Tag: Val Watkins

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Sermon Audio: Anatomy of a Growing Church
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 2:42-47
Duration: 28:45
Size: 13.9 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
Anatomy of a Growing Church
Acts 2:42-47

What are the elements needed for growth? What does a growing church look like?

I. Essentials of a Growing Christian Body
A. Teaching/Learning
If we will devote ourselves to obeying God’s word, whether we learn it in a Sunday School class, a sermon, in our own Bible reading time, or some other way, we will learn to live in the freedom God has for us.

B. Fellowship
So, not only did they hang out together and build good friendships with one another, but they gathered to remember the Lord’s death, and what it had done for all of them together. It was both social and spiritual.

C. Prayer & Worship
Now, as important as personal prayer times are, Acts 1:14 says they all joined together constantly in prayer.

D. A Sense of Awe
If we really believe that our God is alive and well and wants to let His power flow through His church, then I believe we will begin to see the miraculous in our lives.

E. Sharing
They were so excited about what God was doing in their lives that they wanted to be around other believers who would rejoice together with them.

II. Effects of a Growing Christian Body
A. Favor
Favor comes by being part of the solution, rather than the problem in your community.

B. Divine Increase
Let me encourage you to keep on being faithful in obeying what God asks you to do. Don’t give up sharing your faith. Keep planting seeds; keep watering the soil. God will give the increase if we do not give up.

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Sermon Audio: How To Deal With Conviction
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 2:36-41
Duration: 21:06
Size: 10.0 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
How To Deal With Conviction
Acts 2:36-41

As we take a look at how Peter’s listeners responded when they were faced with their own sin and guilt, we will see at least 3 steps that can apply to our own lives.

I. Get Right
The sword of God’s word, when delivered in the power of the Holy Spirit can cut to the heart.

According to Peter, we need to repent, because God is the One who is disturbing us, convicting us, and making us see our need to get right with Him!

II. Get Clean
That is why we say His blood washes away our sins.

III. Get Filled
Luke’s references to the Holy Spirit usually include both the indwelling Spirit, whom we receive at salvation, and the empowering Spirit, whom we receive when we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Get right! Get clean! Get filled! Folks, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit! We need to stay filled with the Holy Spirit!

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Sermon Audio: Under The Influence
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 2:14-36
Duration: 24:07
Size: 11.9 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
Under The Influence
Acts 2:14-36

Well, Peter was still under the influence of the Holy Spirit when he stood up to correct the allegation of drunkenness, and he preached the gospel to well over 3000 people at once.

Let’s look at three main elements from Peter’s sermon to find these answers.

I. God Is Pouring Out His Spirit on all Who Will Receive (2:17-18)
If we don’t trust that God wants to give us what is best for us, then we won’t be very open to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

The invitation is that of a loving Father, saying, “Come home. I love you and want to give you a life worth living.”

We need to stay in right relationship and close fellowship with Jesus, so the Holy Spirit can work through us.

II. God Is Showing Signs & Wonders to Signal the End of Time (2:19-20)
Jesus is coming back to this earth to take His people to be with Him forever.

III. God Is Saving All Who Call on Jesus (2:21)
How many of you here today would say, “I really need more of the Holy Spirit in my life”?

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Sermon Audio: Birthday of the Church
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 2:1-13
Duration: 29:16
Size: 14.1 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
Birthday of the Church
Acts 2:1-13

Today on the Church calendar it is known as Pentecost which is the “Birth of the Church.”

If we look in the past, before this day in Acts chapter 2, we will find a different sort of Pentecost celebration.

Pentecost was a time of celebration where people would feast and be thankful for what God had already given them and for the provision He would provide in the future.

It seems that for these Christians celebrating Pentecost together, it would soon take on a whole new meaning for they would be witnesses and participants to the birth of the Church.

We find that the Spirit came and allowed those who were there to speak in tongues. What an amazing miracle for the beginning of the church!

This day of Pentecost was really just the beginning for the church and there was much to look forward to.

The Holy Spirit provides us the environment needed to have a personal relationship with God.

As a result of Pentecost Present, we have the Holy Spirit with us now in Pentecost Future.

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Sermon Audio: Taking Care of Business
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 1:15-26
Duration: 25:00
Size: 11.8 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
Taking Care of Business
Acts 1:15-26

Scripture may not give us an explicit example of every situation we might face, but the principles of love, mercy, justice, and humility will help us find what God wants us to do.

The Bible can be trusted! It was not man’s idea, but God’s idea!

Isn’t it amazing how Scripture all works together and agrees with itself?

God is not willing that anyone should perish or be separated from Him for eternity.

I hope nobody here thinks they are out of the reach of God’s grace.

God is described literally as “the Knower of Hearts.” God is the One who knows our hearts today.

The best thing we can do to find God’s will is pray. However, there also comes a point when we must step out in faith.

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Sermon Audio: Waiting, Watching, and Working
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 1:9-14
Duration: 21:58
Size: 10.3 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
Waiting, Watching, and Working
Acts 1:9-14

Christ’s work is finished, but He left us with important work to do.

While they were straining their necks to see where Jesus had gone, two angels appeared and asked them what they were doing.

God has chosen to use us as His messengers to a lost world. Are you getting the message out?

If we want to make it to the end and finish well, we must work at developing Christian community.

Prayer changes reality in the spirit realm first, and then we see the results in the physical realm. Something happens when we pray that does not happen when we don’t pray.

We may need to find creative and nonthreatening ways to share Christ.

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Sermon Audio: Breathe Into You
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Acts 1:1-8
Duration: 22:34
Size: 10.6 MB

Acts: Life In The Spirit
Breathe Into You
Acts 1:1-8

“How many Christians have been living their entire lives without ever knowing what it is like to have the overwhelming Power of the Holy Spirit operating within them?”

Now to learn about the Holy Spirit, you have to go to the writings of Luke which include the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts.

It is the Holy Spirit which makes us a witness of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

You cannot live the Christian life and do the things of Jesus until you have received the Holy Spirit.

It really comes down to how bad you want it! It’s not passive waiting. It’s active waiting.

As we look at the Book of Acts to see what it really means to live in the fullness of the Spirit, it really comes down to two things: desire and discipline.

When you are baptized, you are literally dying to your former way of life because you realize that’s not cutting it and you are surrendering to life in God.

The power of the Holy Spirit must precede witness and the problem of the church is that our witness gets ahead of the Holy Spirit.

That leads to the discipline of prayer, Bible study and the fasting and then surrendering your entire life and will to God.