Author: Tim

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2023-04-23: Labels — Sons of Thunder

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Sermon Audio: Sons of Thunder
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Mark 3:16-17
Duration: 20:32
Size: 14.0 MB

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Sons of Thunder
Mark 3:16-17

There are many people who have read this Sons of Thunder “nickname” and have come to the conclusion that this meant that James and John were angry and judgmental men.

But when Jesus renamed him Peter, He wasn’t looking at who Peter was. He was making a declaration of what Peter was going to be.

It seems the times thunder was mentioned in Scripture, it was a display of the power of God.

But apparently (if I’m right) during that 3 years James became a Voice for God; a man who declared the power of God.

But in spite of the fact that God believes in them, many Christians don’t. They don’t believe in themselves.

Too many Christians settle for less because they don’t think they’re worth that much.

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2023-04-16: Labels — The Tax Collector

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Sermon Audio: The Tax Collector
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 5:27-32
Duration: 22:13
Size: 15.2 MB

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The Tax Collector
Luke 5:27-32

The focus of Matthew’s Gospel was to convince the Jewish people that Jesus was the Messiah.

As far as many in Israel were concerned, there were sinners…and then there was a special class of sinners called tax collectors.

It was only once Matthew belonged to Jesus that he was transformed from an annoying tax collector into one of the most influential men of Christianity.

The world labels people based on what they’ve done in their lives, and their value is tied to that label.

He’s never quoted in any of the Gospels or in any of the letters to the churches.

In other words, Paul was saying: I wasn’t worth saving, but Jesus did it anyway to prove it could be done.

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2023-04-09: The Final Week — No Doubt

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Sermon Audio: No Doubt
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: John 20:19-31
Duration: 18:34
Size: 12.7 MB

The Final Week
No Doubt
John 20:19-31

When a man like him announces that he has brought the dead back to life, we have to believe him.

But there’s a couple of other episodes in Thomas’ life help us understand the man.

Those who doubt most, and yet strive to overcome their doubts, turn out to be some of Christ’s strongest disciples.

They doubt, not because they’ve examined any evidence for themselves, but because they listened to the opinions of people, they’ve spent time with.

If you have doubts about the resurrection of Jesus…read the Bible.

Get what evidence you can, and then determine what you’re going to believe. But realize that the Bible says there’s a lot riding on your decision.

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2023-04-02: The Final Week — Seeing Is Believing

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Sermon Audio: Seeing Is Believing
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: John 20:1-18
Duration: 24:38
Size: 16.9 MB

The Final Week
Seeing Is Believing
John 20:31-18

But Jesus is not in His grave, and there were witnesses to that as well.

But wait! If John didn’t understand the Scripture about Jesus rising from the dead…what did he believe?

We’re not told that Peter felt anything or said anything when he saw the empty grave…he just went home.

And so, the resurrection was meaningless to him, because he didn’t think Jesus loved him.

But once Jesus touched her life, once He healed her pain, she was a faithful follower of Jesus forever after that.

God uses people we would think are unimportant…to do important things.

The question for you this morning is this: What do you do with it? What do you do with the empty tomb?

Refuse to not know enough. Look for it. Seek it out. Know it. Because if you don’t know it, you won’t show it.

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2023-03-26: The Final Week — What Do You Do With a Dead Jesus?

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Sermon Audio: What Do You Do With a Dead Jesus?
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: John 19:31-42
Duration: 24:17
Size: 16.6 MB

The Final Week
What Do You Do With a Dead Jesus?
John 19:31-42

The Jewish leaders had no concerns that He would ever rise from the dead because they didn’t believe anyone would come back from the dead.

They deliberately set out to destroy any belief that Jesus would ever rise from the dead.

If they truly believed Jesus would rise from the dead in 3 days that would have been huge waste of money.

You see, the resurrection from the dead is the core of our faith.

What causes cardiac tamponade is that some people can literally undergo so much stress in their lives that fluid builds up around the heart restricting the heart.

What intrigues me the most about this story is that there is only ONE Gospel that records the Roman soldier piercing Jesus’ side–the Gospel of John.

But we serve a risen savior…in fact there’s an old hymn that says, “I SERVE A RISEN SAVIOUR, He’s in the world today.”