Join Barbara Carmack and Kimberly as they embark on a reflective journey through the concepts of joy, forgiveness, and divine love. In this heartfelt episode, the hosts encourage listeners to embrace God’s glory in the new year and discuss how spiritual longing connects us to eternity. Dive deep into scripture as they explore the attributes of God and the profound messages in the book of Revelation.
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 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom. That’s the last time you’re going to hear those wonderful Christmas songs till a year from now. And Rachel puts up the monitor in the studio of the month. And it just seems like just yesterday, Rachel, you put up the December monthly calendar. a calendar on the monitor and here she has to go in and put up January. Oh, where has it gone? Oh, I hope for you. You are filled with joy and much hope for the new year. Joy is God’s way of calling our hearts home. He’s wanting your heart to be his home. Yes, he is completely. I mean, he wants it completely furnished for him of reminding us we’re not made for here. We’re not made for here. We’re made for him. And remember the old song, this world is not my home. I’m just a passing through. That’s the world that I’m going to go to and the world you’re going to go to as you know Jesus Christ and you grow in him and you flourish in him. You thrive. Oh, God bless you for joining us today. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. Our memory verse for this week is Nehemiah 9, 17b. The second part of that little verse is wonderful. And it’s a description of the God you serve. But thou art a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, thank God, and abounding in loving kindness. And oh, we need love, don’t we? Yes, we do need love. And today, Kimberly is joining me from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Oh, it seems like it’s been ages since you’ve been in this studio, Kimberly, and I know it’s just been a few days. It has. It’s only been a few days. Yeah, but we’re missing you. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you. I am missing my Colorado family. Yes. Coming back and forth. I just always have some kind of an ache and a longing in my heart. And I think that’s one way to be looking. You said something about joy and how joy is the way that we know we’re pulled toward this. And we have this longing toward eternity and happiness. I love knowing that and having that pull and that longing in two different directions, because it just reminds me that I am not just a flesh being. I’m also a spirit being. And when we think of resolutions, New Year’s resolutions, there are many that I have come across. that do not do the New Year’s resolutions any longer. And their reason is that they don’t want to set themselves up for failure. That’s right.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I think, yeah, I think that’s the flesh part of us that doesn’t want to fail. We want to succeed. We want to win. We want to be on top, you know. And so it’s hard for us to set ourselves up for failure. But really, isn’t that pride? I think that’s pride.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. But some of us don’t want resolutions because we’ve tried it for years. And it just hasn’t been successful in each person’s situation. So that’s why I gave it up a while ago. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I understand that. I really understand that. And I haven’t done resolutions every single year. But I don’t know. There’s something about this year and the excitement of really growing, really growing and getting to know Jesus more, wanting to see him for who he really is.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think we’re really blessed to resolve that. to desire God’s glory more than anything else. And that would be my resolution for the year, to desire God’s glory more than my own. So yeah, having a resolution to read even more, to pray even more, to worship even more. And to do those, not so that I can be glorified, not so that I can say, yeah, look how good I am, I’m checking all this off my list, but to say, wow, God, how good you are. Yes, absolutely. And your scripture, would you read it again from Nehemiah 917? It’s so good.
SPEAKER 02 :
You are a God of compassion. You are a God of forgiveness. Forgiveness, first of all, Kimberly, because we were in a state of absolutely damnation. We knew where we were headed if we didn’t have Jesus. And gracious and compassionate he is. Oh, his grace covers us every day with everything that we are doing, all the places that we’re going. His grace is surrounding you. I want you to know that, friend, as you’re listening. His grace is surrounding you. His compassion, he’s holding you in his arms. He’s slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. So good. Abounding. Abounding.
SPEAKER 03 :
Can you tell I’m typing? Can you hear my typing? Oh, no, no, I can’t. If you wouldn’t have mentioned it. Because I want to be looking at these qualities. These qualities are the ones from Exodus 34 and 35 when God himself is describing his own glory. Yes. His own glory. Yes. These are the qualities He describes. He connects all of this, His forgiveness, His graciousness, His compassion and mercy, being slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, showing pardon to a thousand generations. This is how God Himself describes and gives pictures of his glory to us. I don’t know what we were picturing before. I guess something powerful, something really like the mass of cloud that came down over Mount Sinai or came down on the tabernacle when Moses would meet with the Lord.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, maybe untouchable. Maybe people have thought God as untouchable. And when you see a God of forgiveness, of grace, compassion, mercy, abounding in loving kindness, you’re saying, who is that for? Well, it’s for you. It’s for me and it’s for you. And that’s the kind of God we serve, Kimberly.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it is for the world. Because Jesus came to show that kind of forgiveness and grace and compassion and mercy. He came to show that to the world. And he died so the world would have the opportunity to be saved. He didn’t just die for a select few. He died for the world. And this is the glory that we want to see more of. So resolving to desire that glory more than anything else, that could mean to resolve that you will be showing grace and compassion to others, that you will be showing, I’m not saying you, mom, as listeners, but being slow to anger, having patience and abounding in loving kindness, being able to cover another’s sin with love and forgiveness. So that is what Revelation is all about. We’ve been reading in the book of Revelation. There are so many images in this book that are maybe mysterious and even a little confusing. But the final chapter, this is the last day of 2025. So we’re going to read the last chapter of the New Testament today in Revelation 22. We are given a picture of. the tree of life, also the river of water, the water of life.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. I like what the Passion says about the heading. It’s Eden restored. And I’m looking at the Passion translation, Eden restored. We’ve seen Eden disappear when Adam and Eve sinned, and now God is explaining how it’s going to be restored. Oh, that’s so good.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s so good, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, it is.
SPEAKER 03 :
So Eden restored. I heard somebody and I think it might have been a lyric in a song, but I can’t tell you what song it was. But I heard this phrase that when the perfect became imperfect. God showed mercy and grace and forgiveness. And that’s talking about Eden. Eden was perfect. God created Eden perfectly. Yes, perfect world. And he’s bringing it back.
SPEAKER 02 :
And it’s being brought back to the perfect again, Kimberly. Not by our might or our power, but by Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. Yes. Oh, we’re going to see an absolutely gorgeous world. Beautiful in every way. Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. So reading these final words here in Revelation 22, the angel showed me the river of the water of life flowing with water, clear as crystal, continuously flowing. pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. The river was flowing in the middle of the street of the city, and on either side of the river was the tree of life. So you have to picture there’s a river and there is a tree. On both sides of the river, there’s a tree of life. It’s a singular tree. Maybe it’s a tree that’s so large that it can have a river that would just run right through the center, kind of like those really big redwood trees that you drive a car through.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it says that it had 12 kinds of ripe fruit. it would produce fruit every month of the year.
SPEAKER 1 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
So every season of our lives, this tree of life produces fruit for us.
SPEAKER 02 :
And you don’t have to wait for David and Harry to send you the monthly fruit box. These… These are going to be priceless. I mean, we don’t have to spend money or exchange money for this. This is the reward. Oh, this is the reward. Ripe fruit.
SPEAKER 03 :
And the leaves. I like this part of the scripture. The leaves of the tree. The leaves on the branches. Those leaves are for the healing of the nations. All nations. The healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. There won’t be any more night, no more darkness. We will not need the lamp of a light of a lamp and we won’t need the light of the sun anymore either. For the Lord God will give them light and his servants will reign forever and ever. As kings. Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Amen.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. So the leaves on the tree are for the healing of the nations.
SPEAKER 02 :
What do you think he’s talking about with leaves?
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, I was asking him about that, and I realized, you know, it’s kind of a fun play on words. And as I was thinking about leaving… you we leave we leave the old order we leave it we leave the old way of life yes to allow something new we we leave the old thought patterns and those leaves are for the healing of the nations when we i think when we are so sure of ourselves and we’re clinging really tightly OK, we want to cling tightly to Jesus, right? And he is the one we want to cling tightly to. But when we are clinging really tightly to any sentence, word that is written, and I know that Jesus is the word and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So all of this can be kind of a confusing concept. But what I’m trying to say is religion will cling tightly. steadfastly to one way of doing things and not see it any other way.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. And when we do that, when we cling really tightly, then we are not very open to inviting all to come. All who are thirsty, come. If you have a really harsh background, if you have an unrighteous background, come. If you have a righteous background, come. You still need the Holy Spirit. You still need Jesus. You still need him to cover you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Because there’s not any works that you’re going to be able to do that will cover you. These leaves are for the healing of the nation. So I just think that’s kind of a fun idea. Leave the old way. Leave the old thought patterns and let the healing start.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. And the leaves are distributed all through the world. And as part of the word of God, you’re absolutely right. And the nations in which they are going to settle will We’ll see the truth of the word of God and come, come to him. I mean, all over the world, Kimberly. And we’re even seeing that today. People coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s so exciting. And I agree with you. This new year ought to be such opportunity for supernatural things going on. Oh, that we are excited every day as we wake up every day. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. So next in Revelation 22, starting in verse 6, we have an angel that has a testimony telling us that the words are true and entirely trustworthy. And what must occur will occur swiftly. When I read that, just this morning even, I was confessing to the Lord that living here in this life, it doesn’t feel like things are coming swiftly. It kind of feels long and drawn out. And I even asked him, wow, when you were in human form, Jesus, when you were here on this planet, did your time change? here on earth feel long? The three years of wandering from town to town homeless and rejected by your own, pushed and pulled by mobs of people, the moments of being scourged and carrying the cross and being crucified, did that feel long, like it would never end? I think sometimes we grow weary because it feels like this is just never going to end. And we want to remember that whatever we’re going through in this life, our Lord went through it first. This whole story from beginning to end is about Jesus. He is the beginning. He is the end. That’s right. And His testimony comes next in Revelation 22, 7. He says, “…behold, I come quickly.” Blessed is the one who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book, or blessed is the one who keeps these words, who guards the words of the prophecy of this book. Well, here’s another scripture that I had to sit with for a while. How do we keep these words? Guard them. Yeah. Yeah. How do we heed the warnings? And we can. We can heed the warnings that are given to the seven churches. We can do that. But wow, when you start reading about all the images of the horses and their riders, the beasts, the two different beasts, one from the sea and one from the earth. And the beast from the sea has seven heads and ten horns. Wow. There’s a scroll. There’s Two witnesses, there’s the prostitute and a dragon. There’s bowls being poured out on the earth. Stars coming from the heavens.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, stars coming down from the heavens. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow, yeah. How do we heed that? How do we keep those words when they are very mysterious and, yes, confusing? I know that for myself, I want to start spending more time reading in between the images. Because that’s where we read, like Revelation 1-7, we read, do not be afraid. That’s how you keep the words. You choose not to give in to fear. Yes, fear will tempt us to be afraid, but we don’t have to give into it. Do not be afraid. Jesus says, I am the first and the last and the living one. I was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. He holds the keys. Yes, he does. He’s got the keys. He’s got those keys, so that means we really don’t have to be afraid. And, you know, it’s been a lot of years that I have been searching to find where does it say in the Bible that once we have died, See, I think this is the biggest fear for Christians. Christians believe that if their loved ones die without confessing Christ, there is no hope for them. They have a fear of that. I don’t know where that fear came from. I’ve been looking for years in the Bible for a scripture that would confirm that once you die, there is no hope for you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, it does say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. So there are various scriptures that you have to believe in Jesus Christ. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
But it doesn’t say, once you’ve died, that’s it. It never says that. It does not say that. And Jesus is saying that he holds the keys to death. I love that. Oh, I love that. He has said it more than once that he’s got the keys to death. So he can unlock that door anytime he wants to. Death does not limit our God. This does not limit our Savior, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, we’ve seen various examples in the Old Testament where men’s hearts were changed instantly. And for instance, Manasseh, he turned his heart away from what he was doing and turned to God. And also Hezekiah was given more years to live. So we see where God… Immediately, in an instant. See, that’s not an instant for us. God knows the hearts of these people. And so if they die and you think, oh, they’re going to hell, don’t believe that because there is always a possibility, the opportunity for God to come in and intervene in that person’s life.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. When Jesus says that he holds the keys to death, he is talking about how there is no boundary between to Hades, there’s no boundary to help for him that he has to stay out. He’s got the keys. He gets to walk in anytime he wants to. And we do read in Ephesians 4 that He does walk in to that realm, the realm of the dead, and He descends to the lowest parts of the earth and He preaches captivity captives. That means that the captives that are there, He preaches to them and He takes them captive for Himself. I love that scripture, Ephesians 4. If you haven’t read it lately, read that. And then when we go on in Revelation, 22, I have so many more good things that we could be focusing on, but I want to make sure that I say this. In Revelation 22, verse 10, he said to me, don’t keep secret the prophetic words of this book, for the time is near. And then in verse 11, he says something really, really different. He says, Let the wrongdoers… I’m going to interrupt myself here because I think I would naturally think, okay, let the wrongdoers, if you’re doing wrong, then turn around and do right. That’s what I would think this scripture is going to say. If you’ve been doing wrong, turn around, do right. But it doesn’t say that. In Revelation 22… Verse 11, it says, let the wrongdoers continue to do wrong and let the filthy continue in their filth. And it’s next is let the righteous still practice doing right and let the holy still be holy. I think it’s our human minds that make a division, a dividing line there and say, oh, yeah, the evil ones are just going to keep being evil, but the good ones are going to still do right. Did you hear the inflection in my voice? You know, it’s like, oh, yeah, evil, sin. They’re just going to keep doing that. But Jesus is not identifying people with their sin here. He is reminding us that he is the author and the finisher of this whole story. And that Revelation 22, the way that it’s wrapping up, it’s all got one huge purpose. And that is for verse 17. Verse 17 of Revelation 22. The spirit and the bride say, come. Yes. The spirit and the bride say, come. Jesus came and showed us the glory of God, the glory, meaning his forgiveness, his compassion, his mercy, pardon for a thousand generations. Jesus came and showed that glory. That is the glory of God. And human beings have a hard time with that kind of forgiveness. and that kind of mercy instead humans tend to pin each other with their wrongdoing and with the filth and with the the the sins and we we try to make that the identity but jesus is saying here nope my bride the one who’s coming alongside to be my perfect partner she’s the one who will say come Come, come, any of you who are thirsty. Come, all you who are doing evil, who are at your worst. Come. Come all you righteous ones who are so full of pride because you think you’re doing it all right. Come. Yes. We all need him, whether we are morally good or morally bad. We all need Jesus. And that is what this last chapter is. in Revelation is talking about. The whole story is being wrapped up with the goal being met. And that goal is to have that bride, to have that perfect partner who is going to see the glory of God, which is His compassion, His mercy, His pardon for a thousand generations, His loving kindness that is everlasting. That is the goal. That is the end of the story. He gets to have his bride, his perfect partner.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. Oh, and so we can say, and as you are there, I don’t know what your circumstance is like, my friend, but you can say with us, come Lord Jesus and may the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all in his precious name and happy new year. Have a wonderful holiday weekend. We love you and we want the very best for you. And take joy.
SPEAKER 01 :
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. 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.
