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 18 ''Flourishing in Babylon"
Imagine standing firm in your faith while the world around you feels like a modern-day Babylon. That's the journey we delve into on today's podcast, where we're joined by the coolest moms, sharp eighth graders, and everyone in between to discuss "Flourishing in Babylon." We crack open the pages of Jeremiah 29:11, not just as a comforting graduation verse but as a battle cry for those of us navigating today's cultural exile. With societal norms shifting away from Christian values, we reveal how you can still prosper and find hope, just like Daniel and his companions, without compromising your beliefs.
As we wander through the metaphorical gardens of Babylon, we uncover the secret to thriving: a patient, steadfast faith that witnesses through action rather than confrontation. Inspired by the long-haul commitment of sharing the Bible with a dear friend over a decade, we explore the notion of dreaming big and investing in the future, even when it feels like we're imprisoned by our circumstances. Our conversation paints a vivid picture of how, amid adversity, God's blessings can multiply, and we, like Daniel, can emerge ten times better in all aspects of life. It's about being deeply rooted in a community and shining bright in the darkest of times.
To wrap things up with warmth and anticipation, we chat about the sweet promise of becoming grandparents, painting a vision of the future that includes wedding bells for Phoebe and Chloe and the patter of little feet. We muse over the joy that comes from nurturing the next generation and whether we're truly ready for the grandparent life. So, grab a comfortable seat and listen in as we share our hearts, laughter, and maybe even a tear or two, on this episode of the Campbell Soup podcast.
Welcome back to your mama's favorite podcast.
Speaker 2:Why your mama's?
Speaker 1:I don't know, I wanted to start differently and I think lots of moms like our podcast.
Speaker 2:Are we a mom's podcast?
Speaker 1:Oh, the cool moms out there.
Speaker 2:All the cool moms. Okay, well, I think that's a compliment, absolutely right. Yes, oh, very good.
Speaker 1:We are a podcast for every generation. Yes, silas has a what eighth grade friend? Yeah, and every day at school he found out that Silas's parents have a podcast and so he'll talk to him about it. Like hey, your mom and dad are talking about this and they said this. And Silas is like why are you listening to my parents podcast and I love it. So shout out to Matt in eighth grade at Paris. Middle School. We love you.
Speaker 2:Podcast shout outs to the middle school, very good. Well, this week we are actually going to talk about a title that is actually part of our sermon series and I think that just what we were talking about is. You know, sometimes on a Sunday it can be one point and there's not a. There's so many other things that you're saying that you don't you want to kind of go back and talk about that, and so that's kind of what we wanted to do.
Speaker 2:This, this podcast, is really talk about flourishing in Babylon, and I could do seven of these podcasts because I'm actually very passionate about this subject and really trying to do that.
Speaker 2:Excellent, and of course, los Angeles could be a mini Babylon, but you could be in anywhere in the world and kind of considered a Babylon. Peter writes to the church and he actually says to the church in Babylon, just so Babylon is just that expression all throughout the Bible. That is, when you're in an environment or a culture that opposes the things of God, and I think we're all in that, and if you live in the Vatican, there's probably some situations, probably more. But and so just getting that and I think that one of my favorite scriptures and, to be quite honest and maybe everyone else already knew this, but I never knew this until actually studying and preparing for this sermon series. But you know probably almost most of my life, except for high school, when I was graduating, one of my life versus would have been Jeremiah 2911. So can I tell the funny story on that? It's not, no, you shouldn't, or absolutely go for it.
Speaker 2:I can be entertained. Oh OK, so I graduated from a Christian school and so everybody always just writes Jeremiah 2911 as their scripture verse, so that you know when you graduate they have that verse or boring. Well, kind of is just what everybody did.
Speaker 1:It's a great verse.
Speaker 2:It's a great verse and we're talking about it today.
Speaker 1:It's a great verse.
Speaker 2:Everybody always uses it. And so then I, instead of using the ones that everybody kind of used, I just kind of snuck mine in there and it was Isaiah 4.4, which actually says in that day, seven women will grab ahold of one man. And they didn't catch it and I was like, yes, so that's like my equivalent of like when they do crazy things at graduations, you know, backflips, or come in without pants or something like that. I did a misquote of scripture verse. So, anyhow, getting back to Jeremiah 2911, what I never realized is Jeremiah, chapter 29 is actually a prophetic verses chapter written to those in Babylon. And then it says in Daniel that when Daniel was about 86 years old, he is, he's, he's praying for his city, he's in Babylon.
Speaker 2:The Bible says he gets the word from Jeremiah. It starts figuring out what God's purpose was and all those kind of things, and I just think that it's so powerful. So, anyhow, jeremiah 2911, for I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you and give you a hope that was not too in a nice soft bubble of people that were in Jerusalem where everything was going well. So it was actually to those in Babylon who had been taken captive, who were being, you know, in this environment that opposed the things of God, it says. I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you and give you a hope.
Speaker 1:I love that so much and that's what we really want to talk about today is just Flourishing in Babylon and Israel. You've been doing this series for three or four weeks now, yeah, and every single week at church. If you're part of flourishing church, you know this has been such a powerful series and so honestly, we could just I could sit here and just listen to all of the historic stuff that you have been speaking on and the and the real prophetic. This is a prophetic word and I was just gonna say, if it was, you know we're not. This isn't a message to Babylon. This is a message to people living in this season where it feels like the world is coming against every godly principle and really coming against Christians and even our rights in America. It's our rights to exercise Biblical living and living by God's truth, and it's being ridiculed. There's laws being passed against it and also, just culturally, you can be canceled because you believe the word of God right now.
Speaker 1:And so this is such an important conversation for us to be having in this Season of the world and and you know, I feel like I don't know. You can kind of speak to this, but I kind of feel like we're in an in-between. We're in the tension of we're not in the midst of this revival, like there isn't this outpouring of the Holy Spirit so much that government is changing yet. I believe it's coming. But we're also in this season where it's like so our Christian beliefs are under attack and everything's becoming way more worldly. Even Christians are becoming way more worldly minded than they are Kingdom-minded and and living by the word of God because of the influence of culture. But we're also not, we're in in between, we're not in the middle of revival, and so it's this what? How do we respond and what is God calling us? How do we flourish, how do we build our lives right now in a way that honors God, when it feels a little bit like we don't know what's coming next?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, I agree, and I don't think that we even have the full answers to that. That's the million dollar question, huh, on some of that. But I do think that the great thing about God is His word is so powerful and it does Address some of these things and so we can look at. One of the stories that we can look at is we can actually look at the Book of Daniel, or the life of Daniel, shadrach, meshach and Abednego, who really were put into Babylon and kind of like put into an again an environment that is anti-God, and how did they flourish? How did they get promoted? How did they Keep Daniel?
Speaker 2:It says, one of the verses says that and he continued through the rule of Cyrus, and, and then you know the other King of Persia, and then never can. So he goes through, you know all of these and he still keeps on being a political leader and ruler. And how does he do it? How does he flourish? And so I think that that's the. I think that that is the balance of trying to figure that out. Rachel is we're not what is? Wizard of Oz says we're not, toto, we're not in Kansas anymore, so we're not in the, the the safety of Christian, christian dumb, that it used to be where even 1962 Los Angeles Times would have a Reading of the Bible. What were you were supposed to read during the week? Well, the LA Times does not post that now. So times have changed and you know prayer out of school, like you were saying, all the opposition against Christianity. But how do we still flourish?
Speaker 2:And I think there's a couple different ways that people naturally react. I think one of their reactions is build a bunker and let's hide and let's save canned foods and Armageddon is coming, and you know kind of a lot, that y2k, all of that. And so it's, it's bunker down, it's hunker down, it's hide from the big bad world and All of that. So that's one far extreme, I think the other Another extreme is like like physical fight. Come on, we are gonna the kingdom of God is taken in the violent, take it by force, totally miss, quote. But you know, then we, we feel like we are somehow we have to physically Fight instead of necessarily spiritually win the war. And so it is.
Speaker 2:It's a tough thing, but what I love about Daniel, shadrach, meshach and Abednego is they weren't defiled. They did not defile their faith, but at the same time, they were ten times better, yeah, and anybody else in Babylon, when it came to Babylonian literature and Mathematics. And so there's this, this how do we? We're in the world but we're not of the world? How do we flourish in Babylon? And I think that that is a consistent walk with the Holy Spirit, and I think it does take a mentality, and I Love I mean, before I read it, rach, why don't you if there's something that jumps out to you? But I do want to read that in Jeremiah 29, of what Jeremiah's letter said to those in Babylon. Maybe that could even Help us with our articulation, help us with our. What kind of attitude should we have? Yeah, and and how should we be thinking for that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that the goal of today is just maybe encouraging fellow believers who really want to get this moment Is in history right, and I think about the scripture that says that the sons of is a car. They had an understanding of the times, and I think that that's what we need. We need to have a prophetic understanding of what's going on and not be afraid of the days that we're in. If we were Swifties, we would call it the Babylon era. If the Babylon era and Honestly, in the natural eye it's pretty disappointing and maybe, like us, it feels like the enemy is winning a few rounds and you're not seeing the victory that you're really believing God to see, and so it can be disheartening and feel like when am I going wrong?
Speaker 1:Where's God in this? You know where's the justice, and I think that that is the wrong path. That's not the path God wants us to take. I believe that God wants us to see him moving in the midst of a lot of, a lot of things that are showing their face in an evil way. I think that we need to be able to have spiritual eyes and see, kind of like Elijah's servant, and he said God, pray that the blinders will come off of his eyes so that he can see that there are more for Than against us, and it is the angel of army, army of angels. You know that there is a spiritual World and that the, the enemy, is losing in that spiritual will world, and we can take comfort in that. And so, how, what is? I love this portion of scripture and what you preached on Sunday, because I do believe it's God's answer for us in today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I loved what you said to. It does. Really, if you have a prophetic word I think Paul talks about, that's how we fight. The fight is, you know, hold on to that prophetic word that was spoken about you earlier. And so when you have that, you know, no, I'm called the flourish. It changes the mindset from being a victim. It changes the mindset of, you know, rapture mentality. It changes the mindset of being a jerk. It changes every kind of mindset about that.
Speaker 2:And then so Jeremiah 29, verse 4, says this is what Jeremiah's letter said. This is what the Lord of Heaven's army, the God of Israel, says to all the captives, he that have been exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem. Build homes, plan to stay, plant gardens, eat the fruit they produce, marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply, do not dwindle away, and work for the peace and prosperity of this city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare. What a powerful, powerful verse. And then, of course, just a few verses down later, it is where God says come on, I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you, plans to give you hope in a future. And so I love so much of that is no, we're going to build houses. Come on, we're not shrinking back. We're not building bunkers no, come on, we're going to plant, we're going to sow, we're going to sow our lives. We're going to sow into the kingdom and we're going to reap a harvest, even in this season. Come on, we're going to have children and we're going to raise those children.
Speaker 2:We just did a podcast not too long ago about disciplining the children. Come on, we're going to train those children and we're going to multiply. They're going to marry other believers Come on, we're going to. And then they're going to have kids. We're not shrinking back. We are growing, establishing. We are anti-culture, but we are going against the grain and we are really doing that. And so I love that. I love the word. Don't dwindle is what the one translation says. Don't shrink back, come on, build. And then you and I have been talking about just back and forth, then trained about, like our city, loving our city and praying for the city and not just closing our eyes or, like you just mentioned, putting the blinders on and not seeing things. Come on, god, give us the answers for the city where the church is the answer for Los Angeles. Come on, flourishing. Church is the answer for our community, not that we just ignore it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know I I I'm very into reading comments more than anything else on posts, and we have this love here just for the comments, oh my goodness, some of the comments on things, but it's just so entertaining and it really shows you the heart of our culture and society too. It was like, wow, people are edgy, there's a little. They need to eat a peanut butter sandwich because they're very hungry.
Speaker 1:But, they are so hungry as well. The world is so hungry that they're getting cranky and we know the answer. And so every time that we choose to build a bunker or to have a little bless me club of people who make us feel safe because they are saying the same things, they're boycotting what we're boycotting. We really are not feeding the need of the hunger, and God has called us to serve a table to the lost and the broken, and we should not be afraid to have sinners at the table. And when we are, we are missing the whole point of why did we get saved and God not just take us straight to heaven, because he doesn't just care about us?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:He cares about the lost and he gave us the great commission for days like these and it's. You know, it would be a lot easier if everyone. It was easy to get people saved, but it's going to take getting dirty, it's going to take crossing over to people that don't think the way we do. Maybe they even hate us because they don't know who our God is yet. And I just think that we have to rise up in boldness and not allow attitude judgment from sinners, whatever it might be, to make us afraid. And we need to begin to start purchasing houses. We need to begin to fill them with good things. We need to begin to reproduce and celebrate the goodness of God even in the middle of darkness.
Speaker 1:And what a better testimony to be peace carriers of the Holy Spirit and being able to say I am unafraid of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I'm not using it as a giant spanking stick to the world. I'm going to exemplify the difference between living for Jesus, following his ways. And then I love what Jeremiah says right there. He says work for the welfare of your city, because it is in their welfare that you will have welfare. So when we invest in the lost, when we don't shrink back from helping where we can help and lighting up the darkness. The Bible says that that's where our blessing comes from.
Speaker 2:How good is that? So good, we can do that, and one of the things that I you're just bringing up that and it just reminds me of as when I was studying, but it's amazing to me the the amount of the Gospel that was preached in the book of Daniel, not from Daniel, and so you actually see in Nebuchadnezzar's case and you also see in the case of when the Persians came in and Daniel, you know, is thrown into the lion's den and he comes out two different times in this and actually a third with Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego. But Nebuchadnezzar writes a decree to the world. He was at that time the leader of the world. At that time he had conquered everywhere and he sends out a decree about how the God of Daniel how the God of the Hebrews was the true God, and so it's amazing.
Speaker 2:So, like on point, everybody gets this thing. And then the same thing happens with I believe it's Darius, and he actually makes a decree in the laws of the Medes and the Persians makes it part of the law that the God of Daniel is the most high God, and it's so. It's amazing because all these young men did so. They decided to not be defiled, they really had faith and lived it, not just talked about it. Come on, there's a difference between, just like you were saying, keyboard ninjas letting comments. I'm talking about death, life I'll choose if it means death over compromise, and it actually resulted in the case of revival, in a sense in the nations, the gospel being promoted from Babylon. So it is. It is a tough season, but it's actually where your gods don't work and our God does, and so it really is the time to flourish in that.
Speaker 1:I love that, and Daniel could have been like you know, when they were all bowing down and he didn't bow down to the idol. You know, it doesn't say that Daniel told them all off. It doesn't say that Daniel even cursed the false gods. It says that Daniel stood for what he knew and in that that was enough. And I think that there's this pressure for Christians to rebuke everyone that's not doing it right, and so you make the world feel as little and as horrible as possible. You become so self righteous in your own righteousness. You know that kind of thing, and Daniel really is a good example to us of he never. He never used his faith or his strength to attack anyone else. He used his faith and strength to stay strong.
Speaker 2:No, it's so good. And then?
Speaker 1:God was glorified and then did the heavy lifting of changing hearts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so true, because Shadrach, meshach and Abednego the terminology that they use to Nebuchadnezzar when Nebuchadnezzar is furious Daniel is probably out on an assignment somewhere else as an emissary, but the three say we're not going to bow. But even the way they say it to him, honorable king, even if we could, we won't yeah, and even if.
Speaker 2:God doesn't show up, still faithful to him. You know what I mean? It was just the way that they use the language as such. A wow, we should reread that.
Speaker 2:And then Daniel, the very beginning when he is addressed, with the conversation with the chief eunuch a, you know? And the eunuch says, no, that'll kill me. Could we try this? Could we be tested in this? Just the honor that Daniel spoke to somebody from a different country, from a different culture, from a different Anti-God and then won him over. Who? We should all Get ahold of that.
Speaker 2:And then, even at the end, when Daniel's thrown into the lion's den, just this Unwavering oh, that's the rule. Okay, I'm gonna go back, open his windows to Jerusalem. So it's not. We're not selling a passive Christianity, we're not trying to somehow some water down. Nope, open up the window. I'm praying towards Jerusalem, I'm praying towards my God, and it's the only fault that they could figure out. How are we gonna trap Daniel? There's nothing can't trap him with the way he does with this money. Can't I'm trap them in relationships, can't trap them in any of this. The only thing that we can trap them in is his Love for God, and that's the only thing that he could found. So I really like what you just said. It's like, oh my goodness, our test. Now's the time. People are looking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people are looking and we have a couple people that we've been really just befriending, loving, praying for being the light, without correcting their sin. And it's what are we, ten years in? And just now they're starting to ask us about the Bible. Just now I bought my friend, who doesn't know Jesus, a Bible, and I'm just teaching her how to have a relationship through the word of God and really seek him for herself. And it took ten years.
Speaker 1:Daniel was such a good example of faith in God, with not instant results and not being afraid of that, and I'm just, I think, knowing that you know, like Paul says, that I might plant the seed of Paul's waters, but it's God who brings the in increase, and it is, I guess. Maybe I just want to encourage you. It's not on you to see the change, but it is on you to be righteous and to trust God, to do the to move the heart of man and even to move the heart of government, and and as we pray, as we stand, as we don't, we don't waver. That's how you flourish in Babylon. And I just want to read this scripture I love that portion of Jeremiah that you read, and this is another portion of Jeremiah that I have Pulled up.
Speaker 1:But it's Jeremiah 32, and I don't even you can read it, because it's the most beautiful portion of scripture. But it's when Jeremiah is thrown into prison. The Babylonians had just taken over and his whole entire city, all the people he loves, is under siege and he's put into prison. And in prison, god commands him to buy property, and, and it's because God is telling him I'm not finished, it's that same, for I know the plans I have for you. They're good plans, they're plans to prosper you. You do have a hope in the future, and he, god, asked Jeremiah to purchase land from prison. And I think that that's a really big key to flourishing in Babylon is to keep dreaming, to keep asking God what the future holds, to keep making decisions.
Speaker 2:So good and.
Speaker 1:I believe maybe a little bit prophetically too, is that it is going to be. While there is the Opposition, while the world feels like our financial world is crumbling and you know, all of these horrible things are happening To the natural, I I believe that in it. If we can stick close to the Lord and listen to his voice and not stop dreaming and building and doing, I believe that God's people are gonna begin to walk into supernatural blessing and and and. As the world begins to crumble, god's people will begin to arise, not because we're better, but because we're living by the principles of the Lord. And there's a big difference. There's fruit in that.
Speaker 2:Oh, and that I mean right there, I think people are fruit inspectors, are looking for that, and so I love the text. That maybe ties into that, for me At least, is where they, when they, the king, examine Shadrach, meshach, abednego and Daniel. It says that they found them ten times better, and Really, that's what should happen in Babylon. When we're in Babylon, we should be 10 times better. Our marriages should be better. Our anxiety, fear, should be better. Our countenance should be better. Our joy should be 10 times better. Come on, our sales, if you're in sales, should be 10 times better. Our companies that we're trying to do, come on.
Speaker 2:Everything that we do, reflecting because of the God inside of us, only exemplifies in Babylon. It doesn't shrink back, it doesn't it? Actually, in Babylon is where we shine the greatest. This is our moment. I love what Peter says and I'm just trying to really soak on. This is the church in Babylon which would really grab my attention to the elect, which is like this is your elect, you've been chosen for this time. Mordecai says it to Esther for such a time as this. So he knew, he knew he's the Holy Spirit. God and Jesus aren't biting their nails in heaven, freaking out at 2024, what's happening in America. They knew before you were even formed in your mother's womb.
Speaker 2:The plan Jeremiah also declares, that is, that he knew where we were gonna live, what era we were gonna live and really knew this is their season, this is the time they are going to shine, and we really do. Lightness is always the brightest out of the dark. You don't really see a flashlight on when it is midday. You can't really tell, like, if your phone flashlight is on. You don't really know during the day that it's on because everything is light, but at night, when it's dark, you know when that thing is on because it's making it. So if we are in a Babylonian era, we're only gonna shine brighter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and our prayer for you is that God would open up and unlock the secrets of heaven, that God's people will walk in divine wisdom and answers that the world just doesn't have, and that's what God wants to use us for is to be the hope to this world and to live differently and to have that. The last thing I would just say, too, is how important community is. There have been moments where I have felt like I wanted to dwindle, I wanted to shrink back in fear, and because of my relationship with Israel, you as my husband just you going that's not what God's called us to start thinking like or acting like and making the wrong decisions out of fear or being tired, and also friendships, and also the church just being planted, you know, planted in the house of the Lord, the righteous flourish. They will bear fruit in every season and they will stay green and fresh even in old age, and that's God's plan for us as we walk through a season that feels like Babylon is the blessing, favor, delight of the Lord.
Speaker 2:I love that and it really does show Shadrach, meshach and Abednego Daniel. You know what I mean. That just it wasn't just a story of Daniel, but it shows the importance of community and you know, I'm sure there were times they strengthened each other. Sure that there were times that it was difficult and the temptation to just like it's just food offered to idols. We don't believe in idols, so we shouldn't. We just do. You know what I mean. But no, come on, let's go for it, let's pray for each other. Supernatural strength. You know I'm struggling with this man. We get ya, and so we're praying for you and let's flourish, let's. You know what scripture I like about all that Rach is. It says let's have grandchildren, so Phoebe and Chloe get married. Well, get married, then get busy.
Speaker 1:And have some kids. Someday we're gonna have the cutest grand babies. I know it, oh my goodness, I can't wait.
Speaker 2:Well, I can't wait because I'm just. Are we too? Are we old enough to be?
Speaker 1:grandparents, I'm ready. Why?
Speaker 2:not, why not? Wow, wow, wow, wow. Okay, email us your comments, let us know. Are we or are we not old enough for grandkids? And I hope you enjoy CamelSoup broadcast. Now, let's you.
