As we continue in this study of "Beautiful Living" we see that the next characteristic the older men are to have is that they should be worthy of respect. The King James Version words this as "grave", but in today's wording "grave" just doesn't quite have the same meaning that it should. Remember this is written from the perspective of a 26 year old. The Greek word is "semnos" which could be translated as honorable.
Paul is saying here that the older men should live lives that are honorable, or as the NIV puts it, "worthy of respect".
This is something that all of us, not just the older men although they are the focus of this particular verse, should strive for in our lives. As we age there is more reason for respect. There is a lifetime of experience that gives wisdom. (As long as you learn from your experience.) It's very sad that in our society the elderly have become ridiculed rather than respected. Younger people often have little to no respect for their elders, including me at my rather ripe old age of 26. (Just kidding... sort of.) That lack of respect causes them to miss out on so many of the lessons and relationships that are just waiting to be taken advantage of.
The challenge is this: are you living a life that is honorable? Is your life worthy of respect? We should live our lives in such a way that causes others to respect us. Make good decisions, use your experience to teach others, and avoid the troubles that you know are out there.
I think of many men in my past that I can say have lived honorable lives. These men have been used by God to change who I am from who I could have been. For that, I am grateful.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The Boss!
Just a quick thought from our Village Missions conference this last week. It was a great time of encouragement and refreshing. It is truly one of the best things that Village Missions can do to help the churches they serve. If their pastor is discouraged and worn out, he won't do any good where he serves. Thank you, Village Missions!
Brian Wechsler, the director of Village Missions, was there and gave me a bit of a panic. He said, "I've been reading your blog." My response, "Oh, uh..." My thoughts, "What have I been writing? Am I in trouble? What now? What do I say? Uhhh..." :-) Well, sir, I hope you enjoy what I write. Thanks for your message this past Thursday night. It was an encouragement to me.
God bless,
Parson Larson
Brian Wechsler, the director of Village Missions, was there and gave me a bit of a panic. He said, "I've been reading your blog." My response, "Oh, uh..." My thoughts, "What have I been writing? Am I in trouble? What now? What do I say? Uhhh..." :-) Well, sir, I hope you enjoy what I write. Thanks for your message this past Thursday night. It was an encouragement to me.
God bless,
Parson Larson
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Beautiful Living: Older Men -Part 1
The first group Paul focuses on in this passage is the older men. He commands them first of all to be temperate. What does this mean? Two different meanings came up as I studied this, moderation and vigilance.
Moderation:
This would be the idea of keeping things in balance in your life and not allowing yourself to do something excessively. Too much of even a good thing can be bad. So, we see that we must be moderate. This includes food, drink, and other activities, or even mindsets.
Far too often we go to extremes and don't have balance in our lives. I like video games... a lot. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but when it becomes the only thing I think about during the day, then there is trouble and the rest of my life starts to suffer. The key is to be moderate and keep it in balance.
Vigilance:
Combines the thoughts of being watchful and endurance. One dictionary describes this as "being sleeplessly watchful". I like this because of a sense of protection from older Christian men. This is important because of the life experiences that these men have. They have experienced many of the things that those who are younger (including myself and my mere 26 years of experience) are going through now.
These are two things that we all should strive for in our lives, moderation and vigilance.
Keep reading Titus, and I'll be back later with some more thoughts. Please leave comments and let me know your thoughts!
Moderation:
This would be the idea of keeping things in balance in your life and not allowing yourself to do something excessively. Too much of even a good thing can be bad. So, we see that we must be moderate. This includes food, drink, and other activities, or even mindsets.
Far too often we go to extremes and don't have balance in our lives. I like video games... a lot. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but when it becomes the only thing I think about during the day, then there is trouble and the rest of my life starts to suffer. The key is to be moderate and keep it in balance.
Vigilance:
Combines the thoughts of being watchful and endurance. One dictionary describes this as "being sleeplessly watchful". I like this because of a sense of protection from older Christian men. This is important because of the life experiences that these men have. They have experienced many of the things that those who are younger (including myself and my mere 26 years of experience) are going through now.
These are two things that we all should strive for in our lives, moderation and vigilance.
Keep reading Titus, and I'll be back later with some more thoughts. Please leave comments and let me know your thoughts!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Beautiful Living: Old Men
When I was growing up, my parents had two pictures hanging up in the kitchen. To me, these are great examples of, as my last post described, beautiful living. In one picture, there is an old man with a gray beard praying over a table of food. In the other, an older woman who is apparently the wife of the man, praying over her meal. A brief glimpse into the lives of these two individuals... In my own mind I imagine their lives. I can see both joy and pain, hope and sorrow, laughter and tears. The gnarled hands of the old man show the work he has done his entire life. At this meal you see their priorities and their love. In prayer they show their thankfulness to the Creator for the blessings He has provided. There is love, gentleness and hope in their lives. Truly, beautiful lives.
In the next posts I will discuss what Paul commanded Titus to tell the people of Crete, specifically the older men and women.
For those who interested in reading ahead, read Titus 2:1-10.
In the next posts I will discuss what Paul commanded Titus to tell the people of Crete, specifically the older men and women.
For those who interested in reading ahead, read Titus 2:1-10.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Thoughts, Ponderings, and Ideas... (almost sounds deep, huh?)
I wanted to give an update on what we've been doing in church for the past few weeks. As I've posted previously, we're studying through the book of Titus. As I was studying for a sermon on the first part of chapter 2, I came across something at the end of verse 10 that really stuck in my mind. Up to this point Paul is telling Titus about how the people of Crete should be living. Then at the end of verse 10, right after talking about the lives of servants and slaves he says, "so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive."
This phrase really got me to thinking about one of the reasons we should be living out the commands given to us in the Bible. Our lives are testimony to the world about Christ. The way we live should make the teaching about God our Savior attractive to the world.
Can we say this about our own lives? Do our lives cause unbelievers to say, "I want a life like that. What makes them different?" My father-in-law recently had an experience like this while stationed in Kyrgyzstan. Some soldiers noticed the difference between his life and the life of another person who does not live a Christian life. These soldiers have now been asking my father-in-law about Christ and His grace.
The question we should be asking ourselves then, is this, "Am I living an attractive life?" The way I have posed this question at church the past two sermons has been, "Is your life beautiful?" So... is it?
More to come on this topic later.
God bless,
Parson Larson
This phrase really got me to thinking about one of the reasons we should be living out the commands given to us in the Bible. Our lives are testimony to the world about Christ. The way we live should make the teaching about God our Savior attractive to the world.
Can we say this about our own lives? Do our lives cause unbelievers to say, "I want a life like that. What makes them different?" My father-in-law recently had an experience like this while stationed in Kyrgyzstan. Some soldiers noticed the difference between his life and the life of another person who does not live a Christian life. These soldiers have now been asking my father-in-law about Christ and His grace.
The question we should be asking ourselves then, is this, "Am I living an attractive life?" The way I have posed this question at church the past two sermons has been, "Is your life beautiful?" So... is it?
More to come on this topic later.
God bless,
Parson Larson
Friday, June 01, 2007
Long time, no writing...
Sorry about not updating this blog more often! Things are going really well here in KS and as an excuse about why I haven't written read this: http://mistyandtyler.blogspot.com/2007/05/our-son.html
We've been a little busy with the adoption, with Ellie and Evan, with weddings (1 down, 2 to go), and just life. However, I should update more. We'll see if I can stick with it. :-)
As far as church is going, we've had ups and downs. We recently had a couple resign from their positions on the board. We kind of saw this one coming, but were doing what we could to avoid that. However, all things are in God's hands, we just may not like them.
For ups, well... we have started a new sermon series in the book of Titus which is a really interesting study. I'm getting a lot out of it. The frustrating thing is that only about 75% of what I end up studying gets into my sermon. I'd be preaching 2+ hour sermons if I put it all in there.
We also are starting an AWANA program. Village Missions and AWANA are starting a pilot program to get rural churches active in youth ministries and Misty and I will be heading to Chicago in August for a conference on this. I must admit that I'm excited about the flight more than the conference at this point, but that's mainly because Misty and I haven't had the chance to fly together yet. She also has relatives near Chicago, so we might try and get together with them for supper some night if we have the time.
Please continue to pray for us and for the church as we continue in our ministry here. There have been several health problems among people in the church (all of them are doing fine now), for the couple that has resigned their positions, and for the AWANA program. We need to have enough leaders for all of the kids in the area that are likely to come!
God bless,
Tyler
We've been a little busy with the adoption, with Ellie and Evan, with weddings (1 down, 2 to go), and just life. However, I should update more. We'll see if I can stick with it. :-)
As far as church is going, we've had ups and downs. We recently had a couple resign from their positions on the board. We kind of saw this one coming, but were doing what we could to avoid that. However, all things are in God's hands, we just may not like them.
For ups, well... we have started a new sermon series in the book of Titus which is a really interesting study. I'm getting a lot out of it. The frustrating thing is that only about 75% of what I end up studying gets into my sermon. I'd be preaching 2+ hour sermons if I put it all in there.
We also are starting an AWANA program. Village Missions and AWANA are starting a pilot program to get rural churches active in youth ministries and Misty and I will be heading to Chicago in August for a conference on this. I must admit that I'm excited about the flight more than the conference at this point, but that's mainly because Misty and I haven't had the chance to fly together yet. She also has relatives near Chicago, so we might try and get together with them for supper some night if we have the time.
Please continue to pray for us and for the church as we continue in our ministry here. There have been several health problems among people in the church (all of them are doing fine now), for the couple that has resigned their positions, and for the AWANA program. We need to have enough leaders for all of the kids in the area that are likely to come!
God bless,
Tyler
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Life In General
Hey, people do read... and comment. Well, at least three of you.
Ok, enough of my more than slightly odd sense of humor for the day. (Thanks to Rob Jordon for the pic.) We are home from Michigan as of 9:00 last night. After that I'm home for a month, then I'm back to Michigan for another friends wedding. Home for a month, and then we're off to Colorado for our Village Missions conference! A month after that, we are going to a conference in Chicago with Village Missions and Awana. (Which is right after a likely trip to Nebraska for the wedding of another friend.)
Wow. I'm out of breath from just typing this... Ok, not really.
We have finished Judges here in Kansas. Off to the wonderful book of Titus, and then after that we'll do a series through Hebrews 11's "Hall of Faith". We're continuing to work on our doctrine study on Sunday nights, and after that... I'm not sure. I have a couple of ideas that I'm thinking about doing, but I'm unsure as to what we will do.
Thank you to all of our friends and family who are supporting us as we work in rural (very rural) Kansas. We love it here and are excited to see what God is doing. Look for a prayer letter coming to a mailbox near you soon!
God bless,
Parson Larson (this name is even engraved on a pocketwatch now. Thanks, Phil and Jen. Congrats!)
Saturday, May 05, 2007
So, um is anybody there???
You know, I think I'd post a little more often if I would get some comments. *hint-hint*
This Sunday marks the end of our series through the book of Judges. Hmm, now what next? 2nd Hezekiah? 1st Opinions? Hmm, oh the options. :-)
It's amazing as I study these last three chapters how the people responded to sin. It seems that they didn't even realize it was a sin. However, it hadn't been that long since Moses had been given the Law, so they should have known. Unfortunately, the parents weren't doing a very good job at teaching their children about the wonders of God.
How about us? For the parents that are reading this, are we teaching our children about who God is and what He has done? All it takes is the failure of one generation to cause the fall of a nation. If you read Judges, notice how quickly they fell. They enter the Promised Land with Joshua and things are going well. He dies, his assistants die, and the nation falls into idolatry. It's too easy to try to rely on another person to teach our children, but how can we be loving parents if we are not teaching them what is eternally important. Instead, we focus on the temporary and make idols out of it.
Our society reminds me of the last part of the final verse in Judges. "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." Everyone did as he saw fit. No regard for what was right. How we feel right now does not make something right or wrong.
We can't let this happen to us today.
-Parson Larson
This Sunday marks the end of our series through the book of Judges. Hmm, now what next? 2nd Hezekiah? 1st Opinions? Hmm, oh the options. :-)
It's amazing as I study these last three chapters how the people responded to sin. It seems that they didn't even realize it was a sin. However, it hadn't been that long since Moses had been given the Law, so they should have known. Unfortunately, the parents weren't doing a very good job at teaching their children about the wonders of God.
How about us? For the parents that are reading this, are we teaching our children about who God is and what He has done? All it takes is the failure of one generation to cause the fall of a nation. If you read Judges, notice how quickly they fell. They enter the Promised Land with Joshua and things are going well. He dies, his assistants die, and the nation falls into idolatry. It's too easy to try to rely on another person to teach our children, but how can we be loving parents if we are not teaching them what is eternally important. Instead, we focus on the temporary and make idols out of it.
Our society reminds me of the last part of the final verse in Judges. "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." Everyone did as he saw fit. No regard for what was right. How we feel right now does not make something right or wrong.
We can't let this happen to us today.
-Parson Larson
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Wow... Been Awhile
Hey all!
Yeah, I realize I haven't posted since February. Sorry. However, I don't make guarantees as to when I will post. Hope you've realized this by now. Getting close to wrapping up the book of Judges soon. Of course, when you go through all 4 chapters that deal with Samson's life in one sermon you can go through a whole book rather quickly as well. *Note, I do NOT usually go that quickly through chapters. It's a rare occasion that worked well with the message.*
For those of you MySpace fans out there, I have joined you. I'm at www.myspace.com/qrossphyre
Well, that's about it for now. If you have questions please leave me a comment and I will see if I can answer you.
God bless,
Parson Larson
Yeah, I realize I haven't posted since February. Sorry. However, I don't make guarantees as to when I will post. Hope you've realized this by now. Getting close to wrapping up the book of Judges soon. Of course, when you go through all 4 chapters that deal with Samson's life in one sermon you can go through a whole book rather quickly as well. *Note, I do NOT usually go that quickly through chapters. It's a rare occasion that worked well with the message.*
For those of you MySpace fans out there, I have joined you. I'm at www.myspace.com/qrossphyre
Well, that's about it for now. If you have questions please leave me a comment and I will see if I can answer you.
God bless,
Parson Larson
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Life...
Greetings! Things have been going well for us here in Kansas these past few weeks. We had our Valentine's banquet on Saturday with another church in the area. It went extremely well. There were quite a few in attendance with an interesting devotional on love, our love for Christ, and how we show our love to Him. Along with some specials, wonderful food, and games we had an incredible evening.
Judges has been a lot of fun for me lately. I'm enjoying doing a slightly different type of sermon lately. This week we'll be in chapter 6 with Gideon. I'm excited about this one! Great application on trusting God!
The adoption process continues to move on, but you'll have to check out Misty's blog for that one, the link is on the right.
God bless!
Judges has been a lot of fun for me lately. I'm enjoying doing a slightly different type of sermon lately. This week we'll be in chapter 6 with Gideon. I'm excited about this one! Great application on trusting God!
The adoption process continues to move on, but you'll have to check out Misty's blog for that one, the link is on the right.
God bless!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Getting to Know You...
Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You... or however the song goes. This should be our attitude about our relationship with Christ. Getting to know Him, should be our goal. Is He real in your life, or are you just a Sunday Christian? Just some thoughts that have been rambling in my head for a few days.
Things are going well here in Kansas. We finally had lunch with the family we have been trying to get together with for MONTHS!!! I believe our first attempt to get together was in September of '06. Finally, in January... We had a lot of fun and look forward to more times with them in the future. At this rate that will be in late May. We'll be looking forward to it.
We have a video camera that will make it easy to upload videos to the computer. In time I may put it on the blog if I can figure out how to do that with Blogger. Hmm, I have an idea... Oh well, I will experiment later.
Pray for me as I prepare a series through Judges. I haven't done a series through any historical books or through a narrative rather than a letter such as the epistles.
God bless,
Tyler
Things are going well here in Kansas. We finally had lunch with the family we have been trying to get together with for MONTHS!!! I believe our first attempt to get together was in September of '06. Finally, in January... We had a lot of fun and look forward to more times with them in the future. At this rate that will be in late May. We'll be looking forward to it.
We have a video camera that will make it easy to upload videos to the computer. In time I may put it on the blog if I can figure out how to do that with Blogger. Hmm, I have an idea... Oh well, I will experiment later.
Pray for me as I prepare a series through Judges. I haven't done a series through any historical books or through a narrative rather than a letter such as the epistles.
God bless,
Tyler
Thursday, January 11, 2007
The New Year
Hey Everyone!
I trust that 2007 (yeah, just like everyone else I started off writing '06) is treating you well so far. We are doing quite well so far this year.
As an update on my computer problems, my hard drive did finally bite the dust just before Christmas. I have a new one installed and pretty much everything is up and running. I need to find a few drivers online and then I'll be back up to normal.
Our Christmas programs were incredible! Our Sunday School program was probably the best I had seen. The Gospel was very clearly portrayed with the question "Do You Believe?" being prominent throughout. It was followed by a cookie fellowship time. I had a chance to meet many new people, but when you have an additional 33% in the church that is to be expected. The next week was our Candlelight Service. Again, it went very well with the opportunity to meet new people.
We then drove through the night to my parents house in order to surprise my Mom on Christmas morning. That was a LOT of fun!
New Years was a lot of fun with Misty's family visiting us. I'm one of those fortunate enough to have wonderful in-laws (Doug and Peggy, if you're reading this you better comment!)
That pretty much brings us up to the present. I'll be finishing up my series in Galatians this week with a sermon addressing the question "What Really Matters?" For Paul, it didn't matter what others thought about him. He said that the world was dead to him, but not only that, he was dead to the world. As far as they were concerned Paul was dead. They didn't care for him at all. They just needed a body to complete the thought. Hmm, interesting. Does the world matter to you?
God bless,
Parson Larson
I trust that 2007 (yeah, just like everyone else I started off writing '06) is treating you well so far. We are doing quite well so far this year.
As an update on my computer problems, my hard drive did finally bite the dust just before Christmas. I have a new one installed and pretty much everything is up and running. I need to find a few drivers online and then I'll be back up to normal.
Our Christmas programs were incredible! Our Sunday School program was probably the best I had seen. The Gospel was very clearly portrayed with the question "Do You Believe?" being prominent throughout. It was followed by a cookie fellowship time. I had a chance to meet many new people, but when you have an additional 33% in the church that is to be expected. The next week was our Candlelight Service. Again, it went very well with the opportunity to meet new people.
We then drove through the night to my parents house in order to surprise my Mom on Christmas morning. That was a LOT of fun!
New Years was a lot of fun with Misty's family visiting us. I'm one of those fortunate enough to have wonderful in-laws (Doug and Peggy, if you're reading this you better comment!)
That pretty much brings us up to the present. I'll be finishing up my series in Galatians this week with a sermon addressing the question "What Really Matters?" For Paul, it didn't matter what others thought about him. He said that the world was dead to him, but not only that, he was dead to the world. As far as they were concerned Paul was dead. They didn't care for him at all. They just needed a body to complete the thought. Hmm, interesting. Does the world matter to you?
God bless,
Parson Larson
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Hard Week
Have you ever had a week where you just can't get to whatever it is that needs to be done? That's pretty much how this week is going...
#1 Computer Problems
The Power Supply on my desktop went out. Hence, trying to type on my laptop slowed me down. New psu shows up and after installation, computer works, for awhile. I now find out my hard drive is going out. I'm trying to back up all of my information so it doesn't get lost. Oh fun.
#2 Adoption Process
Our home study is this week. The social worker spends a day here interviewing us. I don't mind the process, but that's most of a day that I can't work.
#3 Thursday
I don't mind Thursdays. They are perfectly wonderful days. ALL of our Bible studies happen to fall on Thursdays. I'm not quite sure how this happened. Oh well, it works. It just doesn't leave a whole lot of time to work on a sermon.
#4 Christmas
Ok, I love Christmas. As the song goes, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." This is my first Christmas as a pastor and I'm getting a glimpse of all that goes on in a church during Christmas. It's pretty cool, but time consuming.
Anyway, that's a glimpse of this week. #1 is the most frustrating, but I'm dealing with it. I enjoy computer work so I'm getting it all done. I just need to focus on other things first.
I have my sermon narrowed down for this week. We'll be studying the kenosis in Christmas. If you have no idea what that is, look it up. Studying builds character. :-) Or read Phil. 2:5-11 for an idea.
You know what, I think this is enough for today. I better get to work on this sermon.
God bless,
Parson Larson
#1 Computer Problems
The Power Supply on my desktop went out. Hence, trying to type on my laptop slowed me down. New psu shows up and after installation, computer works, for awhile. I now find out my hard drive is going out. I'm trying to back up all of my information so it doesn't get lost. Oh fun.
#2 Adoption Process
Our home study is this week. The social worker spends a day here interviewing us. I don't mind the process, but that's most of a day that I can't work.
#3 Thursday
I don't mind Thursdays. They are perfectly wonderful days. ALL of our Bible studies happen to fall on Thursdays. I'm not quite sure how this happened. Oh well, it works. It just doesn't leave a whole lot of time to work on a sermon.
#4 Christmas
Ok, I love Christmas. As the song goes, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." This is my first Christmas as a pastor and I'm getting a glimpse of all that goes on in a church during Christmas. It's pretty cool, but time consuming.
Anyway, that's a glimpse of this week. #1 is the most frustrating, but I'm dealing with it. I enjoy computer work so I'm getting it all done. I just need to focus on other things first.
I have my sermon narrowed down for this week. We'll be studying the kenosis in Christmas. If you have no idea what that is, look it up. Studying builds character. :-) Or read Phil. 2:5-11 for an idea.
You know what, I think this is enough for today. I better get to work on this sermon.
God bless,
Parson Larson
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Merry Christmas
It's looking like it will be one of the busiest Christmases I've had for quite awhile, but I guess that I can expect that now that I'm a pastor. (For those just stumbling across this, I'm at my first pastorate in Kansas.)
For those who live in North Central Kansas, I have one question... Does it snow here? We moved here in August and had some good rain storms (tornado just north of us) but it is now December 12th and we haven't had any snow yet!!! We have had 60+ degree weather in the last week. What's going on? Nothing is forecasted for this week either. Oh well, just remember this post when we're snowed in this January.
Had dinner with some new friends in the area last night. Like myself, he is a young pastor in a rural setting so we have quite a bit in common there, plus their two boys are the same ages as my kids, and Misty and Mary Ellen get along really well too. It was a lot of fun.
Last Sunday's sermon was about missing Christ in Christmas and comparing us to those who missed Him the first Christmas. I'm not entirely sure what this week I'll be preaching on, other than a Christmas theme, but I have a few ideas. Just need to narrow them down to something a little more specific.
Our Home Study for our adoption is coming up this week, please keep us in your prayers. I'm kind of nervous about that. If you want more information go to Misty's blog at mistyandtyler.blogspot.com
God bless and Merry Christmas!
"Parson Larson"
For those who live in North Central Kansas, I have one question... Does it snow here? We moved here in August and had some good rain storms (tornado just north of us) but it is now December 12th and we haven't had any snow yet!!! We have had 60+ degree weather in the last week. What's going on? Nothing is forecasted for this week either. Oh well, just remember this post when we're snowed in this January.
Had dinner with some new friends in the area last night. Like myself, he is a young pastor in a rural setting so we have quite a bit in common there, plus their two boys are the same ages as my kids, and Misty and Mary Ellen get along really well too. It was a lot of fun.
Last Sunday's sermon was about missing Christ in Christmas and comparing us to those who missed Him the first Christmas. I'm not entirely sure what this week I'll be preaching on, other than a Christmas theme, but I have a few ideas. Just need to narrow them down to something a little more specific.
Our Home Study for our adoption is coming up this week, please keep us in your prayers. I'm kind of nervous about that. If you want more information go to Misty's blog at mistyandtyler.blogspot.com
God bless and Merry Christmas!
"Parson Larson"
Friday, November 24, 2006
Day after Thanksgiving
Black Friday. It sounds creepy unless you get your income from people shopping at your business. The day that puts you back into the "black" financially. The one day that I'm really, really glad that I don't work retail anymore!!!
I pray that you all had a great Thanksgiving. I'm reminded of all the blessings that God has given my family this past year. Although I miss being in Nebraska with the rest of my family, God has brought us to a wonderful place here in Kansas. Last week I gave a sermon on Thanksgiving (if you would like notes from this sermon leave me a comment and I'll try to get them to you) and I told about the prayers Misty and I had about the church we would end up in. All of them had been answered. I am so grateful for that!!! It was even more than we prayed for. It has been a great blessing for us to be here.
Remember Who you are thankful to and make sure you are thanking Him more than just once a year!!!
Invictus by His Grace,
Tyler
I pray that you all had a great Thanksgiving. I'm reminded of all the blessings that God has given my family this past year. Although I miss being in Nebraska with the rest of my family, God has brought us to a wonderful place here in Kansas. Last week I gave a sermon on Thanksgiving (if you would like notes from this sermon leave me a comment and I'll try to get them to you) and I told about the prayers Misty and I had about the church we would end up in. All of them had been answered. I am so grateful for that!!! It was even more than we prayed for. It has been a great blessing for us to be here.
Remember Who you are thankful to and make sure you are thanking Him more than just once a year!!!
Invictus by His Grace,
Tyler
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Guilty
Ok, you've discovered that I'm not the most consistent as far as posting goes. I just put time into other things. By the way, linerider, although fun, takes up too much time.
I'm looking forward to the sermon this week. It's going to be a look at our freedom in Christ and the war between our old and new natures. (Gal. 5:13-26) We continually struggle with the old nature and it's desires. It reminds me of a song by Smalltown Poets called "Everything I Hate". The song says "I'm into everything I hate, my spirit is not moved, my members take the bait." We hate the sin but we keep going back to it like a dog to it's own vomit. Sickening how we continue to live in the sin that Christ died to set us free from.
Invictus by His Grace,
Tyler
I'm looking forward to the sermon this week. It's going to be a look at our freedom in Christ and the war between our old and new natures. (Gal. 5:13-26) We continually struggle with the old nature and it's desires. It reminds me of a song by Smalltown Poets called "Everything I Hate". The song says "I'm into everything I hate, my spirit is not moved, my members take the bait." We hate the sin but we keep going back to it like a dog to it's own vomit. Sickening how we continue to live in the sin that Christ died to set us free from.
Invictus by His Grace,
Tyler
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Been Awhile...
It's been awhile since I posted anything, but since I don't think anyone has read this yet, no big deal.
I do not remember much about last week. I'm not entirely sure why, but it all went by in a big blur (I don't even remember Tuesday).
This week is going a little better. We're all fighting colds and our voices sound strange as a result. The sermon for this Sunday should flow together pretty smoothly. I need to run it through a good outline and do some more writing (which usually corresponds with more research), but I think it will go well.
For those who are interested it will be on Gal. 5:1-12.
God bless,
Tyler
I do not remember much about last week. I'm not entirely sure why, but it all went by in a big blur (I don't even remember Tuesday).
This week is going a little better. We're all fighting colds and our voices sound strange as a result. The sermon for this Sunday should flow together pretty smoothly. I need to run it through a good outline and do some more writing (which usually corresponds with more research), but I think it will go well.
For those who are interested it will be on Gal. 5:1-12.
God bless,
Tyler
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Back to Normal (whatever normal is)
Sorry about the lack of a post for the last few days, like I said in my last post we were going to have a crazy week. Everything went really well for us though. Had a great visit with my mom and grandma, the visit from our DR with Village Missions went great. It was great to see them all again. Just wish we lived a little closer so my family could see the kids a little more. I guess that's part of the cost of being where God wants me to be.
Could be an interesting sermon this next Sunday. I'm planning on doing a message on Galatians 4:19-31. We've been going through Galatians and it seems like we are getting a pretty good grip on the basic subject matter. Keep me in your prayers though as I work on this message. I really want the sermons presented to the congregation to be God's message to them.
I need to go out and do some visitation this week. I want to visit some of the leaders in the church, plus I think we'll have dinner with a family from church some night soon. We have tried to have dinner with them about two or three times before but something has always made us postpone.
God bless,
Tyler
Could be an interesting sermon this next Sunday. I'm planning on doing a message on Galatians 4:19-31. We've been going through Galatians and it seems like we are getting a pretty good grip on the basic subject matter. Keep me in your prayers though as I work on this message. I really want the sermons presented to the congregation to be God's message to them.
I need to go out and do some visitation this week. I want to visit some of the leaders in the church, plus I think we'll have dinner with a family from church some night soon. We have tried to have dinner with them about two or three times before but something has always made us postpone.
God bless,
Tyler
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
I don't feel so good...
Well good morning to everyone out there. Yesterday and today I've been fighting a bit of a head cold. Because of this my voice in the morning makes Barry White sound like a soprano. I'm praying that this will pass soon. We have a busy week coming up.
Misty and I will have a meeting about adoption on Wednesday in Wichita. My mom and grandma will be showing up here sometime on Thursday for the weekend. Misty is decorating a cake for a baby shower which will be Sunday afternoon (after both a potluck and our evening service which we hold in the afternoons when we have potlucks). Plus, my boss, the District Rep. for VM will by showing up here on Saturday afternoon, so we get to have a board meeting that night. I'm pretty sure next week might get back to normal. Whatever normal is.
On the plus side of things, my sermon for Sunday is already written. We had a funeral for Misty's grandpa this last Saturday and so we had to leave town for the weekend. A friend from VM filled pulpit for me. (Thanks Nathan!)
I'm going to go work on the sermon a little bit more this morning. Even though it's written, I now have time to make it a little better, and then off for visitation this afternoon.
God bless,
Tyler
Misty and I will have a meeting about adoption on Wednesday in Wichita. My mom and grandma will be showing up here sometime on Thursday for the weekend. Misty is decorating a cake for a baby shower which will be Sunday afternoon (after both a potluck and our evening service which we hold in the afternoons when we have potlucks). Plus, my boss, the District Rep. for VM will by showing up here on Saturday afternoon, so we get to have a board meeting that night. I'm pretty sure next week might get back to normal. Whatever normal is.
On the plus side of things, my sermon for Sunday is already written. We had a funeral for Misty's grandpa this last Saturday and so we had to leave town for the weekend. A friend from VM filled pulpit for me. (Thanks Nathan!)
I'm going to go work on the sermon a little bit more this morning. Even though it's written, I now have time to make it a little better, and then off for visitation this afternoon.
God bless,
Tyler
Monday, October 23, 2006
The Life of a Village Missionary
My wife Misty and I have decided to do a couple of blogs about different things in our lives. This one is about our lives as Village Missionaries. Our other is located at larsonlove.blogspot.com and is about different things we're doing in our lives.
We have been Village Missionaries in north-central Kansas for just over 2 months and have experienced a large change in our lives since we moved here. Previously I was the manager at a coffee shop in Nebraska and being a pastor is a completely different experience. However, this is what I've wanted to do since High School and finally being able to be where God has prepared me to be is extremely exciting.
We are going through the book of Galatians during our Sunday morning services and are really getting a glimpse of grace vs. the Law. Sunday nights we are going through the 10 basic doctrines and everyone is learning a lot. It's great to see people excited about learning more about God.
We are in a very rural location (nearest neighbor is a mile away) so the personal aspect of ministry is drastically different from what I had anticipated. It is a lot harder to visit people because of the distance from everyone plus having them not be home when you do get there is a difficulty that I'm trying to deal with. (Please pray for me in this.)
More on this later, God bless,
Tyler
We have been Village Missionaries in north-central Kansas for just over 2 months and have experienced a large change in our lives since we moved here. Previously I was the manager at a coffee shop in Nebraska and being a pastor is a completely different experience. However, this is what I've wanted to do since High School and finally being able to be where God has prepared me to be is extremely exciting.
We are going through the book of Galatians during our Sunday morning services and are really getting a glimpse of grace vs. the Law. Sunday nights we are going through the 10 basic doctrines and everyone is learning a lot. It's great to see people excited about learning more about God.
We are in a very rural location (nearest neighbor is a mile away) so the personal aspect of ministry is drastically different from what I had anticipated. It is a lot harder to visit people because of the distance from everyone plus having them not be home when you do get there is a difficulty that I'm trying to deal with. (Please pray for me in this.)
More on this later, God bless,
Tyler
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