Why does a God who’s supposed to be good let bad stuff happen? We’ve all been there: life throws a curveball, the news feels heavy, or grief hits out of nowhere, and you’re like… “God, where are you in this?” But let’s be honest-there is no simple answer to this question.
However, there is one who is with us as we ask it. We believe God isn’t distant or detached; He’s fully present in the midst of our struggles, transforming our cries of “Why?” into a far greater story that is beyond our understanding. So whether you’re wrestling doubting, or just curious - let's here what the Word has to say to us.
Part 3 of our series: "Since you asked"
"Does God exist? This fundamental question has stirred the hearts and minds of every generation, from ancient philosophers to modern scientists, from sceptics to seekers.
It's a question that demands more than intellectual curiosity—it calls for honest examination of the evidence around us and within us. This morning, we'll explore what God’s word reveals about this ultimate question, discovering that God has not left us to wonder in darkness but has made himself known in ways both profound and personal.
Part 2 of our series: "Since you asked"
The Monty Python crew spent an entire movie exploring the Meaning of Life. The ‘Deep Thought’ supercomputer in ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ calculated that the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, was 42.
While these specific theatrical productions are a somewhat ridiculous exploration of the question, the fact remains that whether life has a purpose and knowing what that purpose is, remains one of the most frequently asked questions on the Google search engine. People long to know that their lives mean something and have a purpose and discovering that purpose, is in many ways, the ultimate goal of most human endeavours. If our lives have purpose then we are immediately transformed from being just a cosmic improbability of random materials that just happen to have arranged themselves into ‘us’ and into something significant and powerful, able to influence and shape the world around us.
The strange thing is that the one person qualified to answer that question, the one who created us, has already clearly articulated what his intent and purpose for his creation was and what it still is today. That’s what we’re going to explore this week as we address the question of ‘does life have a purpose?’
Week 1 of our series: "Since you asked"
We are going to take a moment this week to think about and give thanks for emergency service workers. Firefighters, paramedics, lifeguards and police.
They don’t serve for their own comfort or recognition, they step into dangerous situations so that others might be saved. We recently saw this demonstrated profoundly in the actions of the Victorian Police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty there only a few weeks ago. As we come to the end of Joseph’s story this week, we see something similar. Joseph stepped into all sorts of painful and difficult situations because of his brothers and he could have punished his brothers for all he had endured, but instead he served them – and through that service, God saved not just a family but an entire nation. And Joseph’s story points us to Jesus – the one who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life to save the world.
Final week of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
There’s a fine line between revenge and justice. It’s a line that those of us who have been hurt or betrayed by others often cross without even realising it. We think all we want is justice, for someone to admit to the wrong they have done and to somehow make up for the hurt they have caused, but often what we really want is revenge, to make them suffer or hurt in some kind of proportional, or perhaps disproportional response from us.
Apart from God, Joseph is perhaps arguably the most qualified character in the Old Testament to have a legitimate and understandable desire for revenge. And yet the journey God has taken him on doesn’t see him seething with hatred when he sees his brothers again. He may not immediately trust them, but his ultimate response is to recognise how God had used their betrayal to bring him to Egypt, where God had a plan to save his entire family. Knowing God’s plan helped Joseph to see beyond their betrayal and forgive them.
Part 6 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
Have you ever had life change in an instant? One phone call, one decision, one moment — and suddenly everything is different.
Joseph went from a prison cell to Pharaoh’s palace in a single day. But behind that sudden shift was a God who had been preparing him all along. Joseph didn’t map out a career path from pit to palace — he simply lived faithfully each day, wherever God placed him. And when the moment came, God raised him up. What if the position God is preparing you for tomorrow depends on the faithfulness you choose today? This week we’ll explore how God still works behind the scenes, lifting us from places of despair into positions for His purpose.
Part 5 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
Have you ever felt overlooked – like your work, your effort, or even your faithfulness just didn’t seem to matter?
Overlooked and forgotten is a good way to describe how we find Joseph in this next part of his story. Joseph has been dealt an almost unbelievably bad hand by life so far. He’s tried to make the most out of pretty miserable circumstances, even becoming the favoured head slave of his Egyptian master Potiphar. But even that didn’t last long and now he finds himself wrongly accused and in prison. Out of sight and out of mind, as the saying goes.
While that may have described Joseph’s situation accurately regarding the people around him who did forget him languishing away in prison, it’s not true when it comes to God. He never forgot Joseph and was always with him, even in Pharoah’s prison. And no matter what we might be facing, God is still faithful to all his promises and doesn’t ever forget us.
Part 4 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
What’s it going to cost? It seems in life today that’s one of the most important questions.
And funnily enough, it’s usually the last one the sales person wants to answer. They’d rather dazzle you with all of the unique features that their product has, demonstrate to you all the ways it will make your life easier or improve your status among your friends and work colleagues. All of those things may well be true but until the question ‘What’s it going to cost me’ actually gets answered, then there is no guarantee of a sale.
In this week’s part of the Joseph story, Joseph is given a choice and whichever way he chooses will come with a cost. The temptation Joseph faces is less to do with Potiphar’s wife, as we will hear in a moment, but whether Joseph is willing to maintain his integrity at the risk of losing everything positive that has come his way since arriving in Egypt. Will he do what is right even when it means he’ll likely suffer some significantly negative consequences. The question he is left asking is, What is it going to cost me to do the right thing here? This is the question at the heart of every temptation and it’s what we are going to explore this week.
Part 3 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"
Have you ever tried to complete a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box?
Maybe you can muddle through and assemble the edge pieces and they may hint at what the middle of the picture may look like but without being able to see the big picture or having many of the pieces already in place, the picture doesn’t make much sense. Without being able to see how the pieces fit together, it’s very tempting just to give up.
The part of Joseph’s story that we’ll hear today is a bit like that. He’s betrayed by his own brothers, thrown into a pit, and sold into slavery. There is silence from Joseph – who has to be wondering what on earth is going on, and silence from God who is the only one who can see the whole picture. No explanation, No rescue. Just broken people and broken pieces. But they are pieces of something bigger.
That’s true of our stories too. When life feels broken and shattered to pieces, when the silence of friends and family is deafening, when betrayal stabs us in the back – God may still be at work fitting all the pieces together into something bigger and more beautiful than we could imagine, even if we can’t see the big picture God is working on.
Part 2 of our Old Testament series: "Behind the Seen"