August 9, 2026

Remarkably, one of the most powerful moments in all of Scripture happens not in a grand cathedral but outside a locked door, where a servant girl named Rhoda is so overwhelmed with joy that she forgets to actually let Peter in. That small, human detail makes this ancient story feel startlingly real.

This discussion walks through Acts 12, exploring how the early church prayed persistently for Peter's miraculous release from King Herod's prison, and what that means for believers today. The disciples prayed faithfully and then struggled to believe God had actually answered them (which, honestly, sounds familiar to most of us). Can we truly trust God when circumstances look completely impossible?

The teaching also gets deeply personal. Larry shares how his father's death led to unexpected gospel conversations with Hindu medical staff, and how his daughter later worked in the same ICU unit where his father passed, creating another wave of witness. Through both James's execution and Peter's rescue, we see that God's sovereignty holds even when outcomes differ.

In a cultural moment when prayer gatherings are shrinking, this church sees 50-60% attendance at Wednesday prayer meetings, a commitment that reflects something the early church understood deeply.

August 9, 2026

August 2, 2026

Rarely does a single chapter reveal so much about how God disrupts our comfortable traditions to do something entirely new. In this deep dive into Acts 11, Larry unpacks the early church's first major recorded conflict and what it teaches us about grace, obedience, and genuine faith.

When Peter returned to Jerusalem after sharing the gospel with Gentiles, Jewish converts immediately confronted him. Quietly and without defensiveness, Peter explained his vision three times before he himself understood God's new direction. That kind of humble, gracious response is something worth sitting with.

What does it actually look like to extend the same grace we've received to others?

Barnabas (known simply as an encourager) later traveled to Antioch, retrieved Saul from Tarsus, and together they taught believers for a full year. It was there that followers were first called Christians, a community shaped by genuine transformation rather than empty attendance.

Larry draws on a vivid metaphor of endless syrup to picture God's boundless grace. He also shares his uncle's experience at Cutler Hammer as a real, grounded example of faithful witness in everyday life.

July 26, 26

What happens when the God of the universe decides to pursue someone who doesn't even know Him yet? In Acts chapter 10, Cornelius, a Roman centurion commanding one hundred soldiers, becomes a man caught in the middle of one of the most surprising moments in all of early Christian history.

Cornelius was devout, generous, and prayerful (which is remarkable given he wasn't yet a believer). When an angel appeared and called his name, it terrified him. Still, his prayers and charitable acts had already come before God, and everything that followed would reshape Christianity forever. His story represents a genuine turning point, a pivotal shift that expanded the faith beyond Jewish roots into the entire Gentile world.

Could you be the person God is preparing right now to reach someone unexpected? Larry walks through Peter's vision, the breaking of cultural barriers, and a personal story about a high school friend named Jeff to show how God prepares both the messenger and the listener.

Deeply practical and genuinely moving, this message challenges believers to stay available, stay prayerful, and trust that God, not human effort, ultimately prepares hearts for salvation.

July 26, 2026

July 19, 2026

Boldly praying for the impossible changed everything for the early church, and it might just change everything for us too.

In Acts 9:32-43, Peter heals a paralyzed man named Aeneas and then raises Tabitha from the dead, and these aren't small moments. These miracles rippled outward, drawing entire communities toward faith. What's striking is that Peter didn't seek recognition, he simply served and gave all the glory to Christ. He stayed active during seasons of peace rather than becoming comfortable and complacent, remaining engaged rather than settling into ease.

(Charles Spurgeon once called prayer "the heating apparatus" of his church, and that image is hard to shake.)

Gradually, Larry connects these ancient events to a sobering challenge for today: the American church enjoys remarkable freedom compared to persecuted believers worldwide, yet somehow lacks the spiritual power it should naturally possess.

Can we honestly say we are praying with that kind of devotion and expectation?

July 12, 2026

Rarely does a single life transformation serve as such a compelling argument for the Christian faith as Saul's dramatic conversion on the Damascus road.

After spending approximately three years in Arabia being equipped by God, Saul returned to boldly proclaim the very gospel he once violently opposed. When Jewish leaders plotted his death, unnamed disciples risked their own safety to lower him over the city wall in a basket. Can you imagine the courage that took? Those believers never saw the full fruit of their faithfulness, yet their quiet obedience preserved one of history's most influential ministries.

Barnabas stands out as a model worth studying closely. When the Jerusalem disciples feared Saul, Barnabas stepped forward and vouched for his genuine conversion, advocating for him when no one else would. Barnabas believed in people during crucial moments, and that kind of encouragement is rare, genuinely uncommon, in most churches today.

Larry also examines Hebrews 10:23-25 (a passage commonly misunderstood and frequently misapplied), clarifying that it calls believers to hold fast to faith in Christ's sacrifice and to strengthen one another in love and good works.

July 5, 2026

Saul of Tarsus approved of Stephen's execution and hunted Christians with violent zeal. Then a blinding light stopped him cold on the road to Damascus, and everything changed. That moment, recorded in Acts chapter 9, might be the most dramatic evidence of what genuine salvation actually looks like.

What does it really mean to be transformed by Christ, or are most of us just vaccinated against Him?

Deeply explored here is the theological reality that Christ identifies so personally with His church that persecuting believers is literally persecuting Jesus Himself. Saul discovered this the hard way. For three days after his encounter, blinded and broken, he refused all food and drink, simply praying. That kind of devastation and grief over sin is what real repentance looks like.

Larry draws a sharp contrast with modern American Christianity (and the statistics about church-raised teenagers abandoning faith in college are genuinely sobering). Billy Graham's "vaccinated version of Jesus" analogy cuts deep here. Enough exposure to inoculate, not enough to truly transform.

Saul became Paul. Authentic salvation always produces measurable life change, and justification through faith launches an ongoing sanctification that never really stops.

July 12, 2026

June 28, 2026

Remarkably, one of the most powerful missionary movements in history began not with a strategy but with suffering. Acts 8:5-40 tells the story of Philip, the first named missionary in the Bible, whose bold outreach to despised Samaritans and a searching Ethiopian eunuch reveals something profound about how God works through unlikely circumstances.

Persecution scattered early believers beyond Jerusalem, and instead of silencing the gospel, it spread it further. Philip arrives in Samaria (a place Jews genuinely despised) and sees miracles, genuine conversions, and even a fascinating confrontation with Simon the Sorcerer, a man who wanted spiritual power as a product he could purchase and resell. Peter's rebuke was clear and immediate.

Could the contrast between Simon and the Ethiopian eunuch be any sharper? Simon sought personal gain. The eunuch, returning from Jerusalem having read Isaiah's prophecy about a lamb led to slaughter, responded with wholehearted commitment and immediately asked to be baptized.

Then there is Adrian Dupree's story, a child baptized simply because her parents felt it was "time," which painfully illustrates how faith can become transactional rather than transformative.

The gospel was never meant to be a "come and see" attraction. It is a "go and tell" commission.