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So you'll be alerted when we have our next video. Welcome to If Not For God, stories of hopelessness that turn to hope. Here is your host, Mike Zwick. All right, If Not For God with Mike Zwick. Man, it is the day after resurrection Sunday, and I am glad to be back at the Truth Network. You guys are absolutely awesome. Thank you so much for listening each week. We've got a YouTube station now.
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You'll be able to see it as well. So make sure to check that out. Follow this If Not For God with Mike Zwick on Facebook. You can like the page, follow the page, and it's called If Not For God with Mike Zwick, and it's our YouTube page, so you can check that out as well. And I would also say, just while we're thinking about this, if you want to go to your podcasts, go to the podcast app or whatever it is, whatever you have, if it's on with your iPhone or whether you have it on your Android as well, you can follow the show there. Share it with your friends.
You know, it's funny. I remember I heard a guy named Pastor Sammy Ballard from First Baptist Church of Mebane. He said there was a time where you actually had to go up and talk to somebody face to face in order to share the gospel with them. He said, but now it's as simple as turning on a, you know, sending them a video or sending them a podcast and or you can even go online and say, hey, God is good or Jesus saves and posted it immediately.
Dozens or hundreds or even thousands of people could see that. So we have some real tools at our disposal that a lot of people did not have over the years. And so I just want to encourage you to go ahead and take advantage of these tools that we've got. So but anyways, I hope everybody had a happy Resurrection Sunday. I hope you made it to church. And if not, it's not too late. You can go tomorrow. This show is going to be airing on Saturday. So tomorrow is going to be Sunday.
So make sure to get to your church and tell you what it says in Hebrews 10 25 to not forsake the gathering of yourselves as some of them have done. But it's important, it's important to do that. So anyways, this today, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about some dreams that I've been having. And they've really been pretty consistent over the past several years where I will have a dream.
And when I have the dream, it'll, it'll come true. And sometimes it's weak. Sometimes it's month, months later, sometimes it's a year later. It it just depends how it works or when it is, but they've, they've definitely been working out.
They've definitely been coming together. And you know, probably about a year and a half ago, I had a dream about inflation where all of a sudden somebody in the dream, I think it was Donald Trump and there was an American flag and somebody was yelling inflation, inflation, inflation, and sure enough, we've got inflation. Another one of the dreams that I had and I told you guys this where my son had fallen and in the dream, I think he had died. But what I did was I prayed and I said, Lord, I said, please let him live. And don't let that happen.
And then the next day he actually fell and he broke his legs. So I would pay attention to these. And I would pay attention also to what the Lord is speaking directly to you. It says in the book of acts, it says that in the last days, your young men will dream dreams and your old men will see visions or the other way around something like, but, but anyway, so that's what it says. And it said, I think it's your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions.
But whatever the case is, is that it's important that we pay attention and we listen to the heart of God. So about a week and a half ago, I had a dream where, and it was quick dream, but where all the lights in the country had gone out. And so I just thought, I thought it was a very interesting dream. And, but I would, I would be prepared for the implications of that.
What could happen if that were to happen in this country? So that's, that's a dream that's pretty important. And there's another dream that I had that was really interesting. And in this dream, it started out, I was in a, I was actually with one of my friends named Hal and we were walking down the street and we were, we were just hanging out.
We were talking, doing this, that, the other, whatever it was. And then all of a sudden somebody shot how six times in the back. And after they did that, it appeared as if nobody was going to do anything about it.
I remember I tried to carry him to some hospital, I guess he was okay or whatever it was. But I realized that, you know, what that part of the dream meant was that, you know, we're getting to a point now where, you know, people are saying, you know, defund the police and where people, you know, people will commit crimes and they'll blame everybody, but themselves have actually been watching a series on Netflix. And I think it was called, I am a murderer, but it was talking about these people who were on death row and these people who were these people who had killed people and, and they were in jail. But a lot of these people were getting out of jail. And the reason they were getting out of jail is because they said they had a tough childhood. Well, listen, I mean, I'm sure many of us at some point, place or time have had a tough childhood, but we don't go out and we kill people.
That's just not right. So anyways, after that, another part of the dream, I ended up going to a shopping mall. And when I went to the shopping mall, all of a sudden I could see that people were they, they, they saw who I was and they were almost like following me. And so I almost hid myself for a minute, but when I tried to hide myself they, they just found me in that. And instead of being angry or belligerent or anything like that, they said, no, no, no, no, it's okay. We're going to show you what's going on.
And I said, okay. So I went to the cash register and it was a place that would have been like a Gucci or it was a place with a it was a very high end store. But when I went to the store, there were people at the the the front cash register. And when they were on the cash register, what they kept doing is they were saying, okay, here's your purchase. You don't have to pay us. You can just pay us later. And they kind of winked like, you know, we know you're not going to pay us or whatever it was, but people kept just taking stuff because it was free and they were getting it on credit.
And so eventually what had happened was, was that there I looked at all the stuff in the store and there were only a few nasty t-shirts that nobody really wanted. And they said that, okay, that, that you can get this for free or whatever it is. But, you know, as you know, the Bible says, it says, if you don't, if you don't work, neither shall you eat. Um, so, you know, I think a lot of times, and a lot of people in this country are saying we want to get something and we want it, we want to get it for free, but, um, in life there, there are no free lunches. Every somebody, somebody is going to have to pay for it.
And so eventually if my dream is what I think it is and what's going to happen in reality, eventually we're going to get to the point where they're giving out all this free stuff. And right now you're even seeing it it's inflation. I mean, there was going to say, Hey, we're going to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. I mean, I've heard my mom was telling me the other day that Bojangles was paying $18 an hour and guess what the cost of everything goes up. So, um, not only that, but there's, there's been people who said, Hey, I don't have to work or I don't have to pay my bills or, you know, whatever it was, maybe somebody will say I had a rough childhood. Um, but I think we're headed in the wrong direction in this country.
And so, um, I would just prepare and I would pray to the Lord about exactly what this means for you. I would pray to the Lord exactly what this means for your family, because I, I can see where if people are just saying, Hey, things are free, things are free. We don't have to work for it and we're not going to pay our bills. You know, I mean, there's, there's people right now in the United States who, who are living in housing where they literally cannot be kicked out of their house. They're not, they're not paying their rent.
Um, there was something, there was a sign over in Durham that I saw and the sign said that, uh, uh, housing rights are a universal right. And it said, end eviction. Think about what would happen if you actually ended eviction. People would just stop paying the bills. And so if people are just not paying the bills anymore, the people, the people who own the place, if they can't kick them out, especially if they still have a mortgage, why would they pay a mortgage on something that they can't, that they can't get any money out of and they can't get the people out of there.
If they're not paying the bills. So, you know, it, it says in scripture that God turned them over to a debased mind and he gave them the desires of the desires of their heart. And I think many Americans or many people in this country have said, Hey, we want this.
We want that for a long time. And God's saying, okay, if that's what you want, you can have it. I mean, I, uh, actually went to a service yesterday with that cross assembly over, uh, in, in, in Raleigh and, uh, pastor Chad was preaching and he said, there are many times in the, in the Bible where when the demons are in somebody's body, they'll say we, and so now when these people are, you know, people who are transgender, when they're using their personal pronoun or whatever it is, they'll say, we went here, we went there. And, uh, you know, it's just kind of interesting because in the Bible that that's what happened when people were demonically possessed. You know, I was in, uh, was walking around yesterday and, uh, at a mall.
And when I was walking around, uh, there was a guy with a skirt, he had a beard on, he had a couple of earrings and he shaved his legs. And I said, I, I don't really know what's going on here, but, uh, that's, that's kind of the direction that we're going. And so, uh, the only hope for America that we turn to Jesus and, and it almost looks like it's too late, but with God, all things are possible with God, all things are possible. I mean, that's, that's, that's where we are. Uh, we need to pray.
Um, matter of fact, I would just tell you if you're listening right now, do what you can do, do what you, whatever you can do, wherever you can do it. I mean, on Saturdays, a lot of people are out at the abortion clinics, we're out there, we're praying that, um, that, uh, the abortion clinics will be shut down. And there was a, uh, there was an abortion clinic in Greensboro where we've been praying, praying, praying. And then they said two days last week, the abortion clinic was shut down because the, uh, the doctor did not come in, um, to perform the abortions, but there's a lot of stuff that's going on right now in the world.
Um, and, uh, so I, I think we all need to really just pay attention. Um, I told you the story about the mall. I told you all that, but one of the stories that I was thinking about as many years ago, there was a pastor and what the pastor did was he came in and, uh, he, he was going to go to church on a, on a Sunday morning. It was a resurrection Sunday, just like we just had this past week. And, uh, he, he was driving around and he was, his son was in the car and he was thinking to himself, he said, how can I, as a pastor, tell everybody in my congregation that everything is going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay. And when this pastor was with his son, he was driving by a graveyard and when he drove by the graveyard, uh, he was thinking about things and he said, how can I go and preach a sermon on Easter morning when I'm going through all these tough times myself, I'm having a tough time. I can't get my finances in order.
Everything is going, going bad for me. And then all of a sudden he drove by the graveyard. And when he drove by the graveyard, one of the graves was, they were digging the grave and the grave was empty. And his son said to him, he says, dad, he says, one got away. One got away.
The pastor started crying and sobbing in his car. And he said, thank you, Jesus, that 2000 years ago, one got away. And so no matter what we're going through, no matter how tough of a time we're having, we know, and we have faith that 2000 years ago, one got away and thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for our sins so that we know that when we die, we'll go to heaven and be with you. I mean, things may be tough. Things may be, we may be having a tough time in our lives.
I mean, I know a lot of people who are going through a divorce. I know a lot of people who are having children who are lost and, and they don't know how they're going to be saved and they don't know what's going to happen to them or whatever, but we've got a, we've got a savior. We've got a Lord that we know that just by trusting in him, when we die, we're going to have eternal glory with the eternal savior of the world. And we look forward to that day. And I tell you what, the way that things are going right now, things look tough. Things are bad. I mean, right. I mean, we see the inflation.
We see the we see, you see, it looks like all the bad guys are winning. I mean, you know, I, I heard a story recently from my friend Dwayne Kennedy, and he said that there was a, there was a guy who went up to, went to prison in New Jersey and he said, he was a woman. He said, I'm transgender. I'm a woman. And so the ACLU had done something to say, okay, it's okay that you can go to a woman's prison. So he went to prison. He said, I'm transgender.
I'm a woman. To a woman's prison. So he went to the woman's prison and now found out that he's got two of the women in that prison, pregnant says, it says in the last days, it says that their glory will be in their shame. Their glory will be in their shame says in scripture. It says that that people will be lovers of themselves.
I mean, you see it all the time. People are just looking at what's in it for me. What's in it for me. What's in it for me.
They don't care about anybody else, but what's in it for me. And as Christians, we can look there and say, as it says in Matthew 7, do one unto others as you shall have them do unto you for this sums up the law and the prophets. If you don't want, if you don't want somebody to steal from you, don't steal from somebody else. If you don't want your spouse to commit adultery on you, don't commit adultery on your spouse.
If you don't want to kill, if you don't want somebody to kill you or kill a member of your family, don't kill somebody else. But Jesus even said it himself. He says, if you hate a brother and a brother or sister in your heart says you committed murder already. And so I think it's time says in scripture that time for the judgment to begin in the house of the Lord and needs to begin with us needs to begin right here with me and with you. Is there something that you need to repent of?
Is there a sin in your heart that you're holding against somebody? Jesus said it like this. He says, if you forgive other men of their sins, that God will forgive you of your sins.
If you don't forgive other people of their sins, God will not forgive you of your sins. And I've heard people try to explain that away. They say, well, that's not what he means. Oh, really smarty pants.
What does he mean? Cause it seems pretty clear to me. If you don't forgive other people from your heart, as he says that the Lord will not forgive you of your sins. I think it's time to forgive that person who you've been holding a grudge against for a long time. I mean, is it worth going to hell?
Is it worth it? Jesus says that I have come so that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly, but how can you live the abundant life if you're holding a grudge against a brother or sister? It just doesn't work that way.
It just doesn't work that way. You know, I was in four different places and I received divine revelation to read the book of Isaiah and I started to read the book of Isaiah and I see what was happening in the book of Isaiah is exactly what's happening in America right now. And they said the book of Isaiah was a foreshadowing in many cases of, uh, of Jesus coming to earth. Uh, Isaiah chapter seven, Isaiah chapter nine, Isaiah 53. As a matter of fact, if you don't know Isaiah 53, um, there was actually a, uh, there was actually a lady who was in, uh, trying to think of where she was. Uh, but she was, she was a Jew and she was in the concentration camps. Um, she had had a tough time.
It was like, nothing was going right for this, that the other. And she started to study, uh, the old Testament, the Bible. And she looked at Isaiah 53 and she said, this sounds a whole lot like Jesus. Matter of fact, I've, uh, I have my friend Joanne who lives down in Florida. She said she got saved by listening to Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53. You might want to take a look at that.
Here it is. Who has believed our report and whom is the arm of the Lord revealed for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. And as a root out of dry ground, he hath no form or comeliness. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we, his, we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him. Not surely he asked born our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb.
So he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgressions of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with a wicked and with a rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
He hath put him to grief. What when thou shalt make his soul and offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge and knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities.
Thank you, Jesus. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors and he bear the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Thanks be to God for the reading of his word.
When I hear that, I think about what Jesus did for us on the cross. And I know somebody, he says, he says, Mike, he says, Jesus didn't have to die on the cross for our sins. He did it to clear our conscience.
He's a friend of mine. He telling me he went through all that because he didn't have to do it. He absolutely had to do it.
It had to be done. I mean, right before he was going to die on the cross, he says, it is finished. It is finished.
The finished work on the cross. And all you have to do is believe in him for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life for God did not his God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but he sent his son into the world through him that he might, that the world might be saved. Let me ask you something, friend. Do you know if you were to die right now that you would have eternal life? Well, you might say I'm a good person. My good works outweigh my bad. It's not what the Bible says. It says in Romans 3 23, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Let's look at the 10 commandments.
You're sitting there listening to me. Have you ever told a lie in your life? Yes, we've all told lies. Well, it was a white lie.
It's a lie. Have you ever stolen anything? Many of you have. Have you ever committed adultery? You say, well, no, I've never cheated on spouse. But Jesus says, if you committed adultery with your eyes, if you've lusted after a woman or a man in your heart, you've committed adultery already.
None of us are good. See, that's the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. The non-Christian says, well, I'm a pretty good person.
I saw something on Oprah and she said I was good. Or Dr. Phil said, I need to have a better self-esteem. So I need to tell my person, tell myself that I'm a great person. But see, the truth is the truth. Scripture says that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And you may have believed that way for a long time. You may have thought, Hey, I'm a pretty good person.
I'll get into heaven. And that's, that may have been what you've been taught, but that's not the word of God. Matter of fact, Billy Graham told a story years ago. He said that he saw this with his own eyes.
He saw a man pick up, pick up a, pick up a football and he started to run down the field and he ran the wrong way. He said he was sincere about it. He was sincere in his belief that he was going the right way, but he was wrong. And maybe you think that, Hey, your, your, your good works are going to get you into heaven, but they won't matter of fact, Ephesians two, chapter Ephesians two, eight through nine, it says for it is by grace that we are saved nothing of ourselves so that no one may boast. We can't earn our way into heaven.
We have to kneel down to the cross of Jesus Christ, and we have to put our faith in him. I've told this story before and you say, Mike, why do you tell the same tape, same stories again and again? Well, it's because I'm really not that creative. Uh, but I liked the story, but the story was this, was that there was two sets of kids and they were all in the same classroom. And they said that one of the sets of kids had done their homework. The other kids had not done their homework and the kids who did not do their homework, they went and they were going on a hike that day. And when they were going up to the hike, they were going on the hike. The teacher said to them, he says, those of you who did not do their homework, give your bags that you're going to walk up the hill. And the kids who did their homework are going to carry their bags and your bags as well.
And so this seemed to make zero sense at all, nothing at all. But what happened is, is when these kids started to go up the, started to walk up the mountain, the kids who did not do their homework did not want somebody else carrying their own load. They said, I want to carry it myself. We can't carry it ourselves.
We can't carry the load by ourselves. If you do, you will not make it. If you're trusting in your own goodness, you will never make it to heaven. But my favorite passage in the Bible, Luke 18, where it says there were two men who went to, went up to the church one Sunday.
And one of them says, Lord, God, I thank you. I'm not like this other man. I give 10% of my money. I don't commit adultery.
Pretty good person. I don't lie. I don't steal.
I don't cheat. The other guy in the back of his church, back of the church, couldn't even look up. He beat on his chest. And he said, God have mercy on me a sinner. Jesus said, the second guy, the guy beating on his chest went away justified, not the first, because those who humble themselves will be exalted.
And those who exalt themselves will be humbled. Have you ever humbled yourself and asked the Lord of the universe to forgive you of your sins? Because you are a sinner. And if you have not repented of your sins, ask the Lord to forgive you turned away from your sin and look to Jesus and trust it in Jesus. You're not going to make it to heaven.
If you'd like to go to heaven, if you'd like to go to heaven with all the other Christian, would you pray with me right now? Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. I know I've done wrong things. I've I've stolen. I've lied.
I've cheated. I can't make it to heaven on my own, Lord. I ask you to forgive me of my sins. I put my trust in you, Jesus. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins. Thank you for giving me eternal life. In Jesus name. Amen. If not for God. This is the Truth Network.
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