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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Brian Hindman

Finishing the Mystery of God

This morning our subject is entitled, Finishing the Mystery of God.

Everywhere that I go and I have the privilege of speaking, I like to make it clear that I love God.

I like to make that as clear as possible.

And the reason why I love God and why I believe you love God is because of what the scriptures tell us in 1 John 4 and verse 19.

Before we ever loved God, He already extended His love to us.

The Bible says in Romans 5 and verse 8, but God committed His love toward us.

In that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

While we were rebellious, belligerent, obstinate sinners, Christ said, I'm going to die for them.

Lay aside his kingly crown and say, I'm gonna go down and rescue those 4 people.

So I like to make it clear that I love God and because I love God, I love his precious holy word.

Did you know that Jesus says in John chapter 14 and verse 23, that if a man loved me, he will keep my words.

And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with Him.

So, our response to God's love is to keep His words.

And that's what we want to study this morning.

We're not here to find out what man has to say on any subjects or topics.

If you came last night, you understand that faith is always based on the Word of God.

If we do not have the Word of God, it is not possible for us to exercise any faith.

For faith, by definition, is based upon the Word of God.

And so we want to know what God's Word says.

Well, if you would just bow your heads with me, I'd like to have an additional prayer as we begin our message this morning.

Our Father in heaven, Lord, I thank you and praise you so much for the gift of the Sabbath, a reminder of your creative power to create within us a new life, a new heart.

I pray today, Lord, that you would draw very close to those who are grieving and hurting, that you would give them an extra measure of your Holy Spirit to help them to realize that this was not your plan.

The great controversy is coming to a climax.

And Lord, we want to be ready, we want to be prepared, and do all that we can to meet Jesus when he comes back very soon.

Lord, I pray that you would forgive me of my sins, and I re-accept Jesus Christ into my life as my own personal savior.

I pray this in Jesus' precious name, amen.

The location was the outer banks of a state now called, or a location in a state now called North Carolina.

There was a group of settlers, about 100, 115 or so settlers, that made their way to this island called Roanoke Island off the coast of what is now North Carolina.

And as these settlers arrived, they met with lots of hardships.

And it didn't take long before their supplies began to run low.

And as their supplies began to run low, the decision was made to have their leader, a governor named John White, return back to England to get some supplies to help the colony, this settlement, to be able to continue to exist.

So John White sailed back to England at the fall of 1587 and as he returned, lo and behold, he found that England and Spain were going to war together.

England and Spain, a naval war, a famous naval battle or warfare that took place called the Spanish Armada.

And England needed all available ships that were possible to defend themselves against this mighty armada that was sent against them.

And so John White was prevented from returning back to this settlement for a period of about 3 years.

Well, when 3 years, after about 3 years had finished, he was able to get a ship to go back.

Privateer ships were kind of a legalized pirate ships that sailed under the English crown, Queen Elizabeth I.

Anyway, as he comes Back to this location, he comes back and finds the colony, the settlement has vanished.

There were a few small clues that were left behind, some footprints in the sand, there were barefoot footprints and that was a bad sign because the English were known to never be without shoes.

They were always walking, they always wore shoes.

Also, they found a word carved in a post that said Croatoan.

Croatoan happened to be the name of a neighboring Native American tribe that lived nearby.

And most of the settlement had been disassembled and taken down.

And so John White wanted to look around and go over to, this was on an island, he wanted to go to the mainland of the state of what is now North Carolina and explore and try to find these people.

Well, the privateers were like, hey listen, we've got pirate ships to go raid.

And so he was prevented from being able to go look and explore further and had to get back on the ship and the ship sailed away.

Well, it is a mystery today what happened to what is now called the Lost Colony.

I've been there, on the coast there, on the Outer Banks, and there are all kinds of theories as to what happened.

Did these settlers, did they starve to death?

Were they killed by some of the local native tribes because there were some tensions that had already developed between them and the local native tribes?

Were they killed or destroyed in a storm, a hurricane, that came up off the coast of the Carolinas possibly?

Did they make it to the mainland and become assimilated with some of the Native American tribes?

There was even some rumors that years later, there were some Native Americans that had blue eyes and were living in two-story houses.

But here's the point though, historians say there's actually no hard evidence that links that colony with any of the Native American tribes that has to date been studied.

There are theories and rumors, but it's not been validated and proven.

What happened to these people is a mystery.

You can have your own theory if you choose.

Well, when the Bible talks about the word mystery, it is not necessarily the same understanding that we get from the regular English meaning of the word mystery.

The word mystery in the Bible actually refers to something that is known because God has revealed it.

Not something that's unclear and vague, a head scratcher, I don't really know what happened there, but something that is clear, something that God has revealed in the divine purposes and the divine counsels of God.

So I want to make that clear from the beginning.

A mystery in the Bible is something that God has revealed that people know and understand.

It also can refer to the secret counsels or purposes of God, which are hidden from the wicked in a sense because they are not interested and have no desire to understand these things.

But these are made plain and revealed to God's people.

I believe God has revealed an incredible mystery in His Word.

Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Revelation.

Revelation chapter 10, we're going to be all up and down our Bibles today.

I want to know what the Word of God says.

This is a short chapter and it gives us a picture Really, I believe of the the early advent movement and the beginning of what is today the seventh-day Adventist Church Is really illustrated in this short chapter revelation chapter 10.

We're going to pick it up here in verse 5, and this is just short background.

This is in the context and the setting of the 7 trumpets.

This chapter falls in between the sixth and the seventh trumpets.

And so I want you to notice beginning in verse 5 it says here, And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven and swear by him that liveth forever and ever who created heaven and the things that therein are and the earth and the things that therein are and the sea and the things which are therein that there should be what?

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Finishing the Mystery of God

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