In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the story of Moses and his journey from failure to success. He encourages listeners not to give up just because they have failed, emphasizing that failure is not unique and that others have faced similar challenges. The speaker highlights Moses' transformation from a man sitting by a well, feeling like a failure, to a powerful leader who performs miracles and leads a nation. The sermon concludes with the message of facing and overcoming failures in one's life.

My message tonight, facing your failures, facing your failures. When I was in South Africa, I had a conference with a heartbroken pastor. I'll never forget as he tearfully confessed to me his story of personal failure in his life, how defeated he was. He told me he had trouble in his home, that the enemy had been battling his soul for weeks, that he felt that he was going to go under and he needed a miracle in his life and he wanted a word of wisdom from the Lord from me. And I'll never forget what he said. He said, David, your books tell of God's blessing in your life, about miracles, how God answers prayer for you, of all the victories over the powers of hell that you've experienced, how God has supplied your needs. And he said, it all sounds like a New Testament experience for you day after day. He said, why doesn't it seem to work for me? Are you that much closer to the Lord than I am? Do you pray that much more than I do? Could it be that my thoughts are more wicked than yours? He said, why should I be tempted while you are apparently being so blessed? He said, is there no failure in your life at all? Are you more or less a saint as your book would make you out to be perhaps? He said, would you please, Brother Wilkerson, tell me something about failure in your life so that I won't feel like a freak or so hopeless and helpless. I'll never forget the expression on his face. He had told me he'd read the stories of Billy Graham and Oral Roberts and men that God had used. Many had read my books and he said, of course, when you came to South Africa, I was determined to get along with you and find out whether the books only told half the story. If there wasn't another side to your life, and maybe I could find out whether as a little insignificant pastor here in South Africa, that I was just some unusual kind of being and going through such problems and tests and failures. I stayed there for an hour, talking to that man right out of my heart, just pouring my heart out to him and telling him some of the battles, some of the problems and some of the gross failures in my life in the past 10 years. And I noticed the longer I went, he folded his hands and the smile got broader and broader. And when I was all finished, he said, well, what do you know? He said, my problem seems so little, not insignificant. He said, in fact, my failures don't seem so bad now, after what I've heard you confess here today about your great problems in your life and the battles that you've fought and the enemy that's plagued you and every victory that you've had, you've had to fight it through by faith. And he was greatly encouraged. The truth of the matter is, my Christian friend, that Bible biographies are much closer to the truth than contemporary biographies about men that God is using today. I've read through the life stories of Jacob and David and Jonah, these men who ran, these adulterers, and I read these stories and I'm shocked and I'm embarrassed and I blush and I say, God, how could you have ever used him? How could you have ever used such men? And the Bible doesn't gloss over it. The Bible doesn't whitewash it. You can read it. It's all there in black and white. It's in your Bible. And yet these men rose out of their failure and were men of the Spirit. Let's take a deep, long look at the glaring failures in the lives of men that God has used. Would you consider Moses a failure? Hardly. Let's take a look at this man as he waves a rod and plagues an entire nation. See him stand over the sea and divide it asunder. See his armies pass over dry land and the armies of Pharaoh smothered. Look at his face as it is alive with the glory of God as he comes from his presence, lit up with the glory of God as no other man on earth. See a nation, an entire nation at his knees, seeking his judgment and his advice and leadership. Here's the man who talked face to face with the Almighty, who brought water from a rock, who made bitter water sweet. You would hardly call this great man a failure, would you? Not until you go behind the scene, behind the glory, deep into his personal life, and then all you can find, friend, when you look real close, is failure upon failure. How would you like to begin your ministry with the murder, for example? How would you like to find a clear clarion call of God, soured by 40 years alone in a desert, hiding from the courts of justice? And remember, the courts of justice would demand that he come before them. This man had murdered an Egyptian. How would you ever believe that a man of so many weaknesses could ever be used of God? After all, this man at one time was full of fear and unbelief. Exodus, the fourth chapter, the tenth to thirteenth verses gives us four excuses this man of God used when God called him. He said, I'm not eloquent, I'm slow of speech. He said, send somebody else. Who is this talking now? Here's the man of God. Here is Moses, the leader of a nation. Here's the man who angered the Lord. In fact, this is the only place I can find in the Bible that so great a man of God, it was said of him, an indictment that he angered the Lord. Exodus 4, 14, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against, and God names him, against Moses. You think of the children of Israel murmuring, but don't forget that Moses murmured long before the children of Israel murmured when he said in Exodus 5, 22, and Moses returned to the Lord and said, why have you treated the people so evil? Why did you send me? Thou hast not delivered thy people at all. This man had a temper tantrum at times. In fact, it was his angry outburst at the smiting of the rock that so angered God that God refused to allow him to enter the promised land. This was a man of a temper. This was a man who murmured. This is a man who angered God, a man full of unbelief, a man full of excuses. But in spite of these failures, of him the Bible declares, and I don't think any of this can really sound the depth of description I'm going to give you now, and Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. God makes it clear the day would come that the testimony of Moses' life would be faithfulness. There you have it. This is God speaking of a failure. Consider with me Jacob, the man who was numbered among the greatest. For of him the Bible says, we serve the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Now who was this man, Jacob? Was he not the prayer warrior, the intercessor who prevailed with God? Was not Jacob the man who had visions of angels ascending and descending, and the man who so recognized the presence of God that he said, surely God is in this place. Was he not the man who said, and I quote him, God spoke to me in a dream saying, Jacob, Jacob. And I said, here am I. Jacob was trying to tell the world God talks to me personally. The man, Jacob, was the one who carried with him the blessing of his father Abraham to be the father of many nations? Yes, this was Jacob. Hardly a failure by our standards of success today. But Jacob was more than that. He was a man of many failures, and God never did seek to hide them. They're all there, and they're glaring failures. See him kneel, first of all, before a blind father. A blind father in an act of deception that mimics anything in the whole world. See him steal a birthright and a blessing in this act of deception. Here's the man who married Leah, but was in love with Rachel. And while married to Leah, it is said, and Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed but to him a few days for the love that he had unto her. This is speaking of another woman. Can you imagine how hard it must have been for his wife Leah? The scripture said, and he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and the Lord saw that Leah was hated. In fact, God opened this hated woman's womb to assist her in winning the love and the attention of Jacob. A man who did not recognize his responsibility as a husband. Now, no matter what it may be said of the day and the time, and no matter how we may wink at the constitution of men in that time, there is no rationale for his action. There is no rationale in any generation for any man acting as Jacob did. Jacob, in fact, was a failure as a husband to Leah. She kept saying to herself after each birth of a man child, now surely this time will my husband be joined unto me? This man was a failure in his home. Here's the story of a man caught in deception and graft and unfaithfulness and polygamy, thievery and craftiness. Yet it is still said, we serve the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. The Bible does not hide it. Now, consider David the patriarch. Was this not the man of God who would not even stand with sinners or sit in the seats of the scornful? Is it he the man who delighted in the law of the Lord, who asked the heathen for heritage, who preached righteousness to the whole congregation, who served the Lord with fear and trembling, who led the armies of Israel from victory to victory? Was David not the giant killer, the man who evoked the respect of thousands who sang his praises and talked of his exploits? Was this not the king who was promised that his seeds would reign forever? Was it not said that Jesus was the son of David, not the son of Abraham, the son of David, Jesus the son of David? Would you consider David a failure? The Bible does not gloss over this man's failure, and they were shocking by any standard. He was the man who sent Joab into battle with all of the armies of Israel while he sunned himself on a rooftop in Jerusalem, and according to Nathan the prophet, he despised the commandments of the Lord. Yes, the man who said, the law of God is my delight, Nathan said, you despised it. Then Nathan the prophet pointed a finger at him and said, thou art the man, wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah, in essence he said, you are a murderer, David. You have had Uriah the Hittite slain by the sword of the children of Amnon. You have taken his wife. Thou hast despised me, and thou didst it secretly, and because of this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. And friends, if you want to see how shocking it is, if you want to see how world-shaking it is, just picture this great man of God, the king of a mighty nation, standing at the casket of a dead illegitimate child, standing hand in hand with a stolen wife. The enemies of God around the world laughing and blaspheming this man who wrote such beautiful music, and out of whose lips and heart poured such praises to almighty God. He stands at the casket of an illegitimate dead son. A failure by any standard, by any stretch of the imagination. David was a failure. Nevertheless, of David the Bible says, Jesus the son of David, and also the Lord saw him, a man after his own heart, to be captain over his people, David. Now how can God use the murderous Moses, the scheming Jacob, the commandment-breaking adulterous David? How can God use these men? I want you to know, friends, when you look very close into their lives, you'll find that these men learned to face their failures. They didn't run from them, they didn't hide them, they didn't gloat in them, but they learned how to live above them, they learned how to face it and bring glory to the name of God. I remember last night a woman coming to me, confessing, Mr. Wilkerson, she was real heartbroken. I've been going to Christian center church, I was an alcoholic, the Lord saved me and filled me with the Holy Ghost, and I hadn't touched drink in many weeks and months. But she said, lately I've been discouraged, the enemy has come in like a lion, and lately, I'm sorry to say, I've been drinking. And she was heartbroken. And she said, I've just failed God so much, there's nothing else for me to do, I just feel I've got to quit. Same night, last night, standing against the wall, to the left of the auditorium, was a sailor, and when I went to him to pray with him and talk to him, he said, just leave me alone, Mr. Wilkerson, there's no use spending any time with me, it won't work. I used to go to a Pentecostal church before I went to the Navy, I've known the Lord and I love Him, and I don't want to run from Him, but I just can't live for Him, because I'm too weak, and I've failed God over and over again, and there's just no use, you can't do anything for me, you can't help me, just leave me alone. There are thousands of people like this around the world today, facing a terrible dilemma, and I suppose years ago, before God began to deal with me on this, I would have called them outright rank sinners, but I don't think that's the case, I believe there are Christians that attend our church, there are other Christians who come to our churches on Sunday night to attend our evangelistic services, and it's not that they despise the Lord, I believe there are many that pray at night, and are still in their way seeking after God, but they say I can't live it, I don't have the power, I've been such a failure, there's just no use trying. Like one said to me the other day, I would serve the Lord, but I'm too weak, I just keep falling and failing and going back, so I don't even try to be a Christian now. And if you're facing that kind of a battle, and this is your confession, I'd like to say to you that you're closer to the kingdom of God, than the man or the woman who tries to hide their sin, and act like an angel, and never admit their need of the failure. You're closer to the kingdom of God. Now let me tell you how I believe that you can face your failures, and become a man or woman of God, in spite of them. Young people, mark this on the eyelids of your forehead, mark it deep in your mind indelibly, and never forget them. Now these are principles of the Holy Ghost, God gave this to me in prayer. First of all, if you're going to face your failures, you've got to do this, shake off all your fears about failure. Never be afraid of failure. Fear of failure always causes a person to hide themselves from the presence of God. It causes a person to run. Adam, after he sinned, in essence said, I have failed God, so I was afraid, so I hid myself. I failed, so I hid myself, because I was afraid. Peter failed his master, and what a tragic failure. What a tragic thing to see this man fall on his face and grovel as he did. And in his fear, he ran. He had to get away from the searching eye of his master. Peter ran in fear of his failure. Jonah knew that he'd failed in his mission, in his call to go to Nineveh, but he drove himself rather in fear to Tarsus, the Bible says, to free from the presence of the Lord. Look at this, Adam running in fear, Peter running in fear, Jonah running in fear, away from the presence of God, because they had a fear of their failure. Now God has been showing me a truth, and if you'll get a hold of this truth, it'll change your life. The devil uses the fear of failure to get you to forsake the Lord and to run in self-disgust, saying to yourself, I'm not worthy. You know, I'm afraid that hell's going to be full of people who just gave up and ran in fear and said, I'll never make it, God is too holy, God is too perfect, and I can never live up to His perfection, I can never please the Lord, and so we run in fear. Now why do you think Adam and Peter and Jonah ran from the presence of the Lord? Do you think for one moment that Peter lost his love for Christ? Never did Peter lose his love for Christ. I believe as he stood on that hillside weeping over his failure, that he loved Christ more than he ever loved Him in his life. Do you think for one minute that Adam, hiding himself in the presence of God, had suddenly become a backslider and turned his back on God and said, I just don't want to be around Him anymore? Not at all! I think it grieved him, I believe it hurt him more than anything that ever happened in his life, I believe he still loved God. I believe Jonah, as he ran, kept telling himself, I'm just not worthy, I failed God, I ran, so I might as well keep on running. Satan waits, he carries like a vulture around your personality, then he uses every lie of hell when you fall and fail, and he tries to tell you to run, to give up, that God is too holy, that you're too unclean, that you're too imperfect, and that you'll never make it. I want to tell you friends, that every man that I've mentioned tonight fled in the face of their failure, they didn't learn their lesson. The Bible said, and Moses feared and said, surely this thing is known, and this is the same thing we all say, surely everybody knows about the failure of my life, when in reality the scripture said, there's nothing befalling you but what is common to all men. In order to hear the continuation of the message, stop your tape machine and turn the cassette over. God knows about it. He said, don't think it's strange concerning the prior trial which has come to try you, as if some strange thing has happened to you and the whole world knows it. Now the Bible does say, be sure your sin will find you out, but don't think for one moment that the failure that you face is unique and that nobody else has ever faced it, and you're the only one who has failed in this particular way, God forbid that you should think that. Moses fled, the Bible says, and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well. That man that you see sitting by that well is the perfect picture of failure. Here's the man who's telling himself, it's all over, I'm all washed up, I thought God called me, and I end up murdering an Egyptian, now I have to flee from the court of justice, and that man sat there thinking that his ministry was over, I'm a failure, I'm washed up, I've had it, there's no more opportunity. And if this man would have believed that lie, you'd have never heard another word about him. In fact, it took 40 years for God to drive that fear of failure out of his heart. I've never believed that it was 40 years just learning lessons in the wilderness. I've never believed that God was waiting 40 years for the Israelites to get ready to leave. I believe it was God's program, and if Moses would have come face to face with his failure and learned to overcome it, God would have moved. And I believe the program of God was delayed 40 years for a man, one man, to play around with his fear of failure. And to bring himself to the place where he would believe God, in spite of his failure. David, in fear, after his sin, cries out, oh, that I had the wings, that I could escape to the desert. I would escape from the fire he blasts, but then he goes on to say, but where shall I flee from his presence, where shall I hide from his spirit? There's no place to hide. Jacob flees into the desert, trying to escape his deed and his failure. Nothing but a pillow for a stone, but God brings him to his denial. If any one of these men had resigned to failure, you would have never heard a word from them again. But you see Moses rising again to go to Egypt, forgetting his hour of failure, the rod of God in his hand. You see Jacob returning to be reunited with his brother, having prevailed with the Lord and forgetting his past. You see David running into the house of God, laying hold on the horns of the altar to return a mighty man of faith. You see Jonah retracing his steps. You see him going to Nineveh, forgetting his hour of fear and failure and preaching in faith. You see Peter going to Pentecost and forgetting that courtroom experience, becoming a man of victory and power in the upper room. Secondly, in spite of all failures, keep moving on. Did you hear me? Keep moving on. There's a lady who met me right back from the church tonight. She said, Rose, I want to stay here for a second time just to hear that part of it. To keep moving on. It's always after failure that a man does his greatest work for God. I repeat it. It is always after failure, and a man facing his failure, that a man does his greatest work for God. I sat in my car ten years ago, weeping like a baby. I just had been kicked out of the courtroom. I turned to Miles. I was leaning out the window, just sobbing out my heart. And I said, Miles, I'm a failure. I thought God called me to talk to those boys, and I wound up kicked out. I said, did you see how those cops handled me? They treated me like a maniac. I said, how do I face my dad, mom? How do I face my wife? What's my church going to think now? I told them I was going to New York, and I was going to open the door, I was going to talk to those boys. I said, I'm walking home as a failure, and I was ashamed to leave that city. I made that boy drive around that city for three hours, trying to get courage over the George Washington Bridge to head back to Pennsylvania. And I'll tell you, that was like going to the electric chair for me. I was ashamed to go home. I had to go to my dad in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and walk in the door without saying a word. He had the daily news laid out there. He'd seen and heard the story already. And I said, Dad, I don't have anything to say. I thought God had called me. And I thought that was the end of my ministry and my call. You couldn't have told me then that that failure, what appeared to be a failure, was just the seed of a blessing of God, that God was just using that to open the door, that God was going to turn that apparent failure into glorious victory, and raise up a testimony to the whole world. You couldn't have told me then, because I was a failure! But, friends, I want you to know that if God hadn't spoken to my heart to go back the next week and keep moving on, I wouldn't be standing here tonight. The Cross and Switchblade story would have never been a testimony to the glory of God. And hundreds of young people, especially drug addicts, would still be dying and going to hell. But God said, go on. And I'm thinking tonight of two outstanding ministers, 15, 18 years ago. Both of them ministering to thousands. They were both respected. They were household words. Everybody knew these names. Both of these men fell into the sin that David committed, the act of adultery. One of these men decided that it had so shaken him that he couldn't go on. In fact, he lost his faith. He began to curse and drink and smoke. You'll find him in Canada today, an editor of a newspaper. This man gave up. He refused to go on. The other gentleman, who was popular in that same day and hell almost the same time, came out of the ashes of his failure and despair, repented and cried out to God for a ministry. God has restored that man with dignity and respect. He's on a coast-to-coast network of missions program that's reaching the whole world. That man today has the respect of thousands. Because he went on, David kept moving on. After his sin, after the funeral, the boy's body is committed to the ground. And this is the very next statement in the Bible concerning David's life. It says this, 2 Samuel 13, 24. David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, went in unto her and lay with her. And she bare a son and called his name Solomon. And here's the part that I like. And the Lord loved him. And the Lord loved him. All the great mercy of God extended to a man who, in spite of his failure, rises out of repentance and says, Oh God, I'm going on. And out of the ashes of his failure, David rises, picks up his army again, and goes out after the Ammonites. The Scripture says, After the battle, they took the king's crown from off his head, and it was set upon David's head. And he brought forth spoil and great abundance. Look at this man now standing again with dignity at the throne, with God in his mercy blessing Bathsheba, giving Solomon his son, out of whose womb came Christ. And this I cannot understand. It's the mercy of God beyond any finite comprehension. How God can bless a man in spite of his failure. You couldn't figure that out if you tried. Look at Moses, going on after a life of failure and fear and 40 years, alone and abandoned. Here he stands now at the Red Sea in his finest hour. Here he comes now to do his greatest work of God after his story of failure. The chapter of failure is closed, and here we read of him, Moses said unto the people, Hear ye not, and stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today. The Lord took fight for you, and he shall hold you at peace. Think of it. This man stands with power and dignity in his finest hour, after his hour of failure. Don't give up just because you have failed. Your greatest hour is yet to come. I remember sending off first two converts, Nicky Cruz and Angelo Morelli. Angelo was the boy who met me and took me around to meet all the parents of these boys in the murder trial. I sent these two boys to La Puente Bible Institute right here in California. Three months after I sent them to school, I got a call from the president of the Bible School. He said, I'm sorry, Brother Williamson, we're going to have to kick them out. And that was a shock, I promise you. I couldn't believe my ears. First two converts, first two Bible School students going to be kicked out as seniors. Two dropouts from the Teen Talent Ministry. I hung up that phone. I got on my knees and I said, oh God, out of this apparent failure get glory. And I said, we're going to keep moving this on for God. I got on the telephone. I got ahold of Nicky Cruz and Angelo. Got them on a conference call on two telephones. And I said, do you still love me? Yes, sir. Do you still respect me? Yes, sir. Do you still love Jesus? Yes, sir. All right, get on your knees and put your arms around each other and quit this fighting. Yes, sir. Nicky's finest hours still to come. God raised that boy out of that ashes of failure because he just wasn't making it. And that boy became a model student, graduated with honors. Angelo Morales graduated with honors to go out and face his finest hour as a Sunday School teacher and a worker in church. And Nicky Cruz to face his finest hour. Sonny Argentoni, three days in my house kicking drugs. His father and mother, Pentecostal people, praying for him. And I thought, here's a great victory. And I drove with him into Brooklyn singing the praises of God. Parked the automobile five minutes only into Brooklyn. He jumps out of the car and starts running down the street back to the needle. A failure. A failure. Not by any stretch of the imagination Sonny was still going to face his finest hour tomorrow night. It's going to be one of those hours at White Memorial of the Adventist Church as I stand for Sonny to present the challenge of his dragetic church here in the city of Los Angeles. He's pastor there now. That boy came up out of the ashes of failure. Came back to Teen Towns because the seed had been planted. And Sonny can tell you about failure. He can tell you how it feels to go back to the needle. He can tell you how it is to go back to the bottle, back to the prostitute after confessing Christ as his Savior and feeling the power of the Holy Ghost in his life. And I can tell you about 90% of all my boys have fallen flat on their face. I've seen boys that once had the touch of God and I meet them on the street dirty, filthy, unshaven. And I say, alright buddy, it's time to come home. You see the Spirit of God still trembling all over their bodies and they come back and stand in the pulpit and talk about that hour when they thought that all was lost. They come back as mighty preachers of the gospel. Oh yeah, they failed God, failed God miserably. Back to the needle, back to drugs and back to their sex life. But out of the asses of failure, kept moving on and faced their finest hour yet. Maybe your finest hour is yet to come. You sit now in the midst of failure. I say, keep moving on. Third, in spite of all your failures, keep going back to the altar. Keep worshipping the Lord. Moses, in spite of the fact that he failed, said, He is my God and I will prepare him a habitation. My Father's God and I will exalt Him. There's only one way that Moses kept the victory in his life. I believe Moses could have been a man of tragic failure all through his life because he had that kind of personality that's evident in the making of this man of God that he had failure written all over his personality. But I'll tell you what Moses' salvation was. He learned to talk to God as a friend. He learned to have it out with the Lord. The scripture says of him, in Exodus 33, 9 and 10, this is a beautiful verse. And it came to pass as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door and the Lord talked with Moses. The Lord spoke unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friends. Oh, I like that. That's how he kept his victory. He wasn't any better. The only reason God brought this man through, He talked to him as a man talks to his friends. Now there you have it, my friend. In spite of your failure, going back to God as friend to friend and say, Lord, you're still my friend. I still love you. I failed you, O God, but I love you! This was the secret of David's victory, and this is why God called him right after his own heart. In spite of the fact that he'd murdered, in spite of the fact that he had stolen his wife and lived in adultery, in spite of all the blaring sinful deeds of this man's wife, David wrote these words. My favorite song. If anybody has my autograph in one of my books, underneath my name is my favorite chapter. The chapter David wrote after he came through this stage of failure. It's the 25th chapter. And this has been the motto of my life ever since God called me into the Teen Challenge ministry. I read this every day. It's a part of my personality now. The 25th chapter. Here is what David said. I'm for thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul? O my God, I trust in thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemies tramp over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed. David started waiting on the Lord. He went back to the house of God. He went back to the horns on the altar and said, God, forget my foolishness of my youth and my transgressions, and let me not be ashamed, because I wait on you. Show me thy ways. Teach me thy paths. Lead me in truth. Teach me. Thou art my God. Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies, thy loving kindnesses. Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions. Good and upright is the Lord. He will teach sinners in the way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. What man is he? And here is my favorite verses from 12 to 15. I have them marked. God gave me this one night in prayer when he called me into teen challenge. What man, in fact, God told me this would be the theme of my ministry. What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. David went into the house of God, and he admitted his failure. He said, I acknowledge my sin. He said, then I cried out, Oh God, pluck my feet out of the net now. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. In other words, those who keep coming back to him with fear and respect and worship. This is a man that understands my secret. The secret of how I can use a man in spite of his failure. Here's the secret, right here. Now let's talk about your failure before I close. Is there trouble in your home? Or your personal life? Maybe a habit that you despise that you can't break. A friendship that can't seem to be broken, though you know it's wrong. Or torment in your mind, anxiety and fear, evil thoughts. Or bondage by things like tobacco, drink. What's the solution? How? How? Brother Wilkerson? How can I turn my failure into victory? How can I look at it and face it? Alright. I believe it comes through worship. A lady stopped me just outside here, just before the service. She said, Brother Wilkerson, please, would you expand just a moment. I'm in the middle of a great failure in my life. What do I do right now, before I get in my car and go home? What do I do? I said, get your hands up. She raised her hands. I said, now in spite of your failure, praise Him. Worship. Worship. She raised her hands, began to speak with other tongues. When I left her, she's still praising the Lord out here in the alley. Not the alley, just the parking lot. In the middle of failure, praise Him. Exalt Him. And say, He's my God. I love Him. I praise Him. He said, He that cometh to me, keep coming back. He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Come unto me, all ye that are weak and heavy laden. In other words, come all you failures. Bring them to me. I'll give you rest. Now, what did I say to them? Young man, young woman, dad, mother, what did I really say? I said, to face your failure, don't be afraid of it. Keep going on in spite of it. And worship. Worship. Exalt His name in the middle of it. By your heads. Jesus, You've never told me to preach just to be heard. You've never let me make a fool of myself. You've never let me waste words. And I believe you gave me your mind tonight. I believe you told me to come here and preach this tonight because you knew there'd be somebody here tonight that was facing the biggest failure of battle in their life. And you want to give them victory. You're trying to say this failure is just the open door to a great life of faithfulness and victory. Lord, we're not condemned tonight. You said Your mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. And I believe that there are some here tonight, Lord, that just felt they can't walk with You. They can't go on anymore because they can't get to victory. They can't live in victory. Forgive, Lord. Forgive. And undertake. Let us show mercy as You have shown mercy. And let us help to heal and bind the broken hearts. Heal the wounds. Oh, God, I pray for those tonight who must in all honesty look into their hearts and say, Lord, I've failed You. I've failed You. Oh, God, I've failed You. Help us, Lord, not to give up. Help us not to quit at that point. But help us to come to this altar tonight and say, Lord, I'm coming back to the altar. I'm coming back to the altar. I'm coming back to You, Lord. I'm going to worship You. I'm going to praise You. I'm going to surrender. This concludes the message. For copies of this message or a list of other messages by Reverend David Wilkerson...