Join Kimberly as she steps into the studio to share an impromptu reflection on the heart of Jesus and our role in expressing his love to the world. Faced with an unexpected responsibility, Kimberly explores the deeper aspects of living life with the fruits of the spirit, urging listeners to align themselves with the pure and clean intentions that Jesus embodies. Discover how simple acts of kindness and releasing assumptions can transform our lives and those around us.
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.
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Welcome to Call to Freedom. Surprise, surprise. This is not Barbara. This is Kimberly. I am live in the studio and I’m actually waiting on Barbara to make it up the elevators. There was a fire alarm testing going on in the building when we got here. And so I decided to climb all the stairs to get to the 12th floor and be here live. Now, my mom did suggest that we go ahead and have Rachel just put an old show on. And I said, I can make it, Mom. It’s okay. Just take the elevators when the alarm is done, when the testing is done. And, you know, I’m just now sitting here and remembering that twice this morning she was reminiscing about being on this radio program with Darren… and how he would just look at her and say, you’ve got the show now. And she would be stumbling over her words and she would say, Darren, why don’t you give me more notice than this? And I’m thinking to myself as I’m alone in this studio right now, mom, are you doing this to me? Did you decide that I’ve got the show all by myself when you said you were going to be here? Well, we’ll find out, won’t we? In the next 25 minutes here, we’ll find out if she actually makes it and shows up in the studio or if I am just on my own. But if you heard the little intro that was given at the top of the hour. I did want to talk about a little boy that I heard about. He was offered the role in a church play and the Sunday school teacher was putting together a little children’s play for Easter. And the role that he was offered was the part of the angel who rolls the stone away from Jesus grave. Well, this little boy didn’t want that role. He said, no, thanks. I’d rather play the part of the stone. Why would you want to be a stone instead of an angel? His teacher asked. because it sure feels good to let Jesus out. And that story really caught my heart. I was just thinking, wow, we want to let Jesus out. We want to let other people see his heart for them, his heart for this world. And so often we talk about his victory. We talk about his miracles. We talk about his goodness. We talk about his righteousness. We talk about his relationship with the Father. We talk about his relationship to Holy Spirit and how he left Holy Spirit here with us when he went away. We talk about a lot when it comes to Jesus. But what about his heart for us? I don’t hear very much about that, and so it’s made me curious. What about your heart for us, Jesus? In 1 John 1-9, it tells us that Christ cleansed us of all unrighteousness. And his heart is to have a pure bride, a clean bride. And that bride will want to, to exercise and to practice the same things that he practiced when he was here. And what did he practice? He practiced kindness and goodness. He practiced the fruits of the spirit. And so that’s what we want to do as his partner for all eternity, as his bride, as his best friend, we want to be well practiced in the fruits of the spirit. So in first John one nine, when it says that Christ has cleansed us of all unrighteousness, well, what’s left if he has cleansed us of all unrighteousness, what is left over? just righteousness, being righteous before him, being clean before him. We’ve been cleansed by him and his work, and he has made us clean. He has made us righteous. He did it by laying himself down, by going all the way to the cross and to an excruciating way of dying. He gave in to betrayal. He did not ever question Judas. Judas, when his closest one to him was ready to betray him, he never even brought it up. He was just ready to take that path. And he left it in the father’s hands to bring correction if correction needed to come at that time. He left the timing of his life in his father’s hands. And that’s what we are to do. When somebody has betrayed us, we don’t, we don’t take the revenge upon ourselves. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. So we don’t take that upon ourselves. We let it happen. And we trust that our father, God, is going to work all things into something better than we ever imagined. And that’s exactly what happened with Christ. He gave his life, laid it down, surrendered not only to betrayal, but to lies. The lies that the religious leaders of that time were telling in order to trap him, in order to keep him from becoming as popular and from growing his ministry here on the earth. Wow. He gave in to all of that, surrendered to it and just said, Father, you will take care of this. All of the betrayal, the lies led to something that looked gruesome and horrible. And God, but God, one of my favorite things to say, but God, he worked it all out. Father, God knows what to do. His righteous then, his righteous decisions to let Father God work it all out, cleansed us, cleansed us from all unrighteousness. And so what we are left with is perfect righteousness in Christ. So. When we really look at that and take it for what it means, what it’s saying and what it really means, we might be confused at what this broken world is looking like. And why is it so difficult and complicated? What makes this world so hard? We do. We make it messy with all of our opinions and our assumptions, our motives, our agendas. And Jesus came without those. He came without his own opinions, his own agendas, his own motives, even his own assumptions of how others live. He came and laid all of that down and did not assume anything wrong. We as human beings have a tendency to assume that we know where others are coming from or why they would do the things that they do in this life. We have that tendency to assume these things, but we can’t do that as new creatures, as new creation beings. This little boy that wanted to let Jesus out because it feels so good to let Jesus out. Yeah, we are like tombs in our darkness as human beings. And in order to let Jesus out, we have to align ourselves with his way of living. And that is with no opinions, no agendas, no motives, no assumptions. It’s with goodness. You know, the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the fruits that Jesus lived by. Goodness is right in there. And when we look at goodness, we want to remember that goodness is about imparting something to this world. It’s about depositing something really beautiful and something good into this world. And that’s what we’re here for. When we deposit the good and trust Father God to bring the harvest that we need, then we let go of our assumptions. We let go of assuming that we know what other people are thinking or why they’re doing something. We were at breakfast this morning. Mom and I just enjoyed each other’s company and she had an omelet and I had a berry almond oatmeal. And when they brought the food to the table, they asked, would you like anything else, any hot sauce? And I let them know that I did not care for any hot sauce on my fruit and oatmeal. And their response was really precious. It didn’t even look delicious. Shocked or surprised at all. Didn’t even say, oh, no, you wouldn’t want that. There was no assumption. He said, I’ve seen weirder things. And so I never know what people might want. And I just smiled because I realized he’s just not assuming. He’s not going to assume that I wouldn’t want hot sauce on my fruit and oatmeal. And maybe some of you do like hot sauce on your fruit and oatmeal. I’ve never tried that. I’ve never even thought to try that. But my my response in this life to other people is what can I do for you? What can I get for you? You want hot sauce on your fruit oatmeal? Okie dokie. Let’s try that. I I’m just using that as an example, but I don’t want to assume anymore what other people might like. There’s too much diversity here. in this world. And there’s so many different backgrounds. We can’t know where people have come from or what they’re really suffering with. People are complex and complicated. And when we just let it be that and take them at their word as they’re telling us what they’ve been through and what they might need, just saying, you know what? I’m feeling for you right now. Let them know they’re seen. I think that’s what Jesus did. When he came, he let every person that he came in contact with know that they were seen and that they were loved, that he cares, that he cares for them. There’s that scripture that we know, the greatest of all, love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength. So give all your energy to him. That’s what Jesus did. And then love your neighbor as yourself. Wow, I would have loved to have been in Jesus presence when he was loving on other people. I would have loved to have seen him love his neighbors as he loves himself. I can’t even imagine how deep that love is, how deep it was when he was here as human, but it still exists. That love has not changed. And that’s the thing that I want to be tapping into, the love that Christ has, what his heart is for you. When you think of the scripture, love your neighbor as yourself, some of our neighbors might be saying to us, please get a revelation on the second part of that verse before you try loving me. Because I don’t think I want you to love me like I like you love yourself. I hope I didn’t get that all confused. Sometimes we need to be corrected in how we’re loving ourself. And when we’re trying to love other people, we don’t do that very well. It’s it’s. It’s so interesting to me to see how hard I am on myself by the way that I respond or react or reach out to others. If I have some assumption there, I’m probably being hard on myself. And so cleaning all of those motives and opinions out of my system helps me love other people, but it helps me love myself better. And some of us are not free to to try hot sauce on our fruit and oatmeal. I’m again using that as an example because I brought it up earlier. Whatever we’ve locked ourselves into, it seems to lock others into that same bondage in the way that we see them and the way that we make assumptions. But Jesus never did that. And he has promised us that new creation life when we were when we accept him, when we know about him. And, you know, there are heart there are heart changes going on all over the world. It’s happening. It’s happening in traffic. It’s happening in the workplace. It’s happening in schools. It’s happening in our neighborhoods. The changes are happening in people’s hearts where people are saying, you know, I don’t think I want to fight anymore. I want to know what it’s like to be in harmony with my neighbors, to be in harmony with other students. We’re all growing weary of the fighting. And Jesus came in peace. He came to show us how to be new creation beings in him. And there are more and more people that are hungry for that. So here is Jesus who comes. I love this little boy that we talked about at the top of the hour who wanted to be the stone that lets Jesus out because it feels so good to let him out. That’s how I want to be responding to other people. I don’t want to lock them into the same bondage that I’ve been in my whole life. I want to let them free to be themselves. He whom the son has set free is free indeed. That’s from John chapter eight. And what is Jesus heart for us? How does he relate to us? You know, in the context of love your neighbor as yourself, he does that better than anyone else. Does he relate to us the same that he relates to Holy Spirit and to Father God? I think that’s an interesting question in itself, because I think of the Trinity and most of the teachings and most of the sermons that I’ve heard seem to keep our triune God in one, oh, maybe just one sphere and then human life and life on this earth and on this planet in another sphere. And it’s two very different realms. But we were made for God. Wow. If you think about that, that means that we have this place with them in relation to them. And the way that Christ relates to us is not that much different. It’s not a whole lot different than he relates to Holy Spirit and to Father God. Now, the triune God might bring up a lot of questions to a lot of people today. And rightfully so. That’s so hard to wrap your mind around. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around. They are three and they are one. Elohim is one of the Hebrew names used for our God. And it’s plural. Yet we hear the Jewish Shema here. Oh, Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is one. So we hear that he is one and he is also God. Revealed to us through God, the father and Jesus came as the son saying, I only speak and I only do what my father tells me. So there were two for sure. And then Jesus promised us he was sending another helper. Holy Spirit. That’s three. So three in one, they have different personalities and evidently they have different strengths and different ways that they operate. Yet they are so harmonized and so in unity, they are one. Why am I bringing all this up? Because somehow we fit into that. We fit into that relationship. Wow. I’m saying wow a lot because I am overwhelmed, truly overwhelmed at this plan, this plan that our God has to make us like him. And I believe when he says that he will make us pure, that he will make us righteous, that our idea of perfection, our idea of pure and clean and righteous is We can’t understand. We don’t know how to have the right definition. We don’t know how to translate that well in our small human minds. So what if he’s really wanting to make us like him in the way that we harmonize and we’re in unity, we’re accepting of one another. And when we see each other, we go out of our way in, it doesn’t have to be anything big, but in one way or another, if you smile at somebody that you normally wouldn’t smile at, that is a way of letting somebody know that you see them. Or if you can do another action. This morning at breakfast that I was talking about earlier, it was really precious. We came in behind someone else who was very, very specific about where they wanted to be sat. That wasn’t available, but they kind of pushed for it. And it was a little flustering for the young hostess. And the young hostess, you could tell… She was being very kind, and she did lead that person to the table they wanted. It was a booth. They wanted a booth because booths are more comfortable than the tables. So she was very kind, the young hostess. And I was just so blessed to watch her because… I knew she was young, and I knew she could roll her eyes. If it was one of my children, they might have rolled their eyes. That’s one of the things that I have noticed about a younger generation, and even my own children have had a tendency to do that from time to time. But this young lady, she just led that person in kindness to the booth they wanted, and she put the menu down, and then we smiled at her. Mom and I just wanted her to know she was seen. And I think it was mom who said, thank you for being so kind and for being patient with those who just really have to have their own way. And that made her feel free to ask us, are you okay with the table? And we were able to say, yes, we’re okay with a table. She felt seen in that moment. And after we had our breakfast, we went ahead and just gave her a tip. We tipped our waitress, but we also tipped this little hostess and said, thank you for being kind to others when maybe you didn’t feel like it. And, you know, she felt so blessed to be seen that she actually wanted to hug me. That was so sweet that a sweet moment of eye contact and then some questions, some personal questions even started coming out and being able to just have that connection in that moment. In that small moment, there was harmony. There was unity. What if that is the likeness that Father God and Jesus the Son and Holy Spirit are looking for in us? Unity and harmony. A willingness to give way to them. To let them have their way and to also be working with others and love others the same way that we love ourselves. I think this is what the little boy meant about letting Jesus out and how good it feels to let Jesus out. Because honestly, we felt really good leaving that restaurant, knowing that we had made a connection with that little hostess and we left joy behind. I really believe that she had enough joy to follow her through the rest of the day to just go, you know what? There are some that you’re never going to be able to please, but there are others who see you. And why not be one of those that stops and says, I see you. I see you. Treating others as we treat ourselves does not mean forcing others to do life the way that you would do it. It means that in every interaction, we pour out the fruits of the Spirit like Jesus did on others. Because we are hungry for those fruits in our own life, we are then abundant in the way that we give those fruits to others, in the way that we bless others. Blessing those who bless you. Sometimes we think we might be left out of the blessing when we receive something and we might feel a direction to give it to someone else. We have a tendency to want to hang on to it. No, this was a gift to me. But you know what? Blessing others. Hmm. The Lord promised that he would bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. That is a promise in the Old Testament. And he said he would do it. Let’s think about blessing others. And when we bless others, God promised to bless us. I think his blessings are abundant. He pours them out abundantly when we choose to bless others. When I think of that in the way that Jesus did it, everywhere he went, he was blessing others, blessing them with a smile, blessing them with a touch, blessing them with healing. And he was so abundantly blessed. He was able to face the darkest situations that this life could ever pour out on any human being. And he was blessed. He was blessed to be able to do that. You know, when it says that the Lord, it blessed the Lord to crush him. There was blessing going back and forth in the way that fathers related to son and son related to father. We are made for them, for him. And we get to participate and partake. in that kind of blessing, blessing those who bless you. God said he would bless them, and I believe that. I know you believe it as well. There’s something about loving yourself So when we talked about loving your neighbor as yourself, you’ve got to find a way to love the way Father God has made you and where he’s put you in life. It could be hard. The situation that you’re in could be really difficult. And you might have had dreams that would have put you in a very different situation in life. That longing that you have to be noticed is that longing to be cherished, that longing to be edified. I believe it is a longing for Jesus heart to come through to you. And when you practice loving yourself, the way he loves you and you get a revelation of how he really loves you, pouring out blessings on you, then you will be able to love him. You will be able to love yourself and you will be able to love others differently. You’ll be able to love with the love that he has given. And that is the main goal. That is what we are really longing for, what we really hope for in this life. Everything else in this world is a distraction because my friend, the best is yet to come. The best is in another realm. And this one is just practice. It’s practicing the presence of God. It’s practicing letting Jesus out so that others can experience the same kind of blessing that he has for them. Thank you for joining me today. I guess we did find out that Barbara was letting me have this all on my own. So thank you for that, Mom. I’m just going to say, don’t do that again. And the last thing that I will say in honor of you, Mom, is take joy.
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