2.5.25 – Love One Another

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 0:11

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 Powered 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.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 1:05

Welcome to Call to Freedom. I’m so glad to have you join us today. I wish this table was really big. That we could actually invite others to be around it with us, right?

Kimberly (Host) : 1:16

That’s right. Yeah. And we just want to say thank you to the people at KLTT that are working so hard and doing a great job at trying to iron out all of the little wrinkles in the new system. We just want to say thank you for that. Yes.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 1:32

Amen. And if you’ve ever had a new computer, I’m going to need a new computer because my computer is 12 years old and it gets to the point where they’re not going to give me any more from Microsoft except with a new computer. So it’s going to be my in my office. I’m going to go through the same little things. Right. So we have a few hiccups every now and then.

Kimberly (Host) : 1:53

But it’s so good to be together in this when we have hiccups. President Trump. We’re all in it together. There might be some hiccups. It might be a little difficult, some bumps in the road, but we are all in it together. I remember this past Christmas Eve, we did a big Christmas Eve special and we work on a lot of music and we present the story of Christ through music.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 2:21

And this was at your church. That’s right. Yes.

Kimberly (Host) : 2:23

On Christmas Eve. And we had done a lot of practicing and they put in a whole new sound system just days before. And we never had a chance to do any kind of a sound check. So we couldn’t hear each other. And when we started our acapella song, that’s a song without any instruments. And we started in to the acapella song and we couldn’t hear each other. Oh. And, you know, we were just we were all going down. The ship was going down and we just decided we’re just going down together. We’ll just stay together. And we kept singing and it came together. Eventually, we didn’t end the song in a disaster. We ended it with triumph and victory. But in the beginning, it was it was pretty messy. My son told me he wanted to just crawl under the chair that he was sitting in. And we go through those things, but that’s what we do. We go through them. That’s right. And hopefully we stay together in it.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 3:23

So good to be with you in this, Mom. Yes. There is no shame. There is no embarrassment in the Lord, even when things don’t work out. I remember, this brings up a story, just like I was talking to you yesterday, about your dad and I were downtown Greeley, and we met Mike Noland, who was the minister of music at the Presbyterian Church. Big, big formal church. And he had been asked to sing at a funeral in Johnstown, which is near I-25, northern Colorado. So he knew the song, Precious Lord Take My Hand, and he knew the organist would have the music. So he was on his way out of town when he met this homeless man. And so he said, can I take you anywhere? And he took him to McDonald’s, gave him money to eat at McDonald’s, which he was happy to do. But then he was in a rush to get to the funeral. Mm-hmm. which Johnstown is about 20 minutes, 25 minutes. Yeah, it is. So he gets to the church, the funeral home. It was a church. It was a church in Johnstown. The organist was already playing. And I saw her just a little while, about three or four years ago. Same lady. It was so wonderful. I got to go up and say hi to her. And he said, you got the music for Precious Lord. Take my hand. And she says, I’ve got it memorized. So she was just playing from memory. Yeah. And he didn’t know the words. So this precious man, by then, your father, I have never seen your father laugh so uproariously as he did that moment when Mike, all the words start coming out of his mouth. Precious Lord, take my hand, take my lips, take my feet, take my arms, take my joints, take my ears. He’s coming up with any body part. Just take it all. Take it all. I think we’re going to talk about that a little bit today. But your father, Kimberly, was just laughing so loud. It was fun just to watch him laugh. Right. And so then after the funeral, the director of the funeral, one of our funeral homes in Greeley, said, I have never heard the lyrics like that before. Never heard that version. Right. So how many times are we embarrassed by things that most people don’t even acknowledge or even have an ear for or notice? They don’t even notice. Like, oh, I was dressed so shabbily. They don’t notice. They’re concerned about themselves. So let’s look outside of ourselves and love our brothers and sisters like Jesus loved. That’s so good. That’s right.

Kimberly (Host) : 5:59

Well, we have a meeting coming up this Saturday and we want to invite you. You are invited. If you’re hearing this, you are invited to come to the meeting. And if you would like to let us know that you’re coming, especially if it’s your first time and you need some directions to the home, call 1-877-917-7256. and leave a message and let us know your phone number so we can call you back. Because right now we’re in the studio, so we wouldn’t get your call if you called right now. But leave a message with your number, and we’ll call you back and give you directions. And we would love to meet you.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 6:36

Yes, and if you’d like to bring a side dish to complement the quiche that we’re going to have, compliments of Sherry. Thank you, Sherry, for that wonderful recipe. Oh, I could eat that quiche every month of the year. And you can just bring your favorite side dish, whether it’s a salad or finger food or dessert. We’re going to have a great time, and it’s going to be a really nice day on Saturday. The snow’s coming on Monday, so come on Saturday. We’re looking forward to it. Yes. And I have a new email. Good. I was just going to say that.

Kimberly (Host) : 7:09

Kimberly has a new email. You can now get a hold of me if you have any questions about my crazy ideas that I put out there on the airwaves. And you would like to ask any questions or just give me a shout out. I would love to hear from you. My email is Kimberly. Kimberly. at freedomstreet.org. Kimberly is just the traditional spelling, K-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y. Kimberly at freedomstreet.org. And I will get an email from you. I’m looking forward to having some emails. That’s going to be wonderful. Yes. Your grandma gave you that name. Yes, because for days and days you didn’t know what to name me. I had no name.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 7:52

You were a beautiful baby, but no, we hadn’t picked out a girl’s name. We thought it would be a boy. I’m so grateful it was a girl. And I’m sure your father was so grateful for you two girls. Oh, his daughters. He loved you. Oh, he just enjoyed lavishing. I remember one time we went to, it was Fashion Bar in Greeley. And he was just sitting on a chair right in front of the dressing rooms. And you and Dana and I were just trying on sweaters. And he would just nod or say yes. And he was just holding our coats. He was so pleased. I actually kept some of those clothes. I still have them. Do you really? And they still fit me.

Barbara Carmack (Host) : 8:31

Good for you.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 8:35

This is too much for all of you listening, I’m sure.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 8:38

Sorry about that.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 8:39

We’re going to get into a wonderful prayer today as I ask the Lord to bless you with laughter and the fact that He loves you so much. I want you to know that. Kimberly and I want you to know that because in you acknowledging His love for you, then you can love others. If you don’t know that He loves you, how can you tell others of God’s love? Right. So we’re going to go to Colossians. The book of Colossians is so full of wonderful attributes of God in the flesh of Jesus. And this is one way you can see God because Jesus and God are one and God is spirit. In John 4, 24, it tells us that God is spirit and we must worship him in spirit and truth. And so here you see in Colossians 1 and 2, That God is revealing himself through his son, Jesus Christ, who is the exact representation of God on this earth. So you’ve seen God. If you’ve seen Jesus, praise the Lord. So would you like to read the prayer from Colossians 1, 3?

Kimberly (Host) : 9:52

Yes, every time we pray for you, our hearts overflow with thanksgiving to Father God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your devoted lives of faith in Christ Jesus and your tender love toward all his holy believers. Yes. Your faith and love rise within you as you access all the treasures of your inheritance stored up in the heavenly realm for the revelation of the true gospel. is as real today as the day you first heard of our glorious hope, now that you have believed in the truth of the gospel.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 10:30

Yes. And it’s the same, verse 6 of Colossians 1 says, it’s the same all over the world. And I’m reading from the message. The message that you give out bears fruit. Every time you say a word about the Lord or Jesus or even a kind word to that person, you are bearing fruit, my friend. And it gets larger and stronger just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you’ve been hungering for more oh that’s wonderful it’s as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate epaphras and that was a dear friend of paul’s he is one reliable worker for christ don’t you love people that you can depend on oh i do i could always depend on him he’s the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by Holy Spirit. So be assured that from the very first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to His will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which He works. I want to tell you right now, those of you who have committed yourselves to being power partners of Call to Freedom, that means you are praying for us daily, and you’re giving donations on a monthly basis. I want you to know that when your name appears anywhere, in a letter, in a message, phone message, in an email. On the receipts. Yes, I am in prayer for you. And when I give out the newsletters, I’m covering you five or six times from the time it’s folded to the time it goes into the envelope to the time that the stamp goes on to the time I lick those stamps. Your name appears and I’m praying for you. I just want you to know that. I hope that you feel that prayer and you sense that wonderful divine intervention from God in your life. I pray that for you. and verse 11 says we pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory strength god gives it is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy Thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. God rescued us from dead end alleys and dark dungeons. He set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much. The Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating. That’s beautiful. Praise God. And we were all in that pit. As David says in Psalm verse 40, I was in a horrible pit. And God rescued me and set my feet on a solid rock. Praise the Lord. Yes.

Kimberly (Host) : 13:29

All of that is leading up to the verse that you’ve been so excited about, that he is the image of God. Jesus is the image of God here on earth for us to look at. He’s the divine portrait, the true likeness of the invisible God. And I think what gives me so much hope about that is to realize that he left this whole, all the stories that were written of him. He left this message and this image for us to look at and say, oh, I want to be like that. And there’s the choosing that happens. We start choosing what we want to be like. Do we want to stay in our natural instincts? Man, those natural instincts are what led us to the darkness in the first place. The pit. To the pit. Yes. And all of my natural instincts to handle anything in this life are just worthless. But when I see what he did when he was here, I can see the image of God. And that’s what gets me really excited. I want to be like him. And I can’t be on my own. I know I need his help. So that keeps me in conversation with him every day, all day long, just asking him, will you help me become like you? Will you help me be patient like you are patient? Will you help me be kind like you are kind?

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 14:57

It’s like reading through Job and realizing that the last few chapters, God had listened to all that they were doing, all that they were saying, everything that had transpired, his three friends, and then Job saying, I wish I hadn’t been born. And he did not sin by saying that, but he was in a grievous time in his life and painful time. And when we’re going through pain, we act differently and we talk differently unless we are consumed by God himself and the realities that he wants us absolutely healed in everything that we do. So he was telling Job, Job, I have created all this for not only my pleasure, but yours, Job. I’m going to bless you. And you’re going to see in the end that you’re more blessed than you were at the beginning. Yes. That’s what he’s telling all of us, Kimberly. Yes. We’re going to be more blessed. The end is going to be so much more blessed than at the very beginning. Right.

Kimberly (Host) : 15:55

It is very difficult to turn our focus to that. And that’s that’s what we have to be willing to do. We have to be willing to look away from. What it is that’s so grievous that has us in that ash heap that has us in the pit. And when we’re there, that’s all we see. We see the darkness. We see what’s grieving us. We see how hard it is. And we feel pity for ourselves and for everyone else that might be stuck there with us. And that’s why it’s so difficult for us to look away from that to the goodness of God. He has never stopped being good. And going back just a few verses to Colossians 1, 11, it says that he energizes us with his explosive power. from the realm of His magnificent glory, filling you with great hope.” That hope is the explosive power. When we look away from our circumstances here and look to Him, and we say, we believe, we believe that our Redeemer lives. That’s what Job ended up saying. I know my Redeemer lives. You will redeem this. You will restore. You will rebuild. And when we’re able to look away in the middle of our circumstances, that’s when we start experiencing that explosive power.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 17:23

Yes. And through Jesus Christ, my friend, you are never lonely. He is there all the time. And I pray right now that you will recognize that power. there are not no only lonely moments because we know that Jesus has arms wrapped around us he’s reconciled us to himself through Christ in his physical body through his death and he brought you into his own presence And now you are holy and blameless. This is verse 22. As you stand before him without a single fault. So then he admonishes you. He says, don’t drift away from the assurance that you received when you heard this gospel. And so many times, oh, I am so tempted, Kimberly, to go back to my flesh. and logic and this morning as we were talking he says mom that’s logic and it was i was going into a logical mode of reasoning trying to reason something out with my reasoning mind and my logical mind but that’s not where holy spirit wants us to be communicating he wants us communicating through our spirit our spirit mind yeah not our flesh mind

Kimberly (Host) : 18:33

If we go all the way back to the Garden of Eden and we see Adam and Eve and Eve is having a conversation with the serpent and he gets her to reason and she starts reasoning. Well, you know, that tree looks good. Doesn’t it look good? It does look good. Yes. And I’ve now I’ve heard that it’s it’s it’ll make me smarter. Well, that’s good.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 18:56

Isn’t anything that makes me smarter is good?

Kimberly (Host) : 18:58

So the reasoning, oh, we have to learn to lay that down and trust that what God says is greater. It’s superior to our reasoning.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 19:08

Didn’t Satan actually talk to Jesus in that way in Matthew 4? Verse four, he is tempting him because he was Jesus was hungry. He was tempting him. Well, you can turn these stones into bread. And then Jesus comes back counters with man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So Jesus is countering that temptation.

Kimberly (Host) : 19:32

Yes, that’s what it is. And being laying down the reason. Because he could reason and say, you know what? I really am the Son of God. I really could. But the reasoning of, oh, and my body has been without food for a long time. My body will need it. Needs the bread. We can reason all the time. But when we lay it down and say, what do you say? Lord, you’re my Father and you are my Lord.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 19:57

What do you say? That’s why he tells us that the mindset on the flesh is death. But the mindset on the Spirit is life and peace. Our life and our peace comes from that mindset in the Spirit. And what Jesus said is it’s so important to know that we’re no longer conformed to this world, but we’re transformed by the renewing and renewing and renewing of our minds. Yes. And when I started on this gluten-free, and for years, Kimberly, I was going, I’m not going to ever have gluten-free. I love food too much.

Kimberly (Host) : 20:33

I wonder who you knew that would even make you think about gluten-free. Yeah, right.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 20:38

You just did for years and years. You were gluten-free. And you were telling me the pain. You didn’t have pain when you were eating gluten-free. And so now, and I’m almost… I can say I’m totally, maybe with Cheerios, which are oats, but yeah, that may have a little… They’re also gluten-free, though. Yeah. I am almost totally gluten-free. So when I see a delicious thing that I used to love… And I don’t really go to Olive Garden anymore. I used to put it down as my favorite restaurant. Now I’m transforming those things that I used to love in the flesh with things that I know are good for me. they’re not going to cause any adverse reactions in my elderly body, which, you know, we are getting older, my friend. And it’s just a wonderful realization, too, that I don’t have to go up and down the aisles of the grocery stores with all those choices because I don’t have all those choices. And it’s so nice, Kimberly, to know. Simplified. It’s simplified. Yes, absolutely simplified. I’m happy for you. And I know some of you are saying, oh, I can’t give up those donuts or, oh, I can’t give up the pasta. And they have pasta now that just is really quite good. So try it. Yeah, it might alleviate if any of you are going through pain, it might alleviate some of that pain. And I know even Sarah, who is 20, 21.

Kimberly (Host) : 22:10

Yes, she’s trying to go gluten free now to alleviate some pain and swelling.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 22:17

Yes. And she works for Cane’s Chicken, which is not gluten-free. There’s nothing there.

Kimberly (Host) : 22:24

She won’t eat the coleslaw, so there’s nothing there. But there’s nothing that she can eat there.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 22:32

She doesn’t have to worry about gaining weight, though, at her place of employment, which is nice. Well, we got off a little bit on a rabbit trail.

Kimberly (Host) : 22:40

And I think just being open to doing something very differently, doing something new and following the Holy Spirit on that. I think sometimes we don’t want to because it’s hard. It’s hard to move our minds, to move our will to do something different when we’re so stuck in our natural instincts and in the will that we just want things the way we want them. Yes. Yes. As human beings. So being able to release that and really expect and hope that we would see the explosive energy from the other realm come and infuse us. And I have part of this prayer from Colossians 1 written out. on a little card here. And I’m going to just pray this over you as you’re listening. May your heart soar with joyful gratitude when you think of how God made you worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to us by enlightening us, causing us to move toward him. He has rescued you from darkness and translated you into the kingdom of His beloved Son, the kingdom of light. The Son, all our sins, and by His Son, through His Son, all of your sins are canceled, and we are redeemed. We find completion in Him.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 24:06

Oh, that’s beautiful. That is so beautiful. I hope that as you’re reading through the Bible this year, it’s just so congruent. It makes your whole life more congruent, going from the very beginning in Genesis. We’re almost out of Genesis. And in the New Testament, I go through the New Testament almost twice in a year, which helps me understand Jesus and why He came. And this is the secret that when you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, Jesus, I’m so sorry. I acknowledge I’m a sinner. I haven’t looked to you for help or anything of that sort. I want to make you my Savior and Lord right now. I want a new heart and a clean start. I want a new heart. and a clean start. If you say that in any way, shape or form, God is accepting you right now and Christ lives in you and gives you assurance of sharing his glory with you. Yes. Praise the Lord. We have so much hope. Yes, we do. Wow. This half hour has gone so quickly and we’re almost at the end. And you have one more day here in the studio with me. And I’m so grateful. We’re just going to continue how wonderful our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ is.

Kimberly (Host) : 25:19

Yes. And even be looking to him as our example. When we don’t have confidence in this life and we’re feeling overwhelmed, we can see that our solution to that is to look to him and be overwhelmed by his goodness and his grace. And that’s what we want to focus on tomorrow. So we will be looking forward. Really, I’m looking forward to looking into that tomorrow with you.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 25:48

Yes. God bless you and keep you. Remember, the meeting is Saturday. That’s February 8th. Come join us from 10 to, oh, even if you can’t make lunch, from 10 to 12. And then you can go and do your afternoon activities. But we would love to have you. And call us at 1-877-917-7256. And Kimberly will be helping in the praise and worship. We’re going to have a good time. God bless you and keep you and take joy.

Jimmy Lakey (Host) : 26:38

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.

Barbara Carmack (Host) : 28:02

Thank you for watching!