By REV. TIMOTHY L. MELTON, PASTOR (as transcribed by Myra Colgate)
Cherokee Pentecostal Holiness Church
In 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, according to the Apostle Paul, there are five characteristics given in the formation of the new Church.
Beginning with a New Covenant made, sealed, in and by the Blood of Jesus, along with His many works, were expressed as being ‘finished’ by Jesus, with His death on the cross, at the time of the Passover Feast. The disciples had begun helping usher in the establishment of the first church.
1. All were to work their faith and become a part of the church. It was the church, founded in Thessalonica, which Paul chose to give all of us, an example of the basics which they were (and we now), are to develop and use. They were to remember without ceasing, all their works, with their faith in God and what God had done. Since they believed in Jesus, His disciples, and Paul, the works of faith were to be done as labors of love and in the patience of hope.
2. In affliction they were to faithfully and joyfully display their confidence in God, the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Their joy had come because the disciples had known Jesus and the Holy Spirit had also come to reside within them as on Pentecost. This was written of by the prophets, (Joel 2:28-29) many believers, and by many who were eyewitnesses to the Holy Spirit’s earthly arrival in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost in the Upper Room, where 120 had prayerfully waited. (Luke 3:16-18). (Acts 2:2-11). The Holy Spirit was written of as the sound of the a rushing, mighty wind and of seeing flaming tongues of fire settling on the heads of each who’d waited, obeying Jesus in their praying.
(The Holy Spirit had arrived on the Earth. Many of those 3,000 new converts counted that day, were repentant, baptized, and welcomed into the Church as the newest followers of Lord Jesus. They were, Jewish people, mostly pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem to observe the required Feast of Pentecost.
(Within the next thirty years, however, they would willingly work to turn the known world upside down with the Good News of His saving grace and willingness to forgive transgressions. Any follower of Jesus should never have to travel this earth alone anymore.
(Despite many being martyred, their willing sacrifice of life has always been rewarded with all the blessings Heaven can bestow. All of these things are well-documented and by many eyewitnesses and historians. There are records written of their choosing to sing hymns they knew in the Roman Coliseum while bravely facing a monstrously cruel death. For their bravery, their service and their loving, helpful attitudes to all family members, neighbors, and strangers, they definitely caused an explosion in the numbers of the population within the Church and Kingdom.
(Because of Jesus and the works He finished while here on Earth, He has made each one of us eligible to move into the Kingdom. The Holy Spirit, sent to us, can remarkably lead and guide each person while fully remaining a permanent part of us all because we have also accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord!
(Persecution is still found today and continues, has never really stopped. It is time for the Church to be the Church, standing up for their Lord, their beliefs, and their way of life which can also improve for everyone.)
3. The Lord wants us to become an example for the we who may have lost the joy of our salvation. We can receive the joy of the Holy Spirit, the kind that can bring a revival everyday in Church and in the Bible. It would be the kind that could enable the Pastor to preach, and with praise, might raise even the dead, in the Lord’s Holy Presence. With affliction the Church can run to prayer, to God.
4. The Word of God, spoken out of your word-of-faith mouth, to God, is operating in the powerful Good News. Have enough Jesus to be blessings for others in the next one thousand generations! Trumpeted abroad, the Word has already been heard. The Word moves the Living God! Turn away from the world. I am blessed serving because He’s always on my mind. The Word is effective as others come to full belief.
5. Receive what God has to say today. Jesus is coming back soon! Make sure to get the blessing of your soul! Believe and let it work in your life.
