Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Galatians 6:1-5

Galatians
Freedom’s Restoration
Galatians 6:1-5

How can any Church become a place where people caught in sin get set free?

God calls us to restore the sinner, not blame him.

As we climb the summit to be all that God created us to be, sometimes we fall.

Only the Spirit of God has that ability, and we need to let Him oversee the care of spiritually broken and wounded people.

If we want to become a place of healing for broken people, then we must restore the sinner spiritually.

If we’re going to be a place of healing for broken people, then we must restore the sinner gently.

When we restore a sinning believer there is no room for comparison. There is only room for humility and self-examination.

If we’re going to be a place of healing for broken people, then, we must restore the sinner humbly.

Legalists only add to people’s burdens. On the other hand, love lifts and bears the burden.

May we be known as a place of healing for broken people, because we restore them spiritually, gently, humbly, and lovingly.

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Galatians 5:16-26

Galatians
Freedom’s Fruit
Galatians 5:16-26

How do we conquer this sinful nature that resides in each and every one of us?

The sinful nature and the Holy Spirit are at war in our hearts.

But as long as we depend on the Holy Spirit to hold us up, then our sinful nature cannot pull us down.

If we want to win the battle against our compulsion to sin, then we must live by the Spirit and so conquer the desires of the flesh.

When we, in our own self effort, try to better ourselves, we only make ourselves worse. That’s because the flesh knows no law.

So, it is when we let the Holy Spirit live His life through us. We begin to exhibit the beautiful fruit of the Spirit.

Be led by the Spirit and defeat the deeds of the flesh.

So, cater to him. Seek to please Christ by keeping in step with His Spirit.

Walk with the Spirit and so enjoy the death of the flesh.

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Galatians 5:1-12

Galatians
Free To Serve
Galatians 5:1-12

Do you want to find a little heaven in all your relationships? Then learn to serve. It’s the reason why Christ set us free.

There is a particular kind of love here that sets us free to serve, and that’s the unconditional love of God demonstrated on the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Rather than being in bondage to the Law or to the sinful nature, [we are now free] to be in bondage to one another.

It’s His love for us, as we respond to His unconditional love.

We don’t need to bite and devour each other, because God loves us.

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Galatians 5:1-12

Galatians
Freedom’s Enemies
Galatians 5:1-12

It’s time to take a stand because there are those who would try to enslave us all over again to their religious rituals and legalistic systems.

Even though Christ has set them free, they want to go back to prison; they want to put themselves in bondage again;

The law is not a buffet or smorgasbord. You cannot pick and choose the parts you like and leave the rest.

If we insist on living the Christian life ourselves, if we insist on earning our way, then we get nowhere.

The law leaves us feeling helpless of ever reaching perfection. Faith gives us the hope of future righteousness.

Instead, live your life in dependence upon the Lord and be enriched with hope for the future and love in the present.

It only takes a little bit of their teaching, and before long it permeates the whole church.

If we’re going to enjoy our freedom, we must stay free from the law, and we must stay free from the legalist.

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Galatians 4:21-31

Galatians
Freedom’s Children
Galatians 4:21-31

Mothers are very important people (VIP’s). You don’t want to offend them, because they wield so much influence.

The first book of the Law, the book of Genesis, makes it very clear that Abraham had two children with two different mothers. One was a slave.

When we seek to secure God’s promised blessings through our own human efforts, we don’t get blessed; we get trouble.

There is a relationship with God based on adherence to the rules. The law said, “Obey and God will bless you; disobey and God will curse you.”

That’s what the covenant of law does to us. It makes us slaves to sin.

We relate to God on the basis of a promise with its unconditional blessings.

That’s because, as believers, we don’t relate to God on the basis of law; we relate to God on the basis of promise–the promise of His unfailing love.

So, get to know your mother, and throw out the other. Believe the promise, and stop trying to earn your way.

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Mark 10:17-27

Classic TV Christmas
MacGyver
Mark 10:17-27

But after December 31st, there are no more excuses! Once the clock strikes midnight and we begin writing 2026 we have no more excuses.

This morning there are people out there who are living lives covered with Duct Tape! People who are looking for the quick fix.

When Jesus challenges us to change our lives, He calls us to lay down difficult areas of our lives!

But how do we accomplish that? How do we put the lasting fix into effect in our lives!

We all start at different places when we decide to follow Jesus, who is our North star, our final destination will always be the same.

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: John 1:10-13

Classic TV Christmas
Shark Tank
John 1:10-13

Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Micah 5:2

Classic TV Christmas
Die Another Day
Micah 5:2

Just a two-hour walk from the sleepy little town of Bethlehem where Christ was born to the bustling streets of Jerusalem where Christ was crucified (just outside of the city).

The historical journey from Bethlehem to Calvary should be a short one but too many people prefer the cradle to the cross.

People prefer to talk about births and babies rather than crucifixions and corpses, but whether we want to admit it or not there is but a short distance, historically, between Bethlehem and Calvary.

The converse is also true. Calvary would not have been what it was if God had not chosen to enter this world as a child and to live as a man.

After all, Bethlehem holds the promise of eternal life but it’s Calvary that holds the gift of eternal life.

And there are a lot of people just like that innkeeper. They’re not antagonistic about the real meaning of Christmas, but they don’t really care.

People like Herod like Christmas, but they’d prefer to keep Christ out of it.

The reason the Christian faith has survived and flourished over the past 2000 years is that there have been some who, after the angels have gone and the heavens are still and life is life, they still believe.

However little that we know of the wise men we do know that they came from a great distance bearing their gifts of love.

Because it’s only when we are completely sold out to Jesus that we will be able to make the trip from Bethlehem to Calvary.