Join us on this inspirational episode as Barbara Carmack and her daughter Kimberly discuss the profound topics of faith, grace, and redemption. Drawing from scriptures such as Psalm 33 and Isaiah 53, they dive into the concept of ‘unforced rhythms of grace’ and reflect on the sacrifices made by Jesus as outlined in these passages. Through heartfelt personal stories and biblical teachings, they explore how Jesus’ teachings can guide us in our daily lives.
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 :
On this sunny day in April. Wow, where did March go? Welcome to Call to Freedom. Oh, in Jesus, our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. If you’re not looking forward to Jesus’ return, and just today, Kimberly and I were saying, oh, this is the day. I hope Jesus comes today. I’m ready today. And if you’re not ready for Jesus’ return, if there’s fear at all, I pray that the peace of God will surround you today and you will trust him. It says, and we trust in his holy name from Psalm 33 through verse 21. So we trust you, Lord. We trust you in everything. It’s such a blessing to look forward to every day with joy, unspeakable and full of glory. I think Peter wrote that in the book of Peter. Yeah. Oh, full of glory, joy, unspeakable and full of glory.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, because his love is immeasurable. We can’t measure it. We’ve got to be able to try, at least try to understand that, that he doesn’t think the way we think and he does not love the way we love.
SPEAKER 02 :
So the questions are no more questions. They’re thank you, folks. I mean, I do ask questions of Holy Spirit when I have something going on. It’s just like I was asking Holy Spirit to provide food. something for the yard that I was doing because we’ve got a huge yard and Kimberly and I were thinking contemplating and not liking the idea of going with our weed whackers and our shovels and going out and getting some of the things in the yard and bagging up all the needles from the evergreens and Kimberly heard some lawnmowers across the street and blowers and blowers going crazy and she said you know what I’m going to just go over across the street.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I was actually praying at the time. I was on the floor, on my face, praying and having a conversation with the Lord. And I was praying about the yard and just even our physical state, not having the same energy, not having the same… capabilities that we used to even a couple of years ago, mom. And so here I was praying about the yard and I hear all this noise. I hear all the blowers and mowers and I think, well, that sounds like an answer.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m getting up right now. I’m going out there. And here I was in the office. I did not even know what was going on. And so you went over and…
SPEAKER 04 :
Really friendly, really friendly crew. And I’m so thankful to meet them. And they said they could get to it today. They started even before we left the house to come to the radio station.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
That was really fun to have that answer right there in front of us. Our God is an awesome God. He’s an awesome God. He cares about the things that concern us, the smallest things and the largest things that concern us. He cares and he is working to accomplish and perfect and complete those things that concern us. That is what Psalm 138, verse 8 says.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s beautiful. Praise the Lord. And I think in that same verse, it says that he holds the word above his name. And that word is Jesus. When you see that word, folks, it’s Jesus. Every time you see that word, it’s Jesus. And he was manifested. I was watching Jesus of Nazareth and just brought back. It was done in 1977 and just brought back some really fond scenes that I had seen a long time ago. And then with The Chosen that has been more recent. It’s like, I can’t get enough of what Jesus did. And when you see it visually, and we should be really thankful that there are movies and things that are going on right now, even on worldly stations. that are promoting Jesus. Ben-Hur was there the other night. Oh, I really enjoyed watching that movie, not just because of the chariot race, but at the end they have the cross and the blood coming down from his body formed a river, a river of cleansing for us, that precious blood of Jesus. Oh, it’s beautiful. So today. Oh, and I say to you, you are blessed. You are blessed to dispense and and give into the kingdom of God because, you know, as you give, he’s going to multiply 30, 60 and 100 fold in your giving. So thank you for giving and.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, that’s not just monetary either. That’s giving time, time for prayer, time to neighbors, time to just listen to someone who needs to talk. He blesses us.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. And when you know Jesus Christ, you can take some time just to be quiet and listen to someone who is just going off the rails and they need just someone to listen to and pray with. So I hope you know how to pray for people, my friend. Our memory verse for this week has been Matthew 11, verse 29. Oh, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. And the message is so beautiful of Matthew 11, verse 29. Walk with me. And that’s a capital M. I type it in a capital M. And work with me. Watch how I do it, says Jesus. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. Don’t you love that? Yes. Unforced rhythms of grace. Now, if you’ve been in music at all, rhythm has a lot to do with what you do. If you play an instrument or sing, you’ve got to have rhythm. You can’t get off beat. And learn my ways and you’ll discover that I am gentle. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. I love the phrase, unforced rhythms of grace, because when he’s teaching us how to dance, we are following his lead. And sometimes the rhythms that we think about are the rules, the rules of dance. You know, there are rules in dance and there are these basics that you learn in dance. And so we might think of that and then we default to those rules. But then that’s forced. Those are forced rhythms of grace. We don’t want to force anything. We want to be in the unforced rhythms of walking with him, listening to him. Following him, being in relationship with him, those are unforced rhythms. Sometimes they take us on paths that are unexpected and maybe uncomfortable for us. But those unforced rhythms of grace pour a grace into us that cause us to enter a deeper satisfaction and fulfillment state. a deeper peace and joy than we could ever know if we stayed with forced rhythms.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. And in dance, when you’re learning to dance with a partner, especially if you’re a woman, you allow the partner to lead because you can’t have two leaders on the dance floor. It just won’t work. So you give yourself over, especially if you’re a woman, to the guy, and he takes the lead in that dance. Well, I see Jesus dancing. Just taking that lead. Remember when Ken Miedema had that song, She Asked Me to Dance and I’d Never Been Dancing Before, and he was blind. And he said, unforgettable. He allowed her to go out on the dance floor with him and just have a ball. He said, oh, it was marvelous.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. I’m not a dancer, but I like to watch dance competitions. And there are some competitions just recently in recent years where they are looking to see if those people will share the lead. So the male will lead, but then he has to give over the lead to her. And the judges are watching to see if they will give it over and how well they follow each other. Wow. Isn’t that interesting? Yeah, that takes great rhythm. And it’s not a forced. You can’t force. You’ve got to learn unforced rhythms of grace.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, unforced. Well, today we’re going to talk a little bit about prophecy in Isaiah 53. And as Jesus’ arms are stretched out on the cross, and as you see him on the cross, just think he’s stretching out his arms for you, my friend. You see him welcoming you. And especially on our website, if you go to our website, you’re seeing Jesus extend his arms to you to welcome you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes. I want to tie that in with unforced rhythms of grace because that is what Jesus was teaching us that he was not forcing his own way. He could have asked to be rescued from that situation and a thousand angels would have come and rescued 10,000, 10,000. So he could have done that, but he did not force his own ideas of how it should work out. And even though he said, I don’t really want to drink of this cup. But what am I going to do? Am I going to ask the father to save me from this hour when it was for this hour that I came?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, he did ask the father to take that cup from him. But the decision was made at the Garden of Gethsemane. And Jesus never changed. looked back, he never changed his mind. God told him to go forth and he did. He went forth with all the pain and agony.
SPEAKER 04 :
We love to see his humanity in that because in his humanity he was revealing that he would like for this cup to be taken from him, that he would not want, he does not prefer to have to go through what he’s going, what he’s facing.
SPEAKER 02 :
And he’s shown every emotion that we go through as the son of man. He went through. Right. He was victorious.
SPEAKER 04 :
So as you’re reading Isaiah 53 and we’re realizing everything that he came to do and it was prophesied about him. So he knew what he was coming to. Then we can also hold in our hearts. Oh, if he was willing to go through discomfort of this magnitude, then can I be willing to to feel some discomfort on my path, in my journey, in my life, so that I can trust him to be redeemer and be the one who resurrects what I might be letting go of. So we’ll keep that in mind as we’re reading in Isaiah 53. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
As we were talking this morning, Kimberly, we were saying the mental anguish sometimes is higher than the physical anguish. And what we do then is we just cast those thoughts down. We take captive, like the little foxes in the vineyards. That’s good. Take him captive and say, no, you’re not going anywhere beyond the thought and my thoughts are being cast down who are against Jesus. Because it’s the obedience of Christ. That scripture in 2 Corinthians 10, 5 says that we take everything captive to the obedience of Christ. That’s right. And you were just talking about his obedience. Yes. Yes. Heavy duty.
SPEAKER 04 :
Wow. Just real quick. I think it was Joyce Meyer that I first heard talk about these thoughts that would fly by, right? They would fly through our mind. She said, it’s going to happen, but don’t let them make a nest.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s good.
SPEAKER 04 :
Just let them keep flying. You know, so when you have these thoughts that bring you down to bring you to dark places that are causing any kind of hopelessness or even negative thoughts toward other people, don’t let them make a nest.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s good. It’s really good.
SPEAKER 04 :
Let them fly right by and then be in agreement that they must fly by, that they cannot make a nest. And those are sometimes the mountains. They’ve made a mountain of a nest that we need to say, no, that mountain can be removed and be cast into the sea. And I will see freedom. I will see peace. I will see joy on a supernatural level that is more satisfying and more fulfilling than me taking these thoughts and going over and over them in my mind.
SPEAKER 02 :
over yes so here it is we’re going to be talking about as much as we can today about Isaiah 53 and we’re reading from the passion so who has truly believed our revelation in the King James Version who has believed our report and I want to ask you today whose report are you believing in are you believing in a report in the world or report from the Word of God that tells you that you’re wonderfully made So to whom will Yahweh reveal his mighty arm? To us, he is revealing his mighty arm, Jesus Christ. He sprouted up like a tender plant before the Lord, like a root in the parched soil. And Kimberly, right now, our soil is parched both spiritually and physically. So we need that wonderful living water to come and overflow in us. Yes. He sprouted up like a tender plant before the Lord, like a root in the parched soil. Oh, I just read that. He possessed no distinguishing beauty or outward splendor to catch our attention. Nothing special in his appearance to make us desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, by us, a man of deep sorrows who was no stranger to suffering and grief. We hid our faces from him in disgust, contempt to what he claimed to be. He was God, and we were contemptible toward him and considered him a nobody, not worthy of respect. And here comes a sin-bearer servant. And Kimberly, if you have verse 4…
SPEAKER 04 :
I did not pull up the Passion Translation.
SPEAKER 02 :
You just keep going. It’s beautiful. Oh, yet he was the one who carried. Now, this is the one everybody knows. He carried our sicknesses and endured the torment of our sufferings. We viewed him as one who was being punished for something he himself had done as one who was struck down by God and brought low. And the truth is, folks, he was struck down and he was brought low for our sakes. Oh, don’t ever think of yourself as better than the word of God or better than the revelation of Jesus Christ. And in verse five, this is the one you need to memorize. If it’s even in the King James version, he was wounded for our transgressions. But it was because of our rebellious deeds that he was pierced and because of our sins that he was crushed. He endured the punishment that made us completely whole, and in his wounding we found our healing. Oh, by his stripes you are healed today. Receive it in Jesus’ name. Like wayward sheep we have all wandered astray. Each of us has turned from God’s paths, boy, have we, and chosen our own way. Even so, Yahweh laid the guilt of our every sin upon him. Oh, and he was oppressed and harshly mistreated, still being humbly submitted. He humbly submitted, refusing to defend himself. Have you ever been in a situation where you just had to defend yourself? Well, it wasn’t my fault. It was his fault or her fault or it’s always his fault. No, he refused to defend himself. He was like a gentle lamb to be slaughtered, like a silent sheep before his shearers. He didn’t even open his mouth. I can’t imagine, Kimberly, when they were spitting at him, when they were punching him in the face in the dead of night when they shouldn’t have been doing that. They don’t usually meet at night. And yet the whole council, Sanhedrin and the Pharisees met. that night and verse eight by coercion and with a perversion of justice he was taken away and could who could have imagined his future he was cut down in the prime of life by the rebellion of his own people he was struck down in their place It’s really interesting. I looked up Jim Caviezel because I was wondering, who is remembered to be the most famous of those who are portraying Jesus in all these movies that we’ve seen? And Jim Caviezel came up in The Passion of the Christ. And so he was being interviewed, and he said, here I was, 33 years of age. I had never acted, and here I came in an opportunity to be Jesus. Mel Gibson came to me and said, I think he had seen him in one other short thing. And he said, would you consider? He said, that’s where I came face to face with my Savior and Lord. And boy, I can’t imagine.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, he has an amazing testimony. If you ever get an opportunity to look that up, you can find it on YouTube. Look at Jim Caviezel’s testimony of playing Jesus in The Passion. It’s an incredible testimony. Just an amazing, it’s so inspiring to hear what he went through and how it changed his heart.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, and forever. So he was cut down in the prime of his life, and Jim Caviezel was portraying Jesus in the prime of his life at 33. For the rebellion of his own people, he was struck down in their place. They gave him a grave among criminals, but he ended up instead in a rich man’s tomb. Praise the Lord. And you know what happened on resurrection morning. Although he had done no violence nor spoken deceitfully.
SPEAKER 04 :
We were sitting with a And, and blaming you, punching you and disgusted with you, despising you, accusing you of things that are completely false. Yes. Would you be able to. to not defend yourself? Would you be able to let that happen, to let them think whatever they’re going to think about you when you know who you are? You know you are the daughter of the Most High. You know you are the Son of God. Would you be able to let that happen? That is the true gentleness and meekness of our Jesus. And the reason why I really wanted to talk about Matthew 11, 28 through 30 this week again, and have that Matthew 11, 29 be our memory verse, because when we come to Jesus and we take his way upon us and we do what he has taught us to do, his example of life and He says that he is gentle and humble of heart. And do you know that’s the only time that he talks about his own heart in the scriptures? He doesn’t describe his heart anywhere else. It’s that one verse in Matthew 11. And he says that his heart is gentle and humble. That means that he is willing to talk to anyone of any status. He will meet you right where you’re at. In any of your rejection where you’ve been despised and mistreated and you’ve been treated unfairly, he’s willing to meet you right there and let you know he knows exactly how you feel.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that heart is a heart that we want to stay in communication with. We want to learn from him and be free of stress.
SPEAKER 02 :
We really learned how to judge others in our religious circles, Kimberly. And that’s the one thing I have had to overcome. And boy, God has been at work in me for the last 10 years. Barbara cannot judge. You cannot criticize. It’s because of Jesus. He didn’t do that. And I was talking to you just a little while ago about our brother, my brother and your uncle, Ralph. And he was found at the bottom of the stairs in a basement and he had been drinking. And that was something that since the Vietnam War, it was hard for him to stay sober, stay sober. Right. So immediately I’m asking, oh, Father God, did he know you? And he says, I don’t want you to ask that question one more time. You remember the years that Darren went over to his house when you lived in Denver, and they prayed together, they wept together, and Ralph received the baptism. Remember that, Barbara. Remember that. He is with me. No more judging.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right, right. So we think that maybe God’s grace or his love has an end when there’s an end of a life. Or we think that it’s limited by someone else’s choices. And he is not limited. His love is immeasurable. And he has told us time and time again in the scriptures that he is not bound by hell itself. He holds the keys to hell. Yes, he does. And he he has said that he has gone to the depths of the darkest places for us, for us.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that is what we want to keep in mind instead of being so full of stress and anxiety over our loved ones, our beloved ones and the ones that we’ve been praying for for years and years. Oh, I hope they’ve made that decision. Well, know that Jesus is the one who made the decision to go through with something so. difficult. And he made the way. It’s not about people making a way. It is about the fact that Jesus made the way and he said, it is finished.
SPEAKER 02 :
He said, if I be lifted up, I will draw some men, all men to me in their own time, in their own way. They will come to me. And don’t you dare think that they have to do it your way. And even though it pleased, this is verse 10 of we’re reading Isaiah 53 in the passion, even though it pleased Yahweh to crush him with grief. Now, I was telling you the other day that Ronald Dart was saying, now, did the Jews kill Jesus? Did the Romans kill Jesus? That’s always been a controversial thing. God was pleased to crush him with grief. from whom we were the ones that really killed Jesus, Kimberly. He had to come and die on a cross for our sins. Yes, we were rebellious and unrepentant.
SPEAKER 04 :
And it was his own decision. That’s right. Amen. To do it, to go through with it. That’s right.
SPEAKER 02 :
Wow. And when he was crushed with our grief and sorrow and pain, he will be restored to favor after his soul becomes a guilt offering. Now, they had many guilt offerings in the Old Testament, and he had to fulfill an Old Testament prophecy and become the guilt offering, become the curse. And you can read that in Galatians 3. He will gaze upon his many offspring. That’s us. And prolong his days over and over. We are receiving Jesus. And oh, Kimberly, the young people, University of Indiana and North Dakota University, they’re just coming by droves. Yes. Coming to know the Lord.
SPEAKER 04 :
I just received a really sweet text from a young man this morning. And he was part of my high school game nights that I used to run for years, over a decade. And he texted me this morning just out of the blue. And he just simply said, a part of the armor of God that I have added. He went ahead and just took the initiative to add a piece of the armor. Okay. And I, and I just love this. Yeah. Right. He said, I have added the cloak of unconditional love and it makes me smile when I put it on and I become unconditional love. Yeah. And I just thought, wow. He said, that is a truth to stand on. I just in my heart, I just went, wow, God, look what you’re doing in these young people. You’re even giving them the confidence to put on a new piece of the armor. Oh, that’s beautiful. And call it the cloak of unconditional love. We could all use that cloak. Oh, yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Amen. That robe, that cloak. Yes, we are wearing the robe of righteousness. And now the cloak of unconditional love. What a beautiful thing to end this with. I’m not through with Isaiah 53. So in your part, go home or if you’re at home, open up Isaiah 53 and read from verse 10 clear through the end. Or you can read the whole chapter. It’s worthy of our reading.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, especially now during this Holy Week and this time of Passover that points to this one who has given his blood for us to be washed completely clean.
SPEAKER 02 :
Praise God. Praise God. Hallelujah. Oh, have a wonderful weekend and take joy.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. 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.
