Andy Talks

We are told today that Jesus has not left us orphaned. He is with us. He has given us Himself through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He has given us an advocate and a comforter. We are never alone. If we are Christian, we have the Spirit because we can only be Christian through the Spirit. Today, let’s not pray for God’s presence because we know He is with us. Let’s pray for an awareness of th...

Today is election day. I’m going to do what I always do or have done for many years. I’m going to go vote. And I am going to read Psalm 2. This Pslam has words to speak to us in moments such as this. This Psalm reminds us of this truth. The Lord is upon the throne. The nations may rage. They may plot, they may scheme, they may plan. But God is God. He is God today, on Election Day, and He will be...

Jesus tells us today that He is going to His Father’s home and will prepare a place for us. This is a phrase we have heard a lot through the years, and we probably heard a few sermons preached about it. But what is happening? What is Jesus talking about when He says this? Preparing a room has a specific meaning in that culture that still rings true for us today. I unpack what that means for us, bu...

In our All Saints Sunday sermon, Andy shares with us from Revelation 21:1-6. We are heading home. We aren't yet there, but God is taking us to better place. We rejoice for our saints who are already there. But we know we are going home. 

Peter says he will go with Jesus even to lay down his life. Jesus says that will not happen; in fact, quite the opposite. Peter will deny Jesus three times!  We’ll look at that story later in our readings, but today, consider this. Peter wasn’t being arrogant; I just think he thought he was stronger than he was. He was not as strong as he thought he was. We should aspire to be faithful, holy, and...

We see Jesus give us a new command today. That we love one another. They will know that we are His disciples by our love. Now, question. Is that our love for all the world? Or our love for fellow Christians? I think the answer is yes. Both. There is Biblical evidence and commands to love all the world and to love our fellow Christians. But imagine the witness it would be the world if we Christians...

Judas begins the move towards betraying Jesus. Many scholars think Judas could perhaps be trying to force Jesus to become an earthly king by betraying him. I think this could be true. But whatever the historical reality may be, there is a deeper spiritual reality. Scripture tells us that Satan enters into Judas. There is a spiritual reality at play right here. There are always deeper things at pla...

In our Traditional sermon from October 27, 2024, Andy preaches from John 12: 20-26. As a church, we have everything we need to be faithful to the great calling that God has given us. We have an abundant commitment here to move from scarcity to abundance. 

Today, Jesus washes the feed of the disciples. There are a lot of things happening here. I’ve been fascinated by what Peter says: don’t wash my feet, but then he says wash all of me. Jesus tells him that he has already had a bath. So, we spent some time talking about Jewish ritual baths. Peter refuses at first for several reasons. First, it’s tough to have your feet washed. But, second, if Jesus i...

Today, we see Jesus say something that is echoed often in scripture and is said so many times. Jesus did not come to judge us; He came to save us. That’s true. That’s what He tells us here. He came to save us. But He also tells us there will be a judgment. In the end, He will judge, but His word will be the judge. Did we keep His word? Did we follow His command? That will be the judgment. We stand...

We hear some famous words of Jesus today: When He is lifted up, He will draw all people to Himself. He is, of course, talking about the cross. When Jesus dies upon the cross, He is dying for all. But there is more to this as well. When we lift Him with our words, our actions, and who we are, when we lift up the name of Jesus, He will draw all people to Himself.  That’s our job, to lift up Jesus, t...

We see John share a quote from Isaiah that is often mentioned in Jesus’ ministry. In Isaiah, we are told that God will keep people from hearing and seeing. Why? Why did He do this? As United Methodists and Wesleyans, we believe that God desires for everyone to be saved. What does this mean? What is happening here is this. God knows our choice, as the Bible says, those who we foreknew, He predestin...

In our Traditional message from October 20, 2024, Andy preaches from 2 Kings 4: 1-7. We talk about God's abundance and how we have all that we need, here, right here, to be faithful to God's call.

We read some verses today that are well-known but difficult to understand to our modern eras. Jesus says that we are to “hate” our lives. What does that mean? We are taught not to hate. To say to hate your life just doesn’t sit right with us. What we need to understand is when Jesus talks of hate, He is not talking about the emotion we so often think of, but He is talking about our priorities. We...

We see Palm Sunday in John’s Gospel today. John usually does not quote a lot of the Old Testament; that is left to the other Gospels. It is significant to me that John does just that in our reading today. He pulls from the prophets to tell us that Jesus is the Messiah. He is fulfilling the role of Messiah as put forth there, but no one, disciples included, really understood what He was doing. He w...

We see Mary anointing Jesus and Judas, and Judas tells Jesus that it is a waste. The money that was spent could have been used in more practical ways to help the poor. Now, of course, we know that Judas was lying, so we should not pay too much attention to him. But, to younger Andy, he did have a point. Should we use resources in that way? Do we really need stained glass windows? Robes? Crosses? I...

We see that the religious leaders, to keep Rome out of their business, intend to kill Jesus. It’s better in their minds for Jesus, just one man, to die than for Rome to come and destroy everything. One man dies so that many can be saved. John tells us that the high priest did not know he was telling the truth. One man was going to die, and that death would save many just not in the way that he was...

We see one of the most powerful moments in all the Bible, at least to me, when Jesus wept. Here’s the thing that always gets me about this passage. Jesus was late on purpose. He showed up late to Lazarus’ grave, on purpose so that He could raise Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus would only be dead for a moment. But Jesus, even knowing all this, when confronted with the reality of death, wept. We do n...

In our October 6, 2024 sermon, Andy shared with us from John 10:10. As a church, we are on the verge of something supernatural—something huge. Our world needs what St. Matthew's offers. God has something big in store, and He will give us all that we need to accomplish that task. We are moving from scarcity to abundance. 

After leaving Judea, Jesus decided to return after His friend Lazarus died. We will talk more about what happens next in the coming days, but this passage today shows us that Jesus is late on purpose. As they get ready to leave, the disciples are worried about what may happen. That is when Thomas says they should go with Jesus and die with Him. Thomas shows bravery and courage. So why do we rememb...

Jesus continues His back and forth with the religious leaders. Today, He tells them that if they will not believe His words, they should look at His works. Friends, that is exactly where we are today at this moment. The world does not believe our words. They simply do not. We have to be able to point to our works. They do not believe us when we talk about Jesus. We have to love like Jesus, serve l...

We see Jesus share with us today two things that made me ponder. First, He has sheep in other flocks. What did this mean to the people who heard Him? What does this mean to us today? And we also see this beautiful reminder.  No one took His life; He laid it down willingly. Why? Because He loves His sheep. He loves us. Life comes from laying down your life as a Christian, as a spouse, as a parent,...

Today’s reading includes one of my favorite passages, John 10:10, which tells us that we have abundant life in Jesus. I’ll actually be preaching on this passage this coming Sunday at St. Matthew’s. But I wanted to take a little time and talk about the sheep. They learn the voice of the shepherd, and they follow. Not only do they follow the voice of the shepherd, they learn to run from any voice th...

The man born blind really catches it today. He is questioned twice by the religious leaders about how it is that he can see. His parents are questioned. Everyone is out to get him, it seems. He stands by what he knows to be true. He once was blind, but now he can see. Jesus healed him. After he is driven from the synagogue, Jesus finds him. Jesus loves this man. He cares for him. Jesus sees him, a...

In our INTERSECTION message from September 29, Andy shares with us from Amos 5: 21-24. There are some things that only the church can do. We are called, as the church, to live our God's love.