Brian Hindman

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

The Blessing of Bible Memorization

We have seen last night, we were looking at the importance of faith, and we see that our faith is always based on what God says in His Word.

Then this morning, we talked about finishing the mystery of God, and the mystery of God isn't unclear to God's people.

It's supposed to be a revelation of the character of God, which is from the principles given in the Bible, which God's people have believed and received into their own lives.

And in order to receive and finish the mystery of God and have the principles of God in our lives, we must know what God's Word says, right?

On the surface this can seem like just drudgery or a difficult mental exercise, but I can assure you, and I will do my best to make clear, it is a incredible blessing that God has made available to all people across the face of the earth who will receive His Word.

Well, I have something here I want to show you before we get started.

I'm holding here in my hand, This is a replica of a Roman Gladius and this is actually from Rome in Italy.

My brother-in-law is in the Navy, in Naval Intelligence, and he was stationed over at a NATO base over in Naples, Italy, not too far away from Rome, and he went and visited there and he bought this for me.

As I've said, I used to be a history teacher and what a wonderful, this is a replica of what again, this is a Roman Gladius, it is, if you look at it, it's a double edged sword And doesn't the Bible talk about the Scriptures as being a double-edged sword?

Can anyone think of a Bible verse that relates to the Word of God having that kind of power?

Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12, for the Word of God is quick and powerful and as sharp and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Did you catch that verse?

It actually is saying that the Word of God, it affects, impacts, and changes us physically, spiritually, and mentally.

Across the board, on all levels, God's Word has that much of a transforming power.

This is our weapon in the great controversy.

I don't know if you realize it or not, but you and I are born on a battlefield.

We understand that there is a great controversy struggle taking place, and the weapon that God has given to us is the Holy Word of God.

This is just a symbol that Paul used back in his day.

This was the standard sidearm, the standard weapon for a Roman soldier.

They would use this in battle, and 1 of their primary methods for fighting was they would have the shield in 1 hand and they would kind of try to push their enemy off with that and then use this to come in for quick stabbing thrusts and with double-edge you know it could do quite a bit of damage but this Ephesians chapter 6 verse 17 relating to the armor of God it says and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

God is trying to get our attention to the value and the power that is contained in his word.

And that's what we want to look at this evening, as we look at having God's Word hidden in our heart so that we might protect and defend ourselves when Satan comes at us for his attacks, because he is a relentless foe.

Would it be better for me if I have this sword, and it's over here sitting down, and I'm over somewhere else out doing my business, and Satan comes with his temptations, he comes with his attacks, and I say, wait, wait, time out, let me go back and get my weapon and see if I can look up a Bible verse so that I'm ready now.

Or would it be better just to have this with you at all times so that you can defend yourself against Satan whenever and wherever you happen to be?

And so we'll look and see that as we continue on.

If any of you want to see this afterwards, just come up and you're welcome to see.

It's not actually sharpened, so it's not really dangerous.

My wife tells me not to wave it around like a barbarian, and I usually do that anyway.

Okay, well, since this is a presentation on Bible memorization, I thought from the top the best introduction really, besides me waving around a sword like a barbarian, would be to just give a demonstration of the power of memorizing the Bible.

Oh, by the way, you should get a handout that's going to be passed along.

There are, there's 3 primary purposes I want to try to accomplish in this seminar, and the first is to show you a picture of some of the history of people who have chosen to memorize and commit God's Word to memory and the transformation that has resulted from that.

The second thing I want to try to accomplish is why should we memorize the Scriptures and we're going to go to the Bible and spread a prophecy to get answers for that.

And the third purpose is to actually really get practical and say how can I do this?

I'm not a psychologist, psychiatrist, or any type of a specialized mental health professional, but I'll just share with you things that work for me.

And so I hope that will be practical and meaningful and of course valuable as we see the importance of knowing the Word of God.

So I have up here on the screen 2 passages, 1 of them Psalm 91, which Ellen White says is a picture of what God's people will need to know during the time of trouble.

Sounds important to me, that is still something yet to come and this is a scripture that reveals the experience and the faith that we must have for that time.

And so I said, well that sounds important I want to commit that to memory.

And then over on the the other side is 1st Corinthians 13, It's the famous love chapter and Ellen White again, Spirit of Prophecy says this chapter is so important we should read it and study it every day.

And also says we should commit it to memory.

And so I said well if I just memorize it then I can read it anywhere.

So I'm going to ask you to pick 1 of those, and I will just try to recite that for you, if that is okay.

I won't take too much time because we've got much material to get to.

And is there any interest, preference, anyone?

All right, I will be reading from the King James Version, and that happens to be my personal favorite version.

So, good, glad some of you like that version.

And so you're welcome, if you can't read on the screen behind me, you're welcome to follow along in your own Bible Psalm 91 It says he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord.

He is my refuge and my fortress my God in Him will I trust Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust.

His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and 10000 at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Because He hath set His love upon me, therefore will I deliver Him.

I will set Him on high, because He hath known my name.

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him.

I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation." Psalm 91, 1-16.

Imagine having that with you no matter where you go.

And when you have that promise with you, you can claim it.

If you don't have it, then you can't exercise faith in what God says in His Word.

And so I want to hide God's Word in my heart.

I've got much, there's 31, 102 verses in the Bible.

I didn't count myself, I looked it up on a computer.

31, 102, and I'm on a mission to memorize all of them.

I mean, unless the Lord comes, I'm going to keep working and working to memorize His Word.

So the first thing I want to look at this evening, and you hopefully all of you have a study guide, I'm actually going to borrow a story that I heard actually given here at Advent Hope about 4 years ago by a speaker named Chad Cruiser.

It was such a good story I heard it actually on AudioVerse and went and read about the story myself.

And so this person his name is Howard Rutledge.

He was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War and he was an American fighter pilot.

He was flying an airplane, an F-8 Crusader when it was shot down in North Vietnam.

Well, locals there in North Vietnam, which is hostile enemy territory, saw him parachute down and nearly killed him even before he reached the ground.

Well, he was captured and sent to the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison, very harsh prison that was there.

He spent 5 years in solitary confinement.

5 years in confinement with nothing but the thoughts in his mind.

Now here are some of the conditions in prison.

You can read about this online and you can also read about it.

He wrote an autobiography called In the Presence of Mine Enemies.

Here are some of the conditions in prison.

It doesn't sound very comfortable, in a very dark room.

He said there were spiders as big as a man's fist.

He said it was an extremely small and dirty cell that he was kept in.

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?

Where Is Your Faith?

We are preppers, not in the sense of physical preparation, but as in the sense of spiritual preparation.

That is what we want to do, and that is what I hope this evening will be a blessing to you as we study an important subject, I believe.

Now, just now, we need to be preparing for the Lord's second coming.

All of these events, the tragedies and the violence that we see tell us, the Sermon of the Lord says, that the end of all things is near and we should be preparing just now.

Well, I would like to have an additional word of prayer before we get into our subject this evening.

So if you would just bow your heads with me and let's pray.

Our Father and our God, Lord, I thank you so much for the Sabbath, a tremendous blessing, a blessing that we probably don't even fully realize and grasp and yet you've given this to us.

It's been said the most valuable thing that you can give to someone is your time and the Creator, the God of the universe, has given us His time.

What a precious, precious blessing, the most valuable gift, your son and the time that you would have to to share with us and help create in us a new heart and a new mind with new lives.

Lord may we be transformed this Sabbath day by a connection with you and I pray also that you would have a special nearness and be an added blessing on those who are grieving and suffering emotionally, physically, and just come very near them and help them to know that you will never leave nor forsake them.

Lord I pray this in Jesus precious name, amen.

Okay our subject this evening is entitled, Where is your faith?

And that's based on a question that Jesus himself asked in the Gospels, 1 of the Gospels.

This, which you have in front of you, is the product of my own personal study.

When I was a child growing up in the church, the Seventh-day Adventist church, I oftentimes heard a lot about faith, but I did not realize and understand what it really meant to exercise faith.

And so to me, faith was always an abstract concept, something that maybe people that had advanced double or triple PhDs could understand, but not some lowly lay person like myself.

And so I launched into a study of the word of God based on a Bible verse and a statement from the spirit of prophecy, which you'll see shortly, both of those.

And as a result, this is what you have in front of you.

And I have a lot of material so I'll try to go quickly but I have, it's a consolation to me that you have the study guide if you would like to follow up and do some further study on your own.

This is certainly not all that could be said about faith.

It is an incredibly important topic, but I also want to lay out this weekend, my plan is to, of course this evening we're going to be studying the subject of faith.

Tomorrow morning for the Divine Worship Hour we're going to be looking at finishing the mystery of God, and that's going to connect with faith as we see what the mystery of God is plainly from the Bible tomorrow morning.

Faith connects with finishing the mystery of God.

And then the third presentation is entitled the blessing of Bible memorization.

And that also connects with finishing the Mystery of God.

If you don't know what that is yet you want to be at church tomorrow morning.

And then our fourth and final presentation, Let's Go Home, will be a study from the Word of God on some key texts about the Second Coming of the Lord and did you know that we can actually do something about it?

The Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy tell us we can do something about it if we really are anxious and long to see our Savior come.

So, I hope you will see the thread throughout all of the messages this weekend that there is a connection.

But we'll begin at the foundation level, where is your faith?

And so if you have your Bibles, I hope all of you do, turn with me to the Gospel of Luke chapter 8, and we're gonna read a short passage, Luke chapter 8, verses 22 through 25.

Luke chapter 8 and we'll read verses 22 through 25.

I get excited when the audience is excited.

1 of my students is actually here, right here near the front, Haruka, it's good to see you.

And I've been teaching history in high school for the last 18 years.

But I just recently resigned my position this last school year so that I could attend AFCO, Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism.

And I quit my job teaching history because of a Bible verse that I will share with you in our fourth presentation.

There's a verse that I just was so impacted by, I said, Lord, I've got to do more for you.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

The Blessing of Bible Memorization

1h

Finishing the Mystery of God

49m

Where Is Your Faith?

1h

Mercy and Truth Are Joined

26m

A King’s Dream and The Future

29m

Lifted Up

11m

What to Wear Oh What to Wear

46m

Less Attempted More Achieved

49m

Answers From Babylon

29m

Needing a Nehemiah

52m

Knowing God’s Will- Part 2

29m

Knowing God’s Will- Part 1

48m

Sound Doctrine