PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 390: FOLLOWING JESUS, Part 4
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 390: FOLLOWING JESUS, Part 4
Jesus calls us to not only follow Him but to LEARN of Him. The multitudes followed Jesus, but only a few became disciples. What does it mean, and how do we learn to follow Him?
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! We are continuing our series of FOLLOWING JESUS. We are up to the letter “L,” and that stands for LEARNING OF JESUS. At the end of last session, we talked about Matthew 11:28, where Jesus said: “Come unto Me. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me.” So, we’re going to talk more today about . . .
L: LEARNING OF JESUS
In John 6:45, Jesus said: “It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me.” Now, that Scripture was repeated from Isaiah. This is the exact Scripture that it was repeated from, Isaiah 54:13: “And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”
Jesus brought this Old Testament Scripture into the New. We can claim this Scripture for our children. I’ve always taken that Scripture and that promise for my children: “All thy children shall be taught of the LORD.” We don’t want our children to be taught by humanistic teachers and woke schools, do we? We want to teach them ourselves the ways of the Lord.
The word “taught” is the Hebrew word, limmud. This is what it means: “learned, taught, trained, skilled, discipled, accustomed to something.” It means to be a disciple, so it’s not haphazard teaching, but daily teaching our children until they become skilled in the Word of God. They must be accustomed to God’s Word. They must be familiar with it.
I think this is something that is very important because I am amazed that many children from Christian families, and sadly, sometimes even homeschooling families, these children grow up and they don’t know. They’ve been homeschooled all their lives and the Scriptures are still not familiar to them.
Oh, yes, they know quite a bit, you know, but they’re not familiar. They don’t really know the Scriptures. If you were to say, “OK, you begin a Scripture. What’s the rest of the Scripture?” They don’t know.
I believe that we are meant to be training our children little by little, day by day, and that’s what’s the Scripture says (Isaiah 28:10). It’s not just, OK, in one big lump. It’s little by little, here a little, there a little, precept upon precept. It’s that continual little bit every day so our children become familiar. They become accustomed to the Scriptures. They know them.
TO FOLLOW JESUS MEANS TO BE A DISCIPLE
Now really, we should know them, and our children should know them. How committed are we to following Jesus? We’ve got to this part now where to follow Jesus means to be a disciple. We’re not one of the multitudes who just followed Him. Most probably, it could have been that many of those multitudes were healed by Jesus, because it says: “the multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.”
But many of them could have been there on the day He was crucified, calling out “Crucify Him!” because they were carried along with the crowd. But no, to truly follow Jesus is to become a disciple. We’re no longer one of the crowd. We’re set apart as a disciple, learning of Him. And we are training disciples.
See your children as disciples whom God has given to you to teach so that the Word limmud will be true of your teaching, that they are trained, and skilled, and discipled, and accustomed to the Word.
This is one of the saddest Scriptures. There are a few sad Scriptures in the Bible. Here’s one of them. Hosea 8:12: “I have written to them the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” Now, isn’t that so sad? God is writing to this people, and He said, “I have written all the great things of my law, but they’re strange to you! They’re foreign. You don’t know them!”
WE MUST NOT BE STRANGERS TO GOD’S WORD
And there we have in this wonderful Word of 66 books—there is so much! I just love to study the Word, and even then, I feel as though I’m only on the surface of it. There is so much there! But, oh, let’s begin to learn so that we’re not a stranger to it. We must know what He is saying. We can only truly live for Him when we know, when we know what He says to us. So, I pray that that will never be a testimony of your children that the Word of God is strange and unfamiliar to them.
Here's an interesting Scripture: Nehemiah 13:23-24. This was when Nehemiah came back to restore and build up the gates of Jerusalem. In chapter 13, he says: “In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, (and listen to this!) and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people.”
Now, can you believe this? Here they are, living in Jerusalem, and these children are growing up, and cannot even speak Hebrew but are speaking the languages of Ashdod and Ammon and Moab. How come? Because their mothers are speaking to them in that language. It comes back to the mother. The mothers were speaking their language to their children. They didn’t even know their own language! That’s a powerful thing.
Now, of course, we all speak English, those of you who are listening to me. So, we’re speaking to our children in English. But what kind of words are we speaking in English? Are we speaking words of life, words of positivity, the words of the Lord and His ways and His principles? The ways of the Lord?
WHAT WE SPEAK, OUR CHILDREN WILL SPEAK
You see, there are the ways of the Lord and the ways of the world. Which ways are we speaking to our children? Because that’s what they will grow up speaking. What we speak, they will speak! So, once again, it’s “Children, follow me.” They’re going to be listening to what we speak. My, that’s a powerful, powerful challenge, isn’t it?
OK, let’s read a few more Scriptures with this word limmud in them. Oh, I love this one.
Isaiah 50:4: “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned” (that’s that word limmud) “that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He waketh mine ear morning by morning, to hear as the learned.” There’s that word again. Two times in the one Scripture. Remember, it means “to increase in learning, to be skilled, to be discipled.”
I remember reading that wonderful book, Ten Peas in a Pod, by Arnold Pent. We do have this book in our bookshop on the web, AboveRubies.org. It’s an old book, but it’s such a great story of the Pent family of eight children. That’s why it’s called Ten Peas in a Pod. They all traveled together. The father was a preacher of the Word and the gospel, so they travelled throughout the USA, and even Canada, preaching the Word.
But this father had a love for the Word of God. He felt his responsibility to speak it into his children’s lives. So, this is what he did. Can you believe it? Every morning after breakfast, he read the Word of God to them for one hour. Every lunchtime he read the Word of God to his children for one hour. At the end of the evening meal, he would once again read the Word of God to his children for one hour.
In fact, his son writes in the book, because he was the one who wrote the book. He also tells all the adventures of their travelling, but he writes there and says that many times they would be staying in homes as they were invited to come to different cities. The father was invited to preach, and they would be staying in someone’s home. But this father never deviated from his plan to read the Word to his children.
So, even in these other people’s homes, he would say to the host or hostess, “I love to read the Bible to my children after a meal. Would you be happy for me to do that?” They would, of course, being Christian people, say, “Yes, yes, of course! Yes, very happy!” And then he would also ask, “And would you like to stay with us?” This is where the son wrote that it was so rare. In fact, I don’t think there was anyone who ever said, “Yes.” They just said, “You go ahead but I’ve got other things to do.” They never stayed to listen.
But this Mr. Pent kept on with his plan and read the Word three times a day to his children for one hour. Then he encouraged them individually, as they learned to read, to start having their own personal time of reading the Word before they came out for breakfast. You know, just five minutes, then ten minutes, then fifteen minutes as they were young so that they would get up to an hour as they were in their teens.
Those children were having four hours of the reading of the Word of God. In the end, they could recite the whole of the New Testament verbatim, and many chapters of the Old Testament. I was also so very, very challenged by that and have to confess that even in our home we never got to read the Word to that extent. But we have kept to the morning and evening principle, which is the principle in the Word of God which I’ve spoken to you about before. That is the minimum where we meet every morning and every evening to hear the Word of the Lord. That’s our minimum.
All right! So, that’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? Let’s look at another translation of that Scripture.
God’s Word Translation: “The Almighty God will teach me what to say, so I will know how to encourage weary people. Morning after morning, He will wake me to listen like a student.”
That’s interesting, isn’t it? We’re not just reading, “Oh well, we’d better have our Bible reading.” Our mind isn’t even there. No, we must listen like students because we’ve got to remember! A student studies to remember. So, we’re wanting to remember what God is saying to us.
Why does God speak to us? Not only for ourselves, but for others. He comes to give us a word for ourselves, but He also gives us a word to give to others. He says here, “I will know how to encourage weary people, because God has spoken into my life. He has to speak to me first, so I can then encourage others.”
Another translation says: “He wakes me up every morning. Every morning, He makes me alert so I can listen attentively, as disciples do.”
The Berkley version says: “He alerts my ear to hear as a student.” And, of course, we know a student studies. He is one who is enrolled in a school to learn or to get a degree.
Listen to this Scripture. We’re in the New Testament now. 2 Timothy 2:15. This was a Scripture that I learned as a teen and that I love. I tried to put it into practice. It says: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.”
Let’s look at those words. “Study.” The Greek word is spoudazo. It means, “to make haste, to exert oneself, to give diligence, to make effort.” It comes from a root word meaning, “to use speed, to be prompt.” We’re not holding back to get to the Word of God. We are running to it!
Then it says, “a workman.” That’s a good word, isn’t it? It doesn’t say “a lazy man,” or “a lazy woman,” or “a lazy child.” It says, “a workman.” Even when we come to the Word, we’ve got that attitude of working. “I’m not here to be in a dream. I’m here to work, and to study, and to get below the surface.”
Because we can read the Word on the top, but did you know there’s so much to study below, that’s underneath the surface? There is always so much more, more than we could ever, ever dream of. More than we’ll ever know in this world. In fact, the Bible says that “the Word of God endures forever.” That means we’ll have the Word in eternity where we will receive revelation that maybe we could never even fathom on earth. So powerful is God’s Word, which is eternal.
GO AFTER THE A.U.G.
Then, we see three other words in this Scripture, “Approved unto God.” “Study to show thyself Approved Unto God.” As a teen, I didn’t go to college. Back in those days, the only people who went to college were those who needed a degree to be a doctor, or some other field where they needed to have a degree. Otherwise, people just got on the job of life.
But as I read this, I thought, “Wow, what incredible letters to have after my name!” Far greater than a B.A., or an M.A., or B.SC., or whatever. Study to show thyself AUG. Approved unto God. That’s a wonderful goal to put before your children.
“Children, God wants you to study, and to understand His Word, so you can have the AUG written after your name, Approved Unto God.” Isn’t that good? Yes.
All right. Another similar word to limmud is lamad, and it has a similar meaning. It’s also a Hebrew word meaning “to study, to be accustomed.” You notice it’s a similar meaning. “To instruct, to train, to be skilled, expert.”
It comes from a root word meaning “to goad.” A goad was a long stick with a sharp point on the end. They used it to prod the oxen when they were getting lazy and wanted to stop. They were trying to keep them going to plow the fields so they would put that goad into them. Ooops, they’d get going again. So, that’s where it comes from. It's something to goad us, to encourage us to get stuck in.
Let’s read a few Scriptures where we have this word. Actually, there are loads of Scriptures with this word lamad. I won’t have time to give them all to you, so I’ll put them in the transcript for you to look them up. So, here are a few for you.
By the way, ladies, you will notice that in my podcasts, and even today, I am giving you so many Scriptures. But that’s the most wonderful thing I can give you, far better than anything I could say. Let your ears prick up when I’m reading the Scriptures. Let God’s Word go into you, and you’ll find that if you prick up your ears to really hear it, to hear it beyond your outer ears, but to hear it in the ears of your heart, God will begin to show you things, even things that I’m not saying. Because you're hearing His living and eternal Word.
Deuteronomy 4:1: “Harken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgements which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live.” We only really live when we’re doing God’s statutes. The word “teach” was the word lamad. How do you teach your children? Are your children getting accustomed to the Bible? Are they skilled in it? Are they experts in God’s ways?
Deuteronomy 5:1: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears.” Notice that? God is saying that “I speak in your ears.” Are you hearing? Like it says over and over again in the Gospels: “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear.” In Revelation: “Let every man hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” So, this one says: “Which I will speak in your ears, that you may learn them,” and teach, and do them.
Deuteronomy 11:19, which is a repeat of Deuteronomy 6: “Teach your children diligently.” In chapter 11, it says” “And ye shall teach (lamad) teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
Notice where you are to teach your children. It says: “When you are sitting in your house.” God specifically says these words: “Teach them your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house.” This is where God sees our children getting the Word of God. It’s the opposite of Psalm 1.
Let’s go to Psalm 1: 1: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” So, we see God saying, “OK, teach your children when you are sitting in your house.” Then we read the opposite: “Don’t ever let your children sit in the seat of the scornful.”
And yet, that’s what’s happening to many children from Christian homes. There are so many children from Christian homes that are still being sent into these public schools, which are becoming more and more woke schools, where they’re being taught Islam, where they’re being taught transgender, where they’re being taught the ways that are opposite to the Word of God.
And they’re being taught, many times, yes, there may be still a few Christian teachers in the schools, but mostly they are being taught by teachers who have been trained in these colleges which are woke colleges, and they’re coming out with teaching that is totally opposite to the ways of the Lord.
So, these children . . . how can Christian parents send their children into these woke schools where they’re sitting in the seat of the scornful? Many teachers today are scornful of the Word of God and have totally imbibed this whole woke agenda. They’re teaching our children? How can we allow that? God wants our children to be taught, sitting in their homes. Yes.
Of course, also, “when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” It’s a totally lifestyle teaching.
This word lamad also means “to be skillful in war.” It talks of soldiers who are skillful. We go to 1 Chronicles 5:18: “The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skillful in war, were four and forty thousand seven hundred and threescore, that went out to the war.”
That word “skillful” is used there of these valiant men of war. It’s the same word, lamad, that is used of teaching the Word of God. That’s how we’re to teach them. We’ve got to be skillful, and we’re teaching our children to be skillful in the Word. They know the Word. They know where to find the Scriptures.
They know how to use the Bible—and that’s another thing, ladies. Get your children reading the actual Bible. It’s so easy. They’re going to go into their room and have their little personal quiet time and read the Word on their iPhone. I can guarantee you that most of it will be spent on listening to dings and pings, and social media, because the iPhone is just so tempting, and it’s so distracting.
Get your children to have a Bible, and to be familiar with that Bible, and know where to find Scriptures in the Bible, so that they’re skillful in it. But imagine, just imagine, ladies, if we had, in this nation, something like 44,000 plus young men and women, skillful in the Word of God, who know what God says about all the subjects that we face in this hour.
I think Charlie Kirk was a good example of that. He studied. He prepared himself. He sought after godly men constantly, to hear, “How would you answer this question? Please tell me. Give me God’s Word, and His answer on this subject.” He constantly was seeking to be skillful in what God says, and what He says in His Word, so he could go out there, into the fray, right into the most hostile audience of woke students in the universities and speak the Word of the Lord. He spoke God’s Word to them because he had got it into him.
Now he has gone, and we pray that there will be those who rise up after him to fulfill that mission he was doing. But they can’t go out and do it without being filled with the Word of God. We have a part to play, precious mothers, because we can train children, and we can get them filled with the Word.
As it says in Colossians 3:16: “richly filled with the Word.” Not even filled, but “richly filled,” so they know what God says. They know what He says about abortion, and they know what He says about homosexuality, and they know what He says about transgender. They’ve got the biblical answer for these things that we are facing in this hour, because our children will have to face these things, because they are all around them.
Here we have now same-sex marriage, and it’s the law! I can’t even believe it! How could they pass that? It's unbelievable. I still can’t get over it. But we still have to know God’s Word on these subjects. Know what He says to give an answer, because we cannot give into all this deception. Let’s pray for a mighty army to rise up who are skillful in the Word of God.
Let’s see. Yes, I’ve got more to share with you about this word lamad, and I think perhaps I’d better leave it until next week, because if I get started, then we’ll go too long. So, may you be blessed today, my lovely ladies. And may you have such a heart to learn of Jesus and to take your children with you as you are learning of Him. Shall we pray?
“Dear Father, we come to You this morning, oh, it may be evening, it may be afternoon as you're listening. But Lord, we come to You, and ask that You will put within our hearts such a longing and such a passion for Your precious Word, that we will be those who truly learn of You and Your ways, so that we can pass on Your ways, and Your truth, and Your Word to our children. That they will grow up filled, richly filled with Your Word, skillful in Your Word, experts in Your Word, to go forth from our homes, to speak the Word of the Lord, to speak it out in the marketplace, to speak it out in the colleges, to speak it out wherever they go, that we will fill this world with Your truth. We ask it, Lord God, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”
MORE SCRIPTURES USING THE WORD “LAMAD”
Deuteronomy 4:1, 5, 10, 14; 5:1, 31; 6:1; 1119, 14:23; 30; 17:19; 31:12, 13, 19, 22; Judes 3:2; 1 Chronicles 25:7; 2 Chronicles 17:9; Ezra 7:10.
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris
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