page also, which is not to do with Facebook. But they’re all kind of connected. That’s how it works.

Nancy: So, you can get to listen and watch that. I’m sure you will be mightily blessed. Now, we’re here together. We’re going to do this together and then Erin has to pop over to Pearlie, because she’s got to do a podcast with her. So, you’ve really been poddied out today!

Actually, I think you and Pearl are going to be Pearl and Erin instead of Serene and Pearl, because Serene is in Mexico. Meant to get home last night, but planes have cancelled, and they’re stuck and won’t be home until tomorrow night!

Erin: So then, Erin comes to save the day! [laughter]

Nancy: Now, I want to move on to the very beginning. If we’re going to be the transmitters of God’s ways to the next generation, we’ve got to start at the very beginning. We did start last week, about bringing our children to Jesus at a young age.

But we’ve also go to talk about fathering, mothering, marriage, homemaking, because they are the foundation of a nation, the foundation of our lives. They are the very first thing that God ever talked about. I was just noticing this morning, in Genesis 2:24, where it says, and you all know this Scripture: “Therefore, shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.”

Do you notice that, in that one little Scripture, we get the whole picture of God’s plan for society? It’s all there in one little Scripture. OK, we start off with “one flesh.” That’s marriage where God brings a couple together. They become one flesh. Marriage. And then from that one-flesh union comes forth babies which God loves! That’s how He planned it. Babies come forth.

And, of course, who’s going to look after the babies? The father and the mother! And the mother is the one who’s going to be in the home looking after those babies. Then it mentions also his wife. Well, that’s marriage, too. She becomes the wife.

Isn’t that interesting that when God created Eve that she wasn’t just appearing. “Oh, well, now I’ve got to discover life! I’ve got to take on this adventure of discovering this beautiful Eden. I’ll need a few years just finding who I am and finding myself, just having this great life on my own.”

But no, she didn’t ever hardly have one minute on her own. God brought her immediately to the man and she became a wife. That was it. And that’s how God intends it. This is God’s plan. In fact, we read there about the father and mother. Do you know where the father and mother were?

Erin: Are you asking me?

Nancy: Well, I am.

Erin: I imagine they were at their home!

Nancy: Well, actually, they weren’t there. No. They weren’t even there, ladies. God says: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother.”

Erin: Now I get it! Wow! There it is! How profound! He left them. So they’re not there anymore! He went to cleave to his wife!

Nancy: No, no, no, but close. [laughter] There were still no father and mother!

Erin: What??

Nancy: Because there was only Adam and Eve. But let me tell you, ladies, they weren’t there.

Erin: I thought you were talking about Adam and Eve! [laughter]

Nancy: No. But this is the amazing thing! The amazing thing, ladies, is that God is speaking forth the roles of father and mother before we have ever, ever seen them. Nobody had seen a father or mother. Nobody knew what He was talking about.

But God is establishing the role, even before we have ever seen an actual father and a mother. Isn’t that incredible? God is revealing His plan, how that all of society comes from father and mother. God establishes it there even before we see them in reality.

Erin: Wow!

Nancy: It is so amazing, so amazing. We see this again, over in Genesis 3:20. Here, this is where Adam is naming his wife. It says: “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” Well, Eve was not a mother when Adam called her “Eve.” She didn’t know anything about motherhood. She’d never had a baby, never nursed a baby at her breast.

Adam had never seen a mother. Yet Adam is speaking under the unction of God. He was speaking prophetically. And once again, this prophetic word comes forth. God is establishing motherhood before we’ve ever seen a mother. Isn’t that amazing?

Erin: It’s so amazing! I’m so embarrassed! [laughter]

Nancy: Oh, no! You don’t have to be embarrassed.

Erin: Adam and Eve! We were talking about . . .

Nancy: I explained fathers and mothers, didn’t I?

Erin: Yeah, but you really tricked me! That was tricky.

Nancy: Trick! Trick question! A trick question but I think most people never even really think about it. But it makes us think about it, doesn’t it? You see, this shows the value that God puts upon father and mother. It’s His plan. He established it. It’s His way. God does not have another plan.

Erin: Amen!

Nancy: He doesn’t.

Erin: It’s a good plan!

Nancy: Erin and I have been talking at different times and just saying how we believe that it’s the hour to elevate fatherhood and motherhood, marriage, homemaking. This is what God established in the beginning.

Because God established it, the devil hates it! And he has, from the beginning, tried to pull it apart. He tries to destroy. He tries to destroy marriages. He tries to destroy fatherhood. He tries to woo mother’s out of the home. But I believe we’ve got to get the truth, and we’ve got to embrace it. We’ve got to do it in a way that we’ve never done it before.

Erin: Amen! And then the enemy also wants to get women to stop having children because then they don’t have enough to occupy their time. As they have too much time on their hands, guess what happens? Devil’s playground when they have too much time on their hands. Then they become busybodies.

That’s another reason why I adopted two more children because I didn’t have a womb anymore. That’s a whole other story. Sorry. Don’t have time for that story, but I don’t have time to be a busybody because I’m too busy being a mother again.

Nancy: Yes, yes. Well, actually sometime you’ll have to tell that story, because it’s a pretty powerful story, isn’t it?

Erin: Oh yes.

Nancy: That’s another thing. The womb of the woman is such a powerful thing. The devil likes to get rid of wombs, doesn’t he?

Erin: It’s in my memoir. It’s advertised in your magazine. “The Memoirs of the Keeper.” Because the keeper of the home? The Memoirs of the Keeper was the first book. I do tell the story in there as well.

Nancy: Yes, yes. That was such a sad story. But you outwitted the devil!

Erin: We did! We sure did! And we’re busy as ever. I’m loving my busy season.

Nancy: I think it’s when we don’t have that vision that God wants us to have of the home, it’s drifting into the thinking of society. Of course, the education system, women grow up being told and educated and . . .

Erin: Indoctrinated!

Nancy: Indoctrinated.

Erin: Indoctrinated! Into all these perverse ideologies.

IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO LOVE OUT CHILDREN; WE MUST LOVE MOTHERHOOD

Nancy: Yes, and against motherhood! They are actually indoctrinated against it. When you come into motherhood, I know many of you have, you come into motherhood, and you have this baby. You love this baby! But you’re not loving motherhood because you’ve had so much indoctrination against it. Oh, yes, you love this baby, but, but, “What am I doing in my home? I should be out in my career. I’m not doing anything here!”

We have this whole confusion. We love our children, but we don’t love motherhood. I believe this is where we have to change, because it’s not enough to just love our children. We’ve got to come to that place of actually loving motherhood, because this is God’s perfect will. It’s His plan.

Erin: And it’s all in the perception that you have. If your perspective is, “Oh! It’s a drudgery! Oh, I’m such a slave to my home! Oh, woe is me, woe is me, woe is me!”

Or you can take, “Wow!! I get to be the most creative mother of the century! I get to get up every morning and I get to think of all new strategies and challenges for every day. I like to conquer and figure out. I get to be the queen of my home and I get to be the top chef, the best baker! I get to be the nurse, and the doctor, and the interior designer!”

Scratch all those careers aside, that junk! When you get to call all the shots, you get to do it all your way. You don’t have to have a boss telling you what to do. And then the drudgery of going to a job every day, and then coming home, and you’ve still got a panful of dishes, and you’ve still got to cook a meal. You might as well just give up those things and take on your whole career of motherhood with gusto.

Nancy: Yes! Absolutely! And I love the Scripture in 1Timothy 5:14, where it says: “I will, therefore, that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”

Erin: What does “speak reproachfully” mean?

YOU ARE THE QUEEN OF YOUR HOME

Nancy: I think that means that they can say adverse things. It’s a woman, and this is the thing. There is so much reproach against motherhood because I don’t think women have actually gloried in their motherhood. Therefore, there’s all this negativity about it.

But what does it say there? That women are to marry and bear children and guide the house. “Guide the house”? That doesn’t really portray it because the phrase in the Greek is oikodespoteo.

Oikos meaning “home,”

Despotes meaning “to be the ruler, to be the manager, to be the queen.”

Erin: Yes!! The queen!

Nancy: The queen! [laughter]

Erin: Yes! We love being the queen of our home!

Nancy: Yes!

Erin: There’s nothing more honorable than being the queen of your home.

Nancy: Yes. So, this is who we are meant to be, the queen. We are the boss. It doesn’t mean to say that we rule over our husbands. The Word of God is not saying that. But it’s saying that we rule our homes. We manage our homes. It is our domain. God has given both to men and women something within them that wants to take dominion.

God says in the very beginning, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and take dominion.” This thing is in us but God has given us the sphere of our dominion. It is our home. It is our garden. It is our whole sphere of what God has given us to make, to raise our families. And it can be as boring and as drudgery and as pitiful as we want. Or it can be as wonderful and glorious and amazing as we want to make it!

Erin: Amen, Sister!!

Nancy: It all depends on our thinking, our understanding of the truth, and making it what we want to be.

Erin: Joy and contentment is a choice.

Nancy: Yes, that is true. Well, we’ve got to close this session, but just as we close, just when you’ve already said it a little bit, Erin, just share again. OK, you wake up in the morning. How do you feel as you get up in your home?

Erin: I feel like life is a gift. I feel like, “Wow! I have another day that I can go out to my kitchen! Am I going to bake bread today? Am I going to make some yogurt today? What kind of meals am I going to plan? And, oh, am I going to organize a cabinet or something?” It’s just so exciting!

Nancy: Yes. It’s amazing how God created us. He created male, He created female, but all of us, to be created beings. Because He is the Creator. He has created us with this ability and this something within us that wants to create. When we are queen of our home, we have that freedom and that opportunity to create so much that is lovely and wonderful and precious and amazing as we make our home the sanctuary for God, and to raise our children. But we’d better stop, because we just keep going.

Erin: I have to come back and discuss more, because there’s so much more fun things to discuss about this!

Nancy: Yes, we’ll do that.

“Lord, we do thank You so much again. We’re always full of thanks to You for Your goodness, and all Your blessings. Lord, I want to thank You for Your wonderful plan, Your plan which You established in the very, very beginning. Lord God, it’s all there for us.

“Save us from drifting away from Your plan, from letting it go. Oh, God, help us to hold onto that which You have given us and never let it go. We ask it in Jesus’ Name. 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.

Links for you to enjoy:

TALK SHOW WITH NANCY AND ERIN

You’ll want to watch this, or maybe you won’t!!!!!

https://fb.watch/iMHraDwHw6/?mibextid=qC1gEa

To listen or watch tell the whole story of Alex on the TRIM HEALTHY MAMA PODDY:

PODCAST Ep. 316:
Erin's Story - A Child Nobody Wanted

Go to KEEPER OF THE HOMESTEAD BLOG

To see all the videos of Alex and his progress, Part 1 to Part 9. You will be amazed to watch this miracle.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 243: Mothers Are the Transmitters of God’s Truth to the Next Generation, Part 1

Are we drifting with our current liberal society or are we holding fast to God's truth? Are we effectively getting it to the next generation? Have all our children come to know Jesus personally, even our little ones?

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Today we are starting a new series. We, as mothers, are the transmitters of God’s truths, His ways, and godly traditions to the next generation. I believe this is something we really have to wake up about, precious ladies, because I am noticing that there is such a big drifting away from God’s truths and even from godly traditions.

We live in such a liberal and deceived society. It’s so easy to drift into what everyone else is doing all around us. We are truly, like God says we are, we are sheep. Sheep are beautiful creatures, and God loves to call us His sheep because sheep need a shepherd. That’s why we are His sheep. We need a Shepherd.

Nearly every other animal in the whole of the world can fend for themselves. But a sheep can’t fend for itself. It needs a shepherd. My father was a great sheep man. Of course, we came originally from New Zealand which is a sheep country. My father was a sheep shearer. He was the world champion sheep shearer. He was, in his day, the fastest shearer in the world.

Many times, I have walked over the fields with my father. I remember one time we were walking, and there was a sheep . . . it had got caught in a thicket.

My father said to me, “Come on, Nance! We’ve got to get this sheep out of here. If we don’t, it will die.” If any other animal gets caught in some briars or something, it can get itself out. But not a sheep. This sheep was totally stuck! It was upside down! We had to pull it out. We got it out, and then, it just went away. It was happy to go along with the other sheep. But if the shepherd had not come around to care for his sheep, that sheep would have died in that thicket.

My husband also grew up on a sheep farm. They had many, many sheep. He often tells of how he noticed a whole flock of sheep can be out on the hillside. If you have ever driven through New Zealand, you’ll drive through these beautiful green fields, covered with these little white sheep. They’re all there, munching away on the grass.

Sheep love to stay together. That’s another thing about sheep. They are a flock. Yes, and God calls us His flock, too. “You are My flock, and the sheep of My pasture.” Sheep are not individualistic. They love to be a flock. That’s how God wants us to be as His people, too. Because they’re a flock, they follow one another.

It can happen how one sheep can see a little hole in a hedge, and it wriggles through, and goes through into the next field. And, of course, there are other sheep nearby. So, they begin to follow. They go through into the next field. Now the sheep are way, way out on the hillside, because in New Zealand we don’t have little flocks of sheep like they do in the Middle East. A Bedouin shepherd will have his little flock of maybe 15 or 20 sheep, sometimes smaller even.

But in New Zealand, we have thousands of sheep in our flocks. There are these sheep away over there on the hillside. They have no idea what these sheep are doing . . . just little by little, going through the hole in the fence. It may take a few days, or more, but eventually that whole flock of sheep are in the next paddock. Well, that’s actually what we call our fields down in New Zealand, a paddock. And there they are. They don’t know they are in a new paddock. They have no idea! But there they are! Because they followed that one sheep.

That’s like us. Many times, we follow what is happening around us and what everybody else is doing. Even what everybody else is doing in the church. We don’t even know that we have come into a new field! We have no clue! We’re just there! And we’ve just drifted there. That’s what happens to sheep. We do have to watch carefully.

I’m thinking of Hebrews 2:1: “Therefore, we ought to give more earnest heed.” Do you notice some adjectives there again? I’m always reminding you of adjectives, aren’t I? The Word of God is filled with adjectives. Here it doesn’t say we ought to give more heed. No, it says, “we ought to give more earnest heed.” Two adjectives! “We've got to give more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time,” at any time, “we should let them slip.”

The Amplified Translation says: “We do not, in any way, drift away from the truth.” Most other translations use the word “drift.” It’s a good word. It’s a picture of, maybe we’re out, perhaps just floating, swimming, or even boating on a river. If we just let ourselves go, or let the boat go, it will drift according to the currents. It will always drift wherever the current is going.

Now, lovely ladies, we have got to guard that we don’t drift with the current, the current tide of our culture. We’ve got to make sure we stay in biblical culture, and that we don’t begin to drift out there in our liberal culture of our society today. It’s so easy to drift.

The Amplified Classic Version says: “Lest any way we drift past them.” That means past the things we’ve been taught, past the truth, and we slip away from it. Oh, my.

I think of how when we go to the beach. I love to go to the beach in New Zealand because it’s a, well, three islands. North Island, South Island, and Stewart Island. We are really just islands. We’re always near the coast, surrounded by the pounding Pacific Ocean. How I love to go to the ocean and swim in the pounding waves. It’s my favorite thing.

Of course, when, after being in New Zealand, we moved to Australia, we were there for ten years. In Australia we lived on the Gold Coast, right in Surfer’s Paradise. Of course, we were right on the beautiful Pacific Ocean. But when we came to America, well, now, we are in Tennessee, miles and miles away from the sea. First time in my life I never lived by the sea.

Now, we love to go down to the Gulf because we have a yearly Above Rubies Family Retreat there. We go down for that. If we do manage to have a family holiday together, we’ll go down to the Gulf again. It’s not the pounding breakers of the ocean, but it is wonderful water. We do love it.

If I’m out there swimming with the children, I will notice that we will always drift. Sometimes it’s just a very soft current. Sometimes it’s a stronger current. But we will always be drifting, either up or either down, whichever way the current is going. I will have to say to the children, “Come on, come on! Let’s get back! See our marker back there? We’ve drifted all the way down here! Come on, let’s all walk back, or swim back!” We’ve got to keep coming back to our marker where we went into the water. If we don’t keep coming back, we’re just going to drift further and further and further away.

It’s the same in our lives. I remember one day I was swimming with a friend. We were there together, and that day, we were at Laguna Beach in Panama City, Florida. There was a strong, strong riptide. My, I think it’s the strongest one that I’ve ever felt down there. Because I’m not challenged with the pounding waves like I’m used to, back in New Zealand and Australia, and it’s more quiet here. “So, I’ll just float on the gentle waves.”

But this time, when I began to float, wow! I was being carried away! It was unbelievable! I said to my friend Katie, “Hey! Why don’t we just go for a ride?” We lay out and floated and let this riptide take us! It took us right down, down, down, down, down. It was so glorious! We’re taken down like a sailing boat although we were only floating with this incredible, strong riptide.

Eventually, we thought, “Help! How far are we getting away? We’d better get out!” We got out, and it took us about half an hour to walk back to where we got in the water. It certainly didn’t take us that long to get down! We just ripped down there on this riptide. It was so fantastic, but we had to have a big walk back.

The further we let the tide take us, the harder, and often the more difficult it is to get back. The best idea is to not let ourselves drift! But that we keep coming back, keep watching to see where we are, that we are not just floating further and further away.

Well, there’s always that tide taking us away. But at this time, at this time in our society, I think we are facing a really strong riptide. It’s taking people down the current of destruction, and down the current of deception very, very quickly. Things are happening quickly. They are even changing our language quickly. It is amazing.

Most of you are aware, I am sure, that they have now changed already the dictionary meaning of the word “woman.” Most dictionaries all had a similar meaning for the word “woman.” The Johnson’s Dictionary said, “the female of the human race.”

The Cambridge Dictionary, a very popular dictionary, called, past tense, a woman “an adult female human being.” But last year, on the 27^th of October, 2022, they have now added a new meaning of the word “woman”: “An adult who lives and identifies as female, though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.”

BUY UP OLD DICTIONARIES

Now they are including a transgender meaning of the word “woman.” This is now printed in the dictionary. I would encourage you, dear ladies, to make sure you buy up a few old dictionaries. When you’re homeschooling your children, it’s good for them all to have their own dictionaries. Dictionaries are wonderful things. We constantly need to be looking up and learning new words. Each child needs their own dictionary.

But I would caution you now about buying any updated dictionary. I haven’t checked them all, but we know especially, the Cambridge has already changed, and others will be following suit, we know for sure. I think it would be a good idea, when you’re looking in a Goodwill store, second-hand store, a place where they have second-hand books, just look for some older dictionaries. Buy them up for your children so that you make sure you’re not going to have these deceptive dictionaries in your home. Amen?

They’re changing so many words. You’ve heard, of course, that they now want to call “mothers” “birthing people.”

What do they call the mutilating of our precious young people and children, who only have to mention that they don’t know whether they’re a boy or a girl, and they’re confused? Immediately they’re taken into counseling, and then appointments with doctors to change them physically into the opposite sex. And what do they call that? “Gender affirming care.”

Such a beautiful euphemism. Such a lovely phrase. Sounds so beautiful, to describe something so horrific, of the mutilating of these young people and children’s bodies.

Now, what do they call “abortion”? “Reproductive health care.” They are changing the language to make it sound so nice, so lovely, when it is actually horrific. The word for “abortion” is “murder.” It is the outright killing of a precious child being formed in the image of God. An eternal soul that is growing in the womb, for this life, and for eternity.

So, dear ladies, we have got to watch, even in our language, that we don’t drift to this language they are bringing in. We must not give in! In fact, recently, my husband and I were listening to a preacher, Pastor Ray McCullum, speaking into what is happening in our nation today. It was so powerful.

THE SAME LANGUAGE

He was speaking about the building of the Tower of Babel, and how we all know that, at that time, they all spake the same language. You see, language has such power. For anything to happen, to change a nation, to change culture, they’ve got to get everybody speaking the same. So, they’re bringing all these new words, these deceiving phrases, into our vocabulary. They’re becoming more and more part of the vocab of this current culture. They want people speaking the same language.

Of course, we know what God did. He came in, and He confused the languages, and sent them all out into the world. That is not God’s plan. In fact, how did they build the Tower of Babel? They built it with bricks. Yes, did you get that? Bricks. Bricks have to be all made the same. They have to be uniform. They have to fit together.

That was the first incidence we read of a new world order of bringing in total tyranny. They had to make it with bricks. That’s what they are trying to do today, they want to make bricks. They want to make us all think the same, speak the same language, conform us to their way of thinking.

I REFUSE TO BE A BRICK

But listen, ladies. The only way that they can actually influence you is if you become a brick! You don’t have to become a brick, you know. I refuse to become a brick! Because God builds with living stones. That’s what He tells us in 1 Peter 2:5, “As living stones,” and that’s what God builds with.

Even back in Exodus 20:25, God is talking to His people there about building altars. He said, “You can build Me an altar of earth, where you could worship Me and listen to what I have to say to you, but if you want to build an altar of stones, you must never get these stones and cut them into uniform things. No. You’ve got to take them as they are.”

“If you use stones to build My altar, use only natural uncut stones. Do not shape the stones with a tool, for that would make the altar unfit for holy use.”

As God build us as living stones, He is the One Who shapes us into His image. But He does not start with something that’s already been cut and made uniform. He starts with the original, with the uniqueness, and that’s the wonderful thing about the Body of Christ. Every member is unique and different and special. Yet we’re all fitted into this beautiful building. But we’re not bricks! We are living stones.

HOLD ON FAST TO TRUTH

So, ladies, we have got to hold on, hold on to the truth.

I love Revelation 3:11: “Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Hold it fast.

Job 27:6: “My righteousness I hold fast, and I will not let it go.” Don’t you love that?

We’ve got to get our convictions strong, get our affirmations strong. I love affirmations, don’t you? Get some good affirmations and speak them out and hold onto them. Hold onto God’s Word. Memorize His Word so you can speak that out.

God’s testimony of Job, what did God say about Job? “Job holdeth fast his integrity.” He was speaking to Satan at the time. “Although thou movest me against him, to destroy him without cause.” And yet God said to Satan: “He holds fast his integrity” (Job 2:3).

Proverbs 4:13: “Take fast hold of instruction. Let her not go. Keep her for she is thy life.”

So, ladies, I want to talk to you about this. About holding on, holding fast, not letting the truth go, not letting it slip away, not allowing ourselves to drift with the current of this society! Oh, no, let’s be those who hold fast.

Well, there are going to be many things that we will talk about as we hold fast and transmit them to the next generation, because if we don’t hold them fast, how will we pass them on to the next generation? They’ve got to be, not just something, “Oh, well, yeah, I believe that.” No, we’ve got to strongly believe it. It has to be a strong conviction, so much so that we are so desperate to get it into the HEARTS and MINDS and LIVES and MOUTHS  of our children and the generations to come.

Yes, and this is what God wants us to do. I often quote this Scripture to you and I want to give it to you again, because it is so powerful. It’s God’s mandate to parents.

And He says, in Isaiah 59:21: “As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord; 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.”

Do you get it? We’re not mothering just for today. We’re mothering for tomorrow. We’re mothering for, not only our children, but our children’s children, and their children, “Henceforth and forever, says the Lord.” And it’s more than getting it into their hearts, which we must do. We have to get it into their mouths so they are speaking it out. Amen?

LEAD YOUR CHILDREN TO JESUS WHEN THEY ARE YOUNG

We’d better start, of course, at the beginning. We always start with first things first. I do believe that the first thing that we should be concerned about as we’re passing on God’s truths to the next generation is to lead each of our children to Jesus at a young age. Yes, I said “a young age.”

I find that it is amazing, even in Christian homes, that many children are not born again until maybe later in their age group. But I believe that God wants our children to come to know Him at an early age. Now, this can happen in a Christian home.

It won’t happen in a non-Christian home. I believe that every child is born with something of the light of God in them (John 1:9). In a Christian home, that light is going to be fueled and fed. It’s going to grow more and more. In a non-Christian home, that light can be stamped out. It will always be there, but it can be stamped out so that, oh, goodness me, nobody would know it was there.

But in a Christian home, a godly home, where the Word of God is being read daily in the home, and dear ladies, dear precious mothers, the Word of God shall be read daily in our homes. Well, I know you know that and I’m sure that that’s what is happening in your home.

But let’s look again at 2 Timothy 3:14, 15: “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Now, we know that Timothy learned from his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice, as they taught him the ways of God. We read that in 1 Timothy 1:5: “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.”

Do you notice what it says there? “From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures.” When did he begin to learn the Scriptures? When he was getting at an age of learning? Oh, no. Even before that. From a little babe. Now, that word “child” there in that Scripture is the Greek word brephos. That word can mean a baby in the womb.

Actually, that’s a word that was used when Jesus was in the womb. That is the same word that was used.

It’s used of a little baby. That word was actually used again, of Jesus, when he was a little babe, and they found him as a babe in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. “The babe,” it was brephos. It can mean a baby in the womb, a baby that is just born, or a little toddler, or a child.

I believe that Timothy was hearing the Word of God, maybe even while he was in the womb of his mother Eunice. Right from the womb! Dear lovely ladies, we can begin to put the Word into our children right from the womb! The last three months of pregnancy, the baby can hear, even in the womb. As you are sitting close to your husband and he’s reading the Word to you, and to the family, your little babe in the womb can hear this Word.

When the little baby is born, and you’re nursing your baby, you’re having your family devotions, and your husband is reading the Word, and you’re sitting there by him, you’re nursing your baby. Your baby is hearing. Now, your baby doesn’t understand, but it’s hearing the Word. The Word of God is not a normal book. It is alive. It is powerful. It is active. And that Word is going into the very being of your little babe. Even as your little one gets a little older, that Word, that Word is going in. Understanding can come at a very early age, yes, quite an early age.

I have a little book here. It’s called How to Have a Family Altar by Norman Williams. It’s out of print but it’s an amazing little book. You can actually find it on the internet and download it for free. Look out for it.

But he says in this book, “A child of three months is too young to understand Galatians 5:22-23, but he’s not too young to enjoy it. The greatest secret of shaping the life of the child from day one to six years of age is to make Galatians 5:23-23,” (that’s the fruit of the Holy Spirit), “the very spirit and life of your home. Then your child will literally feed on the love of God, both emotionally and spiritually. He will absorb that out of his environment, which will make him emotionally and spiritually healthy and strong.”

He goes on to say, “Our aim is to lead our children to Christ as soon as possible. Many parents object that a four-month-old baby is too young to understand the Word of God. Therefore, they reason he should not hear it. But God’s Word says: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Your duty, dear parent, is to let your baby hear the Word of God. Somehow, by the action of the Holy Spirit through the Word, that child will receive faith. Babies have ears to hear with. They have hearts to believe with.”

Again, in another part, he says, “The parent’s great privilege during the first six years is to make his child acquainted with Christ as his Maker, and his loving Friend. Before the child is three-and-a-half, he should be saved, and know that Christ made him and loves him. The child should learn to lovingly speak the Name of Jesus right along with the name of Daddy and Mommy.”

That’s pretty interesting. Do you mean to say that at three-and-a-half, a child could be born again? And come to know Jesus? Well, not every child is going to do that at that age, but there are some who will. And I believe the more that little babe, that little toddler, that little child hears the Word of God, the more they become ready to receive, because faith is built up in their heart as they hear.

What does it say in our Scripture, 2 Timothy 3:15? That the Holy Scriptures are able to make them “wise unto salvation.” I remember when my beautiful granddaughter Breezy, yes, Breezy is 13 now. You would think that she was maybe 18 or 25. She’s grown so tall. She looks so much older. She is so mature for such a beautiful young lady.

But I remember when she was three, and I remember, we were having family devotions. She was staying with us at the time. It was just amazing; the anointing and the presence of God came. My husband could see it all over Breezy. The presence of God was all over her.

He said to her, “Breezy, would you like to ask Jesus to come into your life?” And she said, “Yes!” She prayed this prayer after my husband. It was amazing. She went around singing. Oh, the next few days, she’d be making up songs and singing about Jesus in her life. It was so real and amazing! And she is still walking with Jesus today. Oh, I just love it when Breezy’s in the prayer meeting! Because in our prayer meetings, we don’t just have adults. We have the children. She’s only 13, but my, prays a long, powerful prayer just like any adult.

Just as I close, and at this point maybe I should share about some of our own children, just some of their testimonies. Let me see. Because I have these written down. The reason I have them written down is because when I was writing, it was quite a number of years ago, the book Gatekeepers of the Home, How to Guard Your Home, which you can get off the Above Rubies store. Go to aboverubies.org, and you can pick it up there.

This is a wonderful manual on how to guard your home. I take it from Nehemiah 3, where Nehemiah was building up the 12 gates of Jerusalem. Each one has a name. Every one has a powerful meaning. I relate them to the gates of our homes. But nothing in the Word of God is haphazard. Everything is perfect. Everything has meaning.

Nehemiah started at the Sheep Gate. That’s powerful. He started there. God orchestrated that he would start there, because what does the Sheep Gate speak of? The Sheep Gate is where they brought the sheep in through that gate, ready to be sacrificed. Every day there was the morning sacrifice, and the evening sacrifice of the lamb, all pointing to the Lamb of Calvary, who would one day die for our sins. The Sheep Gate speaks of the beautiful picture of salvation, and Christ, Who became the Lamb of God.

This is where we start in our homes, dear lovely ladies. We start at the Sheep Gate. We start bringing our children to Jesus, to the Lamb of God, who is able to save them.

When I was talking and writing about the Sheep Gate, I thought, “Wow! I’d better check out on my own children!”

So, I called each one of them and said, “Tell me, can you remember when you actually came to know Jesus?” It was so great to hear from them.

Pearl was five years old.

Let’s see, Evangeline was four years old. Evangeline is 57 years of age today. I’m going to read you her testimony that she shared with me. This was at four years of age. She’s 57 today, and still walking closely with the Lord from that moment of this happening at four years of age. So, I’ll share her little testimony. Maybe a couple of the others in our next session next week.

She said, “God saved me at four years of age. Even today, it is still the most vivid and powerful experience of my life. I was lying in bed. I still remember the orange bedspread cover. My mother came into my room and said, “Stephen has just asked Jesus to come into his life! Would you like to, also?”

At that moment, the world stopped, and the fight between the powers of darkness and heaven began. My whole body was shaking. With all my heart, I wanted to ask Jesus into my life. But the pull from Satan was so strong! “No, no, no!” The voice of Satan pulled at my heart. The struggle was powerful! Eventually I said, “Yes. Yes!” With all my heart!

I followed my mother in prayer, asking Jesus to come into my life. At that moment I knew God. I experienced the reality of God. He came into my life and filled me. He opened my mind to Him. I was saved for life. No turning back. I have known His powerful presence in my life ever since. Instantly I felt peace. Instantly I was not afraid of the big owl outside my room, or of anything. I’ve never been afraid of anything from that day.”

And so, there it was, four years of age! But now today, she is still walking with the Lord as closely as ever. Oh, I believe God wants to get the hearts of our children at a young age. Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, we thank You with all our hearts for the way You teach us, the way You show us the way. Lord God, we pray that You will save us from drifting, drifting, Lord God, into the ways of this current culture. Oh, God, help us to be those who stand strong and hold fast that which we have, that no man takes our crown. We ask it in Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 242: What Does God Want Us to Do in the Land, Part 14B

Our last session in this series, and we continue last week’s subject. What are your plans for Saturday or Sunday? How much time do you give to God on your set-apart day? One hour? Two hours? Or the whole day?

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 discussion of last podcast, about what do we do on the day we set apart for God? Some lovely ladies listening are those who keep the Sabbath and then there are others who keep Sunday. We’re not talking about which day, but what do we do on the day that we set apart for the Lord?

I had just a few more thoughts that I thought I would share with you. Last week we talked about it being a day of rest, and refreshing, and reviving of our spirits. Also, that it was not only a day of rest, but a day of rest. It’s not an hour when we go to church for an hour, or couple of hours, but a day. I think that we have gotten away from that concept of this day being a day set apart for God.

I’m thinking back to that famous old movie. I wonder if you saw it? It came out in 1981, so that’s about 42 years ago, Chariots of Fire. Did any of you see it? It’s a marvelous movie showing this guy, Eric Liddell, who went to the Olympic Games. He was a believer and did not believe in doing sports on Sunday.

But his final race was going to be on Sunday. He refused to run it, and although he was set to be the winner of, I think it was 100 yards, he did not go ahead. He stood his ground because he was committed to keep this as a day unto the Lord. Instead, he had to run in another race; I think it was the 400, which he won, although it wasn’t even his race. God honored him. But it’s an amazing movie and worth watching. Something to show your children.

We were mentioning about how some people are not actually committed to a church fellowship. I do believe that is so important, whether we are keeping the Sabbath, or keeping Sunday. We should be committed to the people of God.

Did you know that in the New Testament, the word “church” is mentioned 118 times? The word “synagogue,” where the Jewish people worshipped, is mentioned 57 times. We see how they were committed to a church. The word “church” is ekklesia. It means, “a Christian community of members on earth; an assembly; a congregation.”

We know that church is not a building. The church is the people. Yes, it’s an assembly of people. But the only way it can be an assembly of people is if we assemble! Yes, we have to assemble. Of course, that takes an effort.

That comes back to us as mothers, doesn’t it? We are the ones who really make it happen. We’ve got to even start thinking about it the night before. Preparing clothes to get everyone ready for going to meet with the people of God. Especially with children, we need to make sure that we’ve got all their special clothes ready for Sunday.

I think we should wear special clothes for Sunday, don’t you? That was always traditional. If we go back to the Word of God we read of how the priests had to change their clothes when they went into the Holy Place and before they came out. They didn’t wear the clothes they wore around in the Holy Place. They had to change into their priestly clothes.

I think when we’re coming to meet with God, we show respect. We show reverence when we dress nicely. Back in my day, we used to have what was called “our Sunday best.” Have you ever heard that little phrase, “Sunday best”? We didn’t have so many clothes in those days, so you had one set of clothes that was for Sunday. That was special for Sunday.

Today, we have so many clothes. I just went up to Goodwill the other day, and I couldn’t believe it. Everything was so cheap and then you could have half-price day. You can buy clothes for a couple of dollars, three dollars, maybe four at the most. Lovely clothes. You could actually have quite a big wardrobe these days and you’re not really spending much at all. It is different.

But I don’t, oh, please, lovely mothers, we have to watch our girls as they’re growing up. We live in this world where the fashion is not founded on godly principles. It’s founded on the spirit of the world. I don’t believe that it’s right for our daughters to wear jeans to church.

Jeans aren’t church clothes. They don’t belong to church, nor do any kind of pants belong to church. And yet there are some who will even wear, I don’t know what you call them, these totally knit skin-tight pants, which are so revealing. You might as well be naked. Clothed but naked, because you can still see every little nook and cranny and line. These are not church clothes.

Then we come to summertime. You want to go to church to worship God, and you’d think you were going to the beach! And here’s not only girls, but even older women, with shoulders bare. No, we don’t wear bare shoulders to church. We don’t wear clothes that show cleavage to church. We don’t wear short dresses to church. I believe they should be at least, minimum, to the knee when going to church.

You see, we are a holy people. God says: “I am holy; be ye therefore holy.” Well, it’s bad enough wearing those kinds of clothes around, let alone to church! It’s time we lifted the standard for church. Mothers, it starts with us. What are we wearing to church? Do we have a lovely dress for church? That is modest, feminine, lovely? We’re going to the house of God. We’re going amongst His holy people. We should be making it a holy place.

That’s another thing that it is called in Leviticus 23:2. God says: “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath rest, a holy convocation.” The word “convocation” in the Old Testament (I was talking to you about the New Testament. The word ekklesia is used 118 times, and that is “an assembly, a gathering together of God’s people.”

We go back to the Old Testament, and guess what, ladies? Sometime back I was doing a study on the word “assembly.” I found 12 different Hebrew words that mean “the assembling of God’s people.” Here’s one of them: “convocation.” It’s the word miqra. It means “a public meeting, something which has been called out, an assembly.” It’s a holy convocation, a holy assembly.

On the day that we set apart for God, we are to meet in a holy assembly. Therefore, we’d better be wearing clothes that are holy. Yes, they don’t have to be drab and boring, because as God told them when He was talking about the priests’ clothing, He said they were to be holy clothes, but also for glory and for beauty (Exodus 28:2).. We wear holy clothes, but beautiful clothes.

Talking about these different words for “assembly,” I’m not going to give you all the words, but we just looked at one there in the context of the Sabbath day, the holy “convocation.” That word is used, let me see how many times? Yes, 23 times that particular word is used for the assembling of God’s people in the Old Testament.

AN APPOINTED TIME

Here’s another one: Exodus 30:36. God is talking about how “in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee.” The word “congregation” is moed. It also means, “an assembly, a place of meeting, a congregation,” and it also means, ladies, actually this is the first meaning, “an appointment, a fixed time.” This word for “assembly” is used 223 times in the Old Testament.

If you go to the Strong’s Concordance, the first part of the meaning is “an appointed time.” Isn’t that interesting? Yes. I believe that we have an appointed time to meet with the saints. They had appointed times when God wanted them to meet back in the Old Testament. But now, we’re living in our day, and we also have appointed times. Different churches start at different times. Some start at ten in the morning, some at eleven. Some have it in the afternoon; some at different times.

So, whatever your church has, that’s the “appointed time.” And once again, I do believe we should try to get there by the appointed time, because this is biblical. This is biblical, precious ladies. These are little practical things we’re talking about on this day that we set aside for God.

We, as mothers, we were talking about the clothing. We have to get the clothing ready for our little ones. Yes, because, “OK, go and get ready, Johnny.” And poor little Johnny can’t find his socks and he can’t find his shirt. Then “Susie, are you getting ready?” But she can’t find whatever she has to wear. Then maybe they all come out in the wrong clothes. You have to organize the clothes.

Of course, even from your little ones, dear ladies. I was noticing, just been noticing lately, how most children today, most children are clothed in pants and jeans and so on. That’s the clothing of today. Somewhere along the way, mothers have just fitted into the clothing of our worldly society. Now they come to church, yes, even our fellowship. Children! They’re in pants, they’re in jeans, coming to church.

But that’s not their fault. It’s mothers. The mothers are dressing little ones. The mothers are dressing them in these clothes. They are dressing them like this, even to come to church. We’ve lost this along the way, ladies. It’s time we brought a greater reverence and respect into the house of God, which is the assembling of His people. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a house church, or a great big church, or a cathedral. Whatever it is, it’s not the building, it is the assembling. But in the assembling, we come dressed appropriately.

So, the night before, we are checking out for our little ones, their clothes. We have them ready for them to get up and get dressed into so that we’re not screaming around, trying to find things. We are preparing to be ready for the appointed time.

I know some mothers who have found that on Saturday night, they will put their clock, their watch, their whatever, they will put it an hour ahead, or a half an hour ahead, so that when they’re looking at the time, they think, “Oh, wow, OK.” And then, “Wow,” they can get to church early, or on time, because usually it’s so easy to be late. But they can eventually, actually, get there on time if they set their watch ahead, although a lot don’t even wear watches today. But whatever you use for your timing.

It is an appointed time. In that same Scripture, it says: “In the tabernacle of the congregation.” That’s the word for the “appointed time,” the assembling of His people. “Where I will meet with thee.” There is another word. “Meet” is another Hebrew word for “assembly.” It means, once again, “an appointed time, to meet at a stated time, to summon an assembly together.” It has both meanings, once again, of assembling together, but at an appointed time, at a stated time. Wow!

Now, I’m not making all this up, ladies. It’s just the Word. I think we have to be reminded of the Word, don’t we? We have to come back to His Word. We get away from it. I can see how much I have got away from things; how we lived in the early days.

Even in my lifetime, which is like a blink of my eye, as I said before, was it last session? I lived in the days when not only every Christian family set aside their day unto the Lord, but even the secular. They may not have been doing it unto the Lord, but they had to have that day, because no shops were open. They couldn’t do much on that day. No sports, no shops, no nothing. Well, now, of course, there’s everything. Just a reminder about it’s not just a day of rest, it’s a day of rest.

OK. We’re not only getting ready to go and meet with the people of God. We’re getting the clothes ready. We’re encouraging our teen daughters, that they will wear something lovely and beautiful to church. We’re showing them that church is a special thing, and such a wonderful privilege, and the greatest day of the week, where we say, “Oh, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord!” (Psalm 122:1). That should be our attitude.

A DAY FOR GOD AND A DAY FOR HIS PEOPLE

Then what are we going to do? Come home, and “OK, we’re home! Throw off all our church clothes and let’s get out! We’ll go to this sport, or we’ll do this, or go to this entertainment! Or we’ll just turn on the TV and watch sports!” That’s what happens in many homes. Dear ladies, it’s not just church. It’s a day. A day. A day. A day for God, and a day for His people.

A WONDERFUL DAY FOR HOSPITALITY

I think it’s the most wonderful day for hospitality. All throughout our lives, we have done one thing or the other. If the church that we have been involved in does not have a fellowship meal after the service, well, we will come home and bring guests with us. For many years, pastoring in New Zealand, and then Australia, this was actually what we did. We showed hospitality.

We would invite families, and young people, and whoever, home to have a meal with us. Oh, it is such a beautiful thing, ladies. It’s sort of a let-down to come home from being in the presence of God and with the people of God, and just come home, and you’re on your own. It’s boring!

Oh, I can remember one time. Oh, we had families every Sunday. Some Sundays we’d end up with about 30 people around. They couldn’t fit around our table, so we’d have people around our big table. Then our children would have friends sitting around somewhere else, and so on. I can remember one time thinking, “Oh, goodness me! I just think I need a rest!” So, I said to my husband, “Darling, let’s just not ask anybody next Sunday. Let’s just have the day to ourselves.”

So, we did. We didn’t ask anybody. We came home to, you know what? It was the most boring Sunday of our lives. We came home. We looked at each other. There’s no one else to talk to. The children were bored out of their brains, so we never did it again! Ever. We’ve always invited people.

Well, the logistics of this have been different also in different countries. Back in New Zealand, where it’s a sheep country, a typical New Zealand meal is roast lamb. Well, it’s not really roast lamb. It’s roast hogget or roast mutton, because we export our lamb. We would eat either the hogget, which is a year-old lamb, or we’d eat one that is older and bigger, which can feed more people.

So, I would put on a big roast of mutton, that’s an older sheep, in the oven, and put potatoes, pumpkin, kumara (that’s our New Zealand sweet potato) around the meat. It would be slowly cooking while we were at church. Yes, I did have the element on, but it was on pretty low. We’d cook it low and slow, long and slow. It would be cooking, and I would have frozen peas ready. I would have a salad made, and maybe something else. That was all prepared the day before.

Then, when we came home, we would often get hot bread from the shop on the way home, because that’s what you could do. I’ve always made our homemade bread, but we allowed our children to have hot white bread on Sundays. Oh, they thought it was amazing! Of course, now, we’ve got shops open on Sundays. So, we would buy hot bread and bring it home.

Some people would come and not bring anything. Others would also bring something. And somehow, we would feed everybody. Then we moved to Australia. Well, now I just couldn’t get my big legs or shoulders of roast lamb, or hogget, over there. It was too expensive.

I would, usually the night before, or early that morning, I would cook up a great big pot of chili, or something like that, that would feed a multitude. And once again, have a salad ready. Once again, we’re bringing loaves of hot bread home from the shop, loads of it. Everybody loved hot bread. So, we would do that and feed all the people that came. Oh, it was so glorious and wonderful! Fellowship with God’s people is so amazing!

I remember in our church in New Zealand, we encouraged everyone to show hospitality, because the Bible says, “Show hospitality to one another” (1 Peter 4:9). It’s biblical. It’s part of the lifestyle of the kingdom of God. It was the lifestyle of the early church. They not only did it once a week, they did it daily. They met daily in their homes the Bible tells us in Acts 2. We would encourage everyone to show hospitality. They learned as they came into our homes, and “Wow! This is so great!”

So, they began asking people into their homes. And then, it became a problem, because unless you called somebody during the week, if you were just asking someone there on Sunday, you wouldn’t be able to find anybody to ask home, because everybody had already been asked home! Oh, what a glorious church where everybody was showing hospitality to one another!

Well, now, we are doing it differently. And here, currently, we have church in our home out here on the Hilltop. It’s called The House of Prayer. But it’s not really a little lounge church, because we have our big Above Rubies packaging room. We can fit up to 100 people in this room, which such a glorious blessing.

CHURCH IS TOGETHERING

After our service here on the Hilltop, we have fellowship meal. And this is also such a blessing! Oh, it’s such a blessing because we can fellowship with one another. Church is not just coming to sit and listen to a message and go home. No, it is one-anothering! It’s togethering with God’s people.

So much of the blessings of being together is when we’re sitting talking over the meal. You begin to find out, oh, where the people really are. What are their needs? And what are their visions? What are their passions? What is happening in their lives? What are things we can do together? Oh, goodness me, every Sunday is so amazing! Even in just doing that, I still don’t get time to talk to everyone! But at least everyone can be talking with different people.

And the children can go out to play. They have fellowship. The young people have fellowship, and then they can play volleyball together and hang out. Play soccer together. Many families hang out right until the late afternoon. So, it is a togethering, an assembling with the people of God. That is just how He intends it to be. I think we’ve got to get into our heart that it’s not just going to church. It is a day unto the Lord. Also, a day for His people.

And then when you’re not with His people, you will find the things that you want to do as unto the Lord and to delight yourself in Him. For we are to delight in that Sabbath Day, or the day that we keep unto the Lord.

And another thing about it, it is a holy day. Yes, I did mention that when we were talking about, what are we wearing to church? What are our children wearing to church? Make sure the clothes are appropriate for a holy day.

Isaiah 58:13-14: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure,” like, “Oh, OK, let’s go to the zoo today!” Or “Such a beautiful day!  Why don’t we have a picnic?” No. “Nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” 

Do you notice there, God calls it “My holy day”? Yes. Then, He also calls it “the holy of the Lord.”

The Knox translation says, “Walk warily. Keep My Sabbath unprofaned. It is a day I have sanctified, not for thy self-pleasing. A precious thing the Lord has made, holy and honorable.”

Now the word “holy day” is the word kadash. That’s the Hebrew word for “holy” in the Old Testament. It means “apartness, holiness, sacredness, uncommonness, withheld from ordinary use.” We see that it is a day that’s set apart, a day that is unto the Lord, because the word “holy,” kadash, actually means “set apart.” It’s not the sort of thing, “Oh, yes, that’s a holy person.”

No, “holiness” means a set-apart person, so a “holy day” is a set-apart day. It’s a day when we don’t do things we do on other days. And then we will do things that we don’t do on those other days, like meeting with the people of God, and assembling for our church service. Also, fellowshipping and showing hospitality to the people of God. Also, maybe having more time to spend in His Word, or read and meditate on wonderful, wholesome books and commentaries, and learning more of His Word.

Actually, there are two words for “holy” in that Scripture. The “holy day” is kadash, and then, the “holy of the Lord” is kadosh, just slightly similar, meaning “sacred, ceremonially and morally selected, pure, holy, consecrated, separated to God’s service.” It’s a separation.

Exodus 19:6: “And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” That’s who we are. We are a holy nation, set apart unto God, and we keep a holy day, whether we keep it Saturday or Sunday. And we keep it holy unto the Lord, a day that we keep holy unto the Lord. Amen?

Oh, wow! I just hope you’ve got that. Actually, I’ve got another couple of verses here that really speak to me. Oh, goodness me, I can’t believe where we’ve come to! I notice here in Exodus 16:29. Here it’s talking about the seventh day. On the sixth day, they had to go out, and they had to pick up the double portion. But on the seventh day they were not allowed to.

“Abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day” (Exodus 16:29). In other words, don’t go out to find the food because there won’t be any there! Wow! I have to, oooh, repent, because I have got, wow, I have gone out and purchased on Sunday, because now all the shops are open!

And then I read in Nehemiah 10:31: “And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the Sabbath day.” My, I should have read that verse before, because when was it? Sunday night! We went out to get some groceries. Wow! But then, of course, the Sabbath is actually from sundown to sundown. So, we did go out in the evening. But I could have gone in the afternoon, not even thinking! Wow!

Really, I’m not keeping up with really what God’s heart is for the day that we set apart unto Him. Because it’s just so easy to fall into the secular world, isn’t it? But we don’t belong to the secular world. We’re set apart unto God. My! Am I really going to do this? I am challenged. Yes.

No. 15. YOU MUST PASS THIS GOOD LAND ON TO YOUR CHILDREN

Oh, I might get a little bit late, but I just want to finish up, because if I tell you number 15, we have finished this series! Can you believe it? Number 15, of WHAT GOD WANTS US TO DO IN THE LAND. You must pass this good land to your children.

Deuteronomy 1:8: “Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed [children] after them.”

This land of motherhood that we are embracing, that we are living in, is not just for us and our children now. It’s for our children’s children, and our children’s children’s children, and the generations to follow. We have got to pass on this truth, and His ways, to the next generation.

Deuteronomy 12:28: “Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee forever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God.”

We read in 1 Chronicles 28:8: “Seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God: that ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you forever.”

Jeremiah 7:6-7: “If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.”

Dear precious ladies, we have already lost so much that God wants us, as mothers, to pass on to our children and the next generation. We are responsible to pass it on to our children so they will pass it on to their children. Can we do that? Oh, may God save us from dropping the baton to the next generation.

I’m now going to start a new series next week, calling it “We Are the Transmitters of God’s Truth to the Next Generation.” We’re going to talk about some of the things we need to be passing on—God’s truth, many practical ways, even things in regards to etiquette and protocol which are being lost to this generation. So many things we’ve got to keep passing on. We’re going to talk about some of them.

So, let’s pray.

“Lord God, dear Father, help us to be lovers of Your precious Word, always seeking Your truths, seeking Your ways, that we will walk in Your ways, not to walk in the ways of the world, but, Lord God, You have chosen us to be a set-apart people unto You.

“You have even chosen us to have a day that’s set apart unto You, a day, Lord God. Oh, help us, Lord, to not just give an hour or two, but to give this whole day to You, a day that we choose to set apart unto You. And that You will be first in our lives, and in the lives of our children, and in the lives of our succeeding generations. We ask it in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

 

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 241: What Does God Want Us to Do in the Land, Part 14A

What are your plans for Saturday or Sunday? Do you set one of those days aside for God and for His people—and what do you do?

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Always great to be with you. This morning, before I came to sit down here and do this podcast with you, I received last year’s stats from our podcast that we do with Buzzsprout.

I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that LIFE TO FULL is actually in the top five of all Buzzsprout podcasts. That’s wonderful, isn’t it? And I found out that it’s actually going to 98 different countries. That’s wonderful too! So, whatever country you are in today, wow! It is so great to have you listening and to know that we can all be connected together as we do these podcasts together.

And what else did I find out? The most popular podcast of last year was the series, “WE LOVE OUR KITCHENS, Parts 1-3.” I wonder if any of you listened to them. Well, lots of you must have been because that was the most popular one, especially number three. That was a very special one. I did those podcasts with Erin Harrison. If you never got to listen to them, you can go down the list and pull them up. “WE LOVE OUR KITCHENS.” The other two were from “THE LAND OF MOTHERHOOD” series.

And then, I found out that most of our listeners are in the USA, which, of course, that would be right. Then comes Canada. Then Australia, then UK, then New Zealand (down at the bottom of the world, where I originally came from). Then, of course, there will be lovely mothers of 93 other countries. How wonderful! May the Lord pour out His blessings upon you all! Upon your husbands and upon your precious children that God has given to you.

May you be blessed as you listen to these podcasts this year of 2023. Do encourage other moms to listen because they are especially for wives and mothers. There are thousands of podcasts going on in the world, but there are really not so many that are specifically geared to the mother in the home, and encouraging her to be in the home, because this is where God has placed her. So, do encourage your friends and your enemies, and everyone you know to listen. Send it out on your social media or whatever. Let’s encourage many more mothers to listen to these podcasts.

COMING FAMILY RETREAT FLORIDA - APRIL

I was also talking to Allison Hartman yesterday. Allison and her husband Daniel are the ones who organize the Above Rubies family retreats down at Laguna Beach in Florida. She was telling me that Laguna Beach Christian Retreat Center have now just finished renewing 22 more apartments. That means that we can fill up 22 more apartments!

It’s already just about filled up for what we usually have. Now we have just got a few more available, so if you want to be part of this wonderful, glorious retreat on the beach in April, April 19^th to the 26^th, go to my webpage, AboveRubies.org. You can look up “Retreats and Camps” and look up the information there to contact them. If you can come, well, be in quick, because they are filling up fast too.

COMING LADIES RETREAT IN WASHINGTON STATE – OLYMPIA

There will most probably be at least a thousand who will be coming to this April retreat, but before then, we have a ladies’ retreat in Olympia, Washington state. Oh, we’ve had so many wonderful ladies’ retreats up there in Washington, year after year after year!

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to have them the last couple of years because they closed down. But they’re open again and we’re all getting together again! If you live anywhere in Washington or Oregon, or around that area, do come. It will be a wonderful time together. Go to the webpage and look up the information for that too.

All right. Now, we are plodding along in our series, “What Do We Have to Do in the Land of Our Motherhood?” I think we’re just climbing down. We’re getting it down, and I think we will finish either this podcast or the next one.

We’re up to point number 12.

No. l2. WE ARE TO WALK RIGHTEOUSLY AND UPRIGHTLY IN THE LAND

Deuteronomy 16:20: “That which is altogether just shall thou follow” (that means that which is righteous, and upright, and godly) “that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

Psalm 37:29: “The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever.”

Proverbs 2:21: “For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.”

 So, we see how God’s plan, His vision for us in the land, is for us to walk righteously, that we would be righteous families.

No. 13: HE WANTS US TO C HOOSE LIFE IN THE LAND

Let me take you to Deuteronomy 30. As you know, this book of Deuteronomy was God’s Word through Moses, God’s Word to His people through Moses, and it was a great big, long word! Deuteronomy 1 right up to chapter 34. The whole thing was a word to the people, God’s vision for them, His plan for them, His heart for them, and His commandments for them in the land that He was taking them to.

And, of course, we are looking at this land as our land, the land of motherhood. This is the land that God has given us. In Deuteronomy, over and over again, it says, “This is the land I have given to you. It is yours. I have chosen it for you.” God has chosen this land of motherhood for us.

This whole book of Deuteronomy is telling us how to live in the land, and what He wants us to do in the land.

In Deuteronomy 30:15, it says: “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil. And that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgements, that thou mayest live and multiply. And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.”

Verses 19, 20: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

In this land that the Lord has given to us, He wants us to choose life. Always choosing life. Amen? From birth, well, before birth, while a little baby is in the womb, right up until the Lord takes that one home, we choose life. From birth to the grave. Yes, we’re even choosing life at the grave. We choose life to that very moment.

We’re not helping people to die and helping people to commit suicide, even medical suicide. No, we’re choosing life to the very end, because God is the author of life. He will take that person, and He will take that breath when He chooses. God is in control, and we trust Him for life, because He is the God of life, and He is the author of life.

In this hour, we’ve got to keep standing for life, keep fighting for life, keep speaking out for life. We were all rejoicing when Roe v Wade was brought back to the states and reversed. That was a wonderful, blessed thing. And yet, we have to keep watching.

Even here in Tennessee, some of our Republican senators (these aren’t the Democrats) but the Republicans are now trying to weaken the law in our state. They want to weaken it so that abortion is allowed for either rape or incest or the health of the mother. Now, of course, that sounds good, doesn’t it? The ways of the world always sound wise. They sound good, just like the devil tempted Eve in the very, very beginning. He made the tree look wise and look good (Genesis 3:6).

But it’s not the truth, because a little baby that is conceived and growing in the womb is a separate life than the mother. Even though something as tragic as rape or incest, even in such tragic circumstances, we cannot murder life. There is never an excuse for murder—and taking a life in the womb is murder. These people are speaking out of ignorance. They don’t understand truth. You cannot counteract one sin with another sin.

I have to tell you, and I’m sure you also know people. I personally know people who have been born from their mother being a victim of rape. And yet, they are living beautiful lives today. Mothers who are married and have children! Their testimony is, “Thank God for my life! I am blessed! I have a husband. I have children. I am blessed to be alive!” In the eyes of these people who think that they’re doing something good, they would be dead. Murdered!

I personally know people who were born from incest. And these people are living happy, beautiful lives today. We do not have any excuse for the taking of life. Let’s be those who stand for life. We choose life. We stand for life. We fight for life. We will not be silenced as people would come to try and take life.

I was thinking of my little eight-year-old granddaughter. She is staying with me at the moment. Oh, every time we have prayer time, at the prayer meeting last night, this morning at family devotions, she’s praying this same prayer. “Lord, please, help us NOT TO BE SILENT, but to be a voice!” I love it! She’s got the message. We dare not be silent in the face of this evil because we are a people who chose life, and we choose life in the land of motherhood! Amen? And amen!

Number 14: WE KEEP THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN THE LAND

It’s interesting. God gave the Ten Commandments back in Exodus, chapter 20, when He brought them out of Egypt. They were there in the wilderness at that time, at Mount Sinai, and He gave them the Ten Commandments.

But here we come to Deuteronomy. It’s now at the end of Moses’ life, and he reminds them again. In Deuteronomy chapter five, he once again brings back to remembrance to the people all the Ten Commandments. He says, “I want you to make sure that you do them in the land which I have given you.”

These commandments are not just something we turn aside, or maybe we say, “Oh, that’s just Old Testament, or legality.” No, they came from the very heart of God. We won’t go through them all, of course, because you all know them, don’t you?

But I do notice, in Deuteronomy 5 here, I notice when it speaks of the commandment to honor thy father and mother, verse 16: “Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” So, once again, it’s reminding them, when you get to the land, make sure you keep doing these things.

What about verses 12-15? “Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.” And so, it goes on.

I do want to share a few little thoughts about this, but, oh, goodness me, ladies. Ladies, I do want to tell you I am not going to be speaking about or giving a discussion about which day people should keep. Now, the Bible says that we are to keep the Sabbath Day. There are so many commandments throughout the Word of God about this.

WHO DO YOU DO ON THE ‘LORD’S DAY’?

Many who are listening to my podcast, you are beautiful, faithful Sabbath keepers. And there are so many who are listening to my podcast who are also faithful Sunday worshippers. I’m not going into a discourse of which day we should keep.

But I want to go into, whichever day we keep, whether it is the Sabbath Saturday, or some believe the Sunday because that was the day of resurrection, the day Jesus rose from the dead—but whatever day we choose to keep, what do we do on that day? That’s what I want to talk about. What do we do on that day?

Before I do, I will read these Scriptures.

Romans 14:5: “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”

Colossians 2:16-17: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come.”

Other Scriptures speak of how all these things in the Word that we read about are shadows of the heavenly things. The Shabbat Day, the Sabbath Day is a reality, but it’s also a shadow of things to come. It’s a shadow of our rest in Christ. It’s a shadow of the seventh millennial day. It’s a shadow of the eternal realm of rest.

But it is a reality also. In fact, some people could say, “Well, I’m walking in the revelation of Shabbat. I walk in the rest of Christ,” and yes, that’s what we all need to learn to do, whether we’re Sabbath-keeper or Sunday-keeper. We all need to learn what it means to live in His rest, because that’s what Sabbath is.

But it doesn’t negate the day. The day is a day, a day that God has given, a day to rest. It has to be a day, because if we rested every day, we would be lazy! Because we wouldn’t be working. “Six days shalt thou work.” It is a rest in Christ but it is also a day.  

I know that there are all you beloved, precious ladies. Some are Sabbath-keeping, some are Sunday-keeping. Oh, how I love you all! And I have so many friends who are Sabbath-keeping, who are beautiful, godly women. And I have so many Sunday-keepers who are also my friends, and who are also wonderful, godly women. So, what we’re going to do is just forget about which day we are keeping and talk about what we do on that day.

I think this is important, as families, to talk about, because it’s a family thing. What do we do on Saturday or Sunday as a family? Of course, we, as mothers, are the HEART of the family. So, really, it gets down to us. What are our convictions for this day? Because that will really determine what we do on that day.

I will concede that our beautiful Sabbath-keeping mothers keep the Sabbath more diligently, more seriously, more holily, and more unto the Lord, than often Sunday-keepers. Somehow, Sunday-keepers, and although I love the Sabbath (we have Shabbat in our home, my husband spends the day in the Word on the Sabbath, we don’t do our Above Rubies on the Sabbath, but we have our worship day on Sunday).

SET APART UNTO THE LORD

But I find that so many Sunday-keepers don’t keep their day so seriously. Oh, they used to. I was brought up in a family of Sunday-keepers, but we kept that Sunday just like Sabbath-keepers keep the Sabbath, according to the Word. We kept it as a day of rest. We kept it as a day set apart unto the Lord. It was a different day than all the rest of the week. It was totally unto the Lord! I believe that’s how we must keep our day, whichever day we keep.

I just wanted to talk about a few little things. In fact, I was looking up the other day and found a study that I had done years and years ago about all the different things God talks about for His day of rest. I found 35 different things that God speaks about for this day of rest that He has given. I’m not going to give all of those to you. I just want to talk about a few little things, but firstly, as I mentioned, it is a day of REST.

Exodus 35:2: “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of rest” and many other Scriptures of how it is a day of rest.

I love this Scripture in Exodus 23:12. Let me take you to it. As we read this, I want us to read any of these Scriptures, taking them to us personally, whether we worship on the Saturday, or the Sunday, because we do need to have a day. God want us to have a day that is set apart unto Him.

THE REFRESHING

Exodus 23:12: “Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.” Isn’t that beautiful? God didn’t give us a day, “OK, there’s a day you’ve got to give to Me.” No, it wasn’t given like that. He gave us a day to rest and to be refreshed.

Say that word: “refreshed.” Oh, don’t we all need refreshing? God is so good, isn’t He? He gives us day and night. He gives us the night to go to sleep and be refreshed. So many of you lovely mothers, especially with little ones all around you, you come to the end of the day, and you’re so tired! Oh, sometimes you feel totally worn out. You can hardly keep your eyes open. And you just go to bed—and you wake up refreshed.

Oh, maybe the baby woke in the night. Well, if you’re nursing your baby and bring him or her to bed, you’ll find that will be much easier. You’ll go back to sleep and you’ll both sleep. You will still wake up refreshed.

Then He gives us a day to be refreshed. Oh, I think that’s so wonderful.

I love the Knox Translation, an old, old translation. He says: “Six days shalt do thy tasks thou hast to do. On the seventh day, leave off working. So shall ox and ass have rest, and home-born slave and alien that works for thee, revive their spirits.” There’s another translation. To have our spirits revived.

That’s why, before the Shabbat Day, the Sabbath Day, God instituted another day. Did you know what it was? Yes, there’s another day mentioned in the Bible. It starts with “P.” Can you think of it? Yes, it’s called “The Preparation Day.” In some versions of the Bible, it actually gives it a capital “P,” “Preparation Day.”

That was the day before the Sabbath where they had to get everything ready. Clean the house, cook the food for the next day, and do everything to get ready for it, so that on the rest day, they could rest. It is impossible to rest, have a day of rest, unless you have a preparation day.

In our home, usually, we have Friday. I seek to try and do the Preparation Day so that we clean the house, and we get things ready for the next day so we can rest. If you’ve done it all, then you don’t have to do it, and have another day of work. That’s what God wants you to do.

I believe, ladies, I am such a believer in meeting with the people of God. Oh, that is part of our day of rest, of course, whether you keep the Sabbath (of course, you’ll be meeting together with the saints). If you keep the Sunday, you’ll be meeting together with the saints. I do believe we should make this a commitment.

Another thing we do find about the Sabbath Day is that it’s not only a day of rest, but it is a DAY of rest. Did you get that? It’s not only a day of rest, to be refreshed, but it is a day of rest. God didn’t say, “I give you an hour of rest on the Sabbath.” Or if you’re choosing to have the Sunday. No, He didn’t say, “I’ll give you an hour,” or “I want you to take two hours of rest and refreshing.” No, He said, “It’s a day. A DAY!” Did you get that, ladies? A day. A day.

Most Sabbath-keepers keep the day.

Sunday-keepers, are you keeping the day? Am I keeping a day? Well, that’s a challenge to me, because I remember, growing up, where it was easy to keep a day.

Do you notice, ladies, for those of you who are younger, you won’t be able to believe this, but I grew up, and not only did we, as God-fearing people, keep the day, but do you know what? Even the secular people kept the day, because no shops were open on Sunday. The whole place shut down just like in Israel. The whole place shuts down on Saturday, on Sabbath. You won’t be able to buy one thing on Sabbath.

Well, there was a time when, in our country of New Zealand, it was the same in our western countries, and here in USA, where you could not buy anything on Sunday. You could not do anything. There were no sports. There was no entertainment. It was a day set apart unto God.

We grew up like that. We would go to church in the morning. We would come home and have our Sunday dinner together. Then we would, us children, we would walk back to our church and have Sunday school for the children. Oh, we didn’t have it in the main service. We didn’t have all the families separated, and children going to this class and that class. No, we worshipped together as families. That was the norm back then.

But we would have our special children’s Sunday school class in the afternoon. Then we would walk home. We would just hang around home. We could read and play, but we didn’t go out. Then Sunday night we would come back for service again. It was a day set apart for the Lord.

But things have changed. Wow, how they have changed! Now we live in a nation, every country in the world, every shop is open on Sunday, although I think it’s still, what is that fast food that doesn’t open on Sunday? Chik-Fil-A! Hallelujah! Goodness, there’s one company that’s still sticking to God’s one day! And they’re not even going for an hour. “Ooh, we could go for an hour and just get people all coming home from church.” No, they stick to their day.

Now, ladies, not only should we stick to a day, but do we stick to meeting with the people of God? I cannot believe how many people I know who are really not fellowshipping with other saints. They think they can live unto themselves. No, we can’t. No. God wants us to meet together.

NEVER FORSAKE ASSEMBLLING YOURSELVES WITH OTHER SAINTS

What does He say in Hebrews 10:25? “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.” The assembling of yourselves. That doesn’t say, “Oh, you could stay at home and worship, or you could just listen to the preacher on TV or on Zoom.” Oh yes, now, you might just get blessed by the message. But that is not the assembling of yourselves! And that’s what God told us not to forsake, “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

Look at Romans 1:12. Paul is writing to the new Roman Christians, and he says to them in verse 11, “For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”

Do you get the picture there? He’s explaining, describing our faith. It is not a singular faith. It is a plural faith, a mutual faith. Look at these words. “Together.” “Together.” It’s not isolation. It is together. And then he says: “our mutual faith.” The word in the Greek there is translated everywhere else in the New Testament “one another.” It’s a one-another faith.

I wonder if you’ve purchased yet my 100 Days of Blessing, No. 4. In this particular volume, I talk about our one-anothering faith for our families and even in our church lifestyle. I found 41 different one-anothers that God wants us to do to one another. They’re all listed in that book, The 100 Days of Blessing, Volume 4 It’s a one-anothering faith.

And then he says “both of you and me.” My faith is not just me. It’s you and me. You and me. We can’t do without one another. Now, I’m talking to you over a podcast, and I trust you are being blessed. But you need more than this. You need the assembling together of the saints, because this is where we one-another each other. We pray for one another, and love one another, and show hospitality to one another, and be kind to one another, and minister to one another, and bless one another. We’ve got to see one another to do these things.

I do believe, lovely ladies, that we must be committed to the gathering of the saints, and not just when we feel like it. There are too many people who do it when they feel like it. No, we are committed, because we are training our children in this most powerful, God-given, biblical habit. Even as Jesus Himself. It tells us, let me see. I’ll give you the reference. In Luke 4:16, it says: “And as His custom was, Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.” It was His custom, His habit.

Then we read about Paul in Acts 17:2, as he went to this particular place, “as was his custom.” He went into the synagogue, and he preached in the synagogue for three Saturdays (Sabbaths) in a row while he was there, because it was his custom to do it. It should be our custom, our habit.

We don’t, when there’s something, “Oh, wow! I heard about that festival down in the city. My, it would be so good to go to that! But it’s on Sunday. Oh well, we can miss church for the day. We’ll go to that.” I beg your pardon? I beg your pardon? Do you mean to say some bit of a festival is more important than your commitment to God? Your commitment to His people?

Oh, I’ve heard of people who say, “It’s a beautiful sunny day. Oh, let’s go to the zoo today!” And they go to the zoo! And they forget about church! Truly, where is our commitment? Where is God in our lives? I don’t believe there is anything, any entertainment, or any. . . “

Oh, visitors arrived! Oh, help! Oh well, we’ll stay home and entertain.” No! If the visitors arrive when you’re going to church, take them along with you! We don’t have any excuse ever! Because we’re a committed people.

And what are we teaching our children? Oh, any little excuse comes up. “Lovely day. Some entertainment. Just people, whatever. Or just can’t be bothered.” And we don’t go. And our children learn, what do they learn? “Oh, well, God is secondary in our lives. If it fits in, my parents can take us to church, but whatever works out.” No, we are training them in habit, in commitment, just as Jesus did, as it was His custom.

Oh, precious ladies, let’s get back to God’s heart. Let’s be those who are people who are truly committed to Him and His people, to understand that our faith is going to grow stronger when we meet with others, because it’s a mutual faith, a together faith, a one-anothering faith.

Well, maybe we’ll talk some more next podcast. Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, we thank You so much again. How we love Your Word! It always keeps us on our toes. Lord, we pray that You will save us from being lukewarm. Oh, God, Lord, You said You’ll spew us out of Your mouth if we are lukewarm. Oh, God, help us to be those who are totally committed to You, committed to Your people, Lord God. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

 

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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100 DAYS OF BLESING, Volumes 3 and 4

These books will bless you and give you meat for your mothering soul. You have the most powerful career in the nation as you teach and train the new generation. You determine the destiny of this nation. But it is not an easy task. I know you often feel overwhelmed and worn out. That’s why I make these devotions available to you—

So you can get fuel for your soul.

So you can be strengthened each new day.

So you can receive fresh vision and inspiration.

You will be blessed as each devotion brings Word revelation to you each day.  There is a prayer and affirmation (which relates to the devotion) at the end of each devotion. 

You can purchase these books separately, or DISCOUNT PRICE FOR BUYING

THE TWO TOGETHER! ONLY $25.00!

These books are a beautiful gift to yourself and for others.

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

 

MARCH 10 – 12, WASHINGTON

LADIES RETREAT at Black Lake Bible Camp, Olympia

Contact Heather Bryant

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April 19 – 26 THE POPULAR ANNUAL RETREAT

Above Rubies Gulf Coast Spring Family Retreat 2023

Registration fee: $200 (non-refundable)

Meals $60/person ages 3+

Housing is assigned through Gulf Coast Above Rubies Organizers, but payment for your housing will go directly to Laguna. 

This is our biggest retreat serving over 100 families during our week of fellowship, sessions with Nancy and Colin Campbell, breakout sessions with gifted speakers and teachers, family activities, and incredible worship! Come as a friend but leave as family! If you aren’t already registered, sign up now! We still have room!

If you have any questions about this family retreat, please email us at .">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Registration link:

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