Trusting God Through the Struggle

This is the Truth Network. Yeah. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right. Let's talk the truth.

I can't hide it. I can't hide it. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together.

Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. When was there a time in your life where you had to persist and overcome And the Lord blessed you for it. 86634 TRUTH 866-348-7884. We want your calls.

This is Michael Zwick. When was there a time in your life? Where you had to persist. and overcome and the Lord blessed you for it. And I'm sure you guys know the verse.

It's in the Old Testament. It says that a righteous man falls down seven times. But seven times he rises again. And I've heard it said that it's not a matter of whether you'll have trouble in your Christian life. It's a matter of when.

And my my sons, my two sons, Michael and Christian, they started their first day of school today at Grace Christian Academy over in Hall River, and they were talking about having faith. But it's funny, in that faith chapter, In Hebrews chapter 11, you hear again and again and again about Christians who had to overcome, about Christians who were literally sawn in two, Christians who were persecuted, Christians who were going through the terrible and the worst times they could possibly go through, but they had to have faith. To be able to overcome. And if you think about it, one of the things I want to tell you is this right now: that yes, people always want to see a miracle, people always want to see the blessings of God. But a lot of times in order for you to have faith.

In order for you to have faith in your life, it means that you're going to go through a tough time. The Bible doesn't say that you might suffer persecution. The Bible says That all, let all of those know, all Christians, anybody who names the name of Christ know that you will suffer persecution. And you know, it's funny. I remember I was so excited about Jesus in my life when I first became a Christian, and I was in college at Appalachian State.

And this lady kept bugging me about Jesus. And one day I finally said, okay. And I ended up getting really serious about the Lord Jesus Christ. I got really serious about Jesus. And one of the things that I saw is, I said, I'm excited.

I'm ready to go. But see, I didn't realize some of the problems that were going to be in front of me. I didn't realize all of the issues that I was going to have to deal with in my life. And I remember one of the first things that ever happened, I'll never forget it. I was with my friends, it was Colin, Alan, and a few other guys.

And they were talking about the Lord, and they were making fun of people who were Christians. And all of a sudden I looked at them and I said, well, I'm a Christian. And I felt like they were about to die laughing. And I'll never forget in that moment, it was like the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, overtook me. And I said to myself, is that it?

I thought it was going to be a lot worse than that. You know, you see again and again and again in the Bible, where Christians who are fighting for something, they're fighting for the truth. The Apostle Paul. They say that he had his head chopped off. He actually persecuted Christians.

And the Lord met him on the road to Damascus and said, Why are you persecuting me? And so I believe we've got a Todd. Out of uh out of is it uh Wit Witsit? McLeansville, North Carolina. Hey, Todd Felkel out of uh McLeansville, North Carolina.

And Todd, you are the pastor of the church. What's the name of the church? Uh Christ Freedom Fellowships. And Christ Freedom Fellowship out of McLean'sville, North Carolina.

So if you want to check that out. But Todd, let me ask you this. When was there a time in your life where you had to persist and overcome? And because you did that, the Lord blessed you for it. Yeah, so I thought I'd uh share with you about um How I attracted my wife after being rejected many times by.

other girls and herself. The first time I ever met my wife was in the college cafeteria at Gardner Webb University. And I was eating breakfast one morning with my good friend Shane Martin. And uh he dared me to ask her out. And uh I'd never met her before.

And she'd never met me. And as soon as she walked in and walked up to our table, Um I I said, Hey, would you like to go out with me sometime? You know. I I knew it was a joke, but inwardly I was hoping, you know, she'd say yes. And she said, No, I don't know you.

So I guess I guess the joke was on me. Yeah. And I'm a really shy guy, believe it or not. And I kind of surprised myself, you know, living up to that dare that Shane put me up to. But So You know, I was like, man, I don't know if I should ask her out again or not.

You know, she's already said no once. I wonder if I should ask her out again. Finally, I worked up enough courage to ask her out again one night. And um and man, I'm telling you, my I was fumbling all over my words. I I I almost felt like I was having a seizure or something.

I was like I kind of think I had a panic attack at the moment asking her out. And um But anyway, she said yes. And uh and then I was like Okay, well, great.

Well, I'll get back in touch with you and let you know what the plan is.

So I was like, oh, man, now I've got to come up with a plan.

So get this. This is our first date.

Okay. My. My next-door neighbor lived on the same hall. It was Clayton King. I don't know if you know Clayton King, the evangelist from South Carolina.

But anyway, me and him were real good friends, and he said, man, we should go on a double date.

So we went on a double date with me and my wife's name is Christy and Clayton King and his friend at the time, his girlfriend at the time. And what we ended up doing was going out to the Broad River which is like ten minutes down the road from Garn to Webb, and we we walk through the woods and walk out into the middle of the Broadw river on a rock. And we built a fire on the middle of that rock in the Broad River, and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Oh my gosh. And um that was our first date.

And if you would have just given up when she first said no, you never would have met your wife. I know, I know, I think about that a lot of times, you know. And there's a really good joke, too, about we were building that flyer. You know, Clayton King is such an evangelist, and if you know anything about evangelists, they can talk you into anything. He said, Todd, go get some more wood for the fire.

Go get some more wood for the fire.

So I got tired of going back in the woods and getting fire.

So I, you know, I was pretty strong back in those days. I played football and I pushed down a tree, an old tree in the woods, and I dragged it through the woods up into the fire. And I said, well, that ought to take care of our fire tonight.

So I think Christy was pretty impressed with that. Oh, okay.

Well, you're still together. How long ago was it when that happened, Todd? Oh, my word. Let's see. We've been married for thirty-two years and we dated for probably two and a half years.

So that was probably about thirty-four or thirty-five years ago. And so do you have any children? Yes, we got three daughters. Oldest two are married. My youngest daughter, Jessica, we're actually getting ready to take her to Orlando, Florida for Christ for All Nations, and she's going to their missions training and going to partner with them.

So we're excited about that. Oh wow, and you got some grandkids as well, right? Yeah, my first grandson, my first grandchild was born um About eight months ago, so I'm real excited about that too.

Well, I tell you what, you talk about a blessing from the Lord. The Lord certainly blessed you by saying, I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to quit. Matter of fact, Todd, Romans 5, verses 3 through 4 says this. It says, not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope.

And one of my go-to quotes is by Theodore Roosevelt, where he says, it is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or whether doer of deeds could have done better. He says, the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly and errs and comes up short again and again because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who At the best, he knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Ask her out, Todd. I want to thank you for the call. We'll be right back after the break.

866-34 TRUTH-866-348-7884. This is Michael Zwick, and we want your calls. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Alright guys, when was there a time in your life Where you had to persist and overcome, and the Lord blessed you for it. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. This is Michael Zwick. And when I was thinking about overcoming, one of the things that I think you have to have is a positive mental attitude. The Bible says that as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

You've got to believe it yourself. You know, I heard the story about a Norman Vincent Peale. And he said that he went over to Hong Kong one time and he was in the Kowloon district. And he was just kind of walking around and looking around. And he said, all of a sudden, He went into this tattoo parlour.

And he looked at all the different tattoos that they were advertising, and one of them kind of stuck out in his mind. And the tattoo said this: it said, born to lose. And so he didn't really speak the other language, but he pointed to that guy who was the tattoo artist, and he said, What about this one right here? And the guy said, Roll up your sleeve. And Peel said, No, no, no, no.

He said, I don't want a tattoo. He said, Does anybody have a tattoo that says born to lose? And the tattoo artist said, yeah, there's some, there's a few people who will actually go out and get that tattoo. And he said, really? He said, why would anybody get a tattoo on their body that says born to lose?

And the artist said something that I'll never forget. And he said, before tattoo on body, Tattoo on mind. And you see, if we're going to be overcomers for Christ, if we're going to do great things for the Lord Jesus Christ, if we're going to cast out demons, share the gospel, heal the sick, raise the dead. Freely, we have received. We're going to freely give.

If we're going to do all that stuff, you got to believe you can do it. You know, the one thing that can actually stop you from your blessing. Is yourself your own mind? You know, and faith works in a really great way. You can have faith to do really big things that the Lord has called you to do.

On the other hand, I also want to say this: you can have faith, and faith works in the other way as well. You can have faith for bad things to happen, and the blessing that the Lord was going to give you, you may lose that blessing because you don't have the faith for it. And we've got an Elizabeth out of Richmond, Virginia. Are you there, Elizabeth? Yeah, I am.

Good deal. Let me ask you the question: When was there a time in your life, Elizabeth, where you had to overcome and persist, and the Lord blessed you for doing it? Hmm. Yeah, I can remember really well a moment I was sixteen and Give some backstory. I am a dancer and was professionally pursuing classical ballet or musical theater, I was just going toward a dance career and It was just building some unhealth in me, and I had an eating disorder, and there were just things that.

Uh, I wasn't able to fully pursue my relationship with the Lord, and there was a moment where I just heard him say, Are you willing to give this up so that you can experience the freedom and the blessing that I have for you and for you to walk in my calling? And it wasn't even me. I Persisting or overcoming it was actually me giving in and surrendering to him. And since then, that was almost 10 years ago. And now I.

Him actually a dance teacher at an academy here in Richmond. It's a church and a mission organization, and I get to teach young girls dance. I'm seeing how, through surrendering to the Lord, this very thing that I wanted to hold on to, I wanted success, I wanted perfectionism. It's now when I submitted it to him and I didn't dance for years, he gave it back to me, and now I'm able to help other girls. Able to dance in a healthy environment in a way where they can, you know, love who they are, love their bodies, how they were made, because we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and it's rich.

It's cool to see how God used. what the enemy meant for evil and he's turned it for good and now I'm living in such a fulfillment of something that the enemy could have stolen from me. Yeah, that is so good. And I'm reminded that a lot of times when we want to answer the call, I've got a friend of mine named Chuck Reese, and his show, his television show, is called Answering the Call. And I think sometimes, Elizabeth, when we decide to answer the call, we're afraid that we're going to miss out on something.

But I saw a meme not too long ago on social media, and there was a little boy, and he had to give up a small teddy bear. And Jesus was looking at the boy and he said, Do you trust me? And he said, Yes. And Jesus had a huge teddy bear right behind his back.

So instead of really giving something up, when we answer the call for the Lord, he always has something bigger and better. That's it, that's so good. Yeah, and so, you know, when you were, and I'm sure that's not the only thing that you've done, you have a ministry, what is it called? Max Global or? Yes, it's called MAPS Global and we are in, yeah, Richmond, Virginia.

And it's cool 'cause actually a part of the ministry is it's called MAPS Academy of the Arts and we train musicians, creatives and dancers who are in Richmond, but also missionaries that are sent into the nation.

So we send and train creatives.

Well, and if you're going to be a missionary, especially a foreign missionary, I mean, there's a lot of persistence and there's a lot of overcoming. There's a lot of dealing with rejection. There's a lot of having to raise funds and all of that.

So you've got to have that overcoming attitude. But you've done missions yourself. Is that right, Elizabeth? Yes, I've been with the organization for almost three years, went overseas for three months, and Yeah, it's I mean, for sure, I overcame so many fears just going on that that trip. And since then, I've been on multiple other ones, and it it has created just a firm confidence in the Lord that, you know, you do have to have that spirit of just overcoming because there are challenges.

Yeah, there are. And we've all dealt with challenges in our lifetime. But I tell you what, I think it was the story of a caterpillar. And they said that when a caterpillar actually becomes a butterfly, the way that it grows and the way that it's actually able to fly is it has to fight itself out of the cocoon. And it says, without that fight, the butterfly would never be able to fly.

And so maybe sometimes in our lives, when we feel like something is really hard or we may not understand it, maybe God is just preparing us for something bigger. And maybe He's, I don't know if He's testing us to see, hey, do you have what it takes? And I tell you what, thank God it's not up to us. But when I trust in Him, Elizabeth, then He's always got my best plans at heart. That's good.

That's great.

So, if people want to check it out, and it's Maps, like you're looking on a map, Maps Global, they can find you guys on what, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Instagram. Yep, and then you can check the website mapsglobal.org. And the you can come visit thirty one twenty one Mosside Avenue. And we do Sunday services and then we're open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

to prayer rooms. You can literally come and just there'll be like live devotionals. I get to play on sets almost every day at noon. We have noon prayer sets.

So it's, yeah.

So you can go directly there and go to the prayer room and you could just pray. And you said Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 or? 8 to uh 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oh my goodness, you guys are working long hours.

Oh, we are. And you said, you told me earlier before, you said when you were. And you gave up dance.

Now you're actually teaching dance and you teach dance at Maps Global. Correct. Yep.

So we have a part of the church. There is an academy, and I teach on Tuesday. We actually have a semester that's starting in September.

So honestly, if anybody wants to sign up, the last day to sign up is September sixth. You can either do music lessons, you can do guitar, drums, and then specifically what I do is dance. Yeah, and so you said that there's other places that kind of charge people a lot of money, but you try to make it affordable, is that right? Yes, our heart is to serve specifically missionaries, but anybody in the community that would want to get a quality. I mean, I have a.

background, a professional background where I'm able to give a good quality teaching, but at a better price. Amen. And so if you guys are listening, go ahead and follow them. It's Maps Global. You can follow them on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram.

And you said the website is one more time. What is it again? Yeah, mapsglobal.org. Mapsglobal.org. And I want to thank you for the call today, Elizabeth.

Yeah, thank you so much. You're welcome. And so when I was thinking about having a persistent, having an overcoming attitude, I want to hear from you 866-34TRUTH 866-348-7884. This is Michael Zwick with Truth Talk Live, and we will be right back after this break. And if you're in one of the places for only 30 minutes, we'll see you again tomorrow at 4.

Truth, talk, lie. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

All right, guys, I am back. Michael Zwick, 866-34TRUTH, 866-348-7884. We want your calls. When was there a time in your life where you had to persist and overcome and the Lord blessed it? And so, you know, one of the things that I thought of is many of us, there was a guy named Big Kev who was online and he just commented.

He said, I've had to overcome autism. And he's a huge Clemson Tigers fan and just one of the nicest guys. He's been, guys, he's been following me on Facebook for years. And that is something to really, really overcome. But for many of us men, it could be sexual temptation.

You know, I heard a story about Saint Augustine or Saint Augustine, as they call him down here. But there was one time where he had had all of these concubines and all of these women and all of this stuff. But his mom, Monica, had actually been praying for him for years. And she, one day, he finally gave his life to Christ. And he said, I've got to give.

Give up all of this stuff. I'm not going to be sleeping around with women. I'm not going to be doing any of this stuff. I'm going to totally devote myself to the Lord. And one day, one of his ex-girlfriends came to the front door and.

Knocked on the door and said, Hey, is Augustine here? And the servant of the house said, No, sorry, he's not here right now. But she was persistent, this girl. And she went around to the back of the house and she saw him up in a window and she said, Augustine, she said, It's me, it's me. And he looked back at her and he yelled back down and he said, Oh, but it's not me.

Jesus Christ can change anything. Jesus Christ can help us overcome our lust. He can help us overcome our sin. Whatever it is, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.

And we've got a John out of Meben, North Carolina. Are you there, John? I am. How are you? I'm doing great.

And, John, it was the first day of school for my two boys at Grace Christian Academy over in Haw River, North Carolina. And it was an exciting day. But this year, what you guys are talking about over at Grace Christian is faith, having faith. And John Lang is actually the campus pastor at my kids' school, Grace Christian Academy. And you gave a message on faith this morning.

But let me ask you this, John. When was there a time in your life where you had to persist and overcome and the Lord blessed you for it? I think we could take all day to hit on all the different things. I mean, I've been everything from an alcoholic to addicted to pornography twenty years ago to so many different things. Um I don't ever look at it as it's something that I've overcome.

It's something that I've submitted to the Lord, and then He helped me overcome it.

So it wasn't. I don't ever want to take credit or steal God's glory for what he's done. Um, so I don't want to do that, and um, when I when I think about the word blessing. I was thinking, like, well, how would you define blessing? Because, like, for me, when I look at that, I go, I get to breathe today.

I got to wake up this morning and to see the stars. Um, I got to hold my daughter. I got to to kiss my wife today. I don't deserve any of those things. And so When we kind of look at it like that, where if every breath is a gift from the Lord, then that'll change the perspective of your whole day.

And so, yeah, I definitely don't deserve his grace and mercy. And I just pray that. I just heard you say, right, he can he can heal anything. any situation. And so I just pray that people would believe that.

And so, whatever they're dealing with in any situation, whether it's a work situation or whether it is a family situation or whether it is a difficulty with a child, that they literally bring it and just bring it to the feet of Jesus. And he can radically change anything if you want him to. Um and so it might not look exactly how you want it to look. But that's why it's so amazing, is that it doesn't have to look how we want it to look because his plans are far better than anything we could come up with.

So 100%. And you know, it's funny, for years, we started praying back in 2016 every Monday morning over at Burlington City Park. And we have been praying for revival in Alamance County. We've just been praying. We've been so hungry for it.

And you know what's funny, John, is that a lot of people at a lot of the public schools, and honestly, if I have to be honest, even some of the private Christian schools are much more focused on their schoolwork. And we have to make sure that our kids get their schoolwork done, they pass their tests and all of that. But over at Grace Christian Academy, John, you guys are not just focused on schoolwork. You're focused on where they're going to spend eternity. Is that right?

Yeah. Yeah. So academic side of things is super important. There's no doubt about it. But it's not the main thing.

We have to keep the main thing, the main thing. And so if we believe that Christ should be first, which is what the Bible says, you go to Colossians chapter one and you go through the verses on He is the image of the invisible God. And you go through that passage of Scripture. He needs to be first in all. He is Lord of all.

And so, even when it comes to a school setting, he has to be first. If he's not, we don't need to be doing what we're doing and calling ourselves a Christian school. And so, I mean, I'm able to see that even over the summer, as new families were coming in. That is what we told them, that is what we shared with them. And so, even today, To see that, I mean, you know, you brought up our chapel this morning.

We had multiple kids come to Christ. We had a parent come to Christ. And so, to be able to see that and what we're doing, and just really just trying to, it's really just trying to honor the Lord, is what it is. And that's I think that's what I just love seeing is that it doesn't matter where we are around campus. That you can stop anywhere and pray.

You can open up scripture. You can be a PE teacher and you can stop and open up the Bible and lean into the Word of God. You can be a sports coach. You can be. You know, it doesn't matter.

And he's first, and he needs to be first, and he will remain first. Oh, yes. Yeah, and and and I think I thought I heard you say that there was a parent and there were some kids who got saved at school today. Is that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we um you know, we just asked, you know, if the Lord's been taken on your heart. uh at the end of the chapel and The Lord just moved in a mighty way throughout that chapel. And so to start the year off with. I don't even know the number of salvations this morning, and that was just so cool to see. And I don't need to know the number.

I mean, we want to follow up, we want to do that. But God knows, and that's the most important thing. And so we're going to disciple these kids, and we're going to do whatever we can to point them to the Lord every chance we get. And that's what we're about. Amen.

And so at the end of the last school year, every Friday we meet for prayer and we have a little Bible study, or I don't even know what you call it, John, but we do it over at the, I really don't. We do it over at Grace. It's a men's group. It's a men's group. Yeah, but one another along.

There you go. But we do it on Fridays. But at the very end of the year, something very special happened. You remember what it was? Yeah, yeah.

So even I know the day you're referring to that Friday that we had men's group and really it really it started the day before In one of our chapel services. And so, you know, they usually run 45 minutes to an hour, and the Lord just moved, and it was. In that chapel service on the Thursday, the day before you're referring to, it lasted like two and a half hours. And you just had a confession of sin. And you had, I mean, it was just amazing to see middle and high schoolers.

being moved by the power of God. And when when you have middle school and high school or schoolers confessing their sins to one another and out that it's just how do you explain that? I mean, it's just not something that happens. And so So that started then, and I just leading up to that group that you and I were talking about for Friday morning, the men's group. I was in my office that day, and honestly, I was just weeping, probably for about an hour.

I couldn't go outside and greet families coming in. And I just felt like we weren't done. I didn't feel like we needed to stop. And so I just opened up the Bible. Contacted another buddy of mine and just said, Hey, can you just?

You know, play the guitar. Let's go around and just, you know, we'll clear our classrooms and really just honor the Lord for a little while and just really focus in. And we went in that chapel and, you know, I asked you guys if you would just pray. And to even see students then, it just didn't stop. And students got up there and just.

Just gave their testimonies, and it was just awesome. It was great to see. And so I praise the Lord that we have the freedom to do that. I mean, in the middle of Hall River, we can do that. And I'm so thankful for that.

I'm thankful for our head of school, associate head of school, that that would allow us to have space. That when the Lord moves, it's not a hard line you have to stop or anything like that, but that we have the freedom to worship and do that in a public school, or not in a public school, in a private school, is really cool. It's really cool. And nothing can stop what the Lord is doing. One of my favorite stories is about a Napoleon Bonaparte.

And there was one day they were losing a battle, Napoleon, and he told, he sent word to his bugler and he said, Hey, you need to blow the bugle for retreat. And Few minutes later, he didn't hear anything. And he sent word again to his bugler. He said, You need to blow the bugle for retreat. And a few minutes later, he didn't hear anything.

So the third time. He actually sent word to the bugler and he said, Hey, I've sent word two times.

Now I'm coming to you myself. I've told you to blow the bugle for retreat. He said, Why have you not blown the bugle for retreat? And he said, The bugler said to this, He said, Napoleon, he said, You never taught us how to blow the bugle for retreat. And Napoleon said, I didn't.

He said, No, sir. He said, Well, then blow the bugle to charge. And they ended up charging that day and they won that battle. And I can tell you what, John Lang, Jesus taught us a lot of things. One thing Jesus never taught us to do, Jesus never taught us to retreat.

Amen. Yeah, amen to that, buddy. I mean, like, you know, what you're hitting on, really, you got Acts chapter 5. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. And I think that's the mindset: is that we just have to understand who our Savior is.

and what he's done for us. And we never We never fight for victory. We already stand in victory, and we need to understand that. And so, regardless of whatever we face, he's already. One And so he's greater than anything we face.

And we need to understand that. You know, for any of your listeners that are listening to that today, they just need to understand. He still saves lives. He still fights battles. And he wins.

And we have to understand that, we have to grasp that and keep our eyes on him in the days ahead. Amen. And so I know I follow you guys, Grace Christian Academy out of Haw River on Facebook. You guys have a website as well because it's a great school. Yeah, GCA Chargers dot com.

Yep.

GCA Chargers.com.

Well, John, I want to thank you for calling in. I know I've been talking to you about it for a while, so God bless you, man. God bless you, buddy. I pray that your listeners, every single one of them, come to know him deeply. Amen, brother.

We've got a Cody out of Prospect Hill. And Cody, you just heard John talking about how there has been a revival in the school that my kids go to. But unfortunately, there was a really bad incident that happened maybe a couple of Wednesdays ago or so. And it was on national news in Prospect Hill. But you said the Lord told you that he was going to use that unfortunate incident for his glory and there was going to be a revival.

Is that right? Uh yes, sir. Yep, you know, sometimes the Lord will take the worst the worst situation and bring the the greatest outcome out of it and Um While I was praying over it. Hey, Cody, Cody, hold that thought. We're going to a break.

We'll be right back. I want you to hold the line. 866-34-TRUTH-866-348-7884. This is Michael Zwick, and we'll be right back with a revival with Cody happening in Prospect Hill, North Carolina. We'll be right back.

Truth talk. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Alright guys, we are back and before we got back on the break Cody was telling us about how, you know, we've been praying for a revival for years. We've been talking about it, talking about it, but unfortunately, it may have taken a tragedy for the Lord to bring something really big about. Is that right, Cody? Yes, sir. You know, and I really think about 9-11 and During the breakout, that just kind of came to me like 9-11.

You know, the United States had a a major tragedy there, but there was a there was actually some unity that came from it. you know, the next day People work. We're speaking to one another and trying to be servants to one another and not. Self-servant, so to speak. Um, and I was just a kid at that time, but I still remember that.

And it's it's saying that it takes such unfortunate circumstances and and major, you know, Tragedies. For people to realize, man, I need a Savior. Like, that could have been me. That could have been my family along. And you know, and I really honestly believe that the busyness and convenience of society has just muffled.

Oh Multiple muffled god, really. You know, everything so convenient we We can click a button on the internet and we have anything we want delivered to us. We have no need for our neighbor. uh that not back fellowship. You know, there's no need in calling calling next door and seeing if they can uh loan us a a couple of teaspoons of salt so we can make biscuits, so to speak.

Um It it's all it was delivered by Amazon two days before, you know, and But I I really truly believe this was To those who are seeking the Lord and hungry. And willing to say yes. we're going to see a revival, and I don't think it's going to be one that's just a week long in a in a church like our traditional revival settings, I think it's going to be one that lasts for generations. Yeah, that's right. Isaiah 45, verse 7, it says this.

He says, I form the light and I create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all of these things. And in Romans 8, 28, it says, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and for them who are called according to his purpose. And so, yes, there's going to be bad things that happen in life.

There's going to be rough times that we have. But if we're not careful, we can only focus on the bad stuff and we can kind of miss some of the blessings that the Lord is doing. And, you know, I know a few weeks ago or whenever it was, you posted a video and you were talking about that and the video went viral. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yes, sir.

Yeah. So, but, anyways, man, yes, so that's that. You're going to be preaching this Sunday. This is your first Sunday preaching, and it's at the country church over in Prospect Hill. And you're going to be preaching at 10:30 a.m.

Is that right? Yes, sir. That's been my wrestle with the Lord and what I shared last night and all right. Wednesday night Bible study that we've had going for a while now. Um I I told him, I said, Well, I believe if anybody wrestles with the Lord long enough, they're either going to cry mercy or they're going to have a limp and I think I've just cried uh mercy before the the limp actually.

Okay, yeah, yeah. The limp hit the limp hit too hard, but um Yes, Doug. Anybody listening don't mind keeping me in your prayers. Lord gives me the right words and. And it's going to be this Sunday at 10.30 a.m.

And it's in 230 Ridgeville Road in Prospect Hill, North Carolina. But, you know, one of the things that we're talking about when we're talking about persisting, Cody, I'm reminded of a story about Rick Warren, who wrote The Purpose-Driven Life. And he tells a story about his dad, who was an evangelist, and his dad had really bad Alzheimer's. And he was in this hospital, and it was like a nursing home. And his dad just kept trying to get up and kept trying to get up.

And every time he kept trying to get up, they would put him down and say, Dad, you have to stop. You have to stay in the bed. And they said, Dad, by the way, why do you keep getting up? What is it that you're trying to do? And he said, I just want to win one more for Jesus.

I just want to win one more for Jesus. And it's like every single day, I don't care where you are. If you can't do anything else, you can get up and you can pray. You can pray for revival. We talk about taking time and spending time in the secret place, spending time with the Lord.

But see, it's easy, and it's kind of going back to what you said before. It's easier now than ever before to get distracted. You know, when you want to spend some time with the Lord, when you want to pray, when you want to read your Bible, when you want to preach, whatever it is, there's always going to be something that you can be distracted by. And I've heard this before. They say that it's not the really terrible things that are the enemy of the best, but they said the good sometimes is the enemy of the best.

And so it's not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but it's not what the Lord would have you doing right now. And so each and every day, I say, Lord, what do you want me to do today? And it's kind of like you were talking about before, Cody, where you were talking about, hey, if your neighbor needs some salt, give them some. Salt. Try to be a blessing to other people.

And what I found in my own life, and other people have as well, that the people who are the most miserable, the people who are the most depressed, are the ones who are constantly focusing on themselves. Look at this. I'm depressed. I'm feeling bad. I'm not feeling good today.

I need to take some, but whatever it is. But you know what? I wake up in the morning, Cody, and I say, Lord, who can I help today? Who can I bless today? And I know you got a sawmill out there over in Prospect Hill, and I'm sure you have that same kind of attitude.

Yeah. Yeah. No yeah.

Well, and you I think your topic for the day was just been persistent in the Lord or what had. Uh what time's it? You persist, persisted the Lord, and then was blessed because of it. And You know, that's that's really a daily thing, I feel like. Uh, I can think of so many things, but I don't think that there's enough air in the world to Uh chair all of it.

Bye. And Jesus said, anybody that loves their mother or their father more than me isn't worthy of me. Air. There's numerous scriptures where he refers to his people as a pride. And I don't feel like our culture values and uh the company relationship of a marriage.

like we ought to. But your husband as well, and you should have. Um Some a little bit of jealousy for your wife. Like, you want to protect her, you want to serve her. And I said, I'm going to the Lord Christ has the same for his people.

And as husbands, well, we thoroughly enjoy it whenever our wife pursues us, hey, thank you for bringing me a cup of coffee this morning or Sending me a text message encouraging me throughout the day, or you know, I'll give him things. And I feel like it's our responsibility as believers and followers of the Lord to be persistent. and continuously pursued the Lord with the same That same mentality there, that same perspective of Lord, what can I do for you today? How can I best serve you? How can I best serve your people?

Let me take the me out of everything. I gave my life to you.

So So that you could live. And if I'm standing in the way, then I'm not letting you live that you're full of capacity, right? Yeah, and one of the things when you say that, I'm reminded of is we don't always have to know step 10. When the Lord is asking us to take step one, all we have to do is take step one. We don't have to know what's going to happen in the future.

We just have to obey the Lord. The Bible says that disobedience is like the form of witchcraft. And we say, well, we'd never do witchcraft, but the Bible says that if you're disobeying the voice of the Lord, you might as well gone out there and played with a Ouija board. And that's pretty serious. But, you know, I'm reminded of a story of a Stephen Grille.

He was a Quaker minister in the 17 or 1800s. And he said one day he woke up and he just felt led to go. to this campground where these people were cutting wood, Cody. And he said he went over there. It was kind of a longer trip.

And he said he felt like he was supposed to preach to them. And he went over and he went over to preach to them. And there was literally nobody there. He's like, all right, Lord, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. And he said he felt the Lord tell him, I told you to preach, now preach.

So there he was in the middle of this campground with nobody there. And he ended up going into the lunchroom where they would eat. And he went in there and he just started preaching his heart out, preaching, preaching, preaching. And he said, at the end of the time, he was like, he was all finished. It was all done.

And he's like, okay, Lord, I guess that's it. He went home, and that was the end of it. But it wasn't the end of it. 10 years ago, he was in another country. He was in London, England, and a guy came running after him and said, You're the guy, you're the guy.

And Stephen Grille is like, Dude, I ain't never seen you before in my life. What are you talking about? And the guy's like, No, no. He said, There was about 10 years ago, he said, where we were cutting wood at a wood camp, and he said, I left a tool in the lunchroom or right outside of the lunchroom. And I went there, and all of a sudden, I heard you preaching.

And I got convicted. And I gave my life to Jesus Christ. And I've been doing it ever since. You see, if that guy wouldn't have met Stephen, he never would have seen the fruit of what he did by obeying the Lord in this lifetime. And many times we don't know.

We don't know what the Lord is doing. We just have to be called to obey him. And so, Cody, this Sunday at 10:30 a.m., you're going to be preaching at the country church, the little church or the country church in Prospect Hill 2. 230 Ridgeville Road, and we're seeing the Lord doing some things out there this Saturday. I'll be on the radio at 12 p.m.

right here on the Truth Network. If not for God with Mike Zwick, if you can, you can follow Cody Redding, C-O-T-Y, Redding R-E-D-D-I-N-G. You can follow him on Facebook. Just start to watch some of his videos. It's really good.

And the Lord is doing something up there. You can check out what's going on up there. But I want to ask you this: what are you doing for the Lord? Are you praying for the Lord? Do something.

We can all do something. We can't do everything, but we can all do something. And if we can't do anything else, we can spend a time each day, even if it's 15 minutes, and just pray for revival in this country. Pray for people to fall down on their faces and give their lives to Jesus Christ. And, Cody, I want to thank you for calling in today.

Thank you, Mike. You're welcome, guys. We love you. We'll see you tomorrow right here on the Truth Network for Truth Talk Live with Stu Epperson. We'll be back tomorrow at 4 p.m.

And my show, If Not For God, with Mike Zwick, will be on this Saturday at 12 o'clock noon. You can follow me, Michael Zwick, on Facebook or TikTok. God bless you guys, and have a great day. Be a blessing.