Andy Talks

Paul today is not writing to social media users in 2024, it just seems like it.  He tells us to be gentle with our words, not quarrelsome, but seeking to answer all with gentleness.  He says for God may lead them to repentance and a turning from their sins. Isn’t that our point y’all?  Isn’t that what we want to happen, what we want to occur?  Do we not want to persuade people to follow Jesus?  No...

Paul compares the struggles we face to those of a soldier or of an athlete or a farmer. There will be difficult days, but if we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, we are called to that deeper life that our souls ache for. We know there is more out there; there is something deeper that makes all that we go through worth it.  We are not called to these earthly things, but we are called to something tru...

Paul mentions the word “ashamed” three times in these few verses today.  I always try to pay attention when something is mentioned repeatedly, so what is the Word trying to tell us today?  Don't be ashamed of following Jesus today, either afraid of what folks outside the church may think or what folks inside the church may think. Follow Jesus.  And don’t be ashamed of each other. As Christian...

In our Traditional message from February 25, 2024, we look at Mark 8: 31-38.  Peter has to learn this lesson; we all must learn. To get out of his own way. Sometimes, the hardest battle we must fight is with ourselves and our desire for control.

Paul loves Timothy as a son.  We see this as we begin 2 Timothy together.  Paul tells him to rekindle the gift of God, to remember his family, and to know that he was not given a spirit of cowardice but of power, of love, and of self-discipline. I think it’s so interesting that love is there in the middle of those gifts. When we are full of God’s spirit, we will have that power and that discipline...

Paul gives Timothy some final words today: fight the good fight.  He contrasts the way that Timothy (and all of us) are called to live with the way that others live. We are to fight that good fight and hold fast to our confessions.  Cling to life that is really life.  There are so many things that claim to be life, but they are not. Do not give in to those. Fight for what is truly life. It’s hard...

Paul talks to us today in 1 Timothy 6: 1-10 about the dangers of desiring and chasing after wealth. But before that, in verses 1-2, he talks about slavery. We take a few minutes to unpack what that means in Roman culture compared to American history. Then, we look closer at why the love of money is the root of all evil and how, if we are not careful, it can cause us to lose our souls.    Join us f...

In the February 18, 2024 message, we looked at Mark 1: 9-15. We are looking specifically at the temptation account. We expect spirited careful to be grand and glorious. But normally, it is the ordinary, common battle of putting our pride to death and following Jesus. 

Paul is often seen as gruff and sometimes very harsh. And that reputation is well deserved, at times. But today, we see him offer fatherly advice to Timothy. We see him encourage Timothy in some way to help his ailing stomach. We also see Paul remind us that sins, as well as our good works, are known to God. Because of this truth, we should always be people of repentance and of humility.  Join us...

Today, in 1 Timothy 5, we see Paul give Timothy some words about how we speak to each other.  We live in an age of much harsh language; Paul tells Timothy to speak with kindness towards each other, to those who are older, as well as those who are the same age as you.  Our language should reflect our charity. Then, Paul gives words of advice for how the widows in the church should live and be treat...

Today is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Lent is the forty-day period that starts on Ash Wednesday and leads to Easter.  It is a season where Christians will take time to fast, pray, and remember our Lord's sacrifice upon the cross.  It is a season that focuses on repentance (turning from sin and turning to God) and on our spiritual disciplines.  We take some time in our Rooted in Ch...

Today, we see Paul’s words on training. We are to train for Godliness. Paul does a great job of telling us exactly what that looks like. He tells us to understand that we have been called and gifted by the spirit. But also, we are to examine ourselves and examine our teaching. We have a calling and a gift.  But we also need to be held accountable.  If we can hold these two things together, we can...

Paul today continues a conversation that he has over and over again in the New Testament.  What are we to do about marriage?  What about food that has been sacrificed to idols?  Are we to eat?  Are we to avoid? What are we to do? Paul reminds us, as he always does that the food is not the point and not a big deal. What matters is this.  Are we loving God and loving our neighbor?  Legalism seems so...

In the last of our series, "Balance," we look at Genesis 32: 22-32 and examine what role it is that reason plays in our faith and our theological method.  If you would like to see my notes for this message, you can click here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1opBox7wHj73rcOj_oVs9aWwFutuMoxtLpRqX9-nAZ4A/edit?usp=share_link

Paul gives us some truth about what we believe. He defines some of our key and core doctrines about who Jesus Christ is.  He gives us some powerful words for us to stand on. But do you know what he said right before?  Great is the mystery of our religion. We want everything to make sense. We are the children of the Enlightenment.  We want it all to make sense and be able to be understood so very e...

Today, we look at what Paul tells us about the role of deacons.  We take a few minutes to talk about who deacons were, Biblically, and who deacons are today.  We walk through what deacons do in some of our different traditions, and while it may look different in each one, there is one thing that is common across all. Deacons call us as Christians, over and over again, to serve. That’s our job as C...

Paul today lays out for us the qualification for “bishops.”  We talk today about how that word is translated and how that word is where we get a lot of the concepts we use for church leaders, preachers, bishops, and other forms.   What do these words mean for us as we look for spiritual leadership? And for those of us who are preachers, what words can we take from them? We should have high spiritu...

Today, in 1 Timothy 2: 8-15, we see some of Paul’s words that may be the hardest to understand and make sense of, and that’s saying something talking about Paul. Even Peter agrees that Paul can be hard to understand at times ( 2 Peter 3: 15-16 ).  Paul talks to women about the importance of modesty and then goes into concepts of submission and learning. What could he mean by this? And what does th...

Today’s passage gives us some great instruction on prayer.  Pray for all our leaders.  Paul tells us to pray, and to seek to be good citizens. These aren’t just idle words; Paul will soon be put to death by these very leaders. But Paul believes that Jesus died for all the world and that God wants all to be saved. So, Paul tells Timothy and us that we should be praying for all. Those we love and th...

In our Traditional sermon from February 3, we look at John 4: 39-42.  As we continue looking at our theology method as United Methodists, we look today at the role that Experience places, both in our understanding of Scripture and how we understand God.

Paul calls himself the chief of all sinners. Why? Why does he say that?  For Paul , that has a very specific meaning.  Paul had great knowledge of the Law, of the teachings and traditions of his people. There was much that Paul knew. But he tells us that he did not have belief.  He acted out of unbelief.  He blasphemed and was violent. Yet God showed him, the chief of all sinners, mercy. Because h...

We begin 1 Timothy today, looking at 1:1-11. Paul warns against false teaching today, those who are using the Law wrong, not even aware of what the law is or what its purpose is. The Law was given in many ways to show us that we cannot keep it but that we need a savior. The Law shows us our inadequacies. Paul tells us today the purpose of divine instruction - love, coming from a pure heart, a clea...

We end Proverbs with where we started it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.  Proverbs 31 is the famous passage of a wise and Godly woman.  What do we see as the foundation of her wisdom?  Why is she to be praised?  Verse 30 says that charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  Proverbs ends where it begins. The fear of the Lord is the...

Today, as read from Proverbs 30, we see the sayings of Agur. These are interesting and follow some interesting patterns. One of the things we see frequently in this passage is Agur looking to the created order and seeing wisdom there. He sees so much that he learns about God just by looking all around him. This is a good word for us today. There is so much wisdom, so much goodness, so much of God’...

Even though I was out on Sunday, we discussed Tradition in our series about theological reflection called "Balance," I wanted to share this message with you. I look at 2 Thessalonians 2: 13-15, where Paul speaks to us about the Tradition handed down. What does it mean to say to us as United Methodists that we use Tradition to better understand Scripture? If you'd like to see my note...