PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 276: God Loves Togethering, Part 6

Epi276pic LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 276: God Loves Togethering, Part 6

We look at another Hebrew word for "assembling" today, discovering many more examples of how God loves to assemble His people, and how He wants the whole family included, from the oldest to the youngest -- even the toddlers! Wow, what do we do with these little ones?

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies, and children, and anyone else who is listening! We’re still continuing our sharing about the assembling of God’s people. Another Hebrew word today, one of 15.

QAHAL

My Lexical Aid says that this noun is one of the most important terms in the entire Old Testament! It is a convocation. It can be a congregation, an assembly, an assemblage, a crowd, a multitude, an army, a community. It mainly refers to the congregation of the people of Israel. I’ll share a few Scriptures with you, just a wee few of the many with this word.

OK, Exodus 12:6 talks about “the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel.” When we’re reading these Scriptures about assembly, you find the word “all” in the Scriptures so many times. God doesn’t want some of the people to gather together. He wants all of the people. It comes in all the time.

Numbers 20:10: “And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock.”

Deuteronomy 5:22: “These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire.”

1 Kings 8:14: “And the king” (it was King Solomon), “turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation stood).” They didn’t stay sitting down.

1 Kings 8:22: “And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven,” and prayed for the next 31 verses. You can read them if you would like to.

SEVEN TIMES

Now, let’s look at this Scripture. Leviticus 8:3-4. In this little passage, the words meaning “assembly” occur seven times! Seven times this time. See if you can pick them out. “And gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”

That’s just a little passage, isn’t it? And yet, seven times, seven Hebrew words. Qahal is used three times. There are some other Hebrew words. Edah is used two times, and moed is used two times. Shall I give them to you so you can see? “And gather” (qahal) “thou all the congregation” (edah) “together,” (qahal) “unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (moed). “And Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the assembly” (edah) “was gathered together” (qahal) “unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (moed). Wow! Can you believe it? Seven times God is using that word “assembly” in different ways.

UNTIL THE END

Deuteronomy 31:30: “And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.” Let me look here again at Deuteronomy 31:30. That is the last verse in that chapter. I’m going to talk about some other verses in a moment, but there’s a little thing I noticed there. Did you notice it says: “until they were ended”?

I caught onto that because I notice that many times when we assemble together as the people of God, that many times people can’t wait until the end. They’re looking at their watches. If the preacher goes a bit too long, well, they’re not so happy about that. They’ve got to get out, because maybe they’re going to the beach, or they’re going to do some sport, or something like that. They can’t even wait until the end. Oh my.

And then, have you noticed, I don’t know whether you notice such things, but I have been in the church for so many years. But it’s amazing how people have to go to the toilet more often when they come to church than any other time! I can’t believe it, how people go in and out of the toilet during the service! They will do other things. They’ll go to a sports meeting, and they won’t need to go to the toilet until the end. They’ll go to a movie, and they don’t need to go to the toilet until the end.

How is it that many people have to keep running out? What is it? I just think it’s the enemy of our souls.

God wants us to stay to the end! Did you get it? Until the end. I believe that we learn from every word in Scripture. I believe this is another principle that God gives, so when we come together, we stay to the end.

Now, of course if you’ve got little toddlers, and they’re screaming and making a noise, you’re going to take them out. You don’t want people to be disturbed in the service. But they can settle down, and you can come back again. You’re going to be part of that assembly until the end. I think that’s part of character.

I think we have become such a wimpy people. I know some people who say, “Oh, well, I can’t even sit that long. The service is too long. I can’t sit that long” Goodness me! What a pathetic speech! I think we need a lot more stamina and stickability in our day, don’t you? I really do. I think that’s an important little point there that God brings out in His Word. He doesn’t waste any words. He doesn’t put them there for a joke. They’re there for our learning. So, we stay until things are completed, finished, accomplished, done.

The Holman Translation says: “Moses recited aloud every single word of this song to the entire assembly of Israel.” That would include, of course, moms and dads and children, and the little ones, and the nursing babies. Today, when most people come to church, they rely on the nursery and the Sunday school. In fact, most churches have Sunday school.

Back when we started our pastoring, we also had Sunday school. In fact, after worship, and it was time for the message, all the children went out to what we called “Children’s Church.” In some churches, even the young people will go out to their special thing. It’s the saddest thing in the whole world! Suddenly you see the whole church emptying. Help! All these empty spaces, and then it’s just the adults left. I beg your pardon. That never happened once in the Bible. Never once. It is not Bible practice at all.

When God calls His people, He calls them all. Yes, everyone, the whole family. I don’t believe we’re meant to have Sunday schools in the middle of church. No, God’s message is for all the people, even the children. And children can hear truth and revelation from the pastor, from the minister.

Sometimes we dumb down our children. We have to send them to a little Sunday school class where they do coloring-in and have a little wee Bible story. Often the person who’s doing it, there are some very, very diligent Sunday school teachers, I know. But then there are others who are just doing it to entertain the children.

I believe that our children are meant to be with us in church. I have a little article on my webpage called “Should Children Be in Church?” You can go to that. Go to “Articles and Stories,” then go to “Family and Church.” You’ll pick it up there, and you can read it.

There was a time when we did what everybody else did. We had Children’s Church, and we had all the separation, until one day, we were reading the Word, and began to find all these Scriptures where God wants the whole family. When He assembles His people, He doesn’t want anyone missing. And He never intends us to be all separated up into our different age levels. No, that is not God’s heart at all.

In fact, Sunday schools, did you know their origin? They began in England back in the 1780’s. They actually began as an outreach to the very poor who weren’t even educated. There were these wonderful people who believed the poor needed to learn to read and to write. The Bible was their textbook. They learned to read from the Bible. They learned to write by copying passages from the Bible.

Then it became even more of an outreach from churches to go out into the streets and bring in all these children who never went near a church door, to give the gospel and teach them truth and values and doctrine. That was the vision of Sunday schools in the very beginning, which is a wonderful outreach. To reach out to the non-churched children of our society. Such a wonderful vision!

But now, it’s become so part of church life that now God’s people themselves rely upon it. Many think, “Well, that’s where my children will get their learning and their understanding of God and the gospel.” But no, no, Sunday schools aren’t for God’s people. No, the home is where we teach our children. God gives the responsibility to the father and to the mother, not to the Sunday school teacher. No, it’s to the father and the mother.

And then even when we come to church as a family, God wants us to be together. Children can be blessed. I think children can come up to the revelation of God’s truth as they hear it. Little by little, as the Word says: ` “Line upon line, precept upon precept. Here a little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:10, 13. They get a little. They may not get everything that is said, but they’ll get a little glimpse of something that goes into their spirit. Every week that will be built upon.

I must tell you about this. Do you know how many times the children of Israel had to listen to the whole law of God? Anyone know?

It was every seven years. God told His people that, especially when they went into the land of Israel, every seven years, during the Feast of Tabernacles, which was a feast for seven days, that they were to read the whole of the law.

Let’s go to it here. Deuteronomy 31:10-13: “And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which He shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel.” Did you notice? Not some of them, not just the adults.

No, all Israel, from the grandparents to the littlest baby. “. . . this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: And that their children, which have not known anything, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.” That was a command from the Lord.

Some commentaries say that that was the whole of Deuteronomy. There are other commentators of the Word who believe it is the whole of the Torah, that is, the first five books of the Old Testament. I believe, as I’ve looked into Scripture, I believe that God intended the whole Torah to be read. That’s the first five books.

You say, “Wow! Did they have to listen to the first five books? Help? I haven’t even read them through myself!” Well, I hope you have. But let’s look at it. They wouldn’t have had to hear it in just one standing, or one sitting, because sometimes they stood when the Word of God was being read.

Let’s look at this here. The Feast of Tabernacles is for seven days, so they had seven days. If we were reading the Torah in English, it takes . . .

3-1/2 hours to read Genesis,

3 hours to read Exodus,

2 hours to read Leviticus,

2-1/2 hours to read Numbers,

and 2-1/2 hours to read Deuteronomy.

If we add all that up, it comes to 13-1/2 hours.

Well, I’ve got seven days, so in just under two hours a day, I can read the whole of the Torah. Isn’t that amazing? I’m sure that’s what they did.

Let’s have a look at some other Scriptures to see. We can go to Joshua 8:35. This was when the children of Israel went into the Promised Land. They’ve been in the wilderness for 40 years and now they’ve crossed the Jordan. They’ve come into the Promised Land.

We don’t know how soon they did this, whether it was immediately or sometime later, but now Joshua is fulfilling the command that Moses gave.

Joshua 8:35: “There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.”

We see an example there of them doing that. Once again, we read, and God, as I keep saying, lovely ladies, God doesn’t put words in the Bible just to fill it up. Every word is there for a reason.

So again, as He says again and again, they were all there, with the women, with the little ones. Yes, that’s that word taph, which means “the tripping gait of little children.” It’s the toddlers, yes, those ones who we think, “Oh goodness me! They’re just too impossible to look after in church.” But no, God wanted them there, even for the reading of the whole of the Torah. That would be nearly two hours each day. But there they were.

OK, let’s go over again to Nehemiah. This is when the people of Judah had come back from Babylon, after being in Babylon for 70 years. Nehemiah 8:1-3: “And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday.” Wow! They read for a long time that day! “Before the men and the women, and those that could understand.”

OK, but then, we go down to verse 13, and it says, “on the second day.” So, once again, on the second day, they are reading. But they’ve got seven days. On the second day they were gathered together, the chief of the fathers of all the people and so on.

Verse 14: “And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month.”

It goes on to tell them what they were meant to do, and how they were to make the booths. It’s interesting, ladies, that in Deuteronomy, it doesn’t tell us how to make the booths. But that is all written in Leviticus 23. Therefore, they weren’t only reading Deuteronomy, were they? They were only up to Leviticus when they were going to read on the second day.

That sounds about right, because they would have been reading Genesis on the first day. Well, they’ve got Exodus. They were reading from morning to midday, so they read a lot on that first day. Now they’re up to Leviticus, and they read, “Wow! This is what we’re meant to be doing! And we’re not doing it!” I think they must have got out of the habit when they were up in Babylon.

The Bible tells us that they then began to do what the Bible says, and they took notice of it. But it’s interesting that when we read these passages, we get the understanding that, yes, they were obviously reading through the whole of the Torah. I think, “What a beautiful thing, that God gave them do.”

This was only every seven years. But think about it. A new little baby is born. Maybe a few months old. They’re not really understanding. But that word is going into their spirit. A mother is there, nursing her baby as she listens to the Word. But it’s going to be read again in seven years’ time.

By this time, this little baby is seven, or maybe eight. This little one can begin to pick up more. In fact, in a true conservative orthodox Hebrew home, they would already have memorized many passages from the Torah. Many would be familiar with them. They would even remember them as they’re being read.

But, then in another seven years, they’d be about 14 or 15 or so. By this time, some of them would have memorized the whole of the Torah themselves. That was often part of their education in their early years. In the time of Jesus, many finished their education round about that time, 13 to 15 years. By that time, many of them did know the whole of the Torah. But even if they didn’t, they would be familiar.

So, they’re listening to it again, as they’re entering into this time of moving from childhood into adulthood, hearing that word, that law again, that God wants them to have and be filled with. What does it say in Joshua 1:8? “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night . . . for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

Then the next seven years, they’d be about 21. Most probably they’re married by now, because most Jewish young men were married about the time of 18 years of age. They’re married, and they’re now starting a new family. Of course, they need that word to remind them again of how God wants them to live, and how they’re going to train their new family. What a beautiful thing! Every seven years.

Well, of course, we don’t do that in our society today. But we can bring it down to the times that we do assemble together as the people of God. Remember that this is how God wants us to do it, as a whole family, the mothers and the fathers and the children, and the little toddlers, and the nursing babies.

Now I know that in some churches, if they were to say, “OK, just bring all your children,” it could be bedlam, because today so many people have not trained their children how to sit. Their children don’t know how to sit for more than five minutes or ten minutes.

You see, it starts with training at home, doesn’t it? It starts with the family meal table, sitting at the meal table. We gather. That’s another gathering place. I’ve told you about that, how this is the very beginning of where we gather. The beginning is where we gather together at the table.

As our children are growing, we’re teaching them how to sit. They don’t jump up every five minutes. They don’t have to go to the toilet every ten minutes like some children want to do. They don’t have to run up and down for everything. No, we teach them, “We sit at the table until the meal is ended, and until we have had family devotions.”

Now, of course, with little toddlers, they may be getting tired, and they’re a little scratchy. You come to family devotion time, and you don’t have to expect them to sit up straight in their chair. By that time, maybe Mother’s holding a little baby. Dad can take a little toddler in his arms as he’s reading the Word.

In big families, there are teenagers, there are young men and young ladies who are in their teens. They can be holding a little toddler, or another little, bigger toddler, so that they are feeling comfortable as they listen to the Word. But they are getting the understanding that we are there. We stay to hear the Word.

Really, the training begins at home. This is where we first train our children to sit. I know there are some families who will even have church training. “OK, children, we’re going to have training for church!” And they’ll get them all seated on the sofa, and maybe give them some little books to read, or even have a little time with them. Maybe it could be memory verse time, or maybe even a story time, but where they just learn to sit for a certain time.

That is good for children. In fact, often, when I was raising our children, and my little ones would begin to start bouncing off the walls and going crazy, I’d think, “Oh, OK, just let me get them all together.” It’s easy to just start screaming at the children. Of course, that only makes them worse.

I would say, “Come, children! Let’s come and have a story.” And so, we would sit. There’s something about sitting with your children. Also getting them to sit. You have a story. You don’t get them to sit doing nothing. They would be bored. They wouldn’t do it! So, you have story time together. And they want another one, so you do another one. They’re getting blessed, but they’re also learning to sit at the same time.

Now, I have another little thing. Oh, there’s another thing I’d like to share with you about this word, qahal. We find this in Nehemiah chapter 5 also. In this chapter, Nehemiah discovered that many of the Jews were charging interest on their fellow Israelites. They ended up having to mortgage their lands to survive. Nehemiah was so angry with them, that they would even think of doing such a thing.

He rebuked them. Nehemiah 5:7-11: “. . . And I set a great assembly against them,” qahal, but this time it wasn’t really an assembly coming to bless the Lord. It was an assembly to get his people back into order. He said, “I set a great assembly against them. And I said unto them, . . . will ye even sell your brethren? . . . Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses.”

And then in verse 12: “Then said they, we will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest.” And the next verse says: “. . . And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD.” Not some of them, but all of them. But they said “amen” together.

This is another wonderful thing that God loves us to do in the congregation of His people. We see this in other Scriptures. Psalm 41:13 and repeated again in Psalm 106:48: “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people” (all the people, not some of them) “Let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD.”

Psalm 72:19: “And blessed be His glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen, and Amen.” Two times.

Psalm 89:52: “Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and Amen.” We see here that God wants us to “amen” when we are in the congregation of the Lord.

Some people will say, “Well, that’s very Pentecostal.” No, it’s not! It’s biblical! It’s what the Scripture says. When everyone is praising the Lord, well, don’t we believe that He is worthy to be worshipped? We will say “amen.” When we’re in a prayer meeting, and someone is praying, and we’re with them in spirit, and it’s the prayer that we want to pray, we’re agreeing with them. We can say “amen.” Yes, there is such power in unity.

Matthew 18:19-20, that wonderful Scripture: “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Yes, God says, “if two of you shall agree on earth,” Wow!

What about more than two? What about a family with six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve children agreeing together and saying “amen”! What about a whole church of God’s people saying “amen.” I think it’s time we really began to be biblical and do what the Bible says.

Another passage. This was where Ezra opened the book in sight of all the people. I’ve read this before. That was when they were reading in the time of Nehemiah. They were reading at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. He opened it, and all the people stood up. Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” two times again. “Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands.” This is so biblical.

In Deuteronomy 27, God gives all the curses that were read out, and the people had to say, “Amen” after them. This was when they all gathered together on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Mount Gerizim was the mount of blessing, and Mount Ebal the mount of cursing. On that mount, they read the cursings.

I’ll just read you one of them, but you can read the whole chapter in Deuteronomy 27. Verse 15: “Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD . . . And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.”

And after every curse, it says the same words: “And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.” This is a good thing to do.

There’s a little story in the Bible about Benaiah. Benaiah was one of David’s mighty men. I’ll just go to this story. I wonder whether you know it. It’s an amazing story. 1 Kings 1, and I’ll finish with this.

The story is . . . this is when one of King David’s sons was trying to take over his kingdom and become king. The high priest, Zadok, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, who was one of David’s mighty men, the three of them came to David. They said, “Do you know what’s happening, David? Your son is trying to be king! Didn’t you say that Solomon would be king?”

And David at this time was sick in bed. He was just lying in bed, and he was out. But when they came in, somehow, he began to rise up, and he said, “Well, yes, that is true.” David, well, something came upon him, and he rose up! He said, “OK, this is what you’ll do.”

1 Kings 1:33-36: “The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon: And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon. Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen,”

But then he said something else. This is quite amazing. “The LORD God of my lord the king say so too.” In other words, he said, “Amen! And let God say amen too!” Isn’t that amazing? I love that! I do believe that God amens with us. When we’re standing for His truth, when we’re on His side, when we’re doing His will, He is saying “Amen” with us. I believe when we are in prayer, and we say, “Amen,” God is saying “Amen” with us. I love that Scripture.

It's getting time to finish here, but I think it would be good for us to have a little try at saying “Amen.” Who have you got in your house? Is it just you? Maybe you’re walking along as you’re listening to this. Maybe you’re doing the dishes or ironing. But maybe your children are around. Just grab them. OK, whoever’s around.

I’m going to pray some little prayers, and I want you, and if you’ve got your children with you . . . are you listening, children? At the end, would you all say a big, loud “Amen” together? OK? Because this is what we’re meant to do. This is biblical. It doesn’t matter whether you belong to a very conservative church or maybe you belong to some Pentecostal church. That doesn’t matter.

This is a biblical thing. This is what God wants His people to do. OK, I’m going to have a little prayer, and then you’re going to say “Amen.” Now, girls recording today, you can be the amen-ers! OK!

“Dear Father, we thank You that You chose for us to live together as families. Please help us to become strong and godly families, and everyone says “AMEN!”

“Dear Father, we pray against all sex trafficking. We pray that all perpetrators will be brought to justice, and everyone says “AMEN!”

“Dear God, we pray against the evil of abortion in our society, and the murdering of precious lives in the womb. We pray that every state will make tight laws against this evil. And everyone says “AMEN!”

“We pray against the abomination of transgenderism. We pray that people will rise up in horror of it. We pray that politicians in every state will make laws to not allow any doctors to give hormone blockers or to do surgery on any child to change their gender. And everyone says “AMEN!”

“Dear Father, we pray for a great revival of turning back to You and Your ways. And the turning back of the hearts of the fathers and the mothers to their homes, and to their families. In the Name of Jesus, and everyone says, “AMEN and AMEN!”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 275: God Loves Togethering, Part 5

Epi275pic LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 275: God Loves Togethering, Part 5

We are in a battle for the soul of this nation. Are you willing to assemble for the battle? You will hear some personal family stories on this podcast.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, everyone! Good to be together again! I’m still talking about this amazing word “assembling,” at the moment from the Old Testament. Actually, I started out telling you that I found 12 Hebrew words that mean “assembling, coming together, congregation.” But then, I found 14 words.

And then, can you believe it? This last week I found another one! So, now I have found 15 Hebrew words to describe the assembling of God’s people together. There are so many verses on each one of these Hebrew words. It’s amazing. When you begin to look it up in the Old Testament, and then later in the New, it’s filled with the words of the assembling of God’s people. It is something that’s so much on His heart.

We were talking at the end of last session about this word asaph, which means “to assemble together for a purpose.” There were many different purposes. One of the purposes was for battle, of course. I have a few more Scriptures about that. From that beautiful chapter in Judges, chapter five, this is Deborah’s song about the battle when they went out to fight against king Jabin and his general Sisera who had 900 chariots of iron.

And yet, the children of Israel hardly had a weapon in the whole of the nation. But Deborah encouraged Barak to go out to war. He said, “OK, well, I’ll do it if you come with me.” In her song, Deborah says, Judges 5:2: “Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel,” because God did avenge them, and they won the victory “when the people willingly offered themselves” to the Lord.

Judges 5:9: “My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD.”

Verse 15: “And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah.”

Go down to verse 18: “Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeopardized their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.” Deborah was blessing the ones that had willingly come to the battle.

But sadly, some of them didn’t come to the battle. We see in verses 12-17, and verse 23 in the New Living Translation: “In the tribe of Reuben there was great indecision. Why did you sit at home among the sheep fields? To hear the shepherds whistle for their flock? Yes, in the tribe of Reuben there was great indecision. Gilead remained east of the Jordan. And why did Dan stay home? Asher sat unmoved at the seashore, remaining in his harvest. Curse ye Meroz said the angel of the Lord. Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to help the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.”

In Deborah’s great song, she praised those who willingly came, but she was not very nice in what she had to say about those who didn’t come to the battle. I think that’s always much the same, isn’t it? There are those who are willing to get into the battle, to stand for truth. There are those who are willing to get in the battle, to pray, and to bring the blessing of God and the move of God and to come against the evil and the enemy that is in encroaching upon our land.

You see, prayer meetings are where we really get into the battle. Prayer meetings are battle meetings. My husband loves to talk about “battering ram prayer meetings.” He loves battering ram prayer meetings. Well, he takes that, of course, from how they went to warfare back in those days.

The Bible speaks about the battering ram and how there would be a whole lot of soldiers. They would get this big, long pole or log, and it would have a sharp point on the end of it. They would all hold it. I don’t know, maybe they could have had . . . twenty, fifty, maybe a hundred men. They would all run together against the walls and the gates of the city, to ram them! They would run and ram this battering ram into the walls.

Of course, it may not work the first time, so they would go back. Then they would come, and they would ram it again! Then they would go back, and they would ram it again until they broke through the gates and the walls of the city to get to the enemy.

My husband loves battering ram prayer meetings (Ezekiel 4:2 and 21:22) where we’re not just sitting around praying little prayers, but we are really coming against the enemy to fight the battles of the Lord in the prayer meeting, because this is where our greatest battles are fought. We’re not fighting against flesh and blood. We are fighting against principalities and powers, as it tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5.

I think it’s the same. There are those who want to come and get in the battle of the prayer meetings. But then there are those who never come. They just stay home, do their thing. That really saddens me, because, especially in this hour in which we are living, we are seeing such evil encroaching upon our nation. Evil like we have never seen before of this sex trafficking. It is becoming so incredible.

I was listening this morning to a podcast about what is happening down on the southern border and how many of these children are really being used in sex trafficking. It is horrendous. And nobody is doing anything. Well, there are people who are trying to do stuff, but no one in government is doing one thing about it.

We’re facing this transgenderism and the mutilation of children, changing from the sex that God gave them. It goes on and on. I wonder how people can just sit back and watch a movie and not feel the need to get into the battle! And precious mothers, yes, even though we are busy with our children and our families, we’ve got to get into this battle too, because the future of our children is at stake.

Our children are either going to grow up in a nation where this evil is going to grow worse and worse, or where, through prayer, we see a mighty revival and the turning back to God. What kind of a nation do you want your children to grow up in? We have such a responsibility. You may think, “Well, how on earth do I ever get to a prayer meeting with all my little children?” Well, you would be surprised. It’s really what you want to do.

Last night was our weekly prayer meeting. We have one at our home here on Monday nights and Wednesday nights at Serene and Sam’s. We were at Serene and Sam’s last night. Oh, it’s just amazing to look around and see the families, to see the mothers with their little toddlers and their babies. One mother just gave birth a month or so ago, and she’s there with all her 11 children and her 11^th nursing baby!

We don’t have prayer meetings where it’s just the adults. We have all the family, all the children, and all the little ones, just like it says in the Word. When God brought His people together to hear something He wanted to say, or for prayer, or to cry out to Him, He told them, “Bring everyone! The mothers, the fathers, the young people, the little taphs.” That’s a Hebrew word that means “the toddlers.” It speaks of the running of little children, just the ones. We think, “Oh, goodness me, they shouldn’t be there. They would be such a disturbance.” But God wants them there. And the nursing babies.

And, let me share this with you. We had a big accident on the Hilltop this last week. Monday night, one of our young teenage boys living here on the Hilltop, he is a twin 16-year-old. He had a four-wheeler accident. It looked very, very bad. His leg was twisted up to right angles. They thought other bones were broken in his body. His head was all gashed open.

The ambulance came and they realized they would have to life-flight him. They called for the helicopter. He was life-flighted into Vanderbilt Hospital. But we were all praying, all praying. We were having a barbeque that night, but we all got together to pray. Everyone was praying, and God did miracles, amazing miracles. By the time he got to the hospital, this leg that was right out sideways was just about back in place!

He had to go into surgery. We were praying and he came out of surgery, his father was telling us, he came out praising the Lord! He was just about blowing the hospital down; he was praising the Lord so hard! It was just amazing. And miraculously, it was a total miracle. He came home late Wednesday afternoon. They thought they’d have to get him in a special bed to rest.

You know what? This young man, only 16 years old, he comes to every prayer meeting, and he is always praying. He has such a heart for God. His heart is on fire for God. You know what? He said to his parents, “I’m going to the prayer meeting.” He would not miss. So, after coming home from hospital, after being life-flighted two days earlier, he was at the prayer meeting last night. Doesn’t it show you? It’s not even circumstances. It's our hearts. It’s where we are. Who will come to the battle of the Lord? Amen?

In fact, it does take sacrifice. It takes effort to go to a prayer meeting. It’s much easier to stay home, read a book, watch a movie. That’s easy. But it takes effort to go to a prayer meeting. I think it’s even easier to go to a Bible study where you can just sit back and listen, or talk a little bit, and add a bit, than to come to a prayer meeting where you have to actively get involved and pray! Because that takes work. That takes getting into the battle. But it’s time for that. Can you say “amen”?

Now if you don’t have a prayer meeting anywhere around you, you can start one in your home. You can invite some others, even if it’s one other family who has the heart to pray and get together and pray. Of course, you can have your battering-ram prayer meetings every morning and evening with your own family, can’t you?

Another reason why people were called together, the word asaph, Jacob called all his family together to bless them. That’s a beautiful thing too, isn’t it? A powerful thing, to bless your family. This was coming to the end of Jacob’s life. He was giving a prophetic blessing over all his children. Genesis 49:1-2: “And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.”

I can remember when Serene’s husband Sam, when his father passed away. It’s an incredible story about his passing. Will I take time to tell you? Maybe just briefly. His father got cancer. He began to get this huge growth under his arm. It was so huge. He was looking absolutely like death warmed up. We knew that this was pretty serious.

At that time, this was many years ago, Serene had been reading about how raw food and juicing can help to eradicate cancer. Those of you who know Serene know she is one of these psychos, so, “OK, if you’re going to do something, you do it!” She said to her father-in-law, “Now, Dad, if you will do this, maybe you will get healed.” She said, “I will help you.” He was living with them at the time. “I will help you. I will juice for you every day. We’ll make raw foods.”

This was when Serene got onto her raw food fad. Well, I’ll have to tell you about the end of that. But anyway, she decided she would eat only raw to be with her father-in-law.

Colin, my potato-and-meat-eating husband, said, “Now, James, if you’ll do it, I’ll do it with you to support you.” I couldn’t believe it! So, even Colin did it! I thought “Help! If he’s doing it, I’ll do it!” So, we all went raw.

But then Serene juiced. They bought in 40 pounds of carrots a week as well as all the other stuff, and she juiced it. Do you know what? We watched a miracle! We watched this man, whose face was gray, and his face began to become pink again. This huge tumor began to fade away until it was gone! And he was healed! It was totally amazing!

Well, a few things happened after that. Colin thought, “OK, that’s it! Praise the Lord! He’s healed! I can get back to eating what I want!”

So did James. He thought, “Oh, I’m healed! So, I can get back to eating what I want!” And he ate a lot of junk food.

Well, Serene thought, “Wow! If it can do that, this is how I’m going to live!” She began her raw food lifestyle. Well, I guess if you know her story, she did that for seven years. But of course, she realized eventually that that kind of thing can be used miraculously to help eradicate cancer, but it’s not a lifestyle. It began to have negative effects upon her health.

In the end, she came to realize that this wasn’t right, and that she wasn’t living in the perfect will of God, because God has all the five food groups in the Bible. Therefore, she needed to eat every one of them. That’s where she and Pearl started their journey, to seek the Lord for His mind and they began Trim Healthy Mama.

What about James? He was healed! But he went back to the way he was eating before. He ate junk food. A year or so went by, and this cancer came back. This time, he didn’t want to face the challenge. Serene would juice for him. He was now living in another place. She would take juice around to him and it wouldn’t even be touched. He wouldn’t even touch it. So, she had to give up.

What happened this time? Instead of watching him change, come back to health, and his tumor disappear, instead he began to get gray again. This tumor became bigger and bigger and bigger. As the months went on, he was really just about all tumor, and his body was skin and bones. We were watching him die.

But to get back to my story about blessing your family, I will never forget the ending of his days. I remember at the end; he brought all his family around him. He prophetically blessed each one of them. Colin and I were so close to him, too. He even blessed us, spoke words over us. It was a beautiful thing.

We were there, actually, as he passed. It was a beautiful passing. He was there with us and blessing right to the end, until he went into an unconscious state, just breathing, then barely breathing. Then he was gone. It was so peaceful . . . into the presence of the Lord.

When they built the coffin for him, Sam got it done specially, because it had to be so wide, to fit in this tumor.

Which reminds me of another story. I’m thinking of this story now. This is a story of my niece. Two of my nieces just came from New Zealand recently. One of these nieces, a beautiful, beautiful mother, well, she’s now a grandmother. A while back, her husband passed away. He passed away due to a very, very, very radical cancer, a cancer that they said that he wouldn’t even last two weeks.

But they began to believe God, and they moved into such a place of faith and trust in God even in the face of the medical profession saying he could never last another day, just about every day. He lasted another seven years. They had another beautiful seven years together. She was believing for his total healing but it didn’t happen, but she was blessed with another seven years.

She was telling us the whole story. I am giving you a little tiny bit of it today. Around our table, just the other week, in fact, we had all the family with us. There was hardly a dry eye around the family. But she was telling us about his going into the presence of the Lord. You know, I was thinking, it’s such an amazing thing when a baby is born. Oh, is there anything more amazing in the whole of the world? To see a new life, a new baby, coming into the world? I don’t think so.

But then, I think there is another amazing thing. It’s not incredible like the wonder of new life, but there’s something amazing about it, of when someone goes into the presence of the Lord, and you’re feeling the atmosphere of heaven. Have you had that experience? It is so amazing.

Heather was telling us about her husband. He said, “Oh, where is Heather?” She was right beside him. So, she came around where he could see her. She said his eyes were not on her. His eyes were upon the Lord. He was seeing the Lord. They watched him going into the presence of the Lord as his eyes were upon the Lord.

But then, after he died, something amazing happened. Actually, it was after he was laid out. One of her children was looking at the body and they said to their mother, to Heather, “Mum, I can’t see this tumor!” Because it was big. It was huge. It was noticeable. She said, “Well, OK. Let’s take down the sheet.” They took down the sheet. His body was perfect! There was absolutely no sign of where that tumor had been.

God healed his body as he went into the presence of the Lord! Isn’t that amazing? Serene piped up and said, “Well, yes, that is a miracle! That is not something ordinary, because I remember when Sam’s father passed away and we had to build this extra-special huge coffin for him to fit in this tumor.” But here, amazingly, God took it away as he went into the presence of the Lord! Isn’t that amazing?

Anyway, I’ve got onto a few sidetracks there, didn’t I? Let’s move on. Oh, another reason this word is used so much in the Bible, asaph, is the gathering of God’s people back to the land of Israel. Oh, and there are so, so many Scriptures about that! Oh, goodness me. I’m just going to read you one or two.

I can’t help it, because I just love these Scriptures about the returning of God’s people to the land. And, you can actually go to my webpage, AboveRubies.org, and if you go to Articles and Stories, and then Israel and the Land, you can look up “Everlasting Possession.” There I have all these Scriptures written out for you to check out, all these wonderful promises. Our God is going to bring back His people to His land.

Let’s just look at one or two of them.

Ezekiel 11:17: “I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you [asaph] out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” Of course, we are living in the fulfillment of these prophetic words. For many, many years, and then especially when Israel became a nation in 1948, more and more of God’s people began to come back to the land from the four corners of the earth. Israel is now a thriving nation. “A nation was born in a day,” as the Bible says. But God is still bringing His people because they’re not all back yet.

Micah 2:12. Now as I read this, just listen. In this Scripture, there are five references in one Scripture to the gathering of God’s people back to the land. Then, there are two other words that we could also add. But there are five words about assembling. See if you can pick them up.

“I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.” OK, did you find them? I’ll go over it again.

“I will surely,” that is asaph. “Assemble,” asaph. God uses the word two times. He is so adamant about it. This promise will be fulfilled! “Surely I will assemble thee, O Jacob, all of thee.” Not just some. “All of thee. I will surely,” qabats. That’s another word for “assembling.” “I will surely gather,” qabats again. Another word for “assembling.” “The remnant of Israel; I will put them together,” yachad, “as the sheep of Bozrah.”

There were five different Hebrew words for “assembling.” My! God could have said it once. He could have said, “I will assemble you.” But no. He doesn’t. “I will surely assemble thee. I will surely gather thee. I will put you together.” Five words, and then He says, “as a flock.”

Well, that’s not singular, is it? It’s plural. And “in the midst of their fold.” That’s also a plural word.

“They will make a great noise, because there will be such a multitude of them.” Another plural word, of them all gathering. Wow! That’s just wondrous! Isn’t it amazing?

But you know what? Oh, and I’ve just been thinking about this lately. You see, as they have been coming back to the land, it’s the Jews who are coming back, mainly from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and the Levites, the priesthood. But where are the ten tribes? The ten tribes were cast out of Israel well before the tribe of Judah. In 586 BC, the Jews were taken to Babylon because of their sins.

But the ten tribes had already gone (722 – 721 BC). Where are they? Does anybody know where they are? I don’t know where they are. I don’t think anyone knows where they are. But God says, “I’m also bringing back all My people, not just Judah, but all of them, and Israel too.” Dear ladies, we have yet to see some amazing miracles happen.

Let’s have a read here. Jeremiah 3:18: “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.”

Isaiah 11:12-13: “He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel,” Israel, “and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Ephraim always speaks of the ten tribes. “Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.”

Hosea 1:11: “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head.”

Now, I’ve got to tell you this Scripture. It’s Jeremiah 16:14-16. I think this Scripture is talking about the miracle that’s going to happen to reveal these ten tribes and bring them back to the Land. “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.”

You see, perhaps the greatest miracle that we’ve ever seen in the history of the world were the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, and those plagues that God brought upon the Egyptians so that they would free them. Then they’re coming through the Red Sea, and those waters piling up high, and them walking through on dry land. Have we ever seen anything like that since?

But this Scripture says that people will no longer say, “Wow, the Lord God has brought them out of the land of Egypt.” No. People will say, “The Lord God has brought the children of Israel out of all the lands where He cast them out!”

He goes on: “Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. For Mine eyes are upon all their ways:” Listen to this: “they are not hid from My face, neither is their iniquity hid from Mine eyes.”

At the moment, they are hidden from all of us. We don’t know where they are. But they’re not hidden from God. Isn’t that amazing? In the transcript, I will give you lots of other Scriptures that you can look up, about God specifically saying that He’s going to bring back Israel as well.

Well, I don’t know where time has gone, but we’re going to have to close this session. Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, we realize, as we live in Your Word, how much You love the assembling of Your people, the gathering of Your people together. Lord God, You never want us to be an isolated people. You want us to be a together people. Help us to be those who come together with the saints, who come together to pray, who come together for battle prayer meetings, and battering ram prayer meetings.

“And, Lord God, help us to be also those who are aware of what You are doing in this hour, how You are bringing Your people back to Your land. Lord, You have promised You are going to bring back even those ten tribes. They’re not lost, and they’re not hidden from You.

“So, we ask Lord, for the great fulfillment of all Your promises. Help us to always be listening and watching and waiting, Lord, to know what You are doing in this hour. Save us from having our heads in the sand. Lord God, teach us of Your ways. Let us be like the children of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel should do. We thank You. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

1 Chronicles 12:32: “The children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do . . .”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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

GOD IN NOT ONLY BRINGING BACK THE TRIBE OF JUDAH BUT THE 10 LOST TRIBES:

Isaiah 11:11-13; Jeremiah 3:18; 12:11; 16:14-16; 31:27; 30:3; 31:31-34; 33:14, 24; 50:4, 5, 33; Ezekiel 20:40; 36:10-12; 37:16-28; 39:25; Hosea 1:11; Zechariah 8:13; 10:16; Hebrews 8:8.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 274: God Loves Togethering, Part 4

Epi274pic LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 274: God Loves Togethering, Part 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ASAPH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ready armed for the war

men of valor for the war

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

they were not of double heart

ready for the battle

men of war.”

And so, it kept describing them throughout the chapter.

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

WE MUST COME TOGETHER TO FIGHT THE ENEMY

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

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

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

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

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

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

INCLUDE THE CHILDREN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 273: God Loves Togethering, Part 3

Epi273pic LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 273: God Loves Togethering, Part 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

an assembly,

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

a calling out,

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

It can also talk about faith in heaven too.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ARE YOU STRENGTHENING THE BODY?

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

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

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

Let’s look at a few other Scriptures.

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

Firstly, THE APOSTLE’S DOCTRINE

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

Secondly, FELLOWOSHIP

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

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

Thirdly, THE BREAKING OF BREAD

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

Fourthly, PRAYERS

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

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

THE WHOLE CHURCH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s one word: YACHAD

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

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

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

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

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

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 272: God Loves Togethering, Part 2

Epi272pic LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 272: God Loves Togethering, Part 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MORNING AND EVENING APPOINTMENTS

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

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

WEEKLY APPOINTMENT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MONTLY APPOINTMENT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YEARLY APPOINTMENTS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He calls them . . .

“My sanctuary,

My house,

My bread,

My covenant,

My holy things,

My hand,

My holy things,

My sanctuary (again),

My table,

My charge,

My purpose,

My judgments,

My laws,

My statutes,

My assembly,

My assemblies.”

MY ASSEMBLIES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

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

TEN P’S IN A POD

A Million-Mile Journal of the Arnold Pent Family

By Arnold Pent III

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

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

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

WHAT DO PEOPLE SAY?

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

~ Andrée Seu Peterson, World Magazine Columnist

“Your book is a breath of fresh air.”

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

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

—

“I read this book out loud to my husband while we were on a long trip. Reading it out loud made the Scriptures and stories come alive. I’ve been greatly affected by the book.”

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

A GOOD LIFE

by Jeremiah Pent

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

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

3) display beauty, creativity, or ingenuity.

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

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

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

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

"A capable, intelligent and virtuous woman,
who is he who can find her?
She is far more precious than jewels and her
value is far ABOVE RUBIES or pearls ."
Proverbs 31:10

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 276: God Loves Togethering, Part 6

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 275: God Loves Togethering, Part 5

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 274: God Loves Togethering, Part 4

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 273: God Loves Togethering, Part 3

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 272: God Loves Togethering, Part 2

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