Tag: Acts: Life In The Spirit

Sermon Audio: Birthday of the Church
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 2:1-13
Duration: 29:16
Size: 14.1 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
Birthday of the Church
Acts 2:1-13

Today on the Church calendar it is known as Pentecost which is the “Birth of the Church.”

If we look in the past, before this day in Acts chapter 2, we will find a different sort of Pentecost celebration.

Pentecost was a time of celebration where people would feast and be thankful for what God had already given them and for the provision He would provide in the future.

It seems that for these Christians celebrating Pentecost together, it would soon take on a whole new meaning for they would be witnesses and participants to the birth of the Church.

We find that the Spirit came and allowed those who were there to speak in tongues. What an amazing miracle for the beginning of the church!

This day of Pentecost was really just the beginning for the church and there was much to look forward to.

The Holy Spirit provides us the environment needed to have a personal relationship with God.

As a result of Pentecost Present, we have the Holy Spirit with us now in Pentecost Future.

Sermon Audio: Taking Care of Business
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 1:15-26
Duration: 25:00
Size: 11.8 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
Taking Care of Business
Acts 1:15-26

Scripture may not give us an explicit example of every situation we might face, but the principles of love, mercy, justice, and humility will help us find what God wants us to do.

The Bible can be trusted! It was not man’s idea, but God’s idea!

Isn’t it amazing how Scripture all works together and agrees with itself?

God is not willing that anyone should perish or be separated from Him for eternity.

I hope nobody here thinks they are out of the reach of God’s grace.

God is described literally as “the Knower of Hearts.” God is the One who knows our hearts today.

The best thing we can do to find God’s will is pray. However, there also comes a point when we must step out in faith.

Sermon Audio: Waiting, Watching, and Working
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 1:9-14
Duration: 21:58
Size: 10.3 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
Waiting, Watching, and Working
Acts 1:9-14

Christ’s work is finished, but He left us with important work to do.

While they were straining their necks to see where Jesus had gone, two angels appeared and asked them what they were doing.

God has chosen to use us as His messengers to a lost world. Are you getting the message out?

If we want to make it to the end and finish well, we must work at developing Christian community.

Prayer changes reality in the spirit realm first, and then we see the results in the physical realm. Something happens when we pray that does not happen when we don’t pray.

We may need to find creative and nonthreatening ways to share Christ.

Sermon Audio: Breathe Into You
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 1:1-8
Duration: 22:34
Size: 10.6 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
Breathe Into You
Acts 1:1-8

“How many Christians have been living their entire lives without ever knowing what it is like to have the overwhelming Power of the Holy Spirit operating within them?”

Now to learn about the Holy Spirit, you have to go to the writings of Luke which include the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts.

It is the Holy Spirit which makes us a witness of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

You cannot live the Christian life and do the things of Jesus until you have received the Holy Spirit.

It really comes down to how bad you want it! It’s not passive waiting. It’s active waiting.

As we look at the Book of Acts to see what it really means to live in the fullness of the Spirit, it really comes down to two things: desire and discipline.

When you are baptized, you are literally dying to your former way of life because you realize that’s not cutting it and you are surrendering to life in God.

The power of the Holy Spirit must precede witness and the problem of the church is that our witness gets ahead of the Holy Spirit.

That leads to the discipline of prayer, Bible study and the fasting and then surrendering your entire life and will to God.