Sermons by “Rev. John R. Larson”
Sheep or Goats?
Sheep listen. They trust. They follow. They take Jesus, the Good Shepherd, at His word. But goats don’t. They live in unbelief. They do not pay attention to what God says. They don’t trust, nor do they follow God. When the crowd ganged up on Jesus and said, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.” (John 10:24-26)
View SermonAgainst All Odds
Against all odds God kept on defying what should have happened. With their mouths wide open in amazement, we hear the song of Moses and his sister, Miriam, “Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy. Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Exodus 15:6 and 11). Just previous to this they formed a duet to sing, “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God and I will praise him, my father’s God and I will exalt him.” (Verse 2)
View SermonAngus Dei
In the end, at the very end, blood was all Jesus had. His disciples had deserted him. His garments had been gambled away. Even his Father had turned his back. Blood was all Jesus had, but the blood of Jesus is all we need. The blood of Jesus is all we need!
View SermonLove Language
But there is a greater love language than you telling God how much you need Him. The greater language is God telling you that He wants you to know His works that bring His salvation.
Love is costly. Love demands much from you. Love will mean that you will be inconvenienced for another. Love demands sacrifice. Love places another, or others, before you. When the Bible says that “God so loved the world…” He knew about the cost of love. Jesus has shown God’s love for us. Jesus is God’s language of deep love.
Access!
The Bible says that we are born dead in transgressions and sins. The Bible says that by nature we are God’s enemies. The Bible says we are fading leaves, empty cisterns, and flowers quickly fading. The Bible says that we are rebels, prodigals, prone to wander, hard-hearted, selfish, and lost in sin.
View SermonA New Beginning
And what does God do when he comes down? Scold us? Shame us? Berate us? Reject us? Condemn us? No! God cries out, “Yahweh! Yahweh! The compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast-love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and lifting up wickedness, rebellion and sin.” A new beginning is totally possible!
View SermonTrapped
People get trapped in all types of problems. Paul was trapped. He was trapped on both sides. He was trapped in despair and he was trapped by his own self-satisfaction, his own self-righteousness.
People can get trapped by hopelessness or by pride.
View SermonStrike the Rock!
We all know what it feels like to have no water. Do we ever! There’s emotional thirst. “It hurts so bad, sometimes it feels like I’m eating glass.” There’s spiritual thirst. “God, if you are so good, why do I hurt so bad? God, why do you seem so far way? God, do you even exist?” And then there’s relational thirst. “When it comes to love, I’ve struck out a billion times!”
View SermonMy Father
You know I shouldn’t have gotten a darn thing. Boy, had I disappointed everyone. I had hurt my father and my brother, and our family name. I was ashamed of myself. But my father took me back. You know me. My name is Prodigal. Means wayward, lost. Screwup. I was just a kid and I came to my dad and I told him that I was leaving, I didn’t want to be connected to this family anymore. I told him that I hated him and I wished that he was dead. I was leaving but I wasn’t going to go empty handed. I demanded my share of the inheritance. I didn’t care that he wasn’t dead yet – he was dead to me, and I demanded my money.
View SermonMy Responsibility; Yours; God’s Pleasure
Do you know that I have a responsibility to you? I am supposed to be a watchman. I am to warn you about sin and evil that can ruin your life now and send you into hell forever. God called Ezekiel to be a watchman. A watchman back then would stand up on the wall of the city and would be looking for enemies who were trying to break through the wall and do harm to those inside. Ezekiel’s job wasn’t to stand on a wall, but he was to watch over the spiritual condition of God’s people. He looked over their souls.
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