By REV. TIMOTHY L. MELTON, PASTOR
(Transcribed by Myra D. Colgate)
Cherokee Pentecostal Holiness Church
Read: James 4:7-10; Matthew 6:6
God is winning entire generations of people. We’re watching as God begins to do a mighty work. My wife, Cassie, came in and said, “You have no idea how closely what you preached was to the Sunday School class lesson.” She began to tell me, and knowing God oftentimes works in that way, it was a confirmation of the Word.
Yesterday, Lee University was to begin shutting their chapels down this evening and are sending their young people home to rest. We asked ourselves, why would they do that? The Truth is, a real revival doesn’t happen just within walls, it must also be taken outside of them. Tonight, we heard Asbury is closing their doors, and the town of 6,000 people, now has over 12,000 people showing up for the revival. Saying, “Enough is enough,” they’re shutting the doors tonight. Why would they do that? I do understand why they’d want to do that.
Real revival is a result of what has happened in each person’s Secret Place and is made itself in the Light-time when believers would come together. I felt a wave of the Holy Ghost right there as God began to remind us “What is done in Secret there, is because God wants to reward us out in the open.”
If all one wants is out in the open, and they have missed spending time in the Secret place, “What does one get when they get there?” “What would it look like?” “How does it work?” “How many are interested?”
The Bible says, “That the Secret Things of Heaven belong to the Lord. There are some secrets that a person can’t have because they can’t handle them. He says, “What I do reveal to each person, does belong to them.”
I’ve come to tell people God has some Secrets He’s been holding onto for a very long time. But, for those who know how to get face-to-face with God, and will declare to Him, “I will not let You go,” I believe God is about to reveal some brand new Secret things only He has known all these years. They’ve been pent up only for the Last Day.
Now, I’ve got some Good News. How many have ever held a Secret? It will ‘burn’ in a person, ‘burns’ the heart, ‘burns’ the soul. That person can’t wait to get out and tell somebody. Some of us have had Secrets and couldn’t keep them secret.
“Listen, I believe that the ‘Fire’ we’ve all been feeling, is really the ‘Fire’ that’s on the Inside of the Lord, and He’s saying it’s what He wants to release on the Earth. He’s held secrets for all these years, for all this time, saying, “I’m ready to pour out in this Last Day.”
“Lord, I pray. We thank You for this amazing evening. For Your allowing us to come together. We thank You for the Word that’s about to be broken and shared. I pray You would just cause the Real Preacher/Teacher to show up and speak into the hearts and minds of people, not only in this House, but perhaps by radio, by newspaper, by television and this Word would go out reaching all hearers, O God. You would indeed reveal the Secrets of the Secret Place. Father, we give You all the Praise, the Glory, and all the Honor. In the Name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.”
In reading James, Chapter 4:7-10, I just wanted to spend a little bit of time on this. When I first heard these colleges were experiencing what I would call a Move of God, and all around us, were going to begin to close the doors and send everybody home, I was, at first, heartbroken. “Why would they do such a thing? The Lord began to deal with me.
“Here’s the problem, God explained. If one just leaves them there to ‘burn’, they will ‘burn’ themselves down and not much else will happen,” God began to show me. God never intended for the ‘Fire of the Holy Ghost Revival’ to be pent up in one room, on one Day. It could not be just so we could come in here and shout and run around and feel good about that Day, for He is doing a ‘new thing’ in this Last Day. It will be new to us.”
