Lessons from Paul: Faith and Perseverance

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, it’s such a joy to have you join me today. And I want to remind you, I want you to know that as you memorize scripture like the one I’m going to be telling you right now, you will never have to say, well, that one’s old. I can throw that in the trash. No. They’re good. They’re relevant. They’re always up to date. For instance, Numbers 6, 24 through 26. As you memorize this, and when you have visitors at your house or you’re saying goodbye to people that you love, you can always say, The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. That’s what I tell so many people that come to my house. The Lord bless you and keep you. And on the newsletters that I sent today, I’m so grateful that you give, that I can send you wonderful newsletters. And they are. I’ve been praying over them. I’ve been building articles. Holy Spirit helps me do that. I put number 624 through 26 on. on the front of the envelope. So I want you to remember that the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Can you say that with me? I know I hear some of you. I really do. I really do. Let’s say it one more time. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. And if you’re in the age bracket that I am, we grew up with the King James Version. So I remember a lot of scripture through King James. And I’m grateful. I’m grateful for every translation we get. The passion is just a little more difficult for me to memorize. So you’re going to hear scriptures that I’ve memorized by the King James Version. Thank God. Praise God. The victory that the Broncos had yesterday was just really phenomenal. I’m amazed because they have come so close. And usually all the… are made in the fourth quarter, boy, they started out early. And I know there was an interception, but I watched the whole game and it was phenomenal. I remember, especially when the announcers were talking with a little bit of nostalgia because they were looking back at the 1977 Super Bowl time and between the Denver Broncos and the Dallas Cowboys. And I had always been maybe not a total support of Dallas Cowboys, but because of Coach Landry, I appreciate that man’s integrity and his walk with the Lord. And so I was always saying, you know, I really like the Dallas Cowboys, too. I like the Oakland Raiders, too. I mean, I John kept telling me, why do you like the Oakland Raiders? I just love some of the players. So we get into these wonderful nostalgia moments of the 1977 Super Bowl, which at one time yesterday, the game was. was 27-10. That’s exactly the score that the Dallas Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos in 1977, 27-10. So at one point in the game, it was 27-10, but the Broncos were ahead. And I’m so grateful. We loved the Orange Crush during the 70s. And yesterday, another thing, another bit of nostalgia is that they wore the uniforms of the 1970s, the Orange Crush. It was just a fun game, and especially since we were winning. So thank you for what you did yesterday, Broncos. Wow, 44 to 17. What a… What a game it was. And I just hope it continues. I know I have one friend that says, go to the Super Bowl. Well, we haven’t been there for a while since John Elway and Peyton Manning. So it’s going to be a little bit, but hopefully it will come. Praise the Lord. Why do you talk about sports, Barbara? Well, because I enjoy a little bit of everything. Sometimes we get so spiritual, we can enjoy some of the things that are going on in this world. And I don’t ever want to be that kind of person that just totally negates everything going on in this world. I want to enjoy a few moments of things like the football games and even basketball games. So I hope you do too. I hope you’re enjoying just a variety of things in your life. Let’s do the Monday Bible slogan. This is so good because this is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I do what it tells me to do. This is my Bible. It has given me new life. It is the word of God. And some of you have said this so many times with me over the years. that you’ve got this memorized too. Praise God, that’s good. You are blessed to dispense, for in him you live and move and have your being. I love that. Every day I say, in you, Lord, I live and move and have my being. Because at this time in the game of life for me, I’m asking the Lord to help me with my mobility and with my thinking, and I do not take anything for my brain. And I know a lot of older people do. Nope, I just depend on the Lord. And I believe, Okay, here’s a little hint. I believe that when we are in the Word of God every day and we’re memorizing Scripture, that gives us brain power by Holy Spirit. I truly believe that with all my heart because I’m memorizing so many Scriptures now at my age, and I know that. that that’s part of it. Scripture helps us to remember and helps us to stay sharp. Praise the Lord. And if you want to listen to more Call to Freedom programs, you can go to freedomstreet.org and click on the resources and radio shows. If you’d like to see newsletters, that’s also, I forget, under teaching or resources, you can just click down that list and see which one you want to look at. And look at everyone. Every one of those, because Chris has done a marvelous job in totally restoring and renovating the website for Call to Freedom. So I appreciate it so much. The memory verse for this week is an old familiar one. I remember. kimberly was in kindergarten and i would stop by every day because i was working for my father at the bible book house i would stop every noon day because she only had a half a day of school and sit there in the parking lot and memorize scripture and this was one of the first scriptures that i memorized and it’s ephesians 2 verse 8 and all of us should know this scripture for by grace that’s the grace of our lord jesus christ For by grace you have been saved. How? Through faith. And that’s not of your own. That’s not of yourselves. You didn’t do anything. No effort in that. It was all Jesus. And it is the gift of God lest anyone should boast. Oh, I can’t boast in anything but God. and the Lord Jesus Christ. And the message translation of Ephesians 2.8 says, Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next, to shower grace and kindness upon us in Jesus Christ. Saving is all his idea. Did you hear that? Oh, I love that in the message. Saving is all his idea. It wasn’t any of our ideas and it was all his work. Amen. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. the author and the finisher of our faith. In Hebrews 12, we don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing. No, we neither make nor save ourselves. Praise God. That is so good. God does both the making and the saving. Oh, praise God. When I was reading today in Jeremiah 47 and 48, and this is not for immature readers. I’m telling you, sometimes we go through those chapters, and I’m glad I have a four-color pen because I’m underlining what God says and then underlining what Jeremiah says because sometimes it’s almost too much to read. What I found in God’s declaration against Moab and Edom and Elah is that God loved Israel’s enemies. Yes, he did. He was preaching and declaring restoration for these enemies of Israel. So when it says in John 3.16 that God so loved the world… And that’s what it means. God so loved the world. You mean he likes Hamas? He loves the whole world. He loves the people of Gaza Strip. He loves the individuals in Hamas. He wants them to be born again, to recognize Jesus Christ as their Savior. And we’re the messengers for that message, friend. We’re the messengers that go to loved ones and tell them how God loves them. If that’s all you can say around the Thanksgiving table and that’s coming up in another month, all you can say is God loves you. Jesus died for you and he loves you. If that’s all you can get out of your mouth before they say, I don’t want to hear it. They have that. And I’m so grateful. It’s important at this time in our lives that we don’t bow to pressure. God brought about his mightiest miracles during great times of pressure for his people. And that includes what we’re reading in Jeremiah right now. Oh, Israel in the Old Testament went through so much. And when we see Israel in Babylon for 70 years, that’s in bondage. That’s captivity. That’s in chains. Although at times God told them, especially during Daniel’s time as being a slave in bondage, that they had their own houses. They grew their own crops. The kings, some of the kings were kind and they allowed him to do that. Well, God said to Israel right at a horrible time, a time of pressure and anxiety and worry. He says, my thoughts for you are for good and well-being. and not for accidents and calamities, to give you a hope and a future. Praise God. That’s right. Jeremiah 29 verse 11 is right there in the middle of all the worrisome things that are going on. Everyone was worried about everything. And today we can have those kind of days that we’re worried about everything. So I want you to know there is peace with God, just like I gave you in Numbers 6, 24 through 26. So what does this Jeremiah 29, 11 mean? You’re going to be overtaken by God’s good plans. Yep, he’s going to come in and he’s going to flow all the good things that he had planned for you. And you look forward to God’s goodness because he has proven himself to be a faithful God. He’s been a faithful God to me, friend, even when I was rebellious and disobedient. He came alongside even when I didn’t want him. And he gave me such a wonderful life. I’m so grateful. He can do the same for you as you believe that he is a faithful God. God is maturing us to step into that anointing that will establish what he has planned for us. And you find in Isaiah 10, verse 27, that he wants to remove the burdens of self-effort. Oh! I’m going to do this and I’m going to do this in my own effort and I’m self-sufficient and I don’t need anybody’s help. Really? I’ve given that up. I gave that up. Oh, because he removes the burdens of self-effort and he destroys the yoke of bondage that has kept us from seeing the manifestation of his promises. I want you to remember that. Isaiah 10, 27. Oh, and you’ll find that in the Amplified Bible. That is such a wonderful promise that God is going to manifest his promises to us. That means bring it into evidence, physical manifestation as we believe him. And in all that, we have peace because we cannot experience God’s awesome power in our lives until we enter into that peaceful rest. Ah, take a time, take a moment, and just take a breath. Ah, fill up your lungs with that air that God provides for us every day. Self-effort and self-dependence are burning away from my life. I hope they are from yours. God is building strong character in each and every one of us. I bring up a scripture that Kimberly and I have taught on, and it’s becoming dear to my heart. I hope it’s becoming dear to your heart, although it’s a very big challenge in some situations. Count it all joy when you encounter various trials. You may not have expected those trials, but they loomed big in your life. So what do you do about it? Because you know through the stories in the Bible and in your own life that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Okay. We don’t like endurance, but endurance keeps us on that steadfast walk with God. Oh, faith produces endurance and let endurance have that perfect result, making you perfect, lacking in nothing. Wow, I want to get to that point in my life where I don’t lack anything, but God’s sustenance in my life, God’s provision in my life. because I know he supplies all my need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He’s always done it for me and he will continue to do it for me. So let James 1, 2 through 4 just rise up in you as you memorize it. Let joy rise in your heart. Paul said something to Timothy and it’s a scripture in which we realize that Paul is talking about these days that we’re living in right now, the latter days. And he starts that in 2 Timothy 3, the very beginning of that chapter, in the latter days. He goes on to say in 2 Timothy 3.10, And I may one of these days talk about the first nine verses in 2 Timothy 3. He says to Timothy as he’s writing this book to his dear, precious, younger disciple, Timothy, you know my faith. and my patient endurance. The struggles that seemed beyond my capability to stand at times seemed to be impossible to endure. But God rescued me from all the overwhelming circumstances. When we see what Jesus’ response was with that ever looming crucifixion in the future. Wow, I can’t imagine that. I can’t imagine that I’m going to die and not only quickly. No, I’m going to die hanging on a cross naked and having been beaten to a pulp. And I’m going to hang there on that cross. I can’t imagine that. I really can’t. We realize like him that we must not give up. He didn’t. Jesus did not. We must maintain our posture of victory. What an example to leave the next generation that we endured through many trials and lots of pressure to see the victory. I want to leave that for my grandchildren and my great grandchildren. I want to leave that kind of memory of Meemaw and Great-Grandma that she was sustaining and she was steadfast in her belief for Jesus Christ. I want them to remember that. I want to read 2 Timothy 3.10 in a whole. But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach and how I live and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, you know my patience, you know my love, and you know my endurance. You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. But the Lord rescued me out of all of it. Now, Paul suffered many hardships. And many times he thought he was alone. He didn’t see a whole lot of people coming alongside and supporting him. He mentions Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra in 2 Timothy 3. Because it was in Lystra that Jews from Antioch and Iconium came. These were enemies of Paul. These were men that wanted him thrown out. They wanted his message to die. And they surrounded Paul in Lystra. stoned him, stoned him. Can you imagine big stones coming against your head and your body? Stoned him, drug him out of the city. Now, it wasn’t enough that they stoned him. They drug him, this lifeless body, out of the city thinking he was dead. What did he do? I just can’t believe this. He got up. I can’t imagine. entered the city and began bringing that message to the people who wanted to hear it. Not the leaders of the Pharisees nor the Sanhedrin. He wanted the people to hear the message of Jesus Christ. He got up and he went back. Yes, and he says in verse 12 of 2 Timothy 3, yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. He promised that just like Jesus did in John 16, 33. In this world, you will have persecution, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. That’s exactly what Paul says in the 12th verse of 2 Timothy 3. Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, but evil people and imposters will flourish. Whoa, is that what you said? Yes, they will flourish. Don’t you see it today? You see people that are not obedient to Christ or even mentioning the the name of God, unless it’s in a curse word, they’re flourishing. They’re seemingly flourishing. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived. I remember what David says that I saw the rich and the wealthy and the sinful as a big tree spreading its branches and its leaves all over. I turned around and it was gone. That means it will not be there for very long. You cannot measure yourself and your circumstances by what you see in the world, or you will give up and give in to your fleshly desires that are against God’s plan for you. Fourteenth verse of 2 Timothy 3 says, But you must remain faithful to the things you’ve been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. See, we can read this word of God. We can trust the New Testament. We can trust what Paul wrote, because these were all inspired of God. And I’m going to bring this up. Verse 15 says, You have been taught the holy scriptures from childhood. And they’ve been given you. They have been given to you through the wisdom to receive salvation that brings by trusting in Christ Jesus. Here it is. Verse 16 of Second Timothy three. All scripture is inspired by God. You can read all this scripture and know that God wrote it for you. And it is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. Verse 17 says, God uses it to prepare and equip his people to learn to do every good work. So I know the Lord will deliver me from anything I face because the best outcome comes from those who waited for God’s deliverance. So the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer any difficulty. And that’s Philippians 4.13 in the Passion. I say that scripture so much. Oh, the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses infuses me to conquer any situation in my life. So I want you to know, friend, when you trust God, when you walk with God, he will let you see the manifestation of all the promises he’s given to you. I want you to listen to this phrase that God gave me in a chorus quite a while ago when Darren left this earth. So I will trust you now. I’ll never be down and out. By faith, I’m flying high for Jesus is by my side. So I will trust you now. I’ll never be down and out for Jesus has set me free and given me liberty. Oh, it’s such a blessing to walk with him. to be led by the Spirit of God. It is wonderful to know that God has given us a quickening in our spirits to do His will. I want you to listen to this song from the album, He Touched Me. This is Elvis, Lead Me, Guide Me.

SPEAKER 03 : 23:14

Lead me, oh Lord, won’t you lead me? I am tired and I need Thy strength and power to guide me over my darkened star. Gorgeous woman, my eyes love to see. Won’t you lead me? Lead me, guide me along the way. For if you lead me, I cannot stray or just part. I am lost if you take your hand from me. I am blind without thy light to see. Lord, just love me, thy servant be. Won’t you lead me? Lead me, guide me along the way. For if you lead me, I cannot stray. Lord, just lead me. Won’t you lead me?

SPEAKER 02 : 25:51

Oh, I like those old songs. I really do. It’s just always relevant. And you might say, you think he’s in heaven? Anyone who confesses that Jesus is Lord, anyone who confesses that Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the dead, look it up, Romans 10, 9 and 10, is saved. I know that he had some habits and and some behavioral patterns that were not godly. But that doesn’t take you to hell. No. The thing that gets you to heaven and keeps you from hell is when you confess Jesus is Lord. And I know that Elvis did. Elvis loved singing gospel songs. It was one of his favorite things to do after concerts. So I know that he’s there. And if you want to meet him someday… You make sure that you’re born again and saved also. It’s going to be a glorious time. People that we did not think were going to be in heaven are going to be in heaven. And people we thought would be, you know, not be in heaven, they’re going to be in hell. I mean, believe it or not, it’s going to be good. God bless you and keep you. We’ll talk more about this. Oh, and take joy, my friend. Take joy.

SPEAKER 1 : 27:03

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SPEAKER 01 : 27:23

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SPEAKER 1 : 28:40

Thank you.