This episode extends an invitation to listeners to examine their spiritual foundations. Through Barbara’s engaging dialogue with Kimberly, explore the wisdom of embracing every challenge as a testament to God’s unwavering grace. They candidly discuss Chris Martin’s contentious remark, illustrating the importance of approaching dialogue with a spirit of grace and understanding. With practical advice, they guide listeners on how to build a faith that withstands the storms of reality.
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 03 :
Welcome to called a freedom. Oh, I’m so glad you joined us today. Kimberly is going to be giving such a great teaching and we need the word. We really do truly need the word down deep inside of us. You are a masterpiece of God filled with purpose, eternally valued, And that quote was taken from Ephesians 2 verse 10. And so many people, as they get older, they get godlier. They do. I mean, holier. It’s probably what God intended. And as we get older, oldies, then we realize that the persecutions are there, yes. The emergencies are there, yes. But we can walk with a confidence that, that God is there every step of the way and he’s preparing us for everything that comes along. Oh, I’m so grateful. It’s iron sharpening iron, folks. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. If you’d like to contact us, you can email us at Barbara Carmack or Barbara at Freedom Street dot org. I’ve got to get used to that because the webmaster just shortened my name from Barbara Carmack to Barbara. OK, Barbara at Freedom Street dot org or Kimberly. Thank you so much, Rachel, for putting them up every day. We appreciate you and clicking on those radio shows. And if you’d like to read a blog of Kimberly’s, you can go to the teaching and underneath that are the voices of freedom. And you can go and read some of the blogs that she has been writing. It’s good. It’s good stuff. Good stuff that you can live by. And if you would like to give, you go to the donation button and click on that. Simple steps to follow to give to Call to Freedom. Thank you so much, Chris. Oh, he’s a marvelous webmaster, and we appreciate him so much. Welcome to Call to Freedom, Kimberly. I’ve got to say that today because you’re not in the studio today.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know. And it’s been almost two weeks. It’ll be two weeks tomorrow. Yeah, I know. You gave me the week off last week. Thank you for that. I was very busy. But I missed you, so don’t do that to me again.
SPEAKER 03 :
Just kidding. I’m just kidding.
SPEAKER 02 :
No, no.
SPEAKER 03 :
That was pretty lonely last week. Yes, it was. For me, too.
SPEAKER 02 :
For me, too. But, you know, the memory verse that you have, that we are his workmanship, created for good works. Whether we have those vacation times or we’re feeling lonely or we’re feeling quite overwhelmed by all of the people around us. That’s right. It’s His works. It’s His ways. It’s His attitudes. It’s His opinions, not ours of other people. And Jesus came to us with a gentle and lowly heart. He’s meek and humble. He says that about Himself. And we need to trust that. We want to trust that. That’s also in Matthew. Your memory verse is in Matthew, but He talks about His heart in Matthew 11. And verses 28 through 30, that’s where He’s inviting us to come to Him because He has a meek and lowly heart. Anyone can come to Him and feel safe because He’s not judging. He doesn’t form an opinion. He doesn’t start a fight or an argument with you. He is kind. He’s so gentle and full of goodness. These are the good works that we are created for.
SPEAKER 03 :
And that’s what he tells us also in Matthew 5, verse 16. Let your light so shine. When we know the Lord Jesus, we’re beaming all over. People see that we’re different, and they come to us, and they want to know what’s going on with you. What are you doing? And so let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works. See, those works are so important for people to see. We can’t just be lumbering through life, getting up in the morning, going to work and lumbering back home and sitting on the couch at night and watching television. Our light is shining all the time. And so I’m praising God that they might see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. What a wonderful verse. Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, I wear the T-shirt quite a bit. You’ve seen it. I have a T-shirt that says, Get Used to Different. Yes, yes. And I walked into a place yesterday. I had that T-shirt on. I walked into a place yesterday, and I just approached the people at the counter. I needed to make a return, but I approached them with a smile and asking them, How are you doing today? Has it been busy for you? And, you know, just… being interested in someone else rather than yourself, you know, and making that your first contact instead of I need you to do this for me instead of making it all about yourself, you know, being interested in the other person. Well, That struck up a conversation about the T-shirt. And she looked at it and she goes, I like what your T-shirt says. I want to order one of those. Where is it from? So then I get to start talking about the chosen because that’s where I got it. Oh, wow. Right. And many have not heard about the Chosen TV series. And it is about the life of Christ. But her immediate question was, okay, is it based on evangelical or fundamental? And she looked at me and she said, do you know what I’m asking? And I was like, you know, I do, because we all have these different questions. denominations, these different opinions, differing opinions out there. And with all the different denominations, different opinions, we might not feel safe in discussing Jesus’ life. and what his life really looked like, because everybody has a different opinion about it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, and even though you’re in an area where people would ask questions like that, if I wore a t-shirt like that into a place of business here in Denver, they would say, whoa, that’s a real different quote. Where’s that from? If I’d mention anything about the chosen or about God, they would have nowhere to go. They would have nowhere. Oh, are you in a denomination or are you in a church? Maybe in a church, but yeah, it’s really different.
SPEAKER 02 :
Very fortunately, we are living in an age where you can join churches online. You know, so recommending some of the churches that are speaking the word of God and they’ve got a big community of people where you can participate in the comments of the church. And that’s what a wonderful age we live in. It’s amazing. But I brought that up just because when you are friendly and you make yourself friendly to others, they notice, they see that. And that is the light. That is the good works that we are called to. And I just learned about Chris Martin’s comment, Chris Martin from the band Coldplay. You were talking about it when you walked in today. And he mentioned he had a couple of women up on his stage, and he said to them something about being human. I looked it up really quick. The Times of Israel is a newspaper, a news place, and they have an article written about it. Oh, really?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, they do.
SPEAKER 02 :
What I think we need to remember is that Every one of us myself included right now today I mean if I am NOT praying Lord, please transform my words and and I mean that prayer I don’t want my words to go out and and cause offense I want my words to be transformed and to actually bring bring healing bring goodness bring hope and to people. We all need hope. And that’s what I want my words to bring. So if I’m not praying that, then any one of my words could bring offense to people.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. He found out that these two women were Jewish. And so he was saying in part, well, you’re human. Well, that might really fall flat when you’re talking to a Jewish audience. And I think that’s what caught the social media by storm. The very fact that he was saying that the Jewish people are human. Really? You’re the authority, huh, Chris?
SPEAKER 02 :
So, yeah. Well, yeah. And I have the exact quote. He said, I’m very grateful that you’re here as humans. And then he went on to say, although it’s controversial, maybe I also want to welcome people in the audience from Palestine. And I’m just quoting that because, you know what? He didn’t prepare that statement. These two women were up on his platform and it was something that flew out of his mouth. It flew, tumbled, tumbled right out. Yes. And if we, as other humans, as listeners, are going to be so quick to judge the things that fly out of other people’s mouths, really all we’re revealing is that we are uncomfortable with with ourselves. We’re uncomfortable with others. We’re expecting some kind of perfection. We have expectations that maybe are not healthy. And I believe that Jesus is unoffendable. I don’t know how you feel about that, but I believe that our God and our Lord and our Savior is unoffendable. Otherwise, he never would have been able to die for the world.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. I think we get that kind of attitude about everything having to be perfect. Because, Kimberly, a lot of people listen and watch movies. And movies have scripts. And they don’t realize this, that the actors and the actresses in these movies have studied for months and months to prepare their words that they’re going to say on the screen so that they’re perfect. But we’re not perfect in this world. We’re not perfect. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
And the writers spend a lot of time and a lot of research writing those scripts.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. That’s right. So haven’t you seen people that they say something and, boy, their hand goes up over their mouth and says, I just said something I shouldn’t do. And they’re closing their mouth because they said something that they, it just tumbled right out. And we have to really think about what we’re speaking. Think about what we’re going to say. Yes. Yes. And that’s something that I’ve had to really think about, too, as we’re on the air. And every day there might be someone who takes our words for, you know, in another vein, kind of different than what we wanted.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Or misunderstand. Yeah. We all have the potential of that. And I know that we do want to be more thoughtful in the way that we present things, but we also need to be more gracious in the way we hear things.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. And that’s why today when you sent me your notes and you were actually, I guess you were singing. The song that Cece Winans, she didn’t write it, but yes, she sang it, that your goodness is running after. It’s running after me. I love that line. God’s goodness is running after us, folks. It’s running after us. And we need to be really conscious of being humble and giving kind words to kind people, as you were saying, Kimberly. Yep, it’s important. It really is.
SPEAKER 02 :
It is. And today I was meditating on John 16, 33. Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he has spoken so many things to them in John, John chapters 14, 15, 16. It’s just a lot of Jesus talking to his disciples and such a good, so many good passages in there. At the end of chapter 16, he says, these things I’ve spoken to you that in me, you will have peace. And that peace is shalom, shalom peace. There’s nothing lacking in that shalom peace. It is a complete and whole state. It’s a place where you have been perfected, that his work has been accomplished in you and you’re not offended by what you hear. And you’re not just spitting things out of your mouth that are offensive or trying to goad somebody. So these things I’ve spoken to you that in me, you will have peace, says Jesus. In this world, you will have tribulation, but take courage. I have overcome the world. And I was coupling that verse from John 16 with James 1, verses 2 through 4. I’m just going to start with verse 2 here. In James 1, verse 2, he says, “…count it all joy when you encounter various trials.” I connect these two verses because I believe that tribulations and trials are connected, that there’s a connection with tribulation and trial and conflict and all the things that are hard for us to overcome in this world. Jesus overcame them for us. And in James 1, 2, to count it all joy. I was looking at that word in the original Greek. It’s hegaomai. I probably butchered that. Hegaomai. That Greek word can be used as an accounting term. And in accounting, you typically have two columns. You’ve got a credit column and you have a debit column. And for those of you who are listening and able to do this right now, you might want to just sit down with a piece of paper. And make two columns. Put a line between them and have one column be your credit column and your other be your debit column. And James 1 here is encouraging us to count it all joy. So now go through the things of your day, the things in your life that feel like tribulation, that feel like trials to you. that are hard for you. Think about those things. Don’t put them on your debit side, that column on the debit side, put it in the column of credit. Count it all joy. Maybe your credit column, when you make those two columns on your paper, your credit side could say joy also. You could put joy over there. And this is one of those times where I could say, I just love it when you end your program, Mom, by saying, take joy. Because we want to remember. We want to count it all joy. And that debit side, whatever it is you think of that are negative things, whether they’re trials, tribulations, whether it’s some kind of conflict in relationship or something in your health that’s compromising your health and you’re feeling weaker, whatever that is, put it where you would be tempted to put it on the debit side and the trial side. put it over on the credit side. Give credit to God that he is able, that he has overcome that situation, and you can count it joy in that joy column.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s so good. It’s like when you are a CPA or an accountant of some kind, when you look at that debit side, and those are the things in the natural world that you owe, And sometimes it can be overwhelming. You look at that and you say, oh, look what I owe. No, you don’t owe it. If you’re in Jesus Christ, you share. Jesus shares with you what you feel like you owe, you know, the trials. And sometimes, Kimberly, we look at trials as if it’s our affliction. No, Jesus took it. You’re right. He took it on the cross. So he’s sharing it with us. Praise the Lord. All those debits.
SPEAKER 02 :
And he overcame it. Yeah. And he overcame it with his attitude about it. Yes. And his opinion of it. So even going back to what Chris Martin said from Coldplay, you know, at his concert and he had those two women up on his platform, going back to that and realizing we don’t have to count that as an offense. we can put it over in the credit side and count it all joy and say, Lord, you’ve got a plan for this. And I trust that you are going to work this for good because I know you to be a good God. I know that we are your workmanship created for good works. So I’m in agreement with you that you are going to work this for good somehow, some way. Oh, that’s right. If we could just approach every one of our negative situations and circumstances that way, whether they be really big and it’s costing us something dear, like a marriage, like our health, like a job, a career, a position. Your education. A dream. If you’re letting go of a dream, it could be something really big like that, or it could be something small, like I had my family together on Monday, and my kids don’t always all get along. They can really be griping at each other and saying very sarcastic things. And that can get on my nerves. It doesn’t get on their nerves. It’s the way they play with each other. But I’m listening in and I don’t like it. And so that could get on my nerves. Well, what am I going to do with that? I can put it over in that column and count it all joy and let Jesus cover it because he has overcome the world. He has overcome biting, sarcastic remarks.
SPEAKER 03 :
So I can trust him. We’re so used to that, especially if you watch television or you’re listening to the world news. You’re finding that people are so blunt and crude sometimes in their conversations. And so you just kind of carry it over into your family as you hear it. We copy. We’re copycats a lot. So make sure that you listen to words that are edifying and building up your Because I don’t want to be talking like the world, Kimberly. I want my light to so shine before men that they will praise God. and not the world news or everything that’s going on. Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER 02 :
I agree. We have to be careful of what we see and what we hear. We live in this world, and so we’re going to see a lot of the world, and we’re going to hear a lot of the world because we’re in it. That’s right. We’re in it. But we are not of the world. And that’s where we want to be building our life on something different than their way of speaking and their way of treating each other. We want to build our life on the rock. And to do that, we’ve got to dig deep. And there’s a there’s a scripture. Again, we can find this in Matthew 7. We can also find it in Luke 6. And Jesus is the one who’s talking again. And it’s about a man who builds his house on a foundation of rock. Let me read it from Matthew 7, 24. Everyone who comes to me, Jesus, this is Jesus speaking, and hears my words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock. And when a flood occurred, the torrent burst, the rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew upon that house and could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who has not heard and has not acted accordingly is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation. Some versions say a man who built his house on sand and the torrent burst, the rain fell, the floods came and the winds blew against it and immediately it collapsed and the ruin of that house was great.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. Now, in the 26th verse where you’re talking and everyone you’ve talked to now about the ones who built their houses on the foundation. Then in the 26th verse and everyone who hears, they hear the words of Jesus. They hear the words of God, but they don’t act upon them. Those are the ones that are foolish men who built their house upon the sand. So they hear these words. But Kimberly, it’s like in one ear and out the other. they really don’t grasp what Jesus is saying to them at that moment.
SPEAKER 02 :
And so digging deeper, you’ve got to spend a little more time than just the in one ear and out the other, right? Oh, yes. So anyone can hear a superficial surface word of the day. And I’m not knocking those apps and those ways that you can just, click onto something or turn a page and read a scripture for the day on your calendar. Those are wonderful. They’re wonderful to have. If that’s all we are leaning on and that’s all we get all day long and then we go out into the world and we see and we hear the way the world treats each other, that’s not going to be digging deep enough. That’s going to be the superficial sand. And anyone can make time to play in sand. Anyone can do that. That’s right. But it takes a lot more, more time, more commitment, and more investment to dig down deeper. And that’s what we want to be able to do because the storms are going to come. In John 16, 33, that I started out with, Jesus is saying, these things I’ve spoken to you, that in me you will have peace. He goes on to say, in this world, you will have tribulation.
SPEAKER 03 :
That means the storms will come. That’s right. I know that if I had not been in the Word of God for 15 years before your dad was attacked with cancer, I would not have been able to stand through all of that and into all that needed to be done. So, Kimberly, yes, getting into the Word, getting deeper. I’m glad today that you were talking about Strong’s Concordance. You were looking in that for the meanings of some of these words today. It’s so important that we use those kind of aids along with the Bible. We’re out of time, Kimberly, and you have a story. You need to come back. and tell us about people that are in the storms. We’ve got to dig deeper in the Word of God. I know devotionals are nice, little stories are nice, but we’ve got to get into the meat, into the Word of God, and not live on the milk like babies do. And we need to do it now. The time is now before the storms come. Oh, that’s right. You’re so right. Oh, thank you so much for coming on board, Kimberly. And we’ll be expecting to hear from you tomorrow. And for those of you who are listening today, God bless you and keep you and take joy.
SPEAKER 04 :
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 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.
This episode extends an invitation to listeners to examine their spiritual foundations. Through Barbara’s engaging dialogue with Kimberly, explore the wisdom of embracing every challenge as a testament to God’s unwavering grace. They candidly discuss Chris Martin’s contentious remark, illustrating the importance of approaching dialogue with a spirit of grace and understanding. With practical advice, they guide listeners on how to build a faith that withstands the storms of reality.
