LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 288: FEAST OF DEDICATION

Have you dedicated your temple (your body) to the Lord? Have you dedicated your home to the Lord? What about your children? To "train" your children means to "dedicate them to His service." Check it out.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Always great to be with you! As I am recording today, we are in the middle of the Hanukkah celebration which is celebrated for eight days. I don’t know whether any of you love to celebrate Hanukkah. Some of you may. Some of you may have never ever heard of it, but I thought I would share a little bit about it with you today, because it is a very wonderful festival.

It’s not one of the feasts of the Lord that are mentioned in the Bible, but it is a Jewish feast that is still very important. Jesus Himself went up to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. It is called different names.

It’s called “Hanukkah.” That is the Hebrew word for “dedication.” In John 10:22, we read how Jesus was in Jerusalem to keep the “Feast of the Dedication”. That’s the feast we’re talking about. It’s also called the “Festival of Lights.” It has many, many stories and meanings about it.

Some of you will have heard of the Maccabees. That was a very courageous family who stood up for God in the midst of their society at that time. To me, Hanukkah is a little replica, really, of what we are facing in some ways today, because back then, Israel, the Jews, were being taken over by the Seleucid empire, a Greek empire governed by Antiochus Epiphanes.

He set out to eradicate everything of the Jewish religion. They were not allowed to circumcise. In fact, if they found out that a mother had circumcised her baby, they would kill that baby, and the mother would have to go round with the baby hanging around her neck. Such was the horror of what they were doing. They were not allowed to keep the Sabbath. They were not allowed to keep any of their laws.

Antiochus Epiphanes was trying to eradicate and burn every scroll of the Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi. That’s the Tanakh, the whole of the Old Testament. They were on scrolls in those days. Wherever he could find them, he would burn them. Antiochus Epiphanes wanted to eradicate everything. He wanted globalism, really, which, of course, we are facing today.

The governing bodies want everybody to be the same, have the same thinking, the same language, the same gender, same sex, same-sex marriage; just what we are facing today; all these evil things. No one was allowed to worship God in the way they wanted. There was no freedom, no liberty.

But this family rose up against this mighty king, or governor of this whole empire. It is amazing what happened. It’s amazing what can happen when people of courage stand up! Let me tell you a little bit of the beginning of this story. The governor sent his troops to this little town or village of Modi’in. There they tried to get the people in that town to turn away from the Lord.

Mattathias was a priest in those days. He had five sons, and most probably had daughters too, although it doesn’t mention his daughters. It says that when Mattathias saw what they were doing to influence his people that he cried out in a loud voice: “What do I care if everyone in the king’s entire kingdom turns from their own religion and starts obeying his laws? My family and I will always keep the promises our ancestors made to God. We will never give up our faith, or disobey even one of God’s laws. We will not obey Antiochus!”

That was his confession, even in the midst of everyone caving into this king Antiochus. Even after Antiochus Epiphanes said those words, a cowardly Jew stepped forward to obey the king by offering a sacrifice. But Mattathias was so furious that he rushed over, killed the man, destroyed the altar, and killed the official who ordered the sacrifice! Then he and his sons ran to the hills, leaving everything they owned behind. That was the beginning of their starting a revolt, and really, guerilla warfare against this whole huge Seleucid army. Wow!

We may not be quite facing it like they did today, but we are facing challenges in this hour where many people are being brainwashed to put away their God-given mandates. But we dare not give up. When you give up one thing, you have to give up the next thing. We must stand true. It has always saddened me that, although we’re forgetting about it now, but back in 2021-22, so close to not long ago, how many churches caved in, because the governing bodies said, “OK, we must not meet in churches.”

Instead of people standing up for truth and what was right, standing up for the Constitution that gives us all freedom to meet and be with believers, and God’s Word, they caved in! Isn’t it amazing how people can cave in? But this Maccabees family, as they came to be known, they did not cave in.

The five brave sons were John, Simon, Judas (he was the one known as “Judas Maccabeus),” Eleazar, and Jonathan. You can actually read about them if you go to the Apocrypha and read the books of 1 Maccabeus and 2 Maccabeus. The Apocrypha are interesting books, many historical books, but they weren’t included in the canon of Scripture. For some reason, whatever reason, it was thought that every book that is in the Apocrypha was not totally divinely inspired.

But the Maccabees books are history. They are quite well worth reading. We see the continuing fighting as they tried to stand up against this huge army. There was another time we can read about in the book of the Maccabees. Let me see if I can find that story for you. Yes, this was a time when Judas was leading, because the father, Mattathias, had died. This time, 20,000 men of their enemy came against them. They could only number 6,000. They were the minority against the majority.

Even Judas’ right-hand men were so concerned. “How can we come against this huge army?” But Judas confessed, and he says this is in 1 Maccabees 3: “When all his followers saw the host coming against them, they said to Judas, ‘How can so few of us fight against so many? Besides, we have had nothing to eat all day, and we are exhausted!’ Judas replied, ‘Many can easily be overpowered by a few. It makes no difference to heaven, to save by many, or by few! Victory does not depend on our numbers. Strength comes from heaven alone. Heaven will crush them before our eyes. You need not be afraid of them.’”

True to his confession, they were able to have the victory in that war. Today, we also stand up against enemies bigger than us. Sometimes that is nationally. Sometimes it’s even in your own immediate circumstances. You may be facing enemies that loom so much bigger than you. “How can I ever face this? It’s so much bigger than me!”

Can I remind you today, lovely ladies, that even though it’s bigger than you, God is bigger than your problem, bigger than your enemy, bigger than the circumstances that are so overwhelming to you. Be encouraged by these words when Moses was speaking on the behalf of God.

As they were going to go into the Promised Land, he said: “Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims” (Those were the giants. Yes, they were going to face giants! So much bigger than them!)

It says: “the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, who can stand before the children of Anak! Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire He shall destroy them, and He shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.” That’s a wonderful promise. You can read it again in Deuteronomy chapter nine.

You notice there, and this is something that happens over and over in the Scriptures, where God says: “I will be with you. I will go before you, and I will destroy them. I will bring them down!” But then He says: “But you shall drive them out.”

It’s interesting, that although God works on our behalf, He also wants us to work. As we look to Him instead of looking to our circumstances, as we look up to Him, when we look up to the Lord, He’ll show us His way. As He shows His way, then we can act. We can do what God wants us to do. God will work for you, but He also wants you to work too. He will show you what He wants you to do.

These Maccabees, these brave soldiers of this family, gathered many, many to be with them, although they were still a minority. But eventually, they were able to get back the temple which Antiochus Epiphanes had desecrated. He had even gone into the temple and slaughtered a pig on the altar, the most terrible abomination in the holy temple of God.

When they were able to secure the temple again, which was miraculous, it was so filthy and filled with junk. It had to be cleaned out and it had to be cleansed. Then, of course, they wanted to begin all the things that God had told them to do in the temple. The altar of sacrifice, and then going into the Holy Place to put out the table of showbread again, to put there the altar of incense, and the menorah, the golden candlestick.

Right back in Exodus, God told them all the pieces of furniture that they were to make for the Holy Place. Every one of them was after the pattern that God gave them. It was the pattern of the heavenly Holy Place. It was the pattern of the heavenly furniture.

One of the pieces was called the “Golden Lampstand.” It was made out of one piece, one piece of pure gold, twenty-five talents, which they say was about 75 to 100 pounds of pure gold. It was very intricate. All these special things had to be designed on it.

It looked like a tree. It represented the Tree of Life. Three branches came out from one side, and three from the other. There was the main branch in the middle. There were seven lamps at the top of each branch. Seven lamps speaking of perfection.

And, amazingly, ladies, John saw this lampstand in the heavenly realm! Revelation begins with it and how John saw Jesus walking within the lampstands. The lampstands represent the seven churches, and the messages God gave to those seven churches. They represent His church being the Light because Jesus is the Light. He is the Light.

Oh, when we get to heaven, there’s going to be no other light except Him. He will fill heaven with His light. We can hardly even understand the light of God, but He is light, and now He wants us to be His light in this dark and deceived world.

What does it say? Now Jesus says, “You! I’m back in heaven, but you are now my representatives. You are the light of the world.” That’s what He wants us to be. That’s what this beautiful golden menorah speaks of, of Jesus being the Light, and we, who belong to Him, we, who are His body, being the Light of God in this world.

Back in the tabernacle and temple they had to light the menorah every morning and every evening to keep it going, because God said it must never go out. It is to burn continually. Of course, the lamp had gone out in this time.

Just a few weeks ago, I was sharing with you a passage in 2 Chronicles 29. Hezekiah is the ruler of Judah. He followed on from his very wicked father who had allowed the lamps in the temple to go out! God had said, “It must never go out!” But now, here again, and this time, this time of Hanukkah, it happened between the Old Testament and the New Testament, about 157 BC.

Once again, the lamps had gone out. The Maccabees are wanting to get them burning and glowing again! They tried some oil. Well, there was only enough for one day. They couldn’t get any old oil, because in the Scriptures, it tells the recipe for the oil. It had to be just as God said.

It took eight days to prepare the oil and there was only enough for one day. While they were waiting, miraculously the lights kept burning for eight days! It doesn’t actually tell us about this in the Bible, but tradition is carried down and they believed that is what happened. That’s what the Festival of Lights is all about.

It was about two things, actually, well, three things.

1. It’s about the bravery of the Maccabees, and how they would not give into the deception of the hour in which they were living. They stood against them, even though it cost them their lives. Most of the brothers were killed in the battles. Of course, that is a challenge for us today as we seek to stand against all the deceptions that are coming in in this hour.

1. It also speaks of dedication, and dedicating our lives, because when the Maccabees retrieved and got back the temple and began to cleanse it and restore it, and get it all back into working order, they dedicated the temple. That’s why it’s called the “Feast of Dedication.”

Of course, we no longer have a temple in Jerusalem, and we know that when Jesus died and shed His blood, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. Now we have access into the holy Presence of God. That is a beautiful thing. But just as they dedicated the temple back to the Lord, and to His purposes, it’s a good thing.

We love, at this time, when we’re celebrating Hanukkah, we usually take one of the days of the eight days to make it a time when we ourselves dedicate our temples again to the Lord, because our bodies are now His temp: “Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” Our bodies now house the Presence of God. We are His temple.

But so sadly, sometimes our temples get a bit crowded, don’t they, with the things of this world. Sin creeps in, worldliness creeps in, and sometimes we are not the true holy temples He wants us to be. It’s really very wonderful to have a time, not just on your own, but with your family, that as a family you dedicate your temples again to the Lord.

1. It was about the bravery of the Maccabees, the dedicating of the temple back to the Lord, and the lighting of the lamps again. Of course, we remember the miracle. He wants our lamps to be bright and burning. If we’re dedicating our temple house to the Lord, then the light should be burning brightly, shouldn’t it?

We, as mothers in the home, we have the responsibility of keeping the light of God burning in our homes. That’s why the privilege is given to the mother on the eve of Shabbat to light the candles. The mother lights the candles each week because she has that privilege to keep the light burning in her home.

I must also share with you how this word, “Hanukkah,” is mentioned in the New Testament. But in the Old Testament, it’s mentioned on five different occasions. Actually, before I share that with you, I should tell you what we actually do during Hanukkah.

We light the candles. For day one, one candle. Second day, two candles, and so on, until the last day, the eighth day, we are lighting eight candles to remember what happened. We usually do this in the evening at our evening meal. Also, during one of the nights, we will have that time of rededicating our temples to the Lord. We also read the Scriptures, though usually in our family devotions every morning and every evening we read from The Daily Light, which are Scriptures on a certain theme. We love it. We do that year after year. We never get tired of it.

But during Hanukkah, we read Scriptures about the light. There are so many in the Word of God! For each day, we’ll do it on a different subject.

The first day, we read Scriptures about how God is the source of light.

Day two, how Jesus is the Light of the world.

Day three, how we are to shine the light of Jesus to the world. There are enough Scriptures for every morning and every evening.

Day four, God’s Word is our light.

Day five, walk in the light.

Day six, how we have come out of darkness into light.

Day seven, living in God is to live in the light.

Day eight, God is the Light of heaven. We so enjoy doing this.

You are listening to this, and Hanukkah is over now, but you can pop it in the back of your mind, and think, “Oh, wow, I could maybe do this next year.” If ever you want to have a list of the Scriptures, I can send them to you.

It’s not only a Jewish feast, but also a biblical feast, because it’s mentioned in the Bible. I think it’s a great thing to do because we learn so much from it. In the Old Testament, there are five times when this word “Hanukkah,” or “chanak,” the verb, is used. It’s interesting that they all revolve around the house and the family. I want to share them with you today.

No. 1. DEDICATING A NEW HOME

The. first one, number one, is found in Deuteronomy 20:5. It’s when the men were going out to war. It says: “And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it?” That’s chanak. “Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.”

It seems, as we read this, that it is a biblical practice to dedicate a new house to the Lord. When you built a new home, did you have a celebration and dedication of your house to the Lord? Maybe you didn’t even think about it. But here's a Scripture telling us about it. I think it’s a great idea, don’t you? I think it’s a wonderful thing to think about.

Maybe you have some friends who are going to be soon moving into a new house. Why don’t you put on a surprise celebration? Or maybe you might have to tell them about it. Say, “Can we come and have a celebration, and all bring something to bless your new home?” That’s a wonderful thing. Everyone can bring a little gift to bless their new home.

Sometimes it’s like when people are getting married. Back when I was getting married . . . Today they have bridal showers and bring them all these different things. We used to be more practical back in those days, I guess because we weren’t so affluent. Today, everybody can get any food they want anywhere, but back in my early days (wow, I’m not that ancient) but things have changed.

Back then, it was amazing to have food in the cupboards. People would have what we called a “pantry evening.” Everybody would bring some food for their pantry, food that would last so it wouldn’t go off. Packaged foods, tinned food, often homemade preserved foods, and so on.

But you can think of something like that to bless this family as they’re going into a new home. Or I think even a home where people are going into a house that’s already been owned by someone. Sometimes that’s even more important, because you need to go in and cleanse the home. You don’t know what’s happened in it before the couple moved in, or before you are moving in. I think it’s so important to cleanse a home and then rededicate it to the Lord. Can you say “amen” to that?

No. 2. DEDICATING THE TABERNACLE

That was back in the wilderness. That was really the house of the Lord. It was a place for God, a sanctuary for God in the midst of this world. This is where God dwelt, in the Holy of Holies, in all His shekinah glory. But when they had completed making everything for the tabernacle, they dedicated it.

You can read about it in Numbers 7:10-11, 84. Each of the princes of the twelve tribes of Israel had to have a turn at dedicating and giving an offering on the altar. Every tribe had to be involved. There was a prince chosen from every tribe. That would have taken 12 days to do that dedication.

No. 3. DEDICATING THE TEMPLE

When Solomon dedicated the temple. It started with the tabernacle, which, when they went into the Promised Land, they established in Shiloh. It was there, I think, for about 430 years. Then it was desecrated in war.

It was King David’s vision, but eventually his son Solomon built the temple. This was a glorious building. It was covered with gold. Can you imagine just looking out at this glorious temple, literally, literally sparkling and shining in the sun with all that gold? Oh, it must have been incredible! But it took him seven years to build. Then they dedicated it, King Solomon and all the children of Israel. 1 Kings 8:63, and it also repeats it in Chronicles.

That was number three. Do you know this? Do you know this? It’s all about the house, the house of the Lord. Or a new house where someone is going to live. God wants our homes to be dedicated to Him.

No. 4. DEDICATING THE WALLS AND GATES OF JERUSALEM

In Nehemiah 12:27, where after they had built up the walls of Jerusalem, they dedicated them to the Lord.

No. 5. DEDICATING OUR CHILDREN

Wow, this will be a surprise!

This Scripture, I’m sure you know. Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” That word “train” there is exactly the same word as is used for a dedication. It’s chanak. It’s the same word.

We often think, “Train up a child in the way he should go.” OK, that’s disciplining him, and training him, and teaching him the right way to go.” Yes, that is absolutely true. Yes. But when we get the full picture, mothers, and I want you to get this today, the full picture is that when we are training up our child, we are actually dedicating him to God, to His service.

In every interaction we have with our child, whatever we say to him, however we teach him, train him, whatever we’re doing, how we’re programming his life, it’s all because this child is dedicated for the purposes of the Lord.

Don’t you think that that would change a little the way we parent our children? Because if we’re to see that everything I do is all because I’m dedicating him to God for His purposes? Wow! That’s incredible, isn’t it! All these things to do with family, even the house of the Lord. God wants each one of our homes to be His house, so we dedicate it. We dedicate it to the Lord.

Just one thing as we’re closing down. Time always flies. I want to tell you, and remind me and all of us, but what is really entailed? We go back to the house of the Lord in the tabernacle, the house of the Lord in the temple, and what happened there? Because all this has to do with consecrating our children to the Lord.

This is the order of the house. These are the things that God wanted to happen in His house. I wonder if they are happening in our homes. This is a very powerful way in which we are consecrating our children to the Lord. What happens in the tabernacle? What happens in the temple? It was only the priests who could do these functions, but now we’re all priests unto God. Revelation tells us that now we are kings and priests unto our God.

The first thing they did was the daily sacrifice, morning and evening, which, of course, points to Calvary. This is one of the reasons, ladies, why we do our family devotions in the morning and evening. It is the pattern of the tabernacle and the temple. We come together into the Presence of the Lord.

Every time we come, I love to thank the Lord, to thank Jesus for His offering His Body on the tree for my sins. Back then, we look back to those sacrifices, which all pointed to Christ. Every single one pointed to Christ who is the sacrifice. Now I can look back to Christ, to His sacrifice, and thank Him. I love to do that as we come together each day.

The next thing they did before the priests went into the Holy Place, they had to wash. They had to go through the laver. That speaks of the washing and the cleansing of the Word. That’s why we come and we read the Word every morning and evening.

Number three. Then they had to attend to the furniture in the Holy Place. The first was to light the lamps. That’s what Hanukkah is all about, the relighting of the lamps, the rededicating of our temples unto the Lord, because God wants His light to burn continually in our lives, and in our homes.

The only way we can keep it burning continually is to tend to it in the morning and evening. That’s what God mandated. He said, “Every morning you’re to fill them with oil,” speaking of the filling of the Holy Spirit. “Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” We can’t live our lives as mothers . . . Oh, how can we live in victory without the anointing of the Holy Ghost in our lives every moment of the day? But we can refill every morning, every evening, to keep that light burning.

Then they had to light the altar of incense, morning and evening so that beautiful incense could fill the Holy Place. The altar of incense, I’ve shared with you before many times, speaks of praise and worship and intercession before God. He wants us to come, morning and evening, to pray, to seek His face, and to pray on behalf of those who need our prayers. This is the order of the tabernacle, of the House of the Lord. If we’re dedicating our house to the Lord, we’ll want to establish that order in our homes.

Then, of course, there’s the table of showbread, where they had the 12 loaves of bread upon the table, continually. They were never off the table. Well, they actually were there for a week and then the priest would have to put 12 new loaves on. They would have one set of priests . . . as one set was taking the loaves off that had been there for a week, the next set of priests would be putting the new ones down so there was never a second when the bread was not on the table.

It was a type of Jesus being our continual bread. He is our sustenance. He is our food. He is our bread. He is all we need. We can come to Him at any time. We can come to His Word and find sustenance. Oh, how absolutely wonderful!

And then, of course, the Holy of Holies, where the shekinah glory of God dwells! Back in those days, only the high priest could go into the Holy Presence of God. But when Jesus died, that veil was split in two. Now we have access into His Presence. Now we can ask God to come and fill our homes with His Presence.

This is the ultimate, to seek to make a way for the Presence of God in our homes. All these beautiful things show us the order of how He wants us, our homes, to function, as we rededicate them to the Lord, and rededicate our temples.

“Dear Father, we want to thank You for Your Word, and for this beautiful Feast of Dedication, this Festival of Lights, where we remember, Lord, this menorah that You designed. You designed this to be made out of one piece, because You are One, and yet You are Three, and You want your body, which is many, to be one, to be one in unity together.

“Lord God, You want us now to shine, to shine to the world. Help us, Lord. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit. Shine Your light upon any dark areas, so that, Lord God, we will truly be Your Light in this world. That not only individually, but we, as families and homes, will be Lighthouses in this world, and in our neighborhood. We ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 287: Raising Children to be Adults, Part 2

Allison Hartman joins me again today to talk further about raising successful and capable children. What are Allison's secrets? Tune in to find out these principles.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hi, ladies! I have Allison Hartman with me again. We’re going to continue talking about that subject we talked about last week, raising our children to be adults. I hope you’re getting inspired by this.

I’d like to start off today with reading a Scripture. It’s Psalm 144:11. David is praying here, and he says: “Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” And why is he praying that? We’ve got to get rid of these strange kinds of people who are filled with deceptions and who don’t know how to work and “whose right hand is the right hand of falsehood.” They’re not walking in truth.

Why? So “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace.” Then it goes on about the blessing of the nation: “That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: That our oxen may be strong to labor; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.”

Don’t you like that verse, Allison? “No complaining in our streets. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.” But David’s prayer was, “Oh, God, deliver us from all that is false because we want a generation of young people who are growing up mighty in God.” He talks about his sons: “That our sons may be as plants growing up in their youth.”

Do you love that, Allison? It doesn’t say “growing up in their teens,” or “growing up in their adulthood.” “Growing up in their youth.” That word “youth” in the Hebrew actually means “the state of juvenility” In other words, it’s their time of being juvenile, which is up to about 18 years of age. Well, in our society it is. But that’s juvenile. Here’s it’s talking about youth, so it means from childhood, and even in their teens, they’re growing up.

I love the Young’s Literal Translation of that Scripture. It says here: “Because our sons are as plants, becoming great in their youth.” Isn’t that wonderful? Dear mothers, can you get a vision of that? Of your children, your sons, becoming great, even while they’re young? Becoming “great in their youth,” even in their juvenile state, whereas often they are very immature and foolish. But no, God wants them to grow up learning to be adults, learning to be mature, becoming great in their youth.

I love to think of David, going down there to the Israelite army. There’s Goliath, and he’s challenging the Israelites, and there’s not one Israelite who is ready to face the giant. They’re just quivering in their boots! If they had boots. I’m not sure! But David goes down there, and how old is he? Most commentators say he was only 17 years of age. You’ve got Ethan. He’s 17.

But David is this youth. He was “but a youth,” and he challenges this giant. He kills that giant. He takes on that giant because this giant was blaspheming the Name of his God, and he would not have it. But you see, he was out there already taking responsibility, already was out there on his own, looking after his father’s flock and his sheep, having to take responsibility to protect them.

On more than one occasion, David tells the king, “I can go out and take this giant! I’ve taken on lions that have come to get hold of my little lambs!” He tells of one instance where he put his hand in the mouth of that lion and pulled out the little lamb. He was brave and he knew how to take responsibility, and how to protect, as a man, not just a little boy.

I think, especially in our society today (it was a natural thing many years ago for young men to grow up being adults). I think of stories my father told me. He was only a young teen, about 13 years of age. He and his brother were moving from one end of the island of New Zealand to the other. They were moving to a new farm. It was miles and miles and miles and miles. They had to take all the cattle on horses. They were just young teens, no adults with them. Taking on that responsibility was just normal. Their fathers expected them to do that.

In fact, oh, I was talking to Arden, my grandson, the other day. That’s Serene’s oldest son. He said that he’s getting a new business ready for young men. They’ll be doing a podcast soon. Well, he’s been doing a lot but they’re not ready to launch it yet. He said, “Nana, we’re calling it “A Good Man’s Never Stuck.” And where does that phrase come from? It comes from my father, who got it from his father, my grandfather.

All my growing-up years, anything that was a challenge, anything that had to be fixed and maybe he didn’t know how to do it (but he’d find a way), he would say, “A good man’s never stuck!” That phrase came down from his father to him and his brothers. It got passed on to our family. I passed it on to our children. All our children have grown up with that phrase. Now, our grandchildren, all the young grandsons all know that phrase. It’s part of their DNA. “A good man’s never stuck!” I love it!

Allison: They’re living it out. I remember Vision. Vision broke down on the highway, not too long ago, after leaving us. We had vacationed together, and on his way back, a couple of hours away from home, he completely broke down. I thought, “What in the world is he going to do?” But if he didn’t know, he figured it out on what to do. Same with Cedar. He broke down too and had to redo his whole engine on the side of the road. He was able to do it because he’d been raised to do that.

Nancy: Yes. And then, you see the opposite. A year or so ago, we had a young man living with us, staying with us. Lovely young guy. He borrowed our car, but then we got a call from him, up in Dickson, about half an hour away from us, saying, “Oh, can you please come? This car’s got a flat tire! I don’t know how to change it!”

We’ve got to get our young men knowing how to be young men, don’t we? I love that thought. Our sons growing up as plants in their youth. I love that passage too, don’t you, in 1 John. John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, talks to the young men. It’s amazing how God pinpoints young men.

He says here in 1 John 2:13: “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.”

Again, he repeats it in verse 14: “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”

That is talking spiritually, but I believe it’s in every aspect, because: “First that which is natural, then that which is spiritual,” the Bible says. He’s saying, “Young men, you are strong!” That’s what young men are meant to be. They’re not meant to be little wimps. They’re meant to be strong, physically and mentally and spiritually. “You are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.” They’ve learned to be strong in every area of their lives.

RAISING SALMON

Allison: That’s right. That’s right. I was thinking about when we were in Scotland. We were sitting there.

Nancy: Yes! I remember that day! It was so cold!

Allison: By that beautiful river, and we noticed all the salmon were heading upstream. It’s so opposite of what is natural, what is easy. It would have been easier to go downstream, with the current. But we noticed that they were all going upstream. Almost everyone knows why.

We were sitting there, looking at them, and I just had this thought. I said, “Wow! That’s what we’re doing with our children! We’re raising salmon. We’re raising countercultural, against-the-flow young people.” We talked when we were there. We said, “Let’s do a podcast on this subject.” I was thinking, “How do we raise strong, strong men, young men?” Because it really is against culture, right?

Nancy: That’s the thing!

Allison: It’s not what culture’s teaching.

Nancy: It’s against culture. But I noticed that day, did you notice, Allison, how they didn’t just swim up that river and jump up a bit. They had to jump this waterfall. It was high! Were there any that got there on the first jump? I don’t think there were any. We watched them jump and fall back into the river. Then they’d try again, and they’d jump again. They had to have many tries before they could actually get up. I think there were some who never made it.

That’s really what happens today. There are some who don’t make it, because maybe they’ve only been trained to go with the flow, to go along with culture, to be taken up with the tide. We’ve got to encourage our children.

Allison: You see mothers who are just going along with what their friends are doing.

Nancy: Yes! So, they’re going with the tide.

Allison: Even ask on Facebook, “Hey, can I ask a parenting question?” When you ask on Facebook, what do you think Facebook is going to say? It’s going to say exactly what culture’s doing.

Salmon can jump up to eight feet in the air to get over obstacles. They travel 900 miles. Nothing’s easy. In fact, the mother will die when they get there. They’re so exhausted from going upstream to lay their eggs, but they go through that, knowing that’s what they have to do. It's so inspiring. There are so many visuals, and so many analogies that we can draw from watching what salmon do.

I’ve been thinking, what are some things that we’re doing that are countercultural? How do we raise them to be strong? One thing that, even in our Christian circle, we get a little pushback on is raising our children to be workers six days a week. Not training them to work their five days. School days until three o’clock, and then they’re free! I think it’s very important that we raise children like that.

Nancy: Actually, the Bible talks, and I wish I’d checked where the reference was before we came to this. But it talks about a man going out to work and coming home at evening time. That’s a day’s work. *

Allison: Sure. Sun-up to sun-down.

Nancy: It’s not like half a day, or three-quarters of the day. It’s a day’s work. That’s the picture that God gives, of the man coming home at evening time. It’s “six days thou shalt work, and on the seventh thou shalt rest.” Really, we’ve got to have a rest day.

Allison: The only way to do that is by leading by example, right? As mothers and fathers, we’ve got to do what we’re teaching them to do. What we talked about in the last podcast of having your children’s floor to be your ceiling which means we have to raise children, raise adults who are better than where we are. If that’s going to happen, number one, we have to show it by example.

But then also, I was thinking, “Man, our children, our littles and our bigs that we’re raising, they’re amazing!” They really are. They have a lot of talents. I don’t think that if we’re babying and coddling and mothering our children to where we’re doing everything for them, we’re never going to get out of them what is their gifting. In order to get our children’s gifting out of them, we have to let them do it.

That is something that we’ve done, allowing them to run a household. If we’re raising mothers, well, what is a mother going to do? They’re going to run their household. We need to let our daughters run our households which means we can’t micromanage them.

If I want them to get all the children ready for church, how is it helpful if I’m telling them, “Oh, no, no, no, you’ve got to put that on them! Do it this way. Let me do it for you.” No, you have to let them, “Hey, I need you to get all the children ready. Surprise me on what they’re wearing.” Or “I need the whole house cleaned. Do it the way you need to do it.” Let them make those choices.

What will happen is that you’re going to find that your children have talents that they could have never practiced if you didn’t allow them. My girls are incredible cooks, but I don’t cook at all. They won’t let me cook, because they said they cook so much better than me! How did they become good cooks? I allowed them to do it. I allowed them. “Come up with your menus. Come up with how you’re going to do it. Research. Find good recipes and have fun.”

Nancy: Eden decided she’s going to do this turkey this special way.

Allison: Right. She saw it on Instagram.

Nancy: Oh, and it was so amazing! All that she had to do, and how she was going to flatten it. And this special way to get in all the beautiful flavors. It turned out amazing!

Allison: Right, and I think it’s because I’ve allowed her to have that freedom. Or during the retreat when she’ll prepare for 800 people!

Nancy: I remember that time when you had ordered all these foods, and they did not come in time.

Allison: That’s right.

Nancy: And so, there you were. We’ve got 800 people coming for that retreat (we have more now).

Allison: One day to go shop for all this food.

Nancy: And there was no food! So, you just tell Eden, “OK, here’s the credit card. Go to Sam’s or Costco,” whatever it was.

Allison: She was probably 17 or 18.

Nancy: “And just get the food.”

Allison: To buy nine meals for 800 people. Now! Just sent her with my credit card.

Nancy: And she was about 18 years old.

Allison: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Nancy: Could you do that with most 18-year-olds? No.

Allison: They would be so overwhelmed, or they’d come home with things that you’re like, “Oh, no, no, no, no! We can’t have that much of this! We needed this!” But she was able to mathematically figure it out because she’s been buying our groceries for our family since she was nine or ten years old. I would allow them to go into Walmart together. “Hey! Surprise me! Figure out what we’re eating and go figure out what we need to make. Then make it.”

I really do. I’m a huge delegator. Some could look at that as laziness, but trust me, I’m not lazy. I do lots and lots of other things, but I only do what only I can do, and I let them do everything else. They can cook much better than I can. They can grocery shop much better than I can because we’ve allowed them to do it.

This may be jumping ahead, but what does that mean in the long run? Well, for our family, what it means is that I have now cloned myself into better clones. Now our business, instead of our business capping at (we photograph 65 schools). Do the math. There’s no way we, as a couple, can photograph 65 schools during the school year. It’s impossible.

Because we’ve been able to clone our children to be better than us, well, they all are now doing their own schools, which means Daniel and I don’t have to say no to different schools. In fact, it’s kind of sad, but funny and great for us, but I ran into our competition in the dentist’s office one day. We have a huge photography studio.

There’s one other photographer in our area. I ran into her one day, and she said, “How do you do it? How are you able to do all these schools?” Because she’s doing the same thing we are but there’s no way she can do the volume. I just kind of laughed. I said, “Well, I gave birth to all my employees!” She’s like, “That’s how you do it!” That’s amazing, because she only has one child. She didn’t raise her to do this.

Nancy: A lot of people will limit their children, saying, “I can only have two, because I want to do this, and I want to do that.” And even people who are serving the Lord, “Oh, we wouldn’t be able to serve the Lord, or do this or do that if we had more than one or two children.” What they don’t realize is that they are shooting themselves in the foot!

Allison: Completely!

Nancy: Because the more children you have, well, that’s what God said in the beginning! The very first words He said to mankind, as we all know: “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth.” He didn’t stop! He kept going! He said, “And subdue and take dominion.” Now, how are you going to take dominion? Only through having your children! The more children you have, the more dominion you will take for God, or even in your own sphere of influence, or even business!

Allison: That’s right. We’ve absolutely dominated the school photography market in our area in Florida, just by sheer numbers. Every businessperson can relate. It is hard to find good help. What do you do? You raise your help. You raise your children to be your replacement. I always say, “I’m raising my replacement.” I am! I am raising my replacement, because one day, they’ve already started taking over for us.

But it starts when they’re little. You can’t just wait until they’re 15 or 16, because that’s what culture’s doing. If we’re raising salmon, then we’re raising adults to go against culture. What does culture look like? Culture is raising children to work maybe five days a week. It’s teaching them to get a job once they’re out of the house. No! They don’t need a job to get out of the house! They need a job in the house!

In fact, I don’t even encourage my unmarried children to get out of the house. I’d much rather they’d be in the home and working for our family. We’re allowing them to find what they’re good at. There’s no way to find out what you’re good at unless you’re given a chance to do it.

If dads are out doing their cars, well, bring your little five-year-old son with you! Hand him the wrench and let him change that tire. If they can’t learn how to change a tire when they’re five and seven and ten, well, when they’re broken down on the side of the road, what are they going to do? They’re going to have to call AAA or somebody to come change their tire.

While we’re putting this retreat on, I don’t put the retreat on myself. All my children help me. I give them their jobs according to their gifting. They’re all different. Halle’s really soft-spoken and quiet, but she makes everything beautiful. Why would I go decorate my house? I don’t decorate my house. I let Halle do it because that’s her specialty.

I don’t even have to delegate housecleaning. I let Makenna do it. Makenna’s our oldest. She’s so good at it, I’ll say, “Hey, I need your help. Come over and help me delegate.” When we’re setting up photography sets, I don’t create photography sets because I’m not that good at it. My girls are so much better than I am, so guess what? I give them the money and send them out shopping. They put together a photography set that’s gorgeous. They have such pride in it. They’re so proud of themselves. But the results are incredible.

Another interesting thing that happened to us is, we had an accountant for 20 years who ended up getting in trouble with the law. We had to let her go. We were all in the middle of our busy season, and all of a sudden, we had no accountant. I don’t know anything about taxes, accounting, anything like that. I had to give the job to someone I trusted.

Well, I trusted my Eden, who at the time was 19. She didn’t know anything about accounting. I sent her to our CPA. Our CPA trained her, and immediately she did our books. She did all of our accounting for us. Now she does payroll. She does all of our taxes. She does all of our bookwork because I sent her to someone who was good. She didn’t take a class in accounting. But she’s doing accounting for our several hundred-thousand-dollar business because we needed one. We raised her up to do that.

Nancy: Yes. And you had employed an accountant before that.

Allison: Right.

Nancy: And she does the job just as well.

Allison: Correct. Better, because I can trust her. I can trust her. We can’t limit our children. We’ve got to use our . . .

Nancy: That is the thing. I think we have to get out of the mindset that children, young people, have to go to college to learn something. No! There are even better ways to learn. Often, it’s the need also. “We’ve got to do this.”

Allison: A lot of people will ask us, “Give us some ideas on ways that we can let our children be entrepreneurs.” So, I’ll throw out a few practical tips. But again, you have to make it for your family.

Something that we did early on was, we love to go yard sailing, garage sailing, thrift store shopping. When Makenna, our oldest, when she was probably ten, eleven, we started garage sailing with her.

We would buy a set of bunk beds. She would take the bunk beds, wipe them down, take a picture of them, and put them in the newspaper. She would resell them. Let’s say we paid $50 for them. She would resell them for $300-$400. That just tripled, quadrupled your money. Then she’d take that $400, and she’d go back garage sailing, because now that’s her money, right? She’s 12 years old and she has $350 to spend. She’ll take it and go buy a dining room table.

She flipped furniture, and when she was 19, she had saved enough money to become a swim instructor, which was $12,000. She had that money saved up by the time she was 19, just by flipping furniture. Furniture flipping is great.

Obviously, doing yards. My husband did pressure washing and painting and things like that. Home remodeling. You can teach your boys how to tile a floor, or paint, or pressure wash, and they can go and work for other people making between $50 and $100 an hour. There’s no reason a young man couldn’t make that.

Even when they’re little, let them do a lemonade sale out in front of your house. Have them put it out there. Make homemade lemonade and let them learn how to communicate with customers. Growing produce, and then setting up a little farmer’s stand. Having chickens, selling eggs. You can take that and turn it into a farmer’s market one day.

Selling things door-to-door. There is so much you can learn from selling things door-to-door, because you’re learning how to communicate with a stranger. Obviously, I would recommend going with them, or sitting in the car. Don’t go up to the door with them because you want them to learn how to talk to adults. But we’ve sold coupon books. We’ve sold mistletoe. We’ve sold scuppernongs in our driveway.

Think about things that they’re interested in, then let them make a business out of it. Help them come up with ways of coming up with a business name, coming up with a plan. Even if the business fails, which it may, it’s learning how to overcome objections. We’re big believers in being self-employed. Obviously, it doesn’t work for everyone, but I feel like it’s a really great, great thing for a family to have a business.

Nancy: Oh, yes! And I’m thinking, as you say, that we find our giftings in our children if we allow them to do these things. I love that Scripture, Isaiah 8:18: “Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.”

Our children are for signs and wonders! That is in every realm. The Hebrew words, let’s have a look at those. The word for “sign” is oth. It means “a sign, a signal, a banner, miraculous signs, a standard, a flag, a beacon.” They are a banner shining the image of God and all that He has put in them. I love that Scripture.

My father would say it continually throughout our lives: “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before kings” (Proverbs 18:16). It's not sending your children to college that makes the way for them. It’s the gift that God has put in them. It’s a man’s gift that makes room for him and brings him before kings.

Well, my father knew that in a little way. We come from New Zealand, a sheep country. Of course, shearing is a big industry back in my county of New Zealand. It was my father who designed the way that shearing is done today. It was called “the Bowen Technique.” He invented what was called, “the long blow.” He was able to shear the sheep so much faster and more effectively.

His expertise brought him before kings. Well, not really kings, but queens. He shore sheep before the Queen of England, who has now passed away, on a number of occasions. He met her, talked to her. In fact, he even had a royal command. When she first came out to New Zealand after becoming Queen, he and his brother, my uncle Godfrey, were asked to give this shearing demonstration before her. She absolutely so loved it.

She was taken up with it, but sadly, her husband, the Duke of Edinburg, was not there because we’d had a tragedy in our nation. Our big train (steam engine in those days) that went from the north to the south, back in those days a steam engine, the bridge was wiped out, and so many were killed. He was at the funerals of so many of these people.

She wanted him to see it so much, so she sent out a royal command, because they didn’t know where my father was. We went on holiday, and nobody knew where we went. We didn’t even know where we were going ourselves. We were driving along in the car, and my mother said, “Let’s go here!” Us children said, “No, we want to go here!”

We wanted to go to Matamata Springs. Actually, that is the site where they filmed the Lord of the Rings. Back in those days, it was these natural springs. We thought it would be so lovely to live in these hot springs every day. We were there, but no one knew where we were.

They had to send out by radio (in those days, we didn’t even have TV). “Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Ivan Bowen, please contact this number!” Eventually the people at the campground heard. “Oh, yes, he’s in our campground!” They go and get him, and he calls the number. It’s a royal command from the Queen that she wants another shearing demonstration. That was quite amazing!

My father was also a preacher, so he often used this great illustration. He would say, “I have had two royal commands in my life: one from the Queen of England. Wouldn’t it be terrible if I hadn’t obeyed her? And said, “Ah, no, I can’t be bothered!” But no, it was a privilege to obey her and do this for her. But I’ve also had a royal command from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who commands all men everywhere to repent! And, of course, I’ve obeyed that command, too!” What a great message!

Anyway, it is true that it is the gift in our children that will open up doors for them. What you are sharing about is giving opportunity for their gifts to develop.

And then “wonders.” The Hebrew word is mopheth, and it means, “a miracle, a special display of God’s power.”

That’s what God wants to do in our children. He wants to display who He is and what He has put in them. It’s all miraculous because it comes from God. I look at the gifts in our children and think, “Help! They didn’t get that from me!” They got it from God! We can’t even take credit for it, can we? We’ve got to be those who will encourage others’ gifts.

Allison: I think we have to be wise. We were talking earlier, before the podcast, about how families lose their children, lose their hearts. I think it’s so important to keep our children’s hearts. You can’t keep your children’s hearts if you don’t have your children. Think about that.

Nancy: That’s so true.

Allison: If they're always gone, if they’re in the car and they’re with their friends, and they’re playing sports, and then they’re working outside the house at the local coffee shop, if you don’t have your children present, it’s almost impossible to have their hearts. Because guess who has their hearts? Their youth pastor, their friends, and their co-workers.

The Bible talks about bringing the fathers to the children and children to the fathers. You can’t do that if your children are not with you. How do you do that? You allow an opportunity for them to work in the family business. If you don’t have a family business, you start one. You create one.  

I was thinking, just in my life, I waited tables. Probably the worst experiences and the worst influences I had were in the restaurant world. Everyone wants to be a part of something. They want to belong. Do we want our children belonging in the restaurant world where all they’re really doing is going along with culture?

If we’re truly raising salmon, we’re raising children who don’t mind standing and saying, “Ooh, I don’t look at that on my phone. I don’t work just five days a week.” If that’s the kind of young people we’re trying to raise, then we shouldn’t want to put them in that workplace. The only way to do that is by intentionally helping them come up with a business idea on their own.

It’s so important. I’m reaping the benefits of this so I can speak from experience. I have littles, but then I have bigs who have arrived at adulthood and they’re doing it. They’re actually owning their own businesses. They’re raising their children themselves, so much better than even I raised mine. I really encourage people to do this.

Nancy: I’m thinking, even this morning, before we got to this podcast, we went downstairs. “OK, this big room, we’re going to clean it up!” All your little ones came down, nine, seven, five. You didn’t have to ask them. They got brooms. They knew how to sweep around, under the sofas, and under this and that.

It’s so great to see, because I’ve had other children come into my home. I remember one time I had some children, part of a family who came. It was time to do the dishes after the meal. They actually ran and hid! Because they didn’t want to have anything to do with it! Well, they didn’t even know how. They just didn’t know how. Some don’t even know how to sweep or sweep around things. They don’t know. You pull out the sofas. You pull out this. You sweep behind! You get to the edges. They’ve never been taught these things.

Allison: That’s right. One thing I think we should definitely mention is purposely aligning your family with friends and other families who feel the same way you do on this topic. I love coming here, and getting to hang out with other families, who when we say, “Hey, let’s do a project for Nana and Granddad,” like right now, they’re working on the pumphouse roof. We’ve been working on a few projects. Not as many as we normally do, but how much more fun is it to be with other families who are also raising their children that way?

Because then your children aren’t pulled, saying “Oh, my friends are down there playing volleyball, but I’m up here scrubbing Nana’s floor!” Wouldn’t it be a lot more fun to say “Hey, guys, let’s work together and scrub Nana’s floor? Or finish painting this bedroom? Then we’ll all go play volleyball together.”

There’s nothing wrong with having fun. Please don’t misunderstand. We have lots and lots of fun as a family. But we do it together because we work together, but we also choose friends who are also raising their children to work hard. We do have some friends who are not hard workers, but our children would prefer to hang out with their friends.

That’s why, going back to our Family Camp, if we can plug that real quick, where have we met friends who are raising their children in this way? We’ve met them all at Above Rubies Family Camps. Three times a year we get together in Panama City with sometimes 100+ families. All of them, their goal is to try to raise godly adults. The best way to do that is by being around other families who are also raising godly adults.

I really encourage you guys out there, you mothers, to align yourself. If you’re feeling like, “I don’t even have one family like that,” well, then you need to put on your Christmas list that you want to come to the Above Rubies Family Camp and meet another family like that. Sometimes that means driving and spending a couple of hours driving to go visit that family, because you don’t have any who live in your town. But go.

Here at the Hilltop, you guys are so blessed. Not everybody has that in their own community. We have had to create a community. We’ve done that through the Family Camps. We want our children to be the ones who everyone wants to hire. “Ooh, I want the Hartman children to come stay with me because they’re going to leave the place the way they found it or better.” Or “They’re going to work hard, and they’re going to help clean up the kitchen after I make dinner,” because that’s how we’ve raised them.

Nancy: Amen! Well, I trust you have been blessed, ladies. Our time has gone again. Let’s pray.

“Father, we thank You for families. We thank You that this is the way You designed for us to live. I pray Your blessing on every family listening. Father, I pray that You will strengthen them in their purpose as they raise their children. Lord, give them purpose. Lord, I pray that You will put creative ideas in their hearts and in their minds, that, Lord, You will give them strategies for their family, because every family is unique.

“Lord, we don’t expect families to do what another family is doing, because everyone is unique, just as every child You have given to us is unique. Every family is unique. We thank You for that, for the uniqueness and blessing of every family. We pray, Lord, that You will bless them, and they will be able to live to the fullness of Your purposes for them, and Lord, that You will enable them to bring encouragement to their children, to enhance the gifts that You have given to them.

“Above all, Lord, we pray that they will become God-fearing, praying families, Lord, who are affecting this culture for You, Lord. Save us from being families who go along with the culture of this world. That Lord, we will be those who have biblical worldviews, and, Lord, are going according to Bible culture. Help us, Lord, to do that which Your Word says, not just what society says. We ask it 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.

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Psalm 104:23: “Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening.”

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 286: Raising Children to be Adults, Part 1

Allison Hartman from Pensacola, Florida joins me today to talk about preparing our children for life. Instead of babying them, we raise them to be mature adults who are ready to become accomplished entrepreneurs and hard-working children.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Good to be with you again. We’re recording this the day after Thanksgiving. What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had yesterday! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It’s such a great time of the year, isn’t it?

The forecast for the weather here was going to be cold, down to zero as we came into the evening. But amazingly, we had this glorious day. It was beautiful and sunny. We were warm the whole day. It was so great! We were concerned about that because we are now too big to have it at our home. We have, up until last year and this year, we used to have it in our big social room. We could fit about 85 for a sit-down meal.

But now, the family keeps growing, and more people can come in. So, now we have it over at the wedding barn on Serene and Sam’s land. This year, I think we would have had well over 120 people for a beautiful sit-down meal. It was so great. We had a feast, didn’t we? By the way, I’ve got Allison Hartman here with me. Every time Allison and the family come to stay, we always do a podcast together.

Allison: It’s so good to be here.

Nancy: So, here we are. Hi, Allison!

Allison: So good to be here! We love it. The podcasts are always our favorite thing to do together.

Nancy: Yes. But I have to tell you about our Thanksgiving, although if you’ve listened to me before, you’ll know what we do. We are traditional! We do the same thing every year. There’s something about tradition, isn’t there? We have a big feast. Lots of turkey and lamb, of course.

I cooked a big lamb in one oven and a turkey in the other oven. Two of our sons brought lamb. We usually have a competition to see whose is the best. I actually hate conceding, but I think Stephen’s was great! Did you taste it?

Allison: It was the best. It was amazing!

Nancy: It was unbelievably amazing! He’s a great cook. He is actually known, just about going to say the world over, but not quite the world over! His sphere of influence, which is a big sphere as manager of the Newsboys, but he’s always asked to come and cook his lamb chops at any special occasion. There’s absolutely nothing like them in the whole of the world!

We didn’t have the lamb chops for Thanksgiving. He was sharing with me at Thanksgiving that he has quite a number of festivities at this time of the year coming up. He said the other day, he had to buy lamb chops and he spent about $500! They are expensive!

We would have had about four lamb roasts, and all the other things. Then after our eating together, we always have speeches and toasting. We love speeches. We are a family of speeches. That’s always so great for people to get up and share something of the goodness of God, the great things that we have to be so thankful for. Then we go outside. Praise the Lord! It was so warm and beautiful! We had our tug-of wars! Wasn’t that fun?

Allison: Oh, that was so fun. So fun. We had the dads versus the sons, the moms versus the daughters.

Nancy: And the children. For many years, of course, the dads could outdo the sons. But then, it got to these strapping sons growing up! Then they would always beat the dads. But this year, the dads beat the sons!

Allison: That’s right!

Nancy: How did that happen?

Allison: Well, there might have been a little cheating going on. We might have had a son come join the dads’ side. [laughter]

Nancy: That was pretty amazing. It was a pretty fierce competition, of course!

Allison: And then the egg toss! My goodness! The biggest egg toss I’ve ever seen! The line just kept going on.

Nancy: Yes, yes. That’s always such fun. And then, they got on again to arm wrestling. Did you see them arm wrestle?

Allison: I didn’t, but I heard about it.

Nancy: Oh, you missed it! Goodness me! I couldn’t believe it. These guys are all so tough! They’re so strong, and they all work out. Man, to see that! Did you go see that? You did. Wasn’t it something else? They would go red in their faces. Who was going to win? Then it got to, I thought Arden would win it. But no.

Then it got to Rocky Barrett, this is Pearl’s son. He’s been working out a lot lately. I didn’t know how strong he had gotten. He sat there like a big chief at the table, waiting for the next person to come. They came, OK, because they thought, “Oh, well, we’ll beat Rocky!” And he just went boomph! There wasn’t even a struggle! He put their arms down like, OK. So, the next one came. Boomph! OK, this one’s there. The next one comes, boomph! Nobody would come after that! [laughter] He was the winner for this year! We’ll see who wins next year!

Allison: So fun!

Nancy: Yes, it was a lot of fun. We so love it. Anyway, now we’re been getting to see one another quite a bit this year, because we have the retreats. We have three retreats a year in Panama City that Allison and her husband Daniel organize for us. They’re coming up. It’s getting close to our first one. Tell us all about them!

Allison: Our Winter Retreat is in January. We started doing January retreats, because our April retreat got so big we just couldn’t handle all the people in the main room. It’s kind of nice. The winter retreat, actually, last year, has probably become my favorite, because it was smaller. You could get to know people. It was very spiritually challenging. The young people were on fire. It was wonderful. This year it’s January 3^rd through the 10^th, 2024.

Nancy: Yes, that’s really straight after Christmas!

Allison: Yes, it’s right after New Year’s Eve.

Nancy: But hardly time to think!

Allison: I know. The advantage of coming in January is that the rates are low, because it’s the off-season. But we do have room for a few more families. It will be a fourth of the size of our main camp. But it’s really nice.

Then our next retreat after that will be our big, huge April retreat. Last year we had close to 1,000 people, about 120 families. There’s something powerful about numbers. What a neat way to meet other like-minded families!

As you can see, the Hilltop has become a place where so many of these families have come to settle. It’s so neat. When we come up, all the friends and all the young people that they’ve met each other at camp, they’re just back at their friendships. It’s so refreshing.

Nancy: Oh, yes, yes, it’s so wonderful!

Allison: If you want to find out about it, it’s on the website, https://aboverubiesgulfcoast.com/. You can find it there. Find on your website, https://aboverubies.org. Definitely get registered.

Nancy: And people come, families come, from all over the States, even as far as Canada. We’ve had them from New Zealand, so it’s not just people around Florida. People come from everywhere.

Allison: What an amazing Christmas present that would be for your family! I can’t think of anything better than having time on the Gulf, on the beach, meeting other like-minded amazing families. We have so much fun! And it’s great teaching, really encouraging teaching. But we really do have a lot of fun.

Nancy: So, maybe you’ll want to put one of those retreats on your calendar. That would be great! And then, recently, we had our last ladies’ retreat for the year. We seem to be having more family camps these days, but it was great to have a ladies’ retreat, right here in Tennessee. Allison came up for that one. She also did a seminar.

In fact, I think we should talk about some of those things today, Allison. Her subject was “Raising Children to be Adults.” Often, we think we’re just raising children to be children. But no, Allison’s vision is not just to raise her children to stay children but raising them to be adults. We’re going to get on and talk about that today. Let’s start right now!

Allison: Let’s do it! Let’s do it! You know, I’ve shared this before. I’ll start by saying that something my husband and I heard several years ago that stuck with us is that, as parents, our goal should be that our ceiling, meaning the highest that our lives get, is just our children’s floor. It’s our ceiling that becomes their floor.

Some people will take that as, “You know, that sounds like you’re enabling.” That’s not enabling. Enabling can be a negative, but I look at it as a positive. We want to springboard our children to be successful. I think the way we do it is by raising adults. That doesn’t start when they’re teens or young people. That starts early, early on.

I want to inspire and encourage you guys that it’s very possible to raise adults, but you have to start young. In our culture, I feel that we’re raising a bunch of consumers. We’re raising children. The way that we’re doing it, we don’t even realize it. We baby-talk to our children. We do everything for them instead of letting them get in a cook a meal and help with housework. We tend to want to, “Hey, you guys go outside and play! Let Mommy do this.”

Well, if we’re raising adults, and we’re raising mothers and fathers, then we need to allow them to do adult-like things, Mommy and Daddy-things, and not do it for them. What does that look like? Well, in my home, and again, I can only speak for our family. We’re self-employed. We run a very, very busy, successful photography studio. But then we also have many, many other streams of income.

Whatever we do, we include all of our children, no matter their age. I don’t believe that just because they’re the baby, or they’re the little ones, that they should be excluded. Everyone should have something to do. Sometimes you have to be intentional about that. You have to think of a job, but it’s worth it. We’ll start by talking about little ones, even three and four- and five-year-olds.

Nancy: OK, so, tell everybody the ages of your children, from top to bottom.

Allison: My oldest is 24. She’s expecting her second child. Then all the way down, I have a 21-year-old, 19-year-old, 17, 15, 14, 12, 10. Oh goodness, let me think. 7, 5, 3.

Nancy: And the baby is three. OK, you were saying, even little ones. Well, what kind of things would you give Selah to do?

Allison: If we’re doing housework, we don’t clean the house separately. We always clean as a team.

Nancy: Everything you do, you do together.

Allison: Everything we do as a family, we do it together as a team, because we are a team. My husband is the head coach, I’m the assistant coach, and all of our children, every morning we have a team meeting, and a family meeting. We figure out what our day’s going to look like.

But yeah, even if you just have them go around the house and pick up all the garbage cans and dump them in the main garbage can. Or “Here’s a can of Windex. I need you to go wipe down all the windows,” or “Wipe down all the baseboards.”

Nancy: You would give a job like that to little children.

Allison: To a three-year-old, or the five-year-old. “Take this, and I want you to wipe down all the baseboards.” That’s not really something they can mess up. They feel like they’re a part.

Folding towels. I haven’t touched laundry in years. I don’t think I’ve been in my laundry room for probably seven to ten years. I don’t touch laundry. Now, they might bring me a basket of laundry of my stuff, and I want to make sure it’s folded. I don’t have a real particular way of doing it, so I don’t get upset if my five-year-old folds towels in a not-so-perfect way.

Nancy: That’s something you really have to rearrange in your brain. I like everything just perfect. You’ve got to get that out of your brain! [laughter]

Allison: You really do! Because does it really matter? Does it really matter how the towels are folded? If your five-year-old did them, he is so proud of himself. Again, you’ve got to remember, you’re raising an adult. What do we want our daughters to be? Do we want them to be good, functioning adults, or do we want to have them stuck in little baby-land, to where they’re going to expect other people to do things for them?

That’s where we’re at in our culture. We’ve got young people who don’t know how to function. Like making phone calls. I never make phone calls to customer service. If I have my 12-year-old or 15-year-old sitting next to me, “Here, take the phone. Make this phone call. Call and tell them that we need to order this and that. Here’s my credit card.”

Again, we’re raising adults. In the kitchen. I would say from six, seven, and up, they should be able to make just about anything in the kitchen. It might burn. It may not taste great, but you’re training them to be an adult. When they do do a good job, praise them. Makenna was three, and she’s my oldest. She could make my bed perfectly because I raised her to do it at three. The first time she did it, it wasn’t great. But the second time, it was a little better. Then the third time, she could make it perfectly.

Spring forward, she’s now 24. She’s photographed over 20 schools, she teaches babies to swim, she’s an ISR (Infant Swim Rescue) instructor. She’s a mother. She’s so capable. But we didn’t start when she was 15. We started when she was three, raising her to be, always giving them big-people jobs. Some people may say, “Whoa, there is no way a ten-year-old can do that kind of . . .”

The neat thing is, we are able to have several streams of income because we count on our children to run our business. We have a photography business. We also run two farmers’ markets. We also have an Air BNB. We also are vendors at our markets. We also have a coffee shop, and on and on and on.

The way we’re able to do this, we believe that the Bible says: “Divide your substance to seven parts, even to eight. You don’t know what evil will come upon this land” (Ecclesiastes 11:2). When it talks about that, it’s talking about diversifying. It’s talking about not having all your eggs in one basket. I know many of you might say, “Well, my husband has a job. He’s a teacher.” Well, that’s fine, but there’s no reason why you cannot raise children to have their own vison and to be entrepreneurs.

What we feel is, this is another thing that’s so crucial. Mothers, listen to me. Only do what only you can do. Do what you do best, and delegate the rest. OK? So . . .

“Do what you do best. Delegate the rest.”

When I mean that, I mean delegate everything that your children can do. That may sound like, “Wow! That leaves almost nothing!” Well, yeah.

Mothers who have children who are capable shouldn’t be mopping the floors and sweeping. Yes, we do it when they’re young because we train them. But once you’ve trained them to do it, then that allows you to be able to do the things that they can’t do.

So, what are some things that my children can’t do? Well, we don’t allow them to be on the phone. I’m the only one that has access to the internet. My boys are 17 and 15 and 14. They run grass volleyball tournaments. When they’re putting on a volleyball tournament, what is the thing they can’t do? Well, they can’t advertise online because I don’t allow them to be on the internet, so I do that for them. They don’t have phones where they can communicate with people. I’ll do that for them. They don’t drive, so I’ll do that for them.

If I need to order something, I’ll let them do the talking, but they’re using my phone to do it. Think about what are the things that you can do? You do those. But if they can do it, let them do it, because you’re training them. They’re going to be adults. Now, I’ve got a bunch of other adults in my family. Even though they may look young to the world, they’re so capable. I think that’s why we’re able to do as much as we are.

But again, I think the word that I’m thinking that’s so critical is “intentionality.” You have to be intentional as a mother. Be intentional. Who do you allow your children to hang around with? That’s another thing. You’ve got to put your children with people who you want them to be like. If they’re hanging around young people that are lazy, being on the TV all the time, playing video games all the time, that’s probably not what you want them to be.

So, don’t allow those friendships to be beyond just hanging out a little bit. You don’t want them to spend lots of time with people who you don’t want them to be like. That may mean that they’re hanging out with a lot of adults, and that’s OK. You want them to be leaders, not followers.

I feel like we’ve done that with our children. It’s interesting, they will start choosing friends who want you want them to be around, the longer you input that into them, if that makes sense. If you raise your children to be entrepreneurs, with a good work ethic, they will never be without a job.

Nancy: That’s true. Yes.

Allison: You see that a lot in our world right now. You see a lot of unemployed fathers. They’re good at a few things, but they don’t have that work ethic. I believe it’s because they didn’t get taught. They weren’t taught at a young, young, young age.

I don’t baby-talk to my children. I don’t do things for my children. Now, yes, am I a mother? Yes. It’s OK to mother your children, to nurture your children. But don’t misunderstand nurturing with babying your children. Sometimes you can misunderstand what I’m saying. We love to have fun together. I believe a family that plays together stays together.

But I really believe that a family that works together will never be without income. We’ve been very successful financially with our businesses, but we’ve allowed our children to take part in them. They have such pride in the fact that they’re making really good money. None of them have gone to college. We did college for one semester for one of our daughters but now she can make $100+ an hour doing what she’s doing with no college education.

Nancy: Oh, yes. I think a lot of homeschooling families will homeschool their children and will be watching over their education. And then, I can’t believe it, send them off to college, thinking they absolutely need it, whereas today, well, there may have been a time, years and years ago, when they would have gotten a good preparatory education for life.

But today, they’re just brainwashing them with socialism and progressivism. Of course, they’re going to come out with their brains full of these things. You look at what is happening today with the young people of our nation. They are pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas, pro-abortion, pro-homosexuality, pro-transgender. It’s all brainwashing.

Allison: I don’t even know if they’ve been researching it themselves.

Nancy: No, they haven’t! It’s just brainwashing.

Allison: Whatever the influence, it’s telling them to think that’s what they think. Interestingly, my husband has a master’s degree. I have a bachelor’s, so we got the college education. I used to think college was this neutral subject. Well, now, after seeing what I’m seeing in our world, you couldn’t convince me to send our children to college.

I was at a funeral last weekend, and I was talking to this young man. I said, “What are you doing?” He said, “I’m going to college for a business degree.” I said, “Oh, wow! I bet you have a great business you’re planning on starting. What are you doing afterwards?” since he was almost finished. He said, “I have no idea.”

I just looked at him.  I thought, “What are you doing? Why are you going to college to learn how to run a business?” If you want to teach your children to run a business, let them run a business! If you don’t know what that looks like, call me. I’ll be glad to help you figure out something. There are so many amazing ideas that you can help your children. I’ll just list a few.

Nancy: Before you get onto that, I’m thinking about what you said there, about if they’re interested in business, find a business. If they’re that interested in being in business, well, surely, they’ve got some idea or some vision of what they want to do.

Allison: This young man could not think of one thing.

Nancy: I know. So, he just went to college for the sake of it. But you’ve got to have a purpose. OK, you start that business, and then, oh, maybe you find you’ll need to learn a few more things. Well, then you can do an online course and learn it! You don’t actually have to go to college and waste all that time and money.

Often, that is the best way to get started into what your vision is. And then find, “Oh, wow, I do need to know some more things here.” Then, take a course in it! Do it online. You will really learn, because it’s what you need to know to be successful. Whereas, if you go to college, and you haven’t got a vision, you’re learning stuff that’s not really applying.

It’s like I’ve been thinking lately. This is a bit off the subject, and we’ll get back. But I’ve been thinking about premarital counseling. We’ve done a lot of premarital counseling, but what I’ve observed is that many times, the couple are so much in love. Really, they don’t think they need any premarital counseling. And even all the stuff you tell them, really, it’s only until they’re married and they’re beginning to work it out in their lives.

I think that some post-marital counseling would be better. They get married, and then they’re like, “Oh, help! Wow, we need some help here!” I think it’s better post . . . when they’re in the thick of it, to really know what they need. That’s with education too. To just go into college with no vision and no thought of what you’re going to do is not really going to benefit you the same. You may come out with a degree, but that doesn’t mean anything either.

I have talked to many businessmen who said that college students coming out with a degree doesn’t mean anything today to those who employ them. They’ve found that they’re lazy, and they don’t know how to work. He said, “We’d rather get a young man who’s got a desire to work, and a desire to be successful, and teach him from scratch. He does so much better.”

Allison: I think it’s so much more productive with our money and time. This is something we recently discovered. Really, it’s been a neat connection with the Above Rubies families. We have had many, I would say, probably four different people come stay with us, families sending their young people to come stay with us, to learn the trade of photography, to learn the trade of running a coffee shop, to learn how to run a farmer’s market, to learn how to run a big family.

These are other amazing families. But what they don’t do well, they’ve found that we do well. So, they send their young people to us. Well, what a brilliant idea! You find a family that does a trade. Well, guess what? You send your son who wants to learn that trade to go live with them. Go stay with them for a month. Work for them for free so that they can learn that trade.

I’m thinking about Cedar. Cedar, your grandson, is married to my Halle. If you really look at his schooling, his homeschooling, you would say, “Wow! He probably didn’t finish some great huge curriculum.”

But let me tell you, I just hired Cedar to remodel my house. We did a $40,000 remodel of my house. I paid Cedar to do it all. I paid him really well to do it all. But he did everything with excellence. He had never been a day in his life to college. Never been a day in his life to a school to learn how to tile and build things. He did such an excellent job and he made excellent money.

Not only was he able to make good money, and remodel my house, but then, I let my boys, instead of doing school for three weeks (sitting down, learning from books and doing math problem), they worked for Cedar for three weeks. Oh, they worked, and they learned, and they learned, and they worked. They did math. They did science.

They learned the school of work ethic because he had them up early. He had them figuring up supply lists. Then they had to go shopping for it. Then they had to build the design and come up with plans.

My Asher went. He’s 15. He went and worked with Cedar. They built an outdoor bathroom for a family, making $65 an hour. For a 15-year-old, and a 20-year-old, that’s decent money, right? It’s a good starting income, $65 an hour. But they didn’t get a degree for that.

Nancy: You said something else. You said he did that in three weeks, remodeled your house.

Allison: Remodeled my house in three weeks.

Nancy: If you had hired people, it would not have been done in three weeks!

Allison: No. We have a 3400-square-foot house. They emptied every single room, bedroom, bathroom. Retiled. We did porcelain tiles throughout the whole house. Repainted everything. Did batten boards, redid my fireplace, painted all my furniture and cabinets.

Nancy: We can’t wait to come and see it!

Allison: Oh, it’s amazing! It’s gorgeous! White walls, black cabinets, solid wood flooring with porcelain tile that looks like wood. It’s gorgeous! Cedar didn’t go to school to learn this. He came up with it, because his father and mother taught him to work when he was three. Does that make sense?

Nancy: Yes. Yes.

Allison: So, if you’re raising adults, it’s so beautiful . . .

Nancy: Sam . . . they didn’t have time to do a lot of schooling. But because from little young men, Sam would give them the list of what had to be done that day. When he got home, it had to be done! It was all amazing stuff! It was real men’s stuff . . . building, they had to work it out.

Allison: But now Halle, as a wife, is benefiting from the fruit of their labor. Sam and Serene poured time. They didn’t maybe sit down with a book and teach him how to diagram a sentence, but they taught him how to work. How to when you say you’re going to do something, you do it! Not only does he have a good work ethic, but he also teaches work.

When we’re working, a lot of times when you’re working for a customer, you can cut corners. You can do shoddy work because most times they’re not going to know everything. Well, guess what? You can tell with Cedar and my boys; they’ve been taught how to work unto the Lord.

My husband used to be a painter, and I used to say, “Why are you worried about the little details? Your customer’s never going to see it. Just hurry up, and get it done!” He said, “Allison, I’m not working for that customer. I work because I do everything . . . whether you’re eating or drinking, do everything for the glory of the Lord.”

That’s what we’ve got to teach our children. If you’re out there and you’re struggling with, “Oh, did I get all my curriculum in? I feel like I’m always behind!” You know what? Teach them how to work and they will never be without a job. That all goes back into raising adults and being intentional. Do things as a family. Come up with a project.

I really think it’s a neat idea to send your children to other people’s families when they’re older, maybe in their teens. Spend a month with them. Find someone who you can say, “Oh, I’d love to have my children learn how to farm. Well, we don’t have a farm.” So, send them off to someone. That’s better than going off to college.

Nancy: Oh, yes. Now, you also said you run two farmers’ markets. But, OK, you have people who come to you to learn how to do it. But where did you learn how to do it? You just suddenly thought of the idea?

Allison: I do. I do. I have lots of ideas in my head. I’ve always been a . . . Colin calls me a “mover and a shaker.” I try not to sit and dream and think of things. I think of an idea, and then I make it happen.

Nancy: Yes! My favorite saying: “Things don’t just happen. You have to make them happen!”

Allison: Yes, yes! And so, we had the idea. We wanted our children to be able to sell things. Well, there wasn’t really a good, healthy environment for that. There is a farmers’ market in our town, but it’s run by the city. It’s very liberal. They allow products that I would never want my children to even be around. Instead of coming up with excuses, “Oh, well, we don’t have that so you’re not going to be able to sell anything.”

I made it up. We started a farmer’s market in our town. Now we have over 50 to 60 vendors every single Saturday. We run two. We do a Thursday night and a Saturday morning. It’s a great opportunity for our children to sell their plants, their produce, their eggs, their kefir. We sell a little bit of everything.

But what a great idea! You want to raise a businesswoman and a businessman? Allow them to be part of a farmer’s market. Have a table set up and selling. It’s communicating. My nine-year-old can communicate with an adult better than most adults.

Nancy: What’s she selling?

Allison: Oh! Well, she’ll sell kefir. She’ll sell eggs. She’s sold we did caramel apples the other day. We got apples from our Mennonite friends. Then we made healthy caramel apples. She sold out of them. It was incredible! She sold them for $6 apiece.

Nancy: What?

Allison: $6 for one caramel apple. I don’t even care if she sells one. The experience she’s getting, to get to speak and talk to an adult, look them in the eye. How many young people, children, cannot look an adult in the eye? Shake their hand? Be confident?

“What are you selling?”

“I’m selling caramel apples.”

“Well, tell me about your apples.”

“They’re tree ripened. They don’t have pesticides on them. These are the ingredients we put in them.”

It’s an incredible thing.

Nancy: When she sells kefir, she’ll explain all about it, all the benefits.

Allison: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nancy: Does she tell them the story about you?

Allison: Yes, yes! When I was in Israel, I got giardia which was not fun at all. For 18 months, I had awful, terrible symptoms from diarrhea, just awful, awful stuff. Kefir was what solved my problems.

Nancy: After spending thousands on remedies.

Allison: Oh, thousands of dollars, yes! I did a prescription that was $2,000, and it didn’t even touch the giardia. But kefir knocked it out. Women, ladies, older ladies, they’ll come up and say, “What’s kefir?”

And my nine-year-old will sit there and say, “Well, my mother had diarrhea for 18 months, and it got rid of it!” Their mouths are like, “What??” It’s hilarious! But she’ll sit there and sell a $10 jar of kefir to them. They’ll say, “Oh, I have terrible gut issues,” and they’ll buy the kefir.

It’s setting them up for success. Again, I only do what only I can do. So, what do I do? I drive her there. I drive her to the store to get the supplies. I help her get all of her things. But then she does it all herself. I’m not going to package up the kefir. Why? Because my nine-year-old can do it herself.

Nancy: Yes! Amen. Well, time has gone.

Allison: Oh, my goodness. Such a fun subject!

Nancy:

“Lord, we thank You so much that we can share about these practical issues of life together. Lord, we pray for every mother, wife, child listening. We pray Your blessing on them. We pray, Lord, that these seeds of truth will ignite in their hearts and open ideas of creativity, Lord, what they can do for their precious children.

“Lord, give each one a vision, that they are raising, Lord, adults. Children who are going to one day be fathers and mothers, and young men who will be providers of the home. Help us to even be thinking about these things now, to prepare them, Lord, that we will be faithful preparers of our children for life, and of course, eternity, which is the greatest of all. In the Name of Jesus, amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 285: Our Hearts and Our Homes, Part 1

Are the lamps burning in your home? Is the incense wafting up in your home? Are your children sharpened up with God's word? Are they fortified with truth and ready for end times?

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

Nancy Campbell: Hi, ladies! Here we are again, together! And I am continuing our subject, “Our Hearts and Our Homes.” Last session we were in Hezekiah. No, we weren’t. There’s no such book as Hezekiah! It’s 2 Chronicles 29! But it’s all about Hezekiah. We were reading how he opened the doors of the temple and began to put everything back together how it was meant to be happening, because the lamps were put out, and the people had turned away from what God wanted them to do.

But we didn’t really finish. Can we go back there again, back to 2 Chronicles 29? A few more thoughts from there. Just to put you in remembrance, Hezekiah started out in the very FIRST month of his reign to open the doors of the house of the Lord, and to get everything working again. He says here in v. 7: “Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.”

GOD HAS CHOSEN YOU TO INTERCEDE

We talked last time about the lamps and the altar of incense, and how it means and always speaks in the Bible about being the prayers of the saints. We go down to verse 11, and Hezekiah continues speaking to the Levites. He said: “My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that ye should minister unto Him, and burn incense.”

He was talking to the Levites, the Levitical priesthood, but that was the Old Testament. We, ladies, we are now made kings and priests unto our God. In Revelation, it tells us that. We have come into this place. What a privilege! God now says to us because we are His priests, “My sons, my daughters, the Lord hath chosen you to burn incense.” He’s chosen us for this time.

I reminded you last week, and I want to remind you again, don’t let this go. Don’t let that time of each morning and each evening that you gather your families together to meet with the Lord, don’t let it go, because this is God’s heart. V. 8 says because they had let it go, back when Hezekiah had come to the throne, “Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem” because of that.

Now we go over to v. 27, and we see that Hezekiah continues telling them what they should do while they were doing the burnt offerings every morning and every evening, because that was also a morning and evening sacrifice. They slew the lamb as a burnt offering every morning. There was a lamb for the morning and a lamb for the evening. They lit the lamps; they lit the incense.

DON’T FORGET TO WORSHIP

While they were doing all these things, he also organized that certain of the Levites would be praising and worshipping the Lord. All the while this was going on, there was also worship unto the Lord.

It’s so important in our times, whatever you call this in your home—family worship time, family Bible time, family prayer time. We call it family devotions . . . whatever you call it . . . that we also include worship to the Lord. We will usually sing a hymn or a worship song to the Lord.

But here in v. 27, it says: “And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. And all the congregation worshipped” (not some of them. Not just those who felt like it. No, all the congregation because when this was happening in the Holy Place, in the outer court the people would come. In the outer court, all the people would be worshipping, “and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished . . . Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.”

When we come to the Lord each morning and evening, it’s also important that we worship Him, that we bow before Him, and show our homage to the One Who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

GOD WANTS ORDER IN HIS HOUSE

Then we go over to the end of the chapter. Verse 35: “And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So,” this is the part I wanted to read. “So, the service of the house of the LORD was set in order.”

I love those three words: “Set in order.” Hezekiah made sure that everything was set into order.

Some translations translate it this way: “So the service of the Lord was restored.”

Others translate it, “re-established.”

Others translate it, “reinstated.” Sometimes you have, maybe in your home, you’ve had this time of family worship and Bible and prayer time. But, oh goodness me, things have happened, and the busyness of life, and you’ve let it go.

Dear mother, can I encourage you . . .

To re-establish it!

To reinstate it!

To get it going again!

And to set your home in order, because this is the foundation of making our homes a house of the Lord.

I think of that Scripture in Isaiah 9:7, talking about Jesus, a prophetic promise of Christ, the Messiah. “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it.” Once again, a phrase of three words, “to order it.” “. . . And to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

We read how God wants to order His kingdom. It’s not haphazard. He doesn’t just let things happen. “Oh well, we’ll see how this works out.” No, He orders His kingdom. We also have to order our homes, because our homes are little types of His great kingdom. We’re seeking to establish them on the principles of God’s kingdom. We need to set our homes in order on these things that God has asked us to do, morning and evening. And that’s to come into His presence, be refilled with fresh oil, to spend time praying in His presence, to refuel our lives with His precious Word.

Now I want to take you to another passage back in Deuteronomy 6. This is a passage you all know. But we’re going to it again because I think we need to be reminded. Dear ladies, we can think we know things, but are we doing them? This is the amazing thing about Deuteronomy. A great exercise is to say, “OK, I’m going to read the book of Deuteronomy.” And read it through. In fact, you could have a notebook and pencil, or pen (that would be better) beside you. Write down every single Scripture where it says, “to do.”

Because over and over again, God is saying, “I give you these commandments, to keep them, and to do them.” To do. Those words come over and over and over. Actually, I myself, I haven’t taken time yet to count how many times those words “to do” are in the book of Deuteronomy. But maybe you could do that for yourself. It would be a fun thing to do as you’re reading through.

Let’s go to this very amazing and famous passage in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Now, notice, lovely ladies, that this injunction to us as parents, specifically to parents, to fathers and mothers, starts off with the HEART.

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.” We’re talking about our hearts and our homes. We’re talking about the importance of meeting together as a family, morning and evening, to meet with God. But, dear ladies, oftentimes that can happen out of doing it ritually, or religiously, or just because, “Oh well, this is what we’re meant to do.” If it’s not coming from our hearts, it’s not really going to bless our children.

There are children who have been brought up in homes where family devotions have been a habit in the home. But they haven’t come forth with a great memory and delight of it because it was done as a ritual. There wasn’t the heart. Children will see if it’s in our hearts, if, “Oh, we’re doing this because we love God! We love His Word!”

In fact, I was just reading a passage recently where the writer said, “Do you love God?” Well, that’s a question we can ask you. “Do you love God?” Well then, the next question is, “Do you love the Bible?” Because if we love God, we’ll love His Word! Many people say, “Oh, I love God!” But they hardly ever open His Word! That’s just hypocrisy! If we love God, we’ll love His Word.

If you love someone, you want to be with them. You just love being with them. You want to hang around with them. You want to talk with them. You want to hear what they’re going to say. You want to talk with them. If we love God, we’ll want to hear what He’s going to say from His Word. We’ll love His Word!

If that is the attitude you have when you’re bringing your children together, “Children! It’s time for us to get together for the reading of God’s Word! Can you believe it? We’re actually going to hear God speak to us! Isn’t this amazing? OK, all open your ears! Open your eyes! Open your hearts! See if you can hear God speak to you.” If you encourage your children to have this attitude, they will learn to hear the voice of God, because when you open your spiritual eyes and ears and heart, you will hear God speak to you. But that’s the attitude we must have. It must come from the heart.

In fact, this morning, when we started off our family devotions, we sang that beautiful hymn, “Open My Eyes.” I wonder if you know it. I wish my husband was here so he could sing it to you. I won’t sing it. Oh goodness me, you’d turn off the podcast if I started singing! Well, I sing, of course. I love to sing with other people, but I don’t really like other people hearing me sing on my own, because I can go out of tune unfortunately.

I can’t believe that I have a husband who can sing perfect pitch. Serene and Pearl, who were singers, they were signed by a record company. They sing in perfect pitch. I don’t know how they ever survived, because their mother, I would sing to them, as little babies. I’d sing lullabies and sing to them. I was probably singing out of tune, and yet somehow, they can still stay in pitch. Isn’t that amazing?

I’ll read the words to you, shall I?

Open my eyes that I may see,

Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;

Place in my hands the wonderful key

That shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for Thee,

Ready, my God, Thy will to see;

Open my eyes, illumine me,

Spirit Divine!

Open my ears that I may hear,.

Voices of truth Thou sendest clear;

And while the wave notes fall on my ear,

Everything false will disappear.

I love that line: “Everything false will disappear.” The more the Word is spoken forth into the ears of your children, the more falseness will disappear from their lives, and all the deceptions that are all around them.

Silently now I wait for Thee,

Ready, my God, Thy will to see;

Open my ears, illumine me,

Spirit Divine!

Then it goes on:

Open my mind, that I may read . . .  

Every part of our being opening to hear the Voice of the Lord.

Because we love Him with all our hearts! “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart.” You see it? There it is again. “In thy heart.” Oh yes, we’ve got to get the Word of God into our minds, but we’ve also got to get it into our hearts.

We’ve got to open our hearts. Is that what you do? It’s what I do when I come to read the Word personally. I open my heart. I say, “Lord, I want to hear it in my heart!” When my husband is reading the Word each morning and evening, and I’m listening now, I’ll be saying in my head, “Lord, I want to hear in my heart!”

Teach your children to hear with their hearts because then it will be real. Then it will be exciting. Then it will be rich. “And thou shalt teach them diligently.” And you’ll be doing that with your heart. “Teach thy children diligently. Thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house.” Do you notice again, it’s our hearts and our homes?

Our hearts have got to be so open. It happens in our homes. Yes, God says, “This is where I want you to get it into your children, in your homes. When you sit in your home, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down in the evening. And when you rise up in the morning.”

I’d like to read to you Matthew Henry’s commentary on this Scripture. Matthew Henry, have you heard of him? He was a great commentator of the Bible. He actually was born in 1662, so that’s a long time ago. But his Bible commentary is still around. It’s a wonderful, beautiful meditative commentary of the Word of God.

It’s amazing, actually, what Matthew Henry did in his lifetime. He was born prematurely. Way back then, in 1662, it was very fortunate if you lived when you were born prematurely. They didn’t think that he would live at all, so they baptized him the next day after he was born. That’s what they did back then.

He was a sickly child. All his life, always having fevers. Although he was in poor health physically, he was very gifted intellectually. At three years old, he could read out loud chapters of the Bible. As a young child, and even at nine years of age, he could read Latin, and also Greek.

In fact, this is a sentence from a letter he wrote to his father at nine years of age. Now, do you have a nine-year-old? I wonder if they would be writing like this. He’s commentating on a Scripture. “By this providence, we may see that sin is the worst of evils. For sickness came with sin. Christ is the chief good. Therefore, let us love Him. Sin is the worst of evils. Therefore, let us hate that with a perfect hatred.” That’s from a child of nine years of age!

Matthew Henry writes on this Scripture here: “Frequently, repeat these things to your children. Try all ways of instilling them into their minds and making them pierce into their hearts. As in working a knife, it is turned first on this side, and then on that.”

Are you familiar with whetting a knife? I can remember, growing up, watching my father whet the knife to sharpen it up. He would get out his steel and he would put the knife to one side and then the other. He was very adept at doing it. Very soon, he would have this wonderful sharp knife ready to cut the meat. Well, I wish my father was still around because all the knives in my house are so blunt!

Matthew Henry goes on and quotes, “Be careful and exact in teaching thy children. Aim, as by whetting, to sharpen them, and put an edge upon them. Teach them to thy children, not only those of thine own body, but all those that are anyway under thy care and tuition.”

If we go to the Amplified Classic Translation of the Bible, we will see this very same understanding. The interesting thing is, Matthew Henry wrote this away back in 1600 and something, because he was born in 1662, whereas the Amplified Classic was printed in 1965! Wow! That’s over 300 years later.

And yet, it’s saying the same thing. Obviously, they have both gone back to the Hebrew to get to the original meaning. “You shall whet and sharpen them, so as to make them penetrate and teach and impress them diligently upon the minds and hearts of your children.” That is the real, original meaning of teaching our children diligently. It’s like getting out that steel and getting the knife and sharpening it. First one edge, and then the other.

We’ve got to make our children sharp. Sharp with the Word of God. They’ve got to have an edge upon them. It’s got to penetrate into them. They’ve got to know this Word. How much of the Word do your children know? I know you know Deuteronomy 6. You’ve heard it so many times, especially if you’re a homeschooling mom. But dear ladies, are our children sharpened? Truly sharpened with the Word?

Often, when my husband is reading the Word at our family devotions, he will stop halfway through a Scripture. He will say, “Who can finish it?” If our children are sharp with the Word, they’ll be able to finish that Scripture. But I find that many times most adults can’t even finish the Scripture, let alone children! Dear ladies, we have to get our children sharpened in the Word of God. Amen?

And then it goes on. Deuteronomy 6:8: “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.” The word “to bind” in the Hebrew is qashar. It means, “to tie, tie in a knot, to bind.” We’ve got the Scriptures. This can be taken physically, but it was also written figuratively so that, “OK, we bind the words of God upon our hands and between our eyes.” But they should be bound so that they’re a part of us, like tying in a knot. They’re so knotted to us that we just can’t forget them.

We take that Scripture figuratively, although, of course, the Jews themselves have taken it literally. They do that. They actually wear them on their arms. They write these Scriptures, these specific Scriptures. The Scriptures they write are actually Exodus 13:1-10 and 11-16; also, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11, 13-21. Those Scriptures are written out on parchment, then rolled up, and put in a little box; then on the arm, the little boxes there on the wrist. They have leather going around the arm, so it’s totally bound to the arm.

Then they have this little box right between their eyes, on their forehead. They have something that ties it around their head, because it says, “they are to be as frontlets between thine eyes.” Well, figuratively, we do not have to put all these things on our hands, and on our foreheads. I guess there’s nothing wrong with doing that, of course.

But what God really, really wants is that they are there before our eyes, that the Word of God is really up front. It’s up front. When we need to know what truth on a certain subject is, well, we’ve got the Word. It’s up front. It’s not way, way, way, way, way back, where we haven’t even got it. No, we’ve got it up front, in our minds.

Then we’ve got it on our hands because we are to do it. We don’t just know it in our minds, but we are to do it. Like I suggested, read through Deuteronomy. See how many times you can find the words, “do it.” Count over and over again how many times God says, “Do it!” Like the last verse of this chapter: “And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He hath commanded us.”

God has given us this picture. “OK, get it right there, up front!” Children, any children listening? Why don’t you say this word with me? “Frontlets.” Frontlets. Yes, it just means to have the Word of God right up front in your mind, before your eyes, and then, on our hands, so we’ll do it!

What I want to take you to now, ladies, is right over to Revelation. See, the wonderful thing about the Word of God is that the Old Testament and the New Testament all tie together. What God says in the Old, you will find a counterpart in the New. We go over right to the last book, to Revelation.

NEVER TAKE THE MARK

Let’s go to Revelation 14:9. Here John is writing about what is going to happen in the end times. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” Wow! Very powerful Scripture.

We all know, of course, that we must never, ever take the mark of the beast. We must penetrate those words into our children’s lives that they will never be tempted to take the mark of the beast, even if they have to be martyred. We read in Revelation how so many people went up into Heaven, but they went up, well, many of them without their heads. They were martyred. We read about the martyrs in heaven who did not take the mark of the beast.

Let’s go over to Revelation 20:4. John is still seeing things in the heavenlies, and what is going to happen in the time to come. “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

Let’s go to Revelation 22:4. Here it talks about those again who did not take the mark. “And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.” Instead of the mark of the beast, they had the Name of God in their foreheads.

But do you notice something, dear ladies? Did you notice that there, in Deuteronomy 6, it tells us we’ve got to have the Word in our foreheads and on our hands? The Word of God. Our minds should be stamped with the Word of God and His truths. Our hands are stamped with the Word of God because we’re not just being like that person in James, who read the Word, but took no notice. But he was also a doer of the Word.

Now we’re reading Revelation. It’s so interesting that the forehead and the hands are where they want to put the mark. Now, ladies, dear mothers, we have got a mandate from God. We have got to get the Word of God, the Word of truth, so penetrated into our children’s hearts and coming out their mouths, as Isaiah 59:21 says so that when they face the time in the future (will it be our generation, or will it be their generation? Whose generation will it be? We have to prepare every generation so that they will not take the mark).

I know that there are people, even children growing up in our families, if they do not have the Word in their hearts, in their minds, and in their hands and that they are doing it already and it’s the practice of their lives . . . they will be tempted, tempted to take that mark, because it will not be easy not to take it. Many will be martyred because they will not take it . . . persecuted, suffering.

I believe that even when this whole plandemic came, it was like “OK, if you didn’t wear a mask, and you didn’t get vaccinated, well, you couldn’t do this, and you couldn’t do that.” Many shops you couldn’t even go into! There were many shops that you could not go into unless you wore a mask. There were many shops I never went into during that time. But there were many who caved in because of convenience. There were many who were vaccinated because they said, “Oh, well, I’ll lose my job!” Well, instead, they lost their lives. Many have died already.

You see, it will not be easy. It will be tough, but we have to prepare our children. But how are we prepared? They’ve got to get the Word. It’s got to be penetrated into their minds, and on their hands, so they are doing it. It is part of their lives. Amen? Do you see that connection, ladies? I believe that is so powerful.

Let me give you one more Scripture. Revelation 15:2. Here John is seeing another vision, and he says: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God” in their hand, and praising God. Yes, because they had the Word, which gave them courage to stand against taking that mark. Amen!

We also have another picture in the Word of God, about the high priest. Exodus 28, where God said they had to make this plate of pure gold. On it was written, “Holiness unto the Lord.” Then they had to attach it to this turban that he wore on his head. So, right on his forehead, on his forehead, once again, were the words, “Holiness unto the Lord.” The forehead is very significant.

In fact, remember, how did David kill Goliath? He got that stone off that sling, and it went right into Goliath’s forehead and wiped him out. Yes, the forehead will be our protection, or it can be our total undermining. Do you remember King Uzziah? A wonderful king. He was blessed of the Lord. But as he continued in his kingship, he was so blessed that he got a bit too high and mighty.

He went into the Holy Place where he was not allowed. Only the priests were allowed. He said, “Oh, I can go in there!” He went in. The high priest, plus 80 other priests, went running in to try to drag him out, because they thought, “What will happen because he is violating the Word of God?” Well, something did happen. God struck him with leprosy. Where? Right on his forehead. That’s where it was struck. Wow! So, we’ve got to have the Word in our forehead, between our eyes.

One little thought as we’re closing. Back in Deuteronomy 6:9, where it says: “And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” Well, once again, that’s just surrounding our whole home with the Word of God and with His truth. They literally wrote them on their posts and on their doors.

You can do that too, if you want to do that. It’s a wonderful thing to have the Word of God on your walls, and on your doors, and on your posts. But the main thing is that we have them in our hearts and in our minds. They’re right on our foreheads.

I must tell you, before we moved out here, we lived in Franklin. We had neighbors, who when you go into their home to visit them, and you come out . . .  I loved coming out because right over their gate, written in big letters, it was beautiful, they had this Scripture: “Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.” It was a beautiful thing to have over their gate.

Earlier this year, we were in Scotland, and we were blessed to have this holiday with Serene and Sam and Daniel and Allison. We, of course, being Campbells as we are, we went to visit Castle Campbell. That’s a little north of Edinburgh. Colin and I have been there many times. That was the summer castle of the Campbells.

Then we went up to Argyle and visited Inverary Castle. That is the present, well, it was the biggest castle of the Campbells. It’s still owned by them. The 14^th Duke of Argyle still lives in that castle. But it’s open to the public every day. It was great to see that.

But then we went to another place. Sam said, “Oh, we’ve got to stay in a castle one night!” So, we went to this castle called Stonefield Castle. We found out it was also owned by the Campbells. We were feeling pretty cool going to all these Campbell castles. This Stonefield Castle, as you came up to the entrance, on one side they had this big plaque, which said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.” On the other side, they had, “And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” I thought that was really great to do that.

I have a few other thoughts, but I think time has gone. I don’t know where time goes. Let’s pray.

“Dear Father, I pray Your blessing on everyone, and mothers and daughters listening. I pray that Your Word will go into their hearts. I pray they will go into my heart. Lord God, we don’t want to be those who are shallow in Your Word. We want to be those, Lord, who are sharpened, and that we have an edge about us. Your words are penetrating deep into our lives.

“Oh, God, I pray that You will strengthen and prepare every family, Lord God, that each family will be a family of truth, and a family of Your Word. I pray that You will help us all, as we prepare personally, and Lord, our generations, for we do not know yet which generation You will come. We do not know yet which generation. It could be soon; it could be a little later. We don’t know yet, but we must be prepared.

“Lord, I pray that You will help us to be faithful as mothers, to prepare our children, and children’s children to be those who will never, ever, ever take the mark of the beast, no matter what they have to face. No matter if they have to face martyrdom. Lord God, we pray that Your Word will be so strong it in them. It will be in their hearts and in their foreheads, and Lord, it will be on their hands as they work it out in their lives. We ask this in Jesus’ Name.

“Lord God, I pray especially, Lord, for a whole new revival of families who are strong in the Word of God. Lord, too many Christian families are shallow. They don’t truly know Your Word. Lord, help us to be those who know Your Word. We know what You say about every subject. Lord, we must have a biblical worldview and understanding on everything, Lord, You’ve put in this universe, because it all comes from You.

“Lord God, you’ve put Your stamp upon us. We pray that You will help us to be truly homes of the Lord. Oh God, that we have hearts that are so passionate for You, and Lord, that our children’s hearts will become passionate for You as we establish homes of the Lord. We order them according to Your plan, and Your Word. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

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.