Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast
Join us for an exciting Season 2 of our podcast, which garnered over 7000 downloads last year! Your hosts, Rachel and Israel Campbell, are back to take you on an incredible journey. In this podcast, we invite you into the ongoing dialogues about life, love, parenting, relationships, spirituality, and whatever else sparks our interest!
Our motivation for creating this podcast remains unchanged: we believe that discipleship should encompass more than just a classroom experience; it should be a way of life. Drawing inspiration from Jesus' interactions with his disciples, we see that it was far from a traditional classroom setup. Instead, it was a continuous exchange of teachings and discussions encompassing all facets of life.
Imagine savoring a delicious bowl of soup – that's what our podcast is like. We're here to engage in honest and unfiltered conversations, covering a wide spectrum of topics. And now, we invite you to share this podcast with your friends, family members, or coworkers, just as you'd share a great meal. Just like Jesus and his disciples, we're here to explore the richness of life together!
So, come join us for another season of candid conversations as we dive into a little bit of everything – from the profound to the lighthearted!
Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast
Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast Season 2 Episode 16 ''Behind enemy lines."
Have you ever felt like a modern-day Daniel, striving to live out your convictions in a world that seems to be on a different page? Join us as we share our journey through the cultural 'Babylon', unveiling how to keep your faith vibrant and your identity intact. We're not just talking about surviving; we're discussing thriving. Our conversation travels through the delicate balance of being true to our core values while still engaging dynamically with the world around us. The secret? A 'diet' of behaviors and attitudes that are nourishing to the soul, allowing us to be in the world but not of it.
It's one thing to navigate these challenges ourselves, but what about the next generation? We dive into the profound impact of living with intention, particularly through the lens of parenting in the secular sphere. Biblical figures like Daniel and his companions set a powerful example, not just in their time, but for us today as we seek to raise children who can stand firm in their beliefs amidst the bustling 'Babylons' of our modern cities. Our discussion unveils the joy and security found in God-defined boundaries, providing a blueprint for cultivating lives filled with purpose and tranquility amidst the chaos.
In the final stretch, we zero in on the essence of profitable actions within our spiritual walks. It's about discerning which steps forward will truly enrich our journey, inspired by the teachings of Paul and the life of Jesus. We get real about the struggles, including maintaining a social media presence that honors our spiritual journey. And as we conclude, we revisit the vital role of the Holy Spirit's guidance in fine-tuning our perceptions, enabling us to navigate life's battlefield without crossing into enemy territory. So, whether you're on your daily commute or finding a moment of stillness, let this episode be a companion in strengthening your discernment and shining your light brightly.
Hey, we're back baby.
Speaker 2:We are back, hey, everybody.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love just recording and putting all this stuff on and helping everybody, kind of you know, see what we're talking about, the titles and all of that probably most of our before we record. We probably work on our title more than anything, don't we like?
Speaker 2:no, I don't like. I feel like our title helps us both stay within the confines of what we're trying to talk about.
Speaker 1:Yes. So our title this morning, this afternoon, whatever time it is, your time, is behind enemy lines, and I like that because we have been doing a series on flourishing in Babylon and really what came across this podcast was kind of one of the sermons we preached and it was just having to talk about Daniel, shadrach, meshach and Abednego living in Babylon. We're of the world, but not. We're in the world, but not of the world. We're in Babylon, but we have a different diet and just trying to balance that honey right with, like they said, I love this scripture because it's so relevant is they said hey, only give us the good looking, only give us those that can speak the Babylonian language, only give us those you know that have this. And it seems like the church has done a really good job of getting better at that. Probably when we were kids, the church wasn't too relevant, the church wasn't very hip.
Speaker 1:The truly aesthetic, as they say yes. And then I even remember there was a magazine that came out, christian magazine, called relevant, and so really, shadrach, meshach and Abednego and Daniel were picked because they were relevant, and that is amazing and we applaud that. We want our churches to be relevant, we want our messages to be relevant and I think that's a word that I use that often tries to describe my intent in a message on a Sunday. But there is this part where, if we only stay there, we miss the power of flourishing in Babylon, or we miss the power of actually making a difference in our world. And there's no difference between us and the world. We dress the same, we look the same, we talk the same, but we know that there is power in it. So how do you flourish behind enemy lines? Or how about just even I think I talked about on Sunday? Sometimes we move that line into Babylon to kind of fit our needs instead of actually changing our diet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we talked about how, like being relevant, being cool, knowing all of the most current things are so great, but that's not what builds a church and breaks and sets people free or protects us and keeps us to flourish, and I think that's what you talked so well about on Sunday morning. It was such a good message. If you guys wanted to, you could go to YouTube watch flourishing church Last week. I don't know what the date was, but it was Israel preaching on flourishing in Babylon and I just think it's such a timely word for everybody, every believer, right now, to know. You know.
Speaker 2:I think about Job and he said you know, all of my life I've known God, I've known the scripture, I memorized the first five books of the Bible. I was a good Hebrew boy. But after through all that, he went through the trials, temptations, living in Babylon, that season of his life. At the end of his life he says I knew you, but now I've seen you face to face and I think that this is a season if we embrace what God wants us to embrace and we allow, we don't get behind the enemy lines, we don't become Babylon to reach the world, but we live in Babylon, blessed, as godly people. It's like we're going to know God. This is going to be a season of we know him face to face, not just know the rules.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think it's a real balance, and so I think the worst thing that I would ever want to come across is like oh, those people, they did it.
Speaker 2:That way, those cool kids in church, yeah, we don't like them.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, because it really is scriptural that who God used was those that could be relevant in a sense, and we, in any kind of scripture, any kind of doctrine, we want to make sure we get the full spectrum of it. The other spectrum of it was that Daniel's diet was different than the Babylonians, and so diet is specifically two things, and we've talked about this before in our podcast, but we'll say it again that diet is what you avoid and then what you're intentional about putting in. If you're only avoiding, that's not a diet, that is a strike, a hunger strike, and you die. So it's not about just what you don't put in, it's also about what you do put in. And so that's what Daniel really he said to the chief unit hey, test me in this and see if there's a difference and I think that that's a great verse, rachel is there really should be a difference between us and somebody that is living in Babylon and somebody that's in temporary in Babylon, where we know this is not our final destination, we're flourishing here, but we are, we are aliens who, we are illegally here, we're not going to be here for long, all those kind of things.
Speaker 1:But there should be a difference. Because of our diet and I think what you were saying is behind enemy lines is sometimes we don't navigate that well, trying to be relevant, and we're just like the world and we've got to work on our diet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I guess our question would be today, like what does that look like? I guess maybe we want to unpack. What that would look like is how do we have good boundaries in our own life without feeling like people who are closed off from the world, because the last thing that we want to become is what I was taught my whole life. My dad used to study end times and he actually had like above our dining room table he had the Middle East map and he would be like there will be a season where we have to hide in the mountains, and I remember being like I want to get married before I have to hide at the mountains away from the rest of the world because we're persecuted.
Speaker 2:And there was a lot of fear, but there was also this real I mean, without trying. It was an, I think, unintended consequence to that kind of conversation. There wasn't a lot of power to it. It was more like we're just going to have to survive. There was not a lot of faith connected to it. It was basically fear driven, and I don't think that we are supposed to live that way either, where it's like we hunker down and we have our Christian friends and everything safe and we move to a place where everyone else is a Christian and all of those things. I think that that can also be so dangerous. So if God's called us to live and thrive and actually see people get saved in Babylon, what do we do?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that and you framed it so well. A couple of different things that I would just bring up, and maybe it seems repetitive, but I don't think it is. I've said this. I heard it first somewhere. You know how that preaching adage is the first time you hear it you have to give somebody credit for it. But it's been so long ago and I've said it so many times that now I just say it, like I've always said.
Speaker 1:But I heard somebody say the people that I want to meet in heaven more than anybody is Daniel's parents, and just the intentionality and the discipline and the fortitude that these parents put in these teenagers Shadrach, meshach and Abednego to flourish in Babylon, is just wow, I mean really Inspiring, very inspiring, and it makes you go am I doing a good enough job as a parent? But at the same time we're like, yeah, but we're trying to train up our girls and our son to flourish in Los Angeles. So maybe we are, you know, on that same track of trying to do that. And so I think when you ask that question, I think it goes to. It never happens by accident. I don't think that we do well with these lines and these questions by just well.
Speaker 1:However it happens, I really do think there has to be some intentionality, some thinking ahead. There has to be some vision casting. There has to be some what is it vision board that people are like, hey, this is what we want. Well, there needs to be some, this is what we want. I know you were looking at a picture for one of your messages. Like you were looking online for a picture of a desert with something growing out of it. It's like we've got to have that picture with our family, with everything, so that we can really go yeah, no, we are going to flourish. And if we don't have a plan, it's kind of like if you don't have a budget, you don't have a plan, you don't have a resume, it's hard to get a job, it's hard to do your finances, it's hard to flourish in Babylon if you don't have some intentionality behind it. So maybe these are the intentionalities.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that, and what you're saying I just feel so strongly about. I think that where we fall is when we don't have that vision for where we're called to go and why we're here. And if you don't, I think it's preset lines. You know, if you think that you're going to set the boundaries for your life as you're in Babylon, it will never work because there's too many voices, there's too much pressure, and we'll end up living our lives in this really reactionary state instead of a weird choosing hey, this is, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That decision cannot happen in the middle of a storm, because when you're tired, you always make the wrong choices. You'll make the easy route, right? I'm giving myself a thumbs up. And it just did that. That is so amazing.
Speaker 2:So I think we'll always choose the path of least resistance if we don't first go. Okay, this is what our family, or my life, this is what I am called to do here on Earth. I first have to have a revelation of that and then, with that, okay. Now I need to know what God's word says. What is God's boundary lines for me? Can I just read Scripture verse and then I'm going to pass it to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2:Psalm 16 is so good for this. I really feel for me especially like Psalm 16. Verse 5 says oh Lord, you are my portion, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lot. Love that because, yeah, of course it's my responsibility, but it says that God, he gives me the boundaries. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.
Speaker 2:Talking about the lines, the boundaries God gives us that they bring forth a life of pleasant, pleasant things, of peace in our home, of a sound mind instead of a spirit of fear, and when we allow God to Show us the boundaries that we need to be creating in our life instead of allowing the world to define boundaries or, you know, trying to muddle the tube Babylon and being righteous. You know if we can, if we allow God to create those boundaries through his word for us. It says that our boundary lines fall in Pleasant places. You want to live a life without fear that is Encompassed by the peace of God. Allow him to show you his will and his boundaries. I don't think that as Christians, we're doing great at that. I think that we're way too concerned about being Compassionate to sinners and and by saying that it sounds like I'm being harsh and I'm not I'm just saying we cannot allow the sin of man to Influence where our boundary lines fall.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I, we're on the same page on that and it is. We can't change that. And God's lines. I love that scripture verse Rachel, you could do a whole message on just that but that whole part of God having good boundary lines. It's so good for us to not look at the law or to look at commandments or to look at the Holy Spirit. I'm convicting us as a negative, but it's actually a real positive and I don't know if this goes with it. But I also heard somebody say recently but talking about the Garden of Eden, and so in the very beginning God even had some boundaries there.
Speaker 1:There were some lines hey, don't eat of this, don't do of that, and the Bible actually says that that was in the middle of the Garden. And what? What really was the first sin besides eating the fruit? The first sin was the sin of Not thankful or grateful or a spirit of lack, because they had to go past all the other fruit and Say that wasn't good enough to then get that one thing. That was off limits. And so, going back to the scripture verse, you said about the lines being a blessing or Plentiful or what was the way it describes the lines.
Speaker 2:Oh, the scripture in here.
Speaker 1:It just says that Pleasant, pleasant lines and so when, when, if you have the wrong thinking of that that it's all about God trying to keep you from things, then you will go and change the diet and babble on. But when you realize, no, god puts these parameters. It's like the ditches on a road or those little bumps on the freeway and you're like let's you know, oh, I'm getting off not that it's there to ruin your suspension, but it's actually to help you stay on course Then I think that that changes a lot of the different ways of how we adapt to that. So I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it goes for every single area of our lives. You know we picture boundaries as this linear. Maybe you're picturing land when we say boundary lines but I just want to say you know, israel and I have really strong boundaries in our sex life. We don't allow things that are on the outside. The Bible talks about the marriage bed being sacred and so when it comes to our, our sex life, there are strong boundaries we have with the opposite sex.
Speaker 2:There's strong boundaries with what we let our eyes see and what gets into our heart, because we know that those things, because God's plan for our intimacy is to be so pure and pleasant and trusting and the world in that area of intimacy can be very broken and we, you know, if we allow these boundary lines to begin to slip, it begins to cause the intimacy of our marriage to slip. Or when we're raising our kids, you know there are things that we did when our kids were little and I remember we used to have conversations like we are disciplining you for this because we love the future you, we are, we are loving your adult self. By not allowing you to just do whatever you feel or you want, we're going to give you some Boundaries, and boundaries are not a negative. Boundaries are actually not restrictive. Boundaries create freedom.
Speaker 1:I love that and maybe we should do another podcast on that whole thought of just discipline and really talk about that.
Speaker 2:That's so big right.
Speaker 1:And just kinda how to be that way, because it is a negative word and I think in culture today is all is boundaryless. Don't put a label on me, don't tell me what I can do with my body. Don't do that. Don't let my sexuality and like you said, rachel, if we're not careful, then I'm trying to be friends with that we eat the Babylonian diet and I'm sure that there were some other Hebrews there that were like, hey, we survived the journey, we're here, it's been, food's been offered to an idol, but it's really not an idol, because we know, you know even New Testament. You'd be like, ah, if you're fine with it.
Speaker 1:But there was something determined in Daniel that said no, no, no, no, I'm not going to defy out myself, I'm going to ah, you know, and he did all of it and I love that and I also love maybe it's off subject, but you don't have to be a jerk about your boundaries, you don't have to be so holy than that.
Speaker 1:I mean, he goes to the eunuch. The eunuch doesn't agree with him, says this could kill me. David has a conversation, enough in a way where the eunuch actually says, okay, let me try it and let's test it, and I just feel like too many Christians are jerks about their boundaries and all this other stuff and it's like you know we don't want to be eating the diet Babylon. But I think that there's a way to do it, that you actually get that too and we can have a test. And I like what you were saying too about the sex and everything at the end of the of the training or the end of the test, you know, not only with the food but with knowledge that the um they say he's there 10 times better and our marriage should be 10 times better, our sex life 10 times better, I mean every area every area of our life can be so much better than the world's if we don't get behind enemy lines, if we're not moving the marker over.
Speaker 1:So I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, I don't think you're off subject at all. I love this conversation. I think it's so important is um we have as a family we have really strong boundaries. I think we're kind of like probably more bound school yeah, we're a bit old school and um, I I'm actually thankful for that for a lot of reasons. We can get into that later. Maybe we'll talk about that next week. Just disciplining your own life, that's so awesome. But I love what you're saying, because I don't see and you can correct me because you're the, you're the scholar, more than even I am.
Speaker 1:I get to correct you.
Speaker 2:I'll give you permission one time, okay, but um, I don't see David talking bad about Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel Daniel See that's why you're the scholar.
Speaker 1:Look at me.
Speaker 2:Daniel is not talking about Nebuchadnezzar.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He's not. He's not um telling the eunuch that he's um, you know you're working for a godless king, so you're a coward. He's not saying these things that are like, so judgmental, so, um, shame. It's shame driven. I've never seen anyone truly have a heart change because of shame. I've never seen it. I've seen a lot of legalism in my own family. I never had the heart change until I realized that first, that says that Jesus came to give his life and despise the shame.
Speaker 2:Jesus hates the shame, and I don't see Daniel or David. I don't see Daniel Shaming the lost. I don't see Daniel Coming against them with a sword and spear and trying to fight their worldview. He had a big enough worldview of his God that he didn't try to change things horizontally. He was a man of prayer, he was a man of set-apartedness. He consecrated his life to God and he knew that whatever change was gonna happen in Babylon was gonna happen because of his vertical relationship, not because of a horizontal thing he did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know how passionate I am about this. I just I think it's a great rule to think is Like he did never back down. He wasn't yellow bellied, he wasn't spineless, he didn't never backed away from his convictions, but he was wise in trying to stay the convictions.
Speaker 1:Hey let me have a conversation. Hey, can we try this? Oh, you don't want me to try this, can we test it? You know what I mean, and I think that we're failing at that many times in Babylon is our conversations that we're having and I love the other phrase. It's in there.
Speaker 1:Daniel Prospered and it listed the reigns of what he did. Some theologians will say you know, in the Bible we have Nebuchadnezzar, we have Darius, we have all these other, but if you look at who died and when and all of this, would we even look at the story of Daniel in the lion's den? He's 70 years old, so the flannel graph was wrong. He was not a young man that was thrown into the Daniels line. He was old and scrawny, but 80 years of wisdom. And and the reason why I say that 80 years is because he had been through Nebuchadnezzar's kids. He had been through the when the Meads and the Persians came and took over Babylon, snuck in under the water, and then now he's. You know the. He's giving wisdom now to the Persians. Darius, I mean, he just and you can't be a leader and make influence if you're always Coming against the people instead of holding the conviction in you and living it. Way better to live it than to say it. Yeah, I guess what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 2:And when we live by the boundary lines God gives us, then our life becomes influential because the people watching it See that it's pleasant and they're like, how come my life doesn't have that peace? And and God promises us this peace, this pleasantness about our home should, when people walk into our home because we have followed the boundary lines God's given us in the midst of a Babylon city, people should come in and go. What piece is this? It's not the candle burning, it's not the worship playing. There's a piece of God and that's the pleasantness of the boundary lines of God. And the thing is that I just want to say is it's for everyone, but we all have to choose it. It's for everyone.
Speaker 2:This is not an elite you know Israel and I talk about like these Christian snobs that act like I'm blessed because I pray more than you or I'm blessed Because I've got this thing that I do that's better than everybody else's thing that they do. That's such a yucky spirit to me because this is not something that I deserve and but it is something that I get to receive and cooperate with. So I think that there's two parts to Creating boundary lines and living in that blessing of God in the midst of your Babylon, and the first thing is to you really just receive that. God has a different way, that's better, yeah. And then the second thing is to create. After you've received that, then you begin to create the boundaries in cooperation with the promises of God in his word. And so there is this part that's a gift, but then there's this other part that it's our job. It's our responsibility to begin to build that, and it doesn't happen without us Intentionally really beginning to build boundaries.
Speaker 1:I love that and maybe to help us build a boundary, because there is what is it? 50 shades of gray? No, but just that praise of, and I think we're living in I know it's a raunchy movie or something like that a book, but it's what we live in is we live in these areas of not black and white, but these shades of gray, and I Maybe that wasn't the right analogy, sorry, babe, but first Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 12, paul says something for me that has changed my life and I hope that it can help change yours. When it comes to Boundaries, as he says, because we're Christians, there's everything is permissible. But then he says right after it, which is powerful, because most people just stop on, that I could do it because I'm a Christian, or grace, you know God's love. So everything is permissible, but not everything is profitable. And so for me, that, what thing has helped us and myself and so many things, is yeah, I could do that. Yeah, I did see an influencer do that. Yeah, I saw another pastor do it. Maybe it's permissible, but is it profitable? And so, yeah, no, not gonna post that, no, not gonna say that it's permissible. I can, there's others that are doing it, it's permissible.
Speaker 1:Paul said this and Jesus turned the table. So I can do this. It's permissible, but is the Holy Spirit telling you for this season, is it profitable? And and and we have to know that, and with every scripture we have to make sure that we know it's permissible, but is it profitable? And so you could be turning the tables and it not be profitable, and you're not the Son of God, and so you should be careful about what, the what tables you're doing, and that's the oldest scripture verse that you find Jesus doing that. Be wise. It's permissible, but is it profitable? And that's changed my life. I don't need the preacher to tell me what I should do, how I should do anything. I can go to the Holy Spirit and say I know it's permissible, but what do you want me to do? That's, that's profitable.
Speaker 2:So amazing, you know, can conviction grows with obedience. I feel like, if you don't feel like you like what does conviction feel like? I think that it's really the most simple way for me to Say it is. The conviction feels this, like this small, very small nudge that I could ignore and Like I. I've just asked the Holy Spirit to help me be convicted and I just want to say conviction feels like love, like conviction never feels like I am failing. Usually it feels like Rachel, you're so much better than that. Yeah, you have so much more to give. That's Pure. Then that wrong motive, and so there'll be moments where I I love to post on Instagram and probably people get annoyed with my Instagram because it's not very cute. Phoebe told me, like you need a cuter Instagram because you just post everything, but that's so who I am like doesn't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not aesthetic, I'm not that aesthetic, like I'm a life, like I just can be real life kind of thing. So, and and not that Phoebe's not real if she's just artistic. But and this next generation, I just feel so strongly like there have been moments where it's like something that I should totally be able to post and God's like Don't, there's a reason why I just don't do that. That's not what I want you to be putting out, or that's not what I want you to say, or Whatever.
Speaker 2:But I think that what we grow in our conviction muscle, the way to grow, is by just not doing it. If there's any reason, you don't have to ask God why you don't have to have a little argument within your own heart to God like no, but I want to, because this person and this is why I want to do it If God just you know, stops you, like maybe you have to lunch with someone and you're about to tell them something that's such a great conversation starter about something juicy, and the Holy Spirit's like just bite your tongue. And those moments where we just obey I've done it well, where I've obeyed, and I've also done it where I'm like I'm just gonna do it because this is good, and like ignored the Holy Spirit. But I think that our conviction muscle grows. Her discernment grows every time we stop when the Holy Spirit shows us to stop that's such a great, just a Practical and easy when you feel that just stop.
Speaker 1:And then it's not here. Seven steps To you know, not go past the enemy line. It's actually really good. It's just learning to tune in and do that. So I love that. Hopefully today you've got some stuff on your commute, on your treadmill walk or walking on the Strand if you're in LA or if you're in the snow sledding.
Speaker 2:There's fun things to do when you're freezing to let in the way the cute coats out there your soul warm.
Speaker 1:Well, you're listening, but we love you guys. So my hands or comments, all that other fun stuff, and we'll probably continue this conversation because I like it.
Speaker 2:I like you oh.
