Willetton Christian Church

At the start of our series, we briefly saw Moses asking God two questions: 'Who am I?' and 'Who are you?' In today's passage, many centuries later, we see a group of religious leaders asking the similar questions of Jesus, questions of identity that are meant to make us consider our own identity through the answers Jesus gives. Are we slaves to sin, or have we been freed through believing in him?...

The Philistines have been ravaged by God. They captured the ark of Yhwh’s covenant, thinking that they have won the victory over him. However, as we saw in the previous chapter, God showed that he has supremacy over all other gods. The Philistines now realized this and wanted to get rid of the ark by sending it back to the Israelites. Even though they do not worship nor know the God of Israel, the...

More than a millennia has passed since God declared his name, YHWH, to Moses. For Jews living under Roman rule, waiting for the Messiah, it seems like the great I AM is nowhere to be seen. For Jesus' disciples, sailing on the Sea of Galilee on a dark and stormy night, fighting for their lives, they must have felt that even more! And it is into this picture that Jesus steps, walking on water, decla...

While we don't often think too much about it in our culture, in the Biblical era, names often had special significance. In our text this morning, we will see how this is true even of God. When Moses asks for a name to give to the Israelites, to let them know their God would be with them, God replies not only by giving his name, YHWH (often translated as the LORD), but also gives that Name a meanin...

In 1 Samuel 8-12, Israel wants a king—a visible leader, like all the nations around them. But in doing so, they reject the God who gave them everything. And what they receive is Saul: impressive on the outside but hollow within. Yet even in their failure, God remained faithful. He sent thunder not to destroy, but to wake them up, to bring them home.

The covenants God makes with his people (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus) help us make sense of the storyline of the Bible as a whole. God makes special promises to be our God, and we, God’s people, his people commit ourselves to the conditions of the covenant: to live as God’s people. But how do we hold on to God’s promises when we don’t see any evidence that God is going to fulfil wh...

The ark of the covenant has been captured by the Philistines. In the eyes of the world, this means that Yhwh is weak and was therefore defeated by the Philistine god. The ark was carried and placed in Dagon’s temple, next to Dagon. It was meant to be a sign of Dagon’s trophy, having bested Yhwh. The people of Israel should despair because their God has been humiliated and defeated. Or has he? No!...

Do we unknowingly treat God as a vending machine – that if we fulfil certain conditions and then God will be certain to give us some form of blessing? Do we think that if we only pray hard enough, serve long enough, be devoted enough, evangelise enough, that God should (maybe even be obligated to!) answer our prayers and requests to him? That was how the Israelites were treating God in the first h...

In our passage this weekend, we are given a picture of the rot at the centre of Israel’s priesthood. “Eli’s sons were scoundrels.” Even though they were supposed to be priests of God, they had no regard for God at all. They took advantage of the sacrifices that people brought for God and used their position to sleep with women who served at the temple. They were supposed to be priests – mediators...

Hannah’s prayer is surprising to many of us. Remember that she has struggled for many years on her lack of a son and being provoked about it by Peninnah. However, God answered her prayer by giving her a son, and so she responds to God in her prayer. However, in her prayer, it is remarkable that the focus is not on herself, nor the son that God gave her, nor even her own situation. It is a remarkab...

There are times when God seems silent. There are times when we feel like God does not care. However, no matter the situation we find ourselves in, God knows and God cares. Hannah found herself in such a situation. She was not able to bear a child for her husband, Elkanah, while his other wife Penninah had children. Year after year, she was taunted by Penninah about her childlessness. One year, she...

Many people today believe that there is a crisis of leadership in our world. The reality is that often leaders are not trusted by those they are called to lead. The image of biblical leadership is most often portrayed as shepherding leadership. It is the exercise of leadership that leads by example and leads in a sacrificial manner. The Apostle Peter writing to the elders of the church states, “Be...

One of the regular rhythms in our Christian lives should be our service to our brothers and sisters in Christ. That is the only appropriate and reasonable response in view of God’s amazing mercy to us in Christ. Therefore, it is important to remember that we are serving one another, not to be saved, but rather because we are saved in Christ. We are one body in Christ, and so we should not think of...

Much ink has been spilled over the topic of the Lord’s Supper during the Reformation than we think. Martin Luther, the German monk who started the Reformation, was famously willing to split the church over this issue. Just what it is about the Lord’s Supper that is so important? Isn’t it just mere “bread and wine”? There are two traps that we can fall into with regards to the Lord’s Supper – think...

Baptism is the sign and seal of the person into the covenant community of God. It shows that the person who is being baptised has now become part of the people of God in the same way that circumcision marks the child out as part of God’s people. Just as how circumcision was a sign of God’s blessing and grace to those who are born into God’s covenant community, baptism is a sign of God’s grace and...

The people of God has always been set apart from their surrounding nations. Ever since God gathered his people around him, he has called his people to be different, because he has rescued and redeemed them. The New Testament continues this pattern with Jesus Christ. We are gathered around Jesus, set apart for him because of the redemption that he purchased for us. The church is a people that God h...

There are endless opinions when it comes to the singing and music in our weekend services. That is not surprising as music and songs connect to us on a deeper and emotional level. It just “feels” so much more personal than a sermon. That is why it can elicit such strong opinions. However, when you think about it, as a society, we do not actually do a lot of singing together with others. There are...