Redeemer Church Of Waterford

1 Samuel opens in the social, political, and religious chaos described in the last verse of the Book of Judges: "there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes." As the narrator begins this story he gives us some rather mundane facts: "a certain man," he had two wives," "Hannah had no children." Why does the narrator want us to know these rather ordinary and insignificant facts? Because they tell us something about the way God works even in the ordinary and insignificant routine of our own lives.

As we begin our new series in 1 Samuel, we are introduced to the three main protagonists in the book: The Prophet Samuel (Chapters 1-8), King Saul (Chapters 8-15) and King David (Chapters 16-31). Kings and the kingdoms of this world are flawed images which create in us a desire for the King Eternal whose Kingdom cannot fail.

In the 78th Psalm, the psalmist Asaph has taken us through the history of Israel beginning with the exodus of God's people from Egypt to the anointing of David as King over God's people (Exodus 3 through 1 Samuel 16). The final three verses of this psalm give insight to how God choses His leadership, giving them His own heart to feed and lead His people.

Click "View Item" to listen. The Church at Philadelphia had little about it that would garner the acclaim of the world, and yet it had great power because it had the acclaim of the Lord Jesus Christ who had given to this church "an open door" which He himself had opened with "the key of David." This letter is an encouragement to "little" churches" who faithfully minister with minimal visible result and yet are blessed with the commendation of their Savior, "Well done."

The Letter to the Church at Laodicea is the one we are most familiar with. Yet our familiarity with this text is likely based on some misinterpretations, or "texts out of context." This study attempts to set the record straight.

Why does God cast all of his wrath upon the Egyptians in the ten plaques and allow his own people who have provoked him and tempted him and spoke against him to escape his wrath? What accounts for God's own people receiving mercy in response to their sin and the Egyptians receiving wrath in response to theirs? And what is it exactly that make the children of Israel "his own people"?

In an otherwise dark Psalm which details the rebellion of God's people against his law, statutes, and covenant, verses 34 through 42 are an island of hope. These verses reveal the pattern of spiritual decline which is true of all of God's chosen: In the midst of their sinful rebellion, God's people remember God and return to him, God remembers them and turns away his wrath, and God's people turn back from God and do not remember him. The hope comes when the Psalmist reveals that God is not surprised by this pattern of behavior and gives grace upon grace in response.

The 78th Psalm is a narrative history of God's gracious dealings with the Israelites in leading them out of bondage in Egypt and feeding them in the wilderness. How did Israel respond to these numberless blessings? With insolence and contempt. How do we guard our hearts against the same calloused response to God's gracious and undeserved blessings upon us?

The church at Sardis had a name that they were alive, but were dead; a few names who remained undefiled, and individual names who will never be blotted out of the book of life. When Jesus tells this church that he will not blot the names of the overcomers out of the book of life, it isn't a threat that they could be blotted out. It's a glorious promise that they can never be blotted out!

Psalm 78 is the record of God's overtures of love toward his people and His people reciprocating those overtures with continual rejection and rebellion. Verse 8 is God's epithet for the first generation of Israelites whom God characterizes as "stubborn and rebellious." And the source of this stubborn rebellion is heart failure: "who set not their hearts aright." What were their hearts set on which warranted God's anger toward them?

What does Jesus see when he looks upon the multitudes? The people came to him for remedies to their external concerns, but he saw what only the sovereign, omniscient Son of God can see: their aimless wanderings, their weariness and harassment as a result of the unfaithfulness of their spiritual leaders.

Behind the turbulence in our culture is the spiritual reality of humanity's rebellion against God. The world is as it is because it has set itself in defiance against God's holy laws. God's response is to hold the world in derision even as sets His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus, as King over all.

The Apostle ends his letter where he began: with grace and peace, but then adds "love with faith." With these four virtues, Paul summarizes what he has been saying in the entire letter.

The success of any church is dependent in large measure on men and women who are content to serve the church and the Lord Jesus in obscurity. The Apostle Paul closes his letter to the Ephesians by introducing us to a man who is a model of such faithfulness: Tychicus.

Both Pergamos and Thyatira had been infiltrated by a false teaching and practice known by three names: the doctrine of Balaam, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, and "the depths of Satan" propounded by "that woman Jezebel." This teaching was characterized by subtle compromises with the prevailing culture which led eventually to the destruction of the church.

The Apostle Paul asks for the prayers of his people, not for his own sake, but so that the mystery of the gospel might be proclaimed. He asks for two things specifically: "utterance" and "boldness." What is this "utterance"? And what is this "boldness"? And why are they so critical to Paul's ability to preach the gospel?

Having encouraged the believers in Ephesus to pray for one another, the Apostle Paul concludes his exhortation on prayer with, "And also for me..." Why does Paul need the prayers of the Ephesians? What is he asking them to pray for?

When the Apostle says God's "judgments" are unsearchable, he means God's decisions or rulings as the Sovereign of the universe. When he says God's "ways" are past finding out, he means God's methods for bringing to pass all that His Sovereign will purposes to do. How do we respond when we find ourselves objecting to the decisions and the methods of God?