Connecting Through Faith and Community

SPEAKER 01 : 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 03 : 1:04

Welcome to Call to Freedom. Oh, what a wonderful thing to think that you are called to freedom with all those around you. Because if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you’ve got a freedom that your neighbors or your loved ones may not know about. They think they’re free. No, you aren’t free unless you’re in Jesus. Praise the Lord. We’re expecting some more rain. I’ll tell you, one of my praises… is that so far this year, and we’re into June now, is that I have not had to turn on the sprinklers at all this year yet. And so that means less expense from Denver Water. And I am so excited because God helps us, each and every one, as we recognize those little things, although sprinklers and water, that’s not a little thing. But when we recognize those things from the Lord, and it’s just like Psalm 91, He will command us. command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. And I realize that as I’m getting older, I get more deliberate in my walking because I understand that that as our limbs become weaker, that God’s strength is made perfect in those limbs, in our weakness. And I’m so grateful that our angels, and each one of you have an angel. Yes, all 8 billion people around the world, 8 billion angels. Yes, myriads of myriads of angels. It expresses itself in Revelation, our angels. millions and millions of angels. And it says in Matthew 18, verse 10, see to it that you do not despise one of these little ones. And it means immature ones in the Lord, the little ones, as well as children in this chapter, in 18th chapter of Matthew. For I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. So if these children have angels, you have angels because you were once a child, okay? Am I being logical enough for you? So I am so grateful. We each have an angel. And as Darren used to say, some angel, some of your angels are on unemployment because you just don’t ask the father to help those angels guard over you. And they do. They guard us so much. I do want to announce, oh, you are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And I do want to announce a meeting next week. And that is June the 14th. It seems like it’s been so long since we had the last one. And Kimberly was at the last one. And she won’t be at this next one. But praise the Lord, when she comes, we are rejoicing that she can be there. And we’re going to have our meeting on the 14th of June. That is Saturday at 10 o’clock. So appreciate you calling me at 1-877-917-7256. God bless you. And I’m thinking of just having tacos and just having a lot of cheese and lettuce and tomatoes and the tortillas. And so I’m thinking more about that and asking the Lord if that isn’t too much. Preparation, and I don’t think so. So we probably will have that next week. Remember, June the 14th, call me for reservations. And thank you, Kimberly, for joining us today.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:38

So good. So good to be listening in and also talking and sharing the way that you mentioned God commanding angels to guard us and not turning away or despising the little ones who are those who are immature. I like that you brought that up because. That kind of just flows right in to what we’ve been talking about. We’ve been talking about having faith and trusting God when we enter into circumstances that we normally would maybe not be drawn to. Yes. I kind of feel like a real rebel suggesting that we might try abandoning our boundaries to trust God more. But I do believe that that is very necessary for us to experience the kind of joy that he is offering and the kind of peace that he wants us to have.

SPEAKER 03 : 5:32

Yes. Talking about immature, you have a friend who helped you with the kitchen project that you were in a year ago now. And he is maybe immature in the faith, but he loves the Lord so much. And the Lord brought the two of you together because he felt like he was alone. Sometimes the enemy helps us feel isolated, that nobody cares about us. Nobody is enjoying company with us, and so we feel alone. And so you brought… or the Lord brought this man into your life, and he’s an expert with flooring, and that’s what you’re looking at right now. So you got an opportunity for the last couple days to just be with him in his company and to give him encouragement. And sometimes, Kimberly, that’s worth more than the new floor, just being with someone. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER 02 : 6:30

Yeah, the past year and a half that we’ve been making these connections with other people and having people in our home doing some work and doing some renovation, that has, you know, the finished product, I walk in, I look at it, it is beautiful. You’ve seen it. It is beautiful. Mm-hmm. But it is not the kind of joy. That’s right. When we move from one thing to another in life, one car to another, one house to another, one relationship to another, we think the old one is, I don’t know, we’ve just lost interest somehow. So we move on to a new, and we think the new thing is going to bring us joy. Yep. and i didn’t really enter into that renovation thinking it was going to bring me more joy and i know that the lord knew that and so he has provided these supernatural connections with people and he has guided us in a way Well, some of you know, some of it was really messy. I talked about that last year. We had some really horrible flaws that happened in the process of renovating our kitchen. And that would normally cause people to just want to tear their hair out because then it throws the whole schedule off. And instead of getting it done in eight to 12 weeks, it took six to nine months because of all the flaws and the messiness of it. And and the Lord’s. I didn’t have to work on having patience. The Lord’s patience and His peace and His joy in it carried us through in such a way that I wouldn’t change a thing. I have no regrets. And yes. So having that kind of faith, God’s kind of faith to enter into circumstances that we might try to prevent is so prevention when we’re working hard on preventing things like trying to prevent a breakdown or or a break in or preventing a scam or preventing a meltdown, whatever it might be. We hear so much about having boundaries this day and age, you know, knowing how to protect yourself and having wisdom and choosing friends or jobs, putting firewalls on our computers and phones and tablets. And I’m not trying to throw all of that out. I’m not. But I do think it’s time. It’s time to look to a higher faith to protect us in every situation because that’s what we’re longing for, that relationship with the one who knows how to guide us. And he might guide us to people. I might not, the person that you brought up, I don’t want to talk about people in a gossipy way at all, but the person that you brought up, I would not have picked him. him in my humanity he is not well spoken he he’s had some he’s got some pretty major battle scars yeah rough edges yeah uh-huh that’s who god wants you to to fellowship with though

SPEAKER 03 : 9:56

to pour some of God’s love and God’s peace and God’s joy into their lives.

SPEAKER 02 : 10:02

Yes. And I’m so glad that God handpicked him because I saw right away, oh, he loves God. And so being able to just grow in that brother-sister kind of relationship that’s heavenly-minded, has been so fulfilling and both of us have received so much joy from that. It really is a supernatural joy. Yesterday we were talking about how Jesus invites us to come to him. Come to me, he says, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Well, what does that mean to come to you, Jesus? Because he has got us. not just rest, he’s got the joy. He’s got the peace. He’s got these supernatural, tangible graces that he can pour into our life that we really need. And coming to Him means that we study Him. We look at the way that He walked and then try to walk like He walked. And instead of being so uptight about controlling our situations in this life or controlling our relationships, just be curious. Just let Him. Just last night, we had somebody walk into our choir rehearsal. Her name is Sandra. And We could have tried to discern if she was running a scam. She came in really needing help, and she had a story. She told us her story. But instead of trying to figure it out for ourselves, instead of trying to rationalize it or use our own common sense, We all remained really curious about how this person found us at that time. We have actually never had anyone walk into our choir rehearsal like that ever before in the 30 years that I’ve been a part of it. So it was really beautiful to realize that we could all gather around her and lovingly pray over her, just one after another. We all had prayers to pray over her. We hugged her, and I was just watching. I’m not one of those that keeps my eyes closed while I pray. So I was just watching others as they were praying, and people were holding her hands, but they weren’t holding her hands. They were putting money in her hands and she was just tucking that into her pockets as we were praying. And then we all hugged her and more people took that opportunity to give her more while we were hugging her. All of us hugged her. She was just crying. And she said to us, I have never been hugged this much in my whole life. Praise God.

SPEAKER 03 : 13:12

And someone listening might say, Kimberly, well, she was in there. She was scamming you. Possibly. If she were scamming you, it’s still God’s love and joy and peace. That’s it.

SPEAKER 02 : 13:23

It’s going to go with her out that door. Yes. That’s it. She came in expecting one thing, but we know we sent her out with the love of God. We sent her away full. She was full. Yes. We didn’t try to discern it. We didn’t try to control it. We didn’t try to correct it. And so just whatever boundaries that I’ve seen in other churches that I’ve had to, I’ve had to apply protocol in other churches, but us, we’re kind of small. We’re, we’re a little, and we just opened the door and remained curious and made room for Holy Spirit to do what he wanted to do in her life. And the joy of that flooded over all of us as a group. It was so strongly tangible that none of us wanted to move after we were dismissed. The Holy Spirit’s presence was just so strong. And that’s the approach to life that has taken me down some paths that I would never have chosen for myself. but it has been so very, very worth it. And I just want to be able to encourage others. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. It’s not always about whether or not you are rationalizing it correctly. Jesus didn’t try to rationalize every person that came to him. He didn’t try to keep boundaries in place. He did not need to control those situations. He didn’t even have to control the outbursts. He waited for somebody to ask him for help before he helped.

SPEAKER 03 : 15:08

That’s right. I love this scripture you have in Philippians 2 that says, Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. He made himself nothing, nothing, by taking the very nature of a servant. Oh, Kimberly, if we could realize that. I mean, in the depths of our souls, what he gave away to become King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Oh.

SPEAKER 02 : 15:38

Yeah, that he gave away the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to become the servant and to join us in this broken world and show us it’s okay. It’s okay to be in these messy situations. It’s okay to be homeless. Jesus taught us it’s okay to be homeless. Everywhere he went, he didn’t have a home. That’s right. He didn’t have a pillow for his head. And that’s what he told people. So that was his report. So being able to say, Jesus, I want to come to your way of doing life. Your way is taking on the nature of a servant and not considering equality with God something that we can grasp. That’s right. And I think that what we do in our heads is we think we are equal to God in the way we will judge a situation. God is the only judge. We are supposed to join God in relationship on a mercy seat. you know when we’re invited into the holy of holies we’re not invited to a judgment seat we are invited to a mercy oh that’s so good so we need to sit down in mercy we need to rise up in mercy because that is what we receive and that is what jesus taught us he he was walking this earth in mercy not in judgment and when we let go of our ideas our opinions our agendas and our motives then we’re letting go of judgment and we’re letting god take us down these paths that might be uncomfortable but guess what he is going to equip us he will never leave us without what we need he is constantly providing for us And this is where we get to know Him, Philippians 3.10, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. Can you even imagine the joy of watching somebody you love just coming back to life? That’s a supernatural joy. And that’s the kind of joy that we want flooding over our lives. We’re not going to get that joy if we stay in control of our situations and continue to call the shots and make the decisions and control the outbursts, you know, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. I think, for me, becoming like Him in His death, I think that that means letting go of our ideas and letting God have all the details. Becoming a new creation person is letting go of the old creation that wants control, that wants to make the decisions, wants to make the plans, and letting God just have what we are, where we are, and saying, thank you for where we are, and just guide me to where you need me to be next.

SPEAKER 03 : 18:58

That’s right. You know, Jesus could have called. I remember this old song that we used to sing. He could have called 10,000 angels to come to his side and to his aid. But he didn’t because he knew the plan of redemption. had to be through suffering, great suffering. It’s just so worth it when we do give ourselves, our bodies, as living sacrifices to him.

SPEAKER 02 : 19:25

I agree. I agree. And so what you were reading from Philippians 2, that he did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, I believe that he died to his role as God. He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. He died to that role as God while he walked this planet, and he did not try to control the environment. He just walked through whatever Father God gave him, and he took all of the instruction and all of the direction from Father God. yes letting him be the one to direct so i believe that that is our great hope that’s what we want this approach to life has taken me to those places that have been uncomfortable and maybe a little overwhelming at times but the the the supernatural substance that is poured into me and into you as you trust him is not like anything that this world can provide. So why would we keep trying to grab for the things of this life to fulfill us when we know who it is that truly satisfies and truly fulfills us? That’s right. I’m very confident that Peter, Paul, John, any of the apostles would have the same testimony, that they experienced the same thing. They were beaten, they were thrown in prison, they were rejected, they were really abused. It just seemed like it was always joy for them to keep going from one place to another. They never just disappeared. They just kept going. There had to be a supernatural joy, something that just continued to fill them, to overflowing and raise them back to life and heal their wounded bodies and heal their damaged emotions and their broken hearts. something that was worth so much more than anything that they set their sights on here in this world. Yes.

SPEAKER 03 : 21:51

I know that there’s one portion, well, several portions of Scripture when it concerns Peter that, especially on the Mount of Transfiguration, oh, Lord Jesus, do I have a plan. Let’s build three booths and let’s worship here. He always had a plan, an agenda he was going by. He had to give that up. And in giving that up, oh, the two books that he wrote, First and Second Peter, Kimberly, are just priceless. They’re amazing. And you see the character of Peter just laying down his life and laying down the control in his life. That’s right.

SPEAKER 02 : 22:30

Yeah. And yeah, that’s that’s what is hard, because as human beings, we we were created and I believe this flesh was actually created to be in opposition to God and to want our own control, to want our own ideas. And we get those ideas at a very, very young age and hold on to them so tightly. It’s hard to make that shift. and realize, oh, if I will just let go and let God have the reins, let Him have the steering wheel, He will guide me to a good place. I have a homeschooling friend with six children who came to me in the aftermath of some rebellion in her adult children. And it is really difficult to spend 24 hours a day teaching and guiding your children for 20 plus years, and then try to figure out how to let them be on their own path with God. That’s hard. And I just haven’t met very many homeschoolers who have done that well and kept relationships intact. More often, an ugly conflict happens between them and their children. And it’s heartbreaking. It happened in my own home. It is heartbreaking to have a child disappear or change their name completely and disown you as a parent. Sometimes it just takes you down paths that you were not expecting. That’s what happens on these journeys in this life. And it’s not something that we would choose. I would not choose to have gone through that with my children. But that is exactly what Jesus experienced. And he did not take advantage of the fact that he is the Son of God and tried to control it, judge it, fix it. Instead, he emptied himself of his own opinions and agendas, and he let Father God guide him. His father guided him to the temple at 12 years old, where he astounded all of the best scholars. He was guided to the woman at the well who changed a whole city because of her encounter with him. He was guided to a hillside where thousands of people gathered to hear him teach and were so hungry. And he miraculously fed them with only five loaves and two fish. This was all Father God guiding him, guiding him to the tomb of a man who had been dead for four days. When Jesus spoke his name, he was raised back to life. And that was all because he heard Father God tell him, this is what we’re doing. None of these events were Jesus’ own ideas. He was only doing what the Father told him to do, all the way to a crucifixion on a cross, all the way to the worst circumstances, and he let that journey happen for the joy set before him. That’s what we’re told. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. And that’s where we can say, okay, Lord, you’ve got something that’s so much more powerful than the joy that we find in this world. The human joy that we are used to experiencing can’t even compare to your kind of joy. And that’s the kind of joy that we want you to find. That’s why we don’t want you to take all of the cares of this world and your life on your own shoulders. We want you to take it off your shoulders, put it on to the Lord’s shoulders. He can carry it so well. And we want you to experience real joy. Yes.

SPEAKER 03 : 26:21

Thank you. All I can say is thank you. Sometimes that’s all we can say, Kimberly, is thank you. So thank you and thank you. And I hope that it went deep down into your hearts today, friends. I hope listening to this, you glow back. You’ll go to freedomstreet.org and you’ll click on radio shows and listen to it again. God bless you and keep you. And as Kimberly and I say, take joy.

SPEAKER 1 : 26:59

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SPEAKER 01 : 27:20

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. Our 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 : 28:24

Thank you.