PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | Episode 104: TOGETHERNESS, Part 1
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 104: TOGETHERNESS, Part 1
Rocky Barrett: Welcome to the podcast, From our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello lovely ladies. I wonder where you are as you’re listening to this podcast today. Most probably you are in your home, maybe doing dishes or maybe cleaning. Perhaps you are just sitting down with your little nursing baby or maybe you’re even on a walk. Any way, it is lovely to be with you again. Today I want to talk to you about togetherness.
Togetherness is a lovely word. God loves this word. He uses it over and over again in His Word.
Of course family is togetherness. That is what family is all about. God doesn’t want us to live separate lives. He doesn’t want us to live on our own. The Bible says that He sets the solitary in families because God knows this is the best way for us to live. It is the best way for us to live spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally. In a family.
It brings security. The more togetherness we have, the more security we have.
The family is the very first institution God ordained before church, before government, before everything else. It lays the basis and the foundation for all other organizations and entities.
The church, which is also ordained by God but after the family, because church is made up of families. That is what it is about. It is an extended family.
The church is also to be a place of togetherness. We all know that church isn’t the building. We all say, “Let’s go to church” and we go to a building. We’re not going because of a building. It’s just a place where we can meet with one another because we are going to meet to be with one another to have togetherness. That’s God’s plan and so I wanted to talk a little bit about this today.
I’ve been thinking about it because as I have been sharing and encouraging families that it is time to get back to church. Not only do we need it ourselves but also the nation needs it, I believe.
But I’ve had people respond to me and say, “Well we’re doing very fine with our Zoom churches, thank you. We don’t really need to get back together yet.”
Now I know that Zoom churches have been such a blessing through this time of lockdown; but they are not the ultimate plan that God has for us and we cannot rely on them. We have to be what God wants us to be and that’s a “together people.”
So I thought, “Well, I have got to know the truth.” When I am challenged or when I want to know what is right, what is the truth, I go to the Word of God. I search the Word.
Don’t you love to do that? I love to be a Berean. Do you remember the Bereans when Paul came to Berea? They didn’t just take what Paul was saying immediately. No, it says they “searched the Word of God to see that those things were so.” They wanted to know the truth.
(Here’s the exact Scripture in Acts 17:11 “These (Bereans) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”)
So I have gotten into the Word of God and ladies, I have found that there is more about our getting together than I realized. God says so much about it, so I want to take you into the Word today. Will you come with me?
This is such an important message to listen to because this is God’s heart and I believe we are challenged with it at this time as many churches are getting back together but there are still some who are not getting back together. Yet this is God’s plan and we don’t wait for everything to be perfect.
No, God doesn’t say, “I want you to come together when everything is perfect, there is no sickness around, and everything is just all one, two, three, four.”
No, we meet together whatever the situation.
We think of our persecuted brothers and sisters in China and other countries who meet together. They do not forsake the meeting together even though they face persecution.
I believe we have to listen to God. We don’t listen to a governor, especially a liberal governor who does not want church to happen. No, we listen to God and we listen to His Word.
Let’s start on our points, shall we, and have a look at what it says here in the Word of God.
No. 1: WE ARE MEMBERS ONE OF ANOTHER
The Bible says we are members one of another, just as our body has many parts but there is only one body, so is the church. God likens the church to our body. The church also has many parts, many people, every different person, but we are one body.
We often forget that don’t we? We just live our lives unto ourselves. Of course we are believers in God and believers of His Word, but we live pretty much unto ourselves.
No, God wants us to understand that we are part of a body and every single member has a different part to fit the body.
Romans 12:5: “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”
1 Corinthians 12:20: “But now are they many members, yet but one body.”
Ephesians 4:25: “ . . . we are members one of another.”
The New Living Translation says: “ . . . we are all parts of the same body.”
Ephesians 5:30: “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.”
Oh I love that Scripture. Christ is the head. We are His body on the earth. We are His flesh and we are His bones. We’re all different. We are each a different person and a different part, but we are all one body. Therefore, there needs to be the coming together.
We cannot come together with every believer in the world, but God has established that we come together in groups of believers because we need one another.
No. 2: TOGETHERNESS WAS THE LIFESTYLE OF THE EARLY CHURCH
Let’s have a look, shall we? We’ll have a look at Acts chapter two, which of course is the very beginning and the birth of the church.
We recently celebrated Pentecost Sunday. Many churches got back together on Pentecost Sunday, which was remembering the birth of the church.
When the church was birthed in Acts 2:41-42, it says: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
Notice that word: fellowship. Let me say it again, FELLOWSHIP.
They prayed together when they came together. In fact, some say that it really should be “in the prayers” because they met three times a day, morning, noon, and evening to get together for the hour of prayer.
Notice how they came together. They couldn’t have fellowship without coming together. They couldn’t break bread with one another without coming together. That breaking of bread was not only communion. I’m sure they had communion together as they came together, but
breaking of bread was eating together. Back then they talked about, “Let’s break bread together.”
That means, “Let’s eat together.” Today some people will say, “Come to our home and let’s break bread together.” That means, “Let’s have a meal together and fellowship together over the things of the Lord.”
They couldn’t even hear the apostle’s doctrine unless they came together.
They did this continually. Verse 43: “And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.”
Verse 46: “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
I’ve always noticed those two things there in verse 46 where it says: “And they continued daily” meeting together. They didn’t meet only once a week like we do. They met DAILY, sometimes in the temple and sometimes in their homes. They met in both places.
And what happened? “The Lord added daily to the church such as should be saved.”
Sometimes we wish, oh, that people would be added to the church, that more and more people would be saved but often we don’t see many people being saved. I believe there is a principle here. They met daily and daily the Lord added to the church. We see here that it was a coming together.
Togetherness was a lifestyle. It was the plan. It was just what happened in the early church and they were the pattern for the church to come.
And so precious, lovely ladies, mothers and wives in your home, be an encourager of getting your family back to church, back to togetherness.
Yes, online is great but God wants us to have togetherness. This is biblical. This is His plan.
Let’s read Acts 20:7, 8: “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together.” Oh, we read these words over and over again: “When they came/come together.” It’s just part of the lifestyle and part of the reading about the early church.
It says that when the disciples came together “ . . . to break bread, Paul preached unto them.”
There it is: a foundation of what we are to be doing today.
We go to Hebrews 10:25. I talked about this Scripture the last two weeks: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
We’ve become aware of many, many things in the last few months. We see things behind the scenes of what they want to do and how they want to bring in mandatory vaccinations and so many things to take control of our lives.
We see it’s not the end but it’s getting closer. In these times we need to gather together more than ever to strengthen one another, to encourage one another in the ways of the Lord.
No. 3: WE EACH HAVE DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS TO PERFORM
1 Peter 4:10-11: “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another.“
That is another phrase that we see over and over and over again: one to another, one for another, one toward another.
You see, our whole Christian life is a “one another” life. It’s not just me, myself and my family. No, it’s one another. It’s reaching out to one another, caring for one another, thinking about others, meeting with others. It’s a “one another” lifestyle.
If we belong to the body of Christ, we should desire a “one another” lifestyle. If we’re not living this one another lifestyle, we are not living the way the early church lived.
So here it says: “ . . . even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
Let’s have a look at some other translations. I read the King James, but I love to look at other translations, too.
The Holman Translation says: “Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God.”
Now ladies, God has given gifts to each one of us. I have certain gifts and you have certain gifts. They are gifts that God has given to you. Your children have certain gifts. Isn’t it amazing to see the gifts in our children?
I mean, of course, our children have grown. Now we are seeing all the different gifts coming out in our grandchildren and now of course we even have great grandchildren coming along.
As I see the gifts in our children, even as they are operating in them today, I look at them and I think, “Where did they get those gifts? They certainly didn’t get them from me, and they didn’t get them from my husband. Where did they get them?”
They came from God.
God sovereignly put gifts and talents into their lives to bring glory to Him so they could use them for His glory.
God has done that with you and with each of your children. We’ve all got different gifts. God wants us to use those gifts.
We remember the parable of the servants who were given different gifts, the stewards. Those who got ten talents made ten talents more because they were diligent. They worked at their gifts and they used them and then more gifts developed. The same thing happened to the one who received five talents and he used those. As he developed them, he got five more gifts.
But then there was one who only had one. He thought, “Oh poor me, I’ve only got one” and he went and buried it in the ground. He received not a reward but the opposite for doing that. God does not want us to burry our talents. He gives them to us to use them. Read the parable again in Matthew 25:14-30.
So lovely wife and mother, whatever talent you have, don’t burry it. Use it!
This is a wonderful thing being a wife and a mother in the home. You have opportunity to use your talents. You have a home. You have a sphere. You have opportunity to develop your talents. I know many women do this and many women have creative talents.
Of course we all have creativity. God created us in His image and therefore, ladies, we were created to create. Remember that. We are creative beings. We are creative to create.
God loves us to create and so whatever desire you have to create beautiful and amazing things, DO IT!
Maybe some of you are amazing cooks and you love to make incredible things. Some of you may even sell some of the cooking you do.
Others may be very crafty, and you can make all kinds of crafts. I’m not very good at crafts myself. Some women are amazing! I have two sisters in law who are the most incredible at crafts. They are so amazing with their hands. I know many of you are like that. Many of you may even have a web page where you sell your crafts.
Others of you love to write. Perhaps you write books. Others of you think, “Oh I would love to do that but I’m not really very good enough to do it.” Look, don’t wait to do a big thing. Sometimes we think, “Oh I need to write a book.” Don’t start with a book! Oh goodness, that can be overwhelming. Start with writing little things.
You think of someone, someone in your fellowship who needs encouraging. Write a card. Get a card and write a word of encouragement to them. Write a poem and send it to them or give it to them when you see them. Write beautiful things that you can send to people personally. Write to your family.
Every now and then at mealtimes you can think of making a lovely place card and write on that place card something special to each one in your family.
Don’t wait to use the gifts you have in a big way. Do them in a little way and then you’ll find they’ll get bigger and bigger and bigger.
I remember when I was a young teen and older, I began teaching. I was a high school teacher and therefore I was able to have all my holidays (as we call it Downunder where I was living at the time; here you call it vacation time.).
We didn’t actually have a big summer vacation down in New Zealand. We had different vacations throughout the year. I had those times available where I would work among children in children’s camps and youth camps. I had the beautiful opportunity to lead many of those young girls to Christ.
But I knew they were going back to homes where their parents didn’t know God. How would they grow in their faith? So I was burdened to write to them. I would write letters to them and encourage them in their faith and walk with the Lord. I ended up writing to about 100 girls.
I look back and think, “Well, that was just a little thing.” But I look back and think that as I was faithful to write to those girls, that was the beginning of later starting Above Rubies and writing to women all over the world as I have done for over the last 43 years and I am still writing today. Every day I write to women. I write on my Facebook. I write devotions. I am writing books gradually, but I don’t get them out, as I should. But I am writing. I started little.
Use your gifts.
I know many of you use your gifts to help with family income. Some do very, very well. You can make a webpage and you can sell gifts that you do.
Could I just pop in a little word here? There is nothing wrong with that and I think it’s wonderful. That is so great. But remember something: what does the Word say here? “Use your gifts to serve others.”
The Passion Translation says: “Every believer has received grace gifts, so use them to serve one another as faithful stewards of the many-colored tapestry of God’s grace.”
The New Living Translation says: “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.”
I think we should always be available to use our gifts, not only for monetary gain, ladies, but using them to bless people; just to bless the body of Christ.
What does it say? “Use them well.”
Yes, we can use them well by being faithful and diligent to hone our gifts. We are able to use them in a greater way, even for financial income. But don’t always think you have to get financial income. Do things for love. Do things just to serve. I believe that’s the greatest thing we can do— use our gifts to serve.
That’s what He wants us to do and so this is part of being part of the body of Christ: using our gifts to serve one another. Amen?
That’s another part of the one another’s.
No. 4: GOD HAS PUT GIFTS IN THE BODY FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
We can go to Ephesians four. Actually, you have to read the whole chapter. When you get some time, read the whole chapter again.
But we’ll just read a little bit of Ephesians 4:8-16.
Verses 11-13: “ And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
Here we’re getting into perhaps the more organized part of the church life. Church is not a building. It’s people, it’s fellowship and it’s gathering together to meet, bless, and encourage one another.
It also happens by specific gifts put in the body of Christ such as the prophets and pastors and teachers and so on so that we can all grow up into the stature of the fullness of Christ.
There are some people who say, “Oh well, I can read the Bible here at home. I don’t really need to go to church. I’ve got a lovely personal walk with the Lord. I can just enjoy reading the Bible here.”
But here God says He’s put these gifts in the church for us to come together to receive from them. We can’t receive from teachers, prophets, and apostles unless we come together.
We read it again in 1 Corinthians 12. Oh goodness me, you’ve got to read this whole chapter, too, because the whole chapter is about it. I haven’t got time to read the whole chapter. Let’s just read a little bit here.
Verses 4-10: “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.”
And so on. Then we go down to verse 27-28: “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church [in the CHURCH], first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”
All these things have been set in the church to help us grow and help us grow into the fullness of Christ and to grow together. All these things cannot happen if we just stay at home. This is part of church life and so we have to read them.
We’re reading everything. When I’m looking to see what God says about a subject, I read all the Scriptures. I can’t leave any out.
Also look up Romans 12:5-8. It speaks, again, about all the gifts that God has put in the church.
Once again as we see that we realize that church life is important. God didn’t say, “I just want you to stay at home and have this little relationship with Me.”
No, He wants us to come together. He’s even written in His Word how it’s to happen. He’s put administration, pastors, teachers, and governments and everything in the church for it to function. He also talks about the elders or the bishops or the pastors, all very similar terms. In 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 it tells the qualifications of these elders.
Why are all these things in the Word of God if we can just stay at home and do our little thing?
No, we’ve got to get with God’s plan.
No. 5: WE ARE TO GATHER TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE
Acts 1:14 and chapter two verse one says: “ These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. . . . And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”
Now, remember what happened when they were all in one place? The Holy Spirit fell.
Then in Acts 4:31, this happened in a latter time: “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”
God loves to manifest His presence when we assemble together. This time God shook the whole place. Those words “assemble together,” in fact, whenever you read “come together” or “assemble together” it’s going to be either sunagō, which is the root word. It means: “to lead together, collect or convene together, assemble together, come together, gather together, and to have hospitality.” It includes all those meanings.
Then there is another word, episunagoge, and it means “a complete collection, especially a Christian meeting for worship; an assembling or gathering together.”
So those are the words, precious ladies. It’s continually reminding us about assembling and coming together.
In 1 Corinthians 14:23 it says: “If therefore the whole church be come together into one place.” Interesting. in that one little sentence there are three phrases that are very important.
No. 1.
“If therefore the whole church . . ..” It doesn’t say, “If some of the church.” No, it says, “the WHOLE church.” Oh precious ladies, this is a longing, it is a burden on my heart that all of the church, the WHOLE church, ALL believers ,would come back to their churches and fill them up and pack them out to overflowing.
What a beautiful testimony to the people in this nation and what a threat to the devil! When we come back in little trickles it does not have impact and Satan has still got the upper hand.
But when we all, the whole church, every believer, comes back, oh what a threat to the devil!
Now that word for “whole church” in the Greek is holos and it means “whole, all, complete, all together, every whit.” I like those words, “every whit.” Do you remember when Jesus used those words?
He healed someone on the Sabbath day. They were all mad and angry at Him and He said, “Are you angry at Me because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day?” He used that same word that is used for “whole church.” Jesus didn’t make this man half whole. He made him FULLY whole.
That’s the meaning when He wants the whole church. He doesn’t want half the church or some of the church to come together. He wants the WHOLE church.
No. 2.
“Come together.” This time the word is sunerchomai and it means “to convene, associate with, accompany, assemble with, come together in one place.”
No. 3.
“One place.” Three phrases I one sentence that are all about coming together—
THE WHOLE CHURCH,
COME TOGETHER,
IN ONE PLACE.
Wow. Time is going so quickly so I will just end with this little thought. Once again there are, as I mentioned before, some people who think, “Well I can just read the Word at home. I don’t need to come together with the saints. Goodness me, half of them drive me mad any way.”
But if they are really reading the Word of God at home, if they really are, they will be reading the Scriptures about coming together.
There are so many! We are only up to point No. 5 and I have 20 points, ladies, about how God wants us to come together.
Yes, we can’t just take a little Scripture here and there. We’ve got to read the whole Word.
We’ll hear some more next time, okay?
May the Lord richly bless you, dear ones. I hope you have got back to your church. Maybe, if your church is not open yet, why not just get with some other believers at another church until yours is open? Of course you want to be faithful to your own church but go somewhere in the meantime until yours is open and then get back there faithfully.
Let’s respond to God’s heart and to God’s precious Word.
Let me pray.
“Dear Father, I thank You for every family, Lord God, that I am speaking to today because each one that listens, Lord, represents a whole family. You love families. You love families to be together but, Lord, You want Your church family to be together. When Your people come together You love to manifest Your presence.
“I pray that You will give them wisdom, Lord, and You will show them how they can get back together, assembling themselves, meeting with Your people and coming together as Your Word says. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.”
Transcribed by Morgan Roth.