Andy Talks

Today’s Psalm is a Psalm of active praise. The Psalmist tells us to praise the Lord.  Praise Him with all that we are. With voice, with action, with everything.  Of the best ways that we can increase our praise, increase our thanksgiving, and increase our heart for God is to be active in our praise. Today, name what it is that you are thankful for. Name God’s goodness and mercy. Name what God has...

Happy Thanksgiving!  Today’s Psalm repeats itself over and over again. The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. I love that this repeats itself so often because, if we are going to be honest, there are times when we forget.  We can forget what is true. We can forget who we are. We can forget who we are. We repeat the truth to ourselves, even when we don’t believe it.  We repeat the truth to...

We are looking today at my favorite Psalm 121. This is a Psalm I just find myself quoting over and over again. It always seems to be on the tip of my tongue.  Part of the reason is because when I was a younger Christian, I found myself singing this Psalm over and over again. I’m including a link to the version I used to sing along to. In that, this Psalm became a part of my deep spiritual life. I...

Today we look at Psalm 107. This Psalm has a heading, “Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Many Troubles.”  This Psalm looks at the many troubles that the people have gone through and how it was always God’s steadfast love that delivered them.  It is important for us to remember what the Lord has brought us through. There’s an old Steven Curtis Chapman song - “Remember Your Chains,” that this Psalm...

As we start our week of Thanksgiving, we begin with Psalm 100. This is one of my personal favorites of the Psalms because it tells us this. We are loved by God. But not only are loved by God, but we are worthy of being loved by God because He made us. We are His. We are the sheep of his pasture. He has made us, He has formed us, we are His. We are loved today.  So, we enter His courts with praise...

In our message from November 19, 2023, Andy shares with us from James 1:17.  We are reminded that all good gifts are from above.  If it is in your life and it is a good thing, it is from God. All of these gifts of grace, they point us to the love and salvation of our God. All good things point us to Jesus!     

It is easy for us to read the Bible, like ancient history or a fairy tale at worst.  We can forget that these were real people whom God worked through. Paul was just flesh and blood, just like me and you. And the same God that worked through Paul to do such things is the same God who works through you and I, if we will allow.  These are real people with real stories and real life.  This is not mak...

After many hard days, Paul finally made it to Rome. Here is where he will spend the rest of his days teaching, preaching, and sharing the gospel - Jesus is Lord. That is the gospel; that is Good News. Jesus is Lord.  Because of Paul and how God uses him, we see that the Good News will take hold and spread throughout all of Europe.  As Tim Keller has taught us, Christianity is the only religion who...

Today, we see they have made it to the island of Malta. It is there, under the kindness of the residents, Paul is by the fire and bitten by a snake. This seemingly tragic incident shows God’s hand of provision and protection upon Paul.  And then as we read this story, it’s a neat thing to look at how this passage goes back to the “longer” ending of the Gospel of Mark. We see how the end of Mark an...

Everything that Paul told the crew would happen has happened. The ship has wrecked. They nearly died. It has been a hard journey. Paul’s words have proven true.  You know what this means?  Everyone on this ship now knows and believes that Paul is a man of God. His words have proven true. They believe him. It is important for in our lives to make sure that our walk matches our talk so that when we...

Paul sets off to sail for Rome, and he sees early on that the trip will have troubles. Things will not go well, including the potential loss of life. And no one listens. What do we do, when we see those we love make bad choices?  What are we to do? We know that God is at work in all things, even pain and consequences. So, we pray, trusting in God to teach, protect, and guide. We trust in God, even...

In our Traditional message from November 12, 2023, Andy shares with us from James 1: 2-4.  We will have suffering. We will have a crisis of faith. But through these things and by God's grace, we are drawn closer to God and each other. We become who God is making us to be, as our trials help make our faith whole.       

Agrippa asks Paul if he is trying to make Agrippa a Christian. Paul says yes, on God’s timeline. Conversion, that’s is not up to us. Salvation, that’s in God’s hands. Our job is to be faithful, to preach, teach, and invite. But we don’t save people. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. So, today, be faithful, no matter where you find yourself. Pray for others. Pray for the Spirit to move.  Our job...

Jesus asks Paul why does he kick against the goads.  We’ll talk about what this phrase means today. The goads were things the Romans used to keep animals and people walking on the right path.  They kept them on the road. It hurt to step on one.  There is this image today of Paul kicking against it. How often in our lives do we kick against the path God is leading us on? This only causes us needles...

When you read the Gospel and Acts, you see “King Herod” mentioned a lot.  Herod the Great, Herod Antipas.  Agrippa. Agrippa again. Who were these kings? How were they related? What did they do?  Who was really in charge? Today we are going to take a few minutes and look at who these kings were. What was their role? What did they do?  Join us as we learn about all the Herods in the Bible. Join us f...

There is much conflict in this passage today. Festus doesn’t see anything worthy of charges against Paul.  Yet to turn him loose would bring conflict with the religious leaders.  So, here he is, stuck. Sometimes we feel like that, don’t we?  We are in conflict often. Sometimes, the only way forward is a choice that we may not want to make. Sometimes, there is no way forward, and we just have to tr...

Paul preaches to Felix about the Christian life. And Felix has this reaction. He’s afraid!  He’s scared of all this means and what this may look like. It reminds me of the quote about Aslan from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  Is he (Aslan, the Christ figure) safe?  No, but he is good.  Jesus is not always safe. He may scare us and call us into the things that frighten us. But we can be as...

In our All Saints Sunday sermon from our Traditional service, Andy shares with us from 1 John 3: 1-3. We have hope, but we don't always have certainty. But we have can have hope because hope is a person.  And that person is Jesus!

Paul argues today about the power of the resurrection.  Jesus is raised.  The resurrection is real, and it changes everything.  Jesus Christ has overcome even death.  And if Jesus has overcome even death, then what do we have to be afraid of?  If a death has been defeated, then nothing in life or death can come against us.  We have nothing to fear.  Do not live a life of fear! Join us for our dail...

Sometimes, we can get so comfortable in our lives that we don't want to, for we may even forget how to follow Jesus.  Today we see the religious leaders; they didn't like Jesus disrupting things.  He was messing with the way things always were.  He was calling them out of their comfort and on to being faithful.  That's hard.  We may not always want to do it.  But let us never mistak...

Today is Halloween.  Do you know the religious history of this day?  A lot has happened throughout church history, from Martin Luther to the celebration of our saints and those who have passed into the Church Triumphant.  After all, we are surrounded by a mighty cloud of witnesses!  So, while we may not think about it, today has some deep religious meaning!    Join us for our daily reflections wit...

Sometimes, we feel the pressure that it is all up to us. Don’t worry. God’s got this.  We see that Paul is nearly killed. There is a plan to ambush and kill Paul. But, Paul is saved, and in his saving, Paul is headed further down the road to where God wants him, in Rome, preaching. We may not always understand what is happening at the moment. It may not always make sense. But we know that God is a...

In our Traditional sermon from October 29, 2023, we hear the story of the widow and Elijah. She had given all that she could give, and now Elijah wanted more?  You can't get blood from a turnip. But when we look closer, we see that her call to give was actually her call to live.  When we give, we actually find life.         

We see Paul continue to be very smart.  The Lord has told him that he was to go to Rome and testify about Him. That is where all this is headed.  But before we get there, we see some internal conflict among the religious leaders. We see a fight among the Sadducees and Pharisees. But who were these people?  Who were these groups?  What did they represent?  What did they believe?  Today, we’ll look...

Paul plays his Roman citizen card today.  Paul tells the soldiers beating him that he is a citizen of Rome, and they stop what they are doing immediately. They are not allowed to do that.  Paul’s destination to Rome continues.  He is heading there, for the glory of God. It is interesting that Paul had been telling the people his testimony, telling them what God had done, but they would not listen....