Redeemer Church of Waterford

Yahweh vs. Dagon in the House of Dagon

The glory of the Lord is departed, but it isn't defeated. God has allowed the ark of the covenant to be captured by the Philistines so that His chastisement might fall against His people Israel and so that His glory might be made known in the pagan cities of the Philistines. Both Israel and the Philistines will learn that God cannot be placed in a box in temples of our own making, a lesson we need today.

I Read the News Today - Oh, Boy

Where is the glory? That is the question permeating the entire narrative of Chapter 4, ending with the plaintive cry of a mother who, with her dying breath exclaims, "Ichabod! The glory of the Lord is exiled!" 1 Samuel 4 is a drama in two acts. Act One (4:1-11) recounts what happens when we use God for our own selfish ends rather than submit to Him and obey His covenant. Act Two (4:12-22) is the record of God fulfilling His word to Eli, first spoken to Eli through a mysterious man of God in...

Using My Religion

With the tragic outcome of Israel's battles with the Philistines, recounted in the first 11 verses of 1 Samuel 4 we are met face to face with the reality of what happens when we presume that the presence and protection of God will always be with us, even when we are unfaithful to His word. Israel thinks that they can use their religion to control God, to make Him do whatever their sinful wills desire Him to do. They learned the hard way that God will not be put into a box.

A Door Opens, the Light Returns

Samuel has been awakened by the Lord with a troubling message for Eli, an event which marks a stark change in the way God will communicate with His people: no longer through Eli the Priest, but through Samuel the Prophet. Samuel opens the doors to the temple, signifying that after a long absence, God is once again prepared to offer reconciliation for His people.

The Word of the Lord

When Samuel was a little boy, serving Eli and the Lord in the temple at Shiloh, there was no word from God. When that word finally comes, it comes to Samuel in the form of a pronouncement of final and irrevocable judgment on the house of Eli. How can this boy who has served Eli now convey this word of judgment to Eli? How does Eli respond? What are the lessons for us when we experience the chastising hand of God on our own lives?

Overcoming Evil with Good

What is the "good" which we are to return for evil, and thereby overcoming the evil?

Overcoming Evil

Talking in Samuel's Sleep

The opening verses of 1 Samuel 3 present the familiar story of the call of the boy Samuel to be God's prophet in Israel. But don't let what you think you know about this story keep you from seeing the spiritual contrasts which are woven through the narrative.

The Old Man and the Seer

What are the consequences when we spurn the grace of God and presume that we have gotten away with our sinful behavior because He has not judged us? Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phineas, had profaned the tabernacle through their abuses of the sacrificial offerings (2:12-17) and their immoral behavior with the women who served the tabernacle (2:22). After Eli gave them a warning which they could not heed (2:23-25), Eli is visited by a mysterious, unnamed "man of God," a seer who gives him a fo...

The Spirit Empowered Response to Injustice

How does a follower of Jesus respond when they are treated unfairly or wronged? Does the Bible prohibit us from seeking retribution for the wrongs done to us?

Two Gates, Two Paths, Two Destinations

A Biblical Portrait of Christ

A Study in (Spiritual) Contrasts

Eli is an old man who has been the priest at Shiloh for a long time. His two sons are worthless, abusing their positions as priests for their own sordid gain. In 1 Samuel 2:11-26, the vile sons of Eli are placed in stark contrast to the child Samuel. In this contrast are some important spiritual lessons for our own attitudes toward the worship of God.

The Prayer Meeting

The practice of meeting weekly for prayer began in the 19th Century in the revivalism of Charles Finney and D. L. Moody. But does the Bible require a weekly meeting for prayer? Listen as our pastor explains the origins of the midweek prayer meeting and takes us through the Book of Acts to see when the New Testament church met for prayer.

Hannah Had No Children

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...

Three Men and a Kingdom

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.

A Shepherd Leader for God's Wandering Sheep

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.

Laodicea: Someone's Knocking at the Door

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.

God's Wrath Roused and Restrained

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"?

Philadelphia: The Church with Little Strength and Great Power

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 Pattern of Spiritual Declension

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 s...

The Choice of a Contemptuous Generation

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?

Sardis: The Church of the Walking Dead

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!

Heart Failure

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?

Shepherdless Sheep, Scattered and Harassed

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.

The Attribute of Work

Raging Rulers Against the Reigning King

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.

Ephesians: The Closing Benediction

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.

Faithfulness in Obscurity

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.

A Gospel Response to Uvalde, Texas

How do we respond to those who ask where God was when the heinous events in Uvalde, Texas was happening? Does God create evil? Does He permit evil? Is He powerless to stop evil?

"And Also for Me" (Part 2)

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?

Thyatira: "That Woman Jezebel"

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.

May Christ Be Exalted

The Apostle Paul is confident he will be redeemed from his imprisonment because Christ is - and will be - exalted through his life or his death. No matter how volatile our circumstances become, one thing that remains constant is our ability to glorify Christ in those circumstances.

The Ballast of Sovereign Love

The first two chapters of 1 Samuel are a moving drama of God's sovereign actions to bring about the birth of His greatest prophet. This prophet would be the "kingmaker." In this drama, we learn that God is at work in the bleakest of circumstances to bring about His eternal purposes. God was at work in Hannah's drama, and He's at work in your drama, too!

"And Also for Me...."

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?

The Romans Doxology: "Incomparable Doxology"

Good Friday: "Guilt and Glory at the Cross"

The Romans Doxology: "Incomprehensible Design"

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?

The Romans Doxology: "Immeasurable Depth - Part 2"

When the Apostle Paul looks down from the lofty peak of the theological realities which he has just scaled in Romans 1 through 11, he breaks forth into an ascription of praise to God for the depth of the riches of His grace and mercy, the wisdom which implemented such a plan so contrary to the wisdom of this world, and the knowledge which devised it to His own glory.

The Romans Doxology: "Immeasurable Depth"

The Apostle Paul has spent the first 11 chapters of his great Epistle to the Romans scaling the mountain of the great theological realities of God's way of making sinners righteous. When he reaches the peak in Romans 11:33, he looks back down from where he has just ascended and can only exclaim, "O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!" What has prompted this ascription of praise to our sovereign God?

"Immeasurable Depth - Part 2"

When the Apostle Paul looks down from the lofty peak of the theological realities which he has just scaled in Romans 1 through 11, he breaks forth into an ascription of praise to God for the depth of the riches of His grace and mercy, the wisdom which implemented such a plan so contrary to the wisdom of this world, and the knowledge which devised it to His own glory.

All of Grace - Part 2

All of Grace - Part 1

Praying for All Saints

Click "View Item" to listen. In the post-Christian context God has sovereignly placed us in, the church faces enormous challenges as we seek to proclaim biblical truth to a culture that increasingly characterizes that truth as bigoted. Now more than ever it is essential that we "pray for all saints" as we face the evil of our day.

Pergamos: Repent, or Else!

The Church at Pergamos was syncretizing the sacred institution of the Lord's Table with the immoral orgies of the pagans under the pretense of understanding the schemes of the devil to better fight against him. Jesus gives this church one of his most severe warnings.

Smyrna: Faithful Unto Death

In the Letter to Smyrna we are introduced to a church made up of believers who were not merely faithful UNTIL they died, but died BECAUSE they were faithful. This is the church of the martyrs, who sacrificed life with all of its material benefits in exchange for the "crown of life' promised to them by the One was was dead and is alive forevermore.

Praying in the Spirit

What does the Apostle mean when he commands us to "pray in the Spirit"? The Holy Spirit is our escort into the presence of God when we pray. There is no sense in which we can say that we are truly praying without the controlling influence of the Holy Spirit.

Watching in Prayer

"Watching" is a military term related to "readiness" or "alertness." In what ways is the Apostle telling us to be watchful as we pray? Click "View Item" to listen.

The Letter to Ephesus - Part 2

What is the "first love" which our Lord says the Ephesians have "left"? And how do they get it back?

The Letter to the Church at Ephesus

Each of the seven letters to the seven church of Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3 contain characteristics, and warnings, and encouragements which apply to every church since the ascension of Christ more than 2,000 years ago. Listen as we examine the first of these letters.