Tag: Val Watkins

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2026-10-11: Flawed: The Heroes of the Faith — The Bible’s Hall of Faith

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Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Hebrews 11:1-12:2

Flawed: The Heroes of the Faith
The Bible’s Hall of Faith
Hebrews 11:1-12:2

The author asserts in Hebrews 11 that believers are called to live by faith in the promise of God.

True Bible faith is confident obedience to God’s Word in spite of circumstances and consequences.

Yes, Abraham did live in “the land of promise” but that was just a shadow of the future Promised Land that awaited him and all who believe in the promise of God.

Many of those listed in the Bible’s Hall of faith encountered tremendous obstacles in their lives.

These ancient believers, along with all believers throughout all of history, are going to receive the promise of a better country, a city prepared for us by God.

Jesus is the object of the faith of all people of all ages. He is the one in whom we find all the promises of God.

We must deliberately lift our eyes from other distracting things and focus with utter concentration on him–and continue doing so. This is fundamental to a life of faith and finishing the race!

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2026-10-04: The Prayer of Agur — Living In The Sweet Spot

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:47 — 20.4MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Proverbs 30:7-9

The Prayer of Agur
Living In The Sweet Spot
Proverbs 30:7-9

But we are left with the two-word worthy goal of how to do life… “just right.”

The buried treasure in Proverbs 30 is the three-verse prayer that delivers a shocking formula for trusting God, discovering his will for our life.

It’s a small detail, but it’s a good reminder that Agur is praying for stuff in his every day, real world, practical life.

I think Agur is on to something. Truth matters. There is truth.

However, Agur’s next request is a stunner. He dares to pray for a life of moderation.

The perfect mixture of getting what you need and needing what you get. He sums it up nicely: “give me only my daily bread.”

He is praying, in essence, “Lord, keep me dependent on you. Having complete trust in you is the balance in which I want to live.”

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2026-09-06: The Prayer of Jabez — Feel My Pain

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:14 — 15.9MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NKJV)

The Prayer of Jabez
Feel My Pain
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NKJV)

His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.”
(Jabez literally means “to cause pain” or “painful”).

Bringing pain into other people’s lives is a spiritual problem.

When Jesus established the Church, he gave one command and it was repeated throughout the New Testament: Love one another.

God wants us (Christians) to be sensitive to the pain we cause others because if we aren’t–then we can push others away from Christ and away from the God we say we love.

When you think about it that way, Jabez’ prayer: can take on a whole new meaning… “Keep me from evil God so that I won’t cause You pain.”

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2026-08-30: The Prayer of Jabez — God Helps Those…

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Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (TLB)

The Prayer of Jabez
God Helps Those…
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (TLB)

And I believe that when Jabez cried out in prayer: “Let your hand be with me”, this was the one part of his prayer that particularly touched God’s heart.

Now, what would Jabez have read from the Bible of his day that would have led him to pray “Let your hand be with me”.

These stories would have driven home to Jabez that God’s people were at their strongest when they were led by God’s hand, but at their weakest when they tried to go it alone.

The lesson for us is that if we want to be successful in our business, in our family and in our church, then we need God as our pilot.

When the Lord’s hand was upon Moses in this situation, Moses received God’s approval, favor and protection.

It would just shine out from him so that people would know who he was and who he loved.

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2026-08-23: The Prayer of Jabez — The Prayer That God Answers

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Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NASB95)

The Prayer of Jabez
The Prayer That God Answers
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NASB95)

There are many people who have rejected this prayer because they believe that it is so selfish.

So, if God doesn’t answer selfish prayers, what kind of prayer is this prayer of Jabez?

What makes Jabez’ prayer so special was that he prayed was based upon something God already wanted to do: “enlarge my territory.”

I suspect Jabez had read about this promise from God in Exodus, “enlarge my territory”, and Jabez said to himself: “I want that promise for my family.”

This is a promise He’s given to us if we obey Him.

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2026-08-16: The Prayer of Jabez — Receiving the Blessing

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:30 — 16.1MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NIV)

The Prayer of Jabez
Receiving the Blessing
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NIV)

But here, (in the midst of a very standard, very boring list), the Chronicler pauses and mentions this story about Jabez and his two sentence prayer.

Today we’re going to focus on the 1st of this prayer’s four sections: “Oh, that you would bless me.”

Did God make good on those promises? Did Abraham receive a “great name?”

This is God’s way of people becoming great. They become great by having real value, by making a difference in this world.

If we receive the blessing of Abraham, God will make your life, a brilliant blaze, a superb meteor, a magnificent glow. It will matter that we lived.

In a word, the prayer of Jabez was “amplius“, that God make his life mean more, and accomplish more for His kingdom of Israel.

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2026-08-02: But God… But God Gave the Increase

But God...

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Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 3:5-8

But God…
But God Gave the Increase
1 Corinthians 3:5-8

Their focus was off God and on themselves and others.

All things come from God. Paul uses this analogy in today’s passage.

What has God given you and me to do? And are we doing it?

But it is surprising to some people that the church cannot be run as a business and still be the Lord’s work.

Often things don’t get done in the church because the failure of those who did not do what God has called them to do.

The size of the work does not matter, large or small.

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2026-07-26: But God… But God Has Chosen the Foolish Things

But God...

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Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

But God…
But God Has Chosen the Foolish Things
1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Intelligence, abilities and talents, power, and wealth, all the things that matter in the eyes of the world, do not matter with Almighty God. Today, we will consider what matters in the eyes of God.

The old saying is quite true: God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Christianity made people who were things into real men and women, more, into sons and daughters of God.

Is it any wonder that the slaves and the lowly of the world run to Christ?

We could not go to Him, so He came to us. It is only by His drawing that we are able to come.

Ask the questions: Is our coming to Jesus about what we do, or about what He has done? Who gets the glory?

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2026-07-19: But God… But God Demonstrates His Own Love

But God...

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:53 — 17.8MB)

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Romans 5:8, Romans 5:6-11

But God…
But God Demonstrates His Own Love
Romans 5:8, Romans 5:6-11

The question this morning is, “Why did Jesus pay that debt for us?”

Jesus came to save the truly lost. He came to save those that needed saving. He came to save lost mankind.

We understand that there are people we love and if called upon and perhaps we would take their place if they were in danger.

Because Jesus’ substitutionary death for us on the cross, we have “been justified by His blood” we have been made righteous before God.

By accepting the reconciliation, accepting what Jesus has done on our behalf, we are now in position to establish a personal relationship with Him.

We are reconciled with God. And it was Almighty God who initiated the reconciliation with us by sending us Jesus.