Join Barbara Carmack on ‘Call to Freedom’ as she guides listeners on a spiritual journey aligning with God’s purpose. Discover the unparalleled joy that comes from living in harmony with His plans and learn from Kimberly’s insightful discussion on the question that defines our faith: ‘Who do you say that I am?’ As we navigate through scriptures, we uncover the vastness of God and His unfailing love. Tune in to explore the transformative power of aligning your life with God’s divine path.
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 :
On this sunny day in Denver, Colorado, welcome to Call to Freedom. I want you to celebrate each day, enjoy God’s blessings, and look forward to His best, because when your steps begin to align with God’s purpose, your heart discovers a new kind of joy. And it’s a joy that you can’t get from buying a new outfit or a new car or a new house. I’ve been through all that. I have been through all that. And there’s no joy like the joy of the Lord. So I want you to experience that in your own life, that your steps begin to align with God’s purpose. And Kimberly was saying the question, who do you say that I am? And she’s going to continue in that venue today. I’m so grateful because that’s a question that all of us must ask. When he asks us, who do you say that I am? We need to really say honestly where we are in that journey with Jesus. So I want you to listen to it, listen to it intently. And you can also go to Freedom Street and click on the radio shows and listen to the past shows. Also, you are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. Remember that Sunday is daylight savings time. I’m not particularly fond of all these time changes because I’ve got several clocks in my house. So I have to go around changing them. besides my phone and everything else that I’m changing. So I just want you to be aware of that. Sunday morning, daylight savings time. Memory verse for this week is Psalm 27, verse 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Hallelujah. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. He is the defense. He is the department of war and defense like we have in our country. Oh, of whom shall I be afraid? The message translation talks about, The light, space, and zest all come from God. That is God. So with him on my side, I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing. When vandal hordes ride down ready to eat me alive, those bullies and toughs fall flat on their faces. When besieged, I’m calm as a baby. Well, I don’t know if all babies are calm. When all hell breaks loose, I’m collected and cool. That’s from King David. Praise God. Well, Kimberly, thank you for coming on the radio again. I know you’ve really been busy today, so I appreciate you coming back on the radio.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, it’s a good way to start with that memory verse. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? And that ties right in with our subject. We ended yesterday by talking about how God himself is so vast that he cannot be contained in the heavens and in the highest heavens. He can’t be contained in the largest expanse of this universe. And yet God, He was fully contained in the human being of Jesus Christ, his son. And we were just establishing that Jesus is the first of many. We are the many that are destined to become just like him. So as we’re establishing that, that we were reading from John 1, that the word became human and made his home among us. And he was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. We have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. That was the full glory of God contained in a human being. And we are now blessed. He’s one of many. He’s the firstborn of many. We were talking about that in Romans 8, 29. I think I’m just going to read Romans 8, 29 again. God knew you before you were ever born, and he predestined you. Predestined means that he has a destiny for you that was planned even before you were born.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
He has predestined you to become like his son so that Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters. Well, that means that we are all going to contain the glory of God. And the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. The earth is full of his glory. That’s us. Yeah. I love that thought. It’s a huge thought. And we start to think, well, how is that possible if the whole universe cannot contain him? How is it possible that he would dwell in us? Well, there’s nothing impossible for him. No, that’s right. Luke 1.37 says that there is nothing impossible for our God. And We need to know that about him when we ask, who is he to me? And that’s the big question. Who do you say that I am? Jesus asked it in Matthew 16, 15. Who do you say that I am? Who do you think I am to you?
SPEAKER 03 :
And for some of us, Kimberly, God has been so different from the very beginning when we entered into this salvation process. He was so different with me 50 years ago. And now he is something more intimate, more personal. And I know he’s that with you. So people are learning as the years and the seasons go on and on and progress.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. I think there are many people who have come to the Lord through the fire and brimstone teaching. Should we call it that? You know, where they tell you if you don’t receive the Lord, you’re going to hell and it just scares the hell out of you. Right. So you’re running from hell to get to God.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right. That’s why all the teenagers sat in the back of the church. So none of that hellfire and brimstone would come on them.
SPEAKER 04 :
would fall on them, right? So the lightning wouldn’t strike them. Well, if you have that perspective of God, then do you really want to sit with him as your friend? You know? So what a good question that Jesus asks, who do you say I am? Do you say that I am the hellfire and brimstone kind of friend? Or do you think of me differently now? In 2 Chronicles 7, verse 16, it says, this is when Solomon had built the temple for the Lord. And this is God talking to Solomon. Solomon is praying, and the Lord speaks to Solomon. And he says this in verse 16 of 2 Chronicles 7. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever and my eyes and my heart will be there always. God is choosing a building. to put his eyes and his heart there always, because he loves what Solomon has done, what Solomon has built, and he loves his heart, and he loves the heart of his people. He wants to dwell among his people, and so he chooses this building, even though in just a few verses before that, it’s talking about, it’s in 2 Chronicles 2, 6, it’s talking about how he is bigger than the heavens, higher than the highest heavens, and the highest heavens cannot contain him. That’s right, yes. So here he is choosing to be in a small place. Well, what we’re doing here is we’re establishing that our God is so vast that he cannot be contained in heaven or anywhere. The whole universe. But he also chooses to dwell in low and small places. That’s why he says that he resists the prideful, but he dwells with the humble, the lowly. And he was fully expressed and contained in the person and the human of Jesus Christ when Jesus was walking this earth.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
His plan is to dwell in us as well. So if you look at 1 Corinthians 3 in verse 16, it says, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you? So now we have moved on from a building that’s made out of wood and stones and gold and precious metals. We’ve moved on from that building to ourselves. We are the temple of God. If you’re listening today, you have a relationship with God. You are the temple of God. He no longer looks at that building that’s made of stone and wood. He looks at you. His eyes and his heart are on you and in you. Well, we’ve been considering many questions these last two days, but let’s consider this one too. If you are the temple of God and you are, how are you making room for him? I think that’s a good one for us to consider. How do we make room for the one who wants to make us his temple and dwell in us? And that comes right back to who is he to you? Who do you say he is? Is he a guest that you want to spend time with? I know that there are some times that we have some family gatherings and maybe one of those family members is not a favorite. So you’re not really looking forward to the time, right? We all have those family members or maybe a neighbor, a neighbor that is hard to converse with and have a relationship with. So you might not want to spend a whole lot of time with them. That’s right. Is that who God is to you? Who do you say he is? And where does he rank?
SPEAKER 03 :
I like when you interjected John 1, verse 38, and I was reading around that just a little bit when John was standing with his two disciples, and he looked on Jesus as Jesus walked by, and he said, Behold the Lamb of God. The next thing that Jesus says is, What do you seek? Who are you seeking? What do you seek? because people are just milling all over the place. Now, John identified Jesus as the Messiah, but what were those people thinking? Well, this is just a young whippersnapper. You know, this is a 30-something guy who thinks he knows everything. Well, a lot of us have the tendency to think on our own, get our own opinions high and mighty above God. And a That’s something that the Holy Spirit is working on us in and to get us under the level of of thinking and learning more about Jesus, who he really is in our lives.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’m glad you brought that up because it really is our understanding of him. We were made to be his best friend. You listening today, you were made to be God’s best friend and. Very often we choose to take a direction in life and be distracted in ways that are not like him. They’re just not like him. They’re not really best friend worthy, right? And so when we make those decisions, we go astray. But you know what? Our God does not sit there judging us when we do it. He’s not holding grudges. He is so full of compassion and forgiveness that He sent His Son to cover that. That’s right. That’s not an excuse. That’s not a free pass to keep those ugly thoughts and those ugly habits and routines in your life. That is a beautiful love and grace to acknowledge and to recognize and then choose. Wow, if I’m that loved, then I want to love him back. That’s right. By letting him have his way. Have your way in me. It doesn’t have to be my plan. Let it be your plan. Yeah. And so then who do you say he is? And where does he rank in your priorities?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, that’s right. Well, here is an announcement from Travis.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you, TJ. Thank you. I was thinking about what you’re going to be practicing for the choir director in the next week or so. You want to have that song, and you said it’s very rhythmic, you know, very, very rhythmic music. You want to have that song so well done and prepared so that Willie will be happy with the results. So we have to practice. And that’s what Paul says in Philippians. We practice this thing. We aren’t perfect from the very beginning. Our spirit is, but not our soul and definitely not our bodies. So we’ve got to practice this thing. And that’s how we how how do we practice? We get into the word of God and especially into the epistles in the New Testament. That’s going to teach us how to get closer to Jesus Christ in every way.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. Yeah. Philippians 2, 12 and 13 talks about working out your salvation. You’re working. Yes. You’re working it out. And that is a practice, you know. And I plan on working out this song. It’s a very syncopated song. And it’s not really about pleasing others as much as I’m going to be pleasing. playing with a band, there are other people involved. So I don’t want to get off rhythm that might throw others off, you know, there’s going to be other people singing along with the band. So it’s it’s wanting to work in unity, and in harmony. And I do believe that that is a very wonderful picture of the spiritual nature that we are called to working in unity, working in harmony, with the one we were made for and hopefully ranking him high, number one in our priorities, right? Yeah, that’s right. I know that when Jesus was asking, who do you say that I am? He came, and He was not accepted by His own. He came to this world, and John 1 tells us that when He came to His own, they did not accept Him, they rejected Him. He was misunderstood, and then He was abused, He was tortured, and He was hung on a cross to die. And then you’re wondering, who is he to me? Does that make him weak? No, no, because there’s more to the story. So Jesus was really trusting Heavenly Father, our Heavenly Father. He’s our Father too, not just Jesus’ Father. Trusting that resurrection is greater than death. Trusting that redemption is greater than brokenness.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
Trusting that restoration is greater than any loss.
SPEAKER 03 :
I love what happened to them when you were asking the question, who do you say that I am? That is in Matthew 16. And right before that, Kimberly, in the 11th verse, they’re going along. Jesus is teaching them. And he says, you have such little faith. Why are you arguing with one another about having no bread? This was right after the 5,000 were fed. What a miracle. Few fish, few loaves of bread, and they fed 5,000. And he said, why are you thinking about the physical food? when you should be thinking about the spiritual food. You’ve got the Son of Man here with you. Are you so slow to understand? Have you forgotten the miracle of feeding the 5,000 families and how each of you ended up with a basket full of fragments and how seven loaves of bread fed 4,000 families with baskets left over? Don’t you understand? I’m not talking about bread, but I’m warning you to avoid the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And the passion goes on to say in the 12th verse, the yeast were the errors, the error of the teachings of the Pharisees. So we’ve got to look out for that, Kimberly. Errors that come from even within the church. People that are saying things that aren’t biblical, aren’t scriptural. So we’ve got to really learn how to value that question that Jesus gave. Who do you say that I am? It’s so important. Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, and he is, for me, he is the bread of life. Oh, that’s good, yes. So when I am looking at my bank account, the bread of life, that’s provision. He’s my provision in this life. And if I’m looking at my bank account and it’s not looking very healthy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Then then I can be looking to him. Now, it would be the yeast of the Pharisees that would tell you, oh, you haven’t been very a very good steward of what you were given. That’s yeast. That’s what that is. That is that is a thought that comes in and causes us to question whether or not we’re good enough children. And that was never on the plate in the first place. Whether or not we’re good enough children is not what God asks. That’s the yeast of the Pharisees. That’s right. Our heavenly father loves us because he is love. And when we are in the darkness. He is there. Psalm 139 says that there is not a place so low that God is not lower still.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. Oh, praise God. Where could I go from your spirit? How could I hide from your eyes? Why would I wander away from you? knowing that you are so wise. And he says that in 1 Corinthians 3, that the wisdom of this world is not what he’s talking about. It’s the wisdom that comes from God’s heart that we’re going to learn from, not the world wisdom. No, not at all. Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. So when we trust him, who do you say I am? That’s what Jesus is asking. If I say, I say you are the bread of life. And when we trust him for that, then we know he will multiply what little we have.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
He will make sure we never go without. That is who he is. So who do you say he is today? Is he a good enough father? Is he a good enough husband, a good enough brother, a good enough friend? in your eyes that He will absolutely and most definitely bring all of His goodness with His presence into your life and fulfill all of your desires. Is He that good to you? And it’s okay if you say that He’s not that good right now. Maybe he’s not that wonderful to you in this moment right now that you’re listening. And that may be something that you would like to work toward, thinking of him as wonderful. So wonderful that you don’t want to miss out on a moment with him. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
And Jesus was so tender with Peter when Peter gave him the wonderful answer. Well, you are the anointed one, the son of the living God. And then just a few minutes later, when Peter is chastising Jesus, no, you’re not going to die. You’re not going to go through all of this after Jesus told him about that. Then Jesus says, I rebuke you. And it’s a tough, it’s a tough lesson. And all of us, I believe, have gone through that when God says… What you just did is not is not acceptable. And then in the very next chapter, Kimberly, he takes Peter and James and John up to the Mount of Transfiguration. So he hasn’t. Why do I want to say he hasn’t gotten into an. behavioral pattern that he dislikes Peter in any way.
SPEAKER 04 :
He’s not disappointed.
SPEAKER 03 :
He’s not disappointed. That’s right. And so it’s such a wonderful thing to know. Okay, when I mess up, when I goof up, when I sin, you are still loving me to the same degree that you loved me before. And he says, yes, yes, I do love you. And we need to learn that.
SPEAKER 04 :
We do. I think there’s another lesson that we can look at in that scripture there, in that passage. Because when Peter stood up and said, oh, no, no, this can’t happen to you. No, we love you too much. And we need you. We need you here. We don’t want to see you go away. We don’t want to see you slaughtered. We don’t want to see that. Crucified.
SPEAKER 05 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 04 :
Our flesh loves to hear that. You know, when when we see that we are headed down a path that I don’t know, maybe our health is waning. Maybe our finances are waning. Maybe our relationships are broken and we’re headed down that path. We want somebody to come alongside and say, oh, no, no, that’s not how it’s going to go.
SPEAKER 03 :
Don’t we? Yeah. Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
I think a really good lesson there is the way Jesus is teaching us. No, we don’t need to pat our flesh on the back right here. As much as I would like to believe, you’re actually tempting me to go a different path. And I want the path that I have been chosen to walk. the path that is chosen for me to walk.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
I want that path. I’m going to embrace that path. And I’m going to say, yes, Lord, to the things that are hard, the things that are difficult, because I trust that the resurrection is more powerful.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is. Yes. Amen.
SPEAKER 04 :
I trust that the restoration is better than what I think I might be losing. And so Jesus is teaching us. That’s a teaching moment right there, teaching us to not be afraid of the very worst. He was telling them something terrible is coming. It’s really hard. It’s going to be super hard. You’re all going to fall away because it’ll be that hard. but i’m telling you it ahead of time so that you’ll know i already knew about it and i have already covered you with grace with forgiveness with mercy and compassion and kindness i am going to say father forgive them they don’t know what they’re doing and cover you completely
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, he looked beyond the pain that he was going to go through to a greater, greater day, a greater resurrection. Yes. That’s right.
SPEAKER 04 :
So who do you say I am? That’s something that we want to be thinking about as we think of Jesus. Who do you say that he is? Is he great enough to wash away all of the broken things and bring restoration, redemption, and resurrection to your life?
SPEAKER 03 :
Mm-hmm. Oh, I hope the answer is yes for all of you listening. I really do. I hope that you’re saying yes, Jesus. And even to the point of denying yourself, as Jesus was talking about in Matthew 16, about discipleship and how costly it really is. But it isn’t when we follow Jesus, when we follow him and follow the word of God, it becomes a wonderful, wonderful way of living. It really does. And Kimberly, I know you agree with that also.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, I’m in full agreement because I’ve walked it out. So we just encourage all of you today to dive in deeper, dive in deeper and get to know the one who you were created for. He loves you and you can grow in love toward him.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. Amen. Well, God bless you and keep 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 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.org. or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.
