“I Don’t Need Success”, with Gary Wilkerson (Ep.180)

Jul 25, 2022 | A Word in Season Show Notes

“I Don’t Need Success”, with Gary Wilkerson (Episode 180)

Our Guest: Gary Wilkerson

Gary Wilkerson | worldchallenge.org

Gary Wilkerson is President of World Challenge, an international mission organization that was founded by his father, David Wilkerson. He speaks at conferences and conducts mission ventures such as church planting, starting orphanages, clinics, feeding programs among the poorest of the poor and the most unreached people of the earth.

Scriptures and Key Points:

  • Legacy isn’t the buildings or institutions, but the impact we have on people’s lives.
  • We need to have a passion for God’s presence without losing the calling of being a tangible expression of Christ.
  • Association may give us some credibility, but authentic credibility comes from a personal relationship with Christ.
  • Gary and his siblings were raised to know God, not just work for God.
  • God gives us a Godly heritage and puts us around Godly people.

Jeremiah 20:9 NKJV Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.

Hebrews 4:12 NKJV For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…

“A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats.” — Charles H. Spurgeon

  • The generation today is focused more on making people happy rather than the Holy Spirit burning sin out of our lives and moving us to a place of peace and joy.
  • The Church has begun to worship the worship more than worship God himself.
  • We can become distracted by our ministry and put it before Christ. We need Christocentric ministries.

Isaiah 5-6 NKJV …Woe to those…I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple…“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips…“Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”…As a terebinth tree or as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump.

  • Shûwl means a bottom edge:—hem, skirt, train.
  • Christ is being so exalted that just the hem of His garment filled the whole temple.
  • Something new will come up out of something that looks like it’s been cut down.
  • We need to get back to our knees and preach the Word of God, not our dreams.
  • Gary realized that he didn’t need success; he needed Jesus.

Jeremiah 23:28 NKJV “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord.

  • “Look at what the Word says!”
  • “How much of this Word was put into the hearts and minds of the people that heard me?” – Gary Wilkerson
  • It’s the Word and God’s Spirit bringing it alive that will bring revival.

“It’s what you do behind closed doors when no one else can see that determines the power of God, or the lack of it, in public.” – Doug Stringer

“A lot of people want to share the message of repentance and holiness. Many of them do it because it moves people. Rather it’s the place of weeping between the porch and the altar. Before you get up and share a message, you’d better be on your knees weeping for them between the porch and the altar. There’s something different about when the people have been wept for before the altar of God.” –  David Wilkerson

Joel 2:17 NKJV Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”

  • Antinomianism is doctrine according to which Christians are freed by grace from the necessity of obeying the Mosaic Law.

Exodus 33:12-23 NKJV Moses and the Presence of God

Two keys from Gary:

  • God’s Glory is His Goodness.
  • His Goodness keeps us pure in a wicked generation.

Luke 7:24 NKJV  …“What did you go out into the wilderness to see?…

  • Run from the foolishness and get back to Jesus.

Romans 1:24-26 NKJV  Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.

Isaiah 60:2 KJV For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

Romans 8:32 NIV He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

  • Paradídōmi is the word used for “gave up” in both Romans 1 and in Romans 8.
  • God turned over His Son to bear the sins for those who have turned over to uncleanness.
  • God wants a Church that is empowered to contend with a culture that has departed from the things of God.
  • The Church should be influencing the culture, not the other way around.

Amos 7:7-8 NKJV Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said: “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.”

  • If we lose the Spirit of the Law, we either change the meaning to what we want or we make it so legalistic with no relationship that the letter of the Law kills.
  • I want the Truth because the Truth will set me free.

John 8:32 NKJV And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

  • Holiness is not an external piety; it’s an internal consecration.
  • I don’t want to be justified by excuses; I want to be justified by faith.

Galatians 3:24 NKJV Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Attracting God’s Presence:

  • Holiness- internal consecration, “My life is not my own.”
  • Humility- authentic, “I’m nothing without You, God.”
  • Honesty- have a love for God’s truth,  2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 NKJV
  • Honor- being honorable to God and others even in disagreements

Philippians 2:12 NKJV Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Hebrews 12:14 NKJV Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

  • Christ lives in us and is holy and gracious.
  • If I commune with Him and move in the paths He directs me, I will move in holy and honorable paths.
  • “How long do you pray a day?”

“Why are you wasting my time and your time coming to talk to me when you could have access to the very throne room of God? Go home and talk to Him first then come back and we’ll discuss what He’s saying to you.” – Leonard Ravenhill

  • “Come into My Presence and know Me well.”
  • We need fresh wind, fresh fire.
  • We want to have the prophetic edge of holiness but also have a shepherd’s heart.
  • We need multi-generational voices to bring the nation back to a revival.
  • It’s going to take the wisdom and experience of the older generation to come alongside the passion and zeal of the emerging generation.

Genesis 32:22-32 NKJV Jacob crossing the ford of Jabbok then wrestling with God

  • Jabbok meant total surrender (emptying).
  • Before Jacob wrestled with God, it took complete surrender.

“Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us.” – A.W. Tozer

“If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?” – David Livingstone

  • It’s time for total surrender.
  • Oftentimes it’s the wrong person on the cross.
  • We stay on the cross because of bitterness or offense, carrying a burden that’s not ours to carry.
  • We need to take up our own cross, not the Lord’s cross.

Luke 9:23 NKJV Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

Psalm 55:22 NKJV Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

  • The ultimate blessing from God is the presence of God.
  • Whatever the issue is, Jesus is the answer.
  • If we return to the roots of the Gospel, we have a power that can’t be thwarted.

Matthew 3:3 NKJV For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ”

Psalm 110:3 NKJV Your people shall be volunteers…

“How can we settle into complacency while multitudes upon multitudes of lives are in the balance of eternity? How can we be so hardened of heart as to sit back on the beach of comfort and apathy while so many are still shipwrecked in the sea of despair?” – Doug Stringer

Daniel 2:22 NKJV He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him.

1 Corinthians 2:10 NKJV But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

Isaiah 54:17 NKJV No weapon formed against you shall prosper…

Ephesians 6:17 NKJV And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

Psalm 23 NKJV The Lord is…

  • “We must be serious, sober, full of life and love.” Gary Wilkerson

Books:

The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson

Living Life Well: The Spirit of the Ten Commandments by Doug Stringer

The New Covenant Unveiled by David Wilkerson

Have You Felt Like Giving Up Lately by David Wilkerson

God’s Favor by Gary Wilkerson

Recommended Authors:

Links:

The Cross and the Switchblade movie

Why the Church Must Invite God Back Into His Own House by Doug Stringer

To connect with the World Challenge app, newsletters, or podcasts, click here.

Connect with Us:

Website:   SomebodyCares.org,

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomebodyCaresAmerica/

Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/somebodycaresamerica

Rumble:   https://rumble.com/user/SomebodyCares

Twitter:     https://twitter.com/_SomebodyCares

Let the hurting know that SOMEBODY CARES with a donation to support disaster response and ministry efforts here! To get the latest updates on disaster responses, visit SomebodyCares.org

Share this message with a friend and subscribe for weekly encouragement and inspiration!

You can also receive weekly Provoke-a-Thought emails, monthly teaching emails, periodic ministry updates, or  join our prayer team by signing up here!

Download a free 30-day devo at AWordInSeasonPodcast.org 

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.