By TIMOTHY L. MELTON, PASTOR
(Transcribed by Myra Colgate)
Cherokee Pentecostal Holiness Church
Read Hebrews 11:32-35, 36-40 (the Faith chapter)
Not all of these believers received every part of their promise. What promise did they receive? Verse 40 is the key. “God having provided some better thing for us, that they, without us, should not be made perfect.” God did this for you and for us. A whole future and with a brand-new covenant, He made us a promise, which God has kept,” explained Pastor Melton.
“Understand, no man is an island unto himself. Some came ahead and got well, but there are generations still coming into the Church. Each succeeding generation will have to see this. His Glory has and now covers the Earth. Grandparents are watching, not just for a resurrection for you and for me. In watching what has happened with Jeffrey McKinney, a man coming back to life, it is easier to see how it can affect the next generations, too.
In the New Living Translation of Hebrews 11:39-40, “All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.”
“In God’s Plan, the Jewish believers, those who trusted God, and the Christian believers (who were also enduring much testing), would be rewarded together. The Christian life involves hard work. It requires all believers to give up whatever endangers their relationship with God, to run with endurance, and to struggle against sin, empowered by the Holy Spirit.” We will stumble if we look away from Him to stare at ourselves or at the circumstances surrounding us. We should be running for Christ, not ourselves, always following Jesus’ example. (From NLT explanation.)
Emphasized Pastor Melton, “There is a promise to our church and to Cherokee, but only if we know and learn how to use His plan and by coming to an expected end with faith, can we please God. It is one that’s built line upon line, precept upon precept on just how to use the keys of the Kingdom. God is not a man that He should lie. God keeps His promises of a whole new tomorrow of a new covenant that is in you and to you and your bloodline. This is for whatever one has been called to do. God will use you and your bloodline to affect generations. As they did, so should we do, by doing what we are supposed to do every day.”
“Noah was told to build an ark for himself and his family. He had never even seen rain before, creating a need for a boat, or the materials to be used or a design for such a boat. Never before and not since has there been such a flood. It was all to receive a better inheritance, for the next generation. Without Noah’s obedience none would have survived, nor any of us exist.”
“In Hebrews 12:1-2, we are told to run the race we are given. It is not a marathon, not a sprint, but it is a baton-handing-off race, and we are to pass it on. We have been for the last 2,000 years. Even if your leg of the race has already been raced, we must still pass it on to the next one in line, for the race is not over yet. The race isn’t over yet. The medals have not yet been handed out.
“My friend, Jeff, did not get to go through that door he saw, because God’s not handing out the medals yet. Instead, he has a new heart. The Church must also finish it’s race. There is a great cloud of witnesses watching, waiting!” Pastor Melton exhorted everyone.
“In the Olympics Games of 1988, the USA track and field four-man team, handing off the baton, fumbled the pass-off from third to fourth team-member. (If one drops the stick, they were disqualified.) Speaking to this generation, if you drop the stick, you are disqualified. Don’t drop the stick! We are to lay aside sin, looking unto Jesus, who despised not a marathon, or a sprint, but is in a long race to pass the baton. It’s already 2,000 years. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Through Noah, through you…this generation is to make it. Everyone has their own lane to run in. Throw away whatever is hindering you. The Church is to be the most Powerful entity. Shine through as chains break, blind see, deaf hear!”
