Sermons by “Rev. John R. Larson”
Gift Shop First
I urge you to go to the gift shop. Trust in Jesus. Receive His gifts. Let Him be extravagant to you. Take it all in. AND, then, be the gift shop. Freely receive, freely give. The disciples were recipients and givers. That must be us too. In the epistle for today Paul says, “We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Thessalonians 1:2-3)
View SermonPowerful and Effective
Prayer is powerful and effective because God is powerful and effective. We pray with the faith that God will give us. We pray asking that God will provide His best and wisest answer in His best and wisest time. Prayer is powerful and effective because it grows our faith in a wonderful God who cares for us. It teaches us to wait and believe and trust. It allows us to say with ultimate confidence, “Lord, Thy will be done.”
View SermonThe Final Word
Who has the final word? God does. Now, we fight that. So often we want to make every decision. We want things our way. Remember what we read, “{It} is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” Let’s not let our self determine how we live, how we make decisions, how life will be. Let God do that. Let God have the final word. We call that trust. We call that faith. James says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
View SermonThe Best; The Worst
Words can cut and hurt and kill. But words can make people alive. Jesus, on the cross, gave words of life, as He was dying. “Father, forgive them.” “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” His words heal us. And words, our words, can change the lives of others. You can speak a word of grace and forgiveness to someone who doesn’t deserve such words but needs them. You can encourage, build up, make someone strong with words.
View SermonLiving Faith
Many years ago a lady from outside my congregation came to see me to confess a sin that had burdened her for decades. She did not want her pastor to know of it, it was too painful and too personal. She knew she had not followed the will of God for her life. Did she need James 2 or Ephesians 2? Did she need a pointing finger or an embrace? She needed Gospel. She needed forgiveness. She needed to know that her sin was no more. That is what she heard. That is what she received. That is what God gave her by the grace of Jesus Christ.
View SermonHear and Listen! Believe and Thank! Share and Spread!
Jesus, the one that we call Immanuel, “God-with-us”, has come right to our side. When we haven’t done a very good job of hearing, listening or following God’s ways, when at times we’ve added or, more likely, subtracted, from His very words to us, He came to us and called us His own and cleansed us from our sin and forgave us with His own blood. When we were speechless, not knowing what to do next, He came and put His hand on our shoulder and made us strong and hopeful once again.
View SermonAuthentic Life
But don’t think that this authentic new life is going to occur by you or I making a few improvements to our life and then declaring that that is enough. Let’s see – We’re going to watch our sharp tongue. We’re going to stop having such a critical attitude. We’re going to control our temper. We’re not going to let dirty thoughts take over our mind and heart. If we do those things then we’re authentic. Right? No!! We don’t have a few things that have to be changed. We have a life that has to die. Over and over again. That’s the authentic life. The old man needs to be put to death. Everyday. And everyday we need to be resurrected. Jesus does that.
View SermonA Promise Is A Promise
But you know what hurts worse than someone not keeping their promise to us is when we can see, clearly, that we have not kept our promise to them. We didn’t live up to our word. We spoke but never followed up on what we said. Others can look at us and say, “You promised…” And we know that we didn’t live up to our word. A promise is a promise… but a lie is a lie.
View SermonWeak Faith
Today we acknowledge that Christians can have struggles with their faith. It can be the worst time of your life. It can cause you to lose sleep and put you into a difficult depression. But at that moment God does not abandon you. He does not disown you. Rather He comes to you – showing compassion and understanding. He invites you to see His Word, the life-giving Savior, and His Word, the Scriptures that He has given us, in a new and full way.
View SermonThe Happiest People I Know
The happiest people I know don’t just give money. They have a way about them that is just generous. They sacrifice their time. They go out of their way for others. They look for ways where they can be helpful. They plead for the privilege of helping, serving, giving. The happiest people I know have an attitude that is a little weird – different. It is better. It is good and God-pleasing.
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