The Fire and the River

Praise God. Somebody ought to give Him a good shout of praise tonight. We praise Him according to His excellent greatness, and He is great, and greatly to be praised. Praise God. Well, I was sitting over there just kind of hoping it just busts wide open. And I learned a long time ago, it all pays the same anyhow, whether I preach or I don't preach. So, amen — get me out of my responsibility here tonight, amen. Man, what a great atmosphere. And I think you've come hungry, desirous, and I pray that God will help me minister effectively tonight. And it is an honor to be here. And I did — I was like, "Wow — 1990, driving up to Dayton, preaching after Easter — and it's where it all started in Ohio," amen. Then of course, through the years, developed some great friendships and relationships. And one of those, of course, is with Bishop Starks and his family, and we appreciate him — and always an invitation to come minister, amen. And you're blessed with great leadership, and you need to thank the Lord for that, amen. Praise God. Amen, amen, amen, amen. Praise God. And Brother David Smith's here, of course — always good to be with him and his family, and a lot of history there, amen.

So, you know, when you're asked to preach a meeting like this, you realize that there's a lot of other people that could do it, and do a great job. And there's people in this audience that are tremendous preachers, great preachers. And so I'm always kind of humbled by the fact that God asked me — not just the district, that God asked me. And so I want to tell you what He told me; that be all right? So I think I'm here, and I feel a preaching spirit in the house tonight. And I was going to ask them if they'd sing "It's All in Him" — and y'all beat me to it, amen. But you might just be on standby; we may do it again. I think I might have won: this apostolic camp meeting here tonight — "and it is all in Him: the mighty God is Jesus; the Prince of Peace is He; the everlasting Father, King eternally." Praise God. Well, I don't want to get sidetracked yet, amen.

Revelation chapter 22 and verse number 1. I'll read four verses, down through verse number 4, amen. Man, what a great crowd — and this is the first night of camp meeting. I don't know what you're going to do with everybody on Friday night, so just — I don't know, put them outside, stack them up, I don't know, amen. Praise God. Revelation chapter 22 and verse number 1: "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face." And they shall see His face. He didn't say, "and they shall see their face" — but "they shall see his face." And His name — those that see His face, His name will be on their foreheads. Praise God.

I want to preach tonight about the fire and the river — the fire and the river, amen. Where the Bounds — where — yeah, come, come up here and sit over here by the Bishop, then, because I'm going to pick on you a little bit tonight; I'm going to pay you back, amen. I love You, Jesus. I'm thankful for this opportunity to minister before Your people. I pray You help us tonight. Let my mind be clear, my spirit be clear. Let me say what You want me to say — nothing more, nothing less. And I ask that You confirm Your word with signs following, and exercise authority in this service, in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus' name, amen. While you're being seated, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Are you on fire?" If you're not on fire, just come to California — we've got plenty of it right now, amen.

Amen. I have given a lot of my ministry preaching about a vision that God gave me many years ago. I was pastoring in the great state of Oklahoma. I took a church — I'd come off the evangelistic field, and I was full of all kinds of ideas. And nobody warned me about church-run, or board-run, churches. And I know we have to have boards, and there's board members that are great men of God — I'm sure that's what all of Ohio is about. But I inherited two boards: a trustee board and a church board. I had siblings that served on both sides. And one of my first board meetings, they were all about to come to blows, literally. And I figured I wasn't called here to pastor; I was called here to referee. It was quite a deal. And nobody told me about churches that were family owned and operated — kind of like, "We own that pew." I got a phone call — they were having music practice — I got a phone call, and they told me that the church organ had a little cover that came down over it, and it had been padlocked. I'm 26 years old, and I had a quick trigger finger. I'm not a good pastor. I'm just telling you right now, I'm not a good pastor. I lack compassion a lot of times, and I have a hard time tolerating people that ought to be acting older. Anyway, I called the lady that padlocked it. I said, "You padlocked the organ?" "Yes, I did." "And why?" "Because I don't want anybody else playing it. That's my organ." I said, "Did you pay for it?" "Nope. I'm the one that plays it, and it's mine. And I'll give permission, and you can't let anybody else play unless you get permission from me." And needless to say, I did not manifest much the nature of Christ. I informed her that I had a hammer — a true story — and that I was headed down to the church, and I was going to bust that padlock right off that organ. She informed me that I couldn't do that. And I informed her that I'm going to. And she said, "I'm telling you, you can't do it. I'm the one that plays it." I said, "Nope — that's your second mistake: you used to play it. I don't need that kind of stuff up there trying to lead worship." Now, I know these are Oklahoma problems. And so, man, we just — I was just full of ideas about revival, on how revival ought to take place. And so, man, we just kept hitting the wall.

So I was asked to preach in a church in the Little Rock area, and I'd taken one of the men from the church with me. And we got over there, and I told him, I said, "Look, I need to spend a little time in prayer, and if you don't mind — wow, if you don't mind — there's a nice mall down the road, some good restaurants, and you take the car and go down there; I'm going to pray a little while." He said, "Oh no, Brother Morgan — if you're going to pray, I'm going to pray with you." And, you know, I don't mind community prayer; I think it's necessary; I think it's part of it. But sometimes I like to pray alone. And so we prayed a little bit, and it's just — you ever had one of those prayer meetings where you felt like it was just flat? Anybody? I guess the rest of you — every time you pray, the heavens open, and angels are ascending and descending, and you're floating in the air. But no, it just — we just hit it, and we prayed a while. I did everything they taught me in prayer. I did the prayer walk, the prayer talk, the prayer wheel. Got down between my bed and the motel wall there, and I had pillows propping me up, and I was down there trying. And it just — so we got up after a while, and I told the guy, I said, "Look, there's a nice mall, and there's some restaurants down the road, and if you want to go down there, I'm going to pray a little while longer." And man, he said, "No, I'm going to stay with you." And I had just barely turned — a little walkway in the motel room, this chair he was standing in front of — and just as I turned — I'm going to weird out on you here a second, all right — just as I turned, I heard this wind blow, just — you know. And the next thing I knew, I was not in that motel room. It's like I was in some elevated place, and out — and all of a sudden, in my peripheral view, I turned to look, and there's this twirling, massive ball of fire. I watched it as it broke into earth's hemisphere, and as it did, it splintered, and just like these balls of fire shooting across the globe. I watched the main one, and I watched it come over the state of Oklahoma, over the little community I was pastoring in called Okmulgee. Then I seen it above our church building. And then the next thing I know, I could see inside the sanctuary. Now, all of you that believe in latter-day outpouring, you also have to believe in dreams and visions; you can't choose which one of those. And so, when that ball of fire hit in front of the pulpit — and for years it intrigued me that it didn't hit in the pulpit, but it hit in front of the pulpit — and when it did, out of it came thousands of angels with swords drawn. And I heard the word of the Lord say this: "The darkness will not prevail against the light." Nope. Happened in the spirit. The church is a supernatural entity. You cannot take the supernatural out of the church and it remain the church.

There was another time, same thing — except this time, when I was preaching a conference in Colorado, and it's like tonight — man, the worship was fervent — and I heard that wind blow again, and I seen that ball of fire. But this time when it hit, it was not angels that came out of it, but it was young men with Bibles in their hands. They were bent in forward motion. The Lord said, "This is how I will set America on fire. I will ignite local churches with this fire, and coming out of it will be fiery evangelists. And everything they touch that is combustible is going to burn." Praise God. You better read your Bible, because there's a lot about fire. The second act of God's judgment against the world is going to be with fire. So I don't say this just casually, but I say it this way: you can burn now, or you can burn later, but everybody is going to burn. So I choose to let the Holy Ghost and fire into my life now, to consume out of me — because our God is a consuming fire. He said, "I'll baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire." He meant: I will send My fire into your life to consume the chaff, and to remove everything that's not like Me. So that's the whole purpose of this fire: is for it to come and consume. Our God is a consuming fire.

There's other parts of this I'll leave off. And I have preached around the globe; I have preached to the United States; I have preached that, and preached it, and preached it, and preached it. And we are believing God for that; we really are. And I've given my life to that. But a few months ago, someone called and said, "I feel to tell you something." And so they began to talk to me, and it showed me a different aspect. When you look at the fire — it is, our God is a consuming fire. The fire of God does not just fall for just some display. But you will always find the fire of God coming to the altar. But for it to come to the altar, there's got to be a sacrifice on the altar. Praise God. So, I don't know — two or three years ago, I was privileged to preach for Brother Bounds, and we had tons of interpretation that night. And the interpretation was: "My fire is reserved in the heavens. My fire is above the city. The only thing My fire seeks is an altar. If you will build Me the altar, My fire will fall." Praise God. Stay with me now.

Now I understand: when we start talking about the altar among us apostolics, we associate the altar with prayer. A few years ago, I seen in a dream — I seen some young men standing in front of the platform, and they were dancing and rejoicing. And I said, "What are you excited about?" And their reply was, "We have removed the altar out of this church." And I knew that's nothing to rejoice about. And I want to tell you that you can pray, but not have an altar. The altar is not about prayer. The altar is about death. It's where something dies. So if you don't have an altar in your life, and you're praying, I can assure you that you are praying amiss, because you're not praying God's will; you're praying your own will. But you show me somebody that's got an altar, and they are living that crucified life — I'll show you somebody, when they start to pray, that prayer will be in alignment with the will of God. And it is the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man — he's in right standing with God — that availeth much. Oh, praise God. Amen, amen, amen.

Now I want to tell you: the apostle Paul was very clear about this: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Don't anybody ever lie to you and tell you that holiness is not reasonable. It's your reasonable service. What he's saying there is: this is your worship. This is true worship. True worship is not you lifting your hands, and speaking, and jumping, or whatever. The true worship to God is when you are living that kind of a life, where you are a living sacrifice. "Living" is continual and perpetual. I asked Dr. Hughes one time — I said, "What about that verse? What about living sacrifice?" He said, "Well, that's pretty simple, really." He said, "In the Old Testament, you know, they put a sacrifice on the altar; you killed it; it didn't crawl off." He said, "But you and I both know: you can get on the altar today, but tomorrow you can crawl right off the altar." And he said, "So it's about perpetually living that kind of a life. This is what God is asking us for."

I travel all across the United States, and I constantly have people come up, and this is what they say: "Do you have a word for me? What's the will of God for my life?" And I realized that some of these people are sincere. And if God tells me something, I don't mind telling people. But I've learned to realize that apostolics are kind of spiritually lazy: you don't want to pray; you want me to pray for you. And you don't want to go to the throne to find the will of God; you want me to go for you. Well, I lost a bunch of you right there, amen. And a young man one time came up to me, first night of a meeting, and he said, "The Lord spoke to me that this, this, and this — and then, while you were here, you would fill in the blanks, basically." And I said, "Okay." So that's first night. Second night, he came up after service, said, "Do you have that word for me?" I said, "I don't." Come up the third night — last night — he said, "You got that word for me?" I said, "I don't." I could tell he was a little irritated — like, "What's wrong with you, Brother Morgan? Are you carnal?" And so he expressed his irritation. And I said, "You know something — there's something I don't understand about this." He said, "What's that?" I said, "God told you all that other stuff. Why didn't you let Him fill in the blanks?" I want to help somebody. You better be really careful when somebody else is telling you what they think the will of God is for your life. I've learned that through experience, too. The best way for you to find the will of God is to do exactly what Paul said: just become a living sacrifice. You will never know what the will of God is until you get to the altar, because it's at the altar that your will has got to die; what you want has got to die.

I feel like preaching here a second. This is the struggle that we're having. I've said through the years: Jesus Christ did not die on the cross; Jesus Christ died in the garden. He died when He made this statement: "Not my will, but Thy will be done." You're not dead until you can pray that kind of a prayer. You're living life the way you think you ought to be living it. You've learned the mechanics of church; you've learned how to do this. But I'm telling you, if there was ever a time that the apostolics needed to get to the altar — and for us to die out on how we think God ought to be running His business — it's right now. Revival and harvest is not going to come the way you think it's going to come. This harvest is going to be led by the Holy Ghost, and those that will go to the altar, and be not conformed to this world, but rather be transformed by the renewing of your minds. The only way your mind will ever be renewed is when you get to the altar, and you put your mind, and you put your ways, and you put your will on the altar, and you say, "There it is, God. Now I'm asking You to consume it." And when it's consumed, I'm expecting for something to be better on that altar — and for me to know, for me to know, what is the will of God, that I can prove what is the will of God. Well, praise God. Oh, yeah.

You know, you better be careful. You better be careful, because you can get to telling God what you think, and you can get yourself in a lot of trouble. Boy, it's quiet right now. Did you know that all of us in this building have the propensity to be Satan? I didn't say — I didn't call you a devil. It just means "adversary." Simon is — well, I can meddle right now, Bishop. Simon: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." If you read five verses down, going into the sixth verse, guess what Jesus says to him? "Get thee behind me, Satan." Just think: all it takes to fall from "blessed" to "Satan" is five verses. And you know why Jesus called him Satan — adversary? Because Jesus expressed the will of God: "I'm going to Jerusalem, and I'm going to die." And Simon Peter said, "Oh no, that ain't going to happen. Bless God, I got a sword. We're going to protect You. We're going to defend You. You're going to the throne of Your father David. You're going to resurrect an army. You're going to drive Rome back into the sea, and You're going to restore Israel back to its preeminence." "That's not what I said. I said I'm going to Jerusalem, and I'm going to die." And the moment that — out of his own understanding, and what he perceived to be the will of God — he speaks against the will of God, he has now become Satan. Better be careful when you're trying to figure it all out in your intellect, and that little analytical brain of yours — and when the word of God comes forth, and vision comes forth, and the will of God is expressed, and it doesn't fit your paradigm, and it doesn't fit the way you want to do it, you better be careful what's about to come out of your mouth. I'm sorry — I'm supposed to be preaching positive here tonight. Now's not the time for us to get off on our own stuff, and to start doing our own will, and doing our own thing. Now is the time for the apostolics to get to the altar, and for us to die out, and say, "We need a visitation of the fire of the Holy Ghost." Praise God. Somebody clap your hands here a second. Everybody said amen. Everybody good? Anybody mad? Want a refund?

Now, I've preached a lot about that fire — a lot about it. And I am convinced that we're going to see it. I'll say it again: I am convinced that we're going to see it. Everybody here ought to be thinking right now, "I want my city and my community set on fire with the Holy Ghost." And if the church will build an altar, and we'll put ourselves on it, and the fire of God will consume us — when we go out there, something's going to happen. I think y'all are kind of connecting right now. Yeah. Everybody say "the fire."

Here's the deal. I get that; I understand that. So I started kind of doing a little study — and during COVID, especially — I felt like the Lord was directing me personally: "You need to understand the difference between the church and the kingdom. My people understand the culture of the church, but they do not really understand the kingdom." Now, without getting into a big theological debate — and you'd have to call for a special board meeting to straighten all this out — let me put it to you like this. I see the church as the queen; I see Him as the King. That's the way I see it. The church is feminine. The feminine's responsibility is to nurture. The King's responsibility — the masculine responsibility — is authority, provide, correct. That's His responsibility. It is not the church's responsibility to operate in the masculine. We teach against that. That went right over your heads, amen. God never intended for us to have a transgender, even in the church. When you start dealing with transgender, you have to understand that you are touching Christ and the church. Because Jesus Christ is the last Adam, and the church is the last Eve. So now we see Adam and Eve; we see it in the church, in Christ. So when people try to change all of that, you're trying to change more than what you think. Then, no matter what you try to change, when it's all said and done, the only thing that's going to be left is Him and His bride, amen. I know some of you get nervous. "Man, get off that, man." If you think that's bad, you ought to pastor in San Francisco. So you see all this.

But the kingdom — the kingdom. So I spent a lot of time looking at the kingdom: the approach of the kingdom, how the kingdom operates. If you'll remember, when Jesus called the twelve, the seventy, He told them — said, "I want to send you out in groups of two. I want you to preach: Repent, for the kingdom is nigh." And so, why did He send them out like that? Well, you go — this is what you do: you cast out devils, heal the sick, raise the dead. "You heal the sick." This is what He was telling them: "If you get there, and there is a son of peace there, then My peace will remain. But if it's not, then let peace return back to you, and you just dust the dirt of that city off of yourself, and go on down the road. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the end time than that city." So I got to looking at all that, trying to figure that out: what in the world does that mean? Then I realized that any time an advancing king or kingdom was about to go to another city, they would send messengers, or harbingers, into the city, and they would ask that city, "Do you want us to come in peace, or do you want us to come in war and judgment?" If they want peace, then the peace of the approaching kingdom would remain there. So Jesus was giving us an example, that "My kingdom should be advancing. I'm sending you out into the world. The church is where we gather together to be nurtured, but I'm sending you into the world as kingdom messengers. And if they want it, then My peace will remain. They'll make Me their King; they will confess Me as Lord. But if they don't, then it's pretty clear what's about to happen."

So I got to looking at all that. And then I realized that in every kingdom, there's a king, and there's a throne. And the throne is the seat of his government. That's where he rules from. That's why the wise men said, "Where the word of a king is, there is power" — and who can question it? In other words, once a king decrees something, you don't have the right — see, it's not a republic or a democracy, where you've got a right to your opinion, and everybody can say whatever it is they want to say. That might work here in the good old United States of America, but it doesn't work where there's kings. Kings don't come and ask you, "What do you think?" They don't put it out there and say, "You judge it — and do you want this?" and all. They just say it. And the wise men said, who can question it? Whether you agree or you disagree, it's the word of a king. It's always right. And so, this is the throne. Now it became extremely important to me. Now, I got to looking at the throne, and how do we approach the throne. And then I got to looking at Genesis, and the garden, and all the stuff, and all. Now, without getting into a debate here tonight, or trying to prove something — I don't have time — I am convinced that Eden was the perfect type of God's throne. It's where He ruled and reigned, as far as we know, in the earth. I also believe that this is where Satan — Lucifer, as we would know him there — I believe it was Lucifer's responsibility, as the angel that was to cover, to protect. I believe it was his responsibility to protect and to guard the throne of God — the reign of God — in that place called Eden. And this is my own personal understanding of it. I also know that when he refused to guard the throne of God, or the will of God, then he is no longer Lucifer, but now he has become Satan, or the devil. It's a process.

So I think it's important for us to recognize that the throne of God is extremely important, because this is where He rules, and this is where He reigns. This is where His will is expressed. And so, if you ever get to the throne, and you ever establish that throne of God in your life, you better guard it with everything that is within you. Are you listening to me here tonight? You need to guard it with everything that is within you. If God has spoken to you, and given you His will, you need to guard it, and to protect it. Don't let anybody question it. Don't listen to any voice that tries to plant confusion or chaos, to speak against it. I don't care who it is. Once God has spoken to you, and once God has decreed it, and you've got it from the throne, you better learn how to protect it, and not let anything take it. If you're honest enough here tonight, you'll admit it: once God speaks to you about something — decrees His will to you — from that point on, as far as I'm concerned, all hell breaks loose, trying to get you off to this way and that way, and question everything, and get you to back up, and get you to move over here, and get you to leave and go over here and do that. I can't operate that way. I told somebody here a while back — I said, "I can't keep up with you. You're like a bouncing ball to me: one minute God says this, and then tomorrow He changes His mind, and it's this." I said, "I don't see God doing that. God's not schizophrenic." I said, "I operate: when God speaks something to me, I'm determined to stay to it until it becomes a reality. I'm not going to let anything question that, or get into my mind, or let somebody else tell me, 'Well, there's another — well, there's the perfect will of God, and then there's a good will of God; there's an acceptable will of God.' You may be right, but I just can't go down that path. I think the will of God's good, acceptable, and perfect. And once I find the will of God, I think He expects me to guard it, and to walk in it, and to prove it, and to execute it." That's why the church has got to get to the throne. That's why we need a fresh word from God. That's why God needs to speak in 2022 louder and clearer than He's ever spoken. Praise God.

Now, I know better — I'm going to come down here just for one minute, and then when you start shooting at me, I'm going to come back up here. You have to just — oh, man, I can see you now. Them lights kind of blind you up there, amen. Felt like Saul on the road of Damascus: "Who art Thou, Lord?" "Well, come out here where it's dark." Don't get me started on that one either. Nope, Mark, don't do it. I'm trying — I'm trying not to be an old man on a soapbox. You're trying to get me in trouble is what you're trying to do, buddy. You know, Bishop Starks, if we sing the way God wants us to sing, even in the service, God's attention and focus would not be up there; it would be out here. So I don't know why we light that up, and you can't even see. Look, I'm only preaching one night. Y'all have got some great preachers coming in. And the thing the church cannot afford to do is to turn that into performing arts, or stage. That's not what it's about. And I don't think you've got a problem here at camp — that's not what I'm saying. But I think the attention of God is on His people. And I think five-fold ministry is a gift to His body — and not the other way around. Oh, boy — y'all responded pretty good on that one. All right, sit down.

I learned a long time ago, with Brother [Keller?]: there's two thrones. There's a throne of righteousness, and there's a throne of iniquity. You know, if y'all let me get to where I'm going to go, we're going to have miracles tonight. And so, what determines what throne rules in the church is the will of the people. When Moses comes down, he reads to the people two or three times, and every time they said, "We will hearken and obey." The last time they said it — guess what happens? Moses and the elders, seventy elders, were caught up. They were allowed to see into the heavens — read it, it's in there — and they could see God's throne. But they weren't released to the throne until the people said, "We will obey." Iniquity, of course, is lawlessness — not just lawlessness; it's you removing the law, and inserting your own. And so, every time the man of God preaches in the pulpit, preaches the word of God, and you say amen — "We're going to do it; we're going to obey it" — what you're doing is, you are establishing a throne of righteousness in that congregation. But when you've got a church full of people that wants you to preach the will of God, and then they say, "I'm not going to do it" — there's only one verse in the Bible about it; I've heard that one — what they don't understand is, they are removing God's law, and they are inserting their own. Therefore, they are establishing within that congregation a throne of iniquity. I'm not interested in the throne of iniquity. Now, the preacher can't decide that for you. He'll tell you what the will of God is; he can preach through the word of God. But it's up to you to decide. So tonight, we decide what throne is going to be in this service tonight. Do we want Him to be enthroned? Do we want there to be a throne of righteousness? Because righteousness means you're now in right standing.

And what's — what I'm about to tell you: I got to looking at the throne, and then it dawned on me that the throne — here — but always in the Scripture, the altar is in very close proximity to the throne. So it dawned on me that the only way I could get to the throne, I had to go by the altar. Because at the altar, I'm getting rid of my will, and I'm going over here to the throne to get His will. Does that make sense? Praise God. Yeah, yeah. So that's why it's extremely important. So churches that don't have an altar, people that don't have an altar — the best thing I can say is, they become self-willed. And so this is something we need to get a hold of. See, Brother Bounds, the fire falls at the altar. But now I'm interested in the throne. I get the altar, but the throne. So I got to looking in the Scripture, and our text tells you that proceeding out of the throne is this river of life. Well, that got me — this river. You preached about this a week or two ago at our Western District camp meeting — this river. So I got to looking at it, and I realized: the first place you find that river is Eden. There's a river. That's where God ruled; this is where God reigned in this world. A river. It flowed out of Eden. Once it got out of Eden, it broke into — what — four rivers, or whatever it is. And so here you go. Then I notice that that's the first place that's mentioned. The second place that it's mentioned is in the book of Ezekiel — but the river is now coming out of the temple. So I've got Eden, where a river proceeds out of; I've got the temple, where a river proceeds out of; and I've got the throne, where a river proceeds out of. So I started saying, it could be they're synonymous; it could be we're talking about the same thing. And wherever that river flows from, that's where I want to find myself. I want to get to the altar, do what I've got to do there, in order to get to the throne — because there's something proceeding out of the throne. That's why the church has got to build this altar. We've got to put ourselves on it. We've got to get rid of all this stuff. And then we've got to get to the throne of God, where the will of God can be established. But there's something that proceeds from the throne. Stay with me now. Proceeds from the throne. I've got to hurry now.

This river — Ezekiel talked about it, and it's interesting. You all know the story: ankle deep, was it knee-deep — just — finally over his head. But where's it proceeding from? It's coming from under the door of the temple. The temple is where God ruled and reigned in the earth. The ark of the covenant is basically His throne. Oh, yeah. So it's coming out from under the door of the temple. And as it flows — watch it — as it flows out of the church, it starts getting deeper, and deeper, and deeper, and deeper. And then it's got great fish. And everything it touched — except the miry stuff that turned to salt — it brought life to it. Yeah. See, your city needs life. Your neighbors need life. I'm getting there. Needs life.

Now, when you get to the throne that I talked about in the book of Revelation, there are some key statements there — and I want to make sure that I present this right. There are some key statements there. Number one: it's a river of life, clear as crystal. It flows down the street of that city. One translation — or one verse — talks about that street is made of pure gold. It is purity. So I am convinced that what that river runs on — its channel, its boundaries — is purity. It's where it flows. The Old Testament talks about a highway of holiness: there's nothing unclean there. You've got that, first of all. And then the next thing you have is: you have the revelation of the throne, and who's sitting on the throne. I just can't see how people could ever find a trinity in the Scripture. Because really, think about it: when you get to Revelation chapter 22 — if they are co-equal, co-eternal, and coexistent, then I would think the other two would have a throne. But I don't see three thrones. I see one throne. I see One sitting upon the throne, and that is the Lamb, and God Almighty. They're on that throne. So at the throne — hear me — at the throne is the revelation of the oneness of God. At the throne is the revelation of who the King is. What Paul tells Timothy: the only Potentate, the only wise God, the only King, even Jesus Christ. This is what John was seeing in the vision that God was giving him: he was seeing the throne; he was seeing this river proceed out of the throne; and on the side of the river, wherever it flows, there's this tree, and its leaves were for the healing of the nations. And Brother Starks — I thought you were going to preach my sermon. You came about today at the table — I was like, "Get off of it; get off of it."

Now watch what happens next. It flows. You've got this river; you've got the tree; you've got healing. And then — I told you, you've got these people over here: sees who's on the throne, right? And they've got His name in their foreheads, and they're His servants. Now, what in the world do you think happened to you when you took on His name in a covenant called baptism? You bear His name. So you know what I see in that? I see this throne; I see this river; I see this healing; and guess what I see? I see the climate of it: it's the apostolics. People who know who He is, and bear His name. So I'm just going to tell you what I think. I think if anybody ought to have that river flowing, it ought to be the apostolics, who have revelation of who He is, and we bear His name. I don't want to belittle it, be mean — but I mean, if you've got three thrones, which one's that flowing from? Now everybody's still good? I thought that would excite you. I'm talking about us apostolics. Of course, you've got to get to the throne. And once we understand at the throne what's about to happen — I'm telling you, Brother Starks, you're exactly right: there is about to be a flow, and a river, that begins to move in the world. Listen to me. And wherever that goes — isn't it amazing that Jesus stood on the last great day of the feast, and said, "If any man thirst, let him come and drink of Me, and I'll give you something that's beyond that, what you're pulling out of a well"? I'm telling you, He was talking about the Spirit. So that river — that river that flows, to me, is the Holy Ghost. It's the river of life. Nobody sees more people get the baptism of the Holy Ghost than the apostolic church in the world right now. My God — they're getting the Holy Ghost by the thousands right now. Why? Because there's the flow of that river. And wherever that river touches, it brings life. My — I feel the help of the Holy Ghost right now. It brings life. But watch this: it doesn't just bring life; it brings healing, and the miraculous. So if anybody ought to be seeing people get the Holy Ghost — if anybody ought to be seeing people that get healed, or the miraculous — it ought to be people standing at the throne, knowing, "I know who He is, and I bear His name." Let it flow. Does that just make sense to anybody here tonight?

Now hang on, hang on. Remember: one river coming out of Eden, and then it breaks into rivers, right? So let me ask you a question. What do you think Jesus meant when He said, "And out of your belly — " See, you had a river flowing in, but it's rivers flowing out. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost right now. See, "out of your belly shall flow" — a river. Now, it can't flow out of you unless He's enthroned. If He's enthroned in your life, and you've built that altar, which I've been preaching a long time about — if you've got all that going, there ought to be something flowing out of you: rivers of living water. And everything it touches — I think that's why Jesus said something like this: "And these signs shall follow them that believe." Just let it flow. It's kind of locking up, for some reason. "These signs shall follow them that believe," right? Just say, "These signs shall follow."

"The celebrities, or a certain class of apostolic preachers — " I realized a long time ago, some people only want you to pray for us, then go brag about it. See, here's the deal: if you need a drink of living water, or you need a miracle, I shouldn't have to lay my hands on you. Somebody on that pew here tonight ought to start saying, "Spring up a well." We're about to have quite a flow of the river of life on this pew, and then it's going to jump from that pew over to that pew. I think we're starting to see something right now. All right, sit down so I can finish it, and then it's yours. Literally — I'm going to give it to you in just a second.

Now, Brother Starks: "How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." You know, I think you can be in unity, but not be together. You can all be united for the cause of revival, or harvest, or whatever — but that don't mean we're together, doing it. Unity's just you agreeing with the will of God, basically. Oh, that went over real well. You know, "How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity" — right? Like the ointment that flowed. But then he says, "And it's like the dew that descended on Mount Hermon." And there, there God commanded the blessing, and life forevermore. See — it settled on Mount Hermon as snow, rain, or dew — normally snow. And as it would melt, it'd send — going down that mountain, it would create a little tributary, a little trickle. And then it would flow down, and then it would connect with another one. Now, you know, you could throw a little rock, or a stick, or something, in front of one of those little trickles, and stop it — dam it up. But if you let another stream — what's the word I'm looking for? If you let another one flow into it — guess what? You start creating a little more momentum, and a little more force. Tell you exactly what the psalmist meant. And then it connects with another one, and then it just starts removing all the barriers, and it starts removing all the hindrances, because that thing is descending, and it's getting stronger all the way down, until when you get to the base of Mount Hermon, you now have the mouth of the Jordan River. And the Jordan River is what brings life to that whole land — is the Jordan River. And the psalmist said: it don't start as a river. It starts up there on the top, just a little trickle. But as it connects, and as it unifies, it gets stronger and stronger, until there's such a flow, you can't stop it. That is the power of unity.

Now, I felt a little nudge in my spirit here a while back tonight, and — this, I'm going to say this, and just take it. We are very strong against homosexuality, and we believe that it is an abomination. We do. Now, I've had people show up and say, "Eating crawfish is an abomination." Let them show up and quote that to me: "All you Christians eating crawfish — you're an abomination." Well, there are some differences. Because crawfish — read the Scripture — it's an abomination to you. That's what it says: it's an abomination to them. But this other is an abomination unto God. And so we're real quick: "It's an abomination." Let me tell you something else that's an abomination. You ready for it? "He that soweth discord among the brethren" is an abomination. Homosexuality is discord in nature; the other is discord in the brotherhood. And — you're not going to like this one; it's going to sting — but it all has the same root system. So you've got to be extremely careful when God is trying to bring something together in unity, and you get a little beef, or it's not going your way — Burger King — and you're upset because nobody listened to you. And no — Bishop Starks and I haven't talked. I've been at this long enough, been in leadership even long enough, to know: just about the time you think you've got unity, some self-willed person, that doesn't have the throne or an altar in their life, starts getting crossways with something. Anybody know what I'm talking about? "I don't like the church. I don't like the preacher. I don't like this. And I think they're misspending money. And I think the preacher's blowing it all. And what are we doing with all those offerings we take at camp — paying me? And I'm high dollar. Expect me to come here, and it'd be cheap? It ain't going to happen."

I'm going to say that, and the Lord say, "You need to give your offering back." You get stuff in your brain, and the next thing you know, you can open your mouth and say something — and so, discord. Just because I don't see it that way. As an evangelist, I'd always use this illustration. Let me go over here — where's Sister Starks at? Okay. So here's how it works. You've got saints in Columbus — Calvary, named Calvary — you've got saints there, and they start talking. This is what they say: "Boy, we take a lot of offerings around here." Now, they're at the local McDonald's, and it always starts like this: "I'm just troubled" — a little tear — "Now, I'm not gossiping, but I've been praying about this, and I've noticed — " This is how you destroy faith in a church. Boy, I'm messing this whole service up right now. You know, all those divisions in the Corinthian church — Apollos, Paul, Cephas, and then those that were "of Christ." That was the rough group: they got theirs directly from God. It went over real well, too. So they're sitting there, tear trickling down their cheek. Now, I'm not saying this is actually happening, but it's just appearance: "And I'm concerned. But I've noticed that, after we take those special offerings, Sister Starks always has a new pair of shoes." Hey — if you hadn't been approached by people like that, just hang on; they're coming. "I'm concerned about the church. I'm concerned about the ministry. I'm concerned about the district. I'm concerned about this." That's where we're at now. The next time you come to church, and you're trying to worship God, that thought is lodged, and you're like — "Come on, let's do it." Look — "Oh my God, I think those are new." I'm just trying to be real with you. And the next thing you know, it starts through the church: "They're mishandling the finances. They just blow it all on clothes and stuff, and all." And then you've got discord. And it always tries to happen just about the time a revival, or a harvest, or a real flow of the Holy Ghost, is trying to start. Somebody's going to find something — normally, they find something to fight about.

And I've been in evangelism to preach for years, and I've been in churches where they were fighting over some of the most ridiculous stuff. One of them was the color of the carpet — seriously, the color of the carpet. One of them was about the kind of car the preacher was driving. I mean, on and on and on it goes. Now I'm just going to tell you now — you're on the General Board; you straighten this out. But it's not just in local churches; it's in our organization. Just about the time we're getting ready to have a harvest, somebody is going to find something to fight about. And brother, we'll destroy the whole harvest. I feel a strong word right now. The Old Testament said: if two men are striving, and by chance one of them hit a woman that's pregnant, and they cause that baby to be born blind, or crippled, or dead — it is not the mother that determines the punishment; it is the father of the child that determines the punishment. And it's eye for eye, limb for limb, and life for life. You better be careful when your church, or district, or organization, is pregnant with promise, and then you and another brother decide you want to find something to fight about, and you hit this thing and cause it to be aborted. Let me tell you: it ain't going to be an organization, or a local church, that's going to determine your punishment. It's going to be the Father — and the One that the seed of the promise came from. Put up your sword. I said, put up your sword. You've got to decide in life: you want to hold a sword in your hand, or a sickle. But you can't hold both.

All right. So now I'm done. Maybe a miracle's going to happen here tonight. I'm serious. I know a miracle's going to happen. I just believe that you guys are going to believe what I'm preaching. Yeah. And this is what I see. I see y'all connecting. You ever notice, camp meeting, conferences, and all — it's just like there's a special anointing there. That's where God commands the blessing. You can't be autonomous. We struggle with that in the church so much: "I'm autonomous; I don't need anybody else." Let me help you with that. You've got a little trickle, and you may be saturating a small area. But then all of a sudden, a limb falls out of a tree and blocks it, and you're fighting against something that you can't break through. Now you want to stay by yourself now. But then all of a sudden, another ministry, or another brother, or another church, gets with you, and they start praying with you. And the next thing you know, their flow — your flow — connects together. And then all of a sudden, it starts creating something stronger, and what maybe one could move — because after all, the Bible does say: one can put a thousand, two ten thousand, three a hundred thousand. What in the world would happen to our world, and to our communities, if the apostolics ever came together in unity, and started letting that flow out — out from the temple, out from the temple? See, your revival is going to start right there on your pew. Your revival is going to start when you alone say, "Spring up a well. Spring up a well." And as it flows out into the streets of — where are we at? Columbus, and Dayton, and Cleveland — and where are some other places? Cincinnati — wherever. As it flows out from the door of your church, and it starts out into the streets of your city — guess what? This is where you're going to see the miraculous. Say it again: this is where you're going to see the miraculous. There's going to be a flow. I see Ohio right now. Yeah, fire's coming. Yeah, it's coming; it's going to burn. But I also see a river that starts to flow. And when it starts into the streets of your city, people will receive the Holy Ghost, and people will receive miracles. And it just might be that the Holy Ghost is saying, "I want to start that on the first night of your camp meeting." It could happen here, so forceful, that the state of Ohio will never be the same. And that's not just saying that to hype you up.

So let's put it to practice. What do you say? You're going to put it to practice? Okay. Now listen, listen, listen, listen. I don't want anybody coming to the front, unless we announce otherwise, okay? Because it's not about a select few coming down here. It's about you connecting. What kind of momentum could we create, spiritually, if we all just connected tonight? And then all of a sudden, it flowed from you to the person next to you. And they came to the building tonight physically with the need. Brother Morgan didn't get a bottle of oil. Nobody gave them a word of knowledge. Nobody called them out and said, "You've got to honk us with the bonkers" — or whatever that we say. And I'm for all that; I'm not opposed to that. But we wait so much for that to happen. If the body will just learn how to let that flow — what will happen in this building tonight if that happens? I'll tell you what'll happen: people get the Holy Ghost, and there'll be great healings and miracles in this building tonight. Now, I don't mean this bad, but you don't have to wait till Friday night to get your miracle. It's in you. I'm asking God to use every one of you in the gifts of the Spirit tonight. You may not even know you're being used in it, but I'm asking God to let it flow right through you. And while you're praying and worshiping with somebody else, the gifts of healing's going to start flowing through you. Come on, I need a little help here right now. The gifts of healing start flowing through you: let a river of life, let a river of healing, let a river of deliverance, let a river of edifying — let it flow in this place tonight. I feel something starting to gurgle just a little bit. Just remain standing where you're at.

I went down to visit — I'm done. I went down to visit my Aunt Florine. I was about seven or eight years old. I remember two or three things — three, especially. Number one: she cooked the best hamburger I've ever eaten in my life. Number two: I needed to go to the restroom, and I was trying to find the door in the house. "Aunt Florine, where's your restroom?" "You go outside; there's a path." You've got to be joking. I hated outhouses then; I hate them now. Third thing: she was getting ready to give us some water — we were getting ready to eat the hamburgers — and so I went over to the kitchen sink, turned the faucet on. There wasn't no faucet. There's a strange-looking contraption, and a little spout going this way, and it had a handle that came this way. And then there was a glass of water up in the windowsill. And I thought, "Hey, there's water right there." So I picked the glass up. Man, Florine said, "No, no, no, no — don't drink that." "Well, it's water." "Yeah, I know it's water, but it's not for consumption." I said, "What's it for? What is it?" "Prime the pump." I said, "Prime the pump?" My dad said, "Come here, Mark." So I walked over here. He said, "Put your hand on that handle, and just start pumping that handle." I said, "Okay." And then he took that water, and he started pouring it down that — and next thing I know, you could hear this — that's kind of what I'm hearing right now in the spirit. I've been trying to prime your pumps for about an hour, and they just kept pouring it in there. And as he kept pouring it in there, it spurted out a little water. He poured some more in there, and — I mean, all of a sudden, those seals got moisture in them, like they're supposed to do — and then this gushing of water came out. I'm telling you, it was good, cold water. So, in the spirit right now, I hear that gurgle kind of happening. And I feel some of you — like, all of a sudden, something — your faith is kind of being primed just a little bit. I'm asking God to let the gift of faith operate here tonight. Something's kind of priming it right now.

So here's what we're going to do. You ready? I told you I'm going to give it to you — and it's where I'm going to give it to you, right now. You're just going to start praying for each other. Now listen: I don't want you to just pray some little prayer. I want you to get to the throne, and I want you to start praying what the Spirit wants you to pray — we call that prayer in the Holy Ghost — and then I want it to start flowing. And I mean, I hope there's not one place in this building that won't be a conduit. I hope there's no blockages here. I pray that it flows from the front to the back, and from side to side, so we come together in unity, we start connecting in the spirit. I'm telling you, miracles are going to happen. Yeah — just mark it down: miracles are going to happen. Something's about to happen in this building. Something very strong and supernatural is happening. It's already starting right now. Do I have anybody that has faith with me right now? All right, all right. I'm giving it to you. So connect with somebody. "I don't need to connect with nobody." Yeah, yeah — I suggest you do. And I just want you to start praying in the Holy Ghost. I don't mean just for a few seconds; I mean until you feel that flow — that Holy Ghost flow — and it starts saturating every area of this building tonight. People are delivered and healed, filled with the Holy Ghost. Whoa — somebody came tonight; somebody came for the Holy Ghost. Come on: "Out of your belly shall flow a river." Come on, keep praying, and just let it get stronger, and let it get stronger, and let it get stronger. I believe in God for a witness of His Spirit. Ask God to let the gifts of the Spirit flow through you right now, to minister effectively to somebody on that pew of yours that you're connected to right now. A river of life that flows with healing. A river of life that flows with healing. Yes. No, no, no — don't stop. It's just really starting to take off. I'm expecting people to start rejoicing over their miracle. I'm expecting somebody to turn and look at you and say, "Hey, God just healed me." Yeah. Some of you came so discouraged. You're in a battle. I'm telling you: two or three people joining with you may be the thing that you need, to push the hindrance out of the way, and for there to be a flow of the Spirit that comes to your area, to your region, in Jesus' name. Jesus' name. Come on. Some of you came with heaviness of heart. Let it flow. And I said, let it flow. That's it. Let it fly, and say, let it flow. Minister to that person; they're so spiritually parched. Come on. "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Let that flow start tonight, and continue all week. Jesus' name. Jesus. Oh, I want somebody to know: there's emotional healing in this building right now — not just physical healing. Yes, yes, yes. There's a heaviness that's starting to lift off of some of you right now. "Therefore with joy — " there's joy coming to you. "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Let that joy come to you. Let life come back to you. It seems like life has ended out of you, but let newness of life come to you. Let there be a reviving of life in your spirit tonight, that your faith be revived, as you let it be revived.

While you're praying right now, if you'll lay your hands on your neighbor right now — there's about to be a release in the spirit right now. I'm telling you: in your body, your mind, and your spirit, there's going to be a release in the Holy Ghost. Come on, put your hand on your neighbor right now, as the Bishop said. Begin to pray in the spirit right now. There's going to be a lifting in the spirit right now. You're going to physically feel it coming off of your body, your mind, and your spirit, right now. Come on, open your mouth. Pray in the Holy Ghost right now. Open your mouth; pray in the spirit right now. Come on, it's going across the sanctuary right now, from the front to the back, from side to side, top to bottom, right now. In the name of Jesus, let it take place in this house right now. Come on. You — come on, you can sense it; it is in the house right now. It's happening right now. Receive it right now. Receive it right now. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come on — that river's flowing. That river is flowing through you right now, from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. That river of life is flowing through you right now. Come on. When you leave this place — wherever you're — you're never going to be the same. You're never going to be the same. Your heart, your mind, your body, your spirit — it's going to be changed tonight. It's all right to get out of your pew. It's all right to walk over and find somebody else. It's all right. This is what we're here for. This is what we're here for. Some of you ought to step out right now, and let God lead you to somebody. Some of you ought to step out right now, get out of where you normally — and go to someone, and pray in the Holy Ghost. Let the Lord lead you and guide you to someone. If you hadn't got what you wanted, grab somebody; say, "Pray for me." If you hadn't got what you felt like you needed, just tap somebody on the shoulder and say, "Pray for me." If you feel a word from the Lord, give it to him. If you want to speak a word of faith to somebody, do it in the Holy Ghost. Let Jesus move through you. Let Jesus move through you. Yeah, yeah. Healing is here. Verses coming back to the house of the Lord. Let's believe. Come on, let's pray; let's believe. Come on, one more time. Why don't you just put your hand on someone else, and pray for him, one more time? We're not wasting time here, I promise you. You can see things happening all across the congregation right now. Come on, that's right. Let's just go ahead; let's just pray in the Holy Ghost. That's right, let's pray in the Holy Ghost one more time. Come on, let's believe right now. Things are changing. Atmosphere's changing. Yeah, that's right. Find somebody to pray in the spirit with you right now. Find somebody to pray in the spirit with you right now. We're thanking You, God. We're giving You honor, God. We're giving You praise and glory, God. Why don't we lift our hands one more time, and say, "I receive this into my spirit right now." Do you feel like that was a word tonight from the Lord, and you know it touched you? Come on, tell the Lord: "I receive that into my spirit right now. I receive that into my spirit right now, Lord." Come on, tell Him: "I receive that into my spirit right now." Come on — you need to seal that in the Holy Ghost, right now. Seal that in the Holy Ghost, right now.