LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 398: WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 7

This is not just about money, but every aspect of our lives. In what other ways does God want us to be generous? Let's find out. 

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to the Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies, a magazine bringing strength and encouragement to families across the world.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! We are continuing our series of “Welcome to the Land of More and More.” We are up to point . . .

No. 15. MORE GENEROSITY

Everything we read about in the Word, it seems that we are encouraged to have MORE AND MORE of it.

Generous with our finance!

Don’t you love this story of Jesus watching the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box? There came this poor widow who dropped in two small coins. And what did Jesus say? “Of a truth, I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God, but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had” (Luke 21:3, 4).

Well, to most people it seems so insignificant. But Jesus knew that she had given more than all those who put loads of money in the collection box. “More than.” Oh, that’s a great challenge, isn’t it? I wonder, have you ever been tempted like me, or perhaps you haven’t. But often, I hear of a wonderful, great organization doing great things for God, and there are so many of them.

When I open my mail (my mail piles up), I’ll open it up and it’s all these great organizations. They’re all doing wonderful things for the kingdom of God. But there are so many of them! And I think, “Oh, how can I help them all?” I read about this one and I think, “Oh, goodness me, one day, when I’ve got more money, ‘when the ship comes in’”! Well, that’s a little fun phrase that we have in our family. My husband’s always saying, “When the ship comes in.” Well, he’s been saying it for so many years, and the ship hasn’t come in yet! But he still is such a . . . what would I call him . . . such a positive person. I like to call him “Mr. Micawber.” He was one of Charles Dickens’ characters, who was always believing that something good was going to turn up!

But anyway, I think, “Well, when this ship comes in, I can give so much money to these people to help them. They’re doing such a great work for God.” Then I get challenged when I think, “Wow! Do I have to wait until the money comes in?” I read this passage in 2 Corinthians 8. It’s talking there about the believers in Macedonia.

I’m reading now from the New Living Translation: “That in a great trial of affliction and deep poverty, for I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. They did it of their own free will.”

The Passion Translation says: “For even during a season of severe difficulty, tremendous suffering, and extreme poverty, their superabundant joy overflowed into an act of extravagant generosity. For I can verify that they spontaneously gave, not only according to their means, but far beyond what they could afford.”

Wow! That’s very challenging, isn’t it? Often, when I challenge you, lovely moms, I’m also challenging myself.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7: “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

I’ve always had this premise with Above Rubies which I have now been doing for over 48 years, that we must sow BOUNTIFULLY. If we sow sparingly, well, we’ll reap a little harvest. If we sow bountifully, the Bible says we will reap a bountiful harvest. So, many people say, “Why don’t you make Above Rubies a subscription magazine so people will pay for it? Then you’ll get your money.” Because I’m always waiting and trusting the Lord for the finances.

And God has been so faithful. Here I am, 48 years down the track and still printing, although I do have to confess that this time, this printing has been a greater challenge. When I went to print, I had money in the bank, but when the magazine was printed, and I had to send it out, shipping had gone up so much that I ended up paying out $61,000 just to ship the magazine out! Can you believe it?

So then, I was without money for the printing. Here, the printers are waiting. The Lord is good, and now I’ve been able to pay half the printing. But I’m still waiting on paying the last $26,000 for the printing. So, pray with me about that, won’t you? If the Lord touches your heart, and maybe you've been receiving Above Rubies freely for years, if you haven’t yet given, you may like to give so we can get this printing paid.* Then I’ll be believing God for the money for the next magazine.

But this is my vision, to give it freely, because if I do make a subscription, all the people who believe in it will get it. But that’s not my vision. I want to give it out to the people who don’t believe it, who don’t yet know God’s heart for them as a mother and a wife. They don’t know God’s heart for family. I want to share the truth with them. So, I give it freely.

Now, some people say the magazine is free. Well, it’s given freely, although it’s not actually free because I do have to pay for it! And I’m still seeking for the finance to pay this huge bill. Some people say, “Oh, it’s just arrived. Praise the Lord. It’s such a blessing!” And I pray if you feel like that, that it arrived from Heaven, with the Lord’s heart and word to you to encourage you. And I give it freely. I will never stop giving it freely.

You are welcome to ask for as many magazines as you want and I will give them to you, so you can give them out to people. I have some people who get up to 200 magazines at a time, when the magazine comes out lots of people get 100 magazines. Many of those people have never paid a cent. I give them freely. And then I trust the Lord that He will touch those who have a vision to encourage and to strengthen families in the nation. And they will give out of whatever they have.

I know most of us, most of you, as families, you're just kind of surviving from week to week, hand to mouth. That’s how we’ve aways lived. But God is faithful, isn’t He? We don’t starve. Here we are. It’s just amazing. We’re still eating and God is so good.

But then, there are some out there who do have money. Well, I think at this time, I need to pray for some of them for some big donations. I love the little ones, because they’re such a blessing. But sometimes we need big ones too.

Anyway, that’s always been my vision for Above Rubies, to give it freely, because I want a bountiful harvest of the strengthening of families and families coming to see the blessing of children and opening their hearts to children. And mothers coming home from their careers, which they’re not going to take into Heaven with them. They’re going to be left behind! The career of motherhood we’ll take into eternity with us! And our children who we bring into His kingdom. What a harvest that will be! Amen?

Well, let’s look at some more Scriptures.

Exodus 36:5. This tells us how the Israelites were bringing finance into the temple for the service of the Lord. It says here that they brought “much more than enough for the service of the work.” Isn’t that incredible? Yes. And it was so much so that the people had to be restrained from bringing it in! Wow! Isn’t that a great problem?

I pray, oh, it would be so wonderful that I didn’t have to keep asking the Lord for this money to come to pay for this magazine. And then I’ve got to wait to get in money for the next magazine. And for the last couple of years I have been putting out one a year when my vision is four a year. I can get out four a year immediately if the money comes pouring in. As soon as the money comes in for a magazine, I’m ready to go to print. I can go to print the moment that money comes in and get another magazine out into the nation, into the world, to bring God’s truth.

Oh, will you help me with this? Because I believe it is so close to the heart of God. It’s God who ordains marriage and family. This is the way He wants us to live in this world, as families. Family is the heart of God. It’s His plan. But the devil hates it, and he seeks to destroy marriages and destroy families, and pull them apart. That’s the devil’s work.

But God’s work is to strengthen families, to bring His presence and His heavenly atmosphere into families. I want to give this magazine out to every family in the nation, and the nations of the world! Oh, I pray that somehow this will be my testimony, that somehow more than is needed will come in, so we can put out more magazines instead of just the few that we’re getting out now. Amen and amen! Oh, our God is such a great giver, isn’t He?

I think of these beautiful words:

He might have doled His blossoms out quite grudgingly,

He might have used His sunset gold so sparingly,

He might have put but one wee star in all the sky,

But since He gave so lavishly, why should not I?

I love that. Don’t you? Yes, it makes me think of that Scripture in Matthew 5:45, where Jesus says: “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Our God is such a lavish, giving God. We like to think, “Oh, well, I could give to this person, but, oh, I don’t think that person needs it. They’re not worthy of it.” No, God just pours out His love and pours out His generosity on everyone, on the good and the evil, and the just and the unjust. He is such a giving God.

Proverbs 11:24-25: “There is one that scatters, yet increases more. And there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.” 

Acts 20:35: “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.” So, we need to cultivate this giving attitude. This is not only generous but more generous.

Generous with our lives!

But our giving is not confined just to finance. Giving is far more than that. Giving is giving our lives. In that passage in 2 Corinthians where it was talking about the believers in Macedonia, I just want to go back to that passage and read something here. 2 Corinthians 8:5. It talks about them giving out of their poverty. But they did something else before that.

“And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.” Even before they gave, even out of their poverty, they first gave their own lives to the Lord. Totally, abundantly. “Here it is, God. Here I am. Take all of me.” And so, because they had so abandoned their lives to God, they were able to give, because things didn’t matter to them. Their lives belonged to God.

They gave their lives first to God, and then unto Paul and the others who were working with them, to encourage and bless and minister to them. Yes. So, we first give our own lives to the Lord. I wish I had with me the words to that beautiful hymn, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee.”

Generous with our time!

But in the meantime, let’s think of some other ways that we can show our generosity. We first give our lives to the Lord, of course, and then it’s a giving of our time. Sometimes people give money, but they’re stingy with their time. All their time is for everything for themselves.

What about for others? To minister to others as Jesus did. What does it say about Jesus? It says: “I did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life” (Mark 10:45). That’s what Jesus did. So, He gave of His life. In doing that, we have to give of our time. It’s so easy, isn’t it, ladies? Very easy just to be taken up with our own life, and our own little family, and our own little home, and our own little visions. That’s everything. We don’t have any time to give to others.

I remember way back in the early days of my mothering. We were living in New Zealand at this time. I was just walking over the doorstep of my home, carrying a box of groceries. I’d just come back from the city. And God spoke to me. I’ll never forget it. I heard His words so clearly in my mind. “Nancy, how can I reveal to you the needs of others if you are always thinking about yourself?”

I’ve never forgotten those words. You see, we have to give room in our minds, and in our hearts for others. If it’s all taken up with ourselves, God can’t even get in and say, “Hey! This person has a need. I want you to pray for this person. I want you to do this and that for this person. I want you to help that person.” We’ve got to give room in our hearts. We’ve got to give room in our minds, and room in our ears, I would say, to even hear God speaking to us, to tell us about the needs of others. And then we need to give time.

I would like to share a little testimony that I just noticed in the last two days. We had in our midst a precious family, a beautiful mother of seven children living without her husband. Her seventh child is suffering. This little darling baby was born eight years ago. She’s eight years now. She was born with a very, very rare disease where one side of her body grows these big tumors. The other side is normal. A very rare disease. The medical profession didn’t give much hope for her for very many years to live.

But this darling girl, her name is Gracie, has faced even more than that. At four years of age, she was diagnosed with a terrible cancer as well. It was stage four when they found it. For these last four years, she has been mostly in hospital. In and out, mostly in.

The medical profession says there is now absolutely nothing left for them to do. They have tried everything. She is now totally at the mercy of God. I’d love you to pray with us for her. We are believing. We believe God. Will you come in faith with us to believe for a miracle for darling Gracie? A miracle. **

But I’ve noticed, as we’ve been visiting her in the last week or so, I’ve observed how others have come along too. I noticed one family. This beautiful mother, Nicola, is from the Carolinas. When she heard this diagnosis, she dropped everything. With her family, she came all the way to Tennessee. She’s been staying with Nadia, helping her.

Then, I think of another family, beautiful Shavonna Shaw, and her whole family. She lives quite a long way away. Goodness me, I think for her to get to Nadia’s place would be two hours or more. But in the last few days, Shavonna, with 11 or 12 children of her own, and two little wee ones, has come every day, to bring the food for them. She’s put aside even the needs of her own family to pour out her heart to Nadia.

It’s so beautiful to see. That’s generosity. That’s beyond finance. But that’s real giving, giving your life, giving your time, giving your food. Just giving your support, giving your comfort. Oh, it’s so beautiful to see. How God must love that.

Generous with our prayers!

So, we also give generously of our prayers. Do you know, ladies, it’s very easy to be stingy in prayer isn’t it? I find that, really, the majority of Christians today are actually stingy in prayer. How much time do they give of their lives to pray for those in need? How much time of every day do they give? Some give nothing. Some may give five minutes. Are we generous in prayer? Yes, it takes a generosity of your life, because you've got to once again give time of your life when you could be doing something for yourself but instead to give, to pray for others.

What did Jesus say when He was there in the Garden of Gethsemane? He said to His disciples, “Can you not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). Only one hour? That’s a challenge Jesus gives: “Can you not watch with Me one hour?” To pray for the needy? Can we be generous in prayer rather than stingy? When you think of, oh, the needs that are around you? Not only around us but across the world? And the suffering, persecuted church? All across the world. My, how we need to be generous in prayer.

Generous with encouragement to our husbands!

What about generously giving words of love and encouragement so that it becomes part of our lives to be generous with encouragement. Saying good things to bless people. Of course, it starts with your husband, doesn’t it? How generous are you in the way you speak to your husband? Do you generously say beautiful and loving and wonderful things to him? Not just “I love you.” I know. How about more than that? How generous are you with your words to him? Ladies, let’s become generous people. We can become so blasé in a marriage, and think, “Oh yes, we love one another. We get on great.” But is that all? No. We have to be generous, extravagant!

Generous with Intimacy!

What about generosity even in our intimacy with our husbands? What does the Bible say?

1 Corinthians 7:3-4: “Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence.” A very archaic King James way of saying it, isn’t it? “And likewise, also the wife . . . hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise, also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other.”

But I think it’s far more, far more than just “defraud not one the other.” Oh, a wife can be, “Oh yes, I am always available to my husband.” She’s not defrauding. But is that just the norm? Does she go beyond the norm? Is she generous? HOW generous? Let’s get into a whole new way of thinking, a way of living, a generous way.

Generous with encouragement to our children!

So, what about our children? Do you lavishly pour out encouragement upon them? Always affirming the good things in their lives? For the little things they do. Even when they do a chore, do you just expect them to do it, or do you thank them for doing it? Did you know that “A word of encouragement does wonders?”

One of my favorite Scriptures is Proverbs 12:25 in The Living Bible. Hear it again: “A word of encouragement does wonders.” It does miracles! It changes people’s lives. But wow! Actually, you see that in this beautiful story of Theo of Golden, which I have just read, about this old man, and how he affected the lives of the people in this little town of Golden. It was all through the things he spoke into their lives. We can be life-changers to our children and to the people around us.

So, lovely ladies, we’re talking about this “more and more” lifestyle. Are you just on the boring, status quo, just minimum lifestyle? Or are you moving into the kingdom of God lifestyle which is a more and more? It’s a GIVING MORE AND MORE, even in the basic things of life.

Generous with smiling!

What about giving smiles? How often do you smile at your husband? Do you just look at him and smile at him sometimes? Doing nothing else but just smiling at him. Not with your mouth, but with your eyes, with your whole face, letting him know that you are totally and absolutely and adoringly in love with him?

What about your children? Do you smile at them or are you mostly frowning at them? Well, that’s not hard to do when they’re always doing crazy things and driving you crazy. But dear mothers, if you can get into the habit of smiling when you look at them, it’s going to change their behavior!

Yes, because just as the Word of God says: “As we behold the Lord, we’re changed into His image” (2 Corinthians 3:8). Who do your children look at all day? Mostly you. You’re the one who’s there in the home. They’re looking at you. They’re going to be changed into your image. If you're a frowning mother, well, expect frowning, grizzling children! If you're a smiling mother, expect smiling, happy children!

Generous in thanking people!

Be generous in your smiles. Be generous in thanking people. As I said before, even thanking your children. They did their chores? “Oh, thank you, Bobby! You did that so well! My, you're a great worker. I’m just so proud of you!” You just speak these things into your children. You thank them.

What about when people do things for you? Even open the door to go through. “Oh, thank you.” Or “Thank you so much!” We can say “thank you.” Most people say, “thank you.” They’re being trained to say, “thank you.” But you can say “thank you,” and it doesn’t really mean a lot, because it just sounds, well, it’s just like a cliché.

Or you can let people know you really are thankful. “Oh, thank you so much! It’s so wonderful of you! Thank you!” Do you ever thank them like that? Does the person you're thanking really know how thankful you are?

I love this story. I was telling you before about Nadia and her children and about her precious little Gracie who we are praying for a miracle for at this time. But I met Nadia, well, I met her at an Above Rubies retreat when she was just starting her family many, many years ago. Jeremiah, goodness, how old is he now? 19 or something.

But then again, I remember the first time they came to our home. The children were still young. I was meeting her children as children for the first time because she lived away up in Canada. But now she was here visiting in Tennessee. And her eldest son, he was just a young boy. He came in the door, and he put out his hand to me, and he said, “I am Jeremiah Mutana, and I am so pleased to meet you!” He took my hand with a good, great handshake. Wow, was I impressed! He had been trained well.

But while they were staying with us, they got to know the Johnsons and their children. There’s something about the Johnson children. As they were growing up, I don’t know, I think it’s because Evangeline, their mother, is the most bubbly, outgoing, effervescent, over-the-top personality that you could ever meet.

I just learned a new word the other day. It’s the word “ebullient.” E-B-U-L-L-I-E-N-T. Look it up in the dictionary because when I looked it up in the dictionary, I just said, “Evangeline.” It was exactly her personality. So, of course, when she says, “thank you,” she doesn’t say, “oh, thank you.” She says, “THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!”

And all the children got into this habit. At Christmas time, birthday time, any time anybody would do anything for them, or give anything to them, they would say, “THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!” Well, Nadia and her family just couldn’t get over it. They thought it was such fun, so they started to say it too, “THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!” We will still say it together to this day. But I remember when they were going. As they were driving out our driveway, they all had their hands out the windows waving and they all yelled out together, “THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!”

Well, of course, I was really blessed. I knew they were thankful. But there’s something about being over the top, being generous! Generous with our words, generous with our “thank you’s,” generous with serving, generous with going the second mile. Oooh, not many of us like to do that do we? We just like to stay in our little, lovely environment. But I’m always challenged.

Generous with going the second mile!

Now, ladies, when I read this Scripture to you, help! I’m reading it more to myself, because I’m challenged too. I’m always challenged by the Scriptures. I get challenged every day when I read the Scriptures. That’s why we need to read them, isn’t it? We keep getting challenged. The Word of God keeps us on our toes. Or we’re just getting below, and below, and below.

Anyway, here Jesus is speaking, and He says: “And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat. let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him two miles. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” It’s that second mile. “OK, I’ll do more than you asked.”

Oh, wow. That is a challenge, isn’t it? But may God help us, even little by little, to come into a more generous lifestyle. Yes, in giving financially, but that’s only one little, tiny part. There are so many areas of our life where we can be a generously giving person. And we will change the world.

“Dear Father, how we thank You for Your Word, that opens up whole new vistas of how You want us to live. We live so much below what You have for us. What is the atmosphere of Your kingdom, Lord? Yes, we think of that Scripture in Romans 14:23 where it says that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

 

“And Lord, we pray, as we talked about generosity today, we pray that You will work in our hearts and take away our stingy spirits and our selfish motives. Make us people who are so generous in every way. We ask it in Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

* Praise the Lord, this bill has now been paid. God is so good, and so faithful. I am now trusting God for the finance to come in so I can print the next magazine. I only need $100,000.00 to print and send it out across the world!!!!

** Since this podcast, little Gracie has gone to be with the Lord. You can listen to her story in the podcast or read the transcript:

Podcast 401, THE OVERCOMING LIFE OF GRACIE MUTANA.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 397: WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 6

We talk more about Face-to-Face fellowship and also MORE FRUITFULNESS. We must never be stagnant, always adding to our faith, preparing for an ABUNDANT welcome into the everlasting kingdom rather than being “saved, so as by fire.”

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to the Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies, a magazine bringing strength and encouragement to families across the world.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We are continuing our series about the “more and more” land. And we are up to the point, MORE AND MORE FACE-TO-FACE FELLOWSHIP. I have one or two more Scriptures to share with you about that. When Paul was writing to the Corinthians, he tells them about Titus, and he says: “His inward affection is more abundant towards you.”

In this point, we’re sharing of how Paul was continually writing to the new believers and telling them how he longed to see their faces more and more. He had such longing for fellowship with them. In Philippians 1:26, he tells them how “Epaphroditus longed after you all.”

Last session we talked about having that longing to have fellowship with the believers. To know that we long for this and we love them is proof that we are born again. As it says in 1 John 3:14: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.”

One thing that I find sad at this time of my life is that, as we’re getting older, some of our dearest friends are passing away. When we hear that, I think, “Oh, if only I had more opportunity to fellowship with them!” You think of lost opportunities. I do believe that sometimes we have to make opportunities to be with the saints and the believers.

Just last week, we heard news of a very, very special friend who passed away. His name was Willi Tata. He was Maori from our land of New Zealand, from the Maori race. And, oh, what a wonderful man he was! Such a wonderful soul. We knew him in New Zealand. We knew him when we lived in Australia. He came and ministered at our church in Australia.

Then we came to the States. They came to the States although we live in Tennessee and they live in California. So, we did see them from time to time. Willie would come and stay with us. He would sing. Oh, he had such an amazing voice. Maori people are wonderful singers, and Willie was just an exceptional singer. How we loved to hear him sing his songs!

So, I was so sad when I heard that Willie had passed. It was such a shock. I didn’t know he’d been sick. I did hear that as he was going to be with the Lord, his whole family, children, and grandchildren, were all around the bedside. All were worshipping. That must have been a beautiful, beautiful sound, because they all loved to sing and worship. There’s nothing like hearing all his family sing together.

They said that Willie opened his eyes and tears were coming down his cheeks. I believe they were tears of joy to see his whole family around his bedside, worshipping the Lord. And like so many of us, they had faced trials and challenges along the way in their lives, but they had always been worshippers.

The one thing is that we know that we will see our beloved friends in heaven, in the new world that is coming, the eternal world. I can just imagine . . . I like to think that I will be able to have hospitality. I do believe that ladies, that we will carry on a lot of what we did in this life. One of my loves is hospitality, gathering the saints together, always thinking of an excuse to have them around. I’m sure that I’ll still do that in the eternal realm.

I think it will be a wonderful thing because I do believe that in our resurrected and glorified bodies, our gifts and the love that we have will be intensified. I can just imagine saying, “Oh, Willie, come over, and bring Mitch,” that’s his beautiful wife. “And the whole family! Come, and we’ll have a meal together. You can come and sing and worship. We’ll invite some others too, and we’ll worship the Lord together.” Because that was their favorite thing in life to do, to worship the Lord together. You walked into their house, and they just began worshipping. Whoever would come in, they would start worshipping too. It was so beautiful. What a hope we have of this wonderful, glorious heaven, this new earth and heavens that one day we will be living in. Isn’t that amazing?

Talking about face-to-face, I have just finished, in fact, I only finished last night reading the book called Theo of Golden. I wonder if you have read it. It seems that many people are reading this book. Beautiful, beautiful story. It was about a man called “Theo” in the book.

In this passage, he was writing to a friend. He says, “I read a lovely homily about faces this morning. The pastor offered the opinion that when we are born, our first instinct, far deeper than intention, is to find a face. Our weak and blurry little eyes, wide open, but not yet trained to see, search for something, someone, with which to bond. I’m inclined to agree with him.

“Do you recall the first time you leaned in close to look at your newborn daughter? Did you have a sense that you and she were both reaching toward each other? Somehow, to speak a language too deep for words? Didn’t it seem that our daughters were trying somehow to recognize and understand our faces when they first looked at us?

“I have a close friend who is an eye doctor, and a man of great depth. He holds firmly to the belief that the most important and formative and effortless thing a parent can do for a baby is to gaze into his or her face. To hold him or her close and engage the eyes. Could anything be simpler? Is anything more profound? Does anything more deeply change parents and child?

“I wonder, if like newborn children, we go though our entire lives, looking for a face, longing for a particular gaze that calms and fills us, that loves and welcomes us, that recognizes and runs to greet us. Is that, perhaps, what this day, Christmas, is all about?” (He was writing on Christmas Day.) “It is an imponderable thought that the Giver of faces, the Face of heaven itself, the Face to which every heart yearns, became a wee babe, misty-eyed and helpless, looking Himself for the tender face of his mother on the night of the angels.”

I thought that was beautiful. How true it is, that the baby, when the baby is born, even though it cannot yet see fully, it is still reaching. It’s reaching for the mother’s face. And that is the first thing the baby sees, is the mother’s face. The face is so important. The face is the mirror of the soul and who we really are.

No wonder it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that “we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” So, I believe we need more and more face-to-face with Jesus. We may not see His face but as we spend time and sit in His presence, we see, by the eye of our spirit, we see more and more of Who He is.

I love those words of that beautiful hymn. I wonder if you know it. This happened to be one of my mother’s favorite hymns.

Face to face with Christ, my Savior,
Face to face, what will it be
When with rapture I behold him,
Jesus Christ who died for me?

Only faintly now I see him
With the darkened veil between,
But a blessed day is coming
When his glory shall be seen.

Face to face, oh, blissful moment!
Face to face, to see and know;
Face to face with my Redeemer,
Jesus Christ who loves me so.

Going back to the baby looking for the mother’s face, I think it’s important to take time to look into our baby’s face, to engage their eyes. When a mother is nursing her baby, oh, it’s so easy (I have been guilty, back in my day of nursing, nursing, nursing, and so many times just reading a book while I’m nursing) and yet, missing out on that engagement.

Today, many mothers will have their iPhone as they’re nursing. They’re scrolling. They’re looking at social media. They’re taken up with their iPhone. Oh yes, they’re nursing their baby, but they are engaging in their iPhone. I don’t even think it’s healthy to have an iPhone next to a baby, apart from the fact that we’re missing out on that engaging of their face to face. There’s something so powerful about it.

Starting at the very beginning of life, I do believe that the engaging of the mother with the baby is a powerful foundation for a person’s life. It’s built on that foundation. Then, as we go through life, we still long for those face-to-face times of fellowship. I was reading those Scriptures to you last session.

Also, of course, it begins in the home with our face-to-face table fellowship, around the table, engaging our children. Oh my, once again, I don’t think you would do this. I don’t really think I have to say it to you, but you would never have iPhones at the table, would you?

Well, I have to admit that sometimes we will bring an iPhone to the table, maybe when we’re having devotions. We always read from the Word, but sometimes we might want to check out a word in the Hebrew and find out what it means, so we might do that. But bringing an iPhone to the table when we are fellowshipping and eating is sacrilege, I believe. We are meant to be having eye-to-eye, face-to-face, table fellowship, not looking at an iPhone at somebody else who’s not even there in our midst.

In fact, I have to say that I have noticed. . .  I’ve sometimes . . .  Sometimes a young person comes to our table. We’re always having people at our table. I see them looking down and I notice they’ve got an iPhone on their lap. Wow! They’re hiding it but they’re looking at it. And I’ve had to say, “Do you mind? We don’t have iPhones at our table. You can put it away.” Because that’s not what we’re there for. Anyway, may you be blessed.

Let’s go on to our next point:

No. 14. MORE FRUITFULNESS

This comes from John 15:2. We read in the first few verses there: “Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit . . . He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit . . . Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”

Did you notice something there, ladies? We see a progression. Jesus is speaking, and He’s talking about bearing fruit. But then, He goes on to say that’s not enough. He wants more fruit. But even that’s not enough. He goes on to say: “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.”

God’s desire for us is that we bring forth much fruit for Him in our lives, yes, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which you all know are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, meekness, self-control, all these beautiful things. He wants more and more of them in our lives.

We see this in another passage, 1 Peter. Let’s go to it here. Actually, it’s 2 Peter 1:5: “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge self-control; and to self-control patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (agape love).”

“For if these things be in you, and abound, (notice the word “abound”) they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 

What a powerful Scripture! Did you get that? So that you will have an entrance “abundantly into the everlasting kingdom.” When we get in, we belong to the kingdom of God now. But the day is coming when we’re going to enter into His eternal kingdom. Oh, what a glorious, glorious day! And we’re going to come into that kingdom with an abundance entrance.

Wow! Abundantly. Amazing. Oh, goodness me. The Word of God is so wonderful. We’re always reading the words “abundant,” “abound,” “abundantly.” Even in our reading this morning as a family, in our family devotions, we started 1 Timothy 1. There was the word “abundance” again. It’s always popping up.

Actually, it reminds me. I was reading as I mentioned to you, the book Theo of Golden. One of the characters in his book was called “Abundance.” Now, that’s a different name for a person, isn’t it? I love names that have a meaning.

I know there are some parents who love to call their names different things like that. I’m not thinking of them now, at the moment. But often, when our readers write in and they share the names of the children, oh, I love reading them. All the wonderful names they use, like “Courage,” things like that.

Here we have “Abundance.” In this book, this person who was called “Abundance” was called “Bun” for short. I thought, “Oh, what fun! It would be a great name for a person and to have a nickname of ‘Bun’ or ‘Bunny’!” But that was just a side point. We’re talking about abundance here. We are, if we are adding to our faith, we are producing more and more fruit, and we are going to have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom.

But then, wow! There’s another Scripture that talks about another way some people will get into the kingdom of God. Yes, they’re going to get in, but shall we read about it? It’s in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. Actually, I’ve just memorized this passage. Amazing passage of Scripture. It says: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble.”

Listen to this, ladies. “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

So, we can get into the glorious, everlasting kingdom with an abundance entrance. We’re welcomed abundantly into this kingdom. Or we’ll get in but saved as though by fire. In other words, it’s a picture of a burning building. The person, or maybe the whole family, is able to get out of the house just in time! They are saved! They are not burnt.

But everything in the home is burnt up. Everything they own, everything they put their lives into, is gone. That’s how some people will get into heaven. Yes, because they are born again, and they believe in Jesus Christ, and they applied the blood of Jesus to their lives, they will get in. But they may only just get in. They don’t bring anything with them because it’s all burned up.

Now it says there, remember, that if we build upon gold, silver, precious stones, these are things that are tried in the fire. This is how they purify gold and silver. It’s brought to a very, very fervent heat. As it is heated, the impurities and all the junk and stuff that comes to the top are taken off. Then they heat it again. Then they take all that stuff that comes to the top, they take it off. Then they heat it again.

In fact, Psalm 12:6 gives us this picture, talking about the Word of God. It says: “The Word of God is very pure; tried in a furnace of fire, and purified seven times.” Isn’t it amazing that this Word that we have has been purified seven times until it is so perfect? We can trust this Word because it’s a Word that’s been tried and purified.

Of course, we know that all of us face trials and things as we go through life. Well, sometimes we think that they’re big trials, when really, in the light of eternity, in the light of eternity, they’re not quite so bad. We think they are.

Then I think of so many believers today being persecuted. Oh, they’re in prison. They’re hungry. They’ve been tormented. Their bodies have been, oh, terrible things have been done to their bodies. They’re in pain. They’re suffering. They are truly going through it.

And here we are, we face our little trials and think we’re going through something really terrible. And yet, we’re facing nothing like them. And yet, they stand true. They will not give up the Name of Jesus. They stand true to His Name. And God is purifying them. They’re coming forth as gold. Oh, my. What crowns they will receive! Yes.

Did you know, dear ladies, I do believe that mothering is one of those things of gold? Most of you who are listening to me today are mothers in your home with your children. Now, it may not be that just because you are a mother because of giving birth that you are gold, because there are mothers who give birth to children, but they just leave them in day cares. They go off to do their own thing, to fulfill their own career.

But I believe when a mother embraces the children that God gives to her, she nurses those precious babies, she gives her life to feed them, and to nurture them, to cook for them every day, to teach them in the ways of God. She sacrificially pours out her life for these children. God sees it. He sees every little effort. And He sees it as gold. It is something that will stand the test of fire.

Motherhood is an eternal career because we are ministering into the lives of our children, who are eternal souls. As we embrace this role, it is a work that will come forth as gold. I think of that Scripture in 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord (there is that word “abounding” again) always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

When you embrace the children God gives you because when He gives you children, He doesn’t give them to somebody else. He gives them to you. You become responsible to not only care for them physically, but to minister into their souls, and to their spirits, and to prepare them for the eternal kingdom.

Yes, for it is not enough to bring children into the world. We must be responsible to lead them to Jesus, to pray over their lives, to let the Word of God become part of their lives so they will be ready to come to salvation, they are ready for the eternal world. We are ultimately preparing our children for eternity.

And dear mother, as you are mothering, can I encourage you to get an eternal perspective? Can you see that you are mothering for eternity? Keep it in your heart. Oh, pray for your children, that they will be prepared and ready to receive Jesus into their lives and be born again. It is one of the greatest things that you must do as a mother, to make sure your children are ready for the eternal kingdom.

But I find that sometimes, even homeschooling children can come through home, and yet not be born again? Oh, this is the most important thing in their lives. So, pray over your children. Watch over them. When you see that softness there to the Lord, talk to them. Say, “Have you yet asked Jesus to come into your life to be your personal Savior?”

If they haven’t, ask if they would like to pray with you. Pray with them. Lead them to Jesus. Oh, yes, lead them to Jesus. Oh, this is work that is gold. This will stand the test of fire. When you stand before the Lord, you’ll be able to present your children before Him. Oh, that is the most wonderful thing that you could ever do.

Let me see. I think it’s in Thessalonians. I’d love to just read it to you. Yes, Paul is writing to the Thessalonians, the new believers. He says to them: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20).

When you stand before the Father, and you present your children to Him because they’ve been born again, and they’re ready for Jesus and to come into the kingdom, they will be your “joy and your crown of rejoicing.” Those are works that will come forth as gold.

What is the hay, wood, and stubble? Hay, wood, stubble, straw are all stuff that are burned up. When we live our lives to fulfill our own desires, just the things of this world, and for the material things, it’s all junk. It’s all just stuff that’s going to pass away. This life is just a vapor. We are here preparing for the eternal world.

So, lovely mothers, be encouraged today. You are doing eternal work. Your work as a mother will come forth as gold. You will have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. Not only yourself but bringing your children with you. Amen? Oh yes, that’s the kind of entrance you want, isn’t it? Yes, let’s be those who bring forth more and more fruit. No, that’s not enough. He wants MUCH FRUIT.

No. 15. MORE GENEROSITY

This is a wonderful point also. We have many Scriptures here of where God is encouraging us, not only to give, but to give generously. So, I think I’ll talk about it next time, because if I start, well, I won’t have time to finish. And it’s not just talking about money, OK? There is so much more where we need to be generous in our lives. So, we’ll find out about that next time.

“Dear Father, we thank You. The kingdom that You have brought us into is a more and more kingdom. Your Word is a more and more word. We just keep reading more of the “more” words in Your Word. And dear Father, I pray that You will help us all to be those who keep on, keep adding to our faith. Never stagnating but always moving on. We ask it in the precious Name of Jesus. For Lord God, we don’t want to be saved so as by fire. We don’t want to get into Your kingdom by the skin of our teeth. Lord God, we long to have an entrance abundantly into Your everlasting kingdom.

“I pray for these dear, precious wives and mothers. Lord God, some may be really feeling overwhelmed today, maybe facing difficulties and challenges. Father, I pray that, Lord, You will help them to know that You are with them. You will never forsake them. You will bring them through. Help them to keep their eyes upon You, I pray. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 396: WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 5

Yes, there is always MORE AND MORE! This session we talk about more enlarging; enlarging our vision and our boundaries. And more face-to-face fellowship with one another. God not only loves us to do this but to do it SO MUCH MORE!

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to the Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies, a magazine bringing strength and encouragement to families across the world.

Nancy Campbell: Good morning to you, ladies! Well, of course, I know it might be evening when you are listening, but it is morning here in Tennessee. This is podcast 396. Wow, we only have four more and we will be up to 400! Well, it’s amazing just how we keep going.

Anyway, we are still on this series of “Welcome to the Land of More and More.” This is the land of the kingdom of God and the land of the Word of God. God wants us to know all that He has given us. Well, we’ll never know all that He has given us. There is just so much. But I do believe that we’ve got to be those who explore and find out all that God has for us, or as much as we can.

I think of when God took Moses up to the mountain before he died. We read about this in Deuteronomy 34. It says: “And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead unto him.”

God was going to be taking Moses. In fact, we don’t even know where Moses is buried. But he went up to the mountain, and he went to be with the Lord. God buried him, because I think God knew that if they knew where Moses was buried, they would maybe have worshipped him and worshipped his grave.

But before this happened, God wanted to show him the land that He had promised him. So, up there, on the top of Pisgah, Moses was able to look out and see all this land. It continues: “And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over there.”

God did not allow Moses to go into the land. God had chosen Joshua to take the people into the land. Moses had fulfilled the task that God had for Him. But He wanted to show Moses, to show it all to him. So, he got a vision, he got a glimpse of it.

God wants you to get a glimpse of all the land that He has given you, of all that He has given you on His table, which is a feast. The Word of God is a feast. There is so much. The table is laden with good things in this kingdom and in Christ. He now dwells within us if we’re born again and have received Him into our lives.

God has given us a land of good things. So often, we just paddle around the shallows. We never get out into the deep. We never even know all that God has for us. But in this series, we are looking into all the Scriptures where it talks about “more,” because this is what the land is all about. It’s not status quo. It’s not normal. It’s not average. It is more. Everything in God is more. Not only more, but so many Scriptures say, “how much more.” So, let’s carry on, shall we?

No. 12. MORE ENLARGING

In 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, it says: “And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”

Now, Jabez was obviously a very interesting guy. He was not content with the status quo. The Bible calls him “more honorable” because he wasn’t content with his status quo. He wanted to enlarge his coast. He had a big vision, a large vision. That’s what God wants us to have, dear ladies. He doesn’t want us to have this little, miserly vision. He wants to give us a big vision, and a big vision of the land that He has given to us.

I love that Scripture in Isaiah 54:2-3. It is an exhortation to Israel, but we can take it personally. The Scriptures are all written to us personally. Many times, they’re written about Israel, or to Israel, or about other people. But every Scripture is still for us. The Bible tells us that everything that was written in the Old Testament was a type. It was a type for us to learn from today. It was written for our learning, for us who are living now.

This Scripture says: “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.”

This is giving God’s people a big vision. Don’t be content with just a little. Have a large vision. Enlarge your vision. Enlarge the place of your tent. Now, back in this time, they were living in tents. Here it’s telling them to enlarge their tents. You know, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes because you've got to get a bigger vision! I think God loves to come alongside those who have a big vision.

I know some of you, maybe even with big families, because this is a vision for a big family; enlarging your coasts, enlarging your vision, enlarging your home so you can fit more in. Some of you, even with large families are living in little houses. It’s amazing how you are managing. God is blessing you. That is so wonderful. But always be open to enlarge.

I do believe that as we trust God for the children that He wants to give us, and He brings them along, God provides for them. I love this Scripture. You can bring it before the Lord and ask Him to give you an even bigger vision.

In Jeremiah 29:6, where the children of Israel are now being taken from their land as captives, and they’re taken to Babylon, in this strange country with strange gods. But God comforts them through the prophet. He says, “While you're there, keep increasing.” Then He says the words: “Do not diminish.” God never wants us to diminish. He always wants us to increase, enlarge, and to have an enlarging vision.

I think back to the story of our lives. We started off, of course, when we were first married, just living in a little apartment. In fact, it was not long after we were married that we went to a Bible school for a few months. During that time we stayed with some people. You wouldn’t believe it. We stayed in a room where they had originally had pigs! It wasn’t really very nice at all.

But anyway, we were young and adventurous and sold out to God. We didn’t care where we lived. After that, we went to the Philippine Islands and lived in some very interesting places there too. Then we came back to New Zealand. We are New Zealanders by birth. We were in an apartment again until we went ahead, and by faith and by loans, we purchased this little house.

We had no money. We didn’t even have a cent! But back then in New Zealand, you could do that. Be paying it off. The bank really owned it. But we had this little house. As the children grew, God helped us to get a bigger house. We kept enlarging, and then, we went to Australia, because we moved. We were in full-time ministry. Colin was pastoring.

Then we went to Australia to plant a new church on the Gold Coast of Australia. There the Lord provided wonderful accommodation for us. We never owned anything there at all, but the Lord was good and provided.

And then, we came to the States eventually. For the first time, we were back in a little apartment again here in Tennessee in Antioch, a suburb of Nashville. It wasn’t really a great neighborhood, but we were there. I remember doing Above Rubies in that little apartment. I had a desk for Above Rubies, and there was about six inches between that desk and our table where we ate and where we opened our table to visitors when we first came here.

We thought, “Oh, the way to get to know people is to show hospitality.” So, in that little apartment we always invited people. Somehow, I managed to keep doing Above Rubies. As I said, about six inches between the desk and the table. In fact, I have never, ever taken Above Rubies out of our home. I’ve been doing it now for over 48 years.

We started it in New Zealand and then moved to Australia and began to get it out across that nation. Then we came here to the States. So, we’re still in the home. I’m still doing it in this little apartment. Then the Lord opened up the church where He wanted us to pastor at that time. It was out a little bit in the country, so we were pastoring there.

This church had an attic at the top. So, we thought, “Wow!” Colin thought, “Let’s make this into an apartment!” He and another guy made this attic into an apartment. Wow! We have such wonderful memories of that place. There was only one little window at the end. Our bedrooms (we made, I think, about three bedrooms in this attic up in this church). We called them “The Caves” because there was no light. Everything was dark until you turned the light on. They were our caves where we went to sleep at night.

But once again, we had wonderful times in that place, showing hospitality. All throughout our lives, we have never stopped showing hospitality, even if we’ve been in a little place. I think when God sees that you want to bless His people, and you want to invite them in, well, I think He wants to provide a bigger place for you.

But anyway, there was something special about this place, and that was, although we lived up in this dark attic and slept in our caves, downstairs, of course was the church sanctuary. And so, we began to use this, not just for our church on Sunday, but for all our functions. We were always having functions and inviting people. Of course, we would open it up downstairs. There was a kitchen downstairs. We could have many people there.

I remember putting on Serene’s 18^th birthday there. It was a wonderful occasion, because back in New Zealand, you come of age when you're 21. You have a very big party. So, we were used to doing that. But when we came here, we found out that OK, 18 is when you come of age here, so we did a big party for her there. Then we had her engagement party there. Then we had her wedding there and the wedding reception there. We put on a wedding for my sister there too.

We were always having different functions. After a while, we thought, “How can we ever, ever live again without a great big room to have so many people?” God was actually good, because we eventually came out here to where we are now, back in 2000. We’ve been here now for 25 years, out in the country. We came out here and purchased land. It was so cheap then. Wow! It’s really gone up now.

We began to build out here. So, of course, we first started with Above Rubies. We were going to do it as a go-down, basement under the earth, and have it under the earth, and get a mobile home. But it was so hard. The dirt was like concrete. They couldn't even dig it! So, we had to build this basement for Above Rubies, our office, our packing room, and our storage, above the ground.

And then, what are we going to do now? Because all we could afford, and get a loan for, was this mobile home. The people we were purchasing it from would have nothing to do with our trying to crane it up on top of this basement we had made for Above Rubies. Colin had to find out himself the engineering for putting all the steel and everything that would be required, to put a mobile home on top. They wiped their hands of it. They were scared that it wouldn’t work. Anyway, it did work.

I remember the day that they came and brought the mobile home in two halves and craned it up. Actually, I hardly looked. I was a bit scared myself. But here we are. We’re still living in it, 25 years later. But the amazing thing was, whoo, it was so incredible! Because we now had this great big room like we’ve had back in the church on Clovercroft Road in Franklin. We lived upstairs, but downstairs we had our big Above Rubies packaging room.

In those days, we were packaging it here in the home. When we sent out a new magazine, I would get in about 30 or so ladies for a whole week. We would work every day, packaging, parceling. Colin would take a trailer load to the post office every single day as we got them ready. Of course, eventually, it got too big even for that. So now, it is done by another packaging firm at the printer’s because it got bigger and bigger and bigger.

But still, we now have this room, which we have all our family functions in. Oh, it is such a blessing. God has blessed us in that we’ve been able to enlarge and live this lifestyle of having many, many people into our home, which is such a blessing. That’s how we love to live. We love to live, having people, always having people for meals, always having functions. We also have church in our big room downstairs.

Wow! How did I get onto that? Well, we’re enlarging along the way. I know, some of you are thinking, “Oh, wow, we could do with a bigger place.” Well, live what you are in TO THE FULL! Have whatever children God gives to you. Never hold back.

And don’t stop having hospitality because you haven’t got enough room. Goodness, in places where we didn’t have enough room, we still had hospitality. We squashed up and sat on boxes. We made do. I think when God sees that you're wanting to fill your place, and you can’t fill it anymore, He will bless you and give you a bigger place.

Oh, I remember those wonderful days. When we would have a function, we would always have (and we brought this from New Zealand and Australia, we had what we call “items.”). It’s a word that you don’t use for this here in the States. In fact, did you know that there is such a huge difference between the “English-English,” and the “American-English”?

When I was reading the book by Bill Bryson called Mother Tongue, he wrote this book on how the English language came to be. He wrote a statement in that book which I’ve never forgotten, because I’ve experienced it. He says that there are about 40,000 different words between English-English and the American-English. That is so true. We say so many things differently.

When someone came to sing a solo, or someone to sing a duet, or someone to put on a performance of something, a musical instrument, or even to give a poem, or something like that, we called it an “item.” I don’t know what you call it here. I really don’t even know. I think you call it like a “talent show.” It’s not that, because nobody did this to show off their talent. They did it to bless people.

Oh, we had, of course, many beautiful singers around us. Being in Franklin, you've always got great singers. But I remember our dear friends Derrick and Tara. We always asked them to sing together as husband and wife. They sang so beautifully together. Then we had other lovely friends, Brian and Sally. We always asked them to sing too, and they sang in beautiful harmony. They would always sing together.

In fact, when we had Serene and Sam’s wedding, Derrick and Tara sang at the wedding service. That’s another thing. In New Zealand, it was always the norm for the wedding service to not only have the service, but to have someone give a special item. I understand you don’t use that word, but we would ask someone to sing.

I remember at our wedding, we had a gentleman with a beautiful voice. He sang, not from the hymns that we sang on the day. But this was special solo He sang, “Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.” But he sang the whole hymn, taking it as a prayer for us. “Take their lives, and let them be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.” It was so beautiful.

Then, of course, at our wedding reception, you have more items, more people to sing specials, and it’s really wonderful. Then, of course, you have loads of speeches too. I remember when I was married, that’s nearly coming up . . . can you believe it? Nearly 63 years ago, we were married in 1963! Yes, we had those who sang, and then we had all the speeches. In fact, it was like a whole-day conference! It was so amazing.

But at all our children’s weddings, and all our friends’ weddings, there were always these beautiful specials of people singing. Then all the speeches. I remember when we came to the States. Wow! We couldn’t believe it! People didn’t do all this. In fact, the wedding got through pretty quickly, and that’s it, you just left!

I remember when we first arrived, I don’t know how I’m getting onto all this. But anyway, I’ll tell you some of our stories. We had just gotten to the States. Howard and Evangeline were going to be married. We drove to Minneapolis and got an apartment. We lived in a city we’d never been to before and put on a wedding! It was a great wedding, but I was devastated because we had the service, it was beautiful.

Then we had the reception planned. Of course, we had planned to have specials, items, people to sing, and then to have all the speeches. But once we had served everybody, we noticed them all disappearing! They just left, one by one. It was really just the immediate family who was left for the speeches. I could not believe it! They weren’t used to that, so they didn’t even stay for it!

When Serene was married, I made sure. I put a little notice on the invitation. “When we have the reception, we’ll be having speeches. We would love you to stay and be part of this.” I actually didn’t put the following on the invitation, but I really would have liked to, “And we will be locking the doors until it is over.” But I didn’t of course! But anyway, everybody did stay.

In fact, the night of the reception at Serene’s wedding, it was cold and raining outside. In this big, beautiful room, we had a great big fire going. It was so cozy. Everyone stayed for all the most amazing speeches and specials. It was so wonderful.

Of course, we’ve continued that with all our grandchildren’s weddings. We are all speech-making family. There are always speeches, speeches, speeches. We love that. And goodness me, how did I even get onto that? Wow! But always have a vision of enlarging. Enlarging in our personal lives, enlarging in our family lives, enlarging in our vision, because God tells us that is more honorable.  

No. 13. MORE FACE TO FACE FELLOWHIP

Let’s look at a few Scriptures here. As we do, we see Paul’s heart of love for his fellow believers. In 1 Thessalonians 2:17, he writes: “But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.” Wow! Do you get that? He is longing to see these new believers and to be with them. He has such a longing. He says: “We have more abundantly, we endeavored more abundantly to see your face with great desire.”

Then, in 1 Thessalonians 3:6, he says: “You were always desiring greatly to see us, and we also to see you.” Then down a few verses, in verses 9-10, he says: “For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God; night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face?”

Do you get that, ladies? There was such a desire and longing to have true face-to-face fellowship with the believers. Is that how you feel about the believers in your life? Maybe especially those who you haven’t seen for a while. How you long to see them.

That should be the heart that is in us, because, as it says in 1 John 3:16: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” That’s a wonderful Scripture, but that’s actually not the one that I was looking for here. That’s a good one. But also in 1 John, it says somewhere . . . 3:14: “We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.” We love the believers. That’s one of the proofs that we are born again and belong to the family of God, that we love the brethren, and we long to see them.

Let’s look at one or two other Scriptures. Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:4: “I long night and day to see you again.”

Then we go to 2 John, where John is writing. He writes to the elect lady in 2 John 1:12: “I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.”

Then in 3 John 1:14, he’s writing to Gaius. “I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face.”

There’s something about the face. You know, when we fellowship, we’re looking at one another’s faces, aren’t we? That’s why, when we were going through that terrible time of covid, which was so wrong and so from the devil, they were getting everybody to wear masks, which was totally ridiculous because that did not stop anything.

It was against the Word of God, because what does it say in 2 Corinthians 3:18? “We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” That’s speaking of how we behold the Lord. The more we behold Him, we are changed into His image. But it also means that we are to behold one another. We see the Lord in one another as we look at one another’s faces.

“That we all, with open face,” did you notice that? “Open face,” not veiled face, not masked face. Of course, we’re not doing that now, praise the Lord. But it was not the right thing because God wants us to have an open face. He wants us to fellowship with one another, face to face.

I believe in face-to-face table fellowship, starting in our own homes, with our own families, sitting around the table. That’s why we sit around the table. The table is a glory place that brings us together, where we fellowship, and we can look at one another, face to face. It’s important.

Watch, lovely mothers, to not get caught up in things where you are missing that family meal table. Instead, you're out somewhere. Maybe out on the sports field. You’re out doing something, and you’re coming home. There’s not even time to get home and cook a meal. You’re grabbing some fast food. You’re eating it in the car. The children are just looking at the back of the head of the one in front of them. That’s not fellowship. We’ve got to sit around to have fellowship. It’s to face-to-face table fellowship. Amen?

Now I notice, I’ve written down that Scripture, 1 John 3:14: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.”

OUR FAITH IS A “YOU AND ME” FAITH

Now in Romans chapter one, Paul is writing to the Romans. What does he say to them? Romans 1:11: “For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”

Did you get that? Our faith is not an isolated faith. It’s not just only a “me” faith. No, Paul is writing, and he says it is a “you and me” faith. You and me. Get it again. “That I may be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith.” That word “mutual” means “one another.” “By the one-another faith of you and me.” Therefore, we need to have more and more of this you-and-me faith, face-to-face fellowship where we long to see one another, and fellowship with one another.

Well, I see that time is going. It went too quickly. I started telling you stories, didn’t I? But I want to share a little more about this in the next session. I’ve got something else I want to tell you and then we’ll go on to our next point.

“Dear Father, we thank You so much for Your land, the land of the kingdom of God, this glorious kingdom you’ve brought us into. And Lord, one of these “more and mores” is this face-to-face fellowship together. Oh, Father, I pray that You will help us to be those who bless the brethren, bless them with hospitality, bless them with fellowship, for this is what it’s meant to be. This is the picture that you give. We thank You. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 395: WELCOME TO THE LAND OF MORE AND MORE, Part 4

We continue taking about the abundance available to us in the "waters to swim in." God has given unique gifts and talents to each one of us and to each one of our children. God expects us to hone these gifts, to develop them, and to multiply them. Those who bury their talents forgo their blessings. The rewards come to those who "work hard to gain more.”

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to the Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies, a magazine bringing strength and encouragement to families across the world.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, lovely ladies, again! I’m always so glad to be with you, sharing with you from this wonderful, wonderful Word that God has given to us. We ended our last session about waters to swim in. I’d love to share one or two more things.

Actually, I have often thought about this passage in Ezekiel 47 and have written about it. But just recently, I thought, “Oh, I’d love to know what Spurgeon says about this. I wonder if he’s written anything about it.” And I found that he had. If you would like to go to Spurgeon.org and put in the search “Waters to Swim in,” you will find the most wonderful, wonderful sermon from him.

It’s pretty long, but there were some beautiful things in it. I thought I’d read them to you because they so blessed me. Once it gets to “waters to swim in,” he writes a little about our glorious salvation. I’d love to read it to you.

He says, “God has not only pardoned us, but He has received us into His family, and He has taken us there, not to be His hired servants, as we once thought He might do, but has made us His own sons; and what is more than that, He has made us heirs, and not secondary heirs either, but “joint-heirs with Christ Jesus”; so that we have come right up from the place of the slave into the position of the heir of all things. Our Lord Himself, our dear and ever blessed Saviour, was not content to pluck us like brands from the burning— not content to make us His sheep, whom he should watch over with tender care— but He has taken us to be His spouse, and He calls us His Beloved. Yea, He has done more. He has taken us to be members of His body, and we are of His flesh and of His bones.”

Interrupting there, that is a Scripture. It’s not something Spurgeon is saying. There’s a Scripture that says: “We are of His flesh and bones” (Ephesians 5:30). This is too much to take in, isn’t it? Carrying on, “Was there ever such an exaltation as this? When Scripture speaks of lifting a beggar from the dunghill, and setting him among princes, surely it falls short of this wonder— that of taking a worm of the dust, a sinful wretch that was only fit for hell, and putting him into union with Christ Jesus, so that he should be a part of the mystical body of the Son of God. This is marvelous; and, as I think of it, I feel that I have brought you to the seashore and shown you an ocean to swim in, the depth of which you cannot fathom. Oh, the depths of the mercy of God!”

I love that. I think we often take our salvation too easily, too shallowly. Oh, I don’t think, dear ladies, that even in eternity we will ever, ever, ever fathom the greatness, and the sacrifice, and the enormity of the salvation which Jesus paid for us to make us His Bride. Not only did this be sons He brought into His kingdom, but we, His Bride. He says we will reign with Him forever and ever. Oh, no wonder that hymnwriter wrote:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were an offering far too small,

Love so amazing, so divine,

Shall have my soul, my life, my all.

Oh, the love of God is an ocean to swim in, isn’t it? You all know that beautiful hymn, “The Love of God.” Let me just remind you of some of the words.

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell.

Refrain:
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure:
The saints’ and angels’ song!

I love this stanza:

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill
And ev’ry man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Tho' stretched from sky to sky.

I think of that lovely little chorus we used to sing when we were children. I taught it to our children. I wonder if you have taught it to your children. Do you know that one that says, “Wide, wide is the ocean,” (and you do the actions with it? Putting out your hands— “High as the heavens above, deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Savior’s love.” Oh, it is an ocean. It’s waters to swim in. Oh, lovely ladies, let us come into all that God has given us and seek to somehow comprehend it, not that we ever will be able to ever comprehend it all.

And then, as Spurgeon continues to talk, he has another paragraph here: “There is no fear that either the heavenly granary or the celestial fountain shall ever be exhausted. The manna was without limit except according to the capacities of the people; and so, the bread which we eat, even Christ the infinite One is not measured out to us by weight, but each may have according to his eating. We are never straitened in Him, if stinted at all, we stint ourselves. After feeding millions of saints upon Himself for these hundreds of years, Jesus is as full, and as precious, and as soul-satisfying as ever He was. O blessed food! How well has God stored his granaries for all His people! And the heavenly drink is equally abundant.”

Don’t you love the writings of Spurgeon? And how true. God’s table is full. We can come and feast from it every day. It never, ever, ever ends. It’s always more to feast upon. It’s just more and more.

Oh, talking the Word He says, “Now, there is nothing contracted in the Bible. It is a great book of a great God, inspired by a great Spirit, and calculated to give men great minds, for it is, in the great subjects of holy thought, ‘waters to swim in’ . . . If a man should have the largest mind that ever existed upon the face of the earth—if he should be a Newton or a Locke— still, if he would set himself down and prayerfully study Scripture, he would find that the themes for meditation are altogether boundless ‘waters to swim in.’”

Oh yes, that’s what the Word of God is. It’s “waters to swim in.” He goes on: “If you had learnt the book through and through, and knew all its texts, you would have much to remember above that, to remember its inner meaning, and its conversations with your soul, and the mysterious power it has had over your spirit, when it has touched the strings of your nature as a master harper touches his harp strings and has brought forth music which you knew not to be sleeping there. There is no faculty, but what will find room enough in the Word, if we will but obediently bring it to the service of the Lord. There are in this respect ‘waters to swim in.’”

Oh yes, and yet so many folks just read a little bit of the Word here and there. They’re just dipping their toes in the water. And yet, there is an ocean to swim in. There is always more and more and more and more, lovely ladies. This is the land that we live in.

Just this morning, I was reading about the Land. Here God was saying that He wanted to, Deuteronomy 19:8: “give thee all the land, which He promised to give unto thy fathers.” So, God promised that land of Canaan to His people, to their generations. It was an everlasting possession (Genesis 17:8). He says in the Scriptures that He wants them to possess ALL the land. Not just some of it, but ALL THE LAND.

God has given us a land. He’s given us an ocean to swim in. He’s given us a table to feast at. He wants us to come in, and not just dabble, not just put our toes in the water, not just, “OK, have a little bit . . . put it on our tongue and see if we like it or not.” No! There are waters to swim in. There’s a land to be possessed. There’s a table to feast at. And there’s more and more.

OK, let’s go on to some of our “more and mores.” We’ve got so many. I’ve got so many to tell you. We are up to . . .

No. 10. MORE EARNEST PRAYER

When Jesus was nearing the time of His agony on the cross, it says in Luke 22:44 that “He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

The more agony Jesus was in, and He was in great agony, even before He faced the cross, let alone as He faced the ordeal. It was so much so that He sweat drops of blood. The more agony He felt, the more He prayed. None of us will ever face or get to that agony ever, because not only was He facing the physical agony, but the agony of taking upon Him the sin and the sicknesses of the world.

But we can also learn from Jesus that when we face difficult times, when we face agony in our own soul, what are we to do? We don’t despair. We pray “more earnestly.” Of course, we always pray when we’re in need, don’t we? But we need to pray “more earnestly.”

James 5:16: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Yes. I believe God is looking for those who will pray, not just have a little prayer, “Lord, bless my children. Watch over them. Keep them safe.” But no, “more earnestly” praying.

ARE YOU A HEDGE BUILDER?

I was just noticing some Scriptures this morning. In Ezekiel 22:30, God says: “I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” The phrase, “to make up the hedge,” speaks of prayer. When we read the story of Job, we read how God had put a hedge of protection all around him. Nobody could see it. You couldn’t see that hedge, but it was there in the spirit realm.

But many times, even in our own lives, we can have a hedge, a spiritual hedge of protection around us. Sometimes sin comes in, and things come in to make a gap in the hedge. There are gaps in the hedges of many lives and many nations. God looks for someone who will make up that hedge. We make up that hedge in prayer.

ARE YOU A GAP STANDER?

Then it goes on to say: “Who will stand in the gap?” That’s another illustration of praying, standing in the gap for someone. You see, intercession is standing in the gap for someone else and praying for someone else in their need. Prayer is a sacrifice. You have to give up your time, when you’d rather be doing something else. Oh yes, there are so many things you want to do, so many things I want to do.

But prayer time, oh, that’s when we stand in the gap for nations. We stand in the gap for others. God is looking for those who will be gap-standers. Yes. Are you a gap-stander? Is your family a gap-stander? We can be gap-standers as families as we pray for the nations as a family, as we pray for the persecuted church, as we pray for Israel which God has commanded us to. Isaiah 62 says that we are to be “on the wall night and day,” until we see Israel made “a praise in the earth.”

Let’s go over to Ezekiel again, chapter 13:5. This one says: Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.” This is what prayer is all about. It’s making up the hedge and standing in the gap for the needs of people we know around us, people who are hurting.

Oh, there are just so many needs. We can’t even pray for them all. But God will give you the burden for certain needs, and certain people, and certain nations. Let’s be available to do that. We can do this in our family times as a family. And we’re doing something together as a family at the same time. In fact, it’s the most powerful thing we can do as a family, to pray, and be those who stand in the gap and make up the hedge for others.

Then we go to Isaiah 63:5. What does this one say? “And I looked, and there was none to help. And I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.” Here God had to move in Himself, because nobody else would. And yet God is looking.

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO INTERCEDE?

We see this also in Isaiah 59:16-17: “And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore, His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon His head; and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.”

Jeremiah 10:25: here it’s speaking about families: “Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not, and upon the families that call not on Thy Name.” This, to me, is the most challenging Scripture, because here God is saying that “My people, My families, if they don’t call upon My Name, well, they might as well be the heathen.” The heathen do not call upon the Name of the Lord.

Well, if we, as God’s families, are not those who call upon the Name of the Lord daily, morning and evening, can we really count ourselves as God’s family? That is a powerful Scripture, isn’t it? I think, for all of us, we can all come to that place of more and more in our prayer life, more and more earnestly praying. More and more up to our knees in the waters. So, we’re praying.

No. 11: MORE EFFORT AND DILIGENCE

This is taken from a parable that Jesus told. You will know it when I read it to you. It’s the parable of the talents. In Matthew 25, verses 20 onward, it says, well, actually before that. He tells the story and then says: “He that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou delivered unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.”

Because this man did not squander what God had given him, but worked hard to gain more, he received his reward of “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” He doesn’t want us to squander what He gives us.

God gives to every person He creates unique gifts, unique abilities, unique talents, and they are given from God. He wants us to use them for His glory. He wants us to be productive in them. He wants us to really hone in on them so that they will multiply. In fact, they will multiply into more gifts and talents.

It is an amazing thing that when you do use the gift that God has given you, it actually enlarges into other gifts. That is a very true thing and it’s amazing. We see that here too. It’s exactly what this person did. He gained more talents and he worked hard to gain more. He didn’t just sit there and hope it would happen like the one who was only given one talent.

We remember, don’t we, that, what did he do with the one talent that he was given? “Well, I’ve just got one talent. That guy’s got five. What am I doing? I might as well just bury the one I’ve got.” So, he went and buried it. He didn’t use the one he had. But even if we only have one, if we use that and we use it with all our might, it will increase into more.

But what did the master say? “Take the talent from him, and give it to the one who has ten talents,” because the master had given one ten, one five, and one only one. So, both the one who had the ten, and the one who had the five gained more by hard work and productivity, and embracing all that the master had given them.

But the one who had one, the master said, “Take it, and give it to the one who has ten talents, because I know he’ll use it.” “For everyone who has more, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. Cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness.”

When we read this, it seems opposite to the way many in society think today. People think those who have nothing, well, you’d better give everything to them. That’s what the democrats love to do. They want to take money from the rich and give it to the poor. Well, that sounds wonderful. And yes, we do have a responsibility to care for and to give to those who are in need.

But God doesn’t quite see it that way, because He sees that often the rich (well there are some who have it passed onto them) but mostly the rich have worked hard to get where they are, and they also provide work for hundreds and thousands of others often. They are actually working on their gifts, producing more from their gifts, and honing in on those gifts, and making more to bless more people.

God sees that, and He loves that, because that’s what He intends. Often the poor are sitting around doing nothing, lazy, expecting everything to be done for them. God doesn’t like that. No, He says, “From those who have nothing, who will do nothing with what I’ve given them, well, I’ll give it to the one who has more.”

I’m not making this up. This is the Bible. This is God speaking here. We do have a responsibility to do, and to take action, and to be motivated to use the gifts that God has given. Not for ourselves, but for others. That’s what God gives us gifts for, for the blessing of our family, and the blessing of others.

Another wonderful thing, ladies, to remember. These gifts that God puts within us, there’s a Scripture that says: “The gifts and callings of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29). He doesn’t take them away. He’s actually talking about Israel in that Scripture, but it applies, I believe, to all the gifts and talents that God gives us.

He gives them to us eternally, and even when we go into the eternal realm, we will take our gifts with us. We will still be who we are in the eternal realm. We’re not going to be some little spirit floating around on a cloud. No, we are going to be the person that we are, except we will be given a resurrected body, a body that cannot sin, a body that is indestructible, a celestial body.

It will be so amazing, but we will still be who we are. We’ll be known. We’ll know each other. People will know us. And these gifts that God has given us will be enhanced even more in the eternal realm because we will not be limited the way we are here on earth. We will have resurrected bodies and resurrected minds. Just think of what we will do with these gifts that God has given us. No wonder He says that we will reign with Him upon the earth because we will be doing amazing things with these gifts. So, I believe we should hone in on them now.

OK, we should be developing them even now, because I believe we will take them to eternity. What we have prepared now, how we have developed our gifts here now, on this earth, that will be a starting point, even in Heaven. But they will be greater there.

And even in our knowledge of the Word. We will take that into the eternal realm with us, into the ultimate end.

If I’m to die in the next few years or whenever God takes me, and He hasn’t yet come for His people, I will go to some temporary heaven where I will be with Jesus. But it’s not the final end, because God says over and over in His Word that He is going to make new heavens and a new earth. We will actually have heaven on this earth, but it won’t be like this.

This earth is going to be burned up. It says in Peter that it’s going to be purged and cleansed and burnt up, every evil thing, and all that’s not of God (2 Peter 3:10-14). Then He will make it all new, glorious, heavenly, incredible. We’re going to live as people who will function with the gifts God has given us on this new earth in our new resurrected bodies.

So, dear, precious moms and children, and young people listening today. Don’t take your gifts and talents for granted. Don’t despise them. God gave them to you. We notice that too, don’t we, mothers? As you see your children come along, you notice each one of your children is so unique and different. Each one has different gifts and abilities.

As I watched our children grow into adulthood, of course, most of our children are grandparents now. But as I saw their giftings develop, they were all so different. I saw gifts that I didn’t have. My husband didn’t have them. Where did they get them?  Not from us. They got them from God. They came from God. God puts in your children greater things even than in you. Different things. But they’re all from God.

It’s so amazing to see them develop. We know that they will develop even more and more in this new earth. So, lovely ladies, we don’t just, “OK, well, that’s my gift. Maybe I’ll use it, or maybe I won’t.” No, we are to use it more and more! We are to develop it more and more. We are to be productive in it more and more. Then we will find other gifts evolving too from that, which we will use for the glory of God. Amen? Isn’t that so exciting?

Maybe we will finish this session, and we’ll start on another “more” next session. And, lovely ladies, we have so many of these “more and mores” to go. The Word of God is filled with them. I hope you're getting the message. I hope you are getting it, that God does not want us to be stagnant. He does not want us to be average, the status quo. No, it’s more and more, all the time. Yes.

Remember the Scripture we began with, Proverbs 4:18: “But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Even in your mothering, you're mothering more and more. Don’t just give up on your mothering. Don’t get stale in your mothering. Seek the Lord for His anointing and blessing on you to mother more and more the way God wants you to mother in your home.

Everything you're doing in your home, MAKE IT MORE AND MORE. Tell your children about this truth. You’re only beginning in it. We’re going to learn more and more as we go ahead in these sessions. Bring your children into them so they can hear it too, so that we can all begin to live this MORE AND MORE LIFESTYLE”

“Dear Father, we thank You that we’ve been brought into this glorious kingdom that You have for us, this kingdom that we live in now, and the eternal kingdom that will one day be our portion. So glorious that our minds cannot even fathom it. Lord God, we pray that You will help us to live for that final day, to live for eternity, to live for that ultimate eternal world where we will eventually live forever. This life is now preparing for that time. Help us to count every moment and every gift and talent to prepare for our eternal destiny. We ask it 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, Above Rubies”

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