Join us on Call to Freedom as we delve into the profound difference between happiness and joy. Drawing inspiration from the story of Gideon in the book of Judges, we explore how God calls ordinary people to extraordinary tasks, even when they feel ill-equipped. The conversation continues with a look at how God sees our hearts and not our outward appearances, urging us to trust in His strength amidst our trials.
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 04 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom. Oh, I want to tell you, there’s a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is based on circumstances. And if you get a new outfit, you get a new car, you get a home, oh, you’re so happy. Or you’re going to a restaurant with a whole lot of your friends. Oh, that’s happiness. Joy is what we find when we dig deeply enough into those circumstances to see God in them. And this morning I was reading in Judges chapter 6. If you haven’t read the book of Judges, it’s a book that is so full of power and action by God to deliver Israel. It’s just amazing. I know you’ll enjoy it. Go to the book of Judges and begin to read that. It is just marvelous. And they were in a real situation where the Amorites had taken over. And so Israel was kind of shaken in their boots and hiding away. And the angel of the Lord. Now, the angel, when it mentions the angel of the Lord, that’s Jesus. And he was sitting under an oak tree and laughing. I can’t imagine seeing Jesus sitting under an oak tree, but he was sitting under an oak tree and he saw Gideon there. And he appeared and said, the Lord is with you, O valiant warrior. Now, Gideon did not feel like a valiant warrior. And I’m sure most of the time we don’t feel like valiant warriors. We are in our circumstances apprehensive and sometimes manic, sometimes depressed. And the angel of the Lord said… He was valiant. Now, Gideon came with a lot of excuses. Oh, Lord, why are you telling me this? Where are all the miracles that our fathers told us about? Where are they? Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? And now the Lord has abandoned us. I know sometimes we can feel like the Lord has abandoned us. But he has. He said, I will never leave you or forsake you. And it’s a wonderful time of grace. And the Lord looked at him and said, go in your strength and deliver. Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. They were of the Amorites. Have I not sent you? Now, what if he came to you and said, go in your strength and in the power of God and deliver Colorado from the enemy? what would you say oh lord i i don’t have any ability to do that it’s exactly what gideon said he said oh lord how shall i deliver israel behold my family is the least in manasseh my family is poor we’ve always lived across the tracks we don’t make much money lord and i am the youngest in my father’s house it kind of reminds me of david kimberly when we see uh samuel going to the uh to um not Obed, but Jesse, excuse me, Obed was Jesse’s father, going to Jesse and saying, I want to come and have your sons lined up. And wow, his sons were strong.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. Samuel was saying, I was looking at the outside and seeing the strength of your sons, but God does not see the outside, the outer. That’s what man looks at. Man looks at the outer appearance, but God sees the heart. That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
So he went through all the sons of Jesse and the Lord said, no, not that one. Not that one. Now, he hadn’t told them why he was there. He just said, I want to make a sacrifice. And so every son that he touched. No, no, that’s not it. That’s not it. And then he finally he was kind of perplexed. And Jesse, do you have any other sons? Because God had told him none of those were the candidate. And he said, well, I’ve got it. young, the youngest one is out shepherding the sheep. And he said, bring him, bring him. And here he was small, young, but he was, I love the scene in the house of David where he’s sitting on a rock and he’s just strumming his lyre and singing songs to Jehovah God. Oh, what a beautiful scene. So he comes running up. And the Lord tells Samuel, yes, this is the one. And after he anoints him and the oil is running down his face and they’re saying, what did you anoint him for?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, he’s the one for what? And I’m sure Gideon was thinking the same thing. I’m the one for what? What am I supposed to do? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
And the Lord said, I have found favor with you, and you’re going to defeat Midian. And so he actually told Gideon, I want you to take two of your father’s bulls. And before that, he introduced himself as the Lord of Peace. Shalom.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
Jehovah Shalom. I come to you in peace. Yes. When Gideon’s heart was palpitating, he was not in peace. His circumstances made it so that he wasn’t in peace. Right. Yeah. But he took the Lord said, take your father’s bull and a second bull and pull down the altar of Baal or Baal, if you want to pronounce it that way, which belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah. Now, it must have been a huge idol. sitting in the front yard of the home of Gideon’s father.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, to need the help of bulls to pull it down. Right. Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
It must have been large. So at night, again, he was at night doing things. He pulled down the Asherah and the idol of Baal. And you have to read the rest of the story. It is phenomenal. But he was obeying God, even though the outward circumstances did not leave him in peace. His heart knew that God had told him this.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
It confirmed to him. Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s good. That’s good. And I really love that you brought out that the Lord came to him in peace when the outer circumstances didn’t look peaceful. No. God comes to you in peace. If you are not feeling peace and you are in the middle of a situation in your life that is not peaceful, know that your Lord is on your side. He is for you, and that alone can bring peace. You’re not alone. You’ve got somebody with you, the best friend you could ever want with you, and he comes to you in peace.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, the Lord has a mighty assignment for Gideon and his men. And you will find reading Judges 6 that the impossible became possible because they trusted in God.
SPEAKER 02 :
Wow. Yeah. Wow. You know, I believe that when the Lord came to his people originally on Mount Sinai and gave them… the law, that didn’t feel very peaceful. That felt like earth shaking and the clouds, thunder, lightning, trumpet blasts were heard. People were shaking. That didn’t feel very peaceful. And the Lord, this week we have the theme that he’s doing a new thing, that he’s bringing a new covenant, that he comes to us in peace. What a beautiful picture that he tries to come to his people in the Old Testament and it didn’t feel peaceful. Mm-hmm. We don’t know because we weren’t there. We don’t know exactly what that day was like, but we know what it’s like now to read about Jesus coming. So he comes again. He comes a second time and he comes clothed in our flesh and he comes to us as a friend, gentle, humble, meek, lowly friend that you can talk to the king of the universe that you can talk to about anything. That’s a new thing. It is. He’s, behold, I’m doing a new thing. That’s a new thing.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now we can look at that scripture in Isaiah 43. We’re going to, do not call to mind the former things or ponder things of the past. You can look at that individually, personally, about what your circumstances have been and maybe they haven’t been the best, but God is promising you new things. But it goes farther than that. And Kimberly, we’re going to talk about that. It was such a blessing today when we said good morning, and I mentioned that the Lord had led me to Hebrews, and she said, well, he’s led me there too. So in the night, the Lord, Holy Spirit, had talked to both of us that the new things came as a result of God ratifying a new covenant. And it says that in Hebrews 8, verse 7. The first covenant had been faultless. Well, it hadn’t been faultless. It had been faultless for God, but not for man. We could not keep the covenant. We couldn’t keep all the commandments, 613. We just couldn’t. And so God realized that man was so fallible and frail. And he said in verse 8 of Hebrews 8, God finds fault with them, showing its inadequacy when he says, Behold… The days will come when I will make and ratify a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not abide in my covenant. And so I withdrew my favor from them. Well, God loves us so much. He said, well, we got to get something new going here. We can’t live by what the people are falling away. They’re dying, and I hate to see that. God himself is a God of love. He’s a lover.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, he is. In the Passion Translation, that same section in Hebrews 8, starting in verse 7, says that if the first covenant had been faultless, no one would have needed a second one to replace it. But God revealed the defect and the limitation of the first so that he could come to his people with a second and a better one.
SPEAKER 04 :
I know. He finally realized, Kimberly, okay, they’re doing everything. outward performance.
SPEAKER 02 :
I don’t know if we could say he finally realized he knew all along what his plan was, right? We finally realized, God, I can’t keep this covenant. And he wanted us to know that, you know, he gave us the opportunity to try to do things with our own strength and our own ideas, our own rationalization. If I do this, then that, and it wasn’t working out. He wanted something even better for us. Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
He made a perfect covenant at Sinai, Kimberly. It was perfect for God. It’s kind of like when Jesus asked Peter in the 21st chapter of John, Peter, do you agape me? I’m so thankful for the Greek interpretation there because Peter says, Lord, you know I phileo you. He was not realizing what Jesus was asking him. And it’s the same way with us regarding the old covenant. We just can’t get to those places where the perfection from God is just flowing in us. He knew he had to put… someone inside of us change our hearts, change our minds, being transformed inside and not with outside circumstances. Again, we’re talking about the difference between happiness and joy. And so I see here that he ratified a brand new covenant for us because he said in verse 10, I will imprint my laws upon their hearts and their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts, affecting their regeneration. And see, God sees us now as righteous, redeemed, and sanctified by the blood of Jesus. Regenerated.
SPEAKER 1 :
Ah!
SPEAKER 04 :
Renewed. Yes. Amen. New creatures. Yes. Oh, reconciled to him. We’d been so far away and then we were reconciled. We are reconciled to God.
SPEAKER 02 :
And that was not by anything that we did.
SPEAKER 04 :
No.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s not by any action. any action that we could take, any thoughts that we could think. It’s not any of our own doing. It is truly his mercy and his forgiveness. And if you keep reading in Hebrews 8, well, you know what? You already read this, but in verse 11, the result of this will be that Everyone will know me as Lord. I believe that knowing him as Lord means that you want his ways. You are adopting his ways and his ways are mercy and forgiveness. If we keep going. It says that there will be no need at all to teach other citizens or your other brothers by saying, you should know the Lord. You should know him. You should follow these rules. You should do this. You should think that. And it says, no, that’s not the way that everyone will know me in their innermost heart from the most unlikely person to the most distinguished person. For I am. Why? How? How will they know him? For I will demonstrate my mercy, says the Lord to them, and I will forgive all their deeds, all their evil deeds, and never remember again their sins. That is the work that Jesus came with. He didn’t come with another set of rules. Well, you should talk to me like this, and you shouldn’t talk to me like that. It wasn’t like that at all anymore. It was all about mercy, forgiveness, compassion. And I know that our God is a God of justice and a God of righteousness. He has not changed. He wants holiness and righteousness and justice in this earth. It is going to come through mercy and forgiveness. It’s going to come when we learn, when we adopt his ways and we learn to forgive. That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
I can’t imagine pastors in this day and age. I’ve been listening to Creflo Dollar, and I can just see, he says, I’ve been teaching these people for 25 years. Lord, will they ever, ever get it? And I can see some pastors that are going home on Sunday afternoon and say, Lord, I’ve been teaching these people for years and years and they’re not getting it. And the Lord says here in the 11th verse, that’s why I love this so much. It will not be necessary for each one to teach his fellow citizen and each one his brother saying, no, the Lord will. For all will know me. Holy Spirit’s doing such a work, Kimberly, that we’re all going to realize we are the bride of Christ. We are one body with Christ as the head.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
And we are all going to know the wonderful realization of God’s holiness in our lives. Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
And to know him is to forgive. That’s right. To know him is to show mercy. To know him is to show kindness. Yes. And gentleness. Gentleness. Fruit of the Holy Spirit. To have all the fruits of the Spirit running in your life. That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. Yes. And what I love about verse 12, I will be merciful and gracious toward their needs. not holiness, toward their wickedness. I will be merciful and gracious toward their wickedness. When we sin, God doesn’t see that, my friend. He doesn’t. We see it. We have a sin consciousness. Some of us still have that awful, dark sin consciousness that Adam and Eve had. They had to hide themselves. Now, God loved them. He was looking for them in the garden. Where are you guys? Where are you? And they were hiding from him. We don’t have to hide anymore. My friend, as you’re listening, you don’t have to hide from God. He loves you just as you are. Yeah, it’s beautiful.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. Demonstrating his mercy and his forgiveness. When we have messed up, when we don’t do it right, when we don’t say it right, demonstrating mercy and forgiveness. I believe he wants us to adopt that. And that’s really hard when somebody has wronged you, when somebody has said something or done something against you, that you, it hurts you. And you would like to correct. You would like to bring some correction. This is saying to know him is to demonstrate forgiveness and demonstrate mercy. Oh, yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
So when God speaks of a new covenant, verse 13, we’re reading from Hebrews 8. Oh, this is so beautiful. New things. We’re talking about new things. And boy, God laid a new thing on us. Yeah. He makes the first one obsolete. Did you hear that? The law and what came at the beginning from Sinai on through the Old Testament, it is obsolete. And whatever is becoming obsolete, out of use, annulled, growing old, is ready to disappear. And as a believer, you no longer have a sin consciousness. You’re innocent in God’s eyes. Not because of the things you do just perfect or right. No. God knew we couldn’t do that. So he just implemented the fact that in Jesus Christ, in Jesus, you are wisdom from God and redemption and sanctification and righteousness.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. It’s beautiful. he goes on in chapter nine, uh, talking about a pattern of worship that was set for the temple and for the sanctuary. Uh, this can get a little bit wordy in here. And I think really the main point is that we are now the sanctuary. We are, when you think of a sanctuary, uh, And if you use it in the terms that we use it in, by definition that we talk as humans in this culture, a sanctuary is a bird sanctuary. You know, a sanctuary might be a place where you could sit in a botanical garden and just soak in the beauty, right?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Is that what you are to the Lord? today, you are his sanctuary. What kind of thoughts do you have ruminating inside of you? Are they thoughts that would be a sanctuary for him to just come and sit and abide and be with you and enjoy it? Do your thoughts smell good? Or are they kind of stinky? You know, I don’t picture my sanctuary as being a place that has a stench about it. And so I don’t want to be that sanctuary for my Lord.
SPEAKER 04 :
And in the old covenant, the high priest was permitted to enter into the Holy of Holies only once a year. And he could never enter without a sacrificial blood. So he could only come into the presence of God once a year. Do you know that you are privileged today to talk to the Most High God through Holy Spirit who lives in you? In him, we live and move and have our being. We are so privileged, Kimberly.
SPEAKER 02 :
We are. We are. Bless beyond measure. And every morning, you know, this is what we’ve been talking about this week. His mercies are new every morning. He is doing a new thing. We can forget about the former things and just join him in this beautiful conversation. You’re right. We are so privileged to live on this side of Jesus. Yes. Amen. Wow. Yes. And if we keep going in Hebrews 9 verse 8, the Holy Spirit uses all these symbols of worship to reveal that the perfect way of holiness had not yet been unveiled. Unveiling. Unveiling. I love the whole term of unveiling. That’s what the book of Revelation is all about. Mm hmm. When we think of the word apocalypse, we think of scary end time things. But apocalypse is simply a Greek word talking about the unveiling to reveal. And that is Christ, the unveiling of Christ in our lives and what he has done to show mercy and forgiveness, to show a completely different way of judging. We judge imperfectly. Our judgments are misguided. In fact, I was reading in James also today, not just Hebrews, but James two says, how can we claim to have faith if we favor some people over others? And in verse four, it says our judgments are misguided. That’s right. But Jesus judgments involve forgiveness and mercy and unconditional love. These virtues, these judgments of Jesus are what usher in this new covenant. And this is what’s been unveiled now. This is what’s been revealed to us is a better way, a higher way. Now, is it hard to forgive? Yep. It is. I admit it. When I have been harmed or hurt or betrayed or rejected or insulted, I find it difficult to forgive. But I keep looking at how it was the most difficult path for any human being to walk. What Jesus did for us. He had the most difficult time and he still pressed on and said, no, I’m doing this. I, for the joy here, you’re talking about joy or happiness for the joy set before me. And that joy is a better relationship. That joy is a reconciliation that is so beautiful. It’s better than if you had never been rejected or insulted. And so choosing to be like him, choosing to adopt his judgments, what are his judgments? Again, his judgments are mercy and forgiveness, choosing to show mercy and forgiveness to those who have hurt you is what really firmly establishes the new covenant. And if you’re not able to, you can go to him and say, I can’t. I don’t know how to do this. Yes. It’s too hard for me. Yes. And he will help.
SPEAKER 04 :
He understands.
SPEAKER 02 :
Totally understands. And he will help.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes. I think that’s why in particular he came in the flesh. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. He endured every temptation that we have gone through. So we know when we get in a tight spot or in a seemingly impossible situation, Some of you haven’t filed your taxes. And this is just a terrible day for you. April 15th. Hard. Yes. But he understands. He says, I’ll help you. I’ll help you get all of these all these figures and everything together so that you can be obedient even to the government. And so God is helping us in every situation. It is so beautiful to know. Kimberly, to know that whatever situation we are in, he’s covering up with the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. And when we find it hard to show mercy and to forgive, asking for that help will put us on a path where we’re at least seeking to be like him. And that’s what we want to do. We want to seek to be like him. Yes. And when we do that, mercy triumphs over judgment. We end up with a confidence and a security knowing we’re not going to be judged because we’re choosing to be like him. We’re choosing to show mercy. That mercy will triumph over judgment. And again, that’s in James two, more of James two, verse 13. And in the passion, let me just end with this. The passion translation says, remember that judgment is merciless for the one who judges others without mercy. So by showing mercy, you take dominion over judgment.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, praise God. That’s a powerful word to end on today. Oh, it is. And when we stand before God, you’re not going to be judged as the evil or the wicked are judged. You have a command. judgment of righteousness in Jesus Christ. So it’s not really a judgment, Kimberly. It’s just knowing that when I stand before God, he sees Jesus in me. Praise God. I hope that you enjoyed things. You learn new things today. God bless you and keep you and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
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