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2020-04-05: What Is A Follower

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Sermon Audio: What Is A Follower
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 19:34-40
Duration: 19:42
Size: 9.01 MB

What Is A Follower
Luke 19:34-40

The Pharisees were Jewish religious leaders and they saw Jesus as a threat to their own authority and they identified those who lined the streets that day as Followers of Jesus.

Being A Christ Follower Means You Realize Who Christ Is
There are people out there today who know of Jesus but they don’t necessarily know Jesus.
Matthew 16:13-16
You see what happened, Simon Peter had gone from a head knowledge, this is what people are saying to a heart knowledge, this is who you are to me.

Being A Christ Follower Means You Follow Christ
Time and time again Jesus told people Follow Me. And when he said that he inevitably got one of two responses.
Matthew 4:19-22
Are you walking so close to his teaching that his dust has covered you?
Luke 9:59-60

Being A Christ Follower Means You’re Honest
There were some there that day who in some nebulous way thought they were following Jesus because he was there and they were there.

Being A Christ Follower Will Cost You Something
Luke 14:27-28
Jesus didn’t come to Jerusalem to collect coats. He came to collect people.

There are thousands of men and women around the world that lose their jobs, their families and their lives because they follow Jesus. What would you be willing to pay?

Being A Christ Follower Means You Stick With It To The End
It’s not enough to follow him on Palm Sunday or any other Sunday for that matter, because life is what happens between Sundays.
Galatians 6:9, Revelation 14:12

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2020-03-29: Remember and Therefore

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Sermon Audio: Remember and Therefore
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: I Thessalonians 4:13
Duration: 25:14
Size: 11.5 MB

Remember and Therefore
An Encouraging Word
I Thessalonians 4:13

I. Remember
Isaiah 55:9

A) Remember That God Is Still On His Throne
Isaiah 6:1-4
Isaiah 40:21, 22a

B) Remember That Our God Is In Control
Matthew 28:18
Romans 8:28

C) Remember That Our God Can Be Trusted
Psalm 28:7
Psalm 125:1, 2
John 14:1-3
Proverbs 3:5, 6
Isaiah 40:30, 31

D) Remember That Our God Is Our Help
Psalm 121

E) Remember That Our God Is Great and Our God Is Good
Psalm 145:3
Jeremiah 32:17
Luke 1:37 (KJV)
Psalm 100:5

II. Therefore…

A) We Will Not Fear, We Will Trust
Psalm 23:4
Psalm 27:1, 3
Psalm 91:1, 2
Isaiah 43:1-3
Psalm 46 (NLT)

B) We Will Not Worry, We Will Pray
Matthew 6:25-34
Philippians 4:4-7

C) We Will Be A Light And We Will Live Differently
Matthew 5:14-16
I Peter 3:15
Philippians 1:12

D) Therefore We Will Show Compassion
Matthew 9:35-38

E) We Will Pray For National Healing
2 Chronicles 7:11-14

F) We Will Fix Our Eyes On Jesus
Matthew 14:27-31

Remember that…God–is still on His throne,
Our God is in control,
Our God can be trusted,
Our God is our help, and
Our God is great and good…

Therefore
We will not fear, we will trust…
We will not worry, we will pray…
We will be a light and we will live differently…
We will show compassion…
We will pray for healing…
and
We will Fix our eyes on Jesus, He is our anchor in the storm.

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2020-03-22: Acts: Life In The Spirit — A Tale of Two Lives

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Sermon Audio: A Tale of Two Lives
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 12:18-25
Duration: 24:35
Size: 11.5 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
A Tale of Two Lives
Acts 12:18-25

In fact, the house of Herod would make shows like Desperate Housewives or the worst Soap Operas look pretty tame. There was incest, betrayal, adultery, and many other gross sins.

I’d like to borrow two opposing thoughts from Psalm 1 that will provide a framework for discussing our scripture. Psalm 1:6 says, For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

I. The Lord Watches Over the Path of the Righteous
The physical welfare of the righteous is linked to the purposes of God.

If you struggle with this whole idea of how to reconcile suffering, sickness, and death with God’s care for us, it helps to remember that He alone is sovereign and knows what He is doing.

II. The Path of the Wicked Leads to Destruction
Josephus, a Jewish historiographer, writes about this same event, giving us a few more details than Luke does.

Now, here was Agrippa willing to commit the same kind of sin that Great Grandpa had fought so hard against.

I don’t know what you are going through today, but I am hoping and praying that you will come to a place where you can turn your life completely over to God, and start doing things His way.