In this inspiring episode, listeners are invited to reflect on the essence of humility and shame, as viewed through the biblical lens. Through engaging dialogue and real-life examples, the episode sheds light on the transformative power of God’s love, encouraging believers to open the corners of their hearts to Him. It also addresses the modern challenges of discernment in generosity, urging listeners to seek a closer, more profound connection with God in these trying times.
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 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom. So good to have you join us today. And Kimberly is going to continue teaching. I love her teaching. I’m so grateful. I know that if Darren or her father would see her teaching today, they would say, yes, I knew she had a calling on her heart. Well, for you listening, may this day reveal God’s love for you. In a small way, maybe seeing a beautiful flower or in a large way, somebody coming in and testifying to you personally that you are such a blessing to them. Yeah, that’s God revealing his love for you. And as you walk in the blessings he gives you, may you know the fullness of his joy. In his presence is fullness of joy. And at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. I’m so thankful for David and all his psalms that he wrote because I go over them all the time. And it’s such a blessing to do that. We have a verse of scripture that I haven’t done since Tuesday. So I just want to tell you and remind you of the memory verse here. Romans 1, 16. And it says, as it is written but the righteous man shall live by faith and why are we supporting israel because it says it right here in the 16th verse of romans 1. it’s the jew that brought us the wonderful example of god’s love and grace and mercy and jesus remember jesus was a jew yes or is I should say is he’s raised from the dead. And so we honor the Jewish people and we honor the state of Israel. And that’s why our president today, President Trump, is so adamant about supporting Israel in every way that he can. I’m so grateful for that because the previous administration did not honor Israel. And, oh, that’s such a bad, bad decision to make. In the message translation, Romans 1, 16 says, It’s good news I’m most proud of to proclaim this extraordinary message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with the Jews and then right on to everyone else. Isn’t that marvelous? Praise the Lord. Well, I still heard, when I talked to Kimberly today, I still heard pounding in her home, but it’s going to look, I mean, it looks beautiful already. You should see her home, but she’s going to have… An extraordinary floor put down pretty soon. And so we are. We hope it’s soon. We might take a little time and that’s OK. We’re just enjoying the process at this point. Yeah. Yeah. The process is even good.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, it really is. It’s a beautiful process.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I think that’s what we all need to be patient with is the process in each one of us that leads us to salvation because it is, it’s a sanctification kind of process. We have been saved. The salvation is done. The sanctification is a process that is becoming more like our Lord, getting to know him. And knowing that he knows us inside and out. I think because the human being loves to hide things, we think we’re still hiding ideas, hiding thoughts, hiding. We think we can hide if we just don’t talk about it. If we just avoid talking and avoid connecting with people, we’re hidden. And that’s the basic idea of the natural human for the natural human. to think that we’ve got dark places and hidden closets and corners of our lives, nooks and crannies, right? And that’s just not true. Our Heavenly Father knows every single nook and cranny. He knows every closet. He knows every corner of our life. And learning to be open and talk about all those corners and nooks and crannies.
SPEAKER 01 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 02 :
We don’t even know exactly what a nook or a cranny is, but our Father God does. And he loves us to be open with him. And when we open up and really talk with him, bring things out into the light, we are then in a process of knowing him more and more, better and better, growing closer. And that’s the kind of knowledge that we had started talking about yesterday. It’s the kind of knowledge that is the beginning. It’s the beginning of intellect and education and reason and science. Those things are great. I enjoyed learning when I was in school. I actually enjoyed learning the math and the science and having education. But it never brought me satisfaction or real joy or a deep peace. It never brought me that. I think I felt like I conquered something when I learned it well. calculus well. I felt, yes, I conquered this. It felt really great. But that’s more of a competitive, always trying to get higher, better. It’s not this deeply satisfying and fulfilling feeling.
SPEAKER 01 :
Kimberly, I think that most of us Well, I could say maybe 95% of us, we have such judgment against ourselves, especially when it comes to the past. Well, I’m not going to touch that decade. That was a miserable failure in my life. When God is saying, these are all stepping stones. I’m getting to know you. I’m getting to know how you react to everything that happens. Are you doing it with joy or are you trying to close that closet door and say, no, I’m never going to look in there again. And sometimes we do that to ourselves. And that is so sad. That’s good.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s pride, right?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Humility needs to be practiced. We open that door and look at it again and talk about it again to practice humility because our God is a humble God. He’s a very humble God. And we were made in his likeness and in his image, but everything about our flesh wants to oppose him. So the pride in us doesn’t want to look at it. He’s just waiting for us to talk humility. and look at it with him. He wants us to practice that humility. Even in Romans 1, you started out with Romans 1.16, I’m not ashamed of the gospel. Not ashamed. Yes, we can despise shame. That’s what Jesus did. What does that mean? He became shame.
SPEAKER 01 :
He actually became shame himself so he could carry our shame. And he took it all. Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
yes yes uh when you despise something you you don’t adopt it into your life you don’t let it control you or rule over you when you despise it you you toss it aside you throw it aside you throw it in the trash when you despise something you know when i despise the rotten food that’s in my refrigerator i throw it in the trash and that’s what he did really he took our trash
SPEAKER 01 :
And he threw it away. He became that curse. We can’t even define that, Kimberly. We can’t even explain that. It’s beyond all our comprehension what he did.
SPEAKER 02 :
So he was not ashamed to take on the shame. That’s how he despised it. He despised the shame by not being afraid to take it on.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
for us so that we could be free. And then we need to learn how to walk with him with no shame. That means talk with him. That means open these areas up. These old closet doors, open them up. These old corners and secrets, the things that have been hidden, open it up. It’s the power of God for salvation when we believe that we’re loved by him. Yes. Fully loved. He knows the whole mess and we are completely and fully loved in the whole mess. He’s not waiting for us to clean it up. He already did. He did it. Yes, he did it.
SPEAKER 01 :
It is finished.
SPEAKER 02 :
Romans 1 16 went on to say is starting with the Jews. It was for the Jews first and then spreads out to all the nations. Right.
SPEAKER 01 :
Mm hmm.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I find that part interesting, too, because if we say it’s starting with the Jews, well, maybe I shouldn’t go too deep into these thoughts. But if we say that, we’re talking about a people who know that they’re God’s people. And sometimes that can cause us to think as human beings, well, I’m better than you because I’m God’s person and you’re not. that too is leading us to practice humility. It wasn’t given to us first, and I’m talking like I’m Jewish and I’m not, so I apologize.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, you are in part because you have accepted Jesus. Yes, spiritually, yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, but I don’t want to offend any of my Jewish brothers and sisters. When we know that God has blessed us, it is so that we can bless others. It is not because we have some special status that others will never have. And we need to be given those eyes. We can’t have them for ourselves. We just have to ask for them. Lord, give me your eyes for your people. Help me bless others the way you bless others. No one is more blessed than the creator of the universe. And he’s constantly pouring out generous blessings on others. That’s right. And this is… The picture of knowledge and being known, the way that he connects himself in such a loving, familiar way, that’s the kind of knowledge our Lord delights in. It’s complete. It’s satisfied. There’s fulfillment in it, and we feel fulfilled. Yada was that Hebrew word yesterday. It’s that knowledge that is loving and being loved. And you cannot separate this kind of knowledge from love. The kind of worldly knowledge, on the other hand, involves reason, intellect, analysis, education. It’s controlling. It can be competitive. Trying to get to the top, know the most, having the best degrees, right? Yes. Wanting to prove a fact or a process. It challenges theories and laws. But the knowledge that we really want to lean into is God’s kind of connected and loving and familiar knowledge that wants to bless others. The kind that won’t let go. Like that song we were listening to yesterday. Yes. You know, you see the mess inside me. Yes. I don’t have to hide. I’m fully known and loved by you. You won’t let go no matter what I do. It’s a beautiful song. That was Torrin Wells that sang the song Known yesterday. If you want to go back and listen or look up the song Known on YouTube. by Torin Wells. Beautiful, beautiful lyrics. And a great reminder that God’s kind of knowing does not separate us out in a competitive way. Like I know you’re a better baseball player than you. So I’m going to choose this one over here for my team. That’s not God’s kind of knowing.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right. That’s right, because in Romans 2, the next chapter from Romans 1.16, in the 11th verse it says, God, there is no partiality with God. God is not a partial God. Well, like you were saying about teams, well, you go on this team and you’re on this team because you don’t know as much. God deals with each and every one of us in such a wonderful, clear way that explains everything so we can walk with him. without any doubt or fear or unbelief. Praise God.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. He won’t let go. It’s a tight grip. It’s a tight kind of communion. And we might try to hold on to him, but our grip is just not as strong as his. Mm-hmm. If you would picture a two-year-old with me wanting to get his feet wet in the ocean, he might wade in on his own at first. Never on their own, right? We don’t let our two-year-olds just go running into the ocean. But the parent will be right there next to him, and he might not want help at first. And he’s just walking into the wave. But as the waves get stronger and deeper and rush up onto him, it’s instinctive for that little one to grab on, you know, grab for the shorts or somebody’s hand to hold on to, to steady them. And as the waves continue to grow in strength, that child will not have enough of a grip to keep his head above water. It’s the strength of his father that ensures his safety. It’s the way his father’s holding on to him and making sure that his head stays up above the water. That’s how it is with our Lord. He’s the one who ensures our steps as we come to him, asking to be known and to know him more. And yesterday, I think I mentioned in John 6, 37, Jesus says that this is the section that Jesus is talking about being the bread of heaven that comes from heaven in John 6. And he says that everyone whom the Father gives to him will come to him. He will embrace them. He will hold on to them and never cast them out. That’s right. The message says, once that person is with me, I hold on and I don’t let go. I love that picture. This is the kind of knowledge that we’re talking about. It’s unbreakable. It’s strong. It’s so full of love. It’s connected to love in a way that the earthly kind of knowledge could never be connected. This picture of being known, the kind of knowledge that Father God delights in. We were talking about that in Hosea yesterday. That the Lord says in Hosea 6.6, I delight… in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s so much more than education. That’s right. I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Yes. Yes. Yes. God wants a relationship with us. And not a distant relationship. He wants it close up. Yes. That’s right. Connected and familiar. Like at these White House briefings when Caroline Leavitt comes in, you know that she’s going to bring them an up-to-date report. And if they ask her questions that she hasn’t discussed with President Trump, she says, I am not going to discuss that because we haven’t talked it over. I mean, such a close relationship with the president that she doesn’t want to undo or get confused or mixed up with anything that isn’t his will. That’s what we need to do, Kimberly. Go to God and say, Father God, I want to do your will. I don’t want to walk outside your will. So show me what you want. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, that’s so good. I’m glad you brought it up that way because I think some people are afraid to really open up because they don’t want all their dark things exposed to other people.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
But when we go to the Lord and we say, you know what? I don’t want to hurt your heart. I don’t want to hurt your heart. Really? You can turn that back around on you, and he is looking at you saying, yeah, I don’t want to hurt your heart either. Yes. It’s a two-way relationship. It’s so closely connected to love that when we let God know us and we know him, really well neither one want to hurt each other and so that kind of knowing is how we grow in love it it supersedes our iq and any degree of education that we could ever earn in this world it’s so above reason and the things that make sense because having a high iq or any level of degree in education may give us some kind of satisfaction but it’s never Never the kind of fulfillment and delight that we can experience in knowing our Lord and letting him know us. That delight is bonded with a deep sense of peace and an abundant joy. There’s a calm where you just know you’re connected in the best way.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right. It says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 16, when you think that you’re a dummy or unworthy of wonderful rewards from God or blessings, he says, Paul says, but you have the mind of Christ. So, you know, did you ever get your IQ tested and did you know your IQ?
SPEAKER 02 :
Long time ago, and I don’t remember the numbers now, and I don’t know that I care to remember.
SPEAKER 01 :
No, some people, they just spout, well, I’ve got 145, I’ve got 150. Yeah, I never found out my IQ. But some people think they are dummies when they are, as you were saying, as God gave Daniel and the three teenagers this intelligence and the ability to do things, stay close to him. But he gives all of us that spiritual knowledge we need to draw closer to the greatest brain in the whole universe. That’s God himself. Right.
SPEAKER 02 :
And Daniel never did anything without praying. Read the book of Daniel. Study Daniel. He never did anything without praying and asking the Lord. And he believed. He believed. That’s that Romans 116. That’s the power of God for salvation for all who believe. Yes.
SPEAKER 01 :
A lot of people go into the book of Daniel looking for last day prophecy. And they do. They direct all their thoughts to the days that are coming ahead of us. I have never heard… a teaching of how committed Daniel was to God and learning directly from him. I’ve never heard that.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I’m glad you brought it up in this context because for the last days, we’ve got to be deeply connected with God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
And that’s what it’s going to take. It’s not going to take some scheme, some idea, some process. It’s going to take fellowship and communication with the Lord, connection with him. That’s what it’s going to take.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Amen. Wow. We had a lady, I shared this a couple weeks ago, that visited our choir at our church. She showed up in the choir rehearsal on Wednesday night and she told us her story and, you know, vehicle broken down and had been needing, because of health issues with her son, just needing some finances and But mostly needing prayer is how she put it. And we were delighted to pray over her. And it really felt like Holy Spirit had his way in that time of prayer. She really broke down and cried. And then there were hugs from everyone. She actually said to us, she’s never been hugged this many times in her whole life. And then there were some of us that were blessing her with money too. Our pastor congratulated us for pouring out love and support so generously. So I love our pastor that he wants us to know he loves us to be generous and supportive. At the same time, he informed us that there are organized circles and it is an organization of people who they they go from city to city and the different parts of the city. And once they have used up that city, then their next step. crew comes in. And it’s people that know each other. And the next crew comes in and they move on and it’s kind of triangulated here. I guess there’s a city over in Missouri and then here Tulsa area and then up in Kansas City.
SPEAKER 01 :
They learn how to be professional beggars. Yes. They do.
SPEAKER 02 :
And they all have their story of broken down vehicles and health issues and they’re looking for that next handout, right? Well, As we were being taught about the organization, this question came up in my mind, should we be spending our energy or our time discerning these scams? And should we call them scams? So I’m putting these questions out there because I’m if you’re listening, if you’ve tuned in and you’re listening, my email is Kimberly at Freedom Street dot org. And I would like to know what you think. Should we spend time trying to discern whether or not these are scams? Should we even call them scams? As a church, our church here supports different mission centers that will stock up on resources that are needed for those who are hungry and those who need shelter during inclement weather. I know you have Denver Rescue Mission. You mentioned that to me. We have one called John 316 and another one called Restore Hope. Okay. So there are places that these people can go to when they’re hungry. In the course of giving out all this information, though, there was a suggestion that these people get jobs. And I tend to feel like that’s not really an idea anymore. that could hold water. I don’t think it’s sustainable for all, not for many of them. When you’ve been raised on the streets, you do not have any kind of consistency that could train you to be in a job that is scheduled and routine. A lot of these people were never even raised in school. They didn’t have the routine of school and they didn’t have community of school. So not knowing how to be in community, how to be in a routine or in any kind of schedule, that would be really difficult to be thrown into a job and expected to perform.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. And I think a lot of these that we’ve seen on the streets, they have physical weaknesses or disabilities that would interfere with trying to hold down a job. And then some of it is mental, mental issues too that would impede trying to work. So I look at these situations and I’m thinking, well, being a part of an organization, wouldn’t that be considered a job? So I guess I would like to hear from you listeners that just heard me talking about that. It’s a job. And do we continue to be generous to those that are in these organizations? Or do we see it as a scam and try to discern where the scams are happening and then cut those off? What do you think? How would the Lord lead us in these last days?
SPEAKER 01 :
Really interesting, Kimberly. You’ve left us. Right at the last live show. So, you know, go to Kimberly at Freedom Street dot org and tell her about these professional beggars. Is that their job or should we look into it more? Jesus would know, wouldn’t he? God bless you and keep you and take joy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. You may get in touch with Barbara at Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, 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. Power 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.
