Andy Talks

Today, Paul faces opposition again.  He gets run out of another town. We see the same pattern emerge for Paul and Barnabas.  They go into town, they preach, people respond, they face opposition, and are run out. This is a great warning and reminder to us. We will face opposition. We will.  The Christian life is not a fairy tale. There will be troubles. That is why we need to truly be faithful to o...

Paul and Barnabas effectively share the Good News of Jesus Christ with the community today. Because of this, some religious leaders are jealous, which leads them to drive Paul and Barnabas out of the town. When we fill ourselves with our pride and stuff, jealousy is produced. We find joy when we are like the disciples and filled with the Spirit. Today, what are we being filled with?  Pride or the...

Paul is speaking to a Jewish audience today. So, what does he do?  He goes back to the Old Testament, tells their faith stories, and how those stories point to and are fulfilled in Jesus.  We see him quote Psalms, saying that Jesus did not experience corruption. What this means is this.  Sin leads to death. Because Jesus was not sinful, he was able to overcome death. Through Jesus, our sinful acti...

In our Traditional message, Andy shares with us from Matthew 14: 13-21.  We see Jesus give the disciples a problem they could not fix - feeding the 5,000.  He tells them, you do it. But the way they solve the problem is not their own strength, but they take them to Jesus. It is not for us to figure out; it is for us to follow His lead.        

Yesterday was a mountain top for Paul and Barnabas.  Today was a valley.  Yesterday, they saw and experienced revival. They saw and experienced the goodness of God. Today, they face opposition.  They faced trials.  We need both mountains and valleys.  It is on the mountain that we are revived. It is in the valley that we grow. We need them both. So, today, no matter where we find ourselves, mounta...

Today, we see the local church in Antioch, through the Holy Spirit, sees something in Saul and Barnabas. This church commissioned them and sent them off to do ministry. The church is in an imperfect body. We all know that. We’ve all felt that. We’ve all experienced that. But you know what?  We all need the church. We all need a local church to belong to. To be a part of. And to believe in us. Find...

Today, we see Herod meet his end.  He was king, yes, but he was not the TRUE king. God is king.  One day, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We should remember that. If we are in a position of influence, let us never think too highly of ourselves. And let all of us remember where the true power lay. Not with any person or any or...

We see the persecution begin.  James is killed.  Peter is imprisoned. But while in prison, an angel comes to Peter and frees him. As Peter is walking out, he is uncertain of what is happening, but he still follows the angel, and the angel leads him to freedom. We don’t always know what to do, where we are going, or what is happening. We don’t always know what to do in uncertain times. But God. As...

Peter steps outside of his comfort zone to minister to the Gentiles.  And we see the Spirit fall. We see lives changed. We see God move. Great things happen. Not because of Peter; it is almost like he is along for the ride. But in that ride, we had to step outside of his comfort zone.  He had to move. Today, we have to as well.  Where in your life is God calling you to step outside of your comfort...

We finish up our Relationship Roadmap series by looking at John 15: 9-17.  We look at what Jesus tells us - He chose us. He is for us.  He loves us. And if He loves us, then we are called to love each other.    

Peter steps outside of his comfort zone to minister to the Gentiles.  And we see the Spirit fall. We see lives changed. We see God move. Great things happen. Not because of Peter; it is almost like he is along for the ride. But in that ride, we had to step outside of his comfort zone.  He had to move. Today, we have to as well.  Where in your life is God calling you to step outside of your comfort...

Today, we see that these Gentiles believe in Jesus. They believe in the work of Jesus. They believe in what He has done. They believe in His Lordship. And they are saved. They don’t have to convert to Judaism. They don’t have to “do” anything. They just have to believe in Jesus. Jesus saves.  Nothing else, no one else. Jesus saves. This fulfilled Genesis 12:3 - through Abraham, all the families of...

As many of our churches discern where they belong in our connection, the clergy are doing much the same.  After much prayer and discernment, I am called to and will remain United Methodist.     Please take a few minutes to listen to why and understand more. It comes down to 1) theology, 2) evangelism, 3) my heart and my call.     You can read more about my decision here:  https://revandy.org/?p=14...

Peter preaches today to the assembled Gentiles. But he does something different. This sermon is different from other sermons preached in Acts. He doesn’t appeal to the prophets or the Old Testament. He only makes a passing comment. Why? To these Gentiles, the Old Testament means nothing. Do what does he appeal to?  What does he use?  Two things. His testimony, what he saw and witnessed. He talked...

Peter has a vision.  A sheet is lowered from heaven with all manner of unclean animals on it. A voice says, “Rise, kill, and eat.” Peter says, I can’t! I’ve never eaten anything unclean. But the Lord says, don’t call anything unclean I have made clean.  At the same time, three Gentiles are going to find Peter because they have been commanded by Cornelius, who has been commanded by God, to bring Pe...

We shift back today to Peter.  In the coming chapters, we will move between Paul and Peter a lot. Today, we see Peter perform healings, but notice who gives the healings.  Jesus.  Peter doesn’t claim this power for himself but comes from Jesus. This principle guides Peter.  Jesus is Lord.  That is it for him. Jesus is Lord of the Jews and of the Gentiles.  Jesus is Lord of all creation.  Because o...

In our INTERSECTION message from June 23, 2023, Andy shares with us from Romans 12: 9-21.  Paul talks about heaping burning coals upon the heads of our enemies.  We look deeper at what the Bible says about coals, the Gospel, and holiness. What exactly is Paul calling us to in this text?        

Paul goes to Jerusalem, and believe it or not, they don’t want anything to do with him!  They were afraid. They were scared. They didn’t know what to do with this apparent new convert.  They weren’t going to let him in. Until guess who shows up?  Barnabas. Barnabas vouched for Saul, and they trusted Saul now.  Because of Barnabas, we have Saul.  Barnabas isn’t flashy.  He doesn’t do anything cool....

We see Saul post conversion today. And what do we see?  We see that he is different. The people of Damascus couldn’t believe that it was the same man.  How could it be?  He came to destroy the people following Jesus, and now he is there, proclaiming Jesus.  He is different!  And what is it that makes that difference? It’s actually, who is it?  It’s Jesus. Jesus makes the difference for Paul, and J...

Today, we see the conversion of Saul. But when we look at the text, we see that Saul is not the only person who had to take a huge leap of faith. God has a plan for Saul, and we see Him lay that out.  Saul had to take a leap of faith, yes, but in many ways, he didn’t really have a choice. But Ananias had to take a huge leap.  He had to extend grace to someone who he really didn’t want to.  Paul ha...

We see Phillip share the Good News today with the Ethiopian eunuch.  At the end of this story, the eunuch asks this question, - what is to stop me from being baptized?  Nothing. So, he was baptized. Today, what is to stop us from being faithful to our calling, our calling to be obedient to the Spirit?  To immerse ourselves in Scripture? And to share the Good News wherever we are?  Nothing?  Nothin...

Because of persecution, Philip flees and goes to Samaria. First, we see that God can use even hard things, like persecution, to spread the Good News. While there, he is preaching, and many are baptized. But it isn’t until later that they receive the Holy Spirit. This reminds us that as scared as even baptism is, it is not the act, in and of itself, where sacredness comes from, but the Holy Spirit...

In our July 16 message, Andy shares with us from Ephesians 6: 5-9.  This passage starts off talking about slavery, so we take a few moments to unpack to interpret scripture, particularly hard passages. After that, we look at what Paul is telling us about the other key relationships in our lives, especially our need for friendships.     

Today we see Stephen stoned to death. But as he is dying, he looks up to heaven and sees something odd. He sees Jesus STANDING at the right hand of God.  Not sitting, where we confess, He is in the Creeds—but standing.  Why?  I believe that just as we stand in key moments to cheer for those we support, Jesus is standing, telling Stephen, “Don’t give up!”  What a beautiful reminder today that no ma...

Stephen’s sermon takes a turn today.  We see him remind the people why they have these things, the Law, circumcision, the Temple. They don’t exist for themselves; they exist to point to God, to, in truth, point to Jesus. And the people missed that. They loved the stuff more than they loved the one the stuff pointed to.  We’ve got so much, so many things that are here to point us to Jesus. Do we al...