Faith, Favor, and Freedom: The Legacy of Abraham

SPEAKER 04 : 0:09

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. I was in the middle of thinking. And my mouth had to start talking. Oh, God bless you for joining today. I just wanted to say it’s always a privilege to have you join me on the radio. And I wish we could see each other in person, but I know those of you in Wyoming and Nebraska and Kansas and New Mexico and parts of the Western Slope, you can’t possibly get there. So congratulations. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. to make your life a blessing. Oh, I always look so forward to seeing President Trump on the news and on TV, unlike the last administration, which was almost always an embarrassment to think that Biden was going to go meet with some world leaders. So it’s just such a blessing to see him like at NATO this time and And the president of Lithuania in the NATO meeting today said, we want it to be make NATO great again. And everybody was in agreement. It seems God just giving that man favor, favor, favor everywhere he goes. There’s such a presence with President Trump. And so the members of NATO voted for. to up their giving to 5% of their gross product. So he just makes waves wherever he goes, and I’m so grateful. I am so grateful to the Lord God. Thank you, Father. Thank you for a wonderful president we have for such a few short years, but I’ll tell you what, he’s filling it up with all kinds of activities. You are blessed to dispense, for in him you live and move and have your being. And you can go to freedomstreet.org and donate there. Hit that little donate button. It’s just so easy. Or you can actually listen to radio shows by hitting that radio show. And also on resources, you can order the power packs. They’re beautiful little scripture cards you can give as gifts or you can use yourself. And some people are carrying them with them to give away to people that have problems or issues in their lives. So if you would like a binder, an acrylic binder of a power pack, it’s $10 and $5 for the power pack in the cassette case. You just go to the resource page and you can order from there. God bless you. It’s just been such a privilege. Sometimes I just take a moment and say thank you, Lord, for these wonderful years that you’ve given to me to talk to you every day. What a privilege. What an honor. I will always be grateful in Jesus’ name. Our memory verse for this, I’m going to get my constitution here together. Memory verse for this week is Romans 8, 15. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again. We talked about fear yesterday. But you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, Abba, Father. And the New Living Translation of Romans 8.15 is, So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. No. Instead, you received God’s spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Remember that. We’re going to talk about that in Romans tomorrow. I have a few notes already made out for the fact that we have been grafted in and adopted into God’s family. Praise the Lord. Wow. Wow, what a miracle. And now we call him, now we call God, the creator of the universe, Abba, Father. Praise the Lord. I think that’s probably the greatest thing that we find unable to put together in words that the creator of the universe is our Abba. He’s our Abba. I can go to him any time, night or day, and just throw up, even if I have to throw up my hands sometimes and say, Father God, what do I do next? And he’s always there, always there to give suggestions. Today I put in a new battery with a power surge capability. And I was on the floor on my knees and trying to get it into a plug-in where the desk is up against the wall. And it’s like Holy Spirit said, go get a strip and plug it into the strip and plug the strip into a more convenient place in the office, which I did. And it turned out so well. I am so grateful. He’s my director. He’s my leader. He’s my teacher. So I praise God for Holy Spirit every day. There is so much news right now about Israel. And really, not only in the last six months, but since October 7th, 2023, it really demands that we look at the Jewish people. who God loves. Oh, he loves them. He’s given them such wonderful opportunities, and they were scattered all throughout the earth for so long, and he brought them back together in May of 1948 when President Truman signed that wonderful declaration to make Israel a state of He acknowledged Israel as a state that time. So I want to give a little history about how they got Jerusalem, how Salem and Zion became Jerusalem. And we know that’s from King David. He came in. Boy, did he come in. He captured Jerusalem in 1004 B.C., a thousand years before Jesus came. And the city was much smaller than it is today and was confined to a low north-south ridge called the Ophel Hump, is what they call it. And it is south of what is now the Temple Mount, where a lot of visitors see every year, millions. And David’s heavily armed men took the defenders by surprise as they climbed up through the narrow vertical shaft and sloping tunnel that enabled the Jebusites to haul water from the Gusher Spring outside the city wall into their fortified city. They had a fortified city at that time. And so they felt pretty confident. You’re kind of like the guys in Jericho. They had a walled city and nothing can penetrate this wall. Well, we know. that the walls came tumbling down praise god god can do anything he wants to do so david’s heavily armed men and boy accurate in every way reminds me of last saturday the accuracy of the bombs that went down the bunker busters that what the first bomb went 200 feet made a big hole so the second bomb that went down i mean such precision would go down 200 feet further oh wow Only God, folks. Only God. So after being occupied by David’s forces, the old Jebusite city became known as the City of David. And Jesus even mentions that in the New Testament. And the ridge on which it stood was renamed Mount Zion. That’s where you hear the name Zion. excavated remains of the old Jebusite city wall and the ancient underground water system, including the section now known as Warren’s Shaft, can still be visited today. Visitors can go underground to the water tunnel and enter by spiral staircases, descending from the top into the floor where the Kidron Valley was. See, there’s layers upon layers after all those years. And people still go and visit that. Oh, that I would love to. Well, I’m going to do that someday. We’re all going to do that someday. And it’s just a short distance to the south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which you see that golden dome that you see quite often in Jerusalem. And the springs can also be visited directly from the road running through the Kidron Valley. Well, that was just a little format of what happened. And you see in 2 Samuel 5, 4 through 12, I’m going to read it in the New American Standard because this is so interesting. I was a student of history. I loved history in high school and both in college and high school. And I know some of you aren’t, but it’s so good to know where all of this came from. And so David was 30 years old when he became king. Remember, he was just a teenager when Samuel anointed him king of Israel. And he reigned 40 years. Now at Hebron, he reigned over Judah seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem, he reigned 33 years over both Israel and Judah. Remember, King Saul reigned. He had had a capital of Samaria in northern Israel, and so it was divided. Then David began to reign, and for 33 years it was an undivided kingdom. And then Solomon came, and it divided again. I mean, so much arguing and division. And there shouldn’t have been, but it was. It’s just like today. And verse 6 of… Second, Samuel five says now the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. And they said to David, you shall not come in here. And David was thinking, yes, I’m going to go. They were saying, actually, you won’t get in our fortress. Well, he did. He captured the stronghold of Zion. That is the city of David. And so David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And he built all around from the Milo and inward. David became greater and greater for the Lord God of hosts was with him. It’s interesting to note that King David went through so much opposition. Remember, Samuel anointed him when he was a teenager. And for 10 years before he was more than 10 years, probably 12 or 13 years, King Saul was chasing him, wanting him dead or alive forever. So the persecution and the opposition was great. I compare him a lot to President Trump. Opposition, so much opposition. But there’s such confidence in President Trump that he’s doing the right thing for the people. And that’s exactly how David felt. King Hiram from Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a house for David. And David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people, Israel. What an exciting time. I really do compare that with right now where we’re living. And friend, don’t be discouraged. Don’t get bitter. Don’t get negative. Enjoy. Enjoy the times we have right now, because I really believe in my heart and I see through prophecy that it’s going to get worse. So enjoy right now. President Trump is just admired all around the world by the majority. I know there’s always going to be a minority of opposition, but by the majority of people, they are honoring him. And of course, we know that Abraham is the father of Israel. That’s where it all started. In fact, James 2 verse 23 tells us that God considered Abraham his friend. When God asked Abraham to give his son Isaac as a sacrifice, there were no kinds of doubts and fears and pacing back and forth. And boy, I don’t want to do this. He immediately obeyed God. And I believe that’s when God realized he had a devoted and loyal friend to the end. Paul wrote that Abraham is considered the father of Israel because his obedience was very evident, that he believed God and his faith in God was counted as righteousness thousands of years before Jesus came and before faith in him became a paramount. Now, Romans 4, 5 through 25, and I enjoy reading this chapter so much. Romans 4, 5 through 25, Paul almost devotes the entire chapter to Abraham and the faith that he had that counted him as righteousness. And I just want to read this passage because it involves you and me. Absolutely it does. And it says here in Romans four, but people are counted as righteous, not because of their work. No, we know that already, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. Praise God. He forgives my sins. David, a man after God’s heart, also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it. And he wrote Psalm 32, 1, saying, Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin. You can read that again in Romans, excuse me, in Psalm 32, verse 1. Going on with Romans 4, verse 9. Now, is this blessing only for the Jews or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was counted as righteous by God because of his faith. But how did that happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised. This covenant went on before we had to do anything in the physical. And that circumcision is a sign of the covenant. Although people today, I know circumcision is done for cleanliness purposes, and there are some people today that don’t circumcise, but it was the sign of the covenant from God. Now, verse 11 of Romans 4 said circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith. I want to remind you of Romans 2, verse 29, that says you are not a Jew because of the circumcision on the outside, the physical circumcision. You are a Jew because of the circumcision of your heart. That’s a spiritual circumcision. I just wanted to remind you that of Romans 2, 29. And Abraham is also the father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised. Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law. but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. And that involves us all because we cannot emphasize that enough. We have a right relationship with God that comes by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift, and we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses. If we have faith like Abraham’s, we are born again, born into God’s family. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the scriptures mean when God told him, I have made you the father of many nations. This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life. Remember when God said, I want you to take Isaac. I want you to sacrifice him to me. Now, Abraham had to believe then, although he’d never seen it, that God would bring the dead back to life because as he put that knife into his son Isaac, he knew God would raise him back up. That’s the kind of faith God wants us to have. And he creates new things out of nothing, calling those things that are not as though they are. Oh, creative miracles are yours today if you believe. Even when there was no hope or reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping, believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God said to him, that’s how many descendants you will have, as many as the sands of the sea and the stars in the sky. And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead. And it was. And so was Sarah’s womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger. And in this, he brought glory to God, praising God for what he was going to do. That’s why I encourage you every day, get into the word of God. Begin to memorize the word, because when those hard times come, and they will, you can be assured and confident of the word that God has put in your heart to speak that forth and confess it. Verse 21 of Romans 4 says he was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous, just as he does us when we confess Jesus as Lord. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. No. In verse 24, it says it was recorded. They recorded it. Paul wrote it because it was for our benefit to assuring us that God would also count us as righteous. If we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus, our Lord from the dead. Oh, I’m so happy here in the studio. Oh, he was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God. Oh, what a divine and miraculous covenant we have with our Father. It gives me such joy when I think of when the Abraham Accord was signed on September the 15th, 2020. And that was with a lot of negotiations from Jared Kushner, who is the son-in-law of President Trump, who married Ivanka. And it’s really interesting. Right in the middle of a COVID pandemic, they signed it at the White House in naming the Middle East agreement between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. It was a brilliant move, absolutely brilliant move, because both the Jewish people and the Muslim people, who Bahrain is Muslim and United Arab Emirates is Muslim, they consider Abraham their father. Yes. And so the Abraham Accords are a set of diplomatic documents between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. They were signed on September the 15th, 2020 at the White House with Donald Trump as a witness. It was the first in an agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates government. and later Bahrain, who joined in because they thought, whoa, I believe the same as them. I’m going to join this Abraham Accord. And the goal was to make diplomatic relations and trade easier between the countries. And now other countries are thinking about joining. Praise God. The focus was on improving peace and stability in the Middle East. And it all came about because of Abraham Accord. the father of faith and the father of God himself. Paul Wilber has a wonderful song here, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Listen with me.

SPEAKER 02 : 21:16

The Lord, he is come. Stand with me tonight and let’s declare it together. The Lord, he is come. He is God. For all. He is God.

SPEAKER 03 : 22:10

We offer up our lives as a living sacrifice You are the Holy One. the ends of the world and we surrender to your sovereign will oh Lord God of Abraham yes Lord Lord God of Abraham of Isaac and Israel Come now and fill this place Be insulted in our praise And let it be known today That you I’m the exalted one We’ve come to worship Your holy name Here we come, Lord You are the holy one And he shall reign. I’m the exalted one. And we surrender to your sovereign will. Oh Lord, you are the holy one.

SPEAKER 1 : 25:58

I’m the exalted one.

SPEAKER 01 : 26:12

We come and worship at your holy hill. Oh, Lord, you are God. You are God. That’s on Paul Wilber’s live album. Oh, such good songs about Israel. And talking about the Abraham Accord, the signatories of this Abraham Accord are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The American President Donald Trump, the Bahraini foreign minister, and the Emirati minister of foreign affairs. And they all signed, they want peace. They do not agree with Iran, folks. And more and more countries are beginning to see common sense. That’s what we need, common sense. The truth about what’s going on. Even Qatar, which has the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East, and Kuwait. And they had been refusing to recognize Israel, but now their minds are being changed. And ask Holy Spirit to change the minds of these countries before it is too late. Oh, plant your trust deep in the Lord, my friend. Reach out for new discoveries of his love. His love is paramount right now. And continue to allow him to make your life a blessing. Be a blessing for someone today. Make it a beautiful day for them. This is the day that the Lord has made. And we will rejoice and be glad in it. More about Israel tomorrow. God bless you and keep you and pray for Kimberly. She’s in South Carolina this week. Oh, take joy, my friend. Take joy.

SPEAKER 1 : 28:00

877-917-7256

SPEAKER 04 : 28:21

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 : 29:25

Thank you.