Sermons by “Rev. John R. Larson”
How Well Do You Know Jesus?
If God is not part of your life, if the choices you are making are making a mess of everything, if your faith is inadequate and you don’t know the joy of the master, today is the day to know something better, to know Someone better – it is the day to know Jesus.
View SermonIs God Angry?
God’s anger over sin came on a day that was filled with darkness, not light. It happened just about 2,000 years ago. The day of darkness was on Good Friday. For three hours the sky went dark, though it should have had light. That was the day of the Lord. The day of judgment. Jesus became judged for sin. He received God’s anger. Jesus spoke, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then, after death, came brilliant light on that Sunday morning. The appearance of the angels who made the proclamation that God’s new day had come, were as bright as lightning. God’s anger over a fallen world was answered by Jesus. Good Friday was completed by Easter.
View SermonFlawed
Do you know where flawed people must go? They must seek God. They have a broken heart. They ask God to give them a new beginning. Flawed people repent of sin and believe in God’s reception of them and their brokenness.
View SermonI Am the Lord
But there is a solution to a world where uncertainty rules about what comes next. There is a solution to a world where darkness and light battle. There is a solution to lives where the temptation to be destroyed seems so delectable. The solution is God. Into every hopeless situation and cunning deception, God shows Himself present.
View SermonLet’s Talk
You are treasured and cherished. The heart of God in the sending of Jesus, His great sacrifice and complete victory, tells us that we are never an afterthought. His love doesn’t come to us when it is convenient for Him or He’ll get to us when He can fit in the time. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” is first seen in what Jesus has done for us.
View SermonTaking Hold
Take hold of Christ. He gives you a new identity. In faith He makes you whole. Paul says, “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.” (II Corinthians 3:5) In our reading, Paul says, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12b) Grab His death and know that by that death your life is new and clean and restored. Lay hold of His resurrection. Just as Jesus lives forever so you too will live forever. You have a new identity. You are His.
View SermonWhat’s So Great About Jesus?
It is when you and I know the intense weight of our sin that we hunger to find the answer of “What’s so great about Jesus?” When we know that we have not been the holy people of God, that we have let the devil have his way with us, when we are filled with guilt and remorse over poor decisions and sinful actions, we want to know if Jesus is great enough to deal with our failure.
It is when we are struggling and fearful, when we are anxious and afraid and we don’t want to even see what is going to come our way tomorrow that we have to know if Jesus is great enough to deal with our fears.
When our life is on the decline and it becomes apparent that our life on earth, and our time with our family and friends is coming to a close and we are going to die, we truly want to know what is really so great about Jesus.
View SermonHell is for Accountants
Grace goes beyond mere equality. Grace looks for the opportunity, the right moment. Grace reaches out to love, not just equally, but rather to love extravagantly. All through life we should be wonderfully surprised by God who is generous to us now and forever.
View SermonThe Hardest Thing You’ll Ever Do
The hardest thing that you’ll ever do is also the best thing you’ll ever do. The hardest thing is forgiveness. And the best thing is forgiveness. The word forgiveness means “to release”. It is just the opposite of keeping. You don’t bear a grudge. You don’t keep the anger and bitterness growing. You do the hardest thing that you can ever do – you forgive. You release that grudge, that hatred, that anger, that pain, and forgive another for what they have done. You’ll be free again. Your life will have peace. St. Paul, treated very poorly by quite a few people in his life wrote, “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong.” (I Thessalonians 5:15)
View SermonGod’s Little Ones
Do you want to be great? Do you want a place in heaven? Then your confession of your need for God has to be your foundation. I can’t fix myself, and you can’t either. I can’t make my life right. I can’t clean up the mess that I’ve made. I’m broken. I’m mortal. I’m a child. I need a Savior. I need Someone who can fix, heal, clean and make me immortal. Jesus takes a child and puts them right in the middle and says, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” It is like when Jesus says in John 3, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (Verse 3) To get into God’s reign you have to start over.
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