Tag: Val Watkins

Sermon Audio: Finding Your Sweet Spot
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 19:11-27
Duration: 23:11
Size: 10.6 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Finding Your Sweet Spot
Luke 19:11-27

When it comes to living out our commitment to God, you and I have our own sweet spots, a place of service, in our lives that allows us to live like we were created to live.

They are called spiritual gifts and if we have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ then we have been given, by God, spiritual gifts to be used to serve God and help fulfill His mission and purpose.

Every one of us here this morning has a sweet spot; every one of us here this morning has at least one talent that we need to use as part of God’s team.

I think we need to ask ourselves when it comes to the issue of not just stewardship of our time, our treasures, or our talents, but of our entire life.

Giving and serving are also important parts of our faith and life in God.

God gave people, you and me, the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Sermon Audio: To Seek and To Save
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 19:1-10
Duration: 20:20
Size: 9.30 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
To Seek and To Save
Luke 19:1-10

We make judgments about people without really knowing much about them.

In Luke we learn of a man who wished for that same thing.

Zacchaeus was a man who was not well liked or accepted in Jericho.

Just prior to Jesus entering Jericho He had told his disciples how difficult it was for a rich man to enter heaven.

But he was not going to let people keep him away from finding a new life

A man who was rejected by all, found acceptance in Christ.

Jesus is not on a search and destroy mission – His mission is to seek and to save the lost.

God loves you, more than we can comprehend or ever understand.

Sermon Audio: Blind No More
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 18:35-43
Duration: 20:09
Size: 9.23 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Blind No More
Luke 18:35-43

One man broke the rules of polite society and created a scene.

Even today, what you believe about the person of Jesus is the single most important thing in your life.

1. Reason will offer You Many Excuses For Why You Can Wait On Getting Right With God.

It may be that you have sat in the church in service after service when you have felt the tug of the Holy Spirit at your heart but you didn’t do anything about it.

2. Religion will try to silence your cry for a personal relationship with God.

What or who are you allowing to silence your request to be saved?

The sad truth is that many people want a church that comforts their challenges instead of challenging their comforts.

3. Reality of Faith Is Seen In the Life That Is Lived.

I believe that the reality of this man faith is seen not so much in his healing as in his willingness to follow Jesus and glorify God.

With the privilege of Choice, goes the terrible responsibility of living with the results or consequences of our choices.

Sermon Audio: Jesus Foretells His Death…A Third Time
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 18:31-34
Duration: 23:15
Size: 10.6 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Jesus Foretells His Death…A Third Time
Luke 18:31-34

While on his final journey to Jerusalem Jesus made yet one more prediction about his upcoming passion.

Understood in this sense, the word passion refers particularly to the suffering of Jesus Christ.

I. The Prediction of Jesus

At that time Jesus was in Galilee and he began his journey to Jerusalem to face his death by crucifixion.

The heart of the Christian faith is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus predicted seven things that would happen to him in due course.

Jesus’ passion was no accident. Jesus knew what lay before him, and he willingly and voluntarily went to the cross.

II. The Perplexity of the Apostles

It was not until after Jesus’ resurrection that they understood fully and clearly what Jesus was telling them in all of his predictions.

The only way to grow in a correct understanding of Jesus and his work is to study the Word of God diligently and carefully, personally and together, and then in humility apply it to our lives daily.

On the cross he offered a king’s ransom: his life for the life of his people.

Sermon Audio: The Rich Ruler
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 18:18-30
Duration: 24:15
Size: 11.1 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
The Rich Ruler
Luke 18:18-30

The theme of Luke 18, which we have been studying for several weeks, has to do with entrance into the kingdom of God.

It was at this point that a rich ruler asked Jesus one of the greatest questions ever asked in the entire Bible. He asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.

I. The Question of the Ruler

Far too often people go to the wrong religion, the wrong church, or the wrong teacher to find an answer to their question.

II. The Response of Jesus

However, the ultimate comparison is not to one another but rather to God, who is the only one who is truly good.

III. The Claim of the Ruler

He did not realize that getting angry with one’s brother was murder, or that lust was adultery, according to Jesus (Matthew 5:21-30).

IV. The Command of Jesus

Are you willing to get rid of any and every thing that you love more than Jesus in order to follow Jesus?

V. The Sorrow of the Ruler

VI. The Comment of Jesus

According to Jesus, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

VII. The Question of the Listeners

VIII. The Answer of Jesus

Here we must understand that salvation is clearly a work of God and not of man. God saves sinners!

IX. The Statement of Peter

X. The Promise of Jesus

You see, Peter and the other disciples, received eternal life because they let nothing stand between them and following Jesus.

Similarly, Jesus promises something infinitely better on the other side to those who are willing to sacrifice everything they currently have.

If Christ is really God, then all the conditions are gone.