2.24.25 – Focus On Jesus

SPEAKER 02 : 0:09

Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I’m delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let’s join Barbara in the studio.

SPEAKER 01 : 1:03

Oh, on this beautiful day in Denver, Colorado, I hope it is also where you are. Welcome to Call to Freedom. I’m Barbara Carmack, and it’s always a joy to join you, be with you. Those weekends can be very unusual for me. because mostly I am there by myself and the Lord, of course, and Holy Spirit and texting people, but they’re singular. And then I come to the studio and it’s just such a blessing to know that you’re listening and you’re part of what I’m talking about, the message of Jesus Christ. You are the recipient of every promise Jesus came to fulfill. He bridged the gap between you and God’s blessings. May your steps take you in the direction of every good thing he has for you. I love that. Your steps. The steps of a righteous person are ordered of the Lord. That’s Psalm 37, verse 23. The steps of a righteous person are ordered of the Lord. And if you’re in Jesus Christ, you are righteous because God has made you righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ. You’re a winner. You’re ready to go. Praise God. Let’s do our Monday Bible slogan. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I do what it tells me to do. This is my Bible. It has given me new life. Oh, and more and more and more new life. It is the word of God. Praise the Lord. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And thank you so much for supporting Call to Freedom. You can go and donate online at freedomstreet.org, or you can send a donation to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. And Jimmy will give you that again at the end of the program. I was channel surfing a little bit this last weekend, and I saw such a marvelous thing happen at a college basketball game. And for a few seconds, I just watched while Alex Rodriguez, who’s a legendary baseball player, made a half-court basket to win $10,000 for a student. And remember, he’s a baseball legend. And he was standing in the middle of the court. He’s a tall guy. He really is. Very talented. He, in one swish, he made the basket. Well, I’m sure that he was shocked. Because he did a couple of Elon Musks, jumping up in the air and hugging everyone he could hug in the gym. And it was exciting, and especially for the student who ran around the court with him, jumping and cheering, because he got $10,000 for that basket that Alex made. I was thinking, I love to put spiritual thoughts with what’s happening. So my friend, I’m saying, Allow God to be completely God in your life. And I pray for an exciting gift from God to happen to you today as you clear out all the cobwebs of unbelief. Because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And all things are possible to those who believe. Now, I believe that young man who got the $10,000, he was believing that Alex could make that basket. And it was just so exciting to see the whole gem just erupt. with cheers and excitement. So we need to be more joyful in our belief in Jesus Christ. Oh, it is wonderful to know that. Also, this weekend, I had a cousin of mine who I have not talked to. It goes on to apologies, but I had not talked to him. He lives in California for 30 plus years. And since our grandma and grandpa had died, I had not been in touch with him. And he called and he asked about my Aunt Esther, who lives in Greeley, who’s in an assisted living nursing home situation, and she’s 94 years old. And he says, I stay in contact with her weekly, and I’ve been trying to get in contact with her. Do you know anything about Aunt Esther? So I said, no, I don’t. I don’t. I haven’t kept in contact with her. I visited her in the nursing home quite a few times, but not lately. And so I got going on the phone, as maybe some of you do. And I called another cousin, and then I called another cousin, and they didn’t have anything to say about Aunt Esther. Then I thought, you know what? My brother Greg might know something. my cousins who live in Greeley, who actually live in Greeley. So I called my brother Greg, and I said, do you happen to know Jody? Her name is Jody. Jody’s number, because I want to ask her if she’s seen Aunt Esther, because Jody and her sister keep in a weekly contact. They go to see Aunt Esther. And I’m saying all this because God gives us great opportunity. Every time I was talking to a cousin who lives here in Denver, I’m mentioning, oh, well, praise God. Thank you for your information. What an opportunity to talk to you. I’m so sorry I haven’t been in touch with you as the cousin in Denver, I told him. And so I called Greg, and Greg gave me the number of Jodi. And I called Jodi, and I had to apologize to Jodi because I haven’t talked to her for 10 or so years. Oh, my goodness, friend. We have such opportunities to reopen relationships. not only with our families, our biological families, but also with church members and people. So she said, yes, I’ve just been there to see Aunt Esther, and she’s just doing fine. So I went back and I contacted everybody I had been in contact with, and then last night I talked to a cousin also in California. and told her that Aunt Esther is just fine and she’s just as stubborn as ever that’s in our family our family is a lot of strong stubborn people and it’s just wonderful to know that I prayed for my cousin we talked for an hour last night in California about they live close to where the fires were and just thanking God that they had been spared and I prayed for her because she is a caretaker for her mother who has dementia. And I talked to her mother, my aunt, for a while and realized what a daunting task my cousin has. And all of you who are taking care of a relative who has dementia, oh, God bless you. I just could not believe how it’s in a loop. And the questions that she asked me just 15 seconds ago are all again repeated over and over again. So I prayed for her and I thank God for wisdom for her and for patience and strength and peace for her as she takes care of her elderly mother who is 96. She’s 96 and Aunt Esther, they’re sisters, and Aunt Esther is 94. Oh, friend, we have such opportunities if we give God a chance. And I’m so grateful. I got to talk to them. I’m going to be calling them and texting them again and again because we’re getting too old to be apart from each other for too long. And I have been too long with my relatives. So I hope you’re understanding that and in your own way keeping contact with your relatives. Last week, I mentioned Romans 15, 13 as such a wonderful verse. And that’s our verse for this week, Romans 15, 13. And thank you, John, for remembering the Psalm 90, verse 12 that we did last week. And he sent me a little note. Oh, satisfy me with your loving kindness in the morning. Oh, it’s such a beautiful verse. I hope you’re getting these verses down deep inside. Oh, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of Holy Spirit who is in you. Oh, what a great verse of scripture. I’m going to read a little bit from the Passion, Romans 15, verse 13. Now may the God, the fountain of hope. Oh, just imagine a fountain just flowing and flowing and flowing. Fill you with to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super abundance until you radiate with hope. I looked up the word radiate. It means energy, especially light in the form of rays or waves, the hot stars of radiant energy. and to diverge or spread from or as if from a central point, radiating all over the room or radiating all over the area. So may that precious, overflowing joy and perfect peace that you have in Holy Spirit just radiate all over your dominion into the lives of other people. In Jesus’ name, I pray that today. Well, Paul’s ministry goes on in Romans 15. Now, that was the 13th verse in the Passion. And I want to read through the 16th verse as Paul is talking about his ministry and his plans. I know that each of you is stuffed full of God’s goodness. Look, I’m seeing that in you right now. You’re stuffed full of God’s goodness, that you are richly supplied with all kinds of revelation knowledge and that you are empowered to effectively instruct one another. Yes, we need to listen to one another. And because of the outpouring of God’s grace on my life to be his minister and to preach Jesus, the anointed one to the non-Jewish people, that’s us folks. that have received Jesus. Now we are known as Jewish. I have written rather boldly to you on some themes, reminding you of their importance. And verse 16 of Romans 15 says, For this grace has made me a servant of the gospel of God, constantly doing the work of a priest. For I endeavor to present an acceptable offering to God so that the non-Jewish people of the earth may be set apart and made holy by the spirit of holiness. It’s our words of encouragement that really amount to something, friends. It really is. When you just have a joyful spirit in speaking to one another, they will realize that you’ve got something different. What is it? You are different. What makes you different? Then you have an opportunity to tell people, it’s God. It’s God in my life. I depend on him every day. and it will awaken them. According to Ephesians 1.18, the eyes of their heart are going to be enlightened. The spirit of holiness, which Paul is talking about, is alive in you today. You may feel strange at some of the thoughts and actions that you have. You may not understand what’s happening in your life, but Jesus has you and wants to enlighten you with a power that only comes from Holy Spirit. I say the verse from Ephesians 6.10 quite often. I am strong in the Lord and in the strength or power of his might, realizing now more than ever that it’s God who is at work in me. Nothing of mine works unless God is working. My legs don’t work. My arms don’t work. My voice doesn’t work without God working in me, getting rid of those cobwebs of unbelief and hypocrisy from a religious upbringing. Not that my folks were at fault anymore, but I believe, friend, that his Holy Spirit is pouring out fresh anointing in these last days that we have to take care of some of the stuff that has come into our souls and our spirits from the false teaching that we received when we were younger. And so, boy, God is really working on me. Holy Spirit is getting rid of some of that stuff that has just been embedded deep down in me. And I am so grateful. This weekend I was saying, oh, God, thank you. Thank you that I am worth you working in me. So I’m praising him today for his work in shaking us free from condemnation and pharisaical viewpoints. Oh, there’s a shaking going on. I hope you’re realizing that. It’s like when I was in college, I tried some body surfing at Malibu. And wow, with every wave, when you go out with every wave coming in, you just relax and let your body, let that wave just take your body into the beach. And so that shaking going on is kind of like that. You’re just allowing Holy Spirit to just let you go freely, let you wave after wave, let you go freely. It’s wonderful to know that that shaking is for your good. That shaking isn’t for anything bad, but for your good. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4, 17 and 19, it’s judgment time for Christians. We’re first in line if it starts with us. And judgment, I think, also it implies with a shaking, as I was just talking to you about. As it starts with us, think what it’s going to be like for those who refuse God’s message. If good people barely make it, what’s in store for those who refuse Jesus Christ? So if you find life difficult because you’re doing what God said, take it in a stride. Just relax and take it in the stride. Trust him. He knows what he’s doing, and he’ll keep on doing it. Well, I pray he’ll keep on training me and getting rid of the junk in me until Jesus comes back. God has given us promises of a life growing up in his image and likeness. And that’s something we should look forward to every day. More of him in our lives. In fact, Ephesians 2.6 tells us, and I’m reading from the message. I go back and forth from the living to the new American standard to the message because I really like those translations. And Ephesians 2, verse 6 says, “…it wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin, in a pit of despair that you yourself could not get out of. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living…” That’s true. “…the world doesn’t know the first thing about living for Jesus, and you let them tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief and then exhaled disobedience.” We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with a whole lot of us. I love this. He is such a gracious and merciful God. Verse 4 of Ephesians 2 says, In mercy and amazing love. And he embraced us with that. Mercy and amazing love. He took our sin dead lives. And made us alive in Christ. He did all of this on his own. With no help from us. Hello. Then he picked us up and set us down in the highest heaven. In company with Jesus our Messiah. So my friends. We are seated in the heavenly places. In Christ Jesus. I know that doesn’t seem like we are in heavenly places. Sometimes in this life. But we are far more blessed with the life of Jesus who has given us all these wonderful attributes, joy, peace, righteousness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, than the world has. The world doesn’t have that. So I’ve put aside the life shadowed with shame and guilt and realized Jesus’ righteousness in my righteousness. I go boldly to the throne of God, anticipating his love and grace in my life and canceling all that I used to be. My identity was in fear and guilt and inferiority and unworthiness, but I’ve laid all that aside and continue to receive from him his acceptance of me and you, my friend, in the beloved.” And it’s vital that you not only know who you are, but who you are serving as a believer. Not only who you are, we’ve got to stop focusing on ourselves sometimes, and we have to focus on the one who created us and is working in us. Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament as the cornerstone. And this verse in Psalm 118, verse 22 and 23 is quoted over seven times in the Bible. Most quoted verse in the whole Bible. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, not our Lord, not our doing, but God’s doing. And it’s marvelous in our eyes. And Isaiah confirmed this marvelous life giving verse in Psalm 118 with Isaiah 28, verse 16 and 17. Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says. Look, I am placing a foundation, a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken. I will test you with a measuring line of justice and the plumb line of righteousness. So God is working in his justice and in his righteousness to bring forth a wonderful result on this earth, friend. We can’t do this. It’s not within our power, but he can. Since your refuge is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it’s made of deception, and he’s talking about then what was happening in Jerusalem. Since it’s made of deception, a flood will sweep it away. God is speaking to, through Isaiah, a rebellious and stubborn people who will not acknowledge him, nor will they acknowledge the Messiah when he comes. Oh, I remember. The scene of the huge hole in the ground when Darren and I went to New York City. And we went to where the World Trade Center had been. And we visited that city with Kurt and Kathy Grosser. They were such wonderful guides, wonderful hosts. And I’m grateful that all of the giant hole was all that was left. They didn’t start building at all. It was just a huge hole. They had built scaffolding up above the hole. And the World Trade Center was built entirely on a landfill. As a result, the site’s foundations, including those of the Twin Towers, had to extend down to the bedrock about 70 feet below street level. During construction, workers removed more than one million cubic yards of soil and rock from the site. New York City used this landfill to help build Battery Park City, a neighborhood directly west of the World Trade Center. When Darren and I looked at the deep hole in the ground, which covered more than two Disneyland sites. We wept. There was nothing else we could do. There were people with us on that scaffolding that were just weeping. There was an atmosphere of mourning, and we couldn’t contain ourselves. We just wept. So Jesus is truly our rock, our cornerstone, our bedrock foundation on whom we stand. I would like you to listen to Cody Karn’s Firm Foundation.

SPEAKER 03 : 20:39

Christ is my firm foundation The rock on which I stand When everything around me is shaken I’ve never been more glad That I put my faith in Jesus Cause he’s never let me down. He’s faithful through generations. So why would he fail now? He won’t. He won’t. I’ve still got joy in chaos. I’ve got peace that makes no sense. So I won’t be going under. I’m not held by my own strength. Because I’ve built my life on Jesus. He’s never let me down. He’s faithful in everything. Christ is my firm foundation, the rock on which I stand. When everything around me is shaking, I’ve never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. Rain came and wind blew But my house was built on fire I’m safe with you. I’m going to make it through. Rain came and went through, but my heart was built on you. I’m safe with you. I’m going to make it through. My house was built on you. And I’m safe with you. I’m gonna make it through.

SPEAKER 01 : 25:09

Oh, praise God. We’re going to make it through, friend. We’re going to make it through. I hope your spiritual foundation is built on Jesus Christ because it’s just better than any other belief system in this whole universe. Jesus said in Matthew 7, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them. And we know that in James 1, it says, be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. There are a lot of people who listen to the word, hear the word, but are they doing the word? And he says, “…will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And then the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house. But it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. It was on the bedrock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house. And I’ll tell you, the storms of life will come. They will come.” And it fell and great was the fall of it. But when you hang on to Jesus, you hold on to him. He’s your spiritual foundation. Nothing can separate you from God’s love and what he is doing in your life. Oh, what a promise we have, my friend, that he will direct everything that you do every minute of every day as you depend on him and trust in him. Oh, it’s been so good to be with you today. Got more to talk about this week. So join me every day on Call to Freedom. God bless you and take joy.

SPEAKER 02 : 27:00

Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. You may get in touch with Barbara at Call to Freedom, Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may leave your message at 1-877-917-7256. Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Our partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom’s website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara’s daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.

SPEAKER 1 : 28:27

Thank you.