1.7.25 – Love the Lord Above All Else

SPEAKER 02 : 0:10

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 : 1:04

Welcome to Call to Freedom. It’s such a joy to have you join me today. And after the snow that we got, I’m sure that some of you got snow also. And I know that Kansas got snow on Sunday, so it’s winter, folks. It’s winter. So I’m glad you’re tuned in to Call to Freedom. I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. That’s from Ephesians 3, 17 and 18. Oh, love those verses, don’t you? The whole book of Ephesians is about God building up the church in his love, and I love that. reading that book over and over again. I remember one time we delivered a piano, a grand piano to Lamar, Colorado. And so I went with John because it was a long trip. and we were in the truck, and I read the book of Ephesians to him, and we talked and discussed the whole book. So I will always remember that time in reading the whole book of Ephesians to my wonderful husband, John Wells. Praise God. You are blessed to dispense, for in him you live and move and have your being. And if you’d like to listen to previous radio programs, you can go to freedomstreet.org, one word lowercase. And you can also give donations online at and just hit that little Donate button on the homepage of Freedom Street. And I send receipts out every month because, you know, some of you precious people may be given an offering once a year, and I want to make sure that you get it, so that’s why I do it once a month. And some of you precious people, I call you power partners, and you are giving to Call to Freedom every month. God bless you. I love that. And it’s a wonderful thing to know that people are covering you not only in prayer, but also in giving. Oh, that’s wonderful. Meeting. The meeting is this Saturday, the Lord willing. I know we’ve had some months that we’ve had to cancel because of the snow, but I’m praying that it will be good. January the 11th, this Saturday. And the Lord is just inviting us to leave all of the past behind and come singing songs of praise to the Father. And we’re going to have Bible study that will really bless our hearts and keep us motivated to serve Jesus this year. And if you’d like to stay for lunch, I’ll be fixing my cowboy stew. And it’s really good. Carrots and potatoes. chunks of meat and oh it’s just a super stew and if you’d like to bring a side dish and your name begins with a through m bring a salad or finger food and if your name begins with n through z bring a dessert and we’ll start the new year with fellowship and a really good time together call me for reservations at 1-877-917-7256 god bless you And it’s it’s just always I love coming to the radio station. I really do. It’s just a blessing for me every day. And it’s it’s I hope you’re enjoying. I hope you’re enjoying the word of God that Holy Spirit gives me every day to say on the air because he is my messenger and he’s my teacher. And he’s the one that tells me what to write. So when I’m in the office just typing away, he’s actually telling me what to type. I don’t know how he does it. Oh, but he’s wonderful. Our verse for this week is from the Message Translation, Genesis 17, 1 and 2. When Abram, remember he wasn’t Abraham till later here. When Abram was 99 years old, God showed up and said to him, I am the strong God. Live entirely before me. Live to the hilt. I’ll make a covenant between us and I’ll give you a huge family. And wow, did he give Abraham a huge family. And we’re part of that, friend. We’re part of that. And from the Passion Translation, Genesis 17, 1 and 2, when Abram was 99 years old, Yahweh appeared to him again and said, I am. Remember the I am that I am in Exodus 3 is just so important for us to imagine. I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. I am the God who is more than enough, El Shaddai. live your life in the present and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants. I know right before our program, I’m going to be reading a verse from Mark 12 for Tim Tebow, his devotion. And I’m I’m just kind of enjoying reading some of the pages of Tim Tebow’s devotion called Mission Possible. And right before the program today, Tony Perkins was talking about Deuteronomy 6, 4, Shema. And that was the Jewish’s most important verse of scripture in the Old Testament, to love the Lord, their God, with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their might. And then Jesus brought it into the New Testament. And Tim Tebow quoted it from Mark 12, 30 and 31. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. No other commandments in the whole word of God. To love the Lord your God with all your heart. And I’m going to be reading about he first loved you. So that love, that wonderful source of love came from your heavenly father. And Tim Tebow goes on to say the dictionary defines purpose as the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc., Purpose is a word that is often thrown around in Christian churches, goes right along with assignment in life. But when it comes to defining what our purpose is as human beings on earth, the answer can be confusing. Does it have to do with a vocation? Is it related to an inborn skill? Or is it a dream that has been burned into our hearts ever since we can remember? And I believe I’ve told you that when I was four years old, I was put up on a platform in church and And I sang away in the manger. So I’ve known how to sing from the time I was a little baby. And I know Dana and Kimberly were singing with us when we went full time into singing across the United States. Dana was two years old. So Dana has had this purpose of being a person who is joining herself with others. She’s so much of a people person now. And she’s saying for so many years, I know that the times change, the seasons change, but our dreams are burned into our hearts by Father God and Holy Spirit. When Darren wrote his book, Seven Steps to Inner Freedom, he laid out a simple explanation of what our purpose is on this earth. And he says here, so God laid this out in the spirit. And in a couple of days, I had it. This was Darren. He was asking God all these questions and he had it in a couple days. This teaching will set many of you free. You’re trying to find your identity and your blueprint for life. And this teaching will help you do that. You may be asking, what is identity and what is my blueprint? Identity is who you are. and what you were created to be that’s your identity god gave you a specific special identity all of you and it goes along with that gifting as you mature in the church And your blueprint, the blueprint is your vocation in life. Like, for instance, Rachel is a producer of a radio station, so that’s her vocation. Who she is may be totally separate from what she does every day. I don’t know, Rachel. Do you know? Well, now I’m all about my puppy. Okay. All right. And see, the seasons, we change with the seasons in our life. And so that’s wonderful. I’m glad you’re enjoying Meadow. Praise the Lord. And it’s simple. Yes, you have a true identity and a blueprint for success. Tim Tebow goes on to say, one thing is certain. Oh, I love that. Oh, I love that. How can we do that? By taking to heart and putting into action the words of Jesus to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourself. Finding your purpose starts with knowing God through his son, Jesus Christ. It’s also about loving your neighbor. Who is your neighbor? Everyone you come in contact with. is your neighbor everyday when you arm mixing in the crowds in the traffic in the grocery stores in your work and all those things everyone you see i’m coming uh… into that view of praying for everybody that i come across i’m praying for the trash man when they came by this morning i prayed for them i’m praying for the people whose who uh… cleared my driveway from the snow I am beginning to really focus and set my sights on the people every day that come into my world and improve my world. Just think if we didn’t have trash and our trash just piled up and began to smell. Oh, my goodness. I know there have been strikes like in New York City and the trash just piled up. Oh, I couldn’t handle that. Could you? So we’ve got to pray for those neighbors that help us and bless us. and finding purpose in God and through Jesus Christ by loving our neighbor. And before your mental and spiritual wheels start churning and searching for your individual purpose, begin to live out your macro purpose. How can I love God and others well this week? And the apostle John told us very specifically that God is love, and before we loved him, he loved us. And John is the one who wrote the book of John. Oh, beautiful, beautiful description and insight into knowing Jesus and the Father God as one. Also, he wrote 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and also he wrote the book of Revelation. Yeah, he was busy. And in Revelation, he was alone on the Isle of Patmos. See, we’ve got seasons in our lives. John was very busy when he was an apostle and writing the books. Then they threw him into Patmos alone and deserted. He was exiled there by the Romans. And he wrote the book of Revelation because God gave him this beautiful vision about our time. Yes, our time soon. So 1 John 4, 9 through 19 tells us, this is how God showed his love for us. And I’m reading from the passage. Excuse me from the message translation. God sent his only son into the world so we might live through him. See, your salvation is all about Jesus. You may say, well, I went down to the altar or I went here to this conference and I came. I went up front and I found Jesus. But it was God showing you who Jesus was. It was God revealing Jesus Christ to you in your heart. This is the kind of love we’re talking about, John goes on to say, not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. Yes, our sins did damage. There was a wall between us, a wall of what King James calls love. The enmity, which was a division between God and us. We were so sinful. And God thought, I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to make a plan here so that when something happens, their behavior isn’t going to mark them, isn’t going to be their identity. So now we have an identity in Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. Verse 11 of 1 John 4. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us and his love becomes complete in us. Perfect love. You cannot know that friend with your relationships in this life. They aren’t perfect. God’s love, agape love is perfect. And you find that once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior. Verse 13 of 1 John 4 says, this is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him. Yes, steadfast, steadfast every day, steadfast in him and he in us. He’s given us life from his life, from his very own spirit. And it’s Holy Spirit in you who goes into the very depths of God’s mind every day for you. He’s going every day to see what God has planned for you for that day. I love that. It’s 1 Corinthians 2, the second chapter. It’s about the 10th and 11th verses, how he goes into the very depths of God on your behalf. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. I’m really in awe. I’m kind of in shock that whenever Donald Trump says anything about anything, a country, whatever it is, I mean, there is change. The other day when he was talking about Trudeau, who is the president of Canada, that he could be the governor and president. Canada will be the 51st state. Well, guess what? Trudeau, he retired. He’s not going to be anymore the president of Canada. I’m thinking, wow, Lord, things happen so quickly. I mean, my mind is a spin with everything that’s going on. And it’s because Holy Spirit is working his work because of your prayers, because of all of our prayers that God would do something for the United States of America. Oh, and we’ve seen ourselves and continue to change and see our state, the state of where we are, our identity that is in the father. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well. We’ve embraced it heart and soul. This love that comes from God. God is love. When we take a permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us so that we’re free of worry on judgment day. That’s right. If God called us tomorrow, we’re free of that fear of judgment day. Because we’re in Jesus Christ. We’re standing in the world and we’re identical with Christ. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling and a fearful life, fear of death, fear of judgment is one not yet fully formed in love. See, one who is full of fear, full of condemnation, they’re not fully formed in love. And we must pray for them that they will find that God of love. We, though, are going to love, love and be loved. First we were loved. Now we love. He first loved us. Praise the Lord. And John said something wonderful in John 21. In the 24th verse, this is the same disciple. See, John is describing himself. This is the same disciple who was eyewitness to all these things and wrote them down. And we all know that his eyewitness account is reliable and accurate. We can know that as we read the book of John, we read through Revelation, we read 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John, that his account is reliable and accurate. He is a great editor. And there are so many other things Jesus did. If they were all written down, each of them one by one, I can’t imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books. That’s what John says in John 21. And I think of those words in the third verse of this beautiful song. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, just like John was describing in John 21. Though stretched from sky to sky. A beautiful song here by Dallas Holm.

SPEAKER 03 : 18:32

The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the Bowed down with care God gave His Son to live His erring child He reconciled And pardoned from His sin Could we within the ocean feel And were the skies of parchment made Were every start on earth a thrill And every man described the train to write the love of God above. The train to ocean life. Nor could the scroll Fledged from sky to sky Oh love of God How rich and pure How measureless and strong It shall forevermore be. The saints and angels sing. O love of God, how rich and pure. And strong it shall forevermore be, the saints and angels sing.

SPEAKER 1 : 22:06

Bye.

SPEAKER 01 : 23:04

Oh, I love to just think of those words. Oh, could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry. Just imagine, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. And forever and ever, the saints and the angels are going to, that’s us, the saints and the angels are going to praise God forever and ever. Oh, if I were to speak with eloquence in earth’s many languages and in the heavenly tongues of angels. Yet I didn’t express myself with love. My words would be reduced to the hollow sound of nothing more than a clanging cymbal. And if I were to have the gift of prophecy with a profound understanding of God’s hidden secrets, and if I possessed unending supernatural knowledge, and if I had the greatest gift of faith that could move mountains, but have never learned to love, then I am nothing.” And if I were to be so generous as to give away everything I own to feed the poor and to offer my body to be burned as a martyr without the pure motive of love, I would gain nothing, nothing of value. Love is large and heavenly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. No envy or jealousy, please. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect nor selfishly seek its own honor, never trying to outdo another. Oh, we see that so much. Competition in the church, in the actual church, in the congregation. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter for it never stops believing the best for others. Isn’t that beautiful? It never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat for it never gives up. Love is not negative. If you think, you know what, I’m a negative person, then you can change. See, the God of love, the Holy Spirit within you is love. So you can change by making a decision. I’m no longer going to be negative. I’m going to think of the best things I can think about people. See, love never takes failure as defeat for it never gives up and it always believes the best for others. Perfect love. Love never stops loving. It extends beyond the gift of prophecy, which eventually fades away. It is more enduring than tongues, which will one day fall silent. Love remains long after words of knowledge are forgotten. Our present knowledge and our prophecies are but partial. But when love’s perfection arrives, the partial will fade away. When I was a child, I spoke about childish things, childish matters. Oh, and when Holy Spirit is in you, there’s only three things that remained, faith, hope, and love. yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run. Oh, you’re running for a prize, my friend, and make love that wonderful goal that you’re making. I know I was a negative person for so long, but I decided. God, I’m going to love people. I’m no longer going to be a negative person. And you know what? He’s changing me. And he’ll change you too, my friend. Oh, I love you. It’s good being with you. Kimberly will be with me tomorrow. So I want you to know that you can take joy. Morning, noon, and night, take joy.

SPEAKER 1 : 27:19

877-917-7256

SPEAKER 02 : 27:40

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.

SPEAKER 1 : 28:45

Bye.