In this episode of Call to Freedom, Barbara Carmack and her co-host delve into the depth of God’s love and the powerful significance of His word. The conversation flows through reflections on the cherished moments from their church gatherings, moving into an insightful discussion on Abraham Lincoln’s enduring influence on America’s history and the celebration of President’s Day. Drawing lessons from Psalm 119, they highlight the importance of God’s word in guiding life’s choices and clearing the paths we walk. Join us as we explore these spiritual truths and embrace the divine guidance from the scriptures.
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. Oh, friend, God enjoys expressing his love for you, making you feel valuable and showing you that your life is a priceless gift to be celebrated. When it’s quiet and you’re at rest and your spirit is at peace, he whispers, you are the apple of my eye. And that’s from Psalm 17, verse 8. God sees you as the apple of his eye. You are loved, my friend. You are loved. And you are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And yes, everywhere you go, you are blessed to be scattering seed.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, the seed of light, the seed of love, the seed of patience in traffic, whatever you’re doing right now. Yeah, you are blessed.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Saturday was such a fun time with our church family. And I remember during that song, all around, all around, everywhere I look, your love is all around. And our friend got up and she just went to almost every person and just said, looking right in their eyes.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Everywhere I look, your love is all around. Yeah. And it was just a real precious moment. So Saturday was a great time of just absolute freedom and fellowship and feeling at home, feeling at home with the friends that we have. And I hope that you will look forward to March 14th. That’s the next time we meet. I remember hearing you on, was it Saturday? Or maybe before that, when you were singing, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And immediately, Holy Spirit told me, ah, that’s what I want you to talk about on the radio Monday and the vital importance of God’s word. So here it is. Here it is. Thy word. And it’s the verse for the week. Okay. Unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119 verse 105. Yes, that’s right. And in the passion, Psalm 119 verses 105 says, Truth’s shining light guides me in my choices and decisions. The revelation of your word makes my pathway clear. Oh, praise God. We need more clear pathways.
SPEAKER 03 :
It doesn’t look so clear. It doesn’t feel very clear in this world. But but the word of God really does make all things clear. When we have our focus on him and what he says about any given situation, then it becomes clear.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. More and more clear. More and more. Now, you know that today is President’s Day, and I wanted to just speak a little bit about Abraham Lincoln. He was the 16th president of the United States, and for some people, he was the most important. He was the greatest president of the United States. And I do have an article in the February newsletter that talks about they just bunched all of the presidents together, and we really don’t see him individually anymore. And I’m kind of sad with that. On the 12th, I celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on the 16th. I celebrate George Washington’s. We’re going to talk about George Washington tomorrow. But because Lincoln is just he is so important and our country’s freedom and independence comes from so much. He said in the Declaration of Independence, Kimberly, he was such a brilliant man and we owe it to God. He didn’t have the same kind of education as most. No. And in fact, he was raised in a cabin. His father, who was illiterate, and his mother, they were hardworking, but they didn’t teach him a thing. And as a nine-year-old, he buried his mom with his father in the forest. and then faced the absence of his mother’s love. And then the next year, Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, and they moved from Kentucky to Indiana to make a family of the Lincolns and the Johnstons. And she was a widow with two girls and a boy of her own. She had energy to spare, and she ran the household and treating all the sets of children as if she had born them. Boy, that is unusual, Kimberly. Yes. Really unusual. and she became especially fond of Abraham and he of her. He afterward referred to his stepmother as his angel mother. Abraham’s stepmother gave him an excitement to learn, if only to read, write, and cipher to the rule of three. Now, I had to look up cipher to the rule of three, and that’s what is equations made from the simplest of numbers. So he did learn how to add, subtract, multiply, probably, and then go into geometry. And his neighbors recalled how he used to trudge for miles to borrow a book. According to his own statement, however, his early surroundings provided, and this is quote from him, absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three. But that was all. He did not have a lot of books to read, and the Bible is He learned at an early age because that was the only book that they owned. And when he was 21, the family moved to Illinois. And I think that’s where his cabin is, isn’t it? In Illinois. Abraham driving the team of oxen. He stood six foot four. Wow. was lanky but muscular and physically powerful especially with wielding an axe he spoke with a backwoods twang and walked in the long striding flat-footed cautious manner of a ploughman good-natured though somewhat moody talented as a mimic and story-teller he actually even owned liquor stores i did not know that He readily attracted friends, but he was yet to demonstrate what other abilities he possessed. Lincoln went on to learn long division and other math functions as well. As to mention, he mastered the six books of geometry. He also taught himself law, political oratory, and the logical thinking that helped him define the slavery debate and eventually make him one of our greatest presidents. And he’s the one that penned all men are created equal.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. I just appreciate so much.
SPEAKER 03 :
I do too. And just to put that in perspective of time, I was looking at his birth date, February 12th of 1809, 200 years ago, right now, he would be 17 years old. I was just thinking about that right now. He would be 17 years old. Well, 200 years ago. Right.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, that’s amazing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. Yeah. Abraham Lincoln.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m glad he was our president. I am, too. And even though he had to die so viciously and unexpectedly. We just glean a lot from him. And so I’m going to take Holy Spirit’s advice and we’re going to go into the word of God and Kimberly primarily from the Old Testament today and then tomorrow and maybe the next day with the things from the New Testament, because the word of God is just the most important thing. That’s why Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. There’s so much to say about the word. Yes, the word.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, we were talking about how, well, okay, it came up talking about the Wizard of Oz. We were talking about the little dog, Toto, and how when you look it up on the Internet, it says that Toto’s real name was Terry, right? And it tells you how much Terry was paid or Terry’s owner was paid to be in the Wizard of Oz. But we watched the Wizard of Oz from start to finish. And we looked at the credits and it says Toto is played by Toto.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I’m thinking to myself, well, who? Who said that Toto’s real name was Terry? Where did that come from? And how much can you believe on the internet? How much of it changes? How much of history changes? Yes. The books that I had for history when I was growing up have changed significantly to the books that my children had when I was reading to them. And I wonder how much it’s changed again.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, I’m sure. They don’t hear anything about Lincoln or Washington or any of the presidents of the United States or that they were so bound by the hand of God and decisions they made were from the Bible. Right, right. They don’t hear that again.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. So realizing that so many changes, another change was the names of dinosaurs. I memorized all of them because I was interested in dinosaurs when I was little and now they don’t even have the same names. I’m lost when I’m looking at it. I kind of threw up my hands and gave up. I went, well, I don’t know any dinosaur names now.
SPEAKER 02 :
So I won’t even try. It’s like, you know, with Nancy Guthrie and they still haven’t found her. God bless her and keep her. And they have over 20,000 letters that came in or emails or whatever. Maybe tips. And you wonder, you have to go through all those and see what’s fake and what you can actually rely on to be the truth. And that’s why it’s so difficult.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. And we’re mentioning that because when you need truth…
SPEAKER 02 :
Where do you go?
SPEAKER 03 :
And that is the word of God. It is truth to us. It is light for our path. It makes all things clear when, when things look muddy and that is mostly because it brings us back to. The reason why we were created in the first place, and it’s for a God who loves us. And he is not sitting up there just letting us have our way, and he’s not involved at all. He is waiting to be involved. He is looking all over the earth for those who will call upon his name and involve him. And he comes to the rescue the moment we ask.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, and he especially likes those, loves those, Kimberly, who hunger, hunger for him. Yes. That’s so important. Right. That’s how prayers are answered, when we hunger for him and not the answer to our request.
SPEAKER 03 :
To the prayer. Such a good point, because so many of us do pray only wanting an answer to our prayer, not wanting him. And so then we might not feel like we are hearing from him, but yes, hunger and thirst for him. Yes. Yes, so you have Psalm 119, verse 103.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, and I start a little bit early. Oh, how I love all you’ve revealed, and that’s God, what all he has revealed. I reverently ponder it all the day long. Your commands give me an edge on my enemies. They never become obsolete. And that’s the words, never. The commands never become obsolete. I’ve even become smarter than my teachers since I’ve pondered and absorbed your counsel. I’ve become wiser than the wise old sages simply by doing what you tell me. I watch my step avoiding the ditches and the ruts of evil so I can spend all my time keeping your word. And that’s Psalm 119, 105. And that’s from the passion. I watch my step avoiding the ditches and the ruts of evil so I can spend my time keeping in your word. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
And that’s from the message, the message translation. And you read the passion translation there. A little bit earlier, truth shining light guides me in my choices and decisions. The revelation of your word makes my pathway clear. I’m going to keep going in the passion translation. This is so good. This whole section to live my life by your righteous rules has been my holy and lifelong commitment. I’m bruised and broken, overwhelmed by it all. Breathe life into me again by your living word. Lord, receive my grateful thanks and teach me more of how to please you. Even though my life hangs in the balance, it might be broken. Mm-hmm. I love that whole section.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. And especially after the one verse that says, everything’s falling apart on me. Put me together again with your word. It goes right into thinking about God, thinking about the word again, his commands. So important, Kimberly, that we don’t go off track with the enemy and get discouraged and full of self-pity and feel sorry for ourselves. But we just continue in God’s word, that wonderful, positive word that we get from him.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. I like what you put in your notes here. You said, may I become a word person? I love that you just put that personal touch in there, a word person. And this morning, I’m not sure what reminded me, but I went to Mark 4. And in Mark chapter four, there’s the story of and I believe it’s a true account of Jesus getting in the boat with his disciples and telling them, let’s cross over to the other side of the lake. And after they sent the crowd away, they shoved off from shore with him as he had been teaching from the boat. And there were other boats that sailed with them. This is Mark chapter four. And I had started in verse thirty five. Verse 37 says, suddenly, as they were crossing the lake, a ferocious tempest arose with violent winds and waves that were crashing into the boat until it was all but swamped. This sounds very much like everything’s falling apart on me, God, like in Psalm 119. This would feel like it’s falling apart if the waves are crashing against the boat and filling the boat. And even the fishermen in the boat, the disciples who were seasoned fishermen, were now panicking. And Jesus was calmly sleeping. Jesus was calmly sleeping in the stern, resting on a cushion. So verse 39, they shook him awake. That’s what the passion translation says. They shook him awake saying, teacher, don’t you even care that we’re all about to die? And the reason why I thought of this is because when we want to become more of a word person, when we want to put more emphasis on the word and we want more of the truth of the word, there might be times that we need to wake up the word. Shake it awake in us because sometimes that just goes to sleep and we might get into a situation where we’re panicked and look, the disciples, they shook him awake. They, Jesus is the word. He is the word. John one says he is the word in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. So Jesus being the word, sometimes we need to shake that word awake in us.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. This author, Kimberly, through the chapter of Psalm 119, keeps saying, revive me according to your word. Revive it. And if you’re there reading the word with us, Psalm 119, every time you say, see, revive the word revive, underline that. Because those are times that this author needed some edification. He needed some confirmation that what God was helping him to write down was true. And God, it was coming through for him. Because these authors got rich revelation on the spot. And some of them didn’t know if it was going to work or not. But they wrote it down. They believed. That’s just like the faith that we believe that Jesus is our Savior and Lord.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 02 :
So this revive me according to thy word over and over and over. In fact, in the latter part of 119, he speaks once, revive me according to the word two times, revive me according to thy ordinances, revive me, O Lord, according to thy loving kindness. I mean, over and over again. Where are you there? I want to get on the same track. Oh, I’m… Which verse?
SPEAKER 1 :
149, 154, 156, 159.
SPEAKER 02 :
I mean, over and over he’s saying… Revive me, Lord. I’m feeling kind of like I don’t know if any of you felt this way who are listening. But Monday morning, President’s Day, no post office, no bank. And so I was thinking, boy, it would be nice if I could just stay in my jammies all day long. Today, that’s your Monday thought? That’s my President’s Day thought. But then I thought, oh, no, radio is more important than me staying in my jammies.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, being revived.
SPEAKER 02 :
Being revived by the word.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. And sometimes we just have to shake that awake in us.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Shake it up and say, you know what? I know the word and I don’t have to stay in my jammies.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Not that the two have anything to do with each other. We can stay in our jammies and shake ourselves awake. But but being able to tap into the passion that God has for us and be reminded of who we are, what he’s created us for, and that we weren’t. we’re his beloved. We’re the ones that his heart is set on. We’re the ones that when we look to him and really look to him, not just for what we can get out of him. But really want him for who he is because we’re made for him. We want him to have his plan. We want him to have his dream come true. We want him to have his bride, his best friend. And I remember a number of years ago praying a prayer over my marriage. And I prayed, Lord, please give Matthew a new wife and let it be me.
SPEAKER 04 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I have been praying that same prayer for God now. God, you have made yourself a bride. Give yourself that new bride. Let it be me. Let it be us.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let it be us. Let this be the generation that you come back for, that you are delighted with.
SPEAKER 02 :
You were saying that Saturday about the bride. And then you pointed to Jeff and you said, this might be a little more difficult for you to picture as a bride. And he just, no, I’m good with this. Yeah, I’m good with it. So men are even beginning to realize that God, the church is the bride of Christ. So that’s all men, all women. And it’s important to know that.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, I even think of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the way that Trinity loves each other and works together as community and wanted another. So three would become four together. That’s us. We’re number four. Being his best friend and being in that community. Sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Yes. So whatever you need to change in me to make that happen, I am ready. I am available.
SPEAKER 02 :
Here am I. Amen. Another thing the word does in our lives, Kimberly, is to keep us from harm and danger. That is so important. And Psalm 119 verse 11 in the Passion says, For they warn us, your servants, to keep us from following the wicked way, giving a lifetime guarantee, great success to every obedient soul. And in the King James Version, we see the 11th verse saying, Thy word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against thee. And when we sin against God, we’re going with the enemy. We’re hearing something that he said. And so we’re believing that above God’s word. And so he’s saying, I just want to stay close to you, Lord. You know, and his word warns us of danger, warns us and directs us to hidden treasures. This is this is a treasure book, Kimberly.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
I love how you’re holding that. Amen. You were watching a movie that was talking about they were seeking a treasure down the Amazon. And, you know, we think of this word. Do we think of it as a leaves of gold? I think as one person said, leaves of gold or.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. Do we think of it that way? Hmm. Well, that’s an interesting thought. There is a parable, and it just popped up in my mind, so I don’t have the reference for it. But it’s the way that Jesus was talking about the treasure, that pearl of great price, or the treasure that was found in a field. And the man, having found it, he buried that treasure again, and he went, sold everything he had so that he could buy… not the treasure. He didn’t go back and buy the treasure. He bought the field and that field, that’s a bunch of dirt, you know? So here we have this treasure in all the dirt. Yes. And that is our life, our life. There’s a bunch of dirt in our life. There’s a bunch of dirt. I’m made of dirt, you know, and, and realizing there’s treasure, the word of God that is so valuable to, So priceless. It’s worth selling everything you have. It’s worth giving it all up to say that’s the treasure I want in my life.
SPEAKER 02 :
Your word. That’s not just thinking about the one little thing that you need or you want or you’re praying for. It’s outside the box and thinking of others and saying, well, you know, like there have been times. Wow. I wish it would. rain, and then other people are saying, oh, stop the rain. I don’t want it to rain anymore. So God has his hands full, you know, going from one request to another.
SPEAKER 03 :
So when do we actually cause our opinion to line up with his, I think is what you’re saying there. And the one little thing that we’re praying for that we really want him to answer is It becomes just like a speck of that dirt in that field when we realize he is our treasure, his word, and he values his word above his name.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Did you write that in your notes? Yes, I did. It’s Psalm 138, verse two. I’ve known that for years and I just said, Lord, that is unbelievable. And yet it isn’t unbelievable because he values his son Jesus above his own name, God’s own name, because he did so much in a perfect plan for all of humankind. Yes. So I’m so grateful for that verse of scripture. Yep. His value of the word above his name. I will worship toward your holy temple and praise your name. for your loving kindness and for your truth and faithfulness. For you have exalted above all else your name and your word, and you have magnified your word above all your name. And that’s from the Amplified Bible.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s so good. I was just looking that up in the Passion Translation. The promises of your word and the fame of your name have been magnified above all else. I love how this other translation that you were reading from says that his word is magnified above his name. Thank you, Francis Seward. Yes. You know, Psalm 138 is just one of my favorites. When we align ourselves with him and we realize that it’s not just his promises that we are living for. We’re not here just for his blessings. We’re here for him, for himself. Yes. Yes. And that’s what we really long for, what we really desire. It makes me emotional because it’s just true. That is who we’re made for. And when you read through Psalm 138, it’s a short psalm. We just encourage you to pick it up today and read through it. The Lord breathes fresh courage into us to face everything that this life throws at us. And verse eight says that he keeps every promise he’s ever made to you. His love for you is constant and endless. And he will perfect and accomplish and complete everything that concerns you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, it says that in Philippians one, verse six. And I write that in so many of your notes that I send to you. And it’s the fact that for I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to accomplish that work in you. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Praise God. That’s good. And that really is the plan that he’s got, the dream that he has to have a best friend. He’s going to accomplish it. Amen. It might not look like a treasure right now. It might look like a field of dirt, but he is on the move. He’s perfecting and completing and accomplishing this wonderful dream.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. Well, if you plan for rain or if you dream of rain, be expecting the mud as well, okay? We have to go through those times. Oh, God bless you. Thank you for joining Call to Freedom. And we hope to talk more about this wonderful word of God. And we’re going to read a little bit about George Washington tomorrow. So join us tomorrow. God bless you and keep you and take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
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