Sermons by “Rev. John R. Larson”
To Destroy…To Build and to Plant
God’s purpose in life is to save us, forgive us, give us a new life. He wants to touch our lips, put new words in our mouth. I liked what Pastor Crabbe said, “Homosexuality doesn’t get me into hell just as heterosexuality doesn’t get me into heaven. It’s WHO my Savior is that gets me anywhere.” Last week our epistle from Corinthians destroyed and built. Listen to these great words, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (I Corinthians 6:9-11)
View SermonBig and Bigger
To everyone of us who has a problem that is much bigger than us, it is not too big for God. In fact, nothing is too big for God. There was this guy who had everything going for him. He was a millennial. Good looking. Rich. Ate at the right places. Hung out with the right people. But he had a big problem – he just couldn’t follow Jesus. He liked what Jesus did, but Jesus was asking much too much of him. After this encounter Jesus said of this, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” (Matthew 19:23-26)
View SermonForgiveness Is For Giving
Forgiveness is for giving. Even when it is hard. Even when the person who sinned against you doesn’t deserve it, we are told to forgive. Jeff Gibbs, Professor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis writes, “There is an important spiritual distinction between finding it hard (or even for a time, being unable) to forgive and being unwilling to do so. There are times when all the disciple of Jesus can offer is a broken and contrite heart: ‘I know, Lord, what you require of me, I long to do it, but cannot, unless you help me.’” (Concordia Commentary, Matthew 1:1-11:1, Pg. 336)
View SermonThrough Him
Where should we start with this thought of living a God-directed balanced life – a life where we don’t forget the important things along the way? First, open our eyes and see how difficult it is to make the right choices in life. Know that the life-long struggle of the one who wrote that note, is also mine and yours. It is like Paul in Romans 7:19, “For what I do in not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.” First recognize the reality that life with it tugs on our purpose and priorities and time will always be there.
View SermonLast Things = First Things
All around us we are given notice that there will come a day when the world will end and Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. There will be signs in nature, “There will be earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.” (Luke 21:11) There will signs about how people act with each other. People will become increasingly selfish, proud, abusive, disobedient, slanderous and the like. (See II Timothy 3:1-9) And the signs of His return will be seen within the church. There will be false prophets, false teachings, false lives, and within the church the love of many will grow cold.
View SermonOf A Country But Not Of This World
You are not of this world. This world does not direct your life. You have a higher calling; you have a greater purpose. In John’s first letter he contrasts the believer with the one who isn’t, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (I John 2:15-17)
View SermonFamilies Really Matter
This is also the day to be forgiven and to give forgiveness. A family has to be a place of grace. We offer to others what has not been earned. We receive from others what we have no right to ask. Grace. Forgiveness. What a great gift to give to your own flesh and blood. No more grudges. No more bitterness. Love, forgiveness, kindness are offered instead. We receive forgiveness freely from Jesus and we share it freely with others.
View SermonWhat About Women?
Beauty isn’t found in that person who only has the perfect smile, the perfect face, the perfect shape. Look for beauty that goes to her bones, that lives in her soul. In that section from Proverbs 31 it tells us, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30)
View SermonOur Namesake
“There’s work to be done!!” That is what the angels were saying to them. The Ascension tells us that the church of Jesus has a purpose to life. You have a purpose. I have a purpose. This church has a purpose. Rick Warren, a pastor in California, wrote the book The Purpose Driven Life, and his question throughout the book is ‘Why in the world am I here?’ That’s a question that every person, and especially every person who caries this namesake of the Ascension, must answer.
View SermonGood Questions
Never tire of seeking God. Never think you know everything about Him. Have a passion for knowing more and more of God’s truth. Jesus says this about spiritual growth, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking what is mine and making it known to you.” (John 16:12-14)
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