Andy Talks

Today, we read what may be the most well-known passage in Proverbs, chapter 3:5-6.  Don’t trust in your own understanding.  Lean on God. Trust in Him. Acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.  Think of all the time that we spend fretting and fussing, trying to figure it all out. We are told today that if we trust in our own understanding, we will find ourselves in a mess. But when we...

Today, we see that wisdom flows from God. It is a gift from God; it is a gift from the Holy Spirit. In James, we are told that if we lack wisdom, we should ask. And God will give to all who ask. It does not come from knowledge or from living; it comes from God. Today, see wisdom. Ask for wisdom.  Ask boldly, and God will give. God will give us the grace to live out a worldview that comes from His...

In this new year, we will look daily at a chapter in Proverbs. There is much we can gain from this great book of wisdom. Today, we see that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge or wisdom. We talk today about what it means to fear the Lord. It is not what we may think that it is. We see when we understand what this means how very important this is.  This truth really is the beginn...

In our Combined worship service from December 24, 2023, Andy shares with us from Luke 1: 26-38.  Jesus is love.  But Mary had a part to play in God's plan of us knowing that. There are folks out there who need to know that God is love. We have a job to do in telling others this truth!

In our Christmas Eve message, Andy shares with us from Luke 2: 1-20.  The Gospel is Good News!  For unto us a child is born!  That is Good News!  That is the Gospel. God responds to all our human brokenness and needs with Love!

Today’s passage is one that we have heard read a million times. We know it. We’ve heard it.  We’ve experienced it.  This story reminds us of our parents and grandparents, it reminds us of our home, of Christmases of old. Remember those times. Remember those stories. Remember God’s goodness in the original story, but also in the retelling, over and over again, of this story. And today, take time to...

We look at Matthew’s telling of the Christmas story.  We see how, from the very beginning, Matthew is tying everything into the Old Testament.  Jesus is not a new thing, but He is the very fulfillment of what God was doing from the start.  He was the plan all along. He wasn’t God’s last option. He was what God was doing before the foundation of the world. We read all the Bible looking for Jesus. H...

Over the next three days, we will look at the Christmas story as found in the Gospels. Today, we look at John’s.  This is my personal favorite.  Now, when we read John’s Gospel, we don’t see the normal things we are used to seeing in a Christmas story. We don’t see sheep or Wise Men or Mary, or anything. We see a Christmas story that is cosmic, the very God of creation coming to undo the cosmic ef...

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings Today, We read how their hearts burned when Jesus opened the scriptures to them. Fire is a common thing in scripture; sometimes, it is seen as bad (James and...

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings Psalm 130 is a psalm of ascent. It is a psalm that is given to be sung as worshipers walk up to Mt. Zion, to the temple. Yet, it starts off not with a note of...

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings Jesus tells us to keep awake.  Keep awake, keep watch. We are called to be active in these things.  Keep watch, looking for His soon return. Keep watch, looki...

In our Blue Christmas Service, Andy shares from Psalm 130 and Lamentations 3: 22-26.  Lament is a Christian virtue. We wait upon the Lord. We hope in the Lord. But there are times when all we can do is lament our pain, our loss, our hurt. And know that our Lord is with us, in the midst of all of our hurt. 

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings We see a beautiful picture today of what things will be like one day.  All things will be restored. Because of the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all...

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings Today, we are told to wait on the Lord.  We have confidence, not in ourselves, but we have confidence in the Lord. We wait upon Him, and we know that we will...

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings CS Lewis once said, “All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of m...

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings Paul gives us repeated passages from the Old Testament today and tells us this. God has been at work, in all this, to bring the Good News to all the world. Th...

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings Today, we see Jesus’ sermon to His hometown folks.  He reads from Isaiah and shares that the Lord has anointed Him to bring good news to the poor.  This is fu...

Today, we look at Mark 1: 1-8. What does a Christian look like?  We see in our Confirmation Sunday, as these young persons confess and confirm their hope, what a Christian looks like.  Where Jesus is, there is peace.  Peace is found in the person of Jesus Christ.    

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings In our reading today, we are reminded that Jesus preached peace to those who are near and those who are far. And through the cross, he has ended the division,...

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings Today, the prophet asks us a question. Why are you spending money on that which is not bread and laboring for that which does not satisfy?  We are busy, we ar...

Throughout the season of Advent, we’ll have a weekday reflection based on suggested scriptures from a great resource entitled The Common Rule. You can find a calendar of the daily readings here - https://www.thecommonrule.org/advent-readings .   Today, we hear the words of Isaiah, “Comfort.”  I recount how, as I kid I was always puzzled by Mr. Rogers putting on comfortable clothes at the beginning...

Advent teaches us so very much.  It teaches us hope. And peace. And joy.  And love. But above all else, it teaches us trust. Advent, at its core, is about waiting and it is about trust. It is about trusting in God to make all things wait. Advent is about when we remember the waiting of the people of God for Jesus’ first coming. And it is where we wait now for His second coming. Today, we’ll talk a...

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. What does that mean?  For some of us, we may be familiar with Advent, but we aren’t sure what it is really about. For others, we may have no idea. Advent is the first season of the church year, and while we talk about it (more tomorrow), today we talk about the church year. What are the seasons?  How do they work? What are they about?  Why should we even c...

In our Traditional message for the first Sunday of Advent, we look at this truth - Jesus is hope. Not that Jesus brings hope, but that hope is found in the person of Jesus. Andy shares with us from 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9.  Join us as we learn hope is found fully in Jesus!     

We often see Palm Sunday as an act of humility by Jesus. It was, yes, but it was kingly humility. Jesus is declaring for all to see that He is the Messiah. He is the one prophesied about. And when He rides that donkey into town, all can see He is declaring Himself King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As one of my mentors once told me, Palm Sunday was the most messianic thing that Jesus did upon the ea...