Purity in a Wicked Age — David Wilkerson

We thank God for his presence in this house tonight. We have looked forward to this moment. I still am a pastor in Times Square Church, New York City, for the past 15 years. The church of 103 nationalities.

But I'm traveling a lot now throughout the world in minister's conferences. This has just been the last three years. For many years I was an evangelist and a writer. And I was invited to conduct minister's conferences all over the world.

And I said, I won't do it. Because I had never pastored, I was an evangelist. I wanted to wait until I had pastored at least 12, 15 years and had gray hair. Experience, in other words. And now that I obviously have gray hair, and pastored 15 years, the Lord released me.

Because I know something of the pain that ministers go through as pastors. Now, when I came and sat down tonight and prayerfully looked over this congregation, I said, Lord, I sense there are some tremendous men and women of God here tonight.

Really, the future of the whole evangelical church in this nation. And many of you have been shut in with God. You're living a righteous life. And you anticipated God doing a mighty work in your country.

We didn't come here trying to out-preach anybody. I'm still just a street preacher. And actually, my son has pastored longer than I have. But God laid a message on my heart tonight. And I'm presuming that you have a righteous walk with God.

Maintaining a Pure Heart in a Wicked Age

And I want to talk to you about maintaining a pure heart in a wicked age. This message started about 4 o 'clock this afternoon. I have been praying in the last day and a half about what I should bring to you tonight.

I have been praying in the last day and a half about what I should bring to you tonight. God spoke to me clearly about maintaining a pure heart in this wicked society, this wicked nation included. America is no more wicked than this country.

I don't know of any nation that's any more wicked than the other. Sin is sin in the eyes of God. So let's pray. Heavenly Father, I know you sent us. You brought every one of us together at this time and this place.

Now we go to your Holy Word. We ask you to give us ears to hear what the Spirit has to say. We humble ourselves. Sanctify this vessel. Let me speak the words of Christ. Come Holy Spirit. Send the arrow of your Spirit and might into our hearts.

You said you want our hearts to be broken. Our spirits contrite. Do it again tonight. Lord, I know this is the message for this hour. And I speak it with trembling. Oh God, help us. In the days ahead, as you begin to open doors, and you bring down the powers of the enemy, you're going to have to have holy men, righteous men and women, godly men.

Or you can't do the work, even though the doors are open. So begin this conference by sending the Holy Ghost and dig deep into our hearts. For you made it known to my heart that the most righteous men among us, the godliest men among us, even the most mature men among us must hear this message.

Lord, I hear this message. You have worked it into my heart. Now work it into the hearts of the hearers. In Jesus' name, Amen. I believe it's possible to live a pure life no matter how wicked the generation becomes.

And it's important because only a godly man, a clean-hearted man or woman can maintain the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Daniel is the man who proved it's possible to live a clean life in a dirty age.

Babylon represents everything that is evil and sensual. He was carried captive with the Israelites into Babylon. The very word Babylon speaks of sensuality and wickedness and ungodliness. And the captive Israelites were being caught up and swallowed up in that iniquity.

Of the many hundreds of thousands who were taken captive, when it was time for God to send a renewal in Jerusalem, less than 50 ,000 out of that multitude had maintained their righteous stand with God.

All around Daniel, people were falling. All of the priests and Levites except for a small holy remnant. They were swallowed up in the sins and the filth of Babylon. But in the midst of this moral decay, Daniel began to grow more righteous.

Daniel had a greater revelation of Christ. He had a great prophetic ministry rise up in him. How did Daniel, of all of the people of Israel, maintain this walk? He was not an isolated man. He was a busy man, a very high official in the government.

And if we can discover how Daniel maintained this pure walk, I believe that it's possible to follow in that same path. Because the Bible said all of these stories in the Old Testament are examples for us upon whom the ends of the world have come.

I believe in Daniel's life and in our very lives also. This walking of righteous life comes down to one foundational issue. No man, no woman can maintain a holy walk with God without the fear of God. This message is truly about the fear of God.

The Fear of God and Departure from Evil

The whole world has lost the fear of God. I'm telling you, the church has lost the fear of God. And I'm telling you, pastors are losing the fear of God. The congregations are losing the fear of God. Everywhere I go, I see nations declaring, we don't want God.

If you know anything about what's happening in the United States, our courts have ruled God out of our schools. It's against the law to lay a Bible, take a Bible to school or lay it on your desk. In the very year we outlawed the Bible, children started murdering other students.

And now when you walk into a school in the United States, just like an airport, metal detectors, because they don't want God. There's no fear of God. There's some legislation being introduced in our Congress.

No judge can ever be appointed if he believes in any God, if he has any faith. That's just the beginning. I was speaking in London recently, and I was invited to speak at the Parliament, at a special gathering.

And just that very day, Tony Blair, the leader of England, asked if he could add in his speech, God bless England. And his party refused. And they asked why. He said, we're not into the God thing. Everywhere I go now, there is no fear of God.

I see it now in the Church of Jesus Christ. See, if there's no fear of God, there is no fear of hell, there is no fear of retribution. And that's why we have such a divorce rate. That's why our young people are falling into such immorality.

We have megachurches all over the world now. And they preach an easy gospel. They preach nothing that will offend. They preach a soft message. There's no fear of God in the house. People can live in fornication and adultery.

And there are thousands of people. Not one word about sin. So there's no fear of God in the house. Proverbs 16 .6 says this. You don't have to turn to your Bible. It's the same in your Bible as it is in mine.

By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. And by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. Let me read it to you again. By mercy and truth, sin is purged or cleansed. I ask you what I said. By what? By the fear of God.

The Scripture says, adding, and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. By mercy and truth, sin is purged. Now, I have heard so much in the past 10 years about the mercy of God. I preach the mercy of God in Times Square Church in New York City and around the world.

And the Bible said, by mercy and truth, sin is purged. And the Bible said, by mercy and truth, sin is purged. But some people have the idea that in the New Testament, God has become very much more merciful than He was in the Old Testament.

Let me assure you, God was just as merciful in the Old Testament as He is in the New. It was the Old Testament revelation of Moses. When he cried, O God, show me your glory. God appeared to him, remember, and showed him His glory.

And that was a Lord who is good, ready to forgive, plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon Him. He was a God of mercy revealed to Moses. But you see, we have neglected the other part of this message.

God is more than a God of mercy. He's also a God of wrath. He's a jealous God. And He avenges sin, the Bible says. And we have a church today, mostly in the United States and some other countries that we've been to, they preach nothing but the mercy of God.

And in many places, it has not been balanced by a full revelation of what God's nature is. Moses was not allowed to go into the Promised Land because he did not sanctify God in the eyes of the people.

In other words, he misrepresented the attributes of God, like God was. On that occasion, he showed God only as a God of wrath. And that's why he had to see the full measure of who God was, so that he would not misrepresent to the congregation who God was.

And I wonder if we are truly representing God's full nature. There is a message of legalism, I mean, a vicious kind of legalism, where all righteousness is judged by outward appearances. And some people have preached that as the only message.

But there's some that have gone the other extreme, that anything goes. I want to talk about the fear of God tonight. Scripture says, by mercy and truth. It's truth, the Bible said, that produces a fear of God.

Fear the Lord and depart from evil, Proverbs 3 .7. You say, I would rather read something from the New Testament. Let me give you what the New Testament says. Romans 3 .18, there is no fear of God before their eyes.

2 Corinthians 7 .1, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh. Cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Perfecting holiness how? In the fear of God.

The Flood of Immoral Content

That's New Testament under grace. Let me give it to you straight as God's been giving it to me. What I see is a flood of filth like I have never seen in all my 50 years of preaching. I see it in your country just as we've seen it everywhere in the last 30 days we've been.

Sex in advertising, on the billboards and magazines. I'm talking about household magazines. And the filth on television. And in movies. I don't go to movies, but what I read, hell has vomited its innards out.

I don't go to movies, but what I read, hell has vomited its innards out. VCRs with filthy tapes. VCRs with filthy tapes. Websites. 300 ,000 pornographic websites now. 300 ,000 pornographic websites now.

A survey was done in the United States among ministers of various denominations. They were told they didn't have to sign their name. And they answered a questionnaire. And they found out that 30 of the pastors were addicted to pornography.

And I see it bringing spiritual death to churches, spiritual ruin to pastors, and to the congregations. Everywhere I go, even in the last few weeks, young pastors stop me from my son. They say, I've got to talk to you.

I'm addicted to pornography, or I'm a fornicator. I'm in adultery. And I hear it everywhere. It's just absolutely overwhelming. And I see so many pastors quitting the ministry. It's an amazing, tragic sight that I see everywhere I go.

I have almost one million people on my mailing list. Tens of thousands of letters. The number one complaint from all over the world. My church is dead. There's no life in my pastor. Look, folks, I'm not indicting all pastors.

But I'm just telling you what I hear. When 9 -11 hit New York City, the churches were packed. People ran to churches. They were weeping. They were wondering. What's this all about? Was this God? Was God trying to warn us of judgment?

Was this the devil? Or was this just a happenstance? And they even stood up while the pastors were preaching. They said, we don't hear a sermon. What does this mean? What's happening to our country? Because you see, we've never had a foreign army in our soil.

Never known any kind of suffering like that. And it shook the whole country. Everyone living under fear. Finally running to churches. And after six months, the New York Times did a survey. And they found out that fewer people were going to church now, six months after, than prior to 9 -11.

And the question was asked, why did you quit going to church? They said it was dead. No pastor could tell us why this was happening. We had to have answers. We got no answers. The men in the pulpit didn't have life.

They were speaking over our heads. They didn't seem to believe what they were preaching. And most of them said, there's not one single reason why I should ever go back. Because nothing touched my heart.

And now, it's worse than it was regarding attendance in church. That's not so in our church, thank God. Sunday morning, you line up to get a seat. I see the abuse of the grace of God. I see people living in sin because they're not being convicted by a message about the fear of God.

Grace, Imputed Righteousness, and Holy Living

Yes, we're saved by grace. We're saved by the finished work at the cross. Our righteousness is not our own. It's an imputed righteousness from Christ. I have nothing to offer of my own righteousness. And I believe in a covenant gospel.

God says, I'll keep you from falling. And I'll present you faultless before the throne of God. But I also believe God will not be mocked. I still believe what the Bible says. The men who bear the ark, the men who bear the holy vessels, must have clean hands and pure hearts.

And we're living in a day of compromise. And I can assure every pastor listening to me, Satan is out to destroy you and your family. He's determined to ruin your ministry. He's going to put everything, all pressure he has, to turn you toward the filth of this world, to seduce you, and try to get at your heart and your message, so that you stand before the people with an empty message, with no Holy Ghost conviction, just going through the motions, until it becomes a job or a career, and there's no weeping and there's no brokenness, and a total loss of the fear of God.

And this is what Satan is after in your country and mine, to remove the fear of God from our hearts. I have seen the results of men living without the fear of God, famous evangelists in the United States, dear friend of mine, who I still love deeply, was exposed before the whole world, visiting prostitutes.

But the real cause of pornography that started when he was a teenager, and I've seen the shipwreck of one of my spiritual sons, director of one of our drug programs, wonderful young preacher, a wife and two children, sweet-hearted man, tender-hearted, winning many souls to Christ.

But a change came over him. His wife couldn't understand it. He would spend hours alone in his office. But she noticed that his preacher became dead. There was no life. He was changing as a person. The drug addicts were going back to their drugs.

The finances were drying up. She said, something's very wrong. So she went upstairs and opened the door to his office and just looked inside. And he was watching child pornography. She screamed. She said, what's going on?

And he told her. He said, I am hooked on pornography. And he said, I'm going to tell you this. If you don't watch with me, I'm going to walk away, I'm going to divorce you, and I'm leaving the ministry.

She loved her husband. And for a few months she did just that. And while she was watching with him one night, she could feel Satan trying to come and possess her. She ran out of the room. She said, never again.

She called me. She told me the story. I flew them to our house. And for a few days I tried to minister to this man who was headed for shipwreck and divorce. And he'd already lost his anointing. He said, Brother David, I'm hooked.

It started just with curiosity. And I preached the love of God. And I just felt that I could break off anytime I could choose. And God is a God of mercy. And what he actually did is what so many do. They indulge in their sin or their lust.

Then before they go to bed, they say this little prayer. O God of mercy and grace, forgive me. And they say, I believe in the grace of God. My God's a merciful God. He said, if a man forgives 70 times 7, how many times will God forgive me?

Go right to sleep. Get up the next day and do the same thing all over again. And this young man turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. That's all he could preach. Because if you're living in sin, the only message you have is grace.

The only message you have is mercy. Because you're under the need of that mercy. And you're hoping God is giving you grace and mercy. While you continue to live in sin. You would dare never preach against sin.

You would never cry out against these things. Because you know you'd stand before the judgment. And have a double damnation for not practicing what you preach. I couldn't help it. He divorced her. Left the ministry.

Turned to the occult. And married a witch. This is why I preach so strongly on this. I was in a crusade recently. After the service, the pastor meets me. And through an interpreter, he told me this. He said, in my country, 600 people is a large church.

Curiosity, Explicit Media, and Spiritual Shipwreck

I pastored one of the largest churches in this country. Happily married and two children. A soul winner. And I love the Lord. But he said, one day I was walking down the street. And there was a theater.

Featuring homosexual movies. He said, I never had a homosexual thought in my whole life. But I was curious. And I heard a still voice. Saying, how can you understand homosexuals? Unless you see what they do and what it's like.

Go in and watch one film. He went in and watched one film. He stayed for a second film. He said, Brother David, when I walked out. I was a changed man. I was given over for reprobate mind. Because immediately I had the urge to go to a bus station.

And practice an act of homosexuality. He said, look at me. I lost my church. My wife and children. And I live on the streets. Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall. There's a scripture in Luke, the second chapter.

It's verses 68 through 75. Why don't you turn there, please? Luke, the second chapter. Verses 68 to 75. Let me give it to you. I have the wrong verse. The Bible says that you may live in fear, without fear, all the days of your life.

That the Savior was sent. That you may live free from fear of your enemies. All the days of your life. Now, folks, that has been misused. That has been used by some to say, do you understand that in the New Testament, under the grace of God, we no longer live under fear?

Luke tells us that we are no longer under fear. That has nothing to do with the fear of God. That has to do with the fear of your enemies. You're not to fear men anymore. God was to deliver them from the fear of man.

Biblical Warnings Against Presumption

Now, there is a godly fear. And when I have heard the fear of God described, most have said it's an awe for God, it's a respect for God. But I'm here to tell you that it goes much further than that. It includes the awe, respect that goes deeper than that.

David said in Psalm 36 .1, and let me quote him. The transgression of the wicked says within my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes. Here's what he's saying. When I see a man living in sin without conviction, without a condemnation about his sin, he said, my heart tells me something.

That man's living in sin because there's no fear of God in his eyes. He said, when I see a transgressor, my heart witnesses to me he's never known the fear of God. If he knew the fear of God, he would not be living in this sin.

You see, if sin is overcome, or we maintain the anointing and power over sin through the fear of God, and the Bible said it's through mercy and truth, then how do I get the fear of God? I believe it comes through a conscious decision to get into this book and read and believe and do everything that God commands and never to take it lightly.

Ezra was a man who was full of the fear of God and he tells us how he got that fear of God. The Scripture said he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord. And to do it. The Bible says he made a decision.

I want to walk in the fear of God. I want the power of God in my life. So he made a conscious decision. I will be a man of this word. I will obey it. I'll be convicted by it. The fear of God, the Bible says in Jeremiah 32, God made a promise.

I will put my fear in your heart. Now that's not just some kind of a supernatural dropping of it into our hearts. It's not a matter of getting on my knees. It's saying to the Lord, the Bible says by mercy and truth my sin is purged.

I maintain my righteousness. Now folks, I know that it's only through faith in Jesus Christ and through the mercy of God and His forgiveness we're forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ only. But all through the Bible it says by the fear of the Lord men depart from their iniquities.

And by mercy and truth sin is purged. Now we accept the mercy part. But we don't understand the truth part. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. We quote that verse. We have no concept of what it means.

All right, you know the truth. And the truth will set you free. There has to be a revelation of the Holy Spirit of the full concept of God's nature. Every aspect of His nature. Mercy and grace balanced by God's wrath against sin.

The law of God is necessary to show us the exceeding sinfulness of our sins and drive us to the cross of Jesus. We don't have the concept of the truth. Remember the revelation was given to Moses. I am the Lord God of mercy and long-suffering and grace.

But he also said this. I am the Lord that will by no means clear the guilty. He's saying when I show you my mercy when I show you my grace you're able to teach it and you're able to preach it. And yet you turn down the power of my grace and in rebellion against my grace you continue to indulge in your sins.

He said I will by no means clear the guilty. I'd like to share with you how God put His fear in my heart. Many years ago when I was a very young evangelist I was conducting a meeting, a youth crusade in a major city.

Personal Conviction and the Discipline of the Eyes

And just at that time X-rated movies were introduced into television in the hotels and motels. I had just preached to a huge crowd. The altars were filled. And I went into the room and I saw the advertisement.

And out of curiosity I turned it on. It was only on for 10 -15 minutes perhaps. But conviction came. Condemnation came. And I knew it was sin. I knew it was filth. And I took a walk the next day. And I was out in a wheat field.

There was no houses, nobody around. And I was walking and I was praying. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He said, David, if you continue in this if you don't allow my fear in your heart I'm going to take away your anointing you still preach but you're going to preach death.

You'll still travel, but I'm not going with you. You will be like so many who get addicted and continue going through the motions. People won't know it but your wife will know it. You will not have the anointing and the unction.

God said, I will lift my hand from your ministry. And I began to tremble. And I thanked God for that day. But the years went by. The time came when I was in a foreign country to me a foreign country from the United States and there was a news story that broke.

And I wanted to try to get CNN to find out what was happening. I make it a practice not to turn television on anywhere I go. I don't have a television and I make it a practice not to turn it on when I travel.

But I turned it on and in trying to find CNN I saw this was free television not paid television not something you order it was just on free television. I channeled through three stations just quickly the most horrible filth I've ever seen.

Filthy. And I pulled the plug out of the wall and I pulled the wires out of the wall. I said, I'm sorry Lord. Cleanse my eyes. Cleanse my thoughts. But the enemy came and whispered to me for the next two days just turn it on.

You have to know how wicked the age has become. And how can you know unless you understand and you see? You're too serious about this. God's a God of love. And if you feel condemned ask the Lord to forgive you and everything's going to be all right.

And I called my wife and I asked her to pray and she's the only one I told and I cried out, Lord, I'm being tempted. God, you have to help me. And the Lord said, go to the Word. And I got my Bible and my eyes fell on 1 Corinthians 10 .9 Neither let us tempt Christ.

And some of them also tempted and they were destroyed by serpents. And here's what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. David, do not tempt me. You're talking about your temptation. But I'm telling you you are tempting me now.

Just like the children of Israel did with the Midianites. And when you read the 10th chapter of 1 Corinthians he tells of the story. He was talking about falling into fornication. He was talking about the people of God and the priesthood falling into lust.

And he said, take heed when you think you stand lest you fall. That's here in the 10th chapter. And he said, don't tempt Christ as some of them tempted and were destroyed. 23 ,000 were killed. And what he's saying David, don't tempt Christ.

I'm the same yesterday, today and forever. And if you turn against my grace and I've given you all these examples you have the example of 23 ,000 dead Christians they're dead people of God. You have all the warnings of the Holy Spirit.

And you have heard my warning when you have all of these warnings you have all of these examples and this is what the apostle says in the 10th chapter. All of these things happened to them as examples to us.

Paul said, I'm talking to the church about lust. I'm talking about the spirit of the age. I'm talking about these things that destroy and defile. He said, I'm taking you into the Old Testament and I'm showing you God's heart.

Merciful God a leader or a pastor Moses who had a revelation of the mercy of God He said, but in spite of all my warnings they rebelled against my word and against the testimony of my spirit and I speak the mind of God tonight and I speak it without fear.

I have not reached perfection. I'm not holy as I want to be. I'm not as holy as people think I am and all my righteousness is in Christ and I don't compare myself with any other man. I don't try to be like any other man but Jesus but there's this word coming from heaven.

God is saying to His church and He's saying to His people watch out what you're watching. Watch out what you're seeing. I want clean hands and a pure heart. They that bear the vessels of God must be holy and righteous.

And God speaks through the apostle and I said in my room trembling with this Bible in my hand and going back and reading about the Midianites and the men and women of God going into harlotry and sodomy and it says they tempted God.

He said now don't you tempt Christ. Here is how I tempt Christ. I know what His word says about His righteous judgments. I know how God loves me but I know how He hates sin. I know how much He's dealt with me by His Holy Spirit.

I know how much gospel I've heard and I have been warned. I have seen great men of God fall on my right. I can fall on my left and on all sides. I have the testimony of fallen shipwrecked men all around me and God said I'm no respecter of persons they loved me, they prayed but they tempted me.

And what it is when I tempt Christ is to go to the very brink of my sin to see how far I can go. How great is your grace. O God you surely will not judge me for this. You are a loving Christ. You will not judge me for this sin.

I tempt Him to judge me. I am saying I'm not afraid of your judgment. I see it all around me. I see it all through the word. I hear it from the Holy Ghost. And yet I rebel and I say just five minutes just ten minutes.

I'll go to God. I'll confess it. You see I've tempted Christ. I've tempted His mercy. I've tempted His grace. I've tempted Him, I've tried Him to judge me. I am daring God to put His hand on me and judge me.

And when I saw that I said oh God that's the secret. That's what the Bible is saying. Mercy and truth. Now I've had your mercy but now I have your truth. I've been convicted by truth. It's the truth that's setting me free.

Now this truth has put the fear of God in me. That's where you get the fear of God the truth, and that truth sets you free. And I want to stand here now and I boast not in my flesh but I thank God that when He put His fear in my heart that night I have rejoiced in it ever since.

And it's been a wall around me. And every day I pray give me a greater revelation of the fear of Almighty God. And folks that will make you appreciate His mercy all the more. It glorifies His mercy. Folks, in closing, I'm not going to preach much longer.

Cleansing the Spirit: Discouragement and Murmuring

He talks about a way of escape. Remember what Peter said to Ananias and Sapphira a Holy Ghost Church. Great preaching a wonderful fellowship. God is moving and convicting by His Spirit. Peter said, how is it.

He said, how can this happen. That in this atmosphere with such revelation and truth you have agreed to tempt the Spirit of God. You have agreed to do it. You made an agreement with your own heart and with one another.

Paul takes it beyond the flesh and it goes into the Spirit. Remember what the Bible says cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and the Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God. And he begins to speak in verse 10 of that which is in the Spirit.

And folks, sometimes in fact, you may be sitting here now. You say, this message has nothing to do with me. I'm living in total victory. There's no sin in my life. I have no problem with all of these things you speak of and I thank God for that.

But Paul digs a little deeper. There's a filthiness of the flesh and there's a filthiness of the Spirit. And he said, we're to cleanse ourselves from that which is flesh and Spirit filthiness. And you find that sin of the Spirit in verse 10.

Neither murmur you as some have murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. He said, I've talked to you about this problem of fornication and lust and the filthiness of the flesh. He said, now let me tell you why they were truly destroyed.

Let me show you the ultimate sin that finally brought the wrath of God. And 23 ,000 people were destroyed. He said, they murmured. They complained and said, is God with us? He's talking about a spirit of discouragement and how I see that everywhere I go in Moscow a few years ago they came from Siberia, they came from all over Russia.

Some of the godliest men I've ever met on the face of the earth. Godly bishops powerful preachers. But on the second day I broke down on the platform while I was preaching, I broke down. I began to weep and wail.

At first I thought it was kind of a nervous breakdown but I knew it couldn't be that and I had to walk off the stage. They said when I left, weeping broke out all over the auditorium. I couldn't explain it but I met with some key pastors the next day and I tried to apologize.

I'm sorry, I don't know what that was about. They said, well we do. You're the first speaker to ever come here and weep over us first American. And they said you're weeping the heart of God because of new persecution that's coming because I had just prophesied that meetings like we were having may soon be stopped.

And they agreed we may not be able to meet in public halls like this again. But the last night my heart was still breaking. I said, God, what is it? And the Lord pointed out a spirit of discouragement.

Pastors who were thinking, is God really with me? Everyone else seems to be blessed. And I'm bypassed. And I asked this question how many pastors here tonight came to this conference in Moscow determined that this would be your last conference, your last meeting.

You're going to go home and quit the ministry through discouragement. Over 250 came forward broken discouraged ready to quit the ministry. In the United States the Assemblies of God are closing more churches than they're opening.

Almost every denomination churches are closing. Pastors' wives are discouraged. They're saying to their husbands we don't have to put up with this anymore. All the abuse the poverty. And I see this discouragement.

And I have to tell you no matter what you're going through no matter how you may be suffering seeing no fruit and feeling so alone I'm telling you our only satisfaction has to come with a personal relationship a full satisfaction with knowing Christ.

Whether I have any results no matter what I'm going through I have got to believe that this Word is true and that God is faithful and that He's going to see me through and I can find my joy. And I can find satisfaction in walking in His righteousness spending time with Him and leaning on His promises.