The Mysteries of God (Siloam updates)

INTRODUCTION

Express Gratitude for church partnership

Gratitude for partnering with us and your love for the gospel

Gratitude for financial support

Gratitude for praying and encouragement

Church Finances

Current giving

Our average for Jan 1 - May 30th is roughly $3700 per month

The amount of support the church receives is: $1966

We will receive our final check from the KBC in June

That will drop our support from to $1550 per month

Current expenses:

$4500 per month (rent, utilities, salary, cooperative giving)

This is our reoccurring expense each month

Current budgeted expenses

We budgeted $70,000 for 2024

That comes to about 5,800 per month

We have received right around $25,000 so far this year bringing us around $4,000 shy of where we would like to be according to our budget

Current cash balance

We have $2,000 in the bank than we did at the beginning of 2024

So have spent a little less than what we have taken in

My view on our finances

Overall we are doing ok financially

Most of those that attend regularly do give consistently

Some are not giving quite what they should, but they do tithe

At this point, the financial support from our partnering churches is very important

Without it we would have to modify our budget and make some cuts

I would like to see some of our people give more

I do plan on preaching on giving next month and I do expect some to give a little more sacrificially

But overall our people are faithful in supporting the church

Any Questions?

SERMON

We will be in the book of Revelation chapter 10 tonight.

The message is about: “The Mysteries of God”

1) The Present Mysteries of God

Revelation 10:1–4 “I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; and he had in his hand a little book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.””

Let me give you some context

Chapter 10 is a parenthetical chapter as is Rev chapter 7

That means it is another vision within the vision that John has beed seeing

John has saw the seal judgements and then the trumpet judgements and the judgement visions stops for an interlude.

Chapters 10 & 11 is the interlude

Each interlude gives specific details about the people of God

In chapter 7, the 144,000 were sealed and the angels were told to not harm those who have the seal of God on their foreheads

In chapters 10 & 11 we read of those who worship in the temple and the fate of the faithful witnesses

What I want to draw your attention to is in verse 4:

Revelation 10:4 “When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.””

John was told in chapter 1 to write the things that he sees. That is why we have the book of Revelation today. John saw and heard and therefore he wrote them down to pass on to God’s people.

But here John is told to seal up the things that the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.

Who are the seven peals of thunder?

This is the voice of God Almighty!

Revelation 4:5 “Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God”

Revelation 10:8 “Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.”

John hears God speaking, and it is an understandable language because he is going to write it down, BUT God stops him and tells him to seal up what he had heard.

The word “seal up” means to keep it secret

Do not take what you have just heard and disclose it to anyone else

In other words, God tells John this particular message that you have heard is not for people to know, it is for your ears only

Principle:

There will always be great mysteries in this present age about God that we do not understand

There are doctrines that we cannot wrap our head around

There are questions about why God does the things the way that He does them

We wonder why we go through great trials and tribulations when we have been faithful to Him

And God would say to us today, there are things that have been sealed up and will not be made known to us in this present age, and we need to be content with that!

We need to just go ahead and humble ourselves and settle in our hearts that the secret things belong to the Lord and no matter how much research and human understanding we have we will never figure God out.

When I first came to faith, I used to try to guess what God was going to do next

Just immaturity

And it didn’t take me long to learn that no matter what the situation I was in, when I tried to guess God’s next move I was always wrong.

I thought God would do something this way and He would do something completely different

I came to the conclusion that God did everything exactly the opposite of what I thought He would just to show me that I was a finite human being and HE IS GOD!

A few things we need to be content with

Be content with the sufficiency of Scripture

There are things in the Bible that we will never understand.

Some people may think they do, but you read two different Christian Theology books and they come to completely different interpretations but both claim to be right

I see people who enter into discipleship and do not have a full understanding so they reject it

Or people who think they find contradictions in the Bible so they reject it

Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”

There are many things I cannot explain about Scripture

But what I can tell you, is God reveals to us everything that we need to be faithful to Him.

Scripture is sufficient

Be content with NOT knowing the details in your present circumstances

You may be in a situation right now and your biggest struggle is wanting to know why

Why did you allow this God, Why this struggle, why, why why

BUT God never gives all the details!

God never has to explain Himself to us!

God never has to reveal every part of His plan for our lives!

God has the right to “seal up” information, just like He has done with John in Revelation chapter 10

Be content

The eternal mysteries of God

Revelation 10:5–7 “Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.”

What was it that the angel has proclaimed

He swore that there will be delay no longer!

And that the mystery of God is about to be finished, just as he preached to His servants the prophets

QUESTION: What is the mystery of God?

The seventh trumpet is about to sound. That is what this interlude is about

And if we look forward to the seventh trumpet we will read, “Revelation 11:15 “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.””

The mystery is the inauguration of God’s Kingdom in its fullness!

Everything that Jesus taught, everything that Paul preached, everything the OT prophets saw about the kingdom of God coming to earth in its fullness WILL NOW BE MADE KNOWN TO THE WOLRD

QUESTION: Who were these mysteries preached to according to verse 7?

ANSWER: The prophets

1 Peter 1:12 “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.”

It is the words and promises of the prophets that have become our anchor to what lies ahead

It is the divinely inspired words spoken through Jeremiah, Isaiah, David, Paul, Peter, John that compel us of reality of God’s Kingdom

It is these truths that compel the Christian to never turn away from God, for to do so would forfeit the Kingdom of God and bring judgment upon himself

Things are going to end exactly the way God has revealed them to His prophets

There is no question of whether or not God’s Kingdom is coming in its fullness

There is no question of whether or not Jesus is coming again

There is no question of whether or not God will triumph and eradicate all evil

There is no question of a coming judgement upon this world

And there is no question that only those who have been born again, covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ will be saved

What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 “…faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

None of us have seen heaven or hell or Jesus Himself

But we live as though we have

That is because we live by faith, and faith is the conviction of things not seen

We must be sure we live our lives as though we have already seen it and WE KNOW IT IS TRUE!

The Revealed Mysteries of God

Revelation 10:8–11 “Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he *said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And they *said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.””

“Take it and eat it”

What an odd thing God tells John to do

Not take this scroll and read it

Not hold it

BUT Eat it!

What are we to make of this?

What is this Scroll?

The scroll contains the words of God revealing the plan of God to bring this age to a close

In other words it is the very Word of God

And this “sweet/bitter” metaphor ties in perfectly in with what the Bible says about Scripture.

Psalm 19:9–10 “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.”

Psalm 119:103 “How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

The Word of God is like honey in the mouth of believers

Reading the Bible is like a taking a spoon and dipping into a jar of honey and taking it down

Honey is pure

It is rich in flavor

It soothes the throat as it goes down

It satisfies that craving for something sweet

And it needs nothing. Nothing is every added to honey, it is completely sufficient on its own

But then he says, “it will make your stomach bitter”

That is because the word John would prophesy lament, warning, and judgement

John is now commissioned here after eating the scroll to prophesy, which means to communicate the message he has devoured

Application

God’s Word contains both bitter and sweet messages

Not everything we read and digest goes down like honey

Some things taste good, and some hurt

Nearly every passage of Scripture contains a word of comfort, a word of exhortation, and word of rebuke

What we need:

The people of God do not need a steady diet of honey

The saying goes, “too much sugar preaching leads to truth decay”

We have to be people who desire both the sweet and the bitter parts of the Bible

We have to be people who can receive truth that wounds yet heals

Without them both we will not have the whole counsel of God’s Word.

What the world needs

To only give the world honey is to not give them the whole truth

I fear that too much honey is preached and shared today because the desire is for bodies not souls

And if we look at the example of Jesus, he would never shy away from truth

Let us be like that!

Not being cruel, or mean spirited, but speaking the truth in love to one another and the world around us

Matthew 13:10–12 “And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

If God has granted you to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom hidden from the world YOU ARE BLESSED

REJOICE, PRAISE HIM EVERY DAY BECAUSE TO KNOW THESE GLORIOUS THINGS

~PRAYER~