Village Church Annandale (Sydney) sermons

When the Lord gives Samuel his word of judgement on the household of complacent Eli, Eli's response is both in character and tragic.

There's no rendering in sackcloth and ashes. No call to repentance. Just passive acceptance from Eli.

In contrast Samuel speaks boldly the word of God. The two men are cases studies, contrasting dramatically on how not to respond to God's word (Eli) and how to respond to God's word (Samuel).

And how much more so today, when we don't just have the word of a prophet, but the revelation of God himself in Jesus.

Eli responded, “He is the Lord. He will do what He thinks is good.” 19 Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and He fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied. 20 All Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a confirmed prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, because there He revealed Himself to Samuel by His word.

The verse in 1 Samuel 3:13 is very sobering about our responsibility as dads (and by implication mothers).

1 Samuel 3:13b I am going to judge his family forever because of the iniquity he knows about: 

his sons are defiling the sanctuary, and he has not stopped them.

Centuries later the Prophet Ezekiel expands on the responsibilities of the watchman:

Ezekiel 33:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land select a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows his trumpet to warn the people.4 Then, if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet but ignores the warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but ignored the warning, his blood is on his own hands.[a] If he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. 6 However, if the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn’t blow the trumpet, so that the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes away their lives, then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.

The task of the pastor/prophet is to sound a clear call. The dad is the pastor of their family.

If this was true in the Old Testament, how much more in the New Testament era.

Hebrews 10:26 For if we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries. 28 If anyone disregards Moses’ law, he dies without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the One who has said, Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge His people. 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

We're sad to not be meeting together in the room. But obviously respect the State Government's decision. Over the next two weeks of lockdown we have suspended our sermon series, and instead are going to look this week at John 2, where Jesus turns water into wine.

A further update on Village Church in the light of the lockdown to the four LGA areas to the east of us. 

At Village we WILL be meeting in person this Sunday June 27 at Annandale for Village mornings and evenings… and in addition we will also be providing church on livestream. 

Lots of members have contacted us who live and work in the locked down LGA's. Our prayers are with you in this week of complexity.

Inevitably there are going to be significant disruptions to our Sunday plans with quite a few people going to need to be away. 

We’ve been running with the philosophy of “endurance not recovery.”

We will come back to the issues of sexuality when we can all be in the room together later on. 

This Sunday and next, I’ll taking us to some of my favourite moments from the life of Jesus in John’s Gospel … ahead of Jon Kwan’s Church among the Artworks series in three weeks time.

We are hoping you can join us either in person or online for Village Church this Sunday - 27 June - 9:30am or 6pm. 

In those days 'The word of the Lord was rare'. This is what is said of Israel in 1 Samuel 3. But it's also true of 21st century England, and even Australia.

England particularly is littered with evidence that there was a time in the past when the Word of the Lord was plentiful. But now as a tourist it's plain to see that this is a country that once believed something very important but no longer does.

I think there as that kind of mood in Samuel's time.

Even the high priest Eli was not accustomed to God speaking, or him listening. And when God did speak. Eli didn't even get out of bed.

But what will God say? And will we listen?

I Samuel 3:1 The boy Samuel served the Lord in Eli’s presence. In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.

2 One day Eli, whose eyesight was failing, was lying in his usual place. 3 Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was located.

4 Then the Lord called Samuel,[a] and he answered, “Here I am.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“I didn’t call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

6 Once again the Lord called, “Samuel!”

Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“I didn’t call, my son,” he replied. “Go back and lie down.”

7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 Once again, for the third time, the Lord called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 He told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 The Lord came, stood there, and called as before, “Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”