When I was a young minister in Pennsylvania, I read many books about the lives of godly men who had led very simple lifestyles. That sounded like the answer to my desire to be used of God. At that time I knew a minister who spoke with great authority and he was a real hero to me. He led a life of total simplicity, living in a little room and owning only one suit of clothes.
That's what I thought denying one’s self meant — a Spartan lifestyle. I thought, "Lord, that's what I want. I could be a powerhouse for you if I would only empty out my closets and give away all but a change or two of clothes. I could sell my car and get a cheap one. I could buy an old, unattractive house. I could give up steak and eat hamburger. I could set a great example by having no desire for any material thing on earth." Actually, I was saying, "If I could just suffer enough — if I could just get hold of my flesh and be an ascetic — I could serve the Lord with true power."
Soon afterward my hero began teaching false doctrine and many lives were destroyed because of it. That's when the Lord told me, "That's not what victory is all about, David. The victory isn't yours — it's Mine."
Beloved, it is at this very point that Jesus comes to us and says, "Take My hand and follow Me — into My death, My burial, My resurrection. Look at the cross. Embrace it and cling to My victory. That is where your crucifixion to the flesh has taken place.”
Yes, dying in Christ is an act of faith. We have to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul says he wants to know Christ in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, he is talking about Christ's resurrection and sufferings — not his own or anyone else's.
“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10)
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.