Tag: Luke-The Investigative Gospel

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Sermon Audio: A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 13:1-5
Duration: 19:37
Size: 8.98 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action
Luke 13:1-5

Life is full of questions.

But what really annoys others is the simple pat answers.

I don’t believe that the Asian tsunami or the 9/11 attacks had easy answers.

Quite honestly, I think it insults God’s intelligence when we come up with definite one-line answers for hard things in our world.

Instead of cursing the darkness, light a lamp.

I’m wondering if God is more concerned that we live to please him in everything, than He is in letting us know who’s saved and who isn’t.

Next time you want to complain about the church, ask if you’re actually contributing, if you’re part of the solution.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:58 — 1.0MB)

Sermon Audio: The Signs of the Times
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 12:54-59
Duration: 19:58
Size: 9.14 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
The Signs of the Times
Luke 12:54-59

Jesus now continues his teaching by warning his disciples and anyone else who would listen that there is great wisdom in reading the signs of the times.

First, You Need to Recognize That Judgement Is Real.

Yet the people of today pay far more attention to tomorrow’s weather forecast than they do to their eternal destiny.

The signs are there for those who are willing to observe them, and they warn of an inferno of judgment against an ungodly world, a fact which most people prefer to ignore or deny.

Secondly, You Need to Prepare Because Judgement Is Coming.

Having issued the warning, Jesus next in verses 57-59, gives the crowd (and us) some advice on how to prepare for judgment.

You had better settle with him before it is too late.

1. This Preparation Begins with a Sense of Our Sin.

People who have allowed God’s grace to work in their lives mourn their sin, the lost do not acknowledge their guilt.

2. This Preparation Involves Real Change.

“Recognizing your faults and actually changing your ways are two different things, Charlie Brown.”

3. This Preparation Involves Accepting Christ as Your Personal Savior.

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Sermon Audio: Lasting Peace Has a Price
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 12:49-53
Duration: 15:39
Size: 7.16 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Lasting Peace Has a Price
Luke 12:49-53

Well Jesus too teaches that lasting peace has a price.

While Jesus shuddered at the thought of going to the cross he did not shrink from the task.

God burned the record of our sins by sending Jesus to pay for them at the cross, that baptism of fire.

Yes, the cross of Christ and its message ignites fires wherever it goes.

Because where there is no cross, there may be peace with man, but there can be no peace with God.

Yes, when you get tired of the conflict that comes because you’re a Christian, consider Christ and the cross he suffered.

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Sermon Audio: Are You Ready?
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 12:35-48
Duration: 21:12
Size: 9.70 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Are You Ready?
Luke 12:35-48

There are some things that are far too important to take a chance on. One of these is our relationship to God.

The one who has his treasure in heaven will be ready and watching for the Lord’s return; the one who has his heart set on the treasures of this world will be caught completely unaware at His coming.

The First Characteristic of a Good Waiter is Preparation.

They kept the light burning and themselves in a constant state of readiness to spring up at a moments notice to joyous welcome their master home.

The Second Characteristic of a Good Waiter is Expectancy.

What is important is being prepared and living a life of expectancy.

The Third Characteristic of a Good Waiter is Faithfulness.

Concerning Faithfulness Jesus has two things to say.

1. For the Faithful the Lord’s Return Holds Reward.

They are alive and active, serving Christ to the best of their ability.

2. For Some the Lord’s Return Holds Only Terror.

What makes the difference between whether Jesus is seen as the welcomed Master or the dreaded thief? The difference is relationship.

The thrust of Jesus’ message can be summed up in two words: Get ready!

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Sermon Audio: The World’s Most Acceptable Sin
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 12:22-34
Duration: 20:36
Size: 9.43 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
The World’s Most Acceptable Sin
Luke 12:22-34

One leading physician has stated that, in his opinion, 70% of all medical patients could cure themselves if only they got rid of their worries and fears.

We know that we shouldn’t worry but we just can’t seem to keep from worrying.

He is trying to fight the battle of life on two fronts at the same time and he is bound to lose the war.

Two Reasons That Worry Is a Bad Idea.

To worry is foolishly to forget who we are – we are children of the King.

Worry can rob us of two things in life, we won’t live as long and we will be unable to live a happy and fulfilled life.

Four Great Principles For Overcoming Worry!

So how can we attempt to overcome worry? In the text we find four great principles for overcoming worry.

Principle One: Trust God.

Whenever we start to feel anxious we can give our burden over to the Lord.

Principle Two: Put God First.

Seeking the kingdom of God is the means to achieve the meeting of our material needs.

Principle Three: Don’t Give In To Fear.

Jesus tells the believer that they are to stop being afraid, it is this fear that manifests itself in our lives as worry.

Principle Four: Reduce Your Worry Load.

In order to excuse our self-indulgence, we just add to the list of what is essential.

The crucial issue in life is not the amount of our treasure but the location of it.

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Sermon Audio: What’s Really Important In Life?
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 12:13-21
Duration: 17:52
Size: 8.17 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
What’s Really Important In Life?
Luke 12:13-21

The passage from Luke that we are going to be looking at today forces us to look at our lives and ask ourselves What’s really important in life?

It’s amazing how humbling this realization is; to know that the poorest of us in this room are richer than most of the rest of the world and yet do we have enough?

A change of heart, that was what made Jesus’ teaching so different.

Starting in verse 16, Jesus gives us five principles of what happens when our hearts begin to focus exclusively on ourselves and we become greedy.

The First Principle: When we focus on ourselves, we do not give God the credit for things he has done.

The Second Principle: When we focus on ourselves, we make plans but leave God out.

The Third Principle: When we focus on ourselves, we consider spending our resources only on ourselves.

The Fourth Principle: When our hearts are focused on ourselves, we store our treasures in the wrong places.

The Fifth Principle: When we focus on ourselves, we will find ourselves in conflict with God’s Plan for our lives.

So our decision comes down to a very simple question.

Are you going to live for yourself or for God?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:33 — 1.0MB)

Sermon Audio: Acknowledge Christ Before Men
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 12:8-12
Duration: 18:33
Size: 8.49 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Acknowledge Christ Before Men
Luke 12:8-12

Then he urged his disciples to acknowledge him before men.

I. The Priority of Acknowledging Christ Before Men

A. The Reciprocation for Acknowledging Christ Before Men

It means that whatever we do, whether at work or at school or at home or at play, we do it all for Jesus.

If Jesus has promised to acknowledge us in heaven, then we should take courage and acknowledge him on earth.

B. The Retribution for Not Acknowledging Christ Before Men

Because we did not take a stand for Jesus Christ while we were alive on earth, he will not take a stand for us when we die and stand before God in heaven.

II. The Principles in Acknowledging Christ Before Men

A. There Is Sin That Is Forgivable

A good example of such forgiveness is the forgiveness that Jesus offered the people who taunted him while he was hanging on the cross.

B. There Is Sin That Is Unforgivable

A person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit is so strongly opposed to Christ that he believes that Jesus is in fact Satan.

III. The Persecution for Acknowledging Christ Before Men

A. The Hostility in the Persecution

They would be dragged before the various religious and political leaders and forced to defend their faith.

B. The Help in the Persecution

When Peter and John were arrested and hauled before the Sanhedrin, the Holy Spirit helped them to say what ought to be said in that situation.

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Sermon Audio: Have No Fear
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 12:4-7
Duration: 18:59
Size: 8.69 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Have No Fear
Luke 12:4-7

Jesus recognized that his disciples struggled with fear. And so he addressed the issue of fear in their lives.

I. Proper Fear

But in Luke 12 Jesus teaches his disciples two very important principles with respect to fear.

A. Do Not Fear People

Jesus urged his friends not to fear people. He urged them not to fear even those who could kill the body.

B. Do Fear God

It is God, and God alone, who has authority to cast into hell, because of our sin against him.

“Fear of God is desperately needed in today’s church.”

How we need this wholesome fear that Jesus commended to his disciples.

II. Preserving Fear

Jesus teaches that a proper fear of God is in fact a preserving fear.

A. God Cares for Sparrows

But, not even the sparrow thrown into the bargain without real value is forgotten before.

B. God Cares Far More for Christians

Jesus was saying that God cares for sparrows. But he cares far more for his children.

If you don’t fulfill the mission God assigned to you, who will?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:33 — 1.0MB)

Sermon Audio: Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 12:1-3
Duration: 18:33
Size: 8.49 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees
Luke 12:1-3

The question is what we will do when we come across signs of them in our lives, sticking up out of the sand?

I. The Example of Hypocrisy

It describes something small that spreads silently, almost secretly, but ultimately pervasively.

We may give people the impression that we are really rather righteous when in fact our hearts are far from God.

Are you doing anything or saying anything or thinking anything or watching anything with which you would rather not have your name associated?

II. The Exposure of Hypocrisy

But the more we do it, the greater our hypocrisy becomes as we try to hide it.

If you do not confess your sins, including the ones you think that no-one else knows about, then you will live your life in fear of being discovered.

There is no sin that is beyond the forgiveness of God.

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

Sermon Audio: The Marks of a Hypocrite
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 11:37-54
Duration: 23:03
Size: 10.5 MB

Luke-The Investigative Gospel
The Marks of a Hypocrite
Luke 11:37-54

Jesus reserved his harshest words, not for thieves, or prostitutes but to a segment among the religious folks who he identified as hypocrites.

In pursuit of the Truth and the attempt to carry out the will of God, we can get caught up in a spirit of self-righteousness which causes us to watch others to see that every i is dotted and every t crossed as we believe it should be.

The Pharisees were concerned only with what a man did; Jesus was concerned with what a man was.

The first mark of a hypocrite is that they major on the minors.

Whatever the issues are, if we use them to define whether person is spiritual or not, we are guilty. We are guilty of majoring on the minors.

The second mark of a hypocrite is that they are preoccupied with being noticed.

Are your acts of service to Christ done to be seen by men? Are you satisfied to serve unnoticed?

The third mark of a hypocrite is that they make men worse rather than better.

The Pharisees were like unmarked graves that did not look like graves at all.

The fourth mark of a hypocrite is that their teaching produces a burden not a blessing.

Jesus accuses them of taking all the joy out of living for God and made serving God a burden.

The fifth mark of a hypocrite is their works are a monument to their guilt.

Do you ever wonder if in some cases this showy tomb is evidence of guilt, more than of love?

The sixth mark of a hypocrite is that they make the truth harder to find.

It is easy to see the marks of being a hypocrite in the lives of others, but not near as easy to see them in our own lives.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Do you major on the minors?
• Are you preoccupied with being noticed?
• Does your influence make men worse not better?
• Do you make peoples burdens heavier?
• Are your works monuments to your guilt rather than your love?
• Because of your life, do others find the truth harder to find?