PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 171: LIFE TO THE FULL, Part 6
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 171 – LIFE TO THE FULL, Part 6
God also loves to fill us with good food. We talk about the table in this session. Do you know where tables originate? You'll be surprised to find out. We also talk about how God wants us to sit at our tables rather than eat food "on the run."
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, LIFE TO THE FULL, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Back together again! We’re still on the same series, “LIFE TO THE FULL, Part Six.” This is podcast #171. I finished last time saying that God wants us to be filled with His glory. I want to give you the correct reference. It’s 1 Peter 1:8: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and FULL OF GLORY.”
A few more Scriptures for you about glory.
2 Thessalonians 2:14: “Whereunto He called you by our gospel to be OBRAINING OF THE GLORY of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Isn’t it amazing? We’re being called to obtain glory. Wow! We need to live in glory. We do live so sub-zero, don’t we, when God wants us to live in His glory.
When He comes into our lives, we invite Him to come in, He comes by His Spirit. When He comes, He comes in the fullness of His Spirit, and He is glory. He is the Lord of Glory; He dwells within us. So, not only are we to live in glory here, and of course, we’re going to live in the real glory, the glory that we cannot even fathom in the eternal world, but let’s not wait till then, dear ladies. God wants us to experience and live in His glory now. He wants us to be filled with it.
I’d love to take you to 2 Corinthians 3. This is the glory chapter of the Bible. Did you know that the word “glory” or “glorious” is used 14 times in this chapter? It’s the most times that “glory” is used in a chapter in the Bible. So, we’d better have a look at it, don’t you think?
Let me read just a few of the verses. You can take time to read them when you’re on your own, in your own personal reading of the Word.
So, 2 Corinthians 3:7 (Passion Translation): “Even the ministry that was characterized by chiseled letters on stone tablets came with a dazzling measure of glory.” We know that, don’t we? When God gave the Ten Commandments up there on Mt. Sinai, wow, it came with great glory and great mighty thunderings. The power of God was so evident that all the children of Israel were totally in awe and fear. They were actually scared because of the glory of God upon that mount.
But it goes on to say: “Yet HOW MUCH MORE RADIANT is this new and glorious ministry of the Spirit that shines from us! For if the former ministry of condemnation was ushered in with a measure of glory, HOW MUCH MORE does the ministry that imparts righteousness FAR EXCEL IN GLORY.” This is the ministry that we now have: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
Let’s continue reading: “What once was glorious no longer holds any glory because of the INCREASINGLY GREATER GLORY that has replaced it. The fading ministry came with a portion of glory, but now we embrace the unfading ministry of a permanent impartation of glory.” Whoo! Amazing!
Verse 12: “So then, with this amazing hope living in us, we step out into freedom and boldness to speak truth.” Yes, because we are filled with glory. Every day we wake up, what do we do? We wake up with freedom, with boldness to speak and to shine. Yes, to shine forth.
And then, of course, I love verse 18: “We can all draw close to Him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who BRIGHTLY REFLECT THE GLORY OF THE LORD JESUS. We are being transfigured into His very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Oh, it’s so hard to take that all in, isn’t it? It’s amazing! Yes, verse 18 in the King James: “But we all,” I love the way it starts “We all.” It’s not only me personally. Our faith is a mutual faith. We’re walking together. We’re walking this road to the eternal kingdom together. And we will be stronger as we do it together. We will shine more brightly as we do it together because we encourage one another. We spur one another on. We invigorate one another. We help one another. That's how God intends it to be.
So, He says: “We all,” all of us, “we all,” with open face, “with unveiled faces, behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into His image, FROM GLORY TO GLORY, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Yes, well, let’s have a look, shall we, at just one or two Scriptures here. I was reading to you from the Passion Translation but let me get back to my good old King James Bible here. We’re going to go to 2 Corinthians 3, the glory chapter.
2 Corinthians 3:9: “If the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness EXCEED IN GLORY.”
Now, the word “exceed” in the Greek is the word perisseuo. This word, dear ladies, if you listen to my podcasts, I’m often giving you this word. Why? Because we read it so many times in the New Testament. It’s one of the reasons why I changed the name of my podcast to LIFE TO THE FULL. Because this is a New Testament word that is part of our Christian walk. Here it’s saying that this glory that we have now, this outpouring of the Holy Spirit into our lives, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” it exceeds far, far beyond that glory that came with the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai.
It exceeds, and this is the word, “exceed.” Let me give you a full understanding of that Greek word. It means “to super-abound, to be in excess, to excel, to abound, nothing to spare, over and above.” You see, it’s above the normal. It is not average, it’s not normal.
GOD DOES NOT INTEND US TO LIVE ORDINARY LIVES
Dear, darling ladies, dear young people who are listening, little children who are listening, God does not intend us to live a normal life like everybody else around us. How can we live a normal life when Christ, the Lord of glory, dwells in us? It's a super-abounding life. It’s a life that exceeds the normal.
We’ve got to change our thinking, dear mothers. Our thinking is all wrong. Our thinking is sub-zero. Our thinking has been influenced by the enemy who does not know, he does not want us to know who we are in Christ! Yes, we are to live in glory.
Now, we go to verse 10: “For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that EXCELLETH.” Here’s another word. Let’s find out what this one is. The Greek word here is huperballo. And what does it mean? It means, “to throw beyond the usual mark, to surpass, exceeding.”
So, dear ladies, once again, different Greek words, but very similar meanings. It means “to go beyond the usual mark.” Once again, we can’t live ordinary lives. Are you living an ordinary life in your home? Dear mother, you don’t have to live an ordinary life. That’s sub-zero, ladies.
Jesus Christ dwells in you. When He comes into your life by His Spirit, He comes with all His fullness. He comes with His life, His joy, His peace, His patience, His longsuffering, His rest, His glory. It’s all in you! You, in your homes, changing diapers, just trying to survive all your little ones around you, trying to get through your day, cooking the meals, and managing your home, you can DO IT IN GLORY!
You can do it at sub-zero levels if you want to. Or you can do it in glory! Living the glory life. That’s what God intends you to do. You see, sometimes you’re, “Oh, goodness me, if only I could be out doing what I want to do, just fulfilling all my amazing gifts.”
Oh, it doesn’t depend on where you are, or what you’re doing. It depends on what you believe and how you are living. Because, no matter what your circumstances, you can live sub-zero. Even if your circumstances are just normal, and you’re just doing the daily grind of duty, you can still live the glory life!
Drudgery turns to delight. We can turn every mundane thing into miraculous glory when we realize what God has for us, His life, which He wants to live through us. So, dear ladies, can you come up to the glory living?
Yes, and what does it say, we were reading in the Passion Translation: “How much more radiant is this new and glorious ministry of the Spirit that shines from us?” Shines from us.
So, you wake up in the morning to shine to your husband. Yes, you’re not going to get up with your “poor me, oh, not another day,” and grouchy face. No! You’re going to shine with love to your husband.
You’re going to get up and face your children with joy. “Good morning, children! What a wonderful day we’ll have together!” Shine His glory. If you’re going out to the supermarket, going out somewhere, wherever you have to go, you’re going with a shining face, to reveal His glory.
MASKS HIDE THE GLORY OF GOD SO GOD’S PEOPLE DON’T WEAR THEM
That's why we don’t wear masks. We don’t cover the glory of God. That’s what this chapter is the “glory chapter.” At the beginning of the chapter, it says that we are His epistles, “known and read of all men.” We go out to reveal Jesus, to reveal His glory.
And how do people read us? They read us by our faces. The expression on our faces, whether we have got this sour, boring face, or whether we have a smile on our face and we’re shining with the glory of Jesus who dwells within us. So, we do not ever cover our face, because that comes from the pit of hell. Satan wants to cover faces because he wants to cover the glory of God. God created us with an open face to reveal His glory.
So, dear mothers, we want you to be filled with glory, right there, in your home. If you’re filled with glory in your home, then you’ll take that glory as you go out of your home. Amen? Can you say “Amen” with me? Oh, I hope you will do that. Come on now, say, “Amen!” Yes.
AFFIRM TRUTH WITH YOUR MOUTH
We acknowledge it. We must always acknowledge the truth. It’s not just an affirmation in the head. We have to affirm it with our mouths.
That’s how we were saved. Romans 10:8-9: If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, “Thou shalt be saved. . . With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
That’s how we were saved which is how we continue our Christian walk. In every way, we believe, we read the Word of God, we see the truth, we affirm it. We can nod our heads, sort of nodding, “Yes, I believe that, that’s amazing.”
But we need to affirm it also verbally, “Thank You, Lord Jesus. Oh, thank You for Your truth. Thank You that You dwell within me. Thank You that You are the Lord of Glory, and You dwell in my life. Lord, I can hardly take it in, but I thank You. I thank You for this truth.
Oh, Lord God, I want to reveal Your glory to my family. I want to reveal Your glory as I go out into this world. Lord God, Oh Father, I thank You for Your truth. I thank You for Your glory that is in me. I thank You for all the glorious things that You have given to me—Your wisdom, Your righteousness, Your peace, Your holiness, Your patience, Your longsuffering.
Oh, Lord God, I thank You it is all in me, not because I have any of it in myself, but because it is Your life, and You dwell within me. So, I confess it, and I thank You. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Yes, so, you not only believe with your head, you affirm in your heart, but you affirm with your mouth. Amen?
No. 20. GOD WANTS US TO BE FILLED WITH GOOD FOOD
All right. Let’s go on to the last one, number 20. This one, ladies, is a very, very practical one, because our God is a practical God. Not only does He want us to be filled with all the fruits of righteousness and all that He is, but He also. . . Do you know what? Yes, He also wants us to be filled with good food! Yes! Isn’t that amazing?
Oh, there are so many Scriptures about God wanting us to be filled with food because God is the One Who provides our food. He doesn’t want us to barely get along. He wants us to be filled with the good food that He has given to us.
Deuteronomy 11:14-15: “I will give you the rain of your land in his due season.” Talking about the land of promise, the land flowing with milk and honey. “That thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. . . That thou mayest EAT AND BE FULL.” Yes. God talks so much about food in His Word, and so much about eating, and so much about being filled. He wants us to be filled with spiritual blessings, and He wants us to be filled with the physical blessings of food.
Well, I have so much here. I won’t even have time to give it to you all in this podcast. But I did a study a while back, and I called it, “FOOD TWINS.” I found 24 different things that God associates with food in the Bible. The Bible gets down to the nitty-gritty of our lives. It talks about the very things that we face every day in our homes. So let me begin to give them to you. Let’s see how we go.
No. 1 FOOD AND THE TABLE
Food is associated with the table. Why? Because God wants us to eat our food at the table. Well, pretty obvious, but God talks about it in His Word, because He wants us to make sure this is where He loves us to eat. At the table.
We see a picture of this in Psalm 128:3. This whole Psalm is a family psalm. In verse three, it gives the picture of the wife in the home. “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, living in your home. Your children like olive plants, all around your table.” The picture that God paints of a family that’s blessed of the Lord is a picture of the father, and the mother, and the children, ALL AROUND THE TABLE. God loves tables! Did you know that?
Now, maybe you’ve just got an old rickety table in your home. Or maybe it’s a beautiful, amazing table. It doesn’t matter what kind of a table. God loves your table, because it’s not actually the table, it’s what happens at the table. The table is a gathering place. It’s where we gather our family together. It’s where we bring them around, so we can be together, and look at one another, face to face.
You see, the whole point of the table is to feed our family—body, soul, and spirit. We feed the whole man. It’s a place to fellowship, to eat food, yes, fill our hungry tummies. But to fellowship, and to feed the soul, then to feed the spirit. Before we leave the table, we will open the Word of God and feed from His food, His food that He gives us in His Word.
If we let our children leave the table before we give them spiritual food, they are leaving half-fed. So, we’re feeding the whole man. It’s face to face, table fellowship, looking at one another, interacting with one another, fellowshipping with one another.
I wonder if you know where tables originate. Do you know? Can I tell you?
Tables originate in Heaven!
Did you know that? God thought of tables before we ever, ever had them on earth. In fact, when Jesus was here on earth, talking with His disciples, He said to them: “I want you to come and sit with Me, and eat with Me at My table in My kingdom.” He said that to them more than once (Matthew 8:11 and Luke 22:30).
He talks about “My table in My kingdom.” You see, God had tables before we ever thought of them, because God loves the table that bring people to sit around, to sit around, and fellowship.
Now, a table can even mean a mat on the floor. In some passages of the Word of God, they met, and they sat around a mat with the food in the middle. It was the gathering around. That is the table.
Oh, I have so many Scriptures about it. In fact, dear ladies, in this little study on FOOD TWINS, I have so many Scriptures for every point. I won’t have time to give them to you all. But if you would really love them, you would love to look them up and really find out what God says about food, you can email me, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I will be so happy to send them to you.
Now, God not only wants us to draw our families to the table, but did you know that He wants us to actually SIT at the table. Of course, if you’re going to gather round, you do have to sit. But many times today we have to remind people to sit at the table.
We live in this fast-paced world, and so many people today, they eat on the run! In fact, I think the majority of people today eat on the run. They eat breakfast on the run. They eat lunch on the run. But God wants us to SIT. Yes, when you have breakfast, when you have lunch, when you have supper, He wants you to sit at the table.
There’s something about sitting. It’s a beautiful Hebrew word, yashab. It means “to sit, to remain, to enjoy, to be at home.” Even scientists have proved that you get so much more nutrients from your food when you sit, and take time to eat, and fellowship, and talk. Your food will do so much more for you than eating on the run. Sometimes you hardly know that you’ve even eaten.
Let me take you to 1 Samuel. We’ll see a few little examples. There are many examples in the Word of God about sitting at the table. Did you know about that? Yes, there are. We go to 1 Samuel 20.
This is the story of when David is now living in the palace with King Saul. The trouble is that King Saul is getting very jealous of David. Remember when the women would go out in the streets and say, “Saul hath slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.” He was getting angry and jealous with David.
So, David and Jonathan, they were such best friends. One day they went out into the woods, and David said, “Look, what are we going to do about this? I mean, I can’t stay here. Any night he can just throw his javelin at me, he gets so mad and crazy.” So, they thought up a plan. And they said, “OK. I won’t go to supper tomorrow night, and we’ll see what happens.”
Jonathan said to David in 1 Samuel 20:18: “Tomorrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed because thy seat will be empty.” Obviously, Saul had everyone, all his most important people, sitting at his table, and everyone had their particular seat.
So, when it came to the next night in 1 Samuel 20:24: “So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat food. And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times.” That means that’s where he sat. They all sat in the same place, every time. “Even upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, and David’s place was empty.” Oh my. OK.
But Saul didn’t worry too much that first night, because he thought, “Oh, maybe something just happened to him.” But the next night, wow. David’s place was empty again. And then King Saul got really mad and realized that David had escaped. So, it was after that that David and Jonathan met again. David realized that “Yes, King Saul’s too angry. I’ve got to clear out of this place.”
But do you notice, just in this story, we see an example of how they sat. And they all sat at their same place every night. Actually, I think that is a very good thing too.
I had one mother who came to me once. She said, “Oh, my children, they can just sit anywhere they want at the table.” But she said, “It gets bedlam, because this one is wanting to sit in this seat, and the other one wants to sit in this seat, and they’re all arguing and fighting.”
I said to her, “Well, look, the Bible talks about having a seat for each person. Why don’t you try that? It takes away all the arguments, and people know exactly where they’re going to sit. Of course, you don’t have to keep those assigned seats the same forever. Maybe after a couple of months, you could change it around. Johnny gets to sit next to Daddy this time, and Mary gets to sit by this one, and so on. They can have a different turn. But for that amount of time, they have their assigned seats because that really helps.”
And then we go to the New Testament, shall we? We see the example of when Jesus is feeding the 5,000, and another time, the 4,000. Actually, this story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 is in every gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Let’s read from Mark 6:39: “Jesus COMMANDED them to MAKE ALL SIT DOWN by companies upon the green grass.”
Isn’t that interesting? In every single gospel, it tells us that Jesus MADE THEM SIT DOWN. Interesting, because I am sure that you have to face that challenge in your home. Do you have to MAKE your children sit down? How many times during a meal do you have to make them sit down?
Actually, the table is a great training place. We are teaching your children to sit at the meal. It is a training and it’s not easy. You’ll have lots of times when bedlam . . . Goodness me, I had many bedlam times at my meal table. But you keep training. You keep on because you will reap the rewards. Therefore, try and get your children to sit, OK?
I’ve got lots of Scriptures about that, too. But once again, time is gone, and I didn’t believe I’d be doing another podcast on this subject, but we’d better finish it next session, OK? So, let’s pray.
“Lord God, we thank You so much for Your lovely Word. Lord, it’s so down to earth, it’s so real. It gets to the nitty-gritty. Thank You that You talk to us about eating, and how You want us to eat, and how You want us to sit at our tables. Lord, You have planned this. It’s all in Your Word, and this is what brings blessing and order to the home. So, help us, Lord, to do things Your way. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell * www.aboverubies.org
Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
I have shared a lot about GLORY in this podcast. But dear ladies, there is just so much about LIVING IN GLORY in the Bible. It is full of it. I have previously shared two series about GLORY and I still haven’t exhausted this subject. I’d love you to catch up with the other podcasts:
THE GLORY OF WOMANHOOD, Parts 1 – 10 (Nos. 68 – 77).
LET’S GET BACK THE GLORY, Parts 1 – 6 (Nos. 159 – 164).
Be blessed!