Andy Talks

Another great story from the first chapter of Luke. Today, we see Mary go to Elizabeth. We have this wonderful image of the unborn John the Baptist leaping in the womb in the presence of the unborn Jesus. The Spirit falls on Elizabeth, and she pronounces blessings. Blessings on Jesus and on Mary, as well as on Mary’s faith. Mary had made the right choice, had done what God required and asked. She...

We have one of my favorite examples of faith today, Mary.  I heard Rich Mullins say once in an interview, “It’s not that Catholics think too much of Mary, it’s that we Protestants don’t think enough of Mary.”  Mary is a perfect example of faith. God comes and upends her world. And what does she say?  Let it be unto me, according to thy word. She trusts in God, even when it is not the path she had...

Today in Luke, we see the foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist. He was the last of his kind.  His parents were of the line of priests, but he was going to be the last of the Old Testament prophets. He was the one who would be the last of the old covenant and who would point to the keeper of the new covenant, Jesus Christ.  As his parents were living their lives, God showed up, invaded thei...

Luke’s Gospel begins by telling us why he is doing this.  We see that many gospels (which means “good news”) have already been written by this time.  So, why aren’t they included in the Bible?  Are they trying to hide something out there?  Is the truth really out there, and no one wants to tell us?  No, that’s not it.  There are four marks that every book in the Bible shares, and no book that has...

In our Road Trip Series, we look at Deborah, this great female judge and leader of the people. Her story, and all the book of Judges, shows how God will use unexpected people, like "them" and like us.

We take a break between finishing Judges this week and moving to Luke next week. I always find the Psalms to be a great passage to use as a break between two different books.  Today, we’ll look at Psalm 17. This is a passage that I’ll be preaching from later this year, so I’ve started spending time with it. This is a Psalm of deliverance, a Psalm in which David cries out to God to save him.  God l...

As Judges ends, we see perhaps the worst story in all the Bible. I have often been told that in ancient days, Rabbis would not allow youths to read the Song of Solomon until they were “of age” because of the themes. I believe the story of the Levite’s concubine is much the same.  It’s a story of sexual assault, of evil, of abuse, of just the very worst of humanity.  Reinhold Niebuhr once wrote tha...

These last few chapters of Judges can be understood as a commentary on what has happened to the people.  We see this refrain, over and over throughout the book, the people did what was right in their own eyes.  We see in these two chapters how the people are seeking to bend their faith and their religion to their own desires. They are doing things like asking God to bless an idol!  And having a Le...

We see Samson's death today, a story that many of us are familiar with. But when you read it, you see something perhaps unexpected. Samson asks for strength so that he can be an instrument of revenge. That is not something that we are supposed to be about as Christians, is it?  We are supposed to forgive and not seek vengeance. So, even though Samson doesn’t have the best of intentions, God w...

Today, we are going to take quite the ride. What is the connection between Samson’s hair and baptism? Samson’s hair is symbolic of the connection he has with God; it is the symbol of the covenant that his parents made with God and that he (by and large) kept.  So, the hair was not the “thing,” but it was the outward sign of “thing.”  In the same way, our wedding rings are that visible symbol and r...

In our Traditional message from June 15, 2025, Andy shares with us from Matthew 2: 13-23.  Joseph had plans for his life, good plans, but God came and upended all of these. Even though Joseph may not have understood it completely at first, he remained faithful. That's our call. Not perfection. Faithfulness.

When I look at Sampson, I think to myself, I would never use him. He is out of control. He is reckless. He even, at one point, names what he is doing as mischief. But what do we find? God uses him. God uses him as an instrument. God uses him to help the Israelites. Even though Sampson is not someone I would use, God does. God doesn't always make sense, and we need to remember that. God isn&ap...

We see more of Sampson’s story today, and we encounter a theme that will remain constant throughout his life. Sampson lives recklessly. He lives out of control. The Lord is able to use him, yes, and even the most out-of-control life can be used by God. But Sampson lives totally out of control. He breaks the law, he makes his parents unclean, he is prideful, he is cocky, he lives in a way that is d...

Today, we see the birth of Sampson. The angel who comes to his family tells them that Sampson is to be a nazirite.  He is to be set apart, no unclean food, no wine, no haircuts. He is to be different from all his neighbors. To be holy is to be set apart. As Christians, especially those of us from the Wesleyan family, holiness is our purpose. But we are to always remember that holiness is not so mu...

We have seen a lot of stories thus far of well-known judges. Gideon’s story took chapters. But today, we see the story of three individual judges that takes about seven verses.  We don’t know much about them. We don’t know their stories. We don’t know what they did right or what they did wrong. All we know is that they were faithful. That’s all we can be.  We can’t compare ourselves to others, to...

Today, we looked at a story about the warfare among the tribes, but it was so much more than that. We see the concept of a “Shibboleth.”  This is a word that certain tribes could not pronounce correctly, thus revealing their true identity. The concept of Shibboleth is a way to know if something is “true” or not. What is your Shibboleth of who is a Christian? We’ll talk today about some historic ma...

In our Pentecost sermon, Andy shares with us from Acts 21:1-21. We see that on this day, the Spirit was given to us. The church was born, but within that, the hope of Glory is Christ with us. We each have the Spirit, and we are called to that Good News of Jesus Christ with us outside the walls, into all the world! 

Jephthah is always one of the more interesting stories in the Bible to me. He is a judge who makes a hasty vow that comes at a great cost to his daughter.  This is a cautionary tale to us to be careful of promises and vows. I was raised to take very seriously my promise, and if I promise something, I mean it.  Our vows to God matter.  Let me be clear, Jephthah is no hero in vows. But even in this,...

We see the Israelites fall into sin and slavery again today.  We take a few moments to unpack again what idolatry truly is.  It is not a golden calf on top of the TV, or some pagan pole in our backyard. It is the thing that we give our allegiance and security to, other than God. What is the thing, other than the Lord, that we trust in? That is where our idol is.  But then, we see the Lord, when th...

Our VBS will explore different Road Trips in Scripture, so throughout the summer, in our sermons, we will examine various individuals who traveled with God. Today, we'll look at Abraham and the road trip of faith that takes us, with all of our faithfulness and faults.

We see the story today of two judges whom we do not know much about.  And saying we see their story isn’t really right, either. We don’t see their stories. We see their names and that’s about it. We don’t know anything about them, really. We just know this, they were faithful.  They were judges. They served. They were faithful, but we don’t know anything about them. Being faithful doesn’t mean tha...

We see the conclusion of what started yesterday with the parable. Abimelech reaped what he sowed. One thing that is really important for us to realize is that as Christians, we do not believe in karma. That is not a Christian concept. It says that we get what we deserve. That is not what we believe. We believe that we get grace, which is not what we deserve. We cry for mercy, not judgment. However...

We see a beautiful parable today about trees and power. In this parable, the trees go to two other trees, the olive tree and the fig tree, and ask them to be their king. But, they say no, because while they do not have power, they have purpose.  They are giving to others , and in that giving, they find purpose. Then they go to a vine and it says now, because likewise it has purpose. Finally, the t...

We see Gideon die today, and while he told the people that he, nor his children, would be king of them, one of his kids, Abimelech, sees the power that could be his if he were king. So, he begins to do terrible things, and even kills his brothers. All in the pursuit of power.  Power is a dangerous thing, friends. But for us as Christians, power does not come from the ways of the world; power comes...

The people come to Gideon and ask him to be king. He responds in the right way, no, that is not what you need. So, he gets that right. But then asks for golden earrings and makes an idol from these earrings. So, we see here an idol that will trap the people. Friends, there are always idols. There will always be idols that whisper to us. It would be easier if they were as obvious as a golden idol....