Finding Unity in Faith Beyond Denominations

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 05 : 1:04

on this sunny day oh warm day in denver colorado welcome to call to freedom when life is hard and it is there are times life is really hard depend on god to brighten your lives with joy we’re going to talk about joy about joy that jesus gives us you trust in him to give you strength and lean on his grace to sustain you i know there are times when you do not know where to go, how to do it, what thing to depend on, and it’s Jesus. All the time, it’s Jesus. And we know that he’s the only one you can truly depend on. Oh, I’ve looked to him so many times when the road was rough. The road was hard. The road was difficult. And he comes through every time. I guarantee it. When you trust in him and love him. That’s right. He comes through every time. Oh, you are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And you do live in him when you love him. You move in him when you love him. And you live in him. In him you live and move. So it’s wonderful to know that when we become believers, Kimberly, we don’t just add Jesus to our life. No, we submit and yield to his life. Yes.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:23

And we’re, but while believing when you use the word believers, we’re believing that he has covered it all, that he has covered all the bases that he has come for us while we were yet sinners. The Romans five tells us that he came and he paid the bill. He, he paid it off so that we don’t have to be in debt because of our sin.

SPEAKER 05 : 2:48

Amen. That’s so good. That is so good. Our verse for this week has been John 15, verse 12. And I’m going to start a little bit earlier here in the message translation. This is my command. This is Jesus speaking. Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking or planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the father. Jesus told us everything that he has received from the Father for us, for each and every one of us. And it’s different for each and every one of us. But the primary thing is love. And he has shown his love on the cross.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:43

I mean, and multiple times. Right, right. When we weren’t friends to him, he became a friend to us by paying the bill, like we said earlier. That’s right. Yeah, I like that you started that memory verse a little bit early. I know your memory verse is to love one another, love each other as I have loved you. That’s the memory verse. But starting earlier and saying, this is my command. And I’ve been more aware lately of how Jesus speaks and he speaks. he pits his commands against the law. And just a little bit later in John 15, well, I say it’s there. Is it 16? He starts talking about their law, uh, Oh, you know what? It’s in my other translation. It’s not in this one that’s in front of me. But he starts challenging that the Pharisees have their law that they’re holding so tightly to. And when you hold tightly to a set of rules and to a law, then you’re not loving people well. And so his command is very different than the commandments that we associate with the law. And we we need to be open to that. That’s right. As believers, we want to believe that there’s something greater than the law, the written law, that in that greater one is Jesus. Yes.

SPEAKER 05 : 5:11

When I was growing up in a denomination. Now, the denominations are coming together, and I truly agree with that. They’re dropping their denominational names, and they’re coming into other different names that associate them with the unity in the body of Jesus Christ. I like to picture it as bridges, a lot of bridges being built. As I was growing up, I realized that the denomination that I grew up in had their own separate little book. And we… as teenagers called it the black book and it was a manual with the rules and regulations for that denomination well the only rules and regulations i need kimberly are the ones in the word of god and those are the ones filled with love and joy and peace and god’s righteousness and those are the ones i live by not all the rules and regulations right and those denominations have seen many young people leave And it’s taken maybe 15, 20 years of turmoil. And now we’re seeing pastors that are gathering those young people, maybe not the Gen Z any longer. What are the 20 to 30 or 30 to 40-year-olds? And they’re coming back. They’re coming back because… It’s X or Y or Z. One of those. That’s right. That’s right. Amen. And so we’re seeing a renewed… The concentration of God’s love, Holy Spirit is pouring out. And I am so excited. You were just mentioning today that some people believe April 3rd, Jesus is coming back. Well, we’ve heard that for many, many years. He’s coming back. It’s a year and that year and, but whatever it is, praise God, I’m ready.

SPEAKER 03 : 7:01

Oh, just living with the excitement of that. And especially right now in Colorado, there’s an excitement for me and seeing all of the spring flowers and the trees budding and blue, everything blooming so early. This is so early and so many birds singing and that’s, that’s excitement. Living with that excitement of new life and new hope.

SPEAKER 05 : 7:25

Yeah, we’re going around identifying the Bradford pear trees from the, I think they’re cherry trees or whatever fruit it is. They’re gorgeous, beautiful. And you were mentioning that when you smelled the first time a pear, a Bradford pear, it was so beautiful and you smelled it and it was like God gave you an April Fool joke. Yeah, yeah. It does not smell good. No. So we have been going around from neighborhood to neighborhood looking at the beautiful flowers and trees. And it is. It’s just exceptional this year because of the warm weather. It’s already 87, probably hit 90 maybe this afternoon, which in March, I have never seen that. And maybe I don’t remember it 30 years before. Yeah.

SPEAKER 03 : 8:14

Well, they’re saying on the news, this is record breaking temperatures. So you haven’t seen it. It’s breaking records. And this is the excitement, though, in the hope of something brand new, something different. And that is what Jesus is bringing. So whether he comes on April 3rd or another time, bringing us the hope. of his coming, the joy of his coming and being found in him, dwelling in him. We were reading from John 15 yesterday and we were reading from the passion translation about how he is the vine where the branches, if we live in union with him. That’s how it was worded in the Passion Translation. I went back and was reading it in my New American Standard, and it over and over says, if you abide in me and I abide in you, if you abide in my words and my words abide in you, it’s the abiding chapter. And there’s another translation that instead of using the word abide, uses the word dwell. So a few years, I don’t know how many years ago, I was contemplating my last name and how my last name is Duell. And it’s a French last name, Duell, even though we have no French in our family. It was assigned to the family.

SPEAKER 05 : 9:32

And a lot of times you hear them speaking of your last name as Duell.

SPEAKER 03 : 9:37

Yes, it gets mispronounced as dual because it’s spelled D-U-E-L-L. So often I hear that term, dual. And that’s been my last name now, wow, for 33 years. We’ve done some play on words, trying to help other people pronounce it correctly, like do well. Instead of do bad, you do well. Do well. And then we even named, when we were homeschooling our children, we named the academy the Do Well Academy. Our poor kids, they had to live up to that. They had to do well with everything.

SPEAKER 05 : 10:14

Well, they did well. They did well.

SPEAKER 03 : 10:16

You know, that is actually my son’s email. He calls himself Jay Didwell. That’s his email address. That is so cute.

SPEAKER 1 : 10:26

Yes.

SPEAKER 03 : 10:27

So that’s been kind of a journey with the last name. The reason why I’m mentioning that is because a number of years ago, instead of concentrating on doing well, which is work’s mentality… And instead of looking at duel like fighting, being in a fight, dueling it out, dropping the fighting and even dropping the works of doing well, not because I don’t want to do well, but because I want to dwell. I want to dwell in him. I want to abide in him. You don’t want to leave the place where you are with him. No, no. And so having that transformation happen in my life, it, it caused me to pray, pray for the body of Christ to have that same transformation and to have the hunger and thirst to be dwelling with him instead of just doing well.

SPEAKER 04 : 11:24

Um,

SPEAKER 03 : 11:25

And when you’re you mentioned that everything we’re looking for and hoping for is in Jesus. It’s Jesus. It is Jesus. And the way that he taught us to have relationship with him, to abide with him, to dwell with him, to be found in union with him. Often, we think we need a miracle in our lives, and we start thinking or hoping that we know what to do to get that miracle, to get what we want. And I’m kind of putting that in quotes, to get what we want. But the truth is, it takes a miracle for God to get what He wants. to abide in us and have us abide in him and not question it anymore to really be yielded and surrendered. And when we were reading in John 15 yesterday, we got to verse seven. If you abide with me and my words abide within you, then you can ask whatever you desire and it will be done.

SPEAKER 04 : 12:30

Mm hmm.

SPEAKER 03 : 12:31

Well, that sounds like you can ask for a miracle and it will be done.

SPEAKER 05 : 12:35

That’s right. If you don’t allow that word to go in one ear and out the other. And a lot of times that’s why Jesus said over and over, he who has ears, let him hear. Yes. Because in the new American standard, my words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts. And then you ask whatever you will. When that word is there in your hearts.

SPEAKER 03 : 12:58

Yeah, I love the allegiance and the loyalty to his word. And this is actually going even beyond words and realizing that his command is a new command. And in verse nine, it says, I love each of you with the same love. The father loves me. Wow. So you must continually let my love dwell in your hearts. If you keep my command and what is that command to love each other? You will live in my love just as I have kept my father’s commands and I continually live in his love. And he’s saying here that he is nourished by that love. He is empowered by that love. He has the strength to keep going in life because of that love. And he says in verse 11, my purpose for telling you these things is so that the joy I experience will fill your hearts with overflowing gladness. So verse 12, this is my command. Love each other deeply. as much as I have loved you. Wow. That’s a deep love. We’re talking about our Lord who has come down from heaven and he didn’t have to, but he came down from heaven to take a human form and show us love. When we were still sinners, when we were not friends to him, when we were still rebellious, he decided to show us love. And he’s asking us to do the same.

SPEAKER 05 : 14:34

That’s right. That word love, Kimberly, has been sustaining for 2000 years. And even before that, God said, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Well, here’s an announcement from Travis.

SPEAKER 01 : 14:49

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SPEAKER 05 : 15:20

And Kimberly, thank you, Travis. Kimberly, people now who have new technology, they know that around that corner is going to be an iPhone 17 or 18 or 19. They are just looking, maybe with anticipation, but also with the dread of a huge price on that new technology. Well, one thing that has been sustained throughout… Era upon era is love. It’s agape gods. Agape love will never change, my friend. You don’t have to look in your mailbox for anything new or something that has tragically changed or transitionally changed. Or maybe you’re not looking forward to something in your home that… You know, your refrigerator is 25 years old or your washer and dryer. And you know that one of these times you’re going to have to get a new one. You don’t have to get new love. It’s there. It’s there sustaining you.

SPEAKER 03 : 16:20

That’s right.

SPEAKER 05 : 16:21

Yes.

SPEAKER 03 : 16:21

Amen. Right. And and so really looking at these verses in John 15. where Jesus is saying, this is my command. Love each other deeply as much as I have loved you. His great love, the greatest love of all is the love that lays down its life, that lays down his life or her life. That’s the greatest love of all for his friends. Yes. And this great love is demonstrated when that person sacrifices or lays down his life. Yes. For his friends. Yes. And it makes me think of the parable. Well, who is my neighbor? Who who is it that I have to lay my life down? Who is it that I have to help along the way? And then Jesus mentions a whole parable about it’s not just the people that you share the same faith with. It’s right. It’s others. It’s others that you may not share the same faith with.

SPEAKER 05 : 17:18

And that can be challenging, but oh, it’s so exciting when they turn around, when you say, you know, God loves you and they turn around and they say, well, I want to hear more because they haven’t known that.

SPEAKER 03 : 17:31

Yes. And I know that they are, are maybe, um, turned, maybe we can say it that way. They are turned by the sacrificial love. By the yielding, by the surrendering. That is how a heart turns. And the Lord knew that. And that is why even before we ever wanted to follow him, he came. He came for us and he died for us.

SPEAKER 05 : 17:57

What other God, Kimberly? What other God has ever done that for his people? No other God. Right. There’s only one wonderful God.

SPEAKER 03 : 18:08

Yes. And this one, this God of ours is telling us in John 15 twice here. It says first in verse seven, I read it. Ask whatever you desire and it will be done. And then as we go on here, you show, we show him that we are intimate friends with him when we obey all that he commands us. And that command is love. It’s a sacrificial yielding, surrendered love in our relationships with each other. And then if we keep going here, your fruit will last. Now he starts talking about fruit. Because he’s talking about pruning the vine, cutting branches off the vine. And when you prune, then there’s a greater harvest and a greater chance of fruit. So this fruit is learning to love and letting that love just bear fruit all over your branches. I think of the pruning sometimes as being those hard situations, the suffering. And that can feel like a real pruning. And when we get to verse 16 of John 15.

SPEAKER 05 : 19:16

Oh, I love this verse.

SPEAKER 03 : 19:18

Yeah. He says, you didn’t choose me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world and bear fruit and your fruit will last because whatever you ask of my father, here it is again. Whatever you ask of my father for my sake, he will give it to you.

SPEAKER 05 : 19:40

Yeah, we always think we’re so highfalutin. You know, we think of everything. We’re so wise. We’re so educated. We know so much. And Jesus is saying here, you haven’t chosen me. I chose you. I chose you. So my friend, if you’re feeling alone today, if you’re feeling lonely in any way, know that Holy Spirit is helping you to understand that Jesus is right here with you.

SPEAKER 03 : 20:06

That’s right.

SPEAKER 05 : 20:06

Right here. It’s him. It’s him that loves you.

SPEAKER 03 : 20:10

Yes.

SPEAKER 05 : 20:10

Loves you. Yes.

SPEAKER 03 : 20:11

Yes. So twice in this chapter, ask whatever you desire and it will be done. You can you can ask, will you let me feel your presence tangibly? You can ask that.

SPEAKER 05 : 20:24

Now, before that, Jesus was right there. The disciples, if they had any need, Jesus was there. But Jesus knew that he was going to be gone. And he said, when I depart, you just ask anything of the father in my name and he will do it for you.

SPEAKER 03 : 20:41

And when it says in my name, that’s not just saying Jesus name, just because you have to tack it on because you got to slap that name right on. Yeah. Make sure you say in Jesus name. It’s really, truly having his heart of love, being as yielded as he is, being as surrendered as he is. and abiding in the Lord’s command to love, to love each other and to be servants. So this is my parting command, says Jesus, love one another deeply. That’s what’s right after saying that whatever you ask of my father, he will give it to you. So love one another deeply. That’s what he’s saying. I want to combine this with Luke 17 and verse six says, Um, in Luke 17, this is such a great passage. This is where the, the disciples ask in verse five to have their faith increased. They want Jesus to increase their faith. So we’re talking about this, what, what Jesus is saying, ask anything of my father. Ask whatever you will and it shall be done. I’ve talked with people who wonder about that, who wonder, wait, I’ve had some requests and I thought they were according to the word, you know, these requests of being healed. I’ve had these requests and they haven’t been done. What’s up with that? So that’s why I wanted to talk about this just a little bit today, because there is something about the yielding, the surrendering, abiding in him, him abiding in you, being really connected, closely connected. And in Luke 17, verse five, the disciples ask, Lord, increase our faith. And Jesus reply to them in verse six is if you have faith, even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, may you be uprooted and be planted in the sea and it would be done for you. Well, that verse is Jesus’ answer to the disciples. It’s just the beginning of his answer to their request that he increase their faith. And it’s just the beginning. There’s more to it. If you keep reading, starting in verse 7, Jesus gives you the rest of the story. He says, “…when a servant comes.” in from plowing, when he comes in the house from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, come in and eat with me? No. He says, prepare my meal, put on your apron and serve me while I eat. And then you can eat later. And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Oh, of course not. In the same way, when you obey me, when you’re yielded to me, when you’re abiding in me, you should say, we are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty. When we look at that verse and put it in the context of ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you. That’s the kind of servant, the servant’s heart that we want to attain to is to, to be serving our master, Jesus. Our master, our king and our God, the creator of the universe, really serving him with hearts that are so yielded and not demanding, not entitled. Oh, I’ve done so much work today. I need to sit down and eat before I serve you, God. That’s what this section is saying in Luke 17 is no, be ready to serve some more. Even though you might feel tired, watch how I will energize you with my grace because my grace is sufficient for you.

SPEAKER 05 : 24:28

We must know also the word, Kimberly, and what transpires in the word. And when Jesus said, so many people say, when will I be healed? My healing isn’t here. And we go into the place where Jesus is saying, well, where Peter is saying in 1 Peter 2, 24. He bore our sins in his body on the cross that we would die to sin and live to righteousness. For by his wounds, we were healed. Now, you as a believer in Jesus Christ must believe that you were healed at the cross. That’s a good word.

SPEAKER 03 : 25:10

It really is. Knowing that we are healed first spiritually, right? Of our sins. And that is what he came to make sure that he took care of.

SPEAKER 05 : 25:19

And if you’re suffering in your body, you know that there are steps and places where you must go first to believe. And that first believing is that, okay, Jesus, I realize that on the cross, my disease was healed by you. In fact, there’s a theologian that says the 39 stripes were the 39 different divisions of disease and illness that we carry about in our bodies. So you can say that, okay, by your stripe, Lord Jesus, I was healed. So you take that scripture and you believe that with all your heart, that the manifestation is coming. It is coming. It is going to be manifested in you in a time when is God’s perfect will.

SPEAKER 03 : 26:09

That’s a good word. And I know that that goes hand in hand, right alongside being yielded to him and Because if there is any sin in our spirit and in our soul, if there’s anything that’s going astray, he can take care of that. We can give it all to him and live so yielded and surrendered to him that we then can ask for that healing. And it shall be done for us because by his stripes, we are healed. That’s right.

SPEAKER 05 : 26:36

Praise God. I hope that you have received something from what we’re talking about today. We’re just here at the table. We’ve got our Bibles and we’re trying to learn more and more because we love him so much. And I hope you love him enough to read John 15 and 16. We’re going to go into that again tomorrow. God bless you. Take joy.

SPEAKER 02 : 27:03

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SPEAKER 1 : 28:28

Thank you.