Richmond Community Church

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:33 — 16.9MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 24:1-12

The Crosses of Lent
The Lamb and The Cross
Luke 24:1-12

The LAMB was the INNOCENT SACRIFICE for the sins of the people.

Why did He allow Himself to SUFFER so? WHY DID HE DIE? Because He loves you so much, that’s why!

All that was over now, ended–by the BLOWS of a ROMAN SOLDIER driving SPIKES through Jesus’ hands and feet into a cross of wood.

Before, when JESUS was with them, they had been PROUD to be HIS FOLLOWERS.

They swung open those locked doors, walked into the streets of the whole world, and proclaimed the GOOD NEWS of GOD’S LOVE.

Jesus believes that you and I CAN make a DIFFERENCE in the world in which we live!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:05 — 15.2MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Matthew 27:40-42, John 19:25-27

The Crosses of Lent
At the Foot of the Cross
Matthew 27:40-42, John 19:25-27

Most of the time, as we talk about the cross, we picture the dreadfulness of that scene.

But I wonder, if you and I had been there, would we have wanted to be near the cross?

Mary’s presence there says to us, “If you dare to stand close to the cross, you’ll find that even though there are times when things don’t go the way you want; and times when your burdens seem too heavy to bear if you stay close to the cross, God will take care of you.”

But Jesus rejected her request, and said to her, “You don’t know what you are asking.”

Jesus had denied her request and yet she was there at the cross. And her presence there shows that she had the loving humility to accept rebuke from Jesus and to continue loving Him.

And now, at the cross, she saw just how much her salvation was costing Him.

Has the Gospel become just another story to you?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Mark 14:27-46

The Crosses of Lent
The Cross of Rejection
Mark 14:27-46

This morning, I want to note the contrast between Jesus’ Palm Sunday (Mark 11:1-10) and Garden of Gethsemane experiences.

The conversation must have seemed strange, but then much of what Jesus was saying in those last days before going to the cross seemed odd.

It is one thing when someone for whom you have no connections or feelings rejects you, but it is quite another when it is someone close to you.

I don’t care if your child is three years old or thirty-three years old, when your kid cries it breaks your heart, and you will do anything to rescue your child.

At that moment Jesus felt that God had literally turned his back on him. Jesus felt totally forsaken, totally deserted, totally forgotten, totally rejected, and totally abandoned.

However, the lack of sensitivity demonstrated by his closest friends pales in the face of the blatant rejection he experienced when Judas betrayed him with a kiss.

Judas must have really been ticked because he immediately went and arranged to betray Jesus for the legendary “thirty pieces of silver.”

But when we think someone likes us or even loves us and they reject us in some way that just doesn’t seem right. It hurts.

I wonder if it might be a spiritually healthy and life-giving thing to extend forgiveness to those who have hurt us.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:33 — 19.6MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: John 12:20-34

The Crosses of Lent
The Cross of Commitment
John 12:20-34

Of all the people you might like to meet, who wouldn’t like to meet Jesus?

For whatever reason, some Greeks were in Jerusalem, and they may or may not have seen Jesus driving the vendors and money changers out of the temple.

A classic bait and switch in the Old Testament is the story of Jacob and Esau.

Jesus went on to talk about loving your life and losing it and despising your life and saving it for eternal life.

Following Christ in life is not about self-preservation…it is about extending and expending your life for God and others.

In the Old Testament Book of Daniel is a story of a prophetic dream about the coming of the Messiah.

So, the vision changes from that of earthly kingdoms that are beastly and cruel to the eternal kingdom of the Messiah which is peaceful and humane.

They did not understand that the hope they hoped is yet to come and that one day the bible teaches us that the Jesus will come in the clouds and one day Jesus will establish his kingdom on earth.

The cross Jesus carried was a cross of commitment. It was a cross that called him to do the extraordinary thing of dying now in order that others may live then.

Following Christ is a commitment to live now with then in mind…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:14 — 21.4MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: John 2:13-22

The Crosses of Lent
The Cross of Passion
John 2:13-22

Despite the fact that passion can be skewed, passion is a good thing generally and it works well for sports and hobbies, and makes for wonderfully loving relationships.

We see a very passionate Jesus who was driven to express righteous indignation.

We all know that both religion and politics are hot button topics that stir deep and passionately held convictions and feelings.

So, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, his disciples and the people thought the Messiah had arrived to restore the nation of Israel.

Jesus went to the Temple and not to the Citadel because his primary passion is for the eternal souls of people.

The Temple is bustling with pilgrims trying to get into the Temple to offer their sacrifices and worship.

Jesus drove the vendors, money changes, and the sheep and the oxen out and then he flipped over their tables.

Jesus was more concerned about the Temple being a spiritual place…a place of prayer and not a business place.

Jesus was not too concerned about politics or business…he was concerned and passionate about people and their ability to connect with God.

Everything Jesus does emanates from love including righteous indignation and wrath.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:57 — 21.2MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Mark 8:31-37

The Crosses of Lent
The Cross of Suffering
Mark 8:31-37

In recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, they were grasping hold of their Messianic hope for the day when “the Messiah” would come in power, break the bonds of Roman oppression, and restore the fortunes of the people of Israel, their national pride and prominence in the world.

The disciples saw suffering and death. Jesus saw suffering and death and resurrection. He saw through it!

In other words, if you are suffering and experiencing pain and loss you must have done something wrong, or God would not allow this to happen to you.

Unfortunately for Jesus, but good for us, the will of God entailed a little detail along the way we know as the cross.

So, when you have prayed and sought God’s will and have sought the counsel of wise and godly people and have weighed the pros and cons and have arrived at a peaceful place…see through it! See through what is and may be to what will be!

What he did say on several occasions is that if anyone who wished to follow him, he must take up his own cross and follow him.

Jesus made no ifs, ands, or buts about it…being a Christian is sometimes about taking up and carrying a cross of suffering.

If the price of comfort and ease in this world gets too high Jesus says it is better to lose everything to save your eternal soul.

If in this life you carry a cross of suffering, see through it…and you will soar!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:02 — 20.6MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Matthew 4:1-11

The Crosses of Lent
The Cross of Temptation
Matthew 4:1-11

I want to preface my remarks by saying that temptation and the testing of our faith is very real.

Temptation and testing often comes off the coattails of good times. It often catches us off-guard.

The first area of vulnerability mentioned in I John 2 and illustrated in the experience of Jesus is the temptation to do for oneself.

So, it’s primarily about what we are willing to do and the compromises we are willing to make in order to satisfy the urges in our physical bodies.

There is nothing wrong with being someone of importance…it’s what you are willing to do be important that matters.

If Americans have an idol, it is materialism.

And just as it was Satan’s goal to push God out of Jesus’ life, Satan tries to move into our lives hoping maybe that Jesus will get forced out of our lives.