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R.G. Flexon

Richard Gant Flexon (1895–1982) was an American preacher, evangelist, and author whose passionate ministry left a lasting impact on the Holiness movement, particularly within the Pilgrim Holiness Church. Born on June 18, 1895, in Downer, New Jersey, to Richard and Emma Flexon, he was raised in a Methodist home where family worship was a daily practice. His mother died when he was six, and his father, a farmer and minister, nurtured his early faith. Converted at age six during his father’s ministry, Flexon felt a call to preach at 13 and delivered his first sermon at 14, seeing eleven men respond at the altar. He was sanctified at 23, deepening his commitment to holiness theology, and pursued ministerial training at Apostolic Holiness University, the Pilgrim Holiness school of his time. Flexon’s preaching career began in earnest after his ordination in 1915. That same year, on June 16, he married Emma Laura Hunter in Glassboro, New Jersey, and they had two children, Lily and James. In 1919, he became president of Beulah Holiness Academy, serving for a decade while pastoring churches and conducting revival meetings across the U.S. Known for his anointed preaching, he later served as president of Central Pilgrim College in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, from 1962 to 1964, and spent his final years teaching and fundraising for God’s Bible School in Cincinnati. A prolific writer, he authored nine books, including So Great Salvation and Men Ablaze, and co-founded the American Holiness Journal. Flexon died on April 19, 1982, in Salisbury, Maryland, leaving a legacy as a holiness preacher whose powerful sermons and writings continue to inspire within evangelical circles. He was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana.
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In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of not just attending conventions and gatherings, but also reaching out to the world with the message of God's love. He shares a personal experience of a revival where many people responded to the message and came forward to seek God. The preacher encourages believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to let the fire and glory of God be evident in their lives. He challenges the audience to set goals and make a difference in their communities, sharing his own achievements in raising funds for God's work and building churches.
Sermon Transcription
But I'd like to see us get in a federation where we would have one objective, and that is to preach second blessing wholeness, with our souls filled with the Holy Ghost, the fire of God resting upon us, and then to get out of the four walls of our churches and go out and win men and women to Jesus Christ. Beloved, we are so prone to sit in our churches and sing and shout our way to heaven while a seething, surging sea of lost humanity goes to hell all around about us, and they hardly know we're in existence. God help us to have so much fire and glory on us that the community will know we're there, that they'll know we're alive, that they'll know we have the fire and the glory on us. Amen. Come on, friends. It's our day if we're ready to take it. If we're not ready to take it, God may have to pass us by and use somebody else to bring the revival I believe He wants to bring. Will you accept the challenge tonight? The school said challenge is but a fiction, but I'd like to if you'll give me time to challenge you. I don't think I'm boasting, but in my early ministry I set some goals. Personally, I believe in setting goals. The first goal that I set was to try to raise $1 million for the work of God. Instead of raising $1 million, God's helped me to raise $13 million-plus for the work of God. Another goal that I set was to give God's church and give God's work $150,000. That was when I only had a $10 a week salary. But I set that goal and God's helped me to go way beyond that goal. Praise the Lord. Then I promised I would dig out a brand new church for my denomination, a brand new church for every year I served it. I served it for 55 years and gave it 65 churches. I dug out myself and organized them. Now, come on, preachers, stay with me. You said you want to get the army. Well, come on, follow the general. Amen. Then I asked God and set my goal for 100,000 souls won to Jesus Christ. Someone said not long ago, how many of you won for Jesus Christ? Well, I never studied my record, but looking over my record, it's over 120,000. I see kneeling at my orders, seeking after God. And God's just the same for you preachers as He ever was for me. Come on, preachers, He's just the same for you as He ever was for me. But we sit around, we're so lifeless and so unconcerned. I'm praying that God will let the man of some of these older preachers that have gone and are soon to be gone, follow on some of these preachers until they'll blaze away through this whole world. Blaze away through this whole world. Thank God it can be done. We can still have old time revivals if we'll pay the price to get them. But they only come down one road, and that's the road of prayer and fasting. We'll never have them until we do. Do I have time to go on? Will you folks stand there until I get through? I was in a large church some time back. Six hundred people were there. They all couldn't get in, many on the outside. That Sunday morning was the last Sunday morning of a revival in that church. I was preaching on the text, be not drunk with wine which is in excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking yourselves in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, making melody in your heart to the Lord. I was only a half through with a message when a little over a hundred people arose and came rushing to the mourner's bench. They got through. We started the meeting at ten o'clock in the morning. It's a little after twelve now. I think it's time to go home. I got up to dismiss them when they started to sing the power of God's just the same today. It makes no difference what the people say. Another hundred rushed to the altar, not the same crowd but another hundred. When they prayed through, it's now past one o'clock. They went back and took their seats. I thought I'd dismiss them. But a man right back there rose and said, I've been seeking to be sanctified for years. But this morning while the preacher was preaching, I threw up my hands, made the consecration by faith, and God sanctified me wholly. About that time, two hundred people were out in the aisles shouting and praising God, running the aisles and shouting and praising God. That time the hard sinners came to the altar. Over another hundred at the altar. When they got through, it's way after two o'clock. I got up to dismiss them. When a lady came running down the aisle, she had a handful of bills. She ran right to the platform, threw those bills in my face. Said, I've been robbing God by His tithes. There's the whole thing. I'm glad I've got rid of it. Amen. I wish some more people in the wholeness movement would get rid of their tithes. You'd be more blessed if you would. Amen. Then God struck the place. I'll never describe that meeting that morning, but standing over here was a man. Some of you would know if I'd mentioned his name. The tears running down his cheeks, his lips were moving. I stepped over to find if I could hear what he was saying. He was saying, So much of God and so little a man. So much of God and so little a man. That's what this whole world's dying for tonight. So much of God and so little a man. We have our programs. Instead of letting God run things, we try to get Him into our program. We make them and say, Lord, bless them. No, we ought to get our programs from God, and then He will bless them. Amen. Come on, friends. Don't run on programs. We need the Holy Ghost. And if we have the Holy Ghost, we can still have old time revivals. It's not a lot of gimmicks we need. It's the power of the Holy Ghost upon us. From the pulpit to the last church. If you're in our churches over the country, we need the power of the Holy Ghost in our midst. I didn't come here to preach, but God's putting it on me. Amen. God help us tonight. We can still have the fire, and we can still have the glory. We can still have the blessing. And when any church puts its finger on Holy Ghost shouting, it's on its way to its own graveyard. I still believe in old-fashioned fire and Holy Ghost shouting. Praise the Lord. If this will possibly be the last time I will speak to you, the next time we may meet at the marriage supper of the Lamb, over the flexing when they turn you down, won't let you preach anymore, then what are you going to do? Then what are you going to do? Are you going to keep the victory? Let me have a chair, please. What am I going to do when nobody wants me around, everybody turns me down, and don't want to hear me preach anymore? Well, the Scripture quoted says, you can sit in a little corner, and you can speak yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and then you can make melody in your heart to the Lord. So when I get to the age when nobody wants to hear me preach anymore, nobody wants me around, I'm not going to get disgruntled. I'm going to keep the victory and the fire on me. If I can't do anything else, I'll sit in my little corner and talk to myself, not about the neighbors and the homeless people, but to myself. For what it takes, speaking yourself in psalms, so I'll start, and blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of the sinner, nor sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night, and he shivereth like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruitive season, his leaf also shall never dry up, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Praise the Lord. And when you get through with that psalm, you can start in, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he lieth me beside the still waters, he restoreth my soul, yea, though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me, thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of my enemies, thou anointest my head with oil, until my suffering is over, and then surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and then I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Then when you get through with that, he said you can sit in your little corner and sing to yourself in hymns, if I were to start to sing you'd all go home quickly, but I can sit in my little corner and sing to myself, and thoroughly enjoy it, when I get in my little corner once in a while, the devil sticks his head in there, says nobody loves you, nobody cares for you, you see everybody's turned you down, they don't want you anymore, what are you going to do then, sit back in my little corner, and start to sing Jesus lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly, then he sticks his head in my corner, says yes but I'm on your track, I'll get you at this time, there's no hiding place for you now, I sit back in my little corner and start to sing, the rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee, then he sticks his head in my corner, says yes but your religion's only a supposition, you don't have a thing to found your faith on, what are you going to do now, I sit back in my little corner and start to sing, there's a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains, glory to God, when they don't want to get in their little corner, sing to yourself in hymns, praise the Lord, then he said when you get through singing hymns, then sing to yourself in spiritual songs, and I'm glad in this day of jazz, there's still some spiritual songs, so when nobody wants me around, I sit in my little corner and start to sing, I found a friend in Jesus, he's everything to me, he's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul, the lay of the valley in him alone I see, all I need to make him keep me fully whole, he all my griefs has taken, and all my sorrows borne, in temptation he's my strong and mighty power, I've all for him forsaken, and all my idols torn from my heart, and now he keeps me by his power, though all the world forsake me and Satan tempt me sore, through Jesus, thank God through Jesus, through Jesus, through Jesus, I shall safely reach the goal, through Jesus, we're going to reach the goal, thank God, I wonder we're so quiet about it anyway, he's still alive and so long as he lives, we'll have the victory through Jesus Christ, and about that time I feel like climbing on a mountain peak, and starting to sing, I've reached the land of corn and wine, and all that's rich is freely mine, it shines on dim one blissful day, but all my night has passed away, but suppose you can't sing, and suppose you can't talk, then what are you going to do, he said sit in the little corner, and make melody in your heart to the Lord, glory to God, hallelujah, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, glory to God, hallelujah, making melody in your heart to the Lord, the trans don't want to do more, I believe in shouting, I get blessed, I get blessed a lot of places, but we want to do more than that, we want to do something else, if we just keep living in these conventions, and don't reach out from these conventions, to reach a dying sin curse world, we're going to dry up on the vine, and die right in these conventions, and lose out just like the National Holiness Convention, lost the fire and the glory, why, because they gather together, like we're gathering now, but no outreach, no outreach, God bless this boy, that's come to the altar tonight, amen, God bless you, I didn't intend to give an altar call, but brother, amen, if you're hungry tonight, and you don't have what I'm talking about, come on, amen, come on friends, if you don't have what I'm talking about, you can have it now, amen, amen, praise the Lord, amen, how many of you really, really have what I'm talking about, not just a theory, but you have what I'm talking about, a real genuine experience in God, if you don't have what you want, how many can stand right now, by standing, say preacher, I have what you're talking about, and you're going to have to have it when Jesus comes, or be left behind, God bless you, how many can stand right now, and say I have what you're talking about, don't get up unless you do, don't get up if there's a question mark, God bless you tonight, amen, amen, God help us, we're not going to tarry, we're not going to coax you, but if you're here or hungry for something, that you do not possess, step out right now, amen, I didn't give this message to have an altar call, we want to do something else tonight, but if you're here and hungry, come on friends, oh, God wants to help us here tonight, if you'll let him, get out of the way, amen, get out of the way, amen, let the Holy Ghost run things when you do it, amen, anyone else, anyone else, that's hungry enough to step out and mind God tonight, you'll have a question mark about your wholeness, you know the saddest thing to me, as I travel over the wholeness movement, is to find a lot of people in the homeless church, who know definitely when they were born again, but they have question marks about when they were sanctified, we can be just as clear in our sanctification, as we are in our justification, you can know it just as well as you know your own name, do you know it tonight as well as you know your own name, do you have that witness and assurance of the spirit, that you are sanctified holy, if not why don't you come and get it, God bless you, come on friends, let's mind God tonight, amen, some more are coming, others ought to come, others ought to come, will you do it now, amen, I do want you to sing, brother will you come and sing just one verse, if I can hear my savior calling, others mind God tonight, will you do it, amen, come on just sing one verse of it, that's all we are going to sing, I can hear my savior calling, what a glorious reality, amen, God help you, will you do it, will you do it, amen, others are coming, others ought to come, remember sanctified holy, young folks don't go along without this blessing, you'll miss heaven and miss what God wants you to do, if you don't have the blessing, walk on the platform and get it, God help us tonight, sing one more verse, I didn't think we would, but they're still coming, say I will follow, anyone else coming, quickly, whether anyone comes or not, but people don't go back to your church dry, don't go back to your church dead, don't go back to your church to be a drag on it, let's get around the altar and get some fire and glory on us, that we can carry back to our churches and start revivals there, will you do it, sing on, come on saints gathering quickly, let's get a hold of God tonight around this altar, if you haven't had a praise anointing from God today, get one tonight before you go home, sing on please, come on, let's get on our knees everywhere in the house on your knees, let's talk to God and get a hold of God now, don't go home, let's pray, God wants to give us a Pentecost if we let him do, amen, God help us tonight, God help us,
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Richard Gant Flexon (1895–1982) was an American preacher, evangelist, and author whose passionate ministry left a lasting impact on the Holiness movement, particularly within the Pilgrim Holiness Church. Born on June 18, 1895, in Downer, New Jersey, to Richard and Emma Flexon, he was raised in a Methodist home where family worship was a daily practice. His mother died when he was six, and his father, a farmer and minister, nurtured his early faith. Converted at age six during his father’s ministry, Flexon felt a call to preach at 13 and delivered his first sermon at 14, seeing eleven men respond at the altar. He was sanctified at 23, deepening his commitment to holiness theology, and pursued ministerial training at Apostolic Holiness University, the Pilgrim Holiness school of his time. Flexon’s preaching career began in earnest after his ordination in 1915. That same year, on June 16, he married Emma Laura Hunter in Glassboro, New Jersey, and they had two children, Lily and James. In 1919, he became president of Beulah Holiness Academy, serving for a decade while pastoring churches and conducting revival meetings across the U.S. Known for his anointed preaching, he later served as president of Central Pilgrim College in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, from 1962 to 1964, and spent his final years teaching and fundraising for God’s Bible School in Cincinnati. A prolific writer, he authored nine books, including So Great Salvation and Men Ablaze, and co-founded the American Holiness Journal. Flexon died on April 19, 1982, in Salisbury, Maryland, leaving a legacy as a holiness preacher whose powerful sermons and writings continue to inspire within evangelical circles. He was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana.