Year of Sacred Thresholds: Step Into the River

And I'm excited today to preach the Word of God.

I feel like the Lord has given me a word for somebody in the house, but I feel like the

Lord has given me a word for the house.

And here's what I'm going to ask you.

How many of you today would say, Pastor, I want to be in position for everything God

desires to do in my life in 2026?

Are you really ready for that?

And I'm going to be asking you lots of questions.

We're going to be talking back and forth a lot during the message today.

But I believe that God has given me a specific word for you and your family and for this

house today.

So I want you to grab your Bibles, jump to your feet, go to Ezekiel chapter number 47.

Ezekiel chapter number 47, and this is where I'm going to take my root text for today.

I'm going to be expounding a little deeper upon this on Wednesday night, because I just

don't have time to get into everything today to be the best steward of your time and of

what the Lord wants to do and desires to do at the end of the service.

But I want to make sure that we understand where we are positionally in the spirit.

But then also I want us to understand where we're going spiritually too, because it's

one thing to know God is good, but it's another thing to know God is good and he is leading

me to the next thing.

And today, many times we have people that wonder because they don't have direction.

We have people that wonder because maybe they've received direction, but they don't want to

submit to direction.

Hello somebody.

And today I don't want us to be caught up in either one of those categories where we

don't have direction or we refuse to submit to direction because here's what I've learned

and many saints in the house can attest to this, that when God gives you direction, he's

going to bless you on the other side of that step of faith.

Amen.

So today I'm inviting us into a moment, inviting us into a series of thought of what God wants

to do.

Ezekiel chapter 47, and I'm going to begin reading with verse number one.

Ezekiel 47 · chapter mention

If you got it, say, I got it.

Then he brought me back to the door of the temple.

Then he brought me back to the door of the temple and there was water.

Somebody say water.

There was water flowing from under the threshold.

Somebody say threshold.

Flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east for the front of the temple

faced east and the water flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the

altar.

He brought me out by the way of the north gate and led me around on the outside of the

outer gate gateway that faces east.

And there was water running out on the right side.

And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured 1000 cubits

and he brought me through the waters and the water came up to my ankles.

Again, he measured another thousand cubits, or this will be 2000 from the threshold and

brought me through the waters and the water came up to my knees.

Again, another thousand and he brought me through and the water came up to my waist.

And again, he measured 1000 and it was a river that I could not cross for the water was too

deep.

Water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed.

And I want to add this little thought right there, a river that could not be crossed and

could not be contained in Jesus name.

He said to me, son of man, have you seen this?

And he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river.

And when I returned there along the bank of the river, there were many trees on one side

and the other.

And then he said to me, this water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley

and enters the sea.

And when it reaches the sea, its waters are healed.

Now we know this is a double edged sword and the word of God can mean multiple things

at one time.

This is clearly depicting later on whenever the Dead Sea comes back to life and the Mount

of Olives is split and there's fresh water.

But I believe it's got a spiritual meaning to us today.

And the Bible says in verse number nine, and it shall be that every living thing that moves

wherever the rivers go will live.

I feel that there will be a great multitude of fish.

As these waters go there, for they will be healed and everything will live wherever the

river goes.

And it shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gede and El Glem.

And it says that they will be places for spreading their nets.

Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the great sea, exceedingly many.

But its swamps and marshes will not be healed.

They will be given over to salt.

On the banks of the river, on this side and that will grow all kinds of trees used for

food.

Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail.

They will bear fruit every month because watch this, their water flows from the sanctuary.

Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for medicine.

Today, I know it was quite a lengthy scripture reading for me, but there's a lot of things

in this scripture that I'm going to touch on today, many that I will hold over either

to Wednesday night or maybe hold over till next Sunday morning, depending on which way

the Lord will go.

But this is something that I've been wrestling with since the beginning of 2024.

And I had this on my heart about this subject that I wanted to preach all last year.

But every time I went to prep for it, the Lord did not give me the conclusion of the

matter and would not give me peace in my mind to go ahead and preach this.

So I've been holding on to this for about a year and asking God to give me clear direction

on where he would want me to go and how he would want me to use this.

But today, the Lord gave me instruction over the past several months that I'm supposed

to release this, not just as a message, but as the keynote message and the theme for this

next year.

So I want to preach today and let this be the theme for this next year, 2026, that this

will be the year of sacred thresholds in Jesus name.

Come on. Anybody excited about what God's about to do in our hearts and God's about

to do in our lives?

I'm going to pray over this message, and as I do, I've got a beautiful Bible for Miss

Andrea, Jason bought her that.

And I've got two other Bibles that I've been holding on to for a little while.

I was supposed to give these out on Pastor Appreciation Day last year, but I'm just

terrible about that. I hadn't done it, but I've got a beautiful Bible for Brother Jack

and a beautiful Bible for Brother Mac that I was going to present to them on that day.

But, you know, things happen and things get twisted around and didn't work out quite like

I thought in my mind. But today we're going to bless these Bibles.

We're going to pray over them and we're going to pray with this message and this

theme. Will you do that for me?

Father, I thank you.

I praise you. I bless you today.

And Lord, I thank you for this word that we have in our hand.

Lord, I pray that it will be a light to our feet and a lamp to our path.

I pray, God, that you would guide us, speak to us through the word of God.

Let the power and the presence of God be real.

Lord, as Andrea opens that Bible, I pray that you would speak to her as Brother Jack does,

Brother Mac does.

I pray, Lord, you would speak to them.

Lord, let it be strength to their bones.

Let it be strength to their spirit.

And Lord, I pray today that you would add blessings to your word, Lord, that we would

not leave for the same way.

But we leave here, God, knowing that you have set us up for this moment in 2026 to see

your goodness and your mercy come.

Bless your people, bless them by your power and God, I'll give you praise in Jesus name

we pray and everybody says, amen and amen.

You may be seated in the presence of the Lord this morning.

The year of sacred thresholds, as we begin this thought in this series, I have to

digress for just a moment and let you understand that what we see and what we are reading

here in the book of Ezekiel is none other than just a vision that the Lord gave to this

great man of God concerning the children of Israel and God's precious people.

And as we as we visit this, I have to begin with this thought and this in this series

and we must highlight and dissect the vision that Ezekiel is exposing in this moment,

because I want you to understand as he was beginning to see this vision that God gave

him and began to articulate what God was showing him, the historical and spiritual

surroundings that are around this context or around this moment are critically important

for us to understand today.

Israel is surrounded in this moment of this vision by death and uncertainty, uncertainty

about the temple that was supposed to be a beautiful place that they could come and visit

and worship their God.

This was a moment in history where the temple had been destroyed and the temple had been

messed up. It was uncertainty about the temple, uncertainty about territory that they had

and they possess. But it was also uncertainty in the heart of Ezekiel toward the future

of God's people, while there were real physical and real financial and real cultural and

political issues and pressures that were coming on the people of God that day.

Listen, I want you to understand all of those things matter in context and all of those

things matter in their own right.

But I want you to understand Ezekiel, however, was not centering his vision and what God

gave him on all of these exterior components of physical and financial, cultural or

political. But instead, Ezekiel was zeroing in on the one vital element that God gave

him, and that was the spiritual future of God's people.

This brings tremendous clarity to my heart and to our heart today as we read this vision

when it comes from the Holy Spirit.

And that is this, that true order does not come from political standards or cultural

definitions. It does not come from physical places or even a financial stability

standpoint. But true order always starts in the spirit realm, according to the word of

God. And I'll say this, if anything is going to be set in order in your life and in my

life, if anything's going to be set in order in our lives are going to align with God's

will, his purpose and his calling and his design for our life.

It cannot start in a political realm.

It cannot start in a physical realm.

And it cannot start with just having our finances in order, because I want you to

understand true order must start spiritually in Jesus name.

Can I tell you that many times we miss this?

We want mental health before we have spiritual health.

Come on, this is where a lot of young people miss it.

We say, well, we got to get them mental health.

We got to get them help.

We got to get them counseling.

But when was the last time we took them to the word of God and said, let me tell you

what the God of all heaven and all glory says about your life?

I know what everybody else says, and I know what social media says.

I may even know what the media outlets may say about you and what you should have done

by now. But let me tell you, there's nothing that will take the place of the word of God

in your life. The enemy will war against your mind.

But the moment you allow the word of God to interject above the voice of the enemy is

the moment that everything else in your life becomes stable and everything else in your

life becomes normalized.

Because let me tell you, when our spiritual health is right, everything else around us

will fall in line.

Everything else around us will fall in line.

Ezekiel knew this going into this vision.

He understood that all these other exterior things are important.

But if we're going to get this thing right, then we have to get back to spiritual living.

We've got to get back to spiritual living.

We've got to get back to a place in our life where we understand that God has not put us

here by accident, but God has put us here on purpose.

And I want you to understand this vision was given around 537 B.C., even a long time

ago. And it was a place that the implications were coming to the children of Israel.

But can I tell you that the vision may have been to a specific people back then?

But God said it's time to take that thing and let it face forward to your beautiful

congregation in 2026 and let you understand that the vision spoke back then.

But I declare the vision is about to speak again in this house today.

I want to know, is anybody ready to receive the vision that God has for this house in

2026?

All right. I got about 17 people that are with me on this Sunday morning.

But if you will get with me today and you'll declare over this house that we're going to

step into the vision, into the calling, into the purpose, into the promises of God, then

I declare to you that we're about to step into it quicker than if we were separated.

But if you're in unity with your pastor today, if you say I'm ready to step in one, two,

three, I want you to give God a little praise in the house today.

This vision was around five thirty five, seventy three B.C.

or that that relative area, but it was to a destroyed people living in exile.

But I declare to you, it might have been the people in exile back then.

But I declare over this congregation, we will not live in exile spiritually.

We will not live in defeat spiritually.

We will not live in destruction spiritually.

But I declare to you that I hear the voice of a ready rider speaking and whispering in my

ear today that the word of the Lord is coming today to set you and I up for the greatest

year that we've ever had spiritually inside of this house.

I declare to you, it's not going to be something that we just coast through 2026, baby.

But I declare we're about to step into something that we've never seen before.

That eyes have not seen, ears have not heard.

I declare to you, we're about to see healing take place at a record spot.

Come on. I declare we're about to see families transformed.

I declare we're about to see people bound by drugs, walk in and in a moment they go

sober up. I declare 2026, the word of the Lord over this church is we're about to step

over some sacred thresholds and see what God has for this house.

One, two, three, give him praise.

We must hear the word of the Lord that is setting us up for 2026 and you are stepping

into a place where spiritual healing begins and is also completed in the same year, a

season where spiritual strength moves to the forefront of our lives.

And let me show you this.

Whatever the enemy tried in 2025 and I'll go and say like this, it may look like the

enemy succeeded in 2025.

But I'm going to tell you that God is about to give a victory speech to everything the

enemy tried to do in 2025 and 2026.

He's about to stand up and say, I know you got that diagnosis in 25, but let me tell

you, 2026 is a clean bill of health and I speak healing and I speak victory.

You say I was about to file for divorce in 2025 and maybe I did.

But baby, let me tell you the same God that redeemed you before is the same God that can

take your marriage and turn it back around in 2026 and say, let's put this baby on a

solid foundation.

Is there anybody ready for God to shift some things and bring a victory speech in 2026?

And I will say this, God has not let anybody go unaccounted for.

You say, Pastor, what about me?

What about me and my family and everything I've got going on?

Let me let me let you in a little bit of secret.

God has not forgotten about you.

God has not abandoned you.

God has not said just because you come in and you dip out early that he does not see

you. But let me say this.

God has not written you off.

And the hope of the gospel that is that was echoing so loud in 2025 is echoing again in

this house today in 2026 to let you know, let you know in this house that he whom the

son has set free is free indeed.

If the Lord sets you free, no man can bind you up.

Well, come on.

And I declare this in 2026 that we're about to lose some things on earth that are going

to be loosed in heaven.

We're about to buy some things on earth that are going to be bound in the heavenly

realm. And I declare this, the spirit of lack that has tried to come to your life.

I bind it in the name of Jesus.

And I declare there's about to be a spirit of abundance loosed over your life, a spirit

of abundance loosed over your family, a spirit.

Come on. I feel that a spirit of abundance loosed over every part of your life.

And let me go ahead and prophesy.

I am believing in this year by the end of this calendar year, if the Lord delays his

coming till then, come on.

If he to if he toots, then guess what?

We go scoot and get out of here.

And I'm OK with that.

But in the name of Jesus, I declare this.

I am believing that in this house, we're about to see double the financial resources

that we saw last year.

And God's going to give us favor to launch into the deep.

And I want to know, is there anybody with pastor that I say I'm ready to see it?

Because if the house is blessed.

Oh, come on. I said if the house is blessed, then you better get ready, get ready, get

ready, because your house is about to be blessed.

If you're ready to be blessed in twenty twenty six, I dare you to jump to your feet and

give God about ten seconds of a prophecy.

Bless praise and say, God, I've got it.

I believe it.

I trust you for it.

Hallelujah to the Lamb of God.

Understand, he said in Ezekiel forty seven verse number one, that he brought me back

to the door of the temple.

To the door of the temple, and I want you to understand this was the heartbeat of this

vision. This was the heartbeat of this moment, the heartbeat of the entire vision,

because God placed importance, because God places importance on one thing, the temple.

And I will say this, if God are if it's a priority for God, it must be a non negotiable

for you and I. So let's be clear, twenty twenty six is not the year to step away from

the church. Come on, twenty twenty six is not the year for our our attendance to be

sporadic. Twenty twenty six is the year for us to jump in fully to what God is doing and

say, look, whatever you're doing, don't do it without me in Jesus name.

Come on, somebody.

I'll just be honest.

God loves everybody.

But if you're going to drag your feet and you're going to stay in the shallow end, I

don't know if God's going to be ready to use you in twenty twenty six.

But if you'll be like your pastor and say, look, whatever you got, I'm just going to

jump in. I don't know what it's going to look like.

I don't know what it's going to sound like.

I don't even know what it's going to feel like.

But Lord, I'm going to trust you and I'm going to jump in.

Then God will use you.

I'll say this. No distancing in twenty twenty six.

No pulling away from your calling.

No running from the church.

But I will say it like this.

Run to the church, lean into the church, get involved in the church.

You say, Pastor, you don't know what I did last week.

I don't feel like I'm worthy to come in the house of God.

The devil is a liar.

Let me tell you something.

That's just what the enemy wants you to think, that I messed up last week so I can't go to

my father's house.

But let me tell you about a loving God who said I paid it all for you.

I died on a cross.

I shed my blood.

You may have messed up last week, but here's how our father does.

He stands with his arms open wide.

Say, I know you messed up, but I love you anyways.

I know you're broken, but I love you anyway.

I know you felt come on somebody.

How many you can say so many times in my life?

God has opened his arms to me as a good father and he brought me back here even when I did

not deserve it.

If that's you, I dare you to help me praise God for just a second.

Oh, hallelujah.

If it had not been for the Lord who was on my side, I would not be here today.

But blessed be the name of the Lord.

He brought me back here.

He is a good father.

Can you say man?

He's a good father.

The devil is a liar telling you you don't need to go to that church.

Shut up, devil.

Matter of fact, here's what I'll tell you.

If you did mess up, come to the church.

Hello.

Is this thing on?

I'll clap.

I'll clap just for the people in the front row, because I'm going to tell you this.

The enemy will convince you that you're not worthy.

He always uses partial truth to talk you out of everything God has for you,

because really, if we're being real honest, none of us are worthy.

Hello.

He can use a partial truth, but he don't ever tell you the rest of the story.

You're right, Mr.

Devil, I may not be worthy, but God said I'll redeem him anyways.

Oh, I feel that I don't want to get hung up right here because I got a long way to

go, but I'm going to tell you in the name of Jesus, God has not called us to be

judgmental towards somebody who may have been broken all week long.

He has not called us to sit here and look down our nose at them and say, oh, how dare

you, but what he has called us to do is stand here in this place and say, listen,

this is a hospital for the hurting.

This is a place for the broken.

And if you don't come in here, when you step across the threshold out there, all

you're going to find is love.

All you're going to find is peace.

All you're going to find is joy.

And it's going to come through the power and the presence of Almighty God.

I want to know, do I have a church that's

committed in twenty twenty six to say, come on in, however you are, wherever you

are, I don't care if you identify the wrong way.

Come on in and let's find our freedom in Christ together.

Oh, hallelujah.

That goes for everybody.

I don't care if you are sexually confused.

You come here and God will redeem you.

Hello.

I don't care what socioeconomic background you come from.

I don't care how much money you have or how much money you don't have.

I don't care which way you voted in the last election.

I don't care where you came from.

What I want to know is, do you know this great father that I know?

Have you been redeemed by his precious blood?

Are you part of the body of Christ?

And that's all I want to know.

Because in that moment, when we give them a chance to belong,

because I'll tell you, is people are just looking for hope.

How dare the church, when somebody comes in, look at them and say, well,

I don't know if God can redeem them.

You say, well, I don't we don't we never say that to nobody.

You may not say it with your face and your mouth, but I mean, with your mouth,

but you may say it with your face.

Come on.

We've all been guilty, so let's go ahead

and put ourselves in the guilty box, every one of us.

But how dare we stand back there and we

see somebody run to an altar and we know where they was last week.

Hello.

We know they messed up, they broke and we look at them and say, well,

how dare they get up there and praise like that?

Listen, if you knew the absolute hell they had to go through just to step inside of

a church,

then what? Let me just get can I get out here?

Just preach for just a second.

Well, I just left my notes.

They don't long gone, Dexter.

I know what I'm doing.

But instead of us sitting here and saying, look at them over there,

how dare they praise like that? Look, don't they look ridiculous?

They don't even know they're too far gone.

Instead of us sitting here with a religious spirit like that.

You know what God is looking for in twenty twenty six.

We see somebody down here dancing their

heart out and say, I'm going to give God praise.

He's looking for somebody that will not sit right there and judge,

but somebody to get up, walk right over there to them and say,

hey, sis, hey, brother, I know you've been through a hard time.

Me, too. Now let's praise God together.

Let's give God glory together.

Is there anybody that'll step in the mess

with somebody and say, I know what you've been through.

I know right where you're at, because guess what?

God redeemed me, too.

And he brought me a mighty long way.

Is there anybody that'll say I'm thankful that he brought me over the mess and

went through the mess and because of that, I'm ready to see somebody else

redeemed for the glory of God. One, two, three.

Give him praise.

He brought me back to the door of the church.

He brought me back to the door of the church, which makes me understand and think

to myself, what if God was to bring the racist, awfulist sinner to the door of our

church, would they find freedom or would they find judgment?

Would they find a place where God can

redeem them or would they find a place where people would look down their nose

at them and say, I don't think that they have a chance, but I declare in the name

of Jesus, we will not judge them, but we'll join them in that moment and say,

come on, brother, come on, sister, we got this.

And we're going to step in the power and the grace of God together.

Look at your neighbor and say, we're going to do it.

We're going to do it.

We're going to live according to the word of God.

We're going to walk according to the word

of God, because this is the year of sacred thresholds,

the year of sacred thresholds.

Understand where we are and where God is taking us.

It's two different places.

It requires change.

Understand each one of us, if we're being honest, we like things to stay the same,

especially if you have kids and you have to get up in the middle of the night

and traverse through your house without breaking anything.

I'm so used to our house.

We were at the hunting camp this past week.

And when I got up to feed the baby in the middle of the night,

and there were several times there were little tables that was behind the couches.

There ain't no tables behind our couches at our house.

Mm hmm.

And I'm already dead asleep.

I'm like, feed the baby.

Oh, yes, Jesus. Hallelujah.

God, you're so good.

I'm just ready to go back to sleep.

Is she asleep yet? Oh, yeah.

She's still she's still drinking the bottle.

It's all good.

But I get up and I just started waking my way through.

And then all of a sudden I'm like knocking stuff over, tipping things on.

What in the world? Because we like for things to stay the same.

We like to have the same paths.

We drive the same way.

We drive the same speed limit.

Sometimes we do things the same way all the time.

We we like to have things in a routine and a ritual.

We like to have those things because it brings comfort to us.

It brings security to us.

But can I tell you, when you're serving God,

all that security and all that comfort goes out the door.

Oh, come on.

Let me just go ahead and let you know that I believe this year,

the year of sacred thresholds, we're about to step into some places that some

of you are going to be like, oh, God, I don't know if we're supposed to do that

or not, but let me tell you, let's go and trust the word of the Lord over this house

that if he's going to ask us to step there, he's going to bless us on the other

side of the step in Jesus name. Oh, come on.

I'm trying to work some wine skins right now because I feel a little resistance.

Well, pastor, I like for everything to be the same every time I come in the church.

Well, listen, we've got to get out of that

because there's going to be a time you come in that your seat is taken by some.

Oh, my, my, my.

That's a let's just go ahead and deal with the level of this.

It's not about us.

Come on, when we come in this house, it ain't even about us.

It ain't about what we're doing about what we can get out of this.

We're here to get tanked up so we can take the message of freedom right out

those doors, take it right into our place of work, right into our school,

right into the marketplace and let this whole world know that the same God

that redeemed me is here to redeem you through me.

And I declare that God is going to give me

grace to walk this thing out in Jesus name.

I know some people don't like being out

in their comfort zone, but you don't come to the wrong church

with the right path, wrong pastor on the wrong Sunday

because I'm going to try my best to not let you stay in your comfort zone.

Hello, I'm going to try my best.

If I can make you uncomfortable, I'm doing my job.

I don't know real good.

I don't make myself uncomfortable

because God wants us to understand we come to church.

We're not here to be pacified.

Give me a bottle, pastor.

No, I give you no bottle.

You've been serving God for 40 years.

You ought to be in state by now.

I need this last week.

I need something to eat.

Feed yourself through the week.

I don't know where none of this come from and in my notes, but I was going to go

ahead and just go down this trail for just a second just to make you and I both

uncomfortable in this moment, because let me tell you something.

You're depending on me to be your only spiritual food all your life.

You are going to be a sad state of a Christian.

But if you'll get up every day and realize

that this word is for you to eat and this word is for you to devour.

This word is for you to take in and say, God, give me nourishment.

Every single day I wake up.

Can I tell you the church would not have

room to hold the people if we would eat throughout the week because we'd have

something there to share with the world that would break them out of the mess

that they're in. God is not looking for a pacified church.

He is looking for a pursuing church that will say, God, do whatever you want to do.

Move the mess.

Feed me and show me what you want me to do.

Mm hmm.

He brought me back to the door of the temple.

And I want to say this.

The church is very important to God.

We, in our finite mind, we like to have plan A, B, C and D.

Just in case A don't work out, I still got B, C and D to work out.

If A and B fail, I still got C and D.

A, B and C and C fail, then I still got D.

If they all fail, we all are a mess.

Come on. Then it's like, let's keep going

to the alphabet, see if we can figure out, let's just make something up.

Come on. It's true.

But I want you to see this.

We like to have all these options, but God works differently

because God didn't give options.

What do you mean, Pastor?

There is no plan A, B, C or D for taking the gospel to the world.

Hello.

There is one plan.

It's the church.

We are the only plan in Jesus name.

Oh, come on. I feel I feel a little resistance right there.

So let me work for a second.

I want you to understand the church is still the answer.

The house of God is still the answer.

The people of God are still the answer.

Why? Because God gave gifts to the church,

the fivefold ministry gifts, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

He gave those to the church to be equipped so that we can have the seal

of his presence and the power of his presence on our life, the seal on the church.

And then he placed his anointing on the church, not to sit inside of a building,

but to take the message of the gospel out there.

Can I tell you, we are the church.

And here is one of our core assignments for this next year.

God is calling this church to push back

darkness and take territory for the kingdom of God.

Well, come on, is anybody ready to push

back some darkness and take territory for the kingdom of God?

We don't become part of the church by a class, a card or a clipboard.

We become part of the church by experience through the blood of Jesus

Christ, washing away our sins and becoming a new creation,

being born again by the spirit of God, which means when we're born again,

we're not called and we're not born to be bystanders.

We're not called to be sideline Christians and we're not called to be

our armchair pastoring spiritual decisions from our leadership.

But I want to tell you that we have to go back to one thing.

And that is the source that is in the front.

And his name is Jesus Christ.

And when we understand he is the church, he is the head of the church.

It's not me.

I'm not the head of the church.

The nominations are not the head of the church.

Jesus is the head of the church.

And we follow him.

He's going to equip us and anoint us to do what he's called us to do.

Because understand, God will take us to the source before he shows us the results.

And that's exactly what he did to Ezekiel.

He said, I'm going to take you back to the door of the temple,

take you back to the door of the temple.

But then it said something powerful.

And in the same verse, right after that, it said, and there was water.

And there was I want you to understand there was death all around God's people

because there was no water outside.

The first thing God shows Ezekiel was that water was found at the door of the temple.

What they needed out there was found inside.

What they needed, where everything was dying, was found inside the temple.

The temple and the water went together.

That means the house of God and refreshing go hand in hand.

Sanctuary, the sanctuary and the power of the Holy Spirit go hand in hand.

Now watch this.

We are experiencing water on the inside of the church.

But while we're experiencing water on the inside of the church,

the people outside the walls are dying in a spiritual desert.

Some believers come Sunday to Sunday saying, I got to make it to church.

They'll come Wednesday to Wednesday and they'll refuel just enough.

It's like this. I just got to make it to Wednesday.

If I can make it to Wednesday,

then I can make it through Thursday, Friday and Saturday and get to Sunday.

And if I can make it through Sunday, if I can just get to Sunday,

then everything's going to be all right with my life.

But I'm going to tell you that kind of mindset is literally lapping up water,

but missing the call to share that with people around us.

This is not God's will for your life.

Now, hear me.

If you barely made it here today, this is not condemnation to you.

Some weeks it takes everything just to show up to the house of God.

And for you, I've got good news today.

There is refreshing from the river of God for you.

You said I crawled in.

Can I tell you you're about to walk out in the power of the Holy Spirit saying,

I made it, but God refreshed me.

But it's not God's will for us to be

in a repetitious cycle of that type of mindset.

Here in my heart today,

you heard God's voice by coming and you didn't come to a dead church,

but you came to a church that's alive, a church that is filled with the Spirit

of God, come on, a church that is filled with people

that can agree with you and say, I've got what you need, where you can be refreshed.

It is full of the water of the Spirit this morning.

But then he said something interesting,

there was water, but then he said the water that was there

was flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east.

Flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east,

the Hebrew word for threshold is Mitt Pan, and it means simply this,

it's the border between two spaces.

It means a place of crossing over.

It means a symbolic place of transition.

When you take that Mitt Pan word and you go back to the original,

the root word in Hebrew, it is Pat Ha.

It means this, to open, to loosen or to release.

The threshold literally is where something opens.

But more specifically, where God opens something.

Hello, threshold.

How you doing?

I want to thank Pastor Robbie for putting the door right in the middle of sanctuary.

Come on, somebody to do a great job.

It's so good.

Watch this.

It specifically means a threshold is where God opens something.

So what are we talking about this morning that Ezekiel saw in this vision?

This is the word that stuck out to me for this year,

that underneath that threshold, there began to flow a river of water

that came out from underneath it, and it was a place that represents

where God opens something, where God may open a new season for you

and your family, where God may open a new dimension for you

and your family, where God may open a new assignment for you.

I believe this is for the house,

that where God opens a new level of glory for the house.

And I want to declare this.

The Lord is opening something over this house in 2026.

And I declare over every home that is connected to this house,

something fresh is going to be opened up over your life,

to be opened up over your mind, over your spirit.

But I want you to go back with me to ancient Hebrew culture.

Thresholds were counted as something,

a place of covenant or places of covenant, places where blood was poured.

It is symbolizing the Passover.

You know, the story back in Exodus where it talked about how they took the blood

of the Passover lamb and they put it on the lintel of the door on the top and on

the sides. Can I tell you that even that was a threshold in the making?

They didn't put blood specifically on the threshold on the bottom because they

didn't want the blood to be of less effect or to be of less value to them or

to be trampled underfoot, according to the word of God.

But can I tell you that even in that moment where they put the blood over the

lintel of the door, the threshold was covered in the blood?

And can I tell you that every threshold

that we are going to cross in 2026 is not some just random threshold,

but it is a sacred threshold that has been ordained by God and been ordained

by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And I want to declare over you and your

family, you're about to step over some sacred thresholds in 2026.

Things that you thought may not be possible,

things that you thought may not even take place.

But literally, if I was to break this definition down for you,

I want you to see this, that simply put,

thresholds mark where something ends and something else begins.

It is it is a completion of one place and a starting of a brand new place,

literally meaning that whenever I step from this side and step over into this

side of the threshold, that this behind me, I honor it.

And I thank God for what's over here.

But God is stepping, allowing me to step

into a place where there is a brand new creation, a brand new divine order for me

that I can step into and experience this power on another level.

I want you to hear your pastor's heart

that I believe that we're about to step into some places that we've never seen

before in this ministry.

I believe we're about to see some things

happen in this house that we've only dreamed about for decades now.

I believe we're about to see some things

take place and all it's going to take is a few people that will get with me and say,

Pastor, I'm ready to step into what God has for my life and for what God has for

this church and for what God has for my future, because I believe beyond the

shadow of a doubt that God is about to set some things in order.

Some things may end, but there's going to be some beautiful

beginnings that come in this moment to where God is about to show up and shift

things in our perspective, shift things in our family, shift things in our future.

So what about 2026?

I declare over this house that this year

will be marked by the sacred invading the common.

If we're going to step over some sacred

thresholds, I believe the things that we counted as common before.

God's about to bring his holiness right into the middle of it.

God's about to bring his power right

into the middle of your family, right into the middle of your situation.

And only God can receive the glory from it.

Only God can receive the glory from it,

because I want you to understand that the river that's about to hit this house

that's coming underneath that threshold right there cannot be contained in Jesus

name. Why don't you find about three or four

people around you and just tap them and testify and say, it's not going to be

contained. Come on, I just I need you to do a little talking with me.

I'm going to get my musicians to come on up here and help me out for just a few

moments. One more time.

I want you to testify to a few people around you and say it cannot be contained.

Now, I said it cannot be contained because here's what I know.

Ezekiel had that vision.

And when he began to see that vision, here's what happened.

He had a man that came to him and said, I'm going to take you on a journey.

And he had a string in his hand, a line in his hand, a measuring device in his

hand and said, let's go a thousand cubits.

He took him a thousand cubits.

And the Bible says, took him through the water.

It was up to his ankles.

That's beautiful. That may be refreshing for some.

If that's all you want.

God bless you. Hang out in the first thousand.

But then he said, let me take him another thousand.

He took him the second thousand.

And when he got there, the Bible says they got up to his knees.

That's pretty good. And that's pretty wonderful.

You can probably lay down in that and you

could do a little flipping and flopping.

Come on. You can.

That's a cool that on a hot summer day.

That'd be a beautiful creek to lay down in.

Come on. Can I get an amen from some country folk in the house?

You know what I'm talking about?

But then he said, let's go another thousand.

He went another thousand.

The Bible says that the water got up to his waist and began to touch every part

of his life. And I want to see, I want you to see this again.

You can begin to swim and enjoy that.

But what's so beautiful is he did not stop there in the vision.

The Bible says he went ahead and took him

to for another thousand and that would be a total of four thousand cubits.

And he took him away from the threshold.

And when he got to that point, he passed through the water.

And it was a place that he could not pass

through because it was too wide, it was too large and it was too deep.

And I'll even say this, it probably was too swift in that moment.

I want you to remember back what pastor

said a few moments ago, that God is destined us to do two things.

We're going to push back darkness and we're

going to take territory for the kingdom of God.

Now, I know a lot of people probably translate this one way, but here's how I

saw it when you get out a thousand cubits and it's up to your ankles.

Probably not.

It's not a lot of things are going to happen to the topography of that area.

It's probably just going to be a steel

stream that's running down.

But then when you get up to your knees,

things begin to shift underneath the surface, things that used to be there.

Maybe some debris would get pushed by the weight and by the power of that water.

But then when you get up to waist deep,

I want you to understand if you're out in the ocean, the Gulf of America.

Come on, somebody.

If you're out in the Gulf of America and you're out there and you start to feel

that riptide pull at you when it's at your knees, it's not a big deal.

When it's at your ankles, not a big deal.

It hits your waist.

You start to feel a little bit of that tug

because the power of that water begins to displace the sand.

Can I tell you, this is where the Ezekiel was at in that vision.

He was out three thousand cubits and he

started to feel the power of that water around his body.

And he began to understand.

Wait a second. This is not just any type of water.

This is water that's coming from under the threshold of not just anywhere,

but it's coming under the threshold of the temple.

It's not just any kind of water.

It is holy water.

Can I get an amen in the house?

He felt the power of that water.

Then he said, let's go another thousand cubits.

And can I tell you that when he got there, it was so massive and so broad.

And so swift and so deep that no man containment, no man can control it.

So what was the Lord trying to show Ezekiel?

He was trying to show him all the things

that hindered the spiritual development and well-being of the people of God

for decades and years and centuries by the power that's coming out from

underneath that threshold, this little line that's coming out,

that built into a massive river, everything that's been hindering you is

about to be pushed out of the way by the power of this river.

Come on, somebody.

I feel this in my spirit today.

And I want to prophesy over this house that God has called us to push back

darkness and to take territory.

But he's not asking you to do it by your own strength and by your own power.

All he's asking you to do is step over

the threshold and say, God, get me in the river.

Get me in the place that you want me to be here.

I need a touch from your river,

because then we can get to a place where everything the enemy tried is pushed out.

Every sickness, every disease, every wrongdoing.

God will bring it to pass.

If you believe it. One, two, three.

Give him some praise in the house.

Because I'll say this, I declare this in 2026,

that God is exploding the church in reach, influence and kingdom taking ground.

And it cannot be orchestrated by man.

It cannot be started under any man's

observation because it comes from the threshold ordered by God.

And it can not be contained.

So I speak this over your family in 2026,

that what you've been asking God to remove that the enemy put in your life,

if you'll just get in the river, he's about to push it out.

Oh, come on.

Help me receive that with your pastor today.

Help me receive that God's about to shift

some things and turn some things and do some things.

And he's about to take what was made wrong by the enemy.

He's about to make it right in Jesus' name.

Every healing you've been believing for.

Can I tell you that the river has your healing?

Every financial breakthrough you've been asking God for is in the river.

Every deliverance you've been asking God for is in the river.

Every breakthrough spiritually you've been asking God for is in the river.

And I declare to you today that we're

stepping over the threshold right into what God has for our life.

Everybody stand to your feet all over the house.

I feel this in my spirit, play for me, son.

Feel this in my spirit, because I begin to watch it and I begin to read and see

Ezekiel 47 one Bible says that he took me back to the door of the temple.

But then two places in the word of God, I want you to see this clearly.

They grab my Bible so I can show you.

Ezekiel 47, verse number nine, said that shall be the every living thing that

moves wherever the rivers go will live.

Wherever the rivers go will live, but then he backs up again and says it

almost the same way, but a little different in the same verse.

He said there will be a multitude,

a very great multitude of fish because these waters go there for they will be

healed. But then he says and everything will live wherever the river goes.

The first part says wherever the rivers go will live.

The second part says everything will live wherever the river goes.

Plural, singular.

I graduated from J, but there's a difference.

One means one river.

One means more than one river.

Come on, two or more is with the S on the end.

I don't know, I just I just look at this and I said, Lord, that's confusing to me

because we are talking about a threshold and the Bible specifically showed

that the water came from underneath the threshold, meaning singular river,

meaning one place, meaning one source, not multiple sources,

because a lot of times we get confused and say, well, God's going to come from this

door and that door and this door and things are going to happen.

No, no, no, no, no. There's one source.

What is the scripture saying that you can be saved by no other name,

but what name? The name of Jesus.

He said, if any man comes to the father, he's got to come through the what?

So I said the door, the door, not the doors.

Hello, somebody.

It's not Mohammed.

Let me go and say this dead prophets don't say nobody.

Your prophets dead.

Am I telling the truth?

Come on.

There's no power in Islam.

Come on.

Their prophet died, he did.

But guess what? My savior, he may have went in the grave,

but he went down there and took the keys of death on the grave and rose on the third

day, his name is Jesus.

He is the door.

He is the source.

No other name was given under heaven where men might be saved other than the name

of Jesus.

He is the door.

But watch this.

It started with rivers, wherever the rivers go will be healed.

They said where everything that everything

was healed, wherever the river goes was the second part.

So we're talking in this moment.

I say, Lord, you got to help me,

help me understand, because I feel like I feel the spirit of God in this moment.

If you just hang with me for a second, I want you to understand.

Watch this revelation.

When I looked at it, the Lord showed me one is talking about

a micro scale and the other is talking about a macro scale.

The secondary part of that verse in verse number nine, where it says and everything

will live wherever the river goes, this is talking about the church

collectively because the church is not split into many different rivers.

I don't care if you're Baptist.

I don't care if you're Methodist.

I don't care if you believe that Jesus has died.

Jesus died and was crucified on the cross and raised on the third day.

You are in the same river I'm in.

Come on, somebody.

There's not preference rivers out there.

It's not the Pentecostal River, the Baptist River, the Methodist River.

No, it is the river, the church.

He's talking on a macro scale here that everything will live wherever the river,

the church, wherever the church shows up, life will happen.

But then he said at the very beginning of that, he said that everything that

moves wherever the rivers go will live wherever the rivers go will live.

What are you talking about, pastor?

Simply talk about this.

Marcus, let me shake your hand because I'm

changing your name from Marcus to Mr. River.

This is one of the rivers.

This is a river.

This is a river.

This is a river.

You are a river.

You are a river.

You are a river.

Now, watch this.

We're not representing ourselves, but we are representing the river,

the son of God, the Savior.

And what do you mean, pastor?

This is a revelation God gave me.

It was a revelation of us coming in across

the threshold and seeing all that God was going to do in here.

But then he said they're also going to step back across that threshold.

And when they step across that threshold, they get in their car, either press their

button or turn their key and go this way or that way or that way.

Can I tell you, the Holy Spirit showed me

that the same river that's in here is inside of you and wherever you go.

That's what he said.

He said, wherever the rivers go, there will be life in that moment.

Can I tell you, you are the rivers that are going to walk out of this room and be

what God's called you to be.

Is anybody ready to be the rivers that God has for this last day?

Because in being the rivers that are being sent out from this house,

when you step across that threshold out there and you go, let me tell you something,

that you are going to bring life to everybody you come in contact with.

That means I got to remember who I represent.

That means I got to live right everywhere I'm at.

I don't get the clock out of Christianity.

Hello.

If you feel like I just need a moment to to get in the flesh, let me tell you

something, you need to submit that flesh to the Lord.

This fast is going to be good to you.

Amen.

And I'll say this, you're going to get out of the fast what you put into it.

If you have all around for 21 days and do nothing and then there's a big explosion

here and people start getting blessed, they will happen.

I didn't do nothing. I don't even know.

Listen, it's up to you.

It's up to you.

Get out of what you put into it.

Same thing if you want to go to the gym and you want to get bulk and you want to

get fit, if you sit in there and you just watch everybody else, don't expect to get

muscles.

Amen.

That's my problem.

I'm a people watcher.

I mean, well, they do really good to lift their weights.

I hope I get muscles like that.

Kind of sense does that make?

But can I tell you

that over the next several weeks, the Lord has given me challenging messages and I

will say they're going to be challenging.

But I will tell you, it comes from a heart of love because of what I know God has in

this next season for us.

Messages that are going to make us have to reflect and look at ourself in the

mirror and say, am I really lined up with what God has for me

or am I just trying to be preferential and get it my way?

Am I really going to progress spiritually or am I going to digress and miss

everything God has for me?

Because what I don't want us to do is I don't want us to come in and say, well,

we had good church.

That answer is not good enough for me.

Oh, man, man, I'm telling you, man, we had it today.

I love to shout just as much as the next person.

I love to have Holy Ghost Pentecostal, man, we'll get the musicians going.

We'll just have a time.

It's going to be powerful and great.

I love that. And I got nothing wrong with that.

But I'm tired of shouting and seeing people do without.

Hello.

You shout through a lot of storms and you can shout through some pain and you can

praise your way through the mess.

I do understand that.

And I know that I've had to do that and we're having to do that right now.

But what I will tell you in this house

is I'm going to tell you that it's not just about the shout.

What am I carrying out the door with me?

What am I carrying to this world to bring hope to them?

And today I hope I brought hope to you.

That God has something great for you in this year.

But you've got to be willing

to step through the threshold.

Step through.

For I say to you that my promises over your life are yes and amen.

What I have prepared for you, eyes can have not seen and ears have not heard.

Today, I say to you, follow my lead.

Step where I stay, where I say step,

because the steps of a righteous man are ordered by me.

Today, submit to me.

Be watchful.

Surrender every part of your life to me and watch me move on your behalf.

And I will use you in a great way to bring

the gospel to the world, says the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Can we give him praise and glory in the house?

Can we give him honor in the house?

Let's say this, as you step across the threshold today,

know this, you are becoming a river of life.

Life is going to get on you and it's going to flow from you.

And I will say this by the end of the year,

some of you right now may be an ankle deep and say, I love it.

It's beautiful.

Some of you may be knee deep today.

Some of you may be waist deep.

Some of you may be swimming in the greatest

revival you've ever experienced for your life.

But I will say this, by the end of the year,

everybody in this house is going to be right in the middle of the greatest

revival that we've ever seen.

You're going to be swimming at 4000 cubits in Jesus name.

Come on.

So here's what I'm going to tell you.

I'm going to tell you this, it's going to sound weird.

Get ready to swim in Jesus name.

Come on.

Anybody ready to swim in 2026?

Come on.

I believe God's going to do something great for you.

Every head bowed, every eye closed.

I didn't mean to preach that long,

but I just I felt like I needed to get out what I needed to get out.

But today I believe God's promises are good.

His credit is good.

His credit is good in this house, that if he says he's going to do it,

I'm going to trust him.

If he says he's going to bring it to pass, I'm going to trust him.

But all over this house today, I, I, I'm going to lend just two altar calls.

Number one, if you don't know Jesus as your savior and you say, I need to,

I need to find this door, I need to, I need to step over that threshold into salvation.

That's a beautiful threat.

That's the best sacred threshold you can step into this year is into salvation.

And today the invitation is for you.

And if you don't know Christ as your savior and you've been playing games

with God, maybe you've been you've been toying around with this thing,

you've been hanging on the fringes. Let me tell you,

let me invite you across the threshold.

Salvation is waiting on you and it's

the best decision you will ever make in your entire life.

If you're in this house, you say, pastor, I need to make that commitment today.

Then I want you to slip your hand up and say, pray for me, pastor, when you pray.

Hallelujah. Amen.

Amen. I see a hand.

Amen. God is good.

God is good. Amen.

We'll wait. We'll wait.

Anybody else today?

I've been playing with God.

I've been playing, messing around.

I haven't done things the right way.

Maybe I'm far away.

I've walked away and today I want to come back.

I want to step back to that door.

The door is open. The door is open.

It's not closed.

No man can shut this door, according to revelation.

Not one person can shut it.

God opened it and ain't nobody can shut it.

Today, he's welcoming you in.