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In the city of Cooperstown, New York there is a shrine to the game of baseball called "the Hall of Fame." It is a museum of honor that seeks to enshrine and memorialize the greatest baseball players of all time. Every year, a group of older sportswriters spend weeks poring over thousands of statistics and stories and memories and vote on what players -- if any -- should be considered to be admitted within it's sacred halls. Those that are voted in that are living are invited to speak at a grand induction ceremony and much fanfare and pomp is made over them. For a Major League baseball player, to be selected to be forever immortalized in the Hall of Fame is the highest honor and achievement that can happen in their career. Only the best of the best get in. And every year hearts are broken or gladdened by the announcements of the year's winners, because once you are in, people for decades and even centuries will stroll past a plaque and a bust of you and remember your great heroics on the diamond. You will be memorialized for as long as the earth exists, because you have been placed into the "Hall of Fame" of baseball.

I have come to preach to you about a much higher honor than just being elected into Cooperstown. We read a portion of our text from the 11th chapter of Hebrews and it is a very famous passage of scripture that is commonly referred to by scholars as the "Hall of Fame of Faith." In it, the writer of the book of Hebrews under the unction of the Holy Spirit began to list the names and the characteristics of righteous champions for God of their times. Nowhere else in scripture is there such a collection of heroic men and women presented in such a monumental fashion: this is God's Hall of Fame. Perhaps you've visited and walked the halls of this chapter many times before and like me, even have it memorized, or possibly you've never entered these corridors and looked around, but either way, tonight, I'd like you to go with me through the doors into this Hall of Fame of Faith and take a guided tour.

We enter into the hall through it's front and only entrance in Hebrews 11:1:

Here we learn that the sole criteria to being elected into this place is to gain God's approval by living and acting in faith on the promises of God throughout your life. In God's Hall of Fame, faith and the actions that come from having such faith are the only statistics of importance. The men and women that we will find here are not necessarily people that were born "good" or born "well off." But they without exception are people who believed God's Word enough to totally act in obedience to it, even amidst very trying times and often they acted righteously despite their birth situation. Now that we're here, let's look around and see who's here. We first come to:

Abel (vs 4) -- Abel had faith in God's Word enough to precisely obey the commandment of God and offer the sacrifice exactly as God had commanded even though his brother was taking shortcuts. Abel refused to take shortcuts and by his exact obedience was the first inductee in this hall of faith.

Enoch (vs 5) -- Enoch was a special character. Despite living in a society where almost nothing good is written about their spiritual direction, Enoch lived faithfully for God and even heard the voice of God and preached to his generation about God's righteousness. He was so faithful to God that God decided that he shouldn't have to die and just --zipppppp -- beamed him up to glory!

Noah (vs 7) -- All Noah did was live righteously for God in a time when he was the only one in the entire earth who was doing so. And then when God revealed plans about judgment that he really didn't understand (because he had never heard of rain, you remember) Noah didn't question God but devoted years of hard labor to obeying God's precise instructions although they seemed almost insane. After years of preaching and not winning one convert beyond his family, Noah still remained faithful and was saved.

Abraham (vs 8-10, 17-19) -- Abraham, would be called the father of the faithful, because he obeyed God no matter how extreme or crazy the request sounded. When God commanded him to pack up his family and move although he couldn't know in advance where he was going, Abraham packed up and moved. When God asked the unthinkable of Abraham sacrificing his only son, Abraham was willing to do it. His faith in God no matter the daunting task of obeying, made him a hero of faith.

Sarah (vs 11) -- Sarah is the first woman inducted into the hall. She is here because despite her misgivings and skepticism, she finally pushed through all of that and believed that God would give her old body a child. Sarah is a good example of someone who was a doubter that became a heroine of faith.

Isaac (vs 20) -- When it came time to bless his two sons, Isaac prophesied in faith about the good things that would come to them. He lived his life in obscurity but in faithfulness to God.

Jacob (vs 21) -- The one who was born the deceiver is probably the most radically changed of this group. Despite his evil nature and untrustworthiness, he responded in faith to the promises of God and the moving of God and allowed God to change him completely.

Joseph (vs 22) -- God gave him a dream and then everything seemed to fall apart. From his brothers turning on him and putting him down a well to die, to being sold into slavery, to the prison cell of false accusations in Egypt, Joseph's run of luck seemed to be horrible and yet he stayed faithful to God Almighty and kept trusting in the day when God would exalt him. Even after God worked everything out, Joseph knew that Israel wouldn't stay in Egypt forever and commanded them that "when you go, take my bones with you."

Moses (23-29) -- Although he grew up in the king's palace, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing instead to take God's will with leading a bunch of stubborn people through a dusty and dry wilderness and choosing to place himself in the hands of God rather than Egypt. But when he chose the trial of faith, he saw God move mightily and became one of the greatest leaders of all time.

Rahab (vs 31) -- Just a Gentile harlot in the city of Jericho and she's the last person that you would expect to see here. But when the spies came with news that God was going to deliver Jericho into the hands of Israel, she was the only citizen of the city that did not laughed but believed that the Israeli's God was able to do such a thing. As a result, she helped the spies and was saved when all of the walls of the city fell except the portion where her house was built! She later married one of the spies and became Jewish both in lifestyle and religion.

Gideon -- He dared tear down the idols that his father had built and then confronted the massive enemy with just 300 men armed with pitchers, trumpets, and torches. But God was on his side and he saw a massive victory.

Barak -- When God gave the plans for victory through a woman of all things, Barak was the only military commanded willing to believe that God could speak through a female. The woman was Deborah, and God really did speak through her and when Barak took charge of the army and followed her orders, they saw God fight for them with hailstones and earthquakes and God gave them a tremendous victory.

Samson -- Who through his faithfulness to the Nazarite vow, trusted in God's Spirit to give him strength to conquer the Philistines. We tend to focus on a few stories that show his mistakes but forget that for almost fifty years, Samson ruled Israel faithfully serving Jehovah God.

Jephthah -- He was the illegitimate son of his father and a prostitute and when he became of age, his brothers taunted him and drove him from the home as an outcast. When God came calling, Jephthah refused to believe the lie of the circumstances that he was born into and when he acted in faith, God made him ruler over Israel and gave them great victory.

David -- He was the smallest and youngest of Jesse's boys but sermons could be preached about David's good qualities. He developed a relationship with God on the hillsides keeping sheep and God made him shepherd over all Israel. When he made mistakes, he repented and made them right. He loved worship. He trusted God to face the giant and then the giant's brothers. He gathered together the rejects of society and reformed them into mighty, mighty warriors. He was called a man after God's own heart. He is the foremost hero of the Old Testament

Samuel -- He was the first man of God in David's life. He was called at a young age and brought into a priesthood that was corrupt and tainted by the sons of Eli. Despite their wicked example, Samuel always did what was right in the sight of God. A more accurate and faithful prophet has never been.

The prophets of the Old Testament: Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi who despite stonings and threats and the worst of worst, continued to faithfully proclaim God's message even when the truth of God's Word was not what the people wanted to hear.

And then we turn the corner and find another hall of the Early Church heroes and martyrs such as Peter, Paul, Timothy, and John. Peter who stepped out in faith and overcame his shortcomings. Paul who literally turned his world upside down before gladly laying his head on the chopping block. Timothy who took up Paul's mantle and pressed on in reaching their world. John who survived Patmos and persecution and some say even burning oil to faithfully proclaim God's Word.

And then we make another quick turn and find Modern Historical Heroes like Michael Servetus, who was burned at the stake in the 1500s for the crime that he said that Jesus was the Father revealed in flesh and that there was only one person in the Godhead not three. And yet when given the opportunity to recant and say that he believed in the Holy Trinity, he said that he would rather die in truth than live in a lie and they lit the fire.

How about William Tyndale who was brutally hunted down and murdered by the Catholic Church because he dared to translate the Bible into common English so that everybody could understand it and read it? He was a modern hero of faith.

How about John Wesley, who with his brother traveled to America in the 1800s and found the Moravians who had been filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues and after having received the same experience themselves, returned to England to try to turn the stiff and ritualistic Church of England upside down, only to find themselves ousted because they were preaching the Bible a "little too literally" and worshipping God "much too exuberantly" and whose services over 200 years ago, you and I would have been very comfortable in because they had a revelation of the Spirit of God moving in and demonstrative worship?

How about Abraham Lincoln, arguably one of the most influential and effective presidents of all time and yet his drive to end slavery and his trust in God for his agenda was fueled by the fact that his parents were tongue-talking, Spirit-filled Christians and Abraham Lincoln had received the same revelation and same experience at a young age? He was criticized heavily for never committing himself to one of the dry, common denominations of his day but he had received an experience that far surpassed what those denominations were offering. "Bro. Lincoln" was a modern-day hero of faith.

How about a man named Howard Goss who when he received the Holy Ghost in the early 1900s spoke in tongues continually for almost a week and when he finally came back to English was so changed that he would devote his life to preaching the truth that the Spirit was still being poured out today. As a member of the Assemblies of God, he would later be rebaptized in Jesus' name after studying the scriptures to see that it was so and through prayer and study discovered truth of the mighty God in Christ. His ministry would form the foundation of the fellowship that we are apart of today.

How about men whose name most of you have never heard such as Verbal Bean, C.P. Kilgore, G.T. Haywood, A. D. Urshan, S.L. Wise, and Oliver Fauss who from the 1920s on traveled the backwoods of the southern region of our country preaching about Jesus Christ as the one, true God and seeing thousands of people get the Holy Ghost in tent revivals and "brush arbors" made of pine trees, and then taking them down to the local water holes and bayous and baptizing them in Jesus' name for the remission of their sins in the illumination of the headlights of their cars? These were men who were literally tarred and feathered and often run out of town for the truth that they preached and yet they brought about a great revival of the Spirit in not-too-long-ago America. These are the members of the Hall-of-Fame-of-Faith. These are the members of God's Hallowed Hall of Honor.

But as I ponder all of these heroes, I realize that they all have something in common besides their faith in God. Does anybody know what that common trait is? It is that they are all no longer walking around the earth! Despite what great vessels for God's power to flow through that they became in their time, none of them can be such a vessel for this day and this time. None are being mightily used of God in the everyday life of right now.

It is important to understand that there are blank slots still left in God's Hall of Fame of Faith and that is why the writer ended the chapter in the manner that he did:

That's an interesting and somewhat confusing statement that the writer makes here: "apart from us they would not be made perfect." And yet it becomes easily understood when you realize that the writer is drawing on the image of a relay race. An allusion in meaning that the New Living Translation captures perfectly:

In a relay race, someone must run the early part of the race, and the two middle spots before the baton ever gets to the final runner. The first runners are given the job to put the final runner in position so that they can have a chance to finish and win the race. They must run hard throughout their slot, and then once the baton is passed on, all that they can do is watch. Their part of the race is over and yet the race is not finished until the final runner crosses the finish line.

What the writer is saying is that Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham started this race of faith with a bang. They held true to the course and true to their goal for as long as they were permitted to run, and then they handed it off to those who came after them in the Old Testament. Those on the second leg ran well also. And they handed it off to the New Testament disciples and saints and they ran even better. But now in this final hours, the race is still not finished and without us, their race will not be complete. They are waiting and watching us today because it is we who have been handed the final leg of this race. The work of God and living for Him is more crucial today than it ever has been! And yet these heroes are dead and it is we who are alive today! God has called upon us to fill those vacant spots in His Hall of Fame!

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If the writer of Hebrews would have gotten past the time of the Judges in naming specific people who belong in this hall, I think we would have eventually found Esther's name. Instead of trusting in the ornaments of the sinful society in which she lived to make her beautiful, Esther only cleansed her body and allowed the glory of God to shine through her when the king had a beauty contest to find a new queen. The only one who didn't come in with immodest clothing and decked with royal jewels was the woman who won. She was also Jewish and believed in one, true, Jehovah God, although the king did not yet realize her nationality.

But there was more than just beauty behind her gaining the favor of the king because we find that God was in it all along! There arose an evil man named Haman who put into motion a plot to kill all of the Jewish people because of his hatred toward them. When Esther's uncle, Mordecai, heard about the plot, he sent word to Esther that she must approach the king and asked for help. Esther was placed in a tough spot because according to the pagan laws of the land, nobody could visit the king uninvited, even the queen, under penalty of death. If a person decided to barge in on the throne room, then everyone watched to see what the king did and if he extended his scepter, they were forgiven and their life was spared, but if that scepter did not extend out, then the person was put to death. While Esther was pondering these things, Mordecai sent word to her and those words were our other text tonight:

I like Mordecai's faith and trust in God. "If you do not act, then understand that relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you will die." In other words, Mordecai was saying "God will deliver us somehow and someway. God will cause someone to arise to our salvation because He is a faithful God; that is not the issue." "The issue, Esther, is whether or not you will realize that God has placed you in the kingdom for such a time as this and whether or not you will act with faith and realize your potential as first choice for God to work through in this time!" "If you do not act, then we will be delivered by some place else and you and your future lineage will die."

What a principle to learn and one that we must not learn too late! You see, the blank sections of God's Hall of Fame will be filled one day. Somebody will one day be memorialized as the ones who stood with God and allowed themselves to be vessels of honor for this hour. Just as Mordecai's words were emphatic: "relief and deliverance will arise," so is the prophecies of scripture for us today emphatic. Let me remind you of just a few:

Jesus' words to Peter and the disciples still apply today:

"I will build my church!" Not "if you guys will get your act in order." Not "I'm trying to one day build." But "I will." That's emphatic. That's matter of fact. There will be a church of Jesus Christ arise even in the last days, even in Castroville, Texas.

"I will pour out My Spirit." That's a sure promise.

I will do it. Over and over again Jesus was emphatic and bold in His promise. There will be somebody in our time to grab hold of such promises. And then in the last days we read about the time of the Antichrist's coming:

The people who know their God "will display strength." They "will give understanding to the many." The word of God is established that these things will happen.

God cannot lie, so there will be somebody who steps in and claims these promises. There will be somebody who trusts God despite their circumstances and faithfully lives according to His will. There will be somebody who will stand with faith no matter what this world or others do. That's not the issue. The issue is whether or not you and I will realize that we have been placed in the kingdom for such a time as this! The issue is whether or not you and I will be transformed by the revelation that we are first choice to fill in the blanks in God's Hall of Fame. The issue is whether or not we will step out in faith and allow God to move through us and reach this world with salvation!

Just like Esther, it's more than just coincidence or natural reactions that we are here right now. You are not here by accident. God is not moving in such a way as He is here by accident. It is no coincidence that God allowed you to receive the Holy Ghost and the revelation of truth in such a year in such a place in such a way. It's no accident, but rather the divinely appointing hand of God placing you in the kingdom in this area for such a time as this! The baton of faith is being handed over to you. Those who have faithfully ran the race before are now resting and it is we who have been given the kingdom with the finish line in view. We are not normal. We are not average. We are not ordinary. We have been chosen by God for such a time as this. The will of heaven is urging us own. The very angels are cheering for us. The very hand of God is in our everyday lives. It's time to run and run with all of our might, because we have been placed on earth, for such a time as this!

Jesus will build His church in Castroville and build one that impacts permanently this community. What better choice than this church? But if we do not, then God will send someone else to build His church, or allow another church to get the revelation of truth, that's not the issue. The issue is whether or not we will realize our place in the plan of God!

There will be people today and in this area that will do greater works than Jesus Christ through faith in His name. That's not the issue. The issue is whether or not we will realize that God desires for us to be the ones to do those works. There will be a mighty outpouring of the His Spirit on the multitudes here. What better people to see mighty works and lead people under the downspout of the Spirit, than the church in town that has already received the Holy Spirit in a supernatural way? What better church in town to see the miracles and revival of the Early Apostolic Church, than this one who have received the same experience and are striving to teach the same doctrine!? But the issue is whether or not something will click inside our head that we are here and here now for such a time as this in the kingdom of God! We have been given the revelation of truth and of His name for a reason. We have been born and come to Him to be born again in these last days for a reason. There are slots for these years coming up already placed in God's Hall of Fame that are just waiting to be filled. Somebody will one day stand there and be honored, but the question is if we will realize that it is us who God intends to be there. We have been brought to the kingdom for such a time as this!

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And so the writer of Hebrews charge after the Hall of Fame chapter rings true for us today:

Since we have been handed such a great responsibility and such a great torch to carry, let us lay aside the sin which distracts us. Let us lay aside things that might not so much be sin in themselves but that weigh us down in our running for Jesus Christ. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Not somebody's else's race. Not to run a course that was not given to us to run. But let us with everything in us and with all the strength and power that God has given us run our race that is set before us. Let us fulfill our role in the Body of Christ. Let us realize what great responsibility rests upon our shoulders and let the realization sink in that we have been chosen for such a time as this. God has chosen us. God has exalted us. God has filled us and anointed us. We are a chosen people. We are set apart. We are the ones that are ordained to finish the race. And yet in this final leg of the race of faith, ours is the most crucial because we are the closest to the finish line. It's time to sell out. It's time to totally commit to the cause of Christ and His kingdom. It's time to change our mentality towards serving Him and sin. It's time that we take this thing so seriously that we put aside not only sinful things, but even weights that could possibly slow us a bit. We must run and run well! The entire kingdom of God is resting upon our shoulders!

In closing, I take you to the last words of the Apostle Paul that he wrote to Timothy just before he knew that he would draw his last breath. Paul was able to say:

Make up in your mind right now that you will also be able to one day say with Paul "I've kept the faith, I have finished the course that was laid out for me to run." It's time to live with the awareness and confidence that we have been brought into the kingdom for such a time as this. The crowns of righteousness are waiting. The members of the hall of fame of faith are watching. God of glory is desiring to move through us. Now it's up to us to run! We must run because we are here for such a time as this!