Category: 2016 Sermons

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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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:15 — 1.0MB)

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.

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Sermon Audio: Let The Little Children Come To Me
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 18:15-17
Duration: 17:41
Size: 8.10 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Let The Little Children Come To Me
Luke 18:15-17

Jesus wanted people to understand how to enter into heaven.

And so the right approach is to believe that we can gain access into heaven only by the merits, the good works, and the righteousness of Jesus.

I. The Disciples Rebuke the Parents

Jesus thoroughly enjoyed his interaction with the children and he loved to bless them.

It is one of the loveliest things in all the gospel story that Jesus had time for the children even when he was on the way to Jerusalem to die.

II. The Savior Receives the Children

A. Jesus Allows the Children to Come to Him.

Children are able to enter into the kingdom of God, and we should never them from entering the kingdom of God.

Every born-again child of God is completely and totally helpless and dependent.

B. Jesus Compares the Reception of the Kingdom to a Child’s Attitude.

1. Unmitigated Trust
They believe in Jesus, but it is more than a mind-belief – they trust Jesus for everything to do with salvation and life.

2. Untutored Humility
Because children have not developed the pride of adulthood, they readily repent.

3. Untarnished Receptivity
The soul that receives the kingdom is grace-oriented. It is open to the unmerited favor of God.

4. Unabashed Love
Unabashed love is the province of those who receive the kingdom as little children.

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Sermon Audio: Thank God I’m Not Like…
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 18:9-14
Duration: 14:36
Size: 6.69 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Thank God I’m Not Like…
Luke 18:9-14

“In the eyes of Christ a person confessing sin is nearer to true goodness than a person boasting of his goodness.” (F.F. Bruce, Theologian)

Specifically, the parable of The Pharisee And The Tax Collector deals with the attitude with which we offer up our prayers:

Two Men

A Pharisee was a member of the Jewish faith set apart to maintain and further the divine cause.

A tax collector was at the other end of the spectrum. He would have been perceived by the community as the worst of the worst of Jewish citizenry, perhaps even lower.

Two Prayers

Yes God, thank you that I am not like these other people.”

He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to heaven as was common among those who came to pray but rather, he pounded his chest over and over again crying, “God have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Two Outcomes

Pharisee
Measured himself to others rather than to God who is absolute in holiness; he built his self-worth on the moral failings of others.

Tax Collector
He recognized the sin in his life; he didn’t hide it or deny it. He recognized his need for God’s grace and pleaded for it.

Pray with a spirit of humility recognizing that we are sinners saved by grace.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:03 — 1.0MB)

Sermon Audio: Persistent Prayer
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 18:1-8
Duration: 23:03
Size: 10.5 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Persistent Prayer
Luke 18:1-8

Probably more than just a few of us actually have given up and stopped praying, maybe not altogether, but at least quit praying for certain things.

1. Don’t Give Up There Is Too Much At Stake.

Who among us has not felt like since our prayers are not being effective, we might as well just quit?

We are told up front that this judge does not care about God or about men.

2. Don’t Give Up When Circumstances Seem to Be Against You.

As hopeless as her situation must have seemed, she was persistent.

3. Don’t Give Up the Answer May Be Just Around the Corner.

The judge is finally moved to help her not out of sense of justice or compassion but one of self-preservation.

4. Don’t Give Up God is Working Out the Answer.

Unless we see that Jesus is pointing out contrasts, we will get the idea that God must be argued or bribed into answering our prayers.

5. Don’t Give Up Jesus Always Keeps His Promises.

Without faith, prayer becomes little more than a ritual that we perform and then stand in wonder “Does it really work?”

What we need to concern ourselves in not the Lord’s faithfulness, but rather our own!

We are really faced with a choice between:

Praying or losing heart,
Going on with God or Giving up on God.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:40 — 1.0MB)

Sermon Audio: Three Dangers with Reference to the Second Coming
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 17:20-27
Duration: 21:40
Size: 9.92 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Three Dangers with Reference to the Second Coming
Luke 17:20-27

“So what is a balanced Christian approach to the concern about the end times?”

1. Don’t Try to Make the Second Coming Fit your Preconceived Ideas and Expectations.

Over the last two thousand years lots of men have played neat little mathematical games with Bible prophecies in an effort to determine the exact date of the Lord’s return.

Jesus is saying, “Don’t look around you for the kingdom of God out there somewhere unless it is first of all in your own heart.”

2. Don’t Be Obsessed by End Times Thought and Study.

Jesus now turned to his disciples and instructed them not to become so obsessed with His return that they ended up doing nothing else except trying to track down the time of His return.

3. Don’t Allow Worldly Concerns To Dim Your Desire For the Lord’s Return.

The point is that when we live our lives for the things of the world, we lose the life that God intended us to live.

But what Jesus reveals is not intended for us to develop a chart, but for us to prepare our hearts.

I don’t know that it is too much different today for there are many professed Christians today who would see the Lord’s return as a terrible interruption to their plans.

The point of verses 34-36 seem to be that No matter how close two people are, either emotionally or physically, they may be separated by the judgment.

Jesus is coming again, make no mistake about it, and whether you believe it or not, or you’re ready or not, He Is Coming!