In this episode of ‘Call to Freedom,’ Barbara Carmack shares insightful reflections on finding joy through God’s wisdom and grace. Dive into the heart of redemption as Barbara uncovers the deeper meanings behind Jesus’ declaration, ‘It is finished.’ Explore how believers can live freely and lightly by embracing the unforced rhythms of God’s grace. Rejoice in the reminder that our lives are built on the foundation of Jesus’ completed work.
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 :
Welcome to Calda Freedom. How grateful and thankful I am to the Lord because he is so good. And may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God. May they be happy and joyful. That’s from Psalm 68, verse 3. I hope that you’re glad today rejoicing in the Lord God because that’s what makes a joyful heart. And a joyful heart, I mean, it influences everything about you, your body, your soul, your mind, everything from a joyful heart. So I pray today that you will be joyful in everything you do. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. Kimberly is at home. She is in the kitchen. She is making Alfredo sauce for dinner. She makes everything from scratch. And folks, it is so good. I mean, it doesn’t even compete with Olive Garden. Maybe I am a mother who just really loves her daughter’s cooking, but it is great. She’s also cooking vegetables and the kitchen should smell absolutely wonderful when I get home. The memory verse for this week is Matthew 11, 29. Jesus is saying here, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. And then in the message translation, Matthew 11 verse 29 says, walk with me and work with me. It’s so important that you work with him, that you just don’t add him to your activities, but you submerge and submit yourself to him. Friend, it really is so important. So he says, walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. When you were young, didn’t you like to watch your mom or your dad doing the things they were doing? And you learned from that. You absolutely learned from that. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace, Jesus says. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Praise God. Keep company with me, and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. Have you ever worn something that you just were not comfortable with? You couldn’t wait until you got home and took it off, especially like shoes. If you got a new pair of shoes, and they hurt so bad, and you couldn’t wait until you got home. Jesus isn’t like that. He says, I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Praise God. Well, I’ve been watching the NCAA finals this month. I don’t watch a whole lot of college basketball, but when it gets to March Madness, yep, I begin watching. And now we are on the final four last week here, and it is Illinois, UConn, Michigan, and Arizona. And, well, you know who I’m rooting for, Arizona, the lone team in the West. So I’m voting for them. I’m rooting and voting. On Sunday, UConn, and that’s the University of Connecticut, came back in the fourth quarter. Oh, it was amazing. From 19 points down and won by Mullins sinking a three-pointer in the final seconds. When you see things like that happening, you’re going, whoa, that was almost impossible. How did he do that? How can they do that? Come back from 19 under? I know that there are spiritual lessons in everything that we listen to and watch. And the thing that I got is never give up. Never give up. No matter how far you’re down, never give up. And for us who believe in Jesus Christ, we never give up on the plan God has given for us. Never. And he never takes back the gift that he’s given to you. He’s given you a gift. And Romans talks about that gift that is given to us. He never goes back and takes that gift from you. That’s a gift that he’s given to you. It’s like after your father has given you your first bicycle, he comes and he takes it away from you. Now, I hope none of you have ever had that as an example. But God is a God of giving. He’s a giver. And I pray that you’ve had parents that have been givers. I really hope that you have. God loves you with an everlasting love, my friend. as i was reading through the book of john this month oh it’s been beautiful and i even encouraged a friend of mine out on the eastern plains get into the bible reading plan and i send them to her so i i want you to start marking off in the in the month of march and then i’ll send you one for april and i think most of you have gotten the bible scripture for april That is what I go by. That’s what I’ve gone by for 51 years, that reading plan. And it was started by Marilyn Hickey. And now in 1991, I had got my own little booklet together. Thank you, Holy Spirit. And I realized that the book of John is the only book that records Jesus’ words. It is finished. So I looked in the other gospels and Jesus says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he goes into your hands. I commit my spirit. And then he says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. But John is the only book that Jesus cries out and says it is finished. I know there’s a verse in Hebrews 12. I think it’s the second verse that states that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. So that’s another finish. And why does he say that? Why does the author of Hebrews say he’s the finisher of our faith? We know that we are eternal beings and there won’t be a finish when we go to be with God. No, there won’t be a finish. It will be forever and ever. We can’t contemplate that right now. So why does it say he is the finisher? Maybe you don’t ask a lot of questions, but I do. I find that the older I get, the less I know. So I ask a lot of questions. And if you see me in the office typing and talking, you would say I’ve lost my marbles, but I haven’t. I am speaking to Holy Spirit and asking him all kinds of questions. I learned that from Darren. He was a question box. His father often said, Darren, why are you a question box? That’s how we learn, by asking questions. Now, Jesus said in John 17, and this has part to do with the being finished in John 17. And I love the study in John 15 through 17 with you last week. If you want to listen to some of those from John 15 through 17, you may want to go to freedomstreet.org, click on resources, and you’re right there to listen to any programs at your leisure and on your phone also. That can be done on any phone except the flip. I’m sorry. So Jesus said in John 17, verse 4, I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. By completing. By completing. Jesus did it all. Okay. And they seem to say, my work is here. It’s complete. It is finished. It’s like when you complete a home improvement project and it’s all done. You say, ah, it’s finished. It is finished. What did Jesus’ words say that relate to us? I’d like to know how his words relate to us because he came into this world for us, for you and for me. That’s right. For us. When Paul wrote Ephesians 1 verse 3, he wanted to let us know that we already have those blessings in the heavenly places and in the spirit. We don’t need to struggle. or strive to get things. They are already ours because of what Jesus did on the cross by becoming our ransom and freeing us from a life of indebtedness and hopelessness. Praise God forever and ever. That’s why it’s going to be forever and ever. I’m going to be forever praising him. Jesus completed his work of redemption and righteousness and sanctification for us. I want you to listen to this. He completed everything for you and me. He didn’t need any more redemption. Jesus himself didn’t need any more redemption or righteousness or sanctifying power. He already had all those. He’s perfect. So he did all of that for us. That boggles my mind. It really does. So when Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.30, Jesus is to us wisdom from God, redemption, righteousness and sanctification. He wanted us to know that we have all those attributes because of Jesus sacrifice on the cross. He completed that work for us when he said it is finished. Praise God. It’s no longer if I do these things, God will come through for me or if I’m good or I’ll get God’s attention. No, no, no, no. God sees us wrapped up in Jesus, and he sees us perfect. God doesn’t look at our behavior as a measuring needle for salvation. He looks at Jesus, our Savior and Lord, and sees him in each one of us. Yes, that’s what I’m here to tell you. You are the righteousness of God in Christ, just as 2 Corinthians 5.21 says. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. That’s 2 Corinthians 5.21. When the devil gives you a hard time, go to 2 Corinthians 5.21 or better still, memorize it and tell him. I am the righteousness of God in Christ. That’s why there are verses like Philippians 1 verse 6 that says, He who began a good work in you will be able to complete it in you. If you are at all, if you are at all willing and yielding, Holy Spirit is right there to begin a rehab project on you in love and in patience. I’m so glad it’s taken a long while, Lord. I know I’m at the senior end of my life here, but boy, you have been patient and good and loving. Oh, and God is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. It’s not about us, folks. It’s about Jesus. Some believers take God at his word that he is our peace. He is our healer. He is our provider. Places like Chick-fil-A. They can remain closed Sunday after Sunday because they believe God will supply their needs the other days of the week. And they’re honoring him. So why are so many believers struggling? Why? Why are so many needy Christians out there? Well, I know for one thing, it’s a journey. We’re all at different growth levels. We really are. I remember a bumper sticker that my dad had at the Bible book house in Greeley when I was working for him. And it said, Under Construction. I like that. I really like that. I guess we’re slow learners. We’re mixing the law with a message of grace, and they just don’t mix. Under the law, we’re still trying to perfect that which was finished. Crazy, huh? We’re trying to take the new wine of revelation knowledge and put it in old religious dressing of tradition. Folks, it just won’t work. Jesus himself said the tradition of man or the law that came down… makes powerless the word of God. And that’s Matthew 15, verse 6. That’s why if you attend a traditional church that doesn’t talk about the blood of Jesus or Holy Spirit, you won’t see Holy Spirit anointed in your services. No, he’s left the building. God told us to forget the things of the past. So I’m pressing on in this marvelous new covenant of grace that the Lord Jesus has given us by completing the work of God that God gave him to do. It is finished. It is done. All our anxiety and worrying and striving is of no avail. It is not. And that’s why Kimberly was telling you yesterday that Jesus encourages us to take his yoke of freedom upon ourselves and learn from him. He doesn’t like seeing so many being yanked around by the things of this world and the worries and always thinking that if you have enough money, that will end the anxieties. I’m glad she mentioned that stress was not giving it over to Jesus. When you’re in stress, you’re not giving it over to Jesus. And that’s why Matthew 11, 29 is so important. He’s there to help us with our habits and fleshly behaviors left over from the past. He knows that we have hangups. He knows that we have indulgences that we can’t lay down. I heard a quote the other day. Don’t let the enemy put a crack in your stance with the Lord Jesus. That’s what the enemy likes to try to do, disrupt your growth in Jesus, to lose your identity in Jesus. And that’s why I’ve told you for 30 years that going to the word every day keeps me on an even keel with God. Darren wrote a little booklet, Seven Steps to Inner Freedom. And if you’d like that, you can just call me at 1-877-917-7256 and I’ll send that booklet to you. It’s called Seven Steps to Inner Freedom. What a great book. And it’s talking about your identity in Jesus Christ. Yep. After 51 years of reading through the Bible, I learned something new from God’s word every day. And it’s the word of God that keeps me peaceful and calm. And that’s enough reason for me to get into the word every morning. I don’t know if you remember me saying this about Kimberly’s father, but his slogan to help him get in the word every morning was no Bible, no breakfast. And he didn’t have breakfast a lot of mornings, but he kept that vow. And almost every morning he. He knew that if he was not going to have breakfast, if he was not in the Bible, he would not have breakfast. And so when you get into the Word, the Word gets into you. Many of you know the name of Horatio Spafford. I need to say that again. Horatio Spafford. He was a very wealthy lawyer living with his wife, Anna, in Chicago in the 1800s. And you may have heard that word, that name of that man, because of the song, It Is Well With My Soul. He and his wife were active in their church, and their home was always open to visitors. Dwight Moody was among their friends. They had five children. When their only boy, Horatio Jr., was four years old, he died suddenly of scarlet fever. And I remember when my brother Ralph, we were on the farm then, and he was only about eight or nine years old, and he had scarlet fever. And they prayed over him. They prayed that he would not die. It was a very serious disease in those days. And this was in the 1800s. And during the Chicago fire, Horatio died. And his wife, they lost a lot of property. He had a lot of property. He was very wealthy. And they continued to help those in need. And two years later, after all these tragedies, in 1873, Spafford decided that his family should take a holiday in England, knowing that his friend, the evangelist D.L. Moody, would be preaching there in the autumn. So Horatio sent his family ahead. He had to do business there in Chicago. So he sent his family ahead, his wife and his four remaining children. This is almost more than I could handle. It really is more than I could handle as a parent. He had four remaining children, all daughters, 11-year-old Anna, 9-year-old Margaret Lee, 5-year-old Elizabeth, and 2-year-old Tanetta. On the 22nd of November, 1873, while crossing the Atlantic on the steamship, and remember, that’s the only way they could do that, on ships, their vessel was struck by an iron sailing ship. 226 people lost their lives as the ship sank within only 12 minutes. All four of Horatio’s daughters perished, but remarkably, Anna survived the tragedy. Those rescued, including Anna, who was found unconscious floating on a plank of wood, subsequently arrived in Cardiff, South Wales. Upon arrival there, Anna immediately sent a telegram to her husband, which included the words, “‘Saved alone.'” I can imagine. Saved alone. Horatio set off at once to be reunited with his wife. One particular day during the voyage. the captain summoned him to the bridge of the vessel. And pointing to his charts, he explained that they were then passing over the very spot where the ship had sunk and where his daughters had died. It is said that Spafford returned to his cabin and wrote the hymn, It is well with my soul there and then, the first line of which is, When peace like a river attendeth my way. Horatio found that his faith in God never faltered. He wrote, I do not think of our dear ones in the sea, in the bottom of the sea. They are safe, dear lambs. So I hope you can say with me every day, it is well with my soul. The storms will come, but pilgrim, remember, he will take you safely through the storm to the other side. Here’s John.
SPEAKER 03 :
When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, even so. With my soul it is well. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul.
SPEAKER 01 :
lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight and that’s what i pray a lot for people that their dream their request their prayer will become manifested in plain sight for them because god has already done it jesus hung on the cross when he said it’s finished he meant that your healing was complete at the cross he meant that your provision is complete at the cross he meant that everything that you may be praying for today has already been provided for you and that’s what i want you to see today it’s already provided for you i’m going to say one more thing about horatio and anna precious couple in august of eight just think if you didn’t have any children You had had five children, and they were gone. They were gone to be with the Lord. One thing we have as Christian parents when we’ve raised our children to know the Lord Jesus, we know that when they die, if they die, before we die, that they will be with Jesus. Praise the Lord. And he called his children dear lambs. They’re with God. In August of 1881, the Spaffords left America with a number of other like-minded Christians and settled in Jerusalem. There they served the needy, helped the poor, and cared for the sick and took in homeless children. They didn’t have children of their own, so they took in homeless children. Their desire was to show those living about them the love of Jesus. The original manuscript of the Spafford’s hymn has only four verses, but later another verse was added. The music, which was written by Philip Bliss, was named after the ship on which Horatio and Anna’s daughters had died. And the music is the notes that were written. So he wrote the… the words, excuse me, I have a blank, see it, I’m learning, Holy Spirit, thank you. He wrote the words and Philip Bliss wrote the melodies. And Horatio Spafford died of malaria on October the 16th, 1888. Anna Spafford continued to work in the surrounding areas of Jerusalem until her own death in 1923. Both Horatio and Anna were laid to rest in Jerusalem in It can truly be said in the words that Spafford penned that it is well with their souls. I did not know. I looked it up again online. I did not know that they died in Jerusalem and that they are there in Jerusalem buried. But what a beautiful, poignant and sad story. And yet victorious, friend, when we are in Christ Jesus, our lives through all of it, through all the tribulation and all the trials and all the things that have happened in our lives. And as you look back over your life, you’ll see some great loss, but you’ll also see some great victories. We need to count those victories, forgetting those past, forgetting those things that are behind. We look to the future. And I pray before we leave today. that you will go to 2 Kings 4, and it’s the story of the Shunammite woman. And when her son died, she went and found Elisha, and she had him come to the house. She knew that there was a man of God that would pray for her and help her. And, of course, he came to the house after a bit of going around and asking his servant to do it, and his servant couldn’t raise up her son. And it was so important that she find Elisha and ask him to come. I just want to introduce that when they saw her coming, Elisha said, the Lord has not revealed to me what is happening in her life. So go and find out. And so the servant went and found out. And he asked her when she came to him. Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with your son? And you know what her words were? It is well. I know that was a common greeting in those days. But when you’ve just lost a loved one, it’s very difficult to say it is well. And I know that this woman did well. He goes to her home. He takes his staff. He goes to her home. I just I hope God has some videos when we get to heaven. He takes his staff and he lays upon the sun. And he entered and shut the door and he went up and lay on the child and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him and the flesh of the child became warm. Then he returned and walked in and out, came back, laid on him one more time and stretched himself out and the child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes and then he called the servant and said call the shunammite woman and then he said take up your son she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground and she took up her son and went out Isn’t that beautiful? That is 2 Kings 4, chapter 4. Read it today. It’s going to just thrill your heart to know that God can do the unusual. Nothing is impossible with God, my friend. Nothing. Don’t believe the diagnosis of the doctor when God says a good report about you. God bless you and keep you and take joy.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. You may get in touch with Barbara at Call to Freedom, Box 370367, 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 praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237.org. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
