Tag: Val Watkins

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2012-07-01: Spiritual Disciplines – Silence

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

Sermon: Spiritual Disciplines – Silence
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: James 3:2-12
Duration: 29:29
Size: 13.5 MB

Spiritual Disciplines
Silence
James 3:2-12

Have you ever opened your mouth without thinking and said something you regretted later.

The tongue is the most powerful part of the body with the power to curse & the power to bless, the power to start fires and the power to put them out.

Silence of the Mouth

One reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that it makes us feel so helpless.

By observing a silence in our lives on a regular basis, we are training our tongue so that we learn to control it rather than have it control us.

In our personal relationships, our words often express a lack of faith, a lack of trust – if we do not trust some one to drive properly; we take to back seat driving.

We need to find ways of practicing silence in our everyday life.

Silence of the Ears

Even if we cannot keep a time of silence ourselves, we can learn to live without the constant noise of background music, TV or radio.

Interior Silence

Keeping silent on the outside, either through not talking, or shutting the noise off, is easy compared with learning inner silence.

As Eli teaches the young boy Samuel, we have to learn to say “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening“, and then actually listen.

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2012-06-24: Beyond the Walls

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:24 — )

Sermon: Beyond the Walls
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: I John 3:16-18
Duration: 47:24
Size: 21.7 MB

Beyond the Walls
I John 3:16-18

I hope that you have a desire to be a caring person and someone that lives out the same kind of love that Jesus Christ modeled for us.

Step 1: LOVE (verse 16)

Love, for the Christian is a love that centers on Jesus Christ. He is our model. He is our standard.

Love is “laying aside” yourself on purpose and putting someone else first.

Our first step towards caring for others must be that we have the same kind of love that Christ showed… which lays aside ourselves and puts another first.

Step 2: PITY (verse 17)

Pity is feeling deeply for someone in the bowels of who you are… to your core.

It begins with love like Christ, but it must be more than that because Jesus was more than that.

Our second step towards caring for others is that you have to feel love and concern and compassion about others to the very core of your being and allow it to affect your heart.

Step 3: ACTIONS (verse 18)

As we have talked about, caring for others begins with love that lays aside self and feeling what the other person is going through… but action must follow.

  • God needs you to work beyond the walls of the church with Christ-like love!
  • God needs you to work beyond the walls with heart-felt pity for others!
  • God needs you to stop talking about what you could do… and do it!
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2012-05-27: Spiritual Disciplines – Submission

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:37 — )

Sermon: Spiritual Disciplines – Submission
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Ephesians 5:15-21
Duration: 28:37
Size: 13.1 MB

Spiritual Disciplines
Submission
Ephesians 5:15-21

Christian Submission…
Out of all the spiritual disciplines, I think that submission is the most counter cultural.

The Submission that Paul is calling us to is a mutual submission – not one where there is one person in submission, and another in authority, but that we would submit to each other.

It is not the abdication of responsibility or authority so we get no where and no decisions get made because we are so worried about stepping on each others toes.

Submission is – a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden. “put others first.”

The most amazing picture I have of submitting from a place of strength is that of Jesus standing before Pilate.

Laying down one’s life is not just about dying it is about giving up what we hold dear because our friend is even more dear to us.

Our Submission to each other is an outworking of the Spirit’s filling of our lives.

Areas to Submit…
I ask for the grace to let myself be shaped by my loving Creator.

I believe that God gives us families to practice love on, because if we can love them, we can love anybody.

If you look around you, these are all the “one-another’s” that God calls you to love and serve, to lift up and honor above yourself.

The Spiritual Disciple of Submission is as about as counter-cultural as you can get – you may feel it within you as you bristle at the very word “submission”.

Christian Submission…

  • Christian Submission is not about being a Doormat.
  • Christian Submission is not about the lowest common denominator.
  • Christian Submission Flows Out of Strength, Not Weakness.
  • Christian submission is not about placating a bully.
  • Christian Submission must come in Relationship.
  • Christian Submission is about Sacrifice.
  • Christian Submission flows from the filling of the Spirit.
  • Christian Submission is about Honor.

Areas to Submit…

  • Submit to God.
  • Submit to God’s Word.
  • Submit to our Families.
  • Submit to your neighbors, coworkers, friend…
  • Submit to the Christian Community.
  • Submit to the Broken & Despised.
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2012-05-20: …Reach the World

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:12 — )

Sermon: …Reach the World
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Matthew 28:18-20
Duration: 35:12
Size: 16.1 MB

…Reach the World
Matthew 28:18-20

Most of us are intimidated by the word EVANGELISM.

Mark 4:1-9 Parable of the Sower.

  • The Wayside Heart
  • The Stony Heart
  • The Thorny Heart
  • The Good Heart

However, we can not pick and choose where we sow seeds.

Carrying out the Great Commission by sowing and reaping is everyone’s concern.

Great Commission

First, in verse 18, we are being commanded by a Savior who has all power in heaven and on earth.

Because we share our stories, others find the hope that is found in Christ Jesus.

Secondly, in verse 19, the Great Commission reveals a Savior that is for all people.

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Salvation is for all people. No one has sinned too much. No one is too lost.

Thirdly, however, we can’t stop here. The second part of the verse reveals to us the need to teach.

Then, as the people around you are influenced by your faith, they will find their way into a community of believers somewhere.

But Jesus called us to make disciples. As Christians, we must have a genuine concern for souls.

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2012-05-06: Spiritual Disciplines – Solitude

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:45 — )

Sermon: Spiritual Disciplines – Solitude
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 13:6-8
Duration: 25:45
Size: 11.7 MB

Spiritual Disciplines
Solitude
Luke 13:6-8

The gardener of our soul is the Holy Spirit, he digs around our roots and feeds us so that we might bear good fruit.

What is Solitude
Just as fasting is the abstinence from food for spiritual purposes, solitude is the withdrawing to privacy for spiritual purposes.

True solitude removes ourselves from company, but it also removes ourselves from other distractions as well.

Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment. Solitude is not first a place but a state of mind and heart.

We only have to look at Jesus’ life if we want to find the practice of Solitude in scripture.

The Benefits of Solitude
In the quiet of solitude, all pretensions can be striped away, all the things in life that are trying to mold us in their image are removed, all the requirements of the world disappear, and we can stand before God “just as I am”.

Remember that Dallas Willard said that the Discipline of Solitude is for strengthening.

You can see that Jesus sought out solitude before the big events in his life.

When we are tempted to live in a way that will please those around us, rather than live in integrity with who the Father has called us to be, the more time we spend in solitude with the Father, the less other’s judgments stick to us!

How to Practice Solitude
The important thing is to get alone and recognize God’s presence with you before you read or pray.

They say that you can be alone even when standing in a crowd.

The truth is, I believe that all Christians should take some kind of solitary retreat at times.

The Benefits of Solitude

  • Being Real
  • Getting Centered
  • Learn to Live in Integrity

How To Practice Solitude

  • Daily Solitude
  • Spontaneous Solitude
  • Retreats
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2012-04-29: Love God…Love People

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:58 — )

Sermon: Love God…Love People
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Mark 12:28-34
Duration: 24:58
Size: 11.4 MB

Love God…Love People
Mark 12:28-34

If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.

Jesus’ answer to this all-important question would reveal a great deal about his own heart–which, of course, is the heart of God.

Love God. Love people. That’s what matters most to God! These are the Greatest Commands. These are the big rocks!

I. Love God: Deuteronomy 6:4-5

The heart is the source of our feelings and emotions.

Perhaps, the best way to understand it is that your soul is both who and what you are.

Loving God with all your mind implies centering your education on him–learning and growing in our capacity to fathom his vastness and mystery.

Strength here has nothing to do with physique; it signifies your energy output–your work, your job, your play, whatever it is that you put effort into.

As we learn to love him more, he opens our hearts to greater love.

II. Love People: Leviticus 19:18

Loving your neighbor essentially means loving the people around you–all of them.

The five love languages:

  • Words of Affirmation
  • Quality Time
  • Acts of Service
  • Physical Touch
  • Gifts

When we serve, touch, and give gifts to other people, we are nonetheless doing it for God.

Ultimately, we love people the most when we share with them the same loving relationship with God that we have.

All of this sort of begs the question–how loving are you?

I Corinthians 13:4-8

And if it is our desire to grow in our capacity to love God and love people, then we must learn to love like Jesus…

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2012-04-08: Going Away Empty Hearted – Easter 2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:01 — )

Sermon: Going Away Empty Hearted
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: John 20:1-18
Duration: 31:01
Size: 14.2 MB

Going Away Empty Hearted
Easter 2012
John 20:1-18

On Sunday morning, some friends of his arrive at the tomb where he was buried to pay their last respects only to discover that his body is gone.

The question is how are you going to respond to that empty tomb?

JOHN, THE BELIEVER

He was so excited about the possibility that Jesus might actually be alive that he ran faster than he ever had before.

John saw and believed.

PETER, THE SKEPTIC

The last time that he had looked into the eyes of Jesus was just after Peter had denied Him.

He needed more evidence.

Peter walked away from that empty tomb with his heart still broken.

MARY, THE BROKEN-HEARTED

It was the deepest darkest time of their lives.

To her, Jesus meant…

  • Release
  • Peace
  • Forgiveness
  • Someone to believe in
  • Leadership

Seeing the Lord – that’s what Mary wanted more than anything else, and she wanted it more than anyone else did.

RESPONSE

You see the empty tomb and you believe.

You see the empty tomb and you don’t know what to believe.

You see the empty tomb, you see the change in people’s lives and you hang around long enough to have your questions answered and your faith grown.

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2012-04-01: Spiritual Disciplines – Confession

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:15 — 16.6MB)

Sermon: Spiritual Disciplines – Confession
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Luke 15:17-20
Duration: 36:15
Size: 16.5 MB

Spiritual Disciplines
Confession
Luke 15:17-20

What God wants to hear is an honest answer to a simple question.

True confession is marked by honesty.

God can forgive any sin, but he will not forgive us until there is honest confession.

We have lost our moral bearings, we are spiritually adrift, and we are unaware of it.

The good news is that when we do confess our sin, we do not find rejection but acceptance from God.

True confession is marked by sorrow.

Real confession means that we regret what we have done.

Sin brings sorrow because it alienates us from God, from other people, and it leaves us broken within.

True confession is marked by change.

Once we become honest with ourselves, others and God, once we have repented with godly sorrow, a change takes place in our hearts.

It is a good thing to have someone to whom we can confess our sins.

When we are determined to seek the forgiveness of those we have wronged and make restitution, then we are on the path of a new obedience.

His heart is full of love and forgiveness.