Sermons

As part of our Mission Month series, Dr Yane Damanik from Nungalinya College explores the story of Hagar in Genesis 16 and introduces us to El Roi - the God who sees.

Hagar was a foreigner, a slave, and a woman with little power or voice in her society. Rejected, mistreated, and alone in the wilderness, she seemed invisible to everyone around her. Yet God sought her out, called her by name, listened to her story, and gave her hope for the future.

This message invites us to ask:

Do we believe that God truly sees us in our struggles, fears, and loneliness?

You'll be encouraged to:

• Discover God's compassion for those who feel unseen or forgotten

• See how God meets people in their pain and isolation

• Reflect on who the "Hagars" might be in our own communities

• Learn how God is at work through the ministry of Nungalinya College among Indigenous Christian leaders across Australia

The story of Hagar reminds us that no one is invisible to God. He is El Roi, the God who sees, who hears, who calls us by name, and who gives hope for the future.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2016%3A1-15&version=NIV

In this sermon, Luke Prentice opens Genesis 4 and helps us make sense of life outside the garden. As sin spreads from jealousy to murder and beyond, we see both the goodness of God’s world and the deep brokenness that now shapes it.

This chapter is raw and real—filled with anger, violence, pride, and grief—yet also with glimpses of faith and people calling on the name of the Lord.

This message asks:

How do we live faithfully in a world that is both good and deeply broken?

You’ll be encouraged to:
• See how sin grows and distorts human life
• Recognise the danger of ignoring God in everyday living
• Be alert to sin and its subtle beginnings
• Grow in dependence on God through thankfulness and trust

Even in a messy world, God is at work—calling people back to Himself and inviting us to live lives shaped by gratitude, humility, and faith.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%204%3A%201-26&version=NIV

In this sermon, Mike Phillips opens Genesis 3 and helps us understand what has gone wrong with the world. The beauty and goodness of creation in Genesis 1-2 are shattered as humanity turns away from God—choosing distrust over trust, and rebellion over obedience.

The result is a world marked by fear, blame, suffering, and death—a world we recognise all too well.

This message asks a confronting question:

How did we get from Eden to the broken world we live in today?

You’ll be encouraged to:
• See how sin begins with doubting God’s goodness
• Understand the deep consequences of turning from God
• Recognise our own place in the story of rebellion
• Discover the first glimpse of hope in God’s promise to restore

Even in this darkest chapter, God has not abandoned His world. Genesis 3 points us toward a coming rescuer - and a future where all that is broken will be made new.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=%20Genesis%203%3A1%E2%80%9324&version=NIV

In this sermon, Mike Phillips explores Genesis 2 and paints a rich picture of God as our wonderful Creator—the One who gives life, purpose, and relationship.

We see a God who forms humanity with care, places us in a world of abundance, and gives us meaningful work and deep connection with others. This passage shows us who we are: created, dependent, relational, and designed to live in trust and obedience to God.

This message invites us to reflect:

What does it mean that our lives—and our world—are gifts from God?

You’ll be encouraged to:
• See the dignity and purpose God gives to human life
• Recognise the goodness of creation and our place within it
• Understand the importance of relationships and community
• Reflect on how to live faithfully within God’s design

Genesis 2 gives us a glimpse of a world as it was meant to be—full of beauty, purpose, and harmony—pointing us back to our Creator and forward to His plan to restore what has been broken.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202%3A4%E2%80%9325&version=NIV

In this sermon, Luke Prentice begins a new series in Genesis by taking us back to the very beginning. In Genesis 1:1–2:3, we see a world created by God that is ordered, purposeful, and very good.

God speaks, and creation comes into being—light, land, life, and humanity, all reflecting His power, wisdom, and generosity. Humanity is placed within this good world with dignity, purpose, and the blessing of relationship with God.

This passage invites us to ask:

What was God’s world meant to be—and what does that reveal about Him?

You’ll be encouraged to:
• See the goodness and order of God’s original creation
• Understand humanity’s unique place and purpose
• Recognise God as the generous giver of life
• Reflect on how creation points us to the Creator

Genesis begins with a world full of goodness, beauty, and intention—a powerful reminder of who God is and the life He created us to enjoy with Him.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201%3A1%E2%80%932%3A3&version=NIV

‍

In this sermon, Mike Phillips continues our Generosity series by addressing greed—our tendency to grasp, accumulate, and place our trust in money rather than God.

From the fall in Genesis to Jesus’ warning in Luke 12, we see how greed promises security and satisfaction but ultimately fails. Instead, Scripture calls us to find true security in God, not in what we possess.

This message invites us to ask:

Are we trusting in God—or in what we’ve accumulated?

You’ll be encouraged to:
• Recognise how greed distorts God’s gifts
• Understand the dangers of trusting wealth
• Grow in contentment and gratitude
• Take practical steps toward generosity

God’s grace frees us from fear and invites us into a life of trust, contentment, and open‑handed living.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203%3A1-13%2C%20Luke%2012%3A13-21%2C%201%20Timothy%206%3A6-10%2C%2017-19&version=NIV

In this sermon, Mike Phillips explores the foundation of Christian generosity: God’s grace. From creation onward, we see a God who gives abundantly-life, beauty, purpose, and everything we need.

‍Yet instead of reflecting that generosity, we often hold tightly to what we’ve received. Rather than withdrawing His gifts, God responds with even greater generosity—giving His Son to rescue us and restore us.

This message reminds us that generosity begins with what God has already given.

‍ In this sermon you’ll be encouraged to:

• See God’s abundant generosity in creation and in Christ

• Recognise how grace shapes our attitudes to money and resources

• Reflect on holding God’s gifts with open hands

• Grow in gratitude as the foundation for generosity

God’s grace invites us into a life of joyful generosity—because He has first given everything to us.

‍ ‍

💬 Subscribe for more sermons, or visit www.ormondanglican.org.au

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202%3A4-17%2C%20Romans%2011%3A33-12%3A8&version=NIV

‍ ‍

Ben Van Gelderen, principal of Nunglinya College speaks to Ormond Anglican Church sharing on Abraham and the Cultural Crocodile. The culture of our indigenous brothers and sisters challenge us to consider what elements of scripture we are blind to and how our faith and understanding can be grown.

Passages: Genesis 12:1-7; Galatians 3:15-16, 26-29