Glorifying God: Living with Purpose and Love

SPEAKER 01 : 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 02 : 1:04

Welcome to Called to Freedom. Oh, I hope you’re in a nice, cool place. Because in Denver, Colorado today, it is very warm. And I know Kimberly in Broken Arrow and Tulsa, Oklahoma. It’s warmer. Warmer. yes it’s warmer this is my co-host Kimberly Duell she’s been here for so long I just think she’s a member of this team and you are a member of this team friend we have to glorify God and Psalm 34 3 says glorify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together do you know the moment you were born as you’re listening here the moment you were born God awakened the purpose he put within you It is what your dream is, was God’s dream originally, friend. And he is attentive to that purpose every day of your life. So maybe you’re thinking a little bit with the senses, you know, the feeling, the touching, the seeing, all of this hearing. But God wants you to listen to that still small voice. And he’s actually directing you into the place where you’re going to be most effective personally. Praise the Lord. It’s a wonderful experience. It really is. You asked me if I would be on the radio. I never dreamed of this. Never dreamed of this. And here we are. Almost 30 years later, I’ve been on the radio. And so it’s almost a surprise to me as well. And thank you so much for all of your notes and cards and emails and texts to Kimberly and me. We really appreciate that. You can get us at Kimberly.com. at FreedomStreet.org or Barbara at FreedomStreet.org. That’s real easy. Emails.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:49

Real easy to get emails. And if you want to call, just call that 877-917-7256 number. Leave us a message.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:58

We’ll call you back. That’s right. Also, you can get the email. Yeah, you got emails at Barbara Carmack. Yes, and at Kimberly. So I want you to know that pretty soon you’re going to get up-to-date newsletters. And I just got such an edifying note today from a power partner that says she so enjoys the newsletter every month. She has saved the newsletters from Call to Freedom since 2014. I’m going, oh my goodness, she must have a box full of these. A drawer? A drawer, yes. So pretty soon, our webmaster is going to get all those newsletters, and you can go into the website at freedomstreet.org and check out the radio programs that are under the resources, or check out the blog that is Voice of Freedom. Or look for those newsletters. Look for the newsletters. Or there’s a Bible guide also. That’s up to date from month to month. If you don’t have a regular going through the Bible, and praise God, this is my 50th year. I don’t know how I would have gotten it besides gotten through all this without Holy Spirit. But 50 years later, I am reading the Bible every morning, and I’m so grateful. And Kimberly, it has been my sustaining place in my life. It’s the rock. Yeah.

SPEAKER 03 : 4:17

I heard somebody say yesterday that when you hit rock bottom, that that’s a solid place. Yes, it’s the rock on which we stand. Yes. You know, and I have heard also that when you’re when you’re at your lowest, the only place to look is up.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:33

Yes, that’s right. Yes. And Corrie Ten Boom actually said, when you are in the pit at the lowest point in the pit, God is deeper still. Yes. Deeper still. And that’s such a blessing, a reassurance that we have.

SPEAKER 03 : 4:46

It is because the best is always yet to come. Doesn’t matter how low we are. Yes. We can look up and we can see that the rock bottom is actually a rock solid place to walk.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER 03 : 4:57

When we look to him, when we look to him.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:59

Well, our verse for this week was 1 Peter 4, 8, 9. And in the Living Translation, it says, The end of the world is coming. Do you sense it? I do. I sense the end of the world coming. Oh, we’re going to be probably… the last generation. The end of the world is coming. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. And so many times when somebody does something wrong, especially in the family circle, you’re always doing that. Why can’t you stop doing that? And instead of berating them or having something negative to say, just love them. Hug them and love them.

SPEAKER 03 : 5:50

Yeah, I think it’s really a natural and a human and a fleshly reaction when we see something or hear something or experience something that we don’t like. And then we want to say something about it. We’d like to bring correction to it. And that’s not what we’re called to. We are called to love. I like how that living translation said show deep love. Show deep love to one another. And this morning we were talking about the power of withness, being with each other, being together. And I call it withness because it’s a fun word. It’s a made-up word. It’s one of my made-up words.

SPEAKER 02 : 6:32

Well, this morning I was trying to get an order into a company, and I had tried for half an hour. You came into the office and you said, Mom, is there anything I can do? And I said, I have just had a real difficult time. I’m doing all the things, all where the check marks are. I’m writing the address and all of it’s due. And she said, well, let’s just do this together with this. And in five minutes or less.

SPEAKER 03 : 6:57

It was done. It was done. And I’ve noticed that for myself. If I’m struggling with something, knowing that someone else’s presence is right there with me is sometimes exactly what I needed. Just someone else with me, and then I get through whatever it is that I’ve been tasking at for a while. That’s right. And God is love. I would also say God is relationship. God is with us. That’s his name, by the way. Emmanuel means God with us. And that is what he intended for us to be with each other. Do you know Genesis 126? It says, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. If you think about the way they are with each other, the Trinity is with each other. And with other creation, too. There are angels. There are other really beautiful creatures, I’m sure. We’ve heard about them through John’s eyes and Daniel’s eyes when you read those books in the Bible. And so we need to know that there is an idea of community, an idea of withness in a way where there is unity. Yeah. And fellowship that is harmonious and not dissonant and conflicting and confrontive and let me tell you how you’re doing this wrong. That’s not what the image that he made us in.

SPEAKER 02 : 8:26

That’s right. And I’m just using your husband as an example. When he first started the business a long, long, long time ago, he was by himself. He was really basically doing the whole thing. Then it got bigger and bigger. And so now he’s employing not only Brandon, who’s doing most of the which has to be done in a business like your husband has, but also guys to go to the place where they’re delivering the product and get it delivered. So we’re learning. I love Ecclesiastes 4.9. Two are better than one because they have a good return of their labor. Yes. And that’s so important. Witness again. Witness again.

SPEAKER 03 : 9:10

Right. So it’s I think it’s a good idea to check in with ourselves. How are my relationships? How are your relationships today? And when when we do figure out how self-absorbed that human beings are capable of being. Then we can set our mind to truly caring for others. We have feelings that are fallen, fallen feelings. We are in a fallen world and our feelings are fallen. And so when we decide that we’re going to be complaining about something or bitter about something, that’s a feeling that is not the image of the one we were made in. And so we now have an opportunity to decide what we’re going to do with those fallen feelings. Are we going to go with those feelings or are we going to make a decision to be like the one we were made to be like? Yes. And we want to be choosing his love. This whole week we’ve been talking about living in God’s love. And so we’re just staying in the theme of living in his love. That takes decisions. We’ve got to make decisions to do it. And sometimes those decisions are going completely against what we’re feeling in a moment. I think that’s what I like about how Darren used to say, feelings are liars. Well, feelings will let us in on what’s going on deep in our heart. And so I think that’s a good thing to look at the feeling and then say, okay, is this feeling in line with the love of God? Because I want to become love. He’s made me in his image, and I want to become love.

SPEAKER 02 : 10:52

That’s like if you identify your feeling with fear in any way, you realize that’s not from God. No, God is love. So what am I facing here? Because 2 Timothy 1.7 says, it’s God who has not given you a spirit of fear. That’s the enemy. But power and love and a sound mind. Right. So you can go right to those scriptures and say, OK, be gone, Satan, in the name of Jesus.

SPEAKER 03 : 11:18

Yes. And love in that verse. Yes. Love covers a multitude of sins. Amen. Love. It it accomplishes so much more than the backbiting or the correcting sin. So we want to continue to show that deep love, like the memory verse for the week. We want to continue to be fervent in our love for one another. And choosing to walk in unconditional love means that we will have to constantly be asking for help. And trusting, trusting that help will come. We are really inept and unequipped to walk in unconditional love. But God, and we said it yesterday, but God, it’s just one of my favorite, every time but God shows up in the word of God, he’s constantly coming in and saying, let me show you a new way. But God, and he butts in on our situations and we… That’s actually part of a sermon. I haven’t even seen the sermon or heard it, but somebody was telling me about Stephen Furtick this past Sunday was talking about, but God and how he butts into situations. And I love that idea. I need to listen to it.

SPEAKER 02 : 12:36

I heard that this morning as I was listening to Creflo at seven o’clock saying, but God and the whole audience. But God, we’re we’re being introduced to the only one that can solve our problems and our issues.

SPEAKER 03 : 12:52

And he’s given us his word as a way of it’s kind of a directory, a recipe book. This is the recipe that you need in order to become more like me. You need to make the decision. Now, can we do that on our own to become more? Loving to become gentle, to become kind, to become patient. No, we still need his help. So we’ve got to be asking for help constantly in conversation with him, asking for his help. And he is the only one who can enable us to love like he does. We also, in choosing to walk in unconditional love, we also need to know that it means that we offer help without conditions. Right. because that’s becoming more like him. There are those who are unwilling to offer aid unless they’re asked. I know people like this, and I used to be like that. But when I changed my mind and started offering aid simply because I want to practice this fervent love for others, I actually started noticing that aid came to me when I didn’t even think to ask. So we truly do reap what we sow.

SPEAKER 02 : 14:08

That’s right. Just today, the Lord was saying, we need to get to those stickery plants that are overtaking my little ground cover on the north side of my property. And I said, okay, I’ll get to that on Saturday. I think he was joking with me because just in a little while we saw our friend out there. She had borrowed a shovel and she was getting rid of all the stickery plants because she doesn’t like them either. And I’m thinking, wow, you answered my prayer or even I was willing to do it. But you came in with a precious friend and took care of that whole thing. Thank you, Otelia. We love you. It was such a blessing. Yes. Thank you. And those are not fun things. She had on thick leather gloves because those are not things you want to play around with.

SPEAKER 03 : 14:57

They’re awful. They really get into your skin. Yeah. Yeah. And so learning to live in the love of God, it is a step-by-step process. We are constantly being tempted to follow our fallen feelings. Mm-hmm. And that’s when we make decisions that we’re not going to be that way. We’re not going to follow those feelings. We are going to instead practice, practice harmony, practice unity, community with each other. And you were talking about purpose at the top of the hour. And I often refer to our purpose as being God’s best friend. That’s what we’re made for. We’re made to be his best friend. And I just want to take a little bit of time to look at how he is offering us his friendship. And he’s not waiting for us to be all cleaned up before he will be our best friend. He is our best friend right now in the middle of all the stickery issues and all that. Thorny and thorny. Yes. The thorny me. I can be a porcupine sometimes and people don’t want to be around, but not him. He still wants to be my best friend. Jesus sees us in our wretchedness and he still stands at the door of our heart knocking. He wants to be your best friend, and he doesn’t care if you are at your very worst. He just wants to be with you. Revelation 3.20 is where I got that idea that he’s standing at the door and knocking. It’s a familiar verse, and it says, “‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me.'” I think maybe we’ve forgotten the context of that and what state he actually finds us in when he’s standing at the door of our hearts knocking. Verses 15 through 17 of Revelation 3 tell us, it says, I wish that you were hot or cold. Because you’re lukewarm. And I just want to spit you out of my mouth because you’re neither hot nor cold. That’s right.

SPEAKER 05 : 17:14

Yes.

SPEAKER 03 : 17:14

You think you are rich and have need of nothing. And you do not know that you’re actually wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. Wow. Well, that’s not a very inviting state to be in poor, wretched, miserable, blind, naked. That’s not inviting. And yet here he is longing to be your best friend.

SPEAKER 02 : 17:39

There’s a moment when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, and I know you know that, when Judas confronts him with this army of soldiers behind him. And Jesus says something like, my friend. Yes. And that’s not sarcasm. No. That is true love for Judas. After he washed his feet, he knew he was going to be betrayed by this man. Such a good point. He still is aware that he loves him. Now, remember, he’s God in the flesh. And God so loved the whole world. It doesn’t matter what condition you’re in. He loves you. That’s right. We have to get rid of those self-deceptive characteristics that put us down in the pit. that make us aware of all the things that we are not good at or we’re not perfect at. Because God doesn’t want us to be perfect. He’s going to fix us. He’s at work in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Yes.

SPEAKER 03 : 18:38

And he’s just waiting for us to make choices to be like him because we were made in his image. Oh, it’s so good. There’s a really good song called The Truth. And it says, the truth is, I am my father’s child. I make him proud and I make him smile. I was made in the image of a perfect king. He looks at me and wouldn’t change a thing. The truth is, I am loved by a God who’s good when I’m not good enough. I love this song. Let’s listen to it now.

SPEAKER 04 : 19:22

How many times can you hear the same light before you start to believe it? The enemy keeps whispering to me, I swear these days it’s all that I’m hearing. I used to know who I was, now I look in the mirror and I’m not so sure. Lord, I don’t want to listen to the lies anymore. The truth is I am my father’s child. I make him proud and I make him smile. I was made in the image of a perfect king. He looks at me and wouldn’t change a thing. The truth is I am truly loved by a God who’s good when I’m not good enough. I don’t belong to the lies, I belong to you. And that’s the truth When I feel like there’s so much noise Living rent-free in my head Heaven finds me in a still small voice And it sounds like grace instead You remind me who I am When I look in the mirror And I’m not so sure Lord, I don’t want to listen to the lies anymore. The truth is I am my father’s child. I make him proud and I make him smile. I was made in the image of a perfect king. He looks at me and wouldn’t change a thing. The truth is I am truly loved by a God who’s good when I’m not good enough. To the lies that belong to you And that’s the truth I know who I am Cause I know who you are And I hold your truth inside of my heart I know the lies are always gonna try and find me But I’ve never been so sure The truth is I am my father’s child. I make him proud and I make him smile. And that’s the truth.

SPEAKER 03 : 22:46

Good. That’s good. That’s the truth. And we don’t want to listen to the lies anymore. Those fallen feelings are lies. I like how she says the noise living rent free in my head. We don’t want to be following the lie into those feelings. We want to follow truth. And I know the truth. Jesus is the truth. He says, I am the way. I am the truth. And I am your life. Yes. And that’s I know who I am. I know who you are. So because I know who you are, I know who I am. I belong to you. I belong to the truth. I’ve been keeping my windows open at night. I’m so thankful that I can do that here in Colorado. You can’t do that in Oklahoma. And early yesterday morning, I was startled by a voice yelling. I mean, really yelling. Someone was driving by the house and they had their car windows down and they were having a conversation with someone else. And they yelled, it is your fault every day. And then it trailed off because the car kept driving. But it was loud. And it really it startled me. And I started praying for the person on the other end of that conversation. Well, and the person that’s so angry, so full of rage. Yes, that peace would come. I love to pray that way in traffic. And yesterday morning I was given the opportunity to just pray over the neighborhood, over this person, and really understanding that the accusatory voices… are always what’s working against God’s love and his peace and his joy and his tenderness and his gentleness and his kindness. And this is what we want to make a decision for. We want to decide to follow the fruits of the spirit, to follow the beatitudes and to show these fruits to other people. Even when it’s hard. I know I’ve been triggered and sometimes want to yell at somebody else. But how wonderful to practice speaking love. Practice being kind. Practice gentleness. First Corinthians 13 is a chapter that my dad wrote. asked me to memorize when I was pretty young. And I’m so thankful that he challenged me to do that when I was young. He was always challenging. Yeah. To learn the word. Yes. And I’m so grateful for that specific one because first Corinthians 13, wow, if you can get all of those facets of love in, into your heart and your mind and start practicing those things, not being rude, not boasting, being patient and kind, believing. It says that love always believes, believes the best in others. and looking for good reports. If it’s been a while since you’ve read 1 Corinthians 13, then we encourage you to get back into the word by looking at that chapter and practicing those traits, becoming like the one that you were made for and enjoying true peace, true joy, and true calm And knowing that all that you are sowing and practicing is coming right back to you because you reap what you sow.

SPEAKER 02 : 26:23

That’s right. Absolutely. And those who sow in peace, that peace will come back to you. So we want you to remember that. Oh, it’s been so good being with you this week. And we look forward to a blessed weekend for you. And next week, the Lord willing, unless Jesus comes back… We’re going to be on the air again. We love having you join us. God bless you and take care of you in every way and take joy.

SPEAKER 1 : 27:00

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SPEAKER 01 : 27:20

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SPEAKER 1 : 28:27

Thank you.