PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 374: LIVING THE BLISSFUL LIFE, No. 8
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 374: LIVING THE BLISSFUL LIFE, No. 8
There were five different sacrifices in the Old Testament, but did you know that we are also given sacrifices to do in the New Testament? Do you know what they are? We begin the first one today.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to the Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies, a magazine bringing strength and encouragement to families across the world.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Well, what are we doing today? We are still in the middle of this series, “Living the Blissful Life.” But today I want to go on to something different, although we’re going to go back to the very first Scripture we began with, which is Hebrews 13:15: “By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name.”
We began this series with talking about being thankful. In fact, the very first podcast was “How to Smile When You Don’t Feel Like Smiling.” On that podcast, my daughter Pearl, Pearl Barrett of Trim Healthy Mama, was with me. It was a wonderful podcast. Pearl brings out many scientific facts of how smiling can affect your health and make you even feel so much better, even when you don’t feel like smiling, and you don’t feel like being thankful. So, we talked about that.
But now, we’re coming back to this Scripture again, because there’s something that I haven’t talked about here, and that is, “By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise.” Before, we talked about how giving thanks is something we need to do continually, how it should be a lifestyle. But we haven’t talked about it being a sacrifice. I think you would say that sometimes it is a sacrifice. So, we’re going to talk about the sacrifice of praise.
Back in the Old Testament, they had five different sacrifices that they offered to the Lord. There was . . .
the burnt offering,
the grain offering,
the peace offering,
the sin offering,
and the trespass offering.
We don’t do those offerings today. We don’t offer animals on an altar, but it’s interesting, ladies, that in the New Testament, we still also read about sacrifices.
It’s amazing, because there were five sacrifices in the Old Testament, and I have found five New Testament sacrifices that God wants us to have as part of our lives. We’re going to look at them. We’ll start today, and I think we’ll need to go on for a few podcasts to finish them.
The first one . . .
No. 1. THE OFFERING OF OUR BODIES AS A LIVING SACRIFICE
I know that you all know this Scripture, Romans 12:1-2: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Well, of course, as I said before, we no longer offer animal sacrifices upon an altar. But God is now asking us to do something even greater. And that is to present our bodies, or offer our bodies, as a living sacrifice. That’s a great, big challenge, isn’t it? Maybe it’s a bigger challenge than being a dead sacrifice, because as a living sacrifice, it’s something that we experience, day by day.
I think it comes right back to us as wives and mothers. Even as we serve our husbands in our homes, we do it as a living sacrifice. As we seek to care for our children, mother our children, we offer up ourselves as a living sacrifice. We don’t always feel like doing something as a sacrifice, do we?
In fact, as I was raising our children, I found this Scripture a great challenge to me. I would come back to it continually. It really helped me, and it really changed me to know how I was meant to live.
Mark 8:35: Jesus said: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall find it.” That Scripture is completely opposite to the way of the world. It’s completely opposite to how we think. It is completely opposite to this “Me” generation.
Most people think that the best thing, and the most important thing to do, is to look after themselves, to look after number one; to make sure that everything good happens to them, and they are living in good around them, and everything is nice, and everything’s just going well. Many people try to find themselves by working everything out for themselves.
But it doesn’t work that way. God’s way is the opposite. He says that when you try to save your life, you’ll lose it. But when you're prepared to lose your life, you will save it. Isn’t that amazing?
So, dear mother, in your home, with all your little ones around you, you're feeling frustrated. Sometimes you’re even feeling crazy and you are feeling overwhelmed. You feel as though you’re losing yourself. Well, don’t worry, because in losing your own life, you actually find it. It really, truly works. God’s principles always work.
When you forget about yourself, and you seek to pour out your life to serve others, and to care for them, it’s in doing that that you find yourself. That’s a real principle. Remember, God’s principles work.
In fact, at the end of that Scripture, it says to “offer our bodies as a living sacrifice as our reasonable service.” Many translations translate “service” as “worship.” It can also mean “worship.” The word in the Greek is latreia. It means “the service and worship of God, according to His requirements.” It means “to perform sacred services.”
Of course, we love to worship God. We go to church on Sunday or maybe Saturday. Some will worship on Saturday. We have the opportunity to praise God. Often, we can get lost in the glorious worship of praising God. It’s so great.
But then, we go home, and we face the nitty-gritty again. Every child wants something from you at once and you hardly know how you're going to do it all. You think, “Oh, goodness me!” And yet, God calls that worship also. If we are not prepared to offer our lives, and our bodies, to worship the Lord, and obey His will (in caring for our family) because that’s what it is, it’s the “perfect and acceptable will of God,” well, really, we’re not understanding true worship, because true worship is serving God.
It is doing the will of God, and for those of you who are blessed with children, God has given you these children. God gave them to you. They come from him. When He gives you children, He gives you this blessed career, this mandate to nurture these children, to train these children for Him, to pour your life into these children. This is God’s perfect will for you. So, we embrace it with all our hearts! Amen?
Let’s have a look at some other translations, shall we?
The New Living Translation ends Romans 12:1 with these words: “This is truly the way to worship Him.”
God’s Word Translation says: “This kind of worship is appropriate for you.”
The Passion Translation says: “To surrender ourselves to God, to be His sacred living sacrifice, and to live in holiness, this becomes your genuine expression of worship.”
Paul confesses in Philippians 2:17, he’s talking to the Philippian believers. He says: “I will rejoice, even if I lose my life pouring it out like a liquid offering.” Back in the Old Testament, many of the sacrifices were accompanied by a liquid offering that was poured out. Paul is relating it back to these sacrifices. It’s amazing how the New Testament relates to the Old Testament, and the Old Testament relates to the New Testament. They entwine together.
If we read it in the Berkley version, Paul says: “Even if my lifeblood must be poured out for you, a sacrifice to nurture your faith, I am glad of it.” Paul was happy to pour out his life for the benefit of those new believers in Philippi. He was prepared to lay down his life so that he could help them to grow and flourish in the Lord.
If Paul could do that for those believers, what about us as mothers, for our own children, our own flesh and blood? Surely, it’s our blessing, our delight, to pour out our lives for them. This is all part of offering our bodies a living sacrifice. It’s in the day-to-day, ladies. When you're feeling so tired, and I can remember.
I remember those days when I had three children under 17 months. Well, I cheated and had twins! Then I had four under four, and so on. In those days, there were lots of little ones around. Oh, I can remember being so tired! It was like a pain.
I know that sometimes you feel that too. But don’t worry. You’ll get there. I’m still alive today! I look back on those days as wonderful days. They are days that do not last very long. Those days with your little ones, all around you. They pass so quickly. Don’t despise these days. Embrace these days. Pour out your life.
I love the words of this song that my daughter Serene wrote many years ago. It’s about being poured out.
There was a woman who knelt down beside You
And watered Your feet with her tears,
She kissed You with lips that were known for no virtue
And dried Your dusty soles with her hair.
She broke the alabaster vial,
And anointed You with the oil.
Poured out, poured out for You.
A fragrant, fragrant perfume.
Poured out, poured out for You,
I want to be poured out.
The next stanza:
I am a woman who’s kneeling at Your feet.
With nothing to give You of worth.
I’ll break open my soul,
And spill every drop of me.
I pour my life out like the oil,
I’ll sacrifice this earthen vessel.
May my tears be as sweet perfume.
Poured out, poured out for You,
A fragrant, fragrant perfume,
Poured out, poured out for You.
I want to be poured out.
Lovely ladies, “poured out” is a New Testament sacrifice. There’s another lovely hymn that I love too that talks about this. It’s called “Is Your Life on the Altar of Sacrifice Laid?” I love the words of this hymn, but I won’t sing it to you, ladies. I’m sorry. If I sang it, you would turn off the podcast! I sing out of tune anyway.
But I think if I could find my husband . . . Oh Darling, there you are! Hallelujah! Can you come and sing this old hymn? It’s called “Is Your Life on the Altar of Sacrifice Laid?” My husband loves to sing the old hymns as I do. We grew up with the hymns.
I know that many of you are not familiar with the hymns today. Not everybody sings, and some of you, maybe you sing the hymns at your church. Others, you maybe don’t ever hear them. You just sing the current worship songs, which are also so glorious. But there’s something about these wonderful old hymns. They have such truth and such doctrine.
This hymn was written by Elisha Hoffman. He actually wrote over 2,000 hymns. A lot of the popular ones that we sing, like “What a Wonderful Savior is Jesus My Lord.”
“Have You Been to Jesus for the Cleansing Power? Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb?”
“Leaning on the Arms of Jesus.” Do you know any of those? They’re such wonderful old hymns.
Would you mind singing this beautiful hymn to the ladies?
Pastor Colin: I have a little problem with my voice.
Nancy: You’ll be all right. You have to sing right into the mike.
Pastor Colin:
You have longed for sweet peace,
And for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
But you cannot have rest,
Or be perfectly blest,
Until all on the altar is laid.
(chorus) Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest,
And have peace and sweet rest,
As you yield Him your body and soul.
Would you walk with the Lord
In the light of His Word,
And have peace and contentment always?
You must do His sweet will,
Living free from all ill,
On the altar your all must be laid.
(chorus)
O we never can know
What the Lord will bestow
Of the blessings for which we have prayed,
Till our body and soul
He doth fully control,
And our all on the altar is laid.
(chorus)
You can tell of the love
He will send from above.
And how happy our lives will be made,
Of the fellowship sweet
We shall share as we meet,
When our all on the altar is laid.
(chorus)
Nancy: Thank you, Darling! That was so beautiful. Aren’t those words so powerful, and so challenging? But when Jesus came to offer His body, He not only had to offer up His body, He had to also offer up His will to the Father. I think that is also part of offering our bodies a living sacrifice.
We go back to Psalms 40:6-8. We read this prophetic messianic Psalm: “Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire . . . burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required. Then said I,” (this is Jesus speaking) “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me. I delight to do Thy will.” Those words are repeated in the New Testament in Hebrews 10:4-10. You can read them again. It’s amazing. They’re in the Old Testament, and they’re in the New Testament.
Jesus is saying here, when He came, there was no longer any need for all those burnt offerings. They were not enough to eliminate and make us free from sin. It was only Jesus’ offering, because He was the perfect, sinless, spotless Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world.
Jesus knew, even from the beginning, that He would have to lay down His life. But when it came to that very moment, we read of the agony. We read of Him in the Garden of Gethsemane and what was happening. We read of how great drops of blood were coming down from His face. Not drops of blood. The Bible says: “great drops of blood.” He sweated great drops of blood down His face, because He was terrified at the anguish of what He was going to face.
That is there in the Greek words if you look them up. It means He was terrified. He was in anguish as He faced and contemplated having to take upon Him my sins, your sins, the sin and the sicknesses of the whole world. He suffered. The incredible suffering He suffered at the cross. He had to face that.
Yet, as He faced that, what did He say? We all know the words: “Not My will, but Thine be done. I delight to do Thy will.” The amazing thing is that in Philippians 2:5-9, we read these words where it says: “Let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” And He said: “Not My will, but Thine be done.”
Now the Word of the Lord comes to us to say, “Have the same attitude.” Well, we will never, ever have to face what Jesus faced. But dear lovely, precious moms in your home, even in the little trials and frustrations that you face that can get you so upset, can you say, “Not my will, but Thine is done”?
Sometimes you feel as though you're hemmed in. You just want to get out and be free and do your own thing. But this is the work that God has given to you to do. This is His service. This is the worship unto Him. So, can we just have that same attitude? Well, little by little, we can get it, that we can say, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” Amen?
Oh, I think that is so powerful. I just want to close on that and encourage you, dear ladies, in the very first, No. 1 New Testament sacrifice. This is not Old Testament. This is New Testament. This is up to date. This is for us today. This is for us in our homes, in the midst of our mothering, in the midst of trials that we face. “Not my will, but Thine be done. I delight to do Thy will.”
Today, instead of praying for you, I would like to pray the Lord’s Prayer. You can join with me, because I am sure you know it. I hope you know it. Have you taught your children the Lord’s Prayer? I’m sure you have. But if you haven’t, do teach it to them.
Did you know, ladies, that the early church recited the Lord’s Prayer three times a day? I wasn’t aware of this for many years, but since we discovered that this was the lifestyle of the early church, we have decided to do it ourselves. We don’t always do it three times, but we do it at least two times in our morning and our evening devotions. We all say it together.
If you just say it by rote, maybe it won’t mean so much. But if you say these words from your heart, they are powerful. It is the most powerful prayer. I believe it will have such incredible impact on all of you, your husband, yourself, and each one of your children as you say this together. You can hold hands and say it together, or however you like. You can stand up and say it together. We’re usually sitting down for our devotions but then we will stand to say the Lord’s Prayer. We say it with all our hearts. Would you like to say it with me now?
“Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed by Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”
“May the Lord richly bless you and pour out His Holy Spirit upon you. May He anoint you again this day with His strength, and with His wisdom, as you mother, and train, and nurture your children. May your home be blessed with the joy of the Lord. Be blessed. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.
“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”
DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.
IT IS ENCOURAGING FOR ALL WIVES AND MOTHERS.
MY HEART IS FULL
I trust you love the new song introducing this podcast. Well, it’s not a new song. Serene and Pearl wrote it many years ago, but the words are still so anointed for mothers.
You can download the full song from www.aboverubies,or from the Book and music store. Go to: Above Rubies Bookstore
The following is the link for the single:
MY HEART IS FULL - Music Single from Peace All Over Me - Downloadable MP3 Format Album
Here are the words for you:
MY HEART IS FULL
Little arms reaching for me,
Grubby fingers touch my face
And love is what I feel.
Little eyes looking at me,
Chubby cheeks burst with smiles
And joy is what I know,
Peeking in while they sleep at night,
I thank God for the gift of life,
I thank God for more that I deserve.
CHORUS.
My heart is full, my heart is full,
Why would I want for more?
When my cup overflows?
My heart is full, my heart is full,
This much I know.
Strong arms reaching for me
Circle my waist for the millionth time
And love is what I feel
Sometimes I watch him sleep at night,
I thank God that I am his wife,
And joy is what I know.
CHORUS.
Sometimes when discontent creeps into my soul
A still small voice reminds me of the ones my arms can hold