This sermon emphasizes the importance of complete surrender to God, highlighting the dangers of acting in the flesh, the need to seek God's will in every decision, and the significance of trusting in God's timing and direction. It also addresses the challenges of dry spiritual seasons, encouraging faith and dependence on God even in times of spiritual drought.

We want to thank the Lord for his servant. There are several who have joined us today. About thirty years ago, the first time Brother David Wilkerson came to France, several times since, and during these three days we have heard testimonies everywhere in this room of men and women who have received a grace, a blessing from God through his ministry without being dramatic. Only God knows the future, but it is possible that this will be his last visit to France and we want to thank the Lord for him. I am amazed at how God can work through an abandoned life. I heard a testimony a few minutes ago from a brother who said that in Mexico, the film La Croix et le Poignard, translated into Spanish, has been shown in hundreds and thousands of villages, and thousands of souls have come to the Lord over the years. And to see pastors like Pastor Dominic Fontaine, who told us that the first time Brother Wilkerson came here, there were shouts in the room that began to shout and disturb each other so much that they could no longer hold the meeting. And Brother Wilkerson said, those who want to listen to me, come closer here. They closed the curtain and he, Dominic came closer, not knowing the Lord that night, to give his life to the Lord, and he has been serving the Lord in the ministry as a pastor since. And everywhere we can give glory to God, it is the grace of God. And the same word that puts us on guard against the flattering lips tells us to give honor to whom honor is due. And I think it is good for us, when I see this brother, through all the battles and struggles of life, to keep this heart, this passion for God, to see his wife, who was with us yesterday, with all the illnesses she went through, wanting to be here at the end. Last night, during our prayer time, when I went out, I saw them, they were on the side, both of them, in prayer, tears in their eyes, praying for France. And I think it is good for us, as we arrive at this last session together, that the servants of God of France can welcome and give thanks to the Lord for a servant of God that we love. Let us welcome together Pastor David Wilkerson. May the Lord bless you. We have had a great joy to have these moments with you. Thank you. We have felt the Holy Spirit's presence. And we come with regret to this final meeting. We hate to see it close. Because every service, Jesus has been present. And he is here today. I had a young man ask me this morning. A very fine young man. He was a young preacher. He said, could you, in a few words, give me some advice that would help me in my pastoring. Could you, in a few words, give me some advice that would help me in my pastoring. I know what I am about to do in a few moments. If I had half an hour with you, this is what I would tell you. Nothing I preached in the past seemed to fit this morning. I said, Holy Spirit, what are you trying to say? The Lord led me to the first chapter of Kings. The story of Elijah. I want to talk about the dangers that are inherent in blessings. Then I am going to talk about the difficulties of a dry spell. Lord, speak to our hearts this morning. Speak clearly to our hearts. Lord, I need your Spirit upon me. And we need ears to hear in the Spirit. Sanctify us. In Jesus' name. Amen. It is a wonderful thing to be blessed of God. It is a wonderful thing to have the Word of God. It is a wonderful thing to be used of God. And this is the story of the prophet Elijah. It is a time of great success in his ministry. Search the whole Old Testament, you will not find a greater blessing. Search the whole Old Testament, you will not find a greater blessing. Here is a man who hears from God. And his message changes a nation. Israel is in a backslidden condition. Idolatry has stolen the hearts of God's people. And God raises up a man. In fact, he said he acted only what he heard from God. He said that everyone will know that I have done these things by the Word of God. And he does nothing except depending on the Word of the Lord. Here is a man, the Bible says, stood before God. He is a man of prayer. He is a man of vision. And he has a broken heart for his people. And you remember the story. He comes to Ahab. After prophesying three years of drought. Ahab tells the king. Gather all the prophets of Baal. Meet us at Mount Carmel. And God uses him on this mountain. You know the story, he built an ark. He built an altar. And he gives the prophets of Baal an opportunity to bring down fire upon their altar. And the prophets of Baal are beating themselves with sticks and with knives. And for hours they beat themselves and tear their bodies and they are bleeding. And for hours they beat themselves and they are exhausted and bleeding. A number of years ago I had a message all prepared on Elijah. And it was all about the fire coming from heaven. And the faith of this great man of God. And what a tremendous example he was for pastors and for me especially. Because I was needing fire from heaven at that time. And I was sitting on the stage at Times Square Church and I grew uneasy with my message. I said there is something incomplete. Now I have always loved this story. I love to read the prophets. And I had read and read this and I had checked my commentaries and prepared my message. And the Holy Spirit said you are missing something. I left the stage and went back into a pastor's room. The Lord said read it again. And I kept reading. They were crying out O Baal hear us. There was no voice. No one answered. And they were leaping on their altar. And the Bible says they were slashing themselves. And I came to this verse. And when I read it I broke down. I started to literally weep. And this is what I read. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them. God said read it again. This is not just a story. This is about you. This is about my church. This is for men that want to be used of God. Who have been blessed of God. Who are being used of God. He mocked them. And the Holy Spirit said that is what you have been doing. You see I have always believed that the prosperity gospel is one of the most damaging gospels ever brought to mankind. And I have been preaching some very strong sermons. Because I had heard a preacher say this. Very notable well known prosperity preacher. In essence this is what he said. Jesus can't come until you have a new house and a new car. And I thought man I am going to expose him. And I thought it was holy zeal of God that I read this. You see I had named two men who really thinking this was the zeal of God. And I am taking a stand of holiness. Pastor if you are a pastor if you are a teacher let the Holy Spirit burn this into your mind. Let God burn this truth into your heart, into your mind. Let me tell you what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. You see this man is human. He is not an angel. He is subject to like passions the Bible says. He makes mistakes. But this is written for our learning. How do you deal with false doctrines? How do you deal with those that you believe are in the wrong? If you know you have the word. What kind of spirit do you try to judge? And the Holy Spirit broke me. And I went out on stage and I just closed my message. I said folks I have to make a confession. I just read this story. And I said Elijah mocked them. Now see these people are in total spiritual blindness. It's the most incredible sight you could see. People so bound by error. And so sad. Elijah should have been weeping at the blindness. The Bible says he mocked them. God spoke to my heart. That is not the gospel way. How do you speak about those that are not of your denomination? How do you speak? Do you try to bring out the holiness of God? By some kind of a mocking voice or mocking attitude? You see there are great Bible truths here in this first Kings 18th chapter. God did not judge this man. He knew his heart. They cried out to him. They cried out and they cut themselves after the man with knives and lances. Until the blood gushed out upon them. How do we address the Islamic problem? As believers in Jesus Christ. When we believe that there is idolatry. And blindness. Do we approach it with fear? With anger? Do we rail against it? Do we mock it? Or do we look at it as it is? In spiritual blindness? With the loud cries? The loud prayers? And their manner with their beatings? And the gushing out of blood? How do we approach it? Do we mock it? Or do we bring the spirit of Jesus Christ? And pray for the salvation of those who are in what we believe is spiritual blindness? You see, there's no battle between Islam and Christianity. There's no competition. Because the battle was won 2,000 years ago. Jesus settled it. And we know that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess before him. We don't have to go out with knives. We don't have to go out with bitterness. We don't rail. We can say we love you in Christ. We're not afraid of any other doctrine. But we have a loving Christ who through his love brings salvation to all mankind. Hallelujah. You know the story the fire came down? On Elijah's altar. Licked up all of the water and even consumed, started to consume the stones. This is what Elijah said. Let it be known this day that there's a God in Israel. I'm his servant. And I've done all these things at his word. See, he's totally dependent on God. You know the story? He slew all the prophets of Baal. And it came to pass after he prayed the heavens were black with clouds and wind. There was a great rain and Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. Now here's another verse the Holy Spirit just spoke to me about this morning. I'm talking about getting ahead of God. You see up to now all through this story we're hearing of a man who sought God for every move, every action. He's praying until he gets the mind of God. After every move and before every move it can be said of this man he is wholly dependent on God. He doesn't act on his own zeal. He doesn't act on his own word. He doesn't act like committees. He hears from God. He shuts himself in with God. And the one thing he fears most of all is to act under his own volition and to act without the mandate from God. And the Bible says the hand of the Lord was on Elijah. You see the Lord is establishing this. Yes, he's a man of God. He moves in the spirit mightily used. And now the zeal of Elijah comes upon him. There's no evidence anywhere in the scripture that he went to the mountain and prayed about this. It cannot be said and the Lord said it says he girded up his own loins. He ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. Now it's evident he's moving in his own will and in his own flesh. Even though he has the hand of God upon him you can have the hand of God on you. You can be greatly anointed. You can be greatly blessed. And for many days and many months and even years seek the face of God for his mind and his will. And then suddenly move in the flesh. Suddenly feel that I have to finish this job. He's convinced in his heart I'm sure that Jezebel is going to repent. Now all of Israel is on fire. He's one of the most respected preachers of his day. And how easy it is to move just to meet a need or to take an option that you think is the only option you have. You take together all the options. You say, well I could do this or I could do that. And you narrow it down to one option. I had to do it because it was my only option. No, there is only one option. And that's the will of God. The perfect will of God that is received when you say I can't do this on my own. See, he's just slain 400 priests. He's called fire down of heaven. That's a very heady atmosphere. And it becomes a dangerous time in our lives when we've been especially used of God. Oh yeah, you see growth, you see fruit. Things are happening. And how easy to do something just because it seems to be a good thing. And we do not seek the face of God. Now I'm preaching to my own heart. I've seen God bless in such marvelous ways. God will say I'm going to give you a theater and he gave me a theater. But that came after three months of finding God's mind. Seeking the face of God. Saying I can't go unless you give me the word. He cannot say I did this according to the mind of God. Now I believe this because of the way the story ends. Remember the story. Jezebel says I'm going to kill you. He starts running in fear. And he's saying God take me. My ministry's been all in vain. He's empty. He's stressed. And that's what happens to us. We end up in a cave of depression. We begin to question everything God has done for us in the past. God you blessed me. You gave me the word. And now everything is turned wrong. And there's a still small voice of the spirit. It's saying I won't let you go in the flesh. You remember the story in Joshua? You don't need to turn. I'll just give the account. Joshua is mightily used of God now. The anointing that was on Moses is now resting on him. The Bible said that all of Israel honored him. He's seen great victories. He's moving in the mind of God. He's a praying man. He's seeking God. But how easy it is at the height of the blessing to get careless about seeking God and moving in our own passion our own zeal and our own love for lost souls. Folks, you and I can be so full of the love of God. We can be so burdened with compassion for the lost that we can rush into any kind of effort for Christ that Christ never intended us to take plans that we make buildings that we buy activities we get involved in that was never in God's heart and we moved out of compassion and here is Joshua moving in the spirit of God and some Gibeonites appear now these are heathen neighbors that they were told to destroy and they come to Israel with old rags and their water bags all torn and tattered and they had emaciated their faces and came in tattered dress covered with dirt and dust and they said we are from a far country and we have heard of God's hand on you and we've been days and weeks on the road we've come to make a league with you we want to honor your God you see the scripture makes it very clear and the men took of their victuals or their food and they did not ask counsel at the mouth of God if you're a pastor you say well brother Dave with me and the way I minister the way I walk with God I honor the scripture that says in many countries there's wisdom we find the mind by sharing it with the body and with the elders and we come to a conclusion this was a committee decision this is the elders of Israel consulting with their pastor not one moment was spent in prayer pastor before you go into any meeting you better have the mind of God you dare not be influenced by committee if you have the mind of God and your elders are men of God they will hear in the spirit and they'll know I believe in counseling I believe in checking things out I believe in doing research let me give you an example when we were this past year in Kenya they took me on a tour through the world's largest slum and it broke my heart Gary was with me a million and a half people living in abject poverty open sewers filled beyond description and I turned to Gary and said we have to do something so we went home I just mentioned it in one of my newsletters told them what I saw and I just said pray about it and almost a million dollars has come in for a project we didn't name and I want to do that more than anything I've ever wanted to do in my life I want to go in with a big feeding program I want to build houses I want to dig wells I've got a lot of ideas every one of them compassionate but months have gone by and we have been helping we're putting roofs on churches because God told us to and we're doing some things but you see the Lord has not shown me yet he's not yet shown Gary and we're seeking God now I've done research and I've checked with experts I've checked with others in a feeding program and as much as my heart burns I'm not going to be making this mistake God helping me and they asked not at the counsel of the mouth of the Lord Joshua made peace with them and made a league with them and allowed them to live and the princes of the congregation swear unto them and the Gibeonites became a snare and every time I've acted in the flesh every time I've asked God to bless something that I did because it was just a good idea it's become a snare to me and I had to go to God and beg him to get me out of the mess I'm speaking to somebody I know this with all of my heart God's speaking to you clearly the Lord shows you there's a blessing ahead and maybe you're in a place now where the blessings are flowing be very careful not to act don't build don't do anything no matter how good it is until you have the mind of God until you've been born in the womb of prayer until you've been so determined to know the will of God the mind of God that's when faith is born when you can know you can look every devil in the eye and say I know what I know because I've heard from God that's the only thing that will take you through the test of the trials now there's another side of the coin that's for those who do not see the blessings flowing they're not on Mount Carmel they're not seeing fire fall in fact they're in a dry place you may be at that dry place right times usually come after high times you can be on a mountain top of revelation you may be in a time of great blessing but usually and so often after those great blessings after fasting and prayer comes a valley a dry spell and if you don't understand these times it can bring great discouragement years ago when I was much younger I was in one of those high times so marvelous times in prayer and seeking God and preaching with a special anointing I was preaching a convention and after the message I just raised my hands began to worship three words glory, honor, praise and I just kept repeating it for five, ten minutes I forgot the audience just worshiping and suddenly I was caught up in some kind of a stream of praise angelic praise it was like being able to hear the angels singing I was not in heaven I didn't see anything of heaven but there was something divine and I was sensing something of the eternal praise and glory that we're going to have and he caught me up in that praise and I collapsed they said I was there for about a half hour but I was in a heavenly place of worship and praise and I began to see we have no concept of what it's going to be like we talk about when I get to heaven I want to see Abraham Isaac and Jacob I want to see all my loved ones I didn't want to see a mansion I didn't want to see my father, my mother not at this time I didn't want to see any of the prophets it was all Jesus absolute Jesus everything everything else faded there was no other thought being to show me the fullness and absoluteness the fullness of Jesus Christ that he was the center of life and eternity my wife didn't know what was happening total silence in the audience when I came out I couldn't speak Gwen still didn't know what was wrong I just left and went out the back door it was a long time before I could speak I thought to myself that night I will never be the same again in my life sin will never again lay hold of me this is the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life and I can't describe the ecstasy of the blessing I've experienced something that's going to keep the joy flowing in my life until Jesus comes the next day I entered six weeks of the driest spell I've ever had in my life anybody know anything about that being blessed of God being so anointed enjoying the presence of Jesus and then suddenly from nowhere unexplainable caused this dryness but you see God has a purpose in it I explained it to one pastor he said well it's just the Holy Spirit telling you you can't depend on fleshly manifestations but I said no you can't take this away from me I know what I saw and I know what I felt but within that dry time when it was so hard to pray when it was so difficult to get anything from the scriptures the words would run together I was getting more ideas out of books Christian books than from the Bible and I'm condemning myself what's happened to me where is that joy and some of you are understanding what I'm speaking about now because the Holy Spirit told me clearly that there were a number of people here that have been through this conference that you still know this dryness you just do not feel like others are feeling around you you can sit through the meeting like last night but the Spirit is moving you see people weeping you see people rejoicing you say I don't feel anything what's wrong with me I feel dry I don't know whether the Holy Spirit is pleased with me and all of a sudden some failure is brought to your mind is the Holy Spirit lifted from me I want to tell you something God teaches us more in those dry times than in the high times if I've learned anything from God I've learned it in my hard times I don't fear those dry times anymore because you see when the children of Israel were crossing the Red Sea God demanded dry ground when they went through the Jordan God demanded dry ground you may think this is stretching it but I believe that dry ground is a path they were on the way they were on dry ground but they're moving ahead they're going someplace and I'm telling you that it's on dry ground that the wheels came off the enemy's chariots it was on that dry ground that the waters came in and destroyed the enemy and if you're in a dry place the Holy Ghost hasn't forgotten you He's trying to show you to walk by faith and not by how you feel and reject all your feelings your feelings have no meaning whatsoever sometimes when you feel the lowest God is doing the most in your life so stand against the devil stand in your dry place say God's taking me someplace God's taking me someplace God's taking me to a higher ground I'm going to the victory side Glory to God He said it's on dry ground that I'm going to plant the trees God would come by His Spirit now may the Spirit come and move upon this congregation I'm not going to try to repeat my sermon to you but I feel the Lord bringing this to a close God brought you here some of you high and some of you low those that are high He's trying to bring you to the lowest seat in the house to take out all the pride in self and remind you you're not the only one in Israel and God hadn't called you to win the world He's only called you to depend on Him and trust in His Word and you that are on dry ground or one man at a recent conference he said I've been on dry ground for six years I thought there was no hope getting back but he said today when you said you're going someplace he came to a realization he had been saying Lord all I have left is faith I have no feelings but I believe you and it was that faith all along that God was looking for and the joy of the Lord came into his heart by an act of faith it's the unbelief that God's trying to get out of your heart it's trying to make you wholly dependent on Him and when you set your heart to depend on the Holy Spirit and to seek His face He will always reveal His mind it'll take a while sometimes but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they run and not be weary we stand now glory be to God if I would ask God if the Lord was to ask me what do you want to see as everyone leaves to go to their home so we would shake off our unbelief and believe God together when I went to New York City the Lord told me to go to start a church and through prayer He said I'll find a holy remnant and fill it with seekers New York City was dry most Pentecostal churches and Baptist churches lived moments of desert of smallness so many people told me it'll never be possible New York won't listen I said I'm going to have a Sunday night service I was told even by pastors nobody will come there's no one who goes to the Sunday church in New York I got more discouragement I was told from pastors and anybody else there was a small church nearby and I knew the pastor he's a good man I said look I'm coming to New York I don't know where we're going to be why don't you just join us he said I'll have to take it to the elders there were 50 people left in the church he called me a week later he said they're happy the way they are they don't want to give up their little fellowship and all I heard was unbelief God can't do it it's impossible there's no harder place than this but you see I've been on my knees God said if you go I'll give you a theater take your breath away and I'll show you things you've never seen and God gave us a theater one of the most beautiful theaters in New York that's where Jesus Christ Superstar mocked Christ for two years he said if you're going to mock me here I'm going to turn it into a church I want to tell you I'm not boasting in my flesh but I never once doubted God I didn't ask for some big ministry in fact I had my eye on a little theater a nice small theater I was thinking it'll be easier to fill up but when I walked in one day to this theater it took my breath away and I went to the owner he said I'm just opening a brand new show 11 million dollar show he said I'll make a deal with you he said this is going to be one of the biggest hits on Broadway and he said after it closes he was anticipating a 10 year run he said as soon as it closes I'll sell you the theater he said never once did I disbelieve God's words I stood in front of that theater while they were practicing the play it was going to be a play that glorifies homosexuality and pornography and God said the theater is yours I was there on opening night standing outside the theater saying Lord you said it's ours in 10 years I might not be alive it's now shut this down shut it tonight I waited for about an hour and a woman came out in a fancy fur coat about to get in her big limousine and I went over to her and I said what do you think of the show it was opening night she said it's dead it'll die I started shouting my joy at God that show got the worst reviews in the history of Broadway and within a week it was closed we moved in you see your town is no harder than New York the God that moved to New York is a God that's in France I am no more favored by God than you I am a weak man who just believes God I believe God I believe in Him I believe you can get a word if you're humble about it you have only the glory of God at your hand He will work in your home and He'll do wonders there first He may not give you some great church with thousands of people but He'll show you miracles with your children and your marriage and those that come everyone that wants in your door to church will come as a miracle and you'll be learning about Jesus and you'll become a man or woman of God that lives by faith and without fear thank you Jesus Lord we glorify you we glorify you Hallelujah Heavenly Father I thank you for these that have come they came because they were hungry and thirsty to hear from your heart Lord you've spoken to me you've spoken to Gary and to our Pastor Claude and you have spoken to all of us to draw closer to you to trust you as we've never trusted you before to become dependent upon you and cast down our unbelief and to believe that God delights in us and bring us to compassion and to move and work in the will and mind of God I want the musicians to come I want the musicians all of the worship team to come I want us to be able to finish today as we sing that you will make a conscious decision a conscious decision a true, deliberate decision to put your trust in God whatever you're going through take it and put it in his hands now Lord I put it in his hands it's an act of faith you're the God of the impossible and I believe you and I trust you and if you're dry believe right now don't expect some kind of a manifestation just an act of faith Lord I believe you're doing something in me you're doing a good work in me and joy comes in the morning and joy will come in your perfect time say it out loud joy comes in the morning let me hear you say Lord Jesus you're doing a good thing in me and the perfect joy will come after the night in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus Hallelujah bow your head for a moment in his presence I believe we need to respond to this call in two ways while our sister will continue to play if you're here this morning and you say this afternoon and you say Lord I want to in this last moment get closer to you you have to say Lord I don't want to make decisions actions to be motivated by compassion I don't want to get ahead of you I just want to do your will I believe we need I want to make a very simple call to two categories of people between us according to the message the first one each one of us who would say Lord I want to get ahead to say I come to submit all my plans all my decisions my entire ministry all my actions of compassion all my desires all the committees all the possibilities all the possibilities of career in the ministry I come to submit everything to you I want to do only one thing your will and your will alone I don't want to miss anything of what is yours but I don't want to do anything that is not yours if you have this desire this afternoon I would like to invite you in this call to get out of your places and get closer to say here I am Lord I come to bring come there is a moment of wind to salt before we leave in the whirlwind of our lives come and submit each committee come and submit each ministry each possibility the young workers your future the workers of all ages your present your future you will break the mold in me Lord the mold of looking for the next commitment the next place the next promotion what seems advantageous to me what seems better considered underweight all the options and choose what is better no I only want your will and I want to call men and women who are in the desert right now come closer to declare Lord you in the desert in the place of the desert in the dry place you will lead me you lead me you speak to me you bring me somewhere you are with me I will not advance you and in the dry place I will rent you I will trust you men and women of the desert come closer men and women of the desert come closer and start putting everything in the hands of God everywhere through this place this room that puts everything in the hands of God in the last moments of this conference it's you and God you and God your life and God your family and God your couple and God your church and God your ministry and God put everything in his hands put everything in his hands fill this place with prayer men and women who put everything in the hands of God