[Music] Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barber Car Mag. 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-powered 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. Well, you are listening to Call to Freedom. Let me confirm that. But this is Kimberly sitting in for Barbara as she is on the road to Oklahoma. I should actually be seeing her in person within the hour. The last time I touched base with her was a couple of hours ago and she was already past Wichita, Kansas. So this is really fun. I get to see her very, very soon in my territory. And as we are all gathering together with friends and family, we just encourage you to reach out to those who may have no one to be with during a holiday. Even if it’s someone that you may not have been able to get along with in the past, our joy is made full when we minister to one another by being inclusive. And God is really doing something right now. He is on the move. He is repairing breaches in relationships. He is restoring and mending and healing broken hearts. He is on the move and he is delighted to invite us to join him in this move. So we are just encouraging you to get together and invite others. I even did that today. There was someone that I haven’t seen for a while at church. And it is someone that can be a challenge for me to stay in conversation with. But I don’t know if they have anyone else for Thanksgiving. So I reached out just today. So I am not asking you to do something that I haven’t done myself. We will just be bold and watch God do a healing. I just have one item of business before I start sharing with you what God has put on my heart. And that is probably my own excitement for this Christmas meeting coming up in December. But I want you to go ahead and mark your calendars now. If you can join us on Saturday, December 14th for a time of worship and celebration. I have been praying about it and I am saying us because I plan on being there. If the Lord carries, I will be there to celebrate with you. So I hope to see you Saturday, December 14th. If you know that you will be there, you have got a free time that morning. Give us a call ahead of time so that we can be expecting you. And I just gave you my RSVP. So you go ahead and call and give us your RSVP at 1-877-917-7256. And if you didn’t catch that, we will hear it again at the end of the show. But let us know that we can anticipate your presence with us at that Christmas meeting. That’s the morning of December 14th. That’s a Saturday. I hope you can join us. Well, I just want to start out with a prayer, Lord. I pray that you will transform the words and the ideas that you have given me to share with these friends. And turn them into something that you can use for your listeners today. I thank you, Lord, for the way that you are moving in this earth, in this country, and in our cities, in our homes, and in our families. And we are excited to be a part of it. And we thank you for all the miracles that you’re doing even through these words now. In Jesus’ name, amen. Well, I have been reading in Zechariah and the visions in that book really thrilled my heart. So I know that I’m going to have to revisit this again in the future because I haven’t really sat with it long enough to have a good grasp on a really good grasp on what we’re being told. But I was too excited to not share a little bit today. And just in the last few days, reading in Zechariah, it’s near the end of the Old Testament for those of you who don’t read many of those minor prophets. So it’s the second to last book in the Old Testament. And I want to start in the middle of the book, but I need to just give you a little bit of context. So the Lord is imploring us in the book of Zechariah here to turn back to Him because He longs to turn back to us. He is jealous for Zion. And what is Zion exactly? We’ve heard the term a lot in the Old Testament. I have asked that question to some of my Hebrew teachers in the Hebrew classes that I’ve been taking. And Zion is really another way of saying God’s people, or his daughter, or it’s not necessarily a place. Even though it’s often referred to as a place, Zion is a people group that the Lord is jealous for. And so he now longs to be, and he promises to be, a wall of fire all around Zion, and be a glory inside it. In chapter 1 here of Zechariah, it says, “My house shall be built in her.” And then in chapter 2, he says, “Whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye.” Well, we all know that the pupil of your eye, if somebody touches that, even if a speck of dust touches your eye, that that’s very sensitive. So he has a very sensitive heart for his people. And he says, “Whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye, I will lift my hand against them, and they shall be spoiled for those that they enslaved.” So if you have been in bondage, if you have felt enslaved by things in this life, God is wanting to turn that around. He will lift his hand against your chains, the things that have kept you in bondage, and he will set you free. So I’m just giving a little recap here for the beginning of Zechariah until we get to chapter 6. That’s the part that I’m really excited to share with you. But in chapter 3, before I get to 6, in chapter 3, the Lord has his attendance, remove filthy garments. And he says in chapter 3, verse 4, “See, I have removed your guilt from you, and you shall be clothed in priestly robes.” And then in verse 8 of that same chapter, he goes back to talking about his servant, the branch. All right, so his servant, the branch. You know, we’ve heard about the branch in Isaiah 11, verse 1. And I looked that up in the Passion translation. This is amazing. It says the cut off stump of Jesse will sprout and a fruitful branch will grow from his roots. The spirit of Yahweh will rest upon him, the spirit of extraordinary wisdom, the spirit of perfect understanding, the spirit of wise strategy, the spirit of mighty power, and the spirit of revelation. And the spirit of the fear of the Lord. And he will find his delight in living by the spirit of the fear of the Lord. Okay, the fear of the Lord is not just the kind of fear that we think of, you know, like the Halloween fear, that kind of scary stuff. The fear of the Lord is actually being in awe of him, to the place where you prioritize him. When you have the fear of the Lord, you’re putting him first. You don’t want to be putting anything else in your life first. So this is where we’re hearing about the branch. The branch of the Lord will live as a person full of extraordinary wisdom of perfect understanding and wise strategy, and mighty power, and revelation, and the fear of the Lord. We know that this is talking about Jesus. Jesus came as the servant, the branch. And so going back to Zechariah 3.8, it says, “I am going to bring my servant, the branch.” For Mark, well, this stone, which I place before Joshua, a single stone with seven eyes. And I listed off seven things there of mighty wisdom and understanding, and the fear of the Lord, the power, there are seven here, the eyes of the Lord. And God says, “He continues in Zechariah, I will execute its engraving.” Declare’s the Lord of hosts, and I will remove that country’s guilt in a single day. Well, this is exciting to me. It doesn’t tell you exactly which country. And yes, it could be referring to something previous, but it simply says, “I will remove that country’s guilt in a single day.” I love that because God can remove our guilt in a single day. The things that we have been under, the kinds of sins or habits or addictions, the thought life that we have been under for decades can be removed in a single day. That is the arm of our Lord, and that’s his hope. He wants to do that in our life. So he’s saying, “I will remove that country’s guilt in a single day.” How exciting. In that day, Declare’s the Lord of hosts, you will be inviting each other to the shade of vines and fig trees. Well, there it is. We’re going to be inviting each other. We’re going to be inviting each other to Thanksgiving, meals, and to Christmas. And we will no longer be looking at each other and thinking, “Yeah, I just can’t get along with you,” because the Spirit of the Lord will arise in us. And there will be a reconciliation and a harmony that we haven’t had before. Oh my goodness. Do you see why I’m going to have to come back to this? This is great stuff. In chapter 4, we read the very familiar verse, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts. And what are you, O great mountain? Oh, if we have had a mountain of conflict and confusion, if we have had a mountain of resentment and bitterness, if we have had a mountain of misunderstanding. What are you, O great mountain? You will be turned into level ground, for he shall produce that excellent stone, and it shall be greeted with shouts of grace, grace. And another way to translate that is beautiful, beautiful. Oh, those places in our lives where we have had the misunderstandings and confusion in chaos. And even gone as far as into resentment and bitterness, those places will be turned into level ground, and we will be able to shout grace, grace over that. And beautiful, beautiful. The things that have not been beautiful will be turned to beautiful. Who has despised the day of small beginnings? See, this is talking about Jesus. Jesus is only one man in our history, a seemingly small beginning, right? But how could we ever despise that small beginning? We can’t. Look at what he’s done and the way that he has made for us. It is beautiful, truly beautiful, so much grace. And what if we all got caught up into this plan, right? This plan that Jesus started, it’s the plan that the Lord has for us. That branch has been established and he has become the true vine. Jesus spoke of himself as being the vine, and we now are the branches. We are his branches to reach out into this dark world with his light and his love. Okay, so everything I’ve just spoken of in Zechariah to this point up in chapter four, that was really just an intro into the part that really caught my heart. And so if you’ll look with me in Zechariah chapter six, in verse 12, it says, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold a man called the branch.” Again, we’re back to the branch. He shall branch out from the place where he is, and he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall build the temple and shall assume majesty, and shall sit on his throne and rule. And there will also be a priest seated on his throne. So there’s going to be a king and a priest, and harmonious understanding shall prevail between them. I think this scripture just came right off the page because I know what it’s like to have misunderstandings and miscommunication, and maybe even competition for some kind of understanding or whatever it is we might want for the holidays, what they’ll look like. But this scripture here in Zechariah 6, 13 says, “A harmonious understanding shall prevail between them.” Some other versions say that there will be perfect harmony between the two. If you are experiencing some waves in some of your relationships, some bumpy roads, this is a wonderful scripture to stand on and say, “Harmonyist understanding will prevail between us.” Oh, I love knowing that. That there is a reconciliation, a restoration that God has in store between him and his people, and between each of his people, between each other, that we will learn to walk in peace with one another. That’s exciting. In chapter 7, there’s a reference to some fasting and lamenting in the fifth months and seventh months. And God asks them, “Did you fast for my benefit? And when you eat and drink, who but you does the eating and who but you does the drinking?” So if we look at this, God is showing us that sometimes we are mourning and weeping and fasting because of selfish, selfish ideas, selfish motives and opinions and plans that we have. But what about him? He goes on in chapter 7 here to say that his people have refused to pay heed. They present a bulky back is how my Tanakh says it. It’s a back that is turned and they’re bulking at him. And they present their back to him and turn a deaf ear to him. They’ve hardened their hearts against eating the instruction and admonition that the Lord of hosts sent to them by his spirit. And this is something that I just wrote right in the margin of my Bible. “Father, forgive me. Forgive me. For all the times that I have turned my back to you or turned a deaf ear to you, I want to know what your plans are. And I want to be more caught up in your agendas than my own. So help me join you in this. Help me join you in your plan. Your plans are really better than mine. So much better.” Well in chapter 8 of Zechariah and again my heart is holding on to the idea in chapter 6, the idea of harmony, perfect harmony between us and our Lord. So in chapter 8, God Himself says the word of the Lord, the Lord of hosts, He says, “I am very jealous for Zion, my people. I am fiercely jealous for her. Thus said the Lord, I have returned to Zion. And I will dwell in Jerusalem. I would call that in the heart of Israel, Jerusalem being the capital city that would be the heart. And Jerusalem will be called the city of faithfulness or the city of truth and the mount of the Lord of hosts, the holy mount. So this holy place in Zion, God is saying that He is returning to His people. Now I know some of you have heard me talk about God’s people and how I believe that God made all the people on this planet. And when He starts talking about His people, I’ve just recognized in my own past that I’ve been really exclusive with that phrase, His people, God’s people. And maybe He does intend for that to be exclusive. You know maybe He really is looking straight at His children, you, you who are listening, who have known the Lord and you have developed relationship with Him. You know you belong to Him and you know that God is looking at you and saying, yes, you are my child. You can be called His people, His person. So we could look at it that way. I just started recognizing that as His person in my human nature and my human tendency, I can actually end up turning my back and having a deaf ear to what He’s saying. Because even though I am His child, I’m still human and I still slip and slide all over the place on my journey in this life. And when I’m slipping and sliding, I recognize that I’m not fully following Him and prioritizing Him. Well, that could describe just about anybody on this planet. And so when I think of His people, I’m thinking about all the people He created. I don’t believe that man has the ability to create human beings on their own, in their own strengths, in their own intellect, in their own logic. Only God can create human beings. And I don’t believe that our enemy has the ability to create human beings. Only God. So when I see these phrases that talk about His people, I do look at them and think, huh, this could be all people on the planet. Now, in days past when I was younger and I would hear somebody talking about that and something would rise up in me and go, oh no, oh no, that’s not note. There are the righteous and there are the wicked. And I’m not really arguing that now. There are righteous and there are wicked. God has created some vessels for honor. And He’s created other vessels for dishonor. So there are different vessels. There are righteous and there are wicked on this planet. But here, this is saying the Lord is returning to His people and He will dwell with them. And it does say I have returned a Zion and I will dwell in Jerusalem. So there are specific names given here in Zechariah, chapter 8. You just know me. If you’ve been listening to me, that I take a lot of these scriptures and I know they are metaphorical. So metaphorically, we can say God is returning to His people. And He wants to dwell in their hearts. And though it seems impossible, I am now reading from Zechariah 8 verse 6. Though it will seem impossible to the remnant of this people in those days, shall it also be impossible to me? This is God talking. The Lord of Hosts is wondering, do we really think there’s anything impossible for Him? Oh, thus said the Lord of Hosts, I will rescue my people from the lands of the East and from the lands of the West. Okay, let me explain in the Hebrew teaching that I have learned, anything that goes east are those who rebel, those who have turned from the Lord and are seeking their own ways. They are heading east. The ones early on in Genesis, when they decided to go east and build the tower of Babel, those were the people of the East. It was in rebellion to God. So this verse in Zechariah is saying, the Lord of Hosts will rescue His people from the lands of the East and from the lands of the West. So evidently, He has got a plan to bring even the most rebellious ones back to Him and rescue them. And He has got a plan to even talk to those of us who might still be called in the West, where considered a Western nation. Are we not? And He has got a plan to speak to us also, to rise up and to rescue us. And in verse 8 of chapter 8, I will bring them home to dwell with me. They shall be my people. And I will be their God in truth and in sincerity. Oh, that’s exciting to me. God is on the move. God has got something really great in store. And here He’s telling us that we will be His people. He will be our God. He will rescue even the most rebellious who have gone so far out east. And He will rescue us who are left here in the West as well. There’s confusion no matter where we are. As human beings, we do have confusion in chaos and brokenness, but here is our God in Zechariah 8 declaring that He will rescue His people. I think we can be sure that His people means He has created all human beings. And we can trust Him to bring healing and restoration for those that He has planned it for, for those that He has ordained it for. And what if He has a plan to let it be all the people on this planet? My heart is open to that just because I can’t know exactly what God is talking about. I’m just human. I’m not God. And I defer to Him and I honor Him and respect Him for what He is doing on this planet and in His people. And we can choose not to have fear in these days. The Lord says that we will become a blessing to those around us. So have no fear and take courage. I look forward to sharing more of this with you tomorrow. And tomorrow my mom, Barbara, will be with me. And we will be praying over you and your Thanksgiving time with your family. We know that it’s going to be a really good time of repair, restoration, rebuilding and reconciliation. We’re believing with our Lord that that will come to pass on this earth and in each one of our homes. So we bless you with that and we look forward to speaking to more with you tomorrow. In the meantime, we bless you with joy and peace for this holiday season. Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. You may get in touch with Barbara at Call to Freedom. Box 370-367 Denver, Colorado 80237. Or you may leave your message at 1-877-917-7256. 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 phrase reports in heart prize by mailing them to Call to Freedom. Box 370-367 Denver, Colorado 80237. Or you may email us at Barbara Carmack at FreedomStreet.org. Until next time, remember Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy. [Music]
