PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 378: HOW CAN WE FOLLOW IN THE STEPS OF CHARLIE KIRK?
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 378: HOW CAN WE FOLLOW IN THE STEPS OF CHARLIE KIRK?
We praise God that thousands are rallying to take up Charlie’s mantle to boldly proclaim the Gospel and biblical truths to the world. What do we need to do to be ready for this task?
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: Wow! Ladies! I wonder if you watched yesterday, Sunday afternoon, the memorial service for Charlie Kirk. It was so amazing. We finished church and got it all set up to watch on the big screen. We watched from one o’clock until well after five o’clock. No, after six! Yes. It was over five hours, but we were held spellbound.
It was so amazing. I hope you were watching. If you didn’t get a chance to watch, I hope you can look up and find at least some parts of it because it was so inspiring. There were about two million live audience, and then they believe that it went out by YouTube and livestream to at least 100 million viewers. It was going out across the world.
And the amazing thing, ladies, is that the gospel message went out across the world. It was so incredible. In fact, it started with Pastor Rob McCoy giving the gospel message and sharing how we’ve all sinned. And yet Jesus came from the glorious Heaven down to this sin-sick world to not only become a man and live amongst us, but to die upon the cross for our sins, for my sins, for your sins, and to pay the price of our redemption.
He spoke it out so clearly, and then he asked anyone who wanted to stand up and say: “Yes, I want to receive Christ. I want to follow Christ with all my life.” Many stood up all over that great auditorium. It was so amazing. It was such a bold proclamation of the gospel, just as Charlie Kirk was such a bold confessor of the truth and the Word of God.
In fact, I think since Charlie’s assassination, which, of course, has been the most grieving and saddest thing, that this young man so full of passion to reach the young people of this generation was taken so terribly from us, yet, God has been doing wonderful things. I think there comes such a boldness to speak God’s Word. I mean, we saw this, even with all the speakers. There were speakers right from one o’clock until after six o’clock yesterday. It was so amazing.
But I loved the way . . . I guess you've already listened to so many small bites of Charlie Kirk, and what he would say. I love the way he made them so simple and so clear to get the word out. He didn’t just speak God’s Word inside closed doors to only the Christians. No, he got God’s Word into his heart, and he said it to the world, in fact, right out to the most liberal and antagonistic students of our day. But he would say: “Every day, read the Bible, do what it says, and then tell other people what it says.” So simple! And yet, since his death, that has begun to happen in so many amazing ways.
Well, oh yes, I loved too how he . . . Have you noticed how he didn’t just speak about theological things, although he debated many theological arguments with college students around the nation, but he spoke about the things that are so close to God and are so much in the Word of God.
He had such a vision to raise up men to be men instead of just playing around like little boys. I love that one he spoke about to men. Did you ever see this? He tells about when a person gets dressed to go to a funeral, they usually wear a suit. Usually that is what you wear to a wedding as well. He said:
“You’re saying good-bye to your previous self. The woman is the icon, the symbol of beauty, almost always in white. The man, usually in black and white like he’s attending somebody’s death, because, at his wedding, it is a death.
It’s the death of the bachelor mindset.
It’s the death of promiscuity.
It’s the death of the wandering eye.
It’s the death of immoral behavior.
It’s the death of texting girls casually.
It’s the death of ‘I get to do what I want to do.’
It's the death of going to the bar with friends.
It’s the death of acting like an infant.
It’s the death of playing video games until 1.00 am., and . . .
It’s the birth of a man!”
Wow! Well, you don’t often even hear that kind of message from the pulpit, do you? But that was Charlie Kirk. What a great message! And how true it is. I’ve noticed that with all our grandsons getting married, and we have many grandsons married now. Many of them were married at the young age of 18 years of age. Were they too young? No, they weren’t too young.
Every one of those young men, they didn’t play around. They didn’t play around looking at girls. Every one of them, when they saw the one that they knew was the one, and it happened with all of them. They saw that one girl and they knew that was the one. They got on the job. It wasn’t too long later that they were married.
Every one of them have good jobs. They provide well for their wives, and they’ve embraced children, which of course, is part of getting married. If you're not ready to have children, well, you're not ready to be married. It doesn’t matter whether you're 38. That’s the sad thing in our society today, even in the church, that there are young men in their late twenties, and they may have a girlfriend, but they don’t seem to know how to take responsibility, get married, provide, and raise a family!
That was a word that Charlie loved to share with young people. It is true. We noticed these young grandsons, they were just young teenagers, and suddenly they get married, and they’re like men! They became men overnight because they had to take on responsibility.
HAVE MORE CHILDREN THAN YOU CAN AFFORD
That’s another thing that Charlie used to love to say:
“Get married young, work hard to provide,
and have more children than you can afford.”
Well, was that just a crazy statement? No, it’s not, because I think every one of you listening, you know, don’t you? Every baby you had, well, you didn’t have a load of money in the bank. You didn’t think, “Wow! We’ve got plenty of money! We’ll have a baby because we can provide for this little one.”
No, most probably most of you never had enough money to provide. In fact, I think if we had waited until we could provide to have our children, we wouldn’t have any children! Because mostly, you never have enough money to provide for a baby when you conceive. But, as we all know, the amazing thing is, God is in it.
God is in conception. He’s the One who gives conception. God is into having babies! God loves babies. God wants the godly seed to come into this world. What happens is, you might not have any money before the baby comes. Sometimes you don’t have any money when the baby comes, but somehow God provides. He does it. He provides.
I love that Scripture over in Deuteronomy 28. That’s the blessing chapter. Actually, it’s also the cursing chapter, but I have to confess I don’t read these curses as much as I read the blessings. Well, the blessings are to those who obey and walk in the commandments of the Lord. The cursings are for those who refuse to do that.
But anyway, in these blessings, it says here, in verse three: “Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.” Isn’t that great, ladies? You know, it doesn’t matter whether you live in the city or whether you live in the country, God wants to bless you wherever God has put you.
It goes on the say: “Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb.” That’s the very first blessing God talks about. And then He goes on to say: “Blessed shall be the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.” In other words, after the blessing of the womb, then He says, “I’ll bless you with everything you need to provide for this baby. I’ll increase your sheep and your cattle, and I’ll bless your basket and your store. The provision you need to feed and clothe these children I will give you.”
So, Charlie’s word is a good word. “Have more children than you can afford.” Well, it’s so right. It doesn’t matter whether you can afford them. You go ahead. You trust God for the children He wants to give you whether it’s only one. Sometimes that happens. Or whether it’s six, eight, nine, or ten. Yes, and God will provide for everyone because He says it here in His Word.
Charlie was not ashamed to speak the Word of the Lord. In fact, when you think about this passage, all over this county, and pastors won’t even talk about having children in their pulpit. They’re scared somebody might get offended. I can’t believe it! Pastors who are meant to speak the whole counsel of God. And you’d think that part of the whole counsel of God would be the very FIRST commandment that God ever gave, the very first words He spoke into the ears of man: “Be fruitful. Multiply. Fill the earth. Subdue and take dominion.”
These are first words He said. Yet many pastors are too scared to even speak about them. Sometimes they make jokes about them. This is coming from the pulpit. Yet, here was Charlie. He spoke these words not just in closed doors in a church. He spoke to them out there to the world, to these young atheists, and those who are totally brainwashed, and who don’t believe in God. He spoke the Word of God to them, because that’s what we’re meant to do. “We read the Word. We do what it says. And we tell everyone else what it says.: Doesn’t matter who they are. We tell them the truth. Amen?
Well, it was just so great to hear so many of these speakers. I loved hearing Benny Johnson. He mentioned how Stephen in the Bible, he was the first martyr. He says, “I believe that Stephen was martyred at the age of 31,” which is the age that Charlie was murdered.
I thought, “Well, that’s interesting. I’d better look it up.” I did, and most commentaries and historians say that he would have been anything from 27 to 31 years. That’s interesting, isn’t it?
Then when Donald Trump, Jr., got up to speak, oh my! It was the most powerful, powerful message. If you can look it up, you need to hear it. He was speaking about Stephen, the first martyr too. He said, “You know, you read in the Word of God of Jesus sitting at the right hand of the throne of God, but when Stephen was being martyred, it says he looked up steadfastly in Heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And Stephen said: ‘Behold, I see the heavens open, and Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’”
And he said, “Well, OK. We usually read of Jesus sitting at the right hand, but I believe that as Stephen was coming into the presence of God, Jesus was standing up to welcome him.” I’m sure that’s what Jesus was also doing that moment when Charlie finished his life on this earth, because it was in one minute, one second. They say that bullet came and that was it. He never suffered any pain. Charlie went into the presence of the Lord, and Donald Trump, Jr., said, “I am sure that Jesus stood up to welcome His beloved son into His presence.” I love that thought.
I can’t tell you about all the speakers. Goodness me, there were so many of them, but many of the current administration were speaking. I was unbelievably amazed. I didn’t know these people were so much on the side of God. Every single one of them spoke the gospel. In fact, Tucker Carlson, his speech was amazing too. He said, “In these last eleven days, I have spoken more boldly about Jesus than I ever have in my whole life. That’s what I want to do now.” (Actually, I think that may have been J. D. Vance). So amazing to hear that.
We also heard from Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence; Marco Rubio, Secretary of State; RFK, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War; JD Vance, the Vice-President, of course. Every one of these people spoke the gospel clearly. It was amazing. Oh, it was incredible. And then, Erika herself got up. That was the most moving thing you could ever see. How she said that she has forgiven this man who killed her husband, took him away from her. And yet, she has forgiven. It was just so moving to hear her say these words.
Last was President Trump, who also glorified the Lord. He spoke of the time when Charlie opened his heart and received Christ Jesus as his Savior and Lord. So, it was like a whole gospel afternoon. It was amazing.
And we know that since Charlie has passed into the glory of the eternal realm, so many young people have been affected and are wanting to rise up and take his place. Of course, no one will ever, ever take the place of Charlie. He was unique. He was mightily anointed by God. There is no one quite like him.
But, of course, there will be many. We pray for hundreds, thousands, even millions, who will rise up to speak boldly the gospel and God’s truths as Charlie did. In fact, I heard that there had come to Turning Point USA (which Charlie began when he only a young guy of 18 years of age. He began this amazing movement). There have come in these last eleven days 62,000 requests for Turning Point chapters in the colleges across our nation (think it may have been 54,000). Now, that is unbelievably amazing!
I think we should pray much about that, because, obviously, all these people have been so impacted. They’re now filled with passion and fervor to openly share the gospel in the darkest of places, in these universities and colleges where they’ve been brainwashed against everything that is truth and that is Bible.
They want to take this truth. But, as I’m thinking about this, and I’m so thrilled about it, I feel a burden to pray. I think we should all be praying that all these precious young people who now have this fervor upon them will get something even more than just the fervor to go in Charlie’s footsteps. I pray they will get a burden and a longing to seek after God with all their hearts, to seek after truth, to get to know the Bible, because it’s all very well to have a fervor to go out there and do what Charlie was doing. But they have to have it in them. Charlie had it in him, because he disciplined his life to study the Word of God, and to study the answers that he could give these young people.
THE TONGUE OF THE LEARNED
I was just reading Isaiah 50:4: “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.” When I read that Scripture, I picked up that phrase: “the tongue of the learned.”
And that’s what Charlie had. He had “the tongue of the learned.” He had learned. He had studied. He had prepared. He had disciplined his life to prepare so that he could know and know what God said about all these different subjects, so that he could take them out there, and speak the truth, and speak the Word of the Lord. I’m praying so much for all these wonderful, precious young people with this fervor upon them, that they will have this great desire to have “the tongue of the learned.” Yes, that they will be prepared to be prepared.
How do we get prepared? How will they get prepared? Well, it tells us in the same verse: “Morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as the learned.” This is the secret. This is the answer. Will they do it? Let’s pray, shall we, for this great revival that is happening, that it will be a deep revival, not a shallow one, but one where these young people will wake every morning. When God comes to wake them, they’ll be ready to be awake.
Now that means that they won’t be staying up all night, just hanging out, and wasting their time, as most young people do today. It's become the thing of the young people today to hang out at night. Then they can’t get up in the morning. So many young people today sleep in. It’s actually not how God planned our lives. He gave us the night to sleep. He gives us the day, and the dawn to wake up, and to wake up early. “Morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned.”
And so, there often has to be a change of lifestyle. In fact, it speaks to all of us. I have this burden for all these amazing young people, but it’s for all of us, and for our children. Mothers, what kind of lifestyle are we training our children into? Are we just letting them sleep in? It is sad, because I know there are many homeschooling mothers who let their children sleep in. They’re not training them according to how life is meant to be lived!
There are some who don’t need so much sleep. They can stay up later and get up early. But there are some who need more sleep, and if they need more sleep, well, they’d better get to bed on time so they can be ready to wake, so they can hear what God says to them.
That word “learned,” we’d better find out what it means. It means, “to be taught, trained, skilled.” The word in the Hebrew is limmud, L-I-M-M-U-D. It also means, “to be a disciple or a student.” It doesn’t happen by haphazard reading of the Bible. “OK, somewhere I’ll get ten minutes in during the day and read some of the Bible.”
No, what does the Scripture say? “He wakens my ear, morning by morning.” It also means, “to be ready, to get up, to be disciplined.”
The God’s Word Translation says: “Morning by morning, He will wake me, to listen like a student.”
The New English Translation: “He wakes me up every morning. He makes me alert so I can listen attentively, as disciples do.”
The Berkeley Translation: “He alerts my ear to hear as a student.”
And so, it’s becoming a student of the Word of God. What does a student do? A student studies. It’s not just reading the Bible. It’s studying the Bible. It’s studying it to see what God says. It’s studying the doctrines of the Bible. And what is doctrine? It’s what God says about any subject, from Genesis to Revelation. It’s not just one verse. “I read one verse. Oh yeah, that’s great!” No, that’s not the doctrine on the subject. There will be more! There’s so much more!
ARE YOU READY FOR STUDY?
We have to see, what does God say from Genesis to Revelation? We’re going to have to study. I love 2 Timothy 2:15; one of the Scriptures I memorized as a young teen. It says: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.” Do you notice some words there, ladies? Did you notice it says, “a workman”? It doesn’t say, “a lazy man,” or “a lazy woman.” No, a “WORKman.” It’s talking about a workman coming to the Word of God.
That reminds me of a little story I read of Alexander MacClaren. He is a great commentator of the Word of God. That’s years ago, but I love to read his writings. I read how every day, when he went into his study to wait on the Lord, to get his messages ready, or to write the book he was writing, he would put on his working boots. It would be very easy to stay in his slippers in his Bible study room. But no, he would put on his working boots like he was going outside to do some hard work. It caused his mind to realize, “Yes, I’m in work mode as I’m studying the Word of God.” I love that.
And so, the word there, “study,” is the word spoudazo. I like saying that word. I like it. It has a nice sound. OK, children, any children listening? You want to say a funny word? Say it with me: spoo-dad-zo! OK, say it again. Spoudazo. That word means “to study.”
Actually, the full meaning is, “to make haste, to use speed, to exert oneself, to give diligence.” So, when God wakens us up in the morning, or if we’re not yet into the habit of waking early, we’ll have to use the alarm to get us into the habit. What do we do? The alarm goes. “Oooh, it’s so nice and cozy here in bed and so warm. I think I’ll just turn it off and turn over.”
Or do we do what it says? “Make haste, make speed.” Whoo! Get out of bed! Get dressed! Go to that special place you have where you read God’s Word. Now, you do need to get up. If you lie in bed, you’ll just go off to sleep again. No, you’ve got to mean business! You’ve got to put your working boots on! You’ve got to get up and get to that place where you're going to read, and you're going to listen with your ears, and you're going to be training and prepared to have “the tongue of the learned.” Amen.
Actually, I know another man, an older man, 80 years of age. He is a teacher of the Word, and He still gets up at 4.00 am every morning. He studies in the Word until lunchtime so that he can give the Word of the Lord. That’s really preparing, isn’t it? That’s “the tongue of the learned.”
In Ezra 7:10, in the Berkeley version, it talks about Ezra, and it says of him: “For Ezra had disciplined himself to study the law of the Lord, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances to Israel.” In order for Ezra to be that great teacher of the law of the Lord, he had to first discipline himself to study the law of the Lord.
So, lovely ladies, can you join with me to pray for this beautiful move of God where God is raising up young people across our nation to want to speak God’s Word boldly and take it out, right out into the marketplace, right out into the colleges, and to follow in the footsteps of Charlie Kirk, that they will get this heart to be true disciples and students of the Word? And also, as mothers, we’ll want to encourage our own children in this way.
Colossians 3:16: “Let the Word of God dwell in you richly, in all wisdom.”
Joshua 1:8: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
OK, did you hear what I just read, ladies? Did you hear? Where does it say we have to have God’s Word? Did you hear? Was it in our hearts? Well, yes, we’ve got to have it in our hearts, but it didn’t say that. In our minds? Oh, yes! We’ve got to have it in our minds, but it didn’t say that.
What did it say? “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth.” That’s where we have to get it! Now, we won’t get it in our mouths until we first get it in into our minds and then our hearts. Then we have to get it in our mouths so it’s coming of our mouths. Is it coming out of your mouth? Is it coming out of the mouth of your children? This is where God wants us to have it. Amen?
Well, we’ll talk a little more about this in next session, so let’s pray.
“Lord God, we thank You so much for what is happening. Our hearts are still grieving, Lord God. It’s hard to take in, that this devoted young man is no longer with us. Lord, we don’t always understand, and yet we do thank You that amazing good has come from it.
“We pray that it will be truly good fruit, bringing forth one-hundred-fold. We pray that all these precious young people will get such a longing and desire for Your Word that they will become true students and disciples of Your Word, Lord God, to get Your truth filling their hearts. We ask it, Lord God, we pray for this beautiful thing to happen. In the mighty Name of Jesus, Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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LINK TO WATCH THE CHARLIE KIRK MEMORIAL. DON’T MISS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AKWzUIpX6U
Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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