Join us for an enlightening conversation on the power of faith and endurance. Barbara and her guests delve into the practical and spiritual aspects of confronting life’s trials and transitions, drawing wisdom from scripture and personal experiences. With insights into Jesus’ sacrifice and its ongoing influence, this episode offers a beacon of hope for anyone seeking spiritual renewal and strength.
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.
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Welcome to Call to Freedom. May God’s blessings be multiplied to you today. Abundant life, pure love, and perfect peace. That peace of God that transcends all understanding, that will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Oh, if ever you’ve needed Jesus, my friend, you need him now. I mean, the frequency of things happening, the roar of everything going on, the intensity of everything. I’m sure that you have noticed that even in your own life. Things not working just right or things slowing down or things going too fast. It’s one of those times when you’re going, oh, Lord Jesus, come now. Come, Lord Jesus, come now. It won’t be long. It won’t be long. Oh, as you can see, Kimberly is with us again today. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And the memory verse for this week is found in Psalm 42, verse 8. Brand new one, but it’s so good. The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and his song will be with me in the night. A prayer to the God of my life. That’s what I depend on. I really do. I depend on his loving kindness in the daytime in all kinds of different forms, different people, different precious things going on. And then at night when I’m lying down and being more peaceful and quiet, there are the songs in the night that goes through my heart. And the message translation of Psalm 42 verses 6 through 8, we’re going to read that. When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse everything I know of you from Jordan to the Hermon Heights. Chaos calls to chaos to the tune of whitewater rapids. You’re breaking surf, you’re thundering, breakers crash and crush me. Then God promises to love me all day, sing songs to me all through the night. My life is God’s prayer. Oh, I’ll tell you when things come crashing in. Oh, and you’ve been to the Jordan, Kimberly, and you’ve been to probably the Mount Hermon.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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Oh, so you know all that. Well, and I haven’t had a chance. I didn’t know this was our memory versus now. Oh, I’m sorry.
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We ride together, we talk together, we eat together, and still we miss some things.
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But all of those places represent different feelings in a human being. They actually represent different ways to approach life, whether you’re approaching it with your emotions and getting angry, or you’re approaching with a plan that is more logical. These places all are representations of that. So once I look into that, that’s what’s really fun, is deep calls to deep. What does that mean exactly? This is that place.
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Is this the verse? This is it. Oh, in the King James Version. I was just asking you what chapter was deep calls to deep.
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It’s Psalm 42. God is so good. He’s just prompt right on time. It’s a God appointment. Oh, that’s so good, Kimberly. That’s super. I’m feeling really good.
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Well, I’ve had a challenging weekend because I’m changing. I’m changing my mind about computers. I’m changing my mind about the website. I’m changing my mind about so many things. You’re transitioning. Okay, transitioning. But my mind needs a little change, too. It’s kind of like when you have spring cleaning. You’re cleaning your house. You’re getting rid of the old. You’re bringing in the new. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, there are some personalities when they’re cleaning, they really like to move things around, change it around, make it look different. And then there are other personalities that when they’re cleaning, they try to put everything back exactly the way it was. Right. And and so if you’re used to things being a certain way and and you’re that’s what you’re used to and comfortable with. And you’re not used to changing it around and doing something different. It’s okay with God. It is okay. And it takes a little grace then to get used to all the new when the new comes in. We’ve, we’ve kind of been redecorate. We’ve been redecorated. Yes. The website has been redecorated. Yeah.
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It’s being, it’s being, uh, made a new and, uh, It’s taking a little time and effort.
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It’s beautiful. If you haven’t visited it yet, do that. It’s freedomstreet.org. It’s a beautiful website, and we’re really excited about getting the content that we would like to see on it. We don’t have all that. It’s taking a lot for us to figure out, oh, how do I upload this?
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Yeah, I see that we met with the webmaster on Friday, Chris, and I was there for two hours. And he and Kimberly were doing the majority of the speaking and the talking and the dialoguing because they just understand this stuff more than I do. And she’s been texting him more than I do. which I am so grateful. I truly am. Friends, I am grateful that my daughter Kimberly is here at this time, or I would be underwater, deep water. But it’s just wonderful how God brings people into our lives that we need at that moment.
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And it’s a privilege for me. It’s a privilege and an honor to be here. And I think I was saying this as we were walking in the doors today to the radio station yesterday. I was just saying, you know, it’s not about all the numbers and the new codes and getting it right. It’s about walking with each other through it. And I’m just glad that I’m here with you and you’re with me walking through it. Yes. Amen.
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And I’m glad I think of the evening that Jesus was in Gethsemane and how he was so crushed and his grieving. I’m sure, Kimberly, that so much of that was the… knowing that he was going to be leaving his friends, his friends that he’d grown to love and his friends that were always around him for three and a half years. And that crying and that grieving must have been part of that. Part of it. I’m sure.
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I’m sure it was. Have you been to the place in your own life where the Lord has brought you to a season to something that was coming up and no one else understood what you were really facing? And that even that loneliness is also a crushing feeling. So, yeah, the looking at leaving friends or looking at your community and realizing, OK, I don’t think anybody understands what I am going through right now. That’s right. That’s also a crushing and a suffering and being able to to lean in to your relationship with God and with Jesus because they do understand that. They have been through it all. They are forming us in their likeness, making us their best friend by allowing us to experience some of these things that are truly difficult.
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Yes. And finally, when we’re preparing to go to be with Jesus. Finally, that transition and that acknowledgement of, whoa, this is going to be it. And getting your driver’s license taken away, you’ve been driving a car for 70 years, and all of a sudden your son or your daughter takes your keys away. I haven’t done that. No, I know you haven’t. Just if somebody is thinking that’s what’s going on. But I’m thinking of some of my friends and also my mother who drove all the time and then all of a sudden she’s in assisted living and she doesn’t have her car anymore to do what she really likes to do, even to run and get something to eat. And I think of those of you who maybe are listening from an assisted living, the best is yet to be. It really is. It really is. Believe us. It’s just like Jesus that night in Gethsemane. He knew the crushing and what was coming ahead at the cross. But then he also acknowledged the beautiful light of the resurrection. And we want to start today by going to John 11. I want to talk just a little bit before we talk about Romans 5 and about Jesus Christ. It’s all about him, folks. And if you listen in to Call to Freedom, very often it is about our Father God and Jesus Christ. And we have a daily communication and a knowledge of them. In John 11… One of them, Caiaphas, and if you’ve watched The Chosen and All, you see Caiaphas as an older man with a beard, and he’s the high priest. He’s the one who knows the most. He’s been through the Bible, the Torah, and he knows most of the Old Testament prophets. And he said to them, you know nothing at all because they were going on and on about what they should do with Jesus. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish. He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So it has a twofold meaning. This nation was going to be saved through the death of one man. And also God was going to bring the whole nation together because it was under Roman rule and so many people had been scattered abroad. So from that day on, they made plans to put who to death? Jesus, they had met, they had counseled, and boy, they were bent on getting Jesus crucified.
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Yeah, that was truly the Holy Spirit speaking through Caiaphas. That was a message from God. This is the one. This is my servant. This is the one that will die for the many. And there is a reference in Isaiah 49, verse 6. And in this prophetic word from Isaiah, the Lord is speaking through Isaiah and he says, It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also make you a light of the nations. So instead of just focusing in on one people group, this is saying, I will make you a light to all nations. And so when Caiaphas was saying that it’s good for a man, one man to die for all nations. He didn’t even realize what all meant. He was thinking just the nation of the Hebrews. Yes. But the Lord had a different plan from the beginning that it would be for all nations.
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Yes. Oh, praise God. And in Isaiah 52, verse 13, and I’m sure Caiaphas had read this. Behold, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up. That verse. That is indication of Jesus being crucified. And then his appearance was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men. And he will sprinkle many nations. Now, that’s his blood. His blood will be sprinkled. And we all I pray and I thank God daily. that I can cover myself with the blood of Jesus. That’s a cleansing agent, folks. The blood is a cleansing agent for you. When you go into defilement or you go into somewhere where you’ve never been, you cover yourself. Thank you, Father. I cover myself from the top of my head to the soles of my feet with the blood of Jesus. And then going into… Now, this is the 52nd chapter of Isaiah. Then going into the 53rd chapter of Isaiah… Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground. And Kimberly, this is talking about one individual, one individual. And so I believe that’s where Caiaphas picked up on this. One man will die for this nation. Hmm.
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Right. I love that in Isaiah 52 verse 13, it says, my servant will prosper. Yes, he will finish. He will accomplish this work. He will complete this. And this, that’s what that means for us is that we’re, we’re now the, we’re righteous. We don’t have to worry about the shame, the mistakes, the feeling bad, the embarrassments. We don’t have to worry about all of that. We are really covered. And like walking in today when I said, you know, the gospel, the true gospel is just knowing that somebody is with you, that you’re not alone. And Jesus is the one who is constantly interceding, advocating. Those are big words. But he is praying over you as God. You, you who are listening today, he’s praying over you and he will prosper. He will have his prayer answered. And you have to know that because Jesus was so willing to die on the cross, he is not praying resentful prayers. He’s not praying prayers of bitterness and trying to make sure that the people that he’s angry at, he’s not even sitting up there in anger. He’s sitting there as the advocate, one who comes alongside and says, you know what? I understand why they did that. I understand why they’re thinking that way. I understand because I’ve been with them from the time they were born. So I actually really get them. He gets you. As you’re listening today, he gets you. And he is on your side. He wants you to know he is defending you. He’s a better defender of you than you are of yourself. That’s right.
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We pay thousands and thousands of dollars to lawyers here to represent us in court. Been there. Been there with Darren. Done that. And then they may lose the case. Well, you have a lawyer who sits at the right hand of God and he never has lost a case. And in my slate today, Kimberly, I was saying, you may not like what you’ve become or who you are, but there is an answer to this dilemma. Yes. And it’s Jesus. Yes. And you go to him and you say, I am so sorry. I took a wrong path, Lord. I just I’m I’m in a place where I’m not understanding why I am where I am and who I am right now. And you can say, I’ll take care of that. I’ll take care of that. Praise the Lord. And it’s Jesus. It’s let’s go to Romans five. It’s it’s Jesus. Praise the Lord.
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Romans 5, are you starting in the first verse?
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Yeah, I am. Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God. We’re no longer people who work for salvation or work to be able to stand before God. No, our works are as dung, as Paul says. I believe it’s in 2 Corinthians. He says, my righteousness is as dung. Filthy rags. That’s right. And I just found… a big pile in my backyard and it did not look good. I know it was done.
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It was from a little animal that came in overnight. Yeah. And decided to do it.
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Well, our righteousness is like that. And then Jesus, we just have to look to Jesus friend. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. And this is in the Living Translation. Number three says we can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials. This morning, just this morning, I had to deal with an individual and then deal with an insurance company. And we don’t like dealing with insurance companies. And I had to check myself. For my attitude, Barbara, what is your attitude toward this person? And what is your attitude towards the insurance company? And forgive, forgive, forgive, and love God’s kind of love.
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And trust, right? Because our faith is willing to let it go the way that it just needs to go. We’re constantly fighting for our own rights. I know. You know, the guy have a I have a right to more. I have a right to. Yeah, whatever it is. And when we let go and say, we trust you, God, we trust you. He really is the one who gives. He’s the one who provides. He’s the one who protects. And we don’t have to protect ourselves.
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Oh, that’s right. That’s so true. I was looking at it in another at another angle of what I might deserve because of something that went on with my home. And I thought, no, Lord, I’m just leaving this to you. I’m not going to even be concerned about it today. Some of you need to leave things, yield them up to God. They have become a burden for you, and you have become weary with worry. You have become weary with worry. That’s absolutely true. And God knows that we need to rejoice in our problems and trials because that develops endurance. And verse 4 in Romans 5 says, “…and endurance develops strength of character.” You want to be strong, don’t you? Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. “…and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” And this hope, Kimberly, will not lead to disappointment. That’s right. For we know how dearly God loves us because he’s given us Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
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That’s right. So good. Another version says this hope is not a disappointing fantasy. I want to lean into that just a little bit because when we’re talking about enduring, it’s hard to wait something out, to really offer it up, surrender it. What was the word you used? Yield. Yield it. Thank you. To be yielding. That’s really hard. And we actually run from that. as human beings. We, we don’t want to yield. We want what we want. That’s right. So, so it’s really a difficult thing to be come patient, to become patient with endurance and let that refine our character. But if, if we will understand the miracle that’s being done when we continue to practice yielding and surrendering, When we practice that and the miracle that happens in us, let me just say that as I have been growing and learning to yield and in a situation like yours where you realized there was actually some damage done to your home while they were improving it. And that feels like it’s unfair. So you want to take control of that situation and say, hey, I am due. You’ve got to fix this. Right. But when you yield and you surrender to what has happened and you show kindness to these people. And and you you’re just trusting the Lord as your provider, the one who will give the resources needed because he is the source. We can trust him for all resources. He is the only source. As we practice that, there’s so much joy that comes because all of a sudden we’re not just gritting our teeth in our own strength, in our own ideas and say, well, I should be a Christian. So I’m just going to I’m going to be nice right now. Yeah. Well, are you going to be nice tomorrow? Are you going to be nice next week, next month? When you really let the Lord do the work, you wait on him. You wait on the Lord and let him do it. I’m expecting a miracle. I’m expecting that something will come through and those damages will no longer be damaged. That’s right. He will restore and renew and redeem because that’s the God who he is. And so we can trust that. Now, I go through it in the area of relationship. You know, I’m still believing the Lord that he is going to redeem, restore, renew relationship with my husband. And we we live together. So we have certain connections and certain ways that we do communicate with each other. But I might start getting into a place where I want that to be more often or whatever my whatever my idea is. I need to yield that constantly every day. Yield it to the Lord. When I am in a yielded place, I’m completely trusting him that he’s doing what he needs to do in my husband and he’s doing what he needs to do in me. Now that’s patient endurance. We just keep doing it. And that refines our character. And then this leads us back to hope. I have so much more hope now than I did when I was trying to get him to talk to me when I was trying to get my husband to do. Let’s make sure we spend time together. Could we not just have one date a week, like a dinner? And to let it all go and not have any breakfasts or lunches or dinners with this person, you know, we have our expectations, but to let them go brings me back to hope. I’m no longer hoping in a fantasy of mine of what I think I want it to look like. Right? Because that’s what it is. Our hope is not a disappointing fantasy. Our hope is more secure. It is more stable when we learn this yielding thing, this surrender, this submitting. People don’t like that word submit. I know submission is a hard one, but when we’re doing it with the Lord in mind, we are on solid ground. And he is more open, more able, more available because we’ve released him to do miracles. Yes.
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And you know that God is at work in your husband.
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Oh, absolutely. And he’s at work in me. I need him to be at work in me.
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Because, I mean, you… You just come and you can buy anything. You can have anything at the grocery store. It’s pretty much unlimited with what you can get with that credit card because he’s taking care of it. And that’s good to know when you’ve got a husband or a wife who is helping you. I do have a budget. Just so you know.
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It’s not a credit card. We have overloaded ourselves. It’s actually a debit card that has a budget on it. Okay. Just going to let you know that it’s not like there’s something handed to me that there’s like no limits. Okay. Well, lunch is on me.
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Oh, we know, friend. We’re almost at the end of this. And I want Kim Walker Smith to sing this beautiful song because Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. And you know what? He washed it white as snow. Here’s Kim.
SPEAKER 06 :
I hear the Savior say The high strength indeed is small Child of weakness, watch and pray finding me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. For now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone Can change the leper’s spots And melt the heart of stone Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe We’ll be right back.
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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.
Join us for an enlightening conversation on the power of faith and endurance. Barbara and her guests delve into the practical and spiritual aspects of confronting life’s trials and transitions, drawing wisdom from scripture and personal experiences. With insights into Jesus’ sacrifice and its ongoing influence, this episode offers a beacon of hope for anyone seeking spiritual renewal and strength.
