This sermon emphasizes the faithfulness of God in times of trials and challenges, recounting past experiences of provision and deliverance. It encourages trust in God's control and promises, highlighting the importance of seeking God's guidance and encouragement in the midst of calamities. The speaker urges the congregation to find strength in the Word of God, to fight for their faith, and to remember that God delights in His people, offering hope and peace in turbulent times.

Anyhow, but on a special matter, I've been preaching 55 years. And I have been through, this is the fourth recession. I was in the 70s. In the 1970s, went over 1,000 banks, went bankrupt. And every, I mean, unemployment was 8%, 9% or more than that, double what it is now. And we never missed a beat. We never missed a missions offering. All of our missions were supported, and God honored, and I traveled. And I went through the one in the 80s that everybody thought was the last one. And God took us through that one. And by the way, this church was purchased during, we're just coming out. In fact, we were still in the 87, 89 recession. We purchased this theater in the middle of that. And God just blessed. I remember now, with banks closing and all kinds of difficulties, I was traveling all over Europe and holding meetings. And Europe was down, and then the Asian rim countries that went down, they were auctioning off in Asia $100,000 Mercedes for $15,000 just to raise cash. And here we are again, and every prophetic book I've written, my goodness, I look back, there have been so many prophetic messages written here. Because when God told me to come to New York City to establish this church, two things mined. He said, find the holy remnant, build a remnant that will be prepared, and warn the city of the judgments to come. And God has kept his word, and now he's prepared a strong host in this city and around the country, there are a host. Because we believe, and always have, God has everything under control. God has everything under control. You're not going to go without something to eat. You're not going to go without clothes. Nobody's going to run around half naked. And God's going to make sure you have something over your head. And Paul said, having food and raiment, be satisfied with that. If you want to maintain your lifestyle, I don't have much scripture to prove that. I want to speak to you this morning on the subject, time to weep and a time to fight, time to weep and a time to fight. God, you're in this house. Folks, I said God is in this house. The glory of the Lord is here. It's wonderful to walk in to a church and you know that God is there. That God has come down and that God is doing the work and the Holy Spirit is breathing his breath, quickening our spirits. Thank God for his presence this morning. And Father, we give you the glory. We give you the honor. This is not about man or men. This is about the work of God in these last days. Hallelujah. Lord, we can shout in the face of all the things that we see that God is good, that God is gracious and merciful, and he will lead his people. If you can lead 3 million people through, complaining people through a wilderness. And Lord, if you can cover them from the shade at night and the blazing sun of the day, and you can do that without a Walmart. Thank you, God, for today, for your blessing. Hallelujah. Folks, I'm not being facetious, but that's a miracle, how God with nothing, with nothing, saw his people through. Glory to God. Nobody seems to know what's going on today. No politician, no government leader. In one of my books, years ago, I said I saw a picture of the president calling all his staff and all of his economists together and saying, what happened, how did this happen? And that's already happened. But there's no one that has the answer. All of the world leaders, the financiers and leaders of all the nations are meeting, and they come away from those meetings with no answers. It's impossible. Now, I want you to know that God will not leave his church without answers. We may not understand the reasons. You see, it doesn't matter now who prophesied what and when, doesn't matter. I get calls saying, what's happening next? I don't know. I'm not a prophet, never have been. But God does not leave his people in the dark. He prepares us. He prepares his people, and you've been getting wonderful messages. We've been streaming it in, and we've been thrilled at what we've been hearing from this pulpit. God's people get their answers from one place only. And it sounds so simple, but it is. It's right here in this book. Now, if you don't want to take the time, you'll never get the answers. But if you will get into the book, my grandfather was a preacher, and my father was a preacher, and a whole line of preachers go way back. My father and my grandfather always believed that if you want to know the patterns of God's movement, if you want to know his nature and what he will do in the future, you see what he's done in the past, because it is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And Paul the Apostle said, these things that are in the Old Testament, these are patterns for our own learning, for our own learning in our time and our generation. What's happening right now is the fact that we're facing a very major calamity, a sudden calamity. Who would have believed that in the past three weeks, $8.25 trillion in wealth just vanished from the Earth. In just a few days, it was gone. And now, this past week in Europe, trillions more. Who would have believed that Russia, rushing into Georgia with its pride and its army itching to establish a name for itself, and come out humbled now with the collapse of the ruble. And all the oblongs and all the very wealthy billionaires now having to sell everything and losing all of their wealth. And God, in just a week, humbled Russia. What an amazing God we have who, you see, he has everything under control. And we've got to believe that with everything in our hearts. You see, the only way you and I can make it now is to go to this book and flood our minds with the Holy Ghost, with the truth, with the promises of God. And I was walking recently and praying with the Lord, and the Holy Spirit gave me a word. Now, it was for me, I'll share it with you, maybe it's for some of you here. Just walking and rejoicing and resting in the Lord and talking to the Holy Spirit, cuz you see, the Holy Spirit abides. He doesn't flit in and out of our lives. He's always there, and I keep that awareness that whatever I need, whatever answer I need, the Holy Spirit's there to support, if I just give him the time and the attention and the faith. And he said, David, you've been preaching for 55 years. This is how the Holy Spirit talks to me. I don't know how he talks to you. He talks to me like a friend. He talks to me as a revelation of the love of God, the combined revelation of the Father and the Son in and through the Holy Spirit. And I hear, he calls my name, by the way. Does he call your name? First thing he does is tell you how much he loves you, and he delights in you. He said, you've been preaching for 55 years, David. You've been all over the world telling everybody how great I am. You've been talking about how I delivered Daniel out of the lions' den, Hebrew children out of the fiery furnace. And you've been telling everybody around the world what a keeper I am. I will save and keep in hard times. And he said, you don't know how hard it's going to be. If you did, you'd be on your knees trembling. But he made it very, very clear to me. All of this preaching for 55 years, were those just words? Were those just platitudes? Now that you are gonna be face to face with things you've never seen or heard before, now are you going to begin to doubt me? Are you gonna allow these things to enter your heart, these news reports and these things? Are you gonna allow that now to drag you down? Will you become, the Bible warns that on the last day, scoffers will come. And it's possible to become a scoffer, and that is happening now all over the world. People who were examples of faith are being shipwrecked in their faith. Peter said, though everybody fail you, not I. Unless you dare sit in this congregation this morning and say, I would never fail, my faith is strong. I've got good preaching, I have a good church. And I read the word, I could never fail. He said, take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall. And it's important, there are some of you here, and I've seen those who seem to be so great examples of faith. Faith set like a flint. Jesus said, I set my heart like a flint. His unwavering faith in his Heavenly Father. In his Father. There will be many who just say, God is not answering my prayer. Things are getting worse. And there's no evidence of God answering my request. I fast, I pray. And there's gonna be a testing of our faith such as the world has ever seen. But God is there and he is faithful. And when we just constantly get in this word and I go into the word and find something, it jumps off the pages. And I know it's for me. And that's the essence of what I want to share with you this morning. I went into the Old Testament, and I found the example of David. And how he reacted to a calamity. How did this great man of God, a man after God's own heart. Do you remember the story? I'll go over it very quickly with you. He had been running from Saul and he went down to Gath. Now that was an act of disbelief, of unbelief in David's heart. David allies himself with the Philistines. So much is he involved in this, and so out of the will of God at that particular time, he joins the Philistines. In an anticipated invasion of Israel. And they find out who David is, and he's got his 600 men over here, a whole battalion, and some of the captains of the Philistine army said, well, isn't that the one who killed our giant? What's he doing here? Send him home. Now, they had encamped while David was out on expeditions, looking for spoils and food to support his army and family. He had put his family in a town called Ziklag. Now, David is now asked to leave the encampment of the Philistines, and he's heading back to Ziklag, a three day journey. They come over a hill, and they see smoke, and when they get to it, they can't believe it, and as they race down the hillside, they notice the truth hits them right in the face. The Malachites had invaded Ziklag just the day or so before, kidnapped the wives and the children, the whole family, took all of the cattle, took everything, and there's nothing left but ashes. And the Bible says, David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters were taken captive. How does David react? Now, we know his men are not in a place spiritually as David is. How did these 600 men, now, these are proven soldiers. They've been through so much warfare, and seen so much bloodshed, and been so hard, and these men don't weep. And what does David do? David does not, at first flash, when you look the calamity in the eye, when it's standing there right before you, these men begin to tremble, these men begin to weep, and they fell on their faces, stunned, disbelief. How could this happen? All of our family, all of our children, and the Bible said, and they wept until there were no more tears left. And they were so bitter that this had happened. How can God allow this, and why? We're doing God's work, and they're face to face again. I mean, folks, this was a horrible calamity. When you lose your family, David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of the people was so grieved. Now, my beloved friends, there's a time to tremble, there's a time to weep. You see, what we face is something the world has never faced before in this measure. And when I saw the front page two weeks ago of The Economist, and the front page, and there's a picture, there's a drawing of a man standing on a cliff. And the headlines were this, the whole world is about to collapse. My knees trembled. There was an inner trembling, literally, I think. And David didn't stand there before that calamity and said, well, God is God. These things happen. Tell that to 600 men who've lost their family, and their home, and everything. Just tell them, just trust God. We have a tendency to do that. I used to do that so much that if someone would call me, it happened recently to me. An evangelist called me, he just got word that he has blood cancer, and it's inoperable. And he said, Brother Dave, you've been my friend for years, and I want to live. But he said, I've had at least 200 voices coming at me from all sides. And he said, do you have a word for me? I said, no. I said, I used to. I used to have a dozen scriptures I'd pick out before I'd call you. And you've heard 200 voices already. And I said, I love you so much, I have to tell you, you have to get your own word from God. You have to have something from God. He said, Brother Dave, I received that. I received it. And you see, David is standing there. Now, Biathar, the priest, is standing there, and the Biathar can't help him. He has no word for him. He's got some of the wisest men of the known world at that time in Israel that had followed him. And not a wise man could give him a word. You see, there's a time to weep. And if you tell me that you see the troubles in the world today, and you don't tremble, and there's not something, it's the concern for wives and children, because you as a man say, well, I can make it, but it's my family. And this is a family thing. This is about the family. It's about where do we go now, and what happens to my family? And David, in the midst of all this weeping, and I'm sure David stepped aside. There's no man can help him, and he steps aside, and the Bible said, and he inquired of the Lord. He said, I need a word. I need to hear from God. Now, folks, I believe what the scripture says. God uses the preaching of the word to encourage. He uses counselors. He uses friends. David, remember, talked to Abigail, who was advising him not to take revenge when he had been hurt by her husband. And she was to be his soon-to-be wife. And the scripture says, he said, see, I have listened to your advice. I've taken your advice. He said, I've learned something. But you see, there comes a time when not your wife, not your husband, nobody can give you an answer. Now, what we do as pastors, and what you hear from this pulpit, this is the word of the living God. You see, David's word that he received. In fact, he called for the ephod. Now, the ephod was worn in the breastplate of the priest, and there were two stones, one black and white. I don't know what commentators don't really explain how they determine what was God's yes and what was God's no. But David said, bring me the ephod. I have to have a word. Not the priest, not the advisors. But I have to have a word that will keep me. I have to have a word that will see me through this. I don't know where my family is. My house is gone. Everything that I own is gone. I have nothing but the clothes on my back. But I'm going to trust God. I'm going to get a word from God. And he inquired of the Lord, and he got this word. And the word was, go, and you will recover all. Go, you'll recover all. Now, folks, hold on that word. Hold on it just a minute. You say, well, thank God I'm going to recover it all. David never did get his house back. He didn't get his furniture back. He didn't get his cattle back at that particular time. He got the cattle spoiled. What he had was brought back. But his lifestyle was going to change. He's never going back to that house. There's going to be a time of living in tents. But God never failed. They never went without a meal. And they did. Now, let me tell you. Let me follow this through. Because David's reaction has blessed me and brought such a peace and rest to my soul. There comes a time when pastors may not be available for a season. There comes a time when you hear all the voices. Now, first of all, you have to turn out every voice of humanity. All of these secular voices. You're not going to hear anything. There's nobody that's going to bring paradise to this country. There's no president. There's no Congress. There's no Senate. There's nobody that's going to bring peace and rest to your soul or my soul. He called for the ephod. And God spoke, go and you will recover everything. He's told to go. Go where? Where do you go? I don't know where the Amalekites are. I don't know who came in and burned my city down. I don't know. A lot of people are asking now. You see, David's men blamed him. Because, you know, when we face calamities and things, we look for somebody to blame. That's what's happening right now all over the world. Somebody to blame. So what now? I mean, you find out who to blame. You can't blame anybody. But David's men are blaming him and they have stones ready to stone him. That's human nature. Just find out what the cause is. The Lord's not concerned right now about the cause. He's concerned about the remedy. He's concerned about the way to victory and peace. Now, folks, this is going to come out with a real encouragement. If you'll just hold on. Are you with me now? David encouraged himself in the Lord. In Hebrews, the 12th chapter, 12th verse, strengthened the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble. Make straight paths for your feet so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Now, Isaiah is talking to God's people at this particular time. And this was a time of chaos also. Those that are weak in the knees and that are feeble, make straight paths for your feet so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint. He said, if doubts and fears begin to come, and this is what happened to David's men. They were out of joint. Any faith they'd had, they'd seen victory after victory. They'd seen God's hand upon them, God's provision. God had provided for everything. But now at this point, at this particular calamity, they're totally out of joint. And the Lord says, be careful. Be careful that your faith doesn't get out of joint. And if you're here today and you see when the news reports come, the first flash is fear. Am I right or wrong? The first impulse, the first thing that happens is this human fear. That's natural, and God understands that. But you can't live on evil forebodings. You can't live on bad news. You have to go to the Scripture. You have to get alone and begin to inquire the Lord. And like David encouraged himself in the Lord. He encouraged himself. Now folks, thank God for what happens here on Sundays. You can come to three services and get your spirit built up. You can get the word, but the word that's preached, whether I preach it or any one of these dear men preach it, that word has to become life in you. It can't just be something. How quickly our Sunday morning blessing fades at the face of some of the things that happen outside. That Sunday morning blessing, that Sunday morning clap, that Sunday morning joy can fade very quickly. You've got to get home yourself and get into the book of Psalms and start reading Psalm 34 and 121 and start just until these verses take life on hold of you. Not because somebody else is there, but you are building yourself up in the faith. You are encouraging yourself in the Lord. And then when you come to the house of God, God just emphasizes everything he's already said. You'll be able to say to amen to everything that's preached from this pulpit. You'll be able to say amen. And you'll be able to withstand any storm. David sets out in some direction because he has a voice behind him saying, this is the way, walk in it, go this way. And he is out probably half day's journey or so. And someone brings to him a half dead Egyptian slave. And David says, who are you? You know, I think God must've been smiling. Said, David, that's your deliverance. A half dead Egyptian, almost dead. Bible says David fed him and gave him water. And he says, do you know where, do you have any idea? He had told him, he said, well, I was the Amalekites and I was a servant and I got sick. And so my master just dropped me. And David said, you know where they are? And he said, yes. If you promise not to turn me over to my master, I'll take you right to him. Give me a horse and put him on a horseback, led him right to the Amalekites. You see, God has 100, 200, 300 million ways to deliver his people. He's got a half dead Egyptian somewhere. I'm not being facetious. If you start off, David, you're going to cover all. And the way God's going to do this, you're going to be out in the middle of the desert and there's going to be a man dying. An Egyptian of all people, you're going to be an Egyptian and he's going to be your deliverance. Now, let me tell you something. God has promised to deliver all his people. God said he's going to deliver us. I said, God said he's going to deliver us. He's not going to tell you how. We want to know how you're going to do it. Lord, where are you going to get the bread? Lord, how are the trucks going to get into New York? You wouldn't believe it if he told you. I wouldn't believe it. The way God has answered some of my prayers in the 1970s when I came challenged over in Brooklyn, the drug center. We were broke. We didn't have any money. And I was in hospital with a throat problem on Staten Island. And so we did the only thing Christians know how to do. Fast and pray. We didn't call anybody, didn't get nervous. And we fasted and prayed. First of all, I had a huge lump in my throat from one of those viruses I couldn't swallow. Some lady from Milwaukee walked in the hospital, heard I was in hospital, walked in, said, get up. Spit it out. Words to that effect. I thought she was a crazy woman. I went in the bathroom and I spit up the great big thing had been holding it up from Milwaukee. I went over to Teen Challenge Center and one of the secretaries said, well, there's a surprise up on your desk. And there was a check for $25,000. Do you know where it came from? Not Milwaukee. Oh, that's nothing. Milwaukee's nothing. It was from Mongolia. From a missionary who had written books. And he was in his 80s and he said, I'm an old man. I've heard about your work. And God told me to send you $25,000, my life savings. If you'd have told me that, you'd say, brother Dave, I'll tell you what, God has a plan for you. And for your ministry, he's going to save your ministry. And it did. $25,000 is like $250,000 now, really. And you said, well, there's a missionary who'd been writing books for years and up in the end of the world. And God's just going to speak to him in prayer one day and send you $25,000. I'd have laughed you out of my office. God has a way. In that turmoil, he couldn't accept it, the prophecy God had given to him, but he was on the way to the throne to great blessings. We're going to come through it, folks, because he does everything under control. Last thing I want to say before I close. David said, he delivered me into a large or pleasant place, and he delivered me because he delighted in me. Now, if you don't get anything else from what I'm sharing with you this morning, get this. You have got to know, see, we have something better than the Nephite. We hear the voice of the Lord through the Holy Spirit who abides in us. You don't have to call for an ephod. You have the voice of the Holy Spirit abiding in us. But you've got to know and believe in all your heart that he delights in you, that he delights in his children. He's a heavenly father who delights. I'm a father of four children, a grandfather of 10 grandchildren, and about to be a great-grandfather. Did you hear what I said? Gwen's gone ballistic. Finally, after all these years. Isn't it wonderful to be able to smile in the face of everything that comes? To be able to smile and to know that our heavenly father, the Holy Spirit is the full expression of God's love through Christ, a full expression. There could be no greater expression that God can give us but that he could put his love, put his love and send the Holy Ghost on a mission to comfort us in time of trouble and to direct us when we have no direction. If you would, you have to be fully committed to that. That has to be something that, that's the flint, he said, to set your heart like flint. Holy Spirit, you abide in me. You are the full expression of God's love in Jesus Christ and as much as he loved and kept his son, you will love and keep me because we are bone of his bone and we are flesh of his flesh and live or die, whether the mountains fall into the sea, no matter how the world shakes, when everything is shaken, one thing is sure, God delights in me. God delights in you and he will not fail you. Will you stand please? Hallelujah. Well, glory to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh God, help us to set our hearts. Help us to set our hearts. Lord, let us remember what is being said from this pulpit, from every pastor that comes and what we hear this morning and what we'll hear the rest of this day. Oh Lord, let it produce in us that unwavering flint like faith and let us make that our daily prayer. Forgive my unbelief, help my unbelief and Lord, when there's fear and trembling, even Moses trembled when God was shaking things. He said, I tremble, but oh God, there comes a time to stand up and fight. Fight for the faith. Lord, I get up every day and I fight for my faith. I fight off the lies of the devil. I fight off my fears and I go to the Word of God and I fight with the Scripture. You've given us mighty weapons for the pulling down of satanic strongholds and we are strong in the Lord and we will not fail in that day. We will be a testimony to the whole world that the God we preach all these years, the Christ we preach is good and alive and he works and he keeps and he satisfies. Hallelujah. Lord, you said my people shall never be put to shame. My people shall never be put to shame. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Praise your hands. Thank God for his promises. Thank God for his faith. He's been good to you. I said God's good to you. Give him thanks. God, you've been good. You have been so good. Hallelujah. We will not fear for you've not given us the spirit of fear, but love and power and a sound mind. Glory to God. Lord, it's not just noise that we make. These are not just words that come out of our flesh, but they flow. That's the well of living water that springs up within us of thanksgiving and faith and hope and rest in you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, Jesus. Thank you. The Lord just wants you to thank him. He wants you to thank you for the faithfulness that he's given to you. And oh, wonderful faithfulness. Hallelujah. If there's ever a time you need to have a walk with Christ, an intimate walk with Jesus that's available to everyone in this building, up in the balcony here, main floor. If there's been a problem in your life that I cannot comprehend. I don't understand where people go today who don't know Christ, who've distanced themselves from the only hope that's left and the only safe place in the world today. And you can come into that safe place. You can come into the hiding place in Christ. If you're here this morning, maybe you walked here and you're here for the first time, or maybe you've been here a few times that you've never really made a full, complete decision to follow Christ and surrender your life completely to him. Even in the annex, those in the overflow rooms, I'm giving you an opportunity now to just step out. The Lord said, if you confess me before men, I'll confess you before my father and all the angels of heaven. I'll confess you as my own. And that takes a step of faith. We're really not interested in getting you to join this church. We're not interested in your money. We're interested in the fact that you need a safe place. You need Christ now more than you have ever needed him. And he offers you now this hope and this rest, a place to go, a place to find peace. Up in the balcony, you can step to the stairs on either side. And those in the overflow rooms, if you'll just go to the hallway where you entered, ushers are there, they'll show you down and come here and meet me here. I want you to make an open confession for Christ. Please don't come unless the Spirit of God is tugging at your heart. We're not interested in numbers. We're interested in life and death issues here. That's what this church is all about, life and death issues. Step out of your seat and come and we will show you the simplicity that is in Christ. You don't have to sign anything. You don't have to, nobody's gonna try to persuade you. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. While they're singing, this is an invitation for you to step out and come. Please, only those whom God is speaking to. If you've run from Christ, if you've grown estranged from Christ, you come with those that are coming now. Up in the balcony, in the overflow, wherever you're at, come and meet me here at the front. I'll pray for you in just a moment. For those that step forward, if you look this way for just a moment, I'll just speak very quickly to you, to your heart. I know the Holy Spirit's already prepared your heart. He said he's more willing to give than you are to receive. He never turns away a hungry heart, never. So you can rest assured that he's going to hear you cry. He said if you confess your sins with your mouth and believe in your heart, you shall be saved. You will be saved. Saved from your own flesh, saved from the old desires. Because when you say Jesus, come in, the Holy Spirit opens the door. So the Holy Spirit is the one who called you, the one who made the Word kind of stir your heart. He stirs, and he woos, and he's wooing you to himself. Now your part right now is to give him faith, just faith and confession of your sin. Nobody needs to know what they are. They're mountains. I mean, you forget trying to enumerate them, they're too many. You bring them all, and he forgives them all. There's a simple prayer, and it's just a first step prayer. And then you begin to talk to him on your own and receive the Word from the Lord. Will you pray with me? Lord Jesus, I'm acting on your Word. I'm coming with an open heart. I want to be cleansed and forgiven of all my sins. Lord, I've sinned against you and against truth, but I humble myself and say, Lord Jesus, be my Savior, my Redeemer. Cleanse me and blot out my past and draw me by your precious Holy Spirit into a new life to rest and hope. Now let me pray for you. And while I'm praying, I want you to believe God has heard your cry. You're not saved by the amount of tears you shed, though you may shed tears. You're not saved by making God promises. He knows your heart, and he knows you can't keep them without the Holy Spirit. So while I'm praying for the Holy Spirit to come, would you ask the Holy Spirit, just breathe it out in prayer, or in your mind, you may even think it. Right now, Lord, I'm asking you, Holy Spirit, to come and do a work in every individual that has come honestly before you. Holy Spirit, this is beyond man. This is beyond my doing. It's beyond any servant of God. No one can complete this work but you, Holy Spirit. Oh, you are so faithful, Holy Spirit. You're in this building. You stand with us. You are here. We open our hearts, cause every heart to be open fully now, to begin to grow in Jesus, to say, this is my first step. Now bring peace. You said, my peace I'll give to you now. Not as the world gives you, but I'm giving you my peace. And Lord, bring our hearts into complete rest. And to believe that the God who gives us eternal life is the God who keeps us while we're still here on this earth. Would you just say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.