REV. TIMOTHY L. MELTON, PASTOR
CHEROKEE PENTECOSTAL HOLINESS CHURCH
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
“Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you warning: ‘Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves
by the faith God has given us.’”
Romans 12:1-3 (NLT)
In the message given by the Lord to Pastor Tim Melton, he added, “Holiness must return to the Church—all believers. Open sin has to be gotten rid of now. Holiness has been emphatically mentioned over 900 times in the Scriptures. God intends for us to be holy and to be separated unto God. In our spirits, we want to be like Him. We want to be holy and acceptable to Him. To be holy and acceptable to him is our reasonable service. To be unholy is unacceptable. Disobedience is unacceptable.
“We are to be holy! Let God begin to be the Fire He is, not just gathered ‘around the fire’, for sacrifice is the Fire of God. He consumes us with His Fire to make us into His ‘vessels of Honor’—not just singed around the edges—for His Fire comes. Get in the realm of His Holiness.
“Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.”
(Perfecting His Holiness in us, as we hold Him in reverence and awe.)
2 Corinthians 7:1 (NLT)
“This is to be a job from inside our spirits and outwards to our flesh. It is not just out of the Bible—the devil brought the Word to the ‘Word’ when he was tempting Jesus. Holiness comes from being in the very Presence of God. Neither, is it gotten only by church attendance or from tithing… He perfects your holiness only in His Presence. (Read Isaiah 6:1-5 as it is full of His Glory. Meditate on this passage. See a new side of God. Feel the Wind of God rise and declare He is worthy to receive much more! How good that His train fills the temple! In their culture, when a king was conquered they would take his robe and it would be sewn and added to the robe of the conqueror, the King of Kings—denoting victory—as smoke and Glory filled the temple.)
Isaiah also felt the weight of His Glory as he realized he was ‘undone—a man of unclean lips’. The burning coal was brought from the altar and placed on his lips—to cleanse his words and remove his iniquities. We all must do something different now. The Fire comes from the altar—with the cleansing process to make us holy. We can’t get this right on our own without humbling ourselves before Him. We cannot be perfect on our own. Without Holiness—we can’t be fit for His use. He has to make it happen for us as it is bound up in His Holiness.) (Read Psalm 34:14, Hebrews 12:14, Romans 12:18.)
Pastor Tim, encouragingly adds, “God says we need it, have to have it—and says ‘here, I give it to you.’ Use your faith and see it. Holiness causes His Promises to come and be fulfilled. The Righteousness of God comes to us by our being in Christ Jesus. It is sin to judge others. For each of us, to be holy is our own decision. Holiness is not an option for us. The Church is pushed to be ‘without spot or wrinkle—without blemish’—to use us in His Power. He is a Holy God!
“Let us cleanse ourselves, making time for God, focusing on Him, for if not, we will miss Him! God, where are you? To spend time with Him assures us of His Holiness in us. The holier we become, the more like God we are; as we are to wield the Word of God, His two-edged Sword. He then takes His Glory and fills us, as His ‘Vessels of Honor’.”
