Tag: Jesus-The Ultimate Action Hero

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Sermon Audio: Taking The Test
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Mark 4:21-41
Duration: 21:40
Size: 9.91 MB

Jesus: The Ultimate Action Hero
Taking The Test
Mark 4:21-41

Jesus lays out to them important spiritual truths that all lead in the direction of trusting and relying on Jesus and not on themselves.

Jesus is basically reiterating His earlier comment that those who will engage their minds and seek to understand, will get more understanding. But those who could care less, it will mean nothing to them.

We can impede the growth or encourage it but we do not make it happen, but it will take place as a natural course of being related to Jesus.

Now we switch back to the action mode, with our ultimate action hero taking authority over the creation itself.

How tired must Jesus have been to sleep through the pitching of the boat, and the spraying of water?

I love the way Mark laid these out – first three parables about spiritual growth then a test of that growth.

When Jesus is in your boat, you will get to the other side, though He may lead you into storms, not so you can flounder and drown but so that He can speak to you to trust, and speak to your surroundings to bring glory to God.

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Sermon Audio: Tilling Up The Mind
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Mark 4:1-20
Duration: 21:18
Size: 9.75 MB

Jesus: The Ultimate Action Hero
Tilling Up The Mind
Mark 4:1-20

The actions demonstrate what He can do, but His words clarify and challenge people to understand who He is and what it means to be His disciple.

When it comes to learning about ultimate truth and understanding God your heart must be open to taking in, and then digesting what God is telling you.

Jesus gave out His truth in puzzles, but they are not that hard to solve if you just work on them!

There are basically four soil conditions Jesus uses to represent the various conditions of the mind that hear “the word” which is the gospel.

You can’t just glue Christianity onto the outside of your life – go to church, sing the songs, talk the talk – but not know Jesus.

If you “listen and consider” Jesus and begin to understand that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and you place yourself firmly in His hands, the gospel will bear fruit in your life.

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Sermon Audio: The Hero’s Power, Position, and Person
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Mark 3:7-35
Duration: 21:22
Size: 9.77 MB

Jesus: The Ultimate Action Hero
The Hero’s Power, Position, and Person
Mark 3:7-35

In this section we see four groups of people and four different reactions to Jesus.

In this case they were in the presence of the ultimate hero and finding out that touching Jesus meant healing.

The twelve were not chosen because of their faith, their backgrounds, or their abilities. They were chosen because they answered the call and would obey their master.

It’s silly as we sit on this side of the cross, but they simply couldn’t accept the fact that their brother could be anything but an ordinary person who was out of his gourd.

Everything evil you have ever thought, done, or said, is covered by the blood of Christ.

You cannot blaspheme against the Holy Spirit by accident.

In one the greatest testaments to Jesus, these same brothers became believers after the crucifixion and James even became the leader of the church in Jerusalem.

In the end each of us must come to grip with how we feel about Jesus’ power, position, and person.

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Sermon Audio: The Hero’s Hostile Takeover
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Mark 2:18-3:6
Duration: 20:42
Size: 9.52 MB

Jesus: The Ultimate Action Hero
The Hero’s Hostile Takeover
Mark 2:18-3:6

Now we see scenes three, four, and five – as Jesus demonstrates that the old system of man-made rules is contrary to the character of God and cannot hold His new paradigm.

Jesus next introduces the idea that the old way of rule keeping was not a part of what the Messiah was about.

The Law itself looked to the Messiah, but the men who ran Judaism were too rigid to expand to include the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

The Pharisees were so good at building fences to make sure no one violated the Sabbath that they fenced God out and fenced man in to slavish adherence of what became a silly bunch of contradictory rules.

But Jesus’ point is that discernment and compassion are more important than slavish obedience.

Keeping the rules was more important than doing good. Jesus saw a need and did something about it and it didn’t matter what day it was.

Sometimes we are so stuck in our own ways, no matter how miserable, that we miss the wonderful opportunity to jettison our way and give ourselves fully over to the Lord!

It’s amazing the lengths we sometimes go to fight against God’s love and healing.

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Sermon Audio: Outcasts
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Mark 2:1-17
Duration: 19:17
Size: 8.82 MB

Jesus: The Ultimate Action Hero
Outcasts
Mark 2:1-17

In Chapter 1 we saw Jesus, the ultimate action hero, begin his battle against the enemy, Satan, in Chapter 2 He takes the war to a new front and begins battling the religious establishment in Israel, which was just as much an impediment to entering God’s kingdom as Satan.

We need to also hear the word He speaks about the coming of God’s kingdom and His place as the central figure in that kingdom.

I can imagine the surprise and even perhaps irritation of those inside as little pieces of mortar begin falling on them and then the sun breaks through in the ceiling!

He is now moving towards the second great campaign, the battle with the religious establishment that was keeping people away from belief.

Remember now, Jesus’ ultimate goal is to let these men kill Him, so He carefully moves them in that direction by making them make a choice: worship Him or kill Him.

As far as who was expected to be included in God’s kingdom, a tax collector would have not have been on the list for the Jews.

Matthew and the paralyzed man and the Leper had something in common, they were all outcasts. Jesus reintegrated them into God’s family in two ways:

1. Forgiveness
2. Calling