Category: 2010 Sermons

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:33 — 13.5MB)

Sermon: Milk It Does A Spirit Good
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Duration: 29:33
Size: 13.5 MB

New Life In The Same Old Place
“Milk It Does A Spirit Good”
1 Peter 2:1-3

They were coming to grips with the challenge of living new lives in the same old place they had always lived.

I. The Passage: “Like Newborn Infants” (2:1-3)

“Salvation” is a good Christian-ese word, but what does Peter mean when he uses the term?

Let’s take some time to look at each verse and see what God has for us this morning in regard to “grow[ing] up into salvation”.

II. Changing Our Diet (2:1)

The kinds of sins that Peter mentions in verse 1 are enemies of the love he is calling them to live by:

malice
deceit
hypocrisy
envy
slander

If we think of this in terms of growth, these sins, when allowed to get a foothold in our life, these sins hinder growth.

To “put away” these things is not about never experiencing similar feelings again.

III. What Kind of Milk? (2:2)

Peter uses an appropriate analogy here, that of a baby longing for its mother’s milk.

But again, what is this “pure milk” that we should long for if we desire to “grow up into salvation”?

IV. The Ultimate Taste Test (2:3)

He wants them to long for this milk because they have already tasted who God is.

Peter’s audience has absolutely tasted that Jesus is good. And because they have tasted, they should now long for what only Jesus can give.

Psalm 34:8

V. What Are You Longing For?

I hope it’s clear to you that the main instruction in these verses is expressed in that one verb: long…desire…crave.

What are you longing for this morning in this way? Peter knows that the only “pure milk” is that which nourishes us with Jesus.

Cookies might make me long for the kind of milk you put in a glass, but only the goodness of God in Jesus Christ can make us long for more of the same.

Let us put away the rotten milk of sin and self, and let us long for the pure milk of Christ…frequently, intensely, and singularly.

Isaiah 55:1-3

Next Week
“A Case of Corporate Honor”
1 Peter 2:4-10

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:33 — 11.7MB)

Sermon: New Love In The Same Old Place
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Duration: 25:33
Size: 11.6 MB

New Life In The Same Old Place
“New Love In The Same Old Place”
1 Peter 1:22-25

Rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory…I hope that describes your heart this morning.

I. Review: Obedience to the Truth (1:22a)

Because they have obeyed the truth and because they have purified their souls.

So the reality that this predominantly Gentile church is now living in, they have been born again, they have been bought out of slavery.

What he is about to tell them is based on the assumption that they are now “new” because they have believed the “news” about Jesus.

II. Sincerely, Earnestly, Purely (1:22b)

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love…

Love for one another as God’s people is such a fundamental part of what it means to be a Christian.

As a church family, we need to stop, and consider how responsive we’ve been to Jesus’ new commandment to us.

Let your love be set apart, distinct because of the divine work that’s been done in you.

Richmond Community Church, is God honored by the love we have for one another?

III. The Fruit of the Gospel (1:23-25)

Peter can call his readers to a sincere, earnest, and pure love, because he knows that God himself has done a work in them to accomplish this very thing.

You see, the fruit of the gospel is always a changed life. But the cross of Jesus offers us forgiveness for all of our failures.

We have in the gospel, the perfect picture of God’s Son putting the interests of other before His own.

Conclusion

But I also know that God is calling us to go further up and farther in.

He’s also given us a new love in this same old place, a new love for one another, in obedience to a new commandment.

Next Week
“Pure Spiritual Milk”
1 Peter 2:1-3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:58 — 13.3MB)

Sermon: Hope Fully Set
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Duration: 28:58
Size: 13.2 MB

New Life In The Same Old Place
“Hope Fully Set”
1 Peter 1:13-21

The first word here, therefore, is a word that points us back.

God has caused them to be born again, through Christ. He had prepared a future inheritance for them in Christ.

I. A Cleared-Away and Clear Mind (1:13a)

You and I, are called to clear away whatever might mentally entangle us and to stay clear in regard to our focus on Christ.

II. In the Cross-hairs of Our Hope (1:13)

The preparing of our minds in light of God’s incomparable salvation should lead us first to hope.

The grace that God has already shown you is only an appetizer before the banquet.

Peter wants them to set their hope fully on the grace to be brought to us?

Peter is calling his readers and us to look forward to the certainty of God’s purposes and promises.

III. Hope and Holiness Go Together (1:14-16)

I think what we see here is that there is a connection between hope and holiness.

Holiness is not about being conformed to the world or lending in; it’s about being set apart, distinct from this broken and corrupt world.

When your hope is set fully on the grace that will be brought to us when Jesus is revealed, then your heart will be fully given to walking in His grace right now.

IV. Hope Through His Blood (1:17-21)

But even though holiness involves choices, hope and holiness are not simply the result of Christian willpower.

They were bought back, bought  out of slavery. Specifically, they were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from their forefathers.

Hope and holiness are not ultimately the result of our effort, because it is through him, through Christ, that we are believers in God.

Conclusion

As one who had suffered and would suffer for Jesus Christ, Peter knew the struggles his readers were experiencing.

Biblical hope begins with the ransom of Christ and finds its fullness in the revelation, the return of Christ.

Next Week
“New Love in the Same Old Place”
I Peter 1:22-25

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:49 — 11.4MB)

Sermon: Being An Exile Without Even Leaving Your House
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Duration: 24:49
Size: 11.3 MB

New Life In The Same Old Place
“Being An Exile Without Even Leaving Your House”
1 Peter 1:1-2

1. The Writer – Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ
   I think the emphasis here is not on Peter’s history, but rather, Peter’s authority.
   And in faith, we believe that they are in fact the very words of God.
2. The Readers
   Well there are two words in that phrase that we need to nail down. They are the words “exiles” and “dispersion“.
   As those verses make clear, the recipients of 1 Peter were not predominantly Jewish. They were predominantly not Jewish.
3. The Chosen
   You see there that Peter refers to them as “elect exiles”, or we could say “chosen exiles”.
   Verse 2 actually contains three phrases that all connect back to and qualify this very word, “elect”.
   1. Those Foreknown
      It is a clear and indisputable fact from Scripture that God knows everything and everyone that was, is, and will be.
   2. Those Sanctified
      Those who were once conformed, are now being transformed by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit within them.
   3. Those Cleansed
      Through the power of the Spirit, the Spirit that sets us apart, we are called to obey Jesus and not the wisdom of this world.
      But even when we fail to obey, even when we stumble, we rest in the fact that we have been chosen for sprinkling with his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ.
      And so if you are Christian, you have been called, you have been chosen by God, to follow Jesus through the forgiveness of the cross.
4. Life as an Alien
   “Do you understand that, if you are a follower of Christ, you are an elect exile?
   How are we to live a new life in the same old place?
   First, elect exiles are called to live like home at the local level.
   You are no longer defined by your birth in this or that town or country. You are now defined by your birth from above.
   We must grow in and live out the customs of our kingdom, yes, at the local level.
   Second, elect exiles will constantly feel the “rub” of spiritual culture shock.
   Christian, the tension with this world will always be there because we are elect exiles.
   For those who are resident aliens in a new land, those who have not forgotten their home, there will be a friction that exists in this other place.
   Third, elect exiles must never forget why they are different.
   The reason we are different has less to do with where, and more to do with who.
   But our differences should come as a consequence of the goal of living for Jesus Christ, our true King.
   May we grow in that recognition of and experience of God’s favor as those who have been chosen by Him.

Next Week
“Your Take on Time”
I Peter 1:3-12