Andy Talks

There are things, I believe, in scripture that are there to be a warning to us. I think Nineveh is one such thing. We see the judgment that is coming to them. This chapter ends by telling us that no one escaped their cruelty. They lived by the sword, and now they die by it. As Christians, we do not believe in karma; we believe in grace. But within that, if we live a life dictated by values and dec...

In our Traditional message from Pentecost Sunday, Andy shares with us from Acts 2: 1-21 and Genesis 11: 1-9. God is a God of restoration.  He restores all things. When we catch on fire with the Spirit, amazing things happen! 

Today, we see Nahum talking about something that the Jewish people did not believe could ever happen - the destruction of Nineveh. There’s no way that could happen.  They were too big, too strong, too much. Not possible. But God was going to bring judgment against them. He would. He was going to make all things right. That’s a reminder to us today. We don’t have to make all things right. We don’t...

Nahum is a prophet speaking a word against Ninevah. We saw in Jonah the evil that was in Ninevah, how the prophet didn’t want to go preach because he didn’t want God to forgive them for their great evil.  He knew they were evil and needed to be judged.  We see in Nahum a little of what this sermon may have looked like. Evil is there, and it will destroy. We need to be careful, very careful of evil...

All throughout the Bible, we are told about God’s signs and wonders. That’s a constant theme in Acts and is a constant theme in the prophets. Today, at the end of Micah, we see the greatest example of God’s power, the greatest example of signs and wonders. God’s grace. His mercy. His forgiveness. Vengetance is easy. But, mercy, mercy takes strength. Mercy takes power.  Mercy is amazing. That is th...

Today, we see two sections held together by a key verse. The first part is about the corruption of the world and the judgment that is coming. We see how bad it is, how people are not living or leading with integrity, taking bribes, stealing, and abusing.  Contrast this with 6:8, with God’s call to do justice.  The second section is about God’s restoration and hope. But in the middle is verse 7, wh...

In our Traditional sermon from May 12, Andy shares with us from John 17: 6-19.  Jesus doesn't pray that we be removed from suffering but that we will be protected. In the real world, we will find troubles. But, through His graces, these trials and grow us even closer to our Savior.

The Lord tells the people about the judgment that is coming to them, and it is this judgment. They will have all they want, they will eat, they will save, they will have all of this, but it will never satisfy them. They will have it all, but they will find that this is not going to give them life, and the more they have, the less they are satisfied.  Our abundance can be like salty water. The more...

Today is another passage we all know very well: God has shown us what He expected of us - to do mercy, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. But what does that mean?  What does that look like?  What would it be like for us to live out the heart of this passage? This is a beautiful passage and a beautiful call for each of us! Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short min...

Today, we see the famous passage in Micah, cited in Matthew to the Wise Men, telling us where Jesus was to be born.  That’s a very well-known passage, but as I read, I found myself pulled more to verse five, which tells us this, “He is our peace.”  I love that so much.  Peace is not a concept. Peace is a person: Jesus. We do not pray or read the Bible to make God give us peace; we do these things...

We see a passage today that we’ve all heard a million times, so we look at it in the right context; they will beat their swords into plowshares, and they shall not learn of war anymore. We see, though, that this beloved passage is in the midst of God’s restoration and salvation. Then we see that there will come a time when God will restore. The reality is that those things are not now.  We don’t n...

Today , we see Micah condemn the shepherds, the royal prophets, and the kings. For a pastor, such as myself, I always read those words and take them to heart. Am I leading in a way that brings health? That points to Jesus? That helps others know His grace.  That’s a heavy question, one that I ponder deeply. But perhaps you are not a pastor; you’re just a “regular” person. This means nothing to you...

The path we are walking as a church is challenging, but we believe it is the right path. The world needs to see what unity can look like. Just because we don't agree on everything doesn't mean we can't unite on the main thing.

Today, in Micah, we see the prophet condemn the people for their actions, but in verse two, he hits at what is driving their actions. Their hearts.  Their hearts covet things that are not theirs, which leads to their hands stealing, taking, and destroying. It all starts with the heart.  The Psalmist tells us that God grants us the desires of our hearts, but what God is doing is causing our hearts...

Today, we begin our time in Micah. He is a prophet in the southern kingdom of Judah, and he begins today by saying that judgment will come on both the northern kingdom (Israel and Samaria) and the southern kingdom (Judah and Jerusalem). Samaria has worshiped idols, and that sin has even infected Jerusalem. In our lives, we should look at those around us and ask if they are a positive or negative i...

Jonah tells God why he ran today. He knew who God was. He knew what God would do. He understood God’s character. God is a God of compassion and of mercy. He is a God of grace who abounds in mercy.  Jonah hated the Nivevites so much that he did not want God to forgive. That’s why he ran. Today, do we understand just how deeply God loves us for us?  And do we understand that God shows compassion on...

Today, we see two “changes.” First, Jonah changes. He gets out of the belly of the great fish, and he does the very thing that he said he would not do. He goes to Nineveh and he preaches to the very folks he did not want to. He changed. Now, it was only after great suffering that he changed. Second, we see the people of Nevaeh change. They heard the message from Jonah, and they changed. They repen...

We see Jonah in the belly of the fish today, and in this moment, he remembers the Lord. He cries out to the Lord.  He turns to Him and remembers His temple, He remembers His goodness, and He remembers that God saves. Salvation is from the Lord.  Sometimes, we have to wind up in the belly of the whale before we are broken enough to turn to God. Sometimes, we don’t think we need God, that we got it....

We start one of the most well-known and beloved stories in the Bible today, the story of Jonah. Today, we see Jonah run from God. If you know anything about Ninevah, you will understand why Jonah ran.  The Ninevites were truly terrible. They came and conquered by fear. They wanted the people to be afraid of them.  Jonah saw how bad they were, and he didn’t want them to receive the forgiveness he f...

Today in Obadiah, we are talking about the concept of schadenfreude.  This is when someone takes pleasure in the misfortune of others. In our world, things have become so polarized that it seems as though when our “enemies” or those who disagree with us, especially theologically or politically, have a misfortune, it’s tempting to say, “Ha!  You got what was coming to you!”  For many of us, that ma...

Today, I realized when reviewing my notes that I had skipped Hosea!  We just jumped right over it when we started the minor prophets. I thought it would be good today not to necessarily look at all of Hosea but look at my favorite chapter in this book, Chapter 11.  In this chapter, we see how frustrated the Lord is with the sins of the people and how He is ready to give them over and give them up....

Today, we continue looking at the Gospel passages for recent Sundays. Today, we’ll look at the passage for this coming Sunday, John 15: 1-8. This is a well-known passage where Jesus tells us that He is the vine, and we are branches. He is our life; apart from Him, we can do nothing. How do we remain in Him?  Jesus tells us that we must abide in Him.  We have tools that God has given us, such as pr...

For the next two days, I’m going to look at the Gospel passages for last Sunday and next Sunday. I’ll go a couple of Sundays without preaching, so I thought it may be interesting to look at these passages. Yesterday was John 10: 11-18. We see Jesus tell us that He is the good shepherd. What does the Good Shepherd do?  He lays down His life for His sheep. That’s how loved you are. Jesus’ life was n...

Amos 9 once again tells us of the judgment that is coming. But Amos, like almost every one of the prophets, ends this way - grace. God tells the people that He will restore, He will rebuild, He will replant. He loves them. If you read Amos, you will see this love is not because they are perfect and they get it right, we see this love is because God is good.  He loves His people. He will not give u...

God continues His rebuke of the people. We see that they have lost their way. Instead of placing God first, instead of placing their faith and religion first in their lives, have have placed the accumulation of wealth first. They are complaining about their faith because they cannot steal from the poor on the Sabbath because they cannot sell.  They have lost their way.  Because of this, there will...