A Touch From God (Time for Renewal Conference) — David Wilkerson

Seeking a Corporate Touch From God

I want to speak to you tonight about the touch of God. How does God touch a man's life? I'm talking not about individuals, but a corporate body of men and women who rise above the turmoil, rise above their hurts, and they begin to hunger and thirst for God, and God does something miraculous.

And why does God choose certain men to touch them? Now when I say men, I include women in this, so please don't correct me after the service. This is both men and women. Heavenly Father, since your anointing on this meeting tonight, you have come to touch us.

You've come to heal us, but Lord, you've come also to dig deep into our hearts. Lord, my heart is open to hear what will be taught and preached from this pulpit. When I step down, Lord, I want to hear.

I'm ready for reproof. I'm ready for correction. I'm ready for edification, whatever you have in mind. Lord, I'm asking you to come down upon my heart now. You've humbled us before you. And who are we to speak, Lord, to those far more educated and those who have prayed more than we have, but they've come, Lord, out of a hunger.

Lord, speak for me tonight. Lord, just speak your mind, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. God has a remedy for a world in chaos. He has a time-tested plan that He's used all through time. He hasn't changed it.

It's the same plan from the very beginning, the Word. How does God remedy a generation? What does He do to correct a generation that is in chaos, that is slipping out of control? What is God's plan? He's always used man.

He's used men that He has chosen. He's laid His hand upon them. He's separated them. He called them to Himself and touched them in a special way. The God-touched man is described in Psalm 65, for blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causes him to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts.

Blessed is that man that is especially touched, that woman especially touched by the hand of God, and the Holy Ghost causes him to draw nigh to the Lord and dwell in His courts. This man, this woman begins to dwell in the presence of God, and everything about him and everything in him changes.

It's a wooing of the Holy Spirit that many of you that are here now know and understand. It was the wooing of the Holy Spirit that called you to prayer. History proves what I've been saying to you, because it's very painful to read the history of Israel.

God Uses Chosen People to Bring Revival

The constant backsliding of God's people. Generation after generation getting more wicked than the other. But what did God do all through this Bible? How did God deal with it? How did He bring reviving?

How did He change everything and bring it back to His heart? The Scripture says, Samuel chiding Israel, said, when you forgot the Lord, He sold you into the hand of your enemies. Then you cried unto the Lord and said, we have sinned.

The Lord sent Jeroboam and Bedan, Jephthah, Samuel, delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt safe. God touched men, became the instruments of deliverance. And folks, I want to tell you, God's not going to send angels down to solve our problems.

He's not going to send heavenly angels or heavenly forces down. He's going to touch men. He's going to touch women. He's going to cause them. He's going to woo them to draw nigh to Him. God touched men, become His instrument, and have been that all through Scripture.

Now, why does God touch certain men? There's something amazing that happens when God touches a man or a woman. It's an awesome sight. It's an awesome thing to be around these people. I am not there, but I know what He's calling me to, and I know the way, and I want to follow Him in it.

You see, these are men, not just men of destiny. No, no, no. You see, Saul was called just as David was called, and the Scripture says that God had told Saul, I had planned to give you an everlasting heritage.

An everlasting kingdom was to be yours, and he aborted God's plan because he went halfway. These were not supermen. I believe that there are two calls that God gives to every man or woman that He touches, and raises up to reach a people, to change things.

Even a whole generation. There's a call to come up, and there's a call to come out. And Moses best exemplifies these two calls. And how you respond to these two calls determines the intensity of God's touch in your life.

Moses and the Call to Come Up

How you respond to this call to come up. The Scripture says of Moses, the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mount, and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. He's called out of his busyness to start an unshackled pursuit after God, and to be called into His presence to become a praying man.

His own father-in-law, Jephthah, chided him, rebuked him kindly that he was too busy. He said, be thou for the people of Godward, let others be appointed to bear the burdens of the people. In other words, he said to his father-in-law, why don't you shut yourself in with God?

You can still be concerned for the people, you can still have hands on, but you're going to wear yourself out, you're going to wear the people out, you go to God, you go to the mountain. Moses placed all counseling and arbitration in the hands of his associates, and those who worked with him, and Moses went up unto God, and went near to where God was.

Folks, that's a message in itself. Moses went up unto God, and he went near to where God was. See, the Scripture said chosen and caused to approach to dwell in His presence. Not every man who's called up to prayer, not every man who receives this inner wooing of the Holy Spirit to be a man of prayer, to seek Him as never before, to know the times, to come to the end of himself and say, God is going to take more than I've been giving you, it's going to take more time, more quality time than I've been willing to give you.

I can't be on my own agenda, and expect to make a mark, a humble mark, not to be somebody, but even oh God, to be a vessel, an instrument that you use in these last days. And so many people have been called to a life of prayer, called to come up to the mountain, and they went so far, and every man, every woman who's called to seek the face of God, not all of them go to the mountain, the majority go halfway up, and there they stop, they don't respond to this call.

How many times has God called you, sir, and ma 'am, how many times has the Holy Spirit said, I want to lay my hand on you, I want you to be such a man of prayer that your life is changed, your family knows it, God knows it, everybody around you knows it, and every time you stand in the pulpit, there's a word that touches the heart, and He's called you out of the world, and out of your business, and out of your own agenda, and He's spoken to your heart many times, He says, come to the mountain, come away with me, come up, and you see God gives that call to those that He wants to use, and many respond.

Moses was not the only man that went up the mountain, there were others called, and he, speaking of God, said to Moses, come up unto the Lord, thou, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, the 70 elders of Israel, and worship ye afar off, and Moses alone shall come near the Lord, for they shall not come nigh, neither shall the people go up with him.

You see, God had a wonderful plan for all of them, He wanted to take them all to the top of the mountain, He wanted them all to come down with their sins, with power over their sins and their iniquity, He wanted them to come out of His presence with that glow that Moses came out.

The Scripture is clear on that, here's the promise that He made to Aaron and his sons, I will sanctify the tabernacle, the congregation, and the altar, I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister unto me in the office of the priest.

He said, I want you to become ministers to me, shut in with me, ministering to me, that was the call to Nadab and Abihu. He said, I will make you priest unto me, to the elders, He said, I'll make you priest unto me, a holy nation.

Why Some Stop Halfway Up the Mountain

So why were they told when they got halfway up the mountain, worship me afar off, don't come near me, this is God speaking. You cannot come up to the top of the mountain, only Moses shall come up. Everyone promised by God, they were going to touch their lives, they were going to use them in a high order, that they would be ministers unto Him.

And then halfway up the Lord says, Nadab, Abihu, Aaron, you shall be the elders, you are not coming. Why was Moses the only one invited to go to the top of the mountain, shut in with the glory? These men didn't have their heart in it.

God knew what was brewing in their hearts. He brings them halfway up, hoping that in His utter holiness, in His presence, because God appeared to them and ate with them, and they saw a sapphire path leading right into a dark cloud, and they knew, no man had seen God, but they knew He was there.

You would think that you and I, if we were there, we would fall on our face in the presence of utter holiness and righteousness. That we would fall, and those things hidden in our hearts would be exposed, and we'd cry, My God, have mercy!

In the presence of an almighty, holy God, they were unmoved, and their hearts, full of sin, were totally unmoved. He brought them halfway up, that He may take them all the way, that He would convict them by His holiness, because He loved these men.

He doesn't give up on His servants. He loves them. He loves them to the end. Please understand and know that God loves you. He loves me. No matter what we're going through, no matter what we may be enduring, God calls you to the mountain.

They may deal with you in love and in His holiness, not to judge you, but to give you power and authority in His name, and let your face shine with His glory. They are exposed to this utter holiness, as if God is saying to them, Brethren, there's something in your heart keeping you from the full revelation.

There's a besetting sin keeping you from intimacy. You can't be intimate with me unless you break. There's Aaron. He's a man whose heart is tainted with jealousy over his brother, Moses. He fears man more than God.

He has a tendency toward sensuality. He stripped the people naked, remember. Nadab and Abihu. They had the seed of lust and adultery, fornication. They were hardened in their lust. Folks, if God in His utter holiness couldn't reach them, no preacher could ever reach them, no prophet.

What a horrible place to be. They had not an ounce of fear of God in them. The 70 elders, they're not under authority, because they're thinking, I'm as holy, we're as holy and righteous as Moses. And that came out in their rebellion later.

God's warning these chosen men. He's giving them a mercy call. They should have been slain, but instead He reveals Himself to them. Halfway up the mountain, halfway to the touch of God, halfway to the fullness of His presence, they saw the God of Israel, and under His feet a pavework of sapphire stone, and upon the nobles of the children of Israel, He laid not His hand.

And Moses went up into the mount of God, and He said unto the elders, carry ye here for us until we come back unto you. Now evidently they had food supplies, everything. And Moses says, I'm going up. God's called me all the way up, and I'm going up.

Will you stay here and just wait until I get back? He probably presumed he'd be there five or six days. You see, I imagine Nadab and Abihu being the first ones after a few days saying, what has happened?

What's happened to Moses? And you see something back there is calling them something that has attached itself to their spirit and calls them back to their adulterous ways. And so I presume they were first.

I think probably the seventy elders went next. You see, if you've got sin in your heart, waiting on God is the hardest thing you'd ever be called to do, and you don't want to do it, and you can't do it.

Just waiting on the Lord in His presence. Just waiting for God to speak, waiting for God to act. Because people who move in the flesh don't know how. Cannot wait on the Lord. And then I would imagine that Aaron probably was the last to go.

And the cry that came down from the mountain, or the talk that came from the mountain, what has happened to this man Moses? And the whole camp picks it up, remember? What has happened to Moses? These two ministers and these laymen, hardened in adultery and lust, they represent those today that are into pornography, into all kinds of sins, aborting God's attempts to deliver them.

Waiting in God's Presence

See, the call now to all of us is, come up, and the Lord said unto Moses, come up to the mount and be there. Come up and be there. That hit me so hard. Just come up and sit. Just be there. For six days Moses wakes quietly, waiting outside the cloud of glory.

And the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud, and Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and was in the cloud forty days and forty nights. You see at Camp Hathaway, I presume they're gone by the sixth day.

Did God call you to give yourself as a man or woman a prayer? Did God cause you to draw nigh to Him at one time? You said yes, but how long did it last? Did it last a week, two weeks, six months? How long did it last?

And you were at Camp Hathaway, and God had something on the mountain for you, and something called you back. Busyness! Something of the world. Come up and be there. Solomon said, On thee do I wait all the day.

They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall not be ashamed who wait upon you. You'll never be ashamed if you wait upon me, he said. This is the man, this is the woman who said, I'll not settle for anything less than face-to-face intimacy with my God.

I'll settle for nothing else but answer that call to go to the mountain to be in His glory. I don't care how the rest of the world goes. I don't care what the new fad is. I don't care what new thing has come down the turnpike.

As for me, I hunger for God, and I'm going all the way. I'm going to seek His face, and I'm going to wait on the Lord. And secondly, there's a call to come out. Exodus 33, 7. And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp.

The Call to Come Out of Defilement

And he called it the tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out of the tabernacle, went out to the tabernacle of the congregation. This was not the wilderness tabernacle.

That had not been constructed as yet. This was Moses. He called it the tent of meeting. This was his prayer closet, his prayer tent. This is where he prayed. You see, God's presence had been lifted from the camp.

There was such idolatry and such lust and sensuality. There was such idolatry in the camp. God left. God left. His presence was lifted. The fiery cloud was lifted. The pillar was gone. It was gone. God left.

Folks, I've been in churches. Occasionally when I've been on vacation or been off for Sunday, I've been to church and I say this kindly. How many times I've walked in, and within five minutes you know God is gone.

The presence of the Lord is not there. And then when the pastor gets up, you know there's nothing but death. And, folks, there's nothing more tragic. There's nothing worse to be in what is called God's house and the presence of Jesus is not there.

He's gone. He's left. I have about 700 ,000 people on our mailing list. And we receive thousands and thousands of letters from all over the nation. And the number one complaint, the number one by the thousands, as today I hate to get up Sunday morning, I hate to go to my church, all denominations, because there's no life.

I don't feel the Holy Ghost. Teenagers don't want to go. There's nothing there. After 9 -11, the churches in New York for six months were packed. People poured into the churches. And now, in fact, just about a month ago a poll was taken and the New York Times said that now, it was after five months I believe it was, after 9 -11, church attendance is lower than it was before the blast.

And they asked people why they quit going. They said, we went and there was nothing there that would give us any reason to want to go back. Nothing there. Nothing. And Moses tries to pray in this atmosphere where there's defilement.

The camp was defiled. And God said, Moses, I'm not going to hear you. You see, God had told Moses, I'll give you another congregation. And folks, a lot of pastors would take that new congregation. They're so fed up with where they're at.

Not this man. He doesn't want another congregation. He doesn't want to move to another congregation. He said, no, these are your people and I'm not going to leave them. I'm a shepherd. And he said, they're defiled.

But what do I do? The Lord said, you get out of the place of defilement. You go out in the wilderness. You get out to a clean place. Now, Moses was not unclean, but he represents what God is demanding of us if we want to be touched.

If we want His power and His authority. If we want spiritual authority. The true spiritual authority where Christ speaks to us and His word comes plainly with convicting power. He said, you have to come out.

Moses Intercedes for God's Presence

Imagine the people willing to go on. What a scene of death when God leaves a congregation. You see, Moses cried out, God, the only thing that makes us different is your presence. If we don't have that, we're just like the rest of the heathen around us.

Folks, what do you have in your church? I don't care what the program is. I don't care what new thing you bring in. I don't care how you try. I've been in some of these dead churches and folks, no matter how loud they sing, no matter how they try to work it up, it's death.

And the louder they sing, the deader it becomes because it can't be worked up in the flesh. It doesn't work. This is what we pray at Times Square Church so many times. In fact, every time I go in the service, every time I go and sit in my seat, I cry out in my soul and my heart, Oh God, if we don't have your presence today, we don't have church.

And God, if you ever lift your hand from this place, I would rather you shut the doors, close the doors, and sell the building because we have nothing to offer people without your presence. Nothing. God was gone.

And he refused to come back into the camp because he was defiled. God said, they're stiff-necked. They're worthy to be destroyed. Moses intercedes in the camp, and after much crying, God said to Moses, Now go, lead the people into the place of which I've spoken.

My angels shall go before you. I will send an angel. I'll drive out your enemies. I'll bring you into the land of milk and honey. But I'll not go up in the midst of thee. I read that. Had to go over and over.

You're telling these people, I'll send an angel. You go ahead. I'll give you victories. You go ahead in the land. Go ahead and take your houses. Take your land. Get your automobiles. Get all those things.

Go, go, go. But I'm going to go with you. Go ahead. Any gospel you want. I love you, so I'll not destroy you. But I'm not going to go with you. And Moses knew the risk that would be involved in that. They would always be open to the attack of the enemy.

He said, go ahead. And many in that camp were willing to go on, except honestly believe that there are men today who could run a seat, be CEO of any great corporation. They're brilliant men. They know how to do it.

I heard a man say that once, Pastor. And all the people around him said, that man can do it without the Holy Ghost. Words to that effect. Very intelligent. God says, if you're going to do it in the flesh, if you're going to stay in a place of defilement, I'm not going with you.

Now that makes me tremble. You may not be a pastor. You may be a layperson from Times Square Church or wherever you're from, and you're in here tonight. If you're in a place of defilement, God says, I'm not going with you.

I'll woo you. I'll call you. But you're going to have to leave the camp. You're going to have to leave your defilement behind. You're going to have to get out into a clean place. And Moses picks up his tent.

God says, no use praying. Don't intercede. Don't do it because there's defilement. I don't care how many tears you shed, sir. I've been there. And I've seen His mercy. When God was dealing with something in my life, you can shed a river of tears, you can make Him a thousand promises, but until you allow the Holy Spirit by His covenant to come and give you a revelation of how He can empower you to be delivered.

Until you want to be free, and you get out of that place of defilement, and you get to a clean place in Christ. You can cry and pray all you want. You may see miracles. You can cast out devils, and you can heal the sick.

You can build great buildings and institutions, and God not be in the bit of it. God says, I'm not going with you. That makes me tremble. It frightens me. I read and re-read that. Go, move on, fight, win battles.

You know, I believe there's some churches where if God showed up, if God sent a prophet, if God sent someone with a message ringing from the throne of God, and there's a loving message dealt with sin, there are some great churches where the majority of the congregation would leave.

Because they're satisfied. Satisfied to go on without His presence. Here's what God's calling for. Here's a man who will not give up on his people. Here's a man who won't quit. Here's a man who's not going to run.

Here's a man who's willing to weep for his people. But here's a man who says, oh God, and I know you can't move in this situation. There's got to be something you do in my heart. And it's something God wants to do in every heart here tonight.

I don't care if it's gossip that we've been guilty of. And I know what that's like. I have been dealt with that for a long, long time and God has been dealing with me to never ever repeat. In case I'll repeat something and have to make it right.

I don't have to put my finger on it, but the Holy Ghost does tonight while you're here in His presence. He put His finger on it. And He's called some of you here to deliver you. He's here to say to you lovingly, I know the battle and the struggle you go through, but as long as that defilement is there, and as long as you're in this area, this place of defilement, I can't walk with you.

I can convict you of being there. The Holy Spirit will deal with you. I will not chastise you. I'll protect you. God said, I'm not going to beat you. I'm not going to touch your child. I'm not going to touch your wife.

I'm not going to send judgment on you at this point. But God says, you're going to miss. You're going to miss the only thing that really matters. Walking in my presence. Having my presence with you in your house.

Having my presence when you walk the street. Having my presence when you stand in the pulpit. Moses goes out to a place that's clean, out of defilement. And it came to pass as Moses entered into the tabernacle.

He's out in a clean place now. The cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of his tent. And the Lord talked with Moses. And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks unto his friend. Aaron and the priesthood had become defiled.

The people were defiled. God was prepared if He had to, to do away with the whole scene. But one man, one man says, no God. Whatever it takes. And to tell a man it's going to take. Tell Moses, a man meek.

A man shunned with God. In so many wonderful seasons. Saying, there's more Moses. I ask more of you. And folks, the more I pray, the more I hear the Holy Spirit say, David it's going to take more than you have been willing to give at this point.

Because of the times. It's going to take more of your time. You're going to have to deal with every area of your life. Let me deal with every area of your life so there's no defilement. Because if I can find a man out of the place of defilement.

In a clean place with a heart broken. To seek me with all his heart. I'll send a cloud. I'll send a pillar. And I'll send the glory. And I'll talk face to face with you. Hallelujah. It came to pass. That everyone who sought the Lord.

Went out. To the tabernacle. The congregation. Which was outside. Camp. You see when a man steps out. And he begins to give God everything. His life. He begins to seek him with all his heart. And his heart's cleaned up.

Nothing hidden. He's going to attract. Like kind people. He's going to attract every holy godly people. Folks it's. These few days not being able to pack out of church. You can get a semi-christian rock group and fill any building.

You see it's not just filling. It's not just having a lot of. People in the seats. A young man told me recently. A young pastor said God's been so dealing with me. I really. Thought God wanted me to pastor a much larger congregation.

But he said now. When I see the hurts among my people. And I see how God's been gracious to me. He said now. I'm asking God. To give me a loving church. I want to be a loving man. To me now it doesn't matter.

Because my heart is set to seek him. With all that's in me. You see that's Old Testament. What does that have to do with. The New Testament times in which we're living. Know you're not that you're the temple of God.

And that the spirit of God dwells in you. And if any man defile the temple of God. Him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy. Which temple you are. Folks I'm closing with this. I'm saying. This is not normal Christianity anymore.

The Church as God's Temple

Not in these times. Not when we have. Our president. And key leaders in our country. Saying we're going to live from now on. Under the gun. We're going to live from now on under this. And you see people everywhere.

Looking. Seeking for a church. Seeking for a word from God. When 9 -11. Hit. For two months prior to that. God broke through in Times Square Church. With warning after warning. We didn't know where it was going to strike.

All the pastors were slain. Different nights. Just slain. Weeping and broken before God. Confessing. Opening our hearts. To whatever he said. And the Holy Ghost would come down at Times Square Church.

In total silence. You couldn't move. You couldn't sing. You couldn't worship. Total silence. One night for over a half hour just sitting. And service after service. Pastor Carter and Pastor Neal. And all of our pastors.

Pastor Patrick. We would just say what's God doing? What do we do? What do we do? But you see God was warning. He was speaking. And prophetic words came. To prepare our hearts. And you see when it came.

The next few Sundays when people came to Times Square Church. And would boast as only in the Lord. In true humility before God. There was a word. The towers have fallen. We've not learned our lesson. And Pastor Carter.

And Pastor Neal. And Pastor Patrick. There was a word from the Lord. People didn't have to ask what happened. God spoke. Because he called us. Go to the mountain. God's not asking you to wait six days.

He's not asking you for 40 days and 40 nights. Fasting. He's asking you to come up and come out. God wants to take you deeper and further than you've ever been. No matter how he's blessed you up to now.

You've seen nothing compared to what he has in store for you. Truly humble yourself. That's the cry of my heart. Will you stand? I wonder how many there are. In this service tonight. And say, Pastor David, I know God's calling me up.

I know he's calling me out. And I want to yield to the Holy Spirit tonight. Folks, we have no place here to give an invitation. And that's not what God's put in our hearts. Folks, I have not arrived. The word I preach tonight, he's worked in my spirit and my soul.

Responding to God's Call in Prayer

He wants to work it into your heart. Before you leave this conference. We would hope that you'd be so spiritually motivated by the Holy Ghost. I would hope that you'd go to your hotel even. And spend some time with him.

And say, Oh, God. I want to leave this conference. To follow what you've already told me to do. And I went so far. I turned back. And that's what I'm going to pray about right now. I wonder how many there are.

And I can't even see your hands, but God can. How many of you have to say tonight in an honest confession before the Lord. I want to go all the way to the mountain. And I haven't gone all the way like I want to.

And I need his touch tonight. And I want God's presence in my life. I want the presence of Christ. Raise both hands to the Lord, thou will I pray. Just lift both hands. Come on, all over the congregation.

And up in the balcony, wherever you may be. Holy Spirit, I pray right now. That in your most kind and loving way. Your tender heartedness. That you would deal with me first. And deal with every here in this building tonight.

That you would call us out of our self. Out of our busyness. Lord, the sin is busyness. Where we can't seem to find the time. We can't make it. And it's getting shorter and shorter. Our time with you is becoming less and less.

When, oh God, we should. Whatever it takes. Whatever the cost. We say, oh God, lay hold of my heart. God, come. Lord, I pray for everyone. Within the sound of my voice. Struggling with something that is common.

Surprise them. Something they didn't ask for. Something they didn't expect. But the enemy came and surprised them. And Lord, some have to stand here and say. I have allowed something in my life. I never thought I would or could.

But the enemy has surprised me. I didn't want this, but it's come. Oh God, bring freedom while they're here in these meetings. Bring freedom tonight. Break the chains that bind, oh God. Lord, I know that you're doing this.

I know you're going to do it in these meetings. Lord, we give you praise. Would you just call on the name of the Lord. Everybody in this building, just call on His name. Speak your heart and your mind to Him now.

Everyone, Lord, touch me. Lord, help me. Call me, cause me to come now into your presence. Lord, I've been busy. I've had time for people. I've had time for everything in my agenda. But I've been neglecting you, oh God.

Forgive us and call us back, oh God. Take us to the mountain, we pray. Take us out of the house, place of defilement. Purge us and cleanse us and sanctify us in this building, we pray. We thank you. Your presence, that's the most important thing here tonight.

Your presence. God bless you. This is the conclusion of the message.