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God Has Not Forgotten You
David Wilkerson

David Wilkerson (1931 - 2011). American Pentecostal pastor, evangelist, and author born in Hammond, Indiana. Raised in a family of preachers, he was baptized with the Holy Spirit at eight and began preaching at 14. Ordained in 1952 after studying at Central Bible College, he pastored small churches in Pennsylvania. In 1958, moved by a Life Magazine article about New York gang violence, he started a street ministry, founding Teen Challenge to help addicts and troubled youth. His book "The Cross and the Switchblade," co-authored in 1962, became a bestseller, chronicling his work with gang members like Nicky Cruz. In 1987, he founded Times Square Church in New York City, serving a diverse congregation until his death. Wilkerson wrote over 30 books, including "The Vision," and was known for bold prophecies and a focus on holiness. Married to Gwen since 1953, they had four children. He died in a car accident in Texas. His ministry emphasized compassion for the lost and reliance on God. Wilkerson’s work transformed countless lives globally. His legacy endures through Teen Challenge and Times Square Church.
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In this sermon, the speaker shares a personal story of his daughter's battle with brain cancer and how God delivered them through their darkest moments. He also recounts a powerful encounter his daughter had with a grieving woman in a mall, where they connected over their shared experience of losing a child to cancer. The speaker emphasizes that despite the trials and tests they faced, God never failed them and delivered them time and time again. He encourages the audience not to despair, highlighting that sin brings depression and that true joy and victory can only be found in God.
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This recording is provided by Times Square Church in New York City. You're welcome to make additional copies for free distribution to friends. All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is a violation of copyright and other applicable laws. This recording cannot be posted on any website. However, written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch.org. Other recordings are available by calling 1-800-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, New York, 10019. Now, Father, you have prepared this word and I need strength. I ask the choir to pray before the service that helped me preach, and that's to just pray that God would cause the word to find its place in hearts. Holy Spirit, I need a supernatural touch from you, and we give you this word. Speak clearly to us now, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you turn to Psalm 77, please? Psalm 77. God has not forgotten you. I'm going to start reading at verse 1, Psalm 77. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled. I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. I am so troubled I cannot speak. I've considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night. I commune with my own heart and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever or will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone forever? Does his promise fail forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And I said, this is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember the wonders of old. Have you ever known depression? Have you ever known what they call the blues and you don't know where they came from? You can't pinpoint it. It's not just one issue. It's not one thing. It's just so many things hitting from all sides and you can't explain it. I'm not talking about a lifestyle. I'm not talking about somebody with a bipolar problem or some longstanding mental problem. I'm talking about Christians especially who have these experiences. It's not something that is constant, but it comes to you. It's just a depression. It's a despair that comes upon you. Now, I thank God that I don't happen to be living in that and that's not how this message was birthed in my heart. But I've known these times, these sleepless nights. Has anybody here had that where you were so worried, you were so perplexed, you were so concerned about things that were happening around you, you couldn't sleep at night? That's what the writer of this psalm was talking about. He said, God, you're keeping my eyes open. I can't even close my eyes. And he said, what's happened to me? He said, he could not even be comforted. No one could comfort him. He was beyond comfort. Nobody could say a word. Nobody could speak to him because of what he was going through. His name was Asaph. Now, Asaph was a musician. He was a singer. And he was David's choir director, a man of prayer, a true man of prayer, a man who sat under godly teaching and preaching. Asaph sat at David's table. He heard David give his heart to all of his staff. He heard David say, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. His ears are open to their cry. This is the kind of preaching he sat under. David said, I sought the Lord and he heard me. And he delivered me from all my fears. This poor man cried. The Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. Now, we know that Asaph was a praying man because he said, I cried unto the Lord with my voice. We just read it. And he gave ear to me. He heard me. He said, I know that God hears my prayer. Did a survey. Someone did a survey in the United States about prayer. I believe it was in the New York Times magazine section. The majority of American people believe that God hears prayer. But only a small number believe that he answers. Asaph is a man who is in a condition now of depression. Something has come upon this praying man. This man who sat under divine teaching. A man who taught others. Now, Asaph wrote 11 of the Psalms. And you hear him in chapter 78 when he's talking about Israel. He's correcting Israel. He said to Israel that you have troubled the Lord. You have prayed and you have sought him, but you have not seen his answers. God has not been answering you because of sin. He corrected them. He sang about God answering prayer. Surely, as a choir director, when David was given a song of the Lord, he was given a new song and he handed it to the choir. Surely it came into the hands of Asaph. Because the scripture says, this is the name of the song. He heard my cry. This is the 40th chapter of Psalm, verses 1 and 2. He brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock and established my goings. Now, Asaph was given that song. He led it. He sang it. He directed a choir singing it about the faithfulness of God answering prayer. Surely he heard David talk about his battle running from Saul. Surely he heard about the time he had to run to Gath, a city called Gath. And there, as he entered the city, they said, this is the same David that we sing about or we've heard Israel sing about. They were about to take him captive and kill him. And David pretended to be a madman. But God delivered David and he came out of it. And this is the song that he was given. He heard my cry. He brought me out of this horrible pit, out of this miry clay, set my feet on a rock and established my goings. Now, get the picture, if you will, please. This is not a sinful man. He's not a wicked man. He's a godly man. He's a man of prayer. He's a man who loved the Word. But now he is in a terrible depression. It's come upon him and you'll see it as it unfolds here. See, this is that strange. The Bible said don't think it's strange when this fiery trial comes as though you're going through some strange thing. He said it's common to all people. And you may think you're going through something that's very, very unique. But there's not a story that could be told here tonight. Not one believer that could give a story that hasn't been told time and time again over the centuries. Your story is not new. He said there's nothing new. It's common to all flesh. I read the stories of godly men. Now, I study, I pray, I seek God for messages when I preach here or anywhere in the world. But my recreation is reading the stories of the Puritans and godly men. I have their life stories. I collect old books, for example. My daughter helps on the website and brings me stacks of these old books. And, of course, they cost money. They're not free. But that's my recreation. And I read the stories of great men of God, praying men, men who fasted and gave their lives. You wouldn't know them. Most of them, I don't read books unless they're at least 100 years old. I read some, but most of my books have been written over 100 years ago. And these are men like Andrew Bonar. Here's a man who was so constant in prayer. They said there were marks by his bed where he knelt year after year. A man who was known all over Great Britain. One of the holiest men that ever lived, according to his friends and those who knew him. When he died, his daughter published some of his notes from his journals. And I was reading it this past week when I was preparing this message. This is a godly man. See, what I'm trying to tell you, godly people go through these kind of tests. And the more you pray and the more you seek God, the more eligible you are, the more probable that you're going to go through tests like nobody else goes through. And listen to what this man says. He's in his 80s now, and he spent the last 30, 40 years on his face before God. I read through his journal. The whole journal is about Jesus and his walk with the Lord. But you find these places, you find experiences, incredible experiences of what they called melancholy in those days, which we now call depression. Listen to what he said. I'm falling behind in my heavenly race. God is not using me in conversion of souls like he used to. I need to be free from the shadow of fear and uncertainty. Some of my nearest friends no longer seem to sympathize with my needs. Shame and sorrow fill me because of my unholiness. Oh, God, what have I lost? My heart sinks in me. I'm rebuked by the holiness I see in others. There seems to be a cloud between me and the son of righteousness. I think I hear the Lord say sometimes, I don't need you anymore. You listen to John Fletcher. John Fletcher was called by John Wesley, who's the founder of the Methodist movement. And John Wesley said, the most godly man on the face of the earth is John Fletcher. I have two of his books written 150 years ago. This man went through the most horrifying, incredible test of this melancholy, this something that came from nowhere. And they asked him, where are you? He couldn't explain it. There are a number of reasons that he couldn't explain it. His friends listened to at least five of those occasions that were so horrible. A man of God, a praying man, a precious man who spent hours, when he walked into a room they said everything, whether you were a sinner or a believer, everything went silent. He just exuded the presence of Christ. Holy, some people are almost afraid to talk in his presence because the Holy Spirit and Christ came through him. And yet this man, this man went through terrors at times in his testing of despair. And every book that I read, I find the same thing that Paul experienced. Godly men and women. Paul in Corinthians said, trouble came to us in Asia. We were pressed beyond measure, beyond strength, so much so that we despaired of life. That word despair in Greek means we could not understand what we were going through. We were near the point of death. In other words, he was saying we desired to die because we couldn't understand. And really, the inference here in the Greek is we couldn't comprehend why God allowed it. We couldn't understand what we were going through. We were pressed beyond endurance. I don't know who I'm talking to. And I speak it in the Spirit. I don't know who in the annex you hear. I don't know who I'm talking about who's being pressed now. As though the Holy Spirit has come and just taken my words and my heart and my mouth and speaking directly into your heart and telling you, you're at this place. You're at this place even tonight. Or maybe you've been experiencing it for a number of weeks. Some commentators say that it was because so many of his friends had turned against him. And they were speaking against him. They were defaming his name. Some say that this was a physical sickness also at the same time, a real hard physical attack. And some say they pinpointed also to a time right after shipwreck. But you take all of these things, and Paul, he goes over a whole list of things, but this still doesn't explain everything that was cast upon him. He said, I fell into an agony. I didn't think I would survive. In fact, I thought it would kill me, he says, in so many words. Pressed beyond endurance. Jesus himself is our example. Jesus speaking to Philip and Andrew just before the cross. He's facing the cross. And he said, my soul is troubled. And in the Greek, it's agitated, disturbed. He said, there's an agitation in my heart. He's a covenant Christ. Before the world was created, he was in covenant with the Father, with the whole plan of salvation, including the cross, reconciliation with mankind. It was all in God's plan. Christ knew the meaning of the cross. But he was also a man. Touched with our infirmities, our physical problems. And he went through it. Folks, if Jesus didn't go through this, we could not relate. The Bible would lose so much of its meaning. Touched with the feelings of our infirmities. And he said, I'm troubled. There's an agitation in me. And it finally led to him saying at the cross, Lord God, why have you forsaken me? Now, that's pain. Jesus said to those who came to take him to the cross. He said, this is your hour and the power of darkness. He said, this is the devil's hour. This is a moment of test. And you can be sure that what you're going through is the work of the devil. The Lord doesn't come to put depression on people. I don't care what you call it. Call it the blues. Call it despair. Call it what you will. That it can be because of finances. It can be because of marriage problems. It can be because of career problems. Sometime you just can't explain. Jesus himself said, what can I say? What shall I say? Those are the very words of Jesus to his disciples. I've come to this hour. This hour, the power of the darkness. But what can I say? I can't fully explain this to you except that God has allowed, the Father has allowed this moment, this hour of darkness. He knew the glory was going to come out of it. But he said, what can I say? Have you ever been to that place where you can't? Somebody asks you, why are you down? Why are you going through what you're going through? You say, don't ask. I can't tell you. Sometimes you may be a wife, you can't even tell your husband. Your husband, you can't even tell your wife. They can't probe the depths of what you're going through. Folks, recently, this past week in fact, I've been here 17 years in this church now. I think it's 17 going 18 years. And I've got stack after stack. I save all the messages. And they're in notebooks. And I start pulling some of them out from the ears and just gazing through quickly. And so many times, the same with Pastor Card, Pastor Neal, Pastor Patrick, every pastor and everyone's been in this pulpit. Over and over and over again, God's talked to us about, and it's Pastor Neal today, preached about rejection. How many times we have preached this? And I said, God, in fact, when this message was prepared, I went back and said, Lord, I preached this kind of preaching for years. When do we get it? But you see, what happened two weeks ago, two months ago, just as sure as you have to go to the table and eat every day, hopefully at least two times a day you eat. We have to be fed. And God has to remind us because what's happening to you now is a present situation. And sometimes you can't remember all that we've been taught. We forget these things. So the Lord brings it back because he knows exactly who is in the building. And sometimes he'll let you sit through a message that doesn't apply to you. Of course, if this doesn't apply to you tonight, I recommend you get the tape for next month, next week. Now, see, we're not talking about people who are living in sin, who love sin. Some that walked in here tonight may be so attached to your sin. You have lived for yourself for so long. You have ignored everything about God or Christ. We see people come in here, just look around. They don't know what's happening. They get so confused because of that. But you see, I'm not talking about that kind of person because sin brings depression. Sin is the most depressing thing in the world. You see people coming out of these theaters and it's supposed to be a comedy. You see, many of these are coming. They look like they come from a funeral. There's no joy. There's no victory and it lasts just for a moment. And this favorite saying in Hollywood, is this all there is to it? Is this all there is to it? I think I told you this story when I was, a number of years ago, speaking in London at Royal Albert Hall. There are five balconies, five or six balconies. It was full of young people. And while I was preaching, a group of skinheads came in. They were sitting in the second or third balcony. And it's a gang. And bald-headed and all dolled up. And they were throwing spitballs, mocking, making fun. And they looked like the most carefree, nonchalant, noncaring young men I've ever seen. They really disturbed the meeting. And after the service, I had to go down the basement where their parking garage to get through, so I didn't have to go through the crowd to get to the vehicle. And I was walking down beneath the auditorium. A young skinhead jumps out from behind a pillar right in front of me. And he said, Preacher, I've got to talk to you. And he had his head down. And there was a tear in his eye. He said, I need help, man. I'm sick. I thought he meant physically. He said, I'm sick. I need God. I said, well, you were there mocking me, making fun. He said, you laughed all through my preaching. He said, you don't get it. Words to this effect, you don't understand. That's to cover up what's going on inside. It's a cover-up. He put on this facade. And he said, I don't want the guys to see me. And I prayed with him, and he gave his heart to Jesus. But, you see, all the time I thought, what a hard guy this is. But he's something inside the Holy Spirit. Now, that's the kind of person God can reach that is open to say, I may not understand, but I know I'm hurting and I need help. God understands that. I'm not talking about that, but I'm talking about godly people who don't understand what they're going through. What troubled this man so that he couldn't sleep? I cried to the Lord, he said. I pray into the night, and I know he hears me. But what he concluded, finally, was I see no answer to my prayer. We just read, I pray, I cry out to God, and I know he hears me. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear to me. But he concludes, when you read the context, he concludes that God doesn't answer him. God answers David, God answered Israel, God answered others, but for some reason, God is not answering my prayer now. And I tell you, there's nothing that adds to despair than to think that God hears you, but doesn't answer you. He hears, but he does not answer your prayer. What a horrible condition that is for a man. He goes on, he said, I remembered God, and I was troubled. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed in me. And I considered the days of old, and I remembered my song in the night. And he said, I keep remembering my walk with the Lord. I keep remembering the songs that I've sung, and I remember all of the times I've spent with the Lord. And I remember all the good things he's done for me in the past. But he still can't pull himself out of this moment, because he's remembering these past experiences and other hard testing times. He remembers, I've been here before, I've been through this, but now he's in a situation now that is so far beyond anything he's ever known. Beyond any test he's ever been tested with. At the end of his rope, and this is what he said, I complained. Will the Lord cast me off forever? Is he never going to be favorable to me again? Has his loving kindness ceased forever? Has his promise come to an end? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger withdrawn his compassion from me? Then he adds, this is what grieves me. God has changed. That's in the original Hebrew. He said, there's a problem. I have a feeling that for some reason, maybe because it's my failure, something I've done that I've grieved God. And he doesn't answer me now. He hears me, but he doesn't answer my prayers. In the original Hebrew, the word grief means a variation in God. He has variated. He's changed his attitude toward me. I was so close to him, and I walked with him, and I knew such communion with him. But now, there's something set in his heart, and he's saying, God, where are you? Why? What's the reason? I told of a man in this church who used to sing in our choir years ago when we were down in the other theater. He was going through a test when he told it to me. It was a very fearful thing that he was going through. And after he told me, he said, Brother Dave, you keep saying there are lessons in this. He said, I don't want to go through this kind of thing again. I don't want to go through this without learning something out of it. I don't want to spend all this. I don't want all this hurt and all this pain unless something good is going to come out of it. Thank God the Lord answered his cry. He said, God, this changed. I'm not going to preach long, but I just want to try to answer the question. How do we come out of this kind of dark hour? How do we get to victory out of that? Of course, David came out of it. Aesop came out of it. And multitudes of godly saints, all godly praying saints, God brings them out. But there are secrets to this thing. Asaph and David came out by remembering God was their rock, Psalm 78, verse 35. I remembered God as my rock. David said, I remember the days of old, and now I meditate on all his works. I muse or I contemplate his ways. Asaph said, I will remember the works of the Lord. Sure, I'll remember the wonders of old. I'll remember his deliverances. Moses said to Israel, you shall remember all the way the Lord brought you. Beware that you don't forget. Now, folks, that's wonderful. That's commanded, to remember all the battles we've gone through. Now, that helps, but that is... See, Asaph, when he came out of it, could not explain why. He couldn't explain anything about his battle or the depression that he went through. In fact, he comes out and he said, this is after he came out, God's way is in the sea, his path is in great waters, but his footsteps are not known. His footsteps are not known. You see, that's the Old Testament. He couldn't come out and tell us. He can't give us a single reason or purpose of what he went through. But Paul the Apostle, you remember this. He said, but now the Holy Spirit has revealed these things unto us. For without the Spirit, these things of God could not be known. The Holy Spirit has come down in these last days and he gives us a reason. And you cannot endure. Folks, believe me. What you're going through is because you want God. It's because you've been praying to get to know Him. It's because you have a hunger and thirst after Him. And you, don't be afraid of it, folks. Don't ever be afraid. Say, well, I'm not going to seek God then if I'm going to have to go through that kind of an hour. No, God has a divine purpose. And when you understand the purpose, it pulls the pain away. And it's the path to total deliverance. Where the enemy cannot shake your faith again. And when you finally, finally get it. When you finally say, I see it. And the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to why He has allowed this. He didn't cause it, but allowed it. He allowed the enemy to come with his hour of darkness. Because in the last days, he's not going to need well-known evangelists. He's not going to need great preachers. The testimony of the last hour, when the whole world is in distress. When the whole world, the Bible said, men's hearts are going to fail them for fear. Of seeing those things coming on the earth. And when everything that can be shaken will be shaken. It will not be Billy Graham types. It will not be evangelists who are well-known. It is going to be those who have gone through the hour of darkness. And have been tested. And understand their test. And come out and give the testimony to the world. I want you to go to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians, the first chapter. And I'll show you the reason before we close. I want to show you why you're going through what you're going through. Now that means if you are praying, trusting believer. First chapter, 2 Corinthians. Begin to read in verse 3. Blessed be God, even the Father, O Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies. The God of all comfort. Who comforted us in all our tribulation. And that includes depression, despair. Folks, let's stop for just a minute. Don't read anymore. One thing I must tell you. Some of you say, Brother Oaks, I'm not depressed. I trust the Lord and I know He hears and answers my prayer. But I'm talking about a disappointment. A disappointment. Something has totally blown you away with disappointment. You don't understand it. You have no concept. Why? There is deep inside a disappointment. Not with God. But just a human disappointment because, say, Lord, after all the seeking and trusting and praying and going through so many battles. Now you bring this. I'm just disappointed. We don't blame God. We try to analyze it and figure it out. Folks, quit trying to figure it out. It's right here. Go back with me now to 2 Corinthians 1 chapter verse 4. Who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. By the comfort by which we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. The more suffering, the more comfort, in other words. Did you hear me? The more of the suffering, the more you are a candidate for a consolation and comfort of the Holy Ghost. And whether we be afflicted, why, it is for your consolation and salvation. Oh, my beloved, can you hear that in the Spirit? People's salvation depends on it. People's eternal future hangs on your seeing and understanding that God has allowed this to bring you out as someone who understands the Holy Ghost comfort. How God is able through a simple trust and standing still saying, yes, the boat may be rocking. I don't understand, but my God is faithful. There's a reason for this. He is trying to make me one of those tested coming out of it with the gold and faith. Faith is pure, or more pure and precious than gold. And whether we be afflicted, it's for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. For whether we be comforted, it's for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the suffering, so shall ye also be of the consolation. For we would not rather have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia. We were pressed out of measure above strength, so we despaired of life. We had a sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves. And there you have it, folks. We never trust in ourselves that we should trust but God that raises the dead. And here we close. Who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver, and whom we trust, he will yet deliver us. He will deliver us. I close with this simple illustration. You know, two years ago, my daughter Debbie and Roger lost little Tiffany, 12 years old, brain cancer. And this past year, Debbie was in a mall and there was a woman, tears going down her cheeks. And Debbie went up to her and said, can I help you? And she said, oh, you could never understand what I'm going through. And in so many words, Debbie was saying, try me. She said, well, I've lost a child to cancer. And there in the mall, God just opened up Debbie's heart and told of her hour of darkness when she laid her little daughter down. And out of that came the sweetness. Pastor Carter preached her funeral and he mentioned about the sweetness that came out of the jawbone of the ass. And that was fulfilled, the prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. And now Debbie has a ministry and I'm ministering to those who write to us from around the world who have lost children, a child drowned in a swimming pool, all kinds of problems. And Debbie can talk to them. I can't. But Debbie can. And some of you are going to be able to talk to people no preacher in the world could talk to, could never minister to because of what you have gone through and you believe what the Scripture said. The Lord says, I'm teaching you how to comfort by you finding comfort through the Holy Ghost in your own life. I can say like Jacob, it's been test after test after test. I tell you one thing, God's never once failed me. Never once has he failed. There were times I thought I would have to quit. There were times I would say I can't take it anymore. That's when Debbie was rolled up in a fetal possession, cancer, and then a hole in her stomach. And I got in the hall and said, God, no more. But God delivered us time after time after time. Now I can put my arms around Debbie and comfort her. And that's what this is all about. Don't despair. Don't despair. I'm going to close. I'm going to ask you to stand. Do you understand that this may be just for five or six or a dozen people here? I don't know. But my part is just to obey the Holy Spirit and preach what he tells me to preach. So, if you're here tonight, and I sense in my heart, and this will be short, I sense in my heart the compassion of Jesus tonight reaching out to you and saying, don't let the devil lie to you anymore. Don't let him lie that God is not hearing you. God is answering in his time and his way. If God says no to what you prayed for, it's because he knows it would destroy you or hurt you, and he's going to do it in another way, and at the end, it's going to come out right. It will come out according to the mind and the heart of God. But for those who are hurting tonight, those who say, Pastor Dave, something you said tonight, it came from God to my heart. I want to ask God to use me to help lift this from you. If you don't get anything else, please understand, it's God at work. It's not the devil at work. It's the devil who tries to initiate these things, but it's God who turns all of these things around. He turns it all around for good. Let him comfort you tonight. If you're here in this message, if you come and we will pray together in the annex, just go to the lobby. They'll show you how to get down here. You come down this. Up in the balcony, go to the stairs on either side and come down. I'd like to pray with you and believe the Lord. If you don't know Christ or you've walked away from Jesus, if you've been slipping away, your heart's grown lukewarm or cold, I want you to come and join these, and we'll pray with you now. You can leave this house tonight changed by the Spirit of the living God. The Holy Spirit just gave me something for somebody here tonight. I don't know who it is, but the message is simply this. What you fear is my plan. What you fear, that which has brought discouragement, disappointment to you, is all a part of my divine plan for your life. And there's nothing to fear but fear itself. Nothing. You have no reason to fear. You have no reason. Folks, there are gospels being preached in America now that if you really are walking in the Spirit and you really know Jesus, if you're walking by faith, you don't suffer. Well, folks, that's contrary to everything in this book. It's contrary to everything in this book. And, folks, when those people who live under that kind of gospel and preach that and try to practice it, when hard times come, when somebody dies in the family or sickness strikes, they fall apart. There's nothing there. The Lord's saying to you right now, please understand, He's not mad at you. No, no, no, no. He has never loved you more than He loves you now. In your struggle and in your pain, He's never loved you. But you're going to have to open your heart right now to receive that love. You're going to have to let Jesus embrace you tonight. And I'm going to ask that you would take a step of faith right now. There's a scripture in the Bible that says that we're to thank God in the time of affliction. We're to give Him thanks even in the time of hard affliction. Would you just lift your hands? Pray with me right now. Lord Jesus. I thank You for everything in my life that You have allowed. And I thank You for the promises that You're with me in the trial and through the trial. And You said You would take me through the fire, through the floods, and You would deliver me. And I would walk free. Cleanse me, Jesus. Touch me tonight. And I believe You for healing, for deliverance. And thank You, Lord. I will not be afraid. You've not given me the spirit of fear. And I say to the whole world and to Satan and the powers of hell, Jesus is in me and with me, and He shall not fail me. Now give Him thanks. Just give Him thanks. This is the conclusion of the message.
God Has Not Forgotten You
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David Wilkerson (1931 - 2011). American Pentecostal pastor, evangelist, and author born in Hammond, Indiana. Raised in a family of preachers, he was baptized with the Holy Spirit at eight and began preaching at 14. Ordained in 1952 after studying at Central Bible College, he pastored small churches in Pennsylvania. In 1958, moved by a Life Magazine article about New York gang violence, he started a street ministry, founding Teen Challenge to help addicts and troubled youth. His book "The Cross and the Switchblade," co-authored in 1962, became a bestseller, chronicling his work with gang members like Nicky Cruz. In 1987, he founded Times Square Church in New York City, serving a diverse congregation until his death. Wilkerson wrote over 30 books, including "The Vision," and was known for bold prophecies and a focus on holiness. Married to Gwen since 1953, they had four children. He died in a car accident in Texas. His ministry emphasized compassion for the lost and reliance on God. Wilkerson’s work transformed countless lives globally. His legacy endures through Teen Challenge and Times Square Church.