Andy Talks

We see Stephen recount the stories of the Old Testament today. We get a crash course in Genesis 12- Exodus 3.  And you know what we see?  God is the hero of the story. Not Abraham or Isaac or any of the others. God.  God is with them. God saves. God is present. He gives them His covenant, and that covenant has a sign.  Circumcision.   In the same way, He gives us a covenant of grace. And that cove...

Stephen is being faithful and great things are happening. There are signs and wonders everywhere.  This causes conflict, as people are against this new move.  They are too wedded to their routines and rituals to see what God is doing. If we aren’t careful, we can be much the same. We can be too stuck in our rut, unable to move to see what God is doing. Sometimes in life, we have to get out of our...

There are many problems that the early church faced. Today we see a challenge for the Apostles.  And this challenge required them to do three things.  First, prayerfully discern what they were called to do. Second, do that thing. Third, release the things that were not their calling and trust them to God. This is a great lesson and example for us today.  How can we live into this in our lives?   J...

An excerpt from my sermon about where the church finds itself in the midst of discernment.  The way the devil wins is when our love turns to hate.

In our Relationship Roadmap series, we look today at what Paul has to say about what it means to be a parent. To love our children and not provoke them. How do we love?  How do we discipline?  It all starts with being rooted in Christ.  And at the end of the message, I share a few words to St. Matthew's about how we live together during pain, hurt, anger, and discernment.     

We meet another great character in Scripture today, Gamaliel.  He tells the council that if they continue to prosecute the Apostles, they may be fighting against God.  That is what happened. These men saw and experienced something that changed their lives and made them leave everything, everything behind. That is what Jesus does. It’s true for us today, as well.  You ask me how I know He lives?  H...

Today we see that after all that has happened, the Apostles are arrested. An angel saves them, but we see a pattern beginning to emerge here. They are faithful.  God moves. Something good happens.  They are persecuted.  Being faithful is always right. Being faithful always points others to Him, always.  We can trust in that. We know that.  But that doesn’t make it easy.  Know this, though, even wh...

One the ways I’ve heard it described that you can know if your church is being faithful is to ask this question: “If my church were to close, would my community miss it?” We see today in this earliest of churches that they are changing so many lives for Jesus in their community. Jerusalem and the surrounding communities are better because of the life and ministry of the early church. What a goal f...

Today we read one of the more interesting stories in the Bible, Ananias and Sapphira.  God strikes them down for not being honest about their giving. When we look deeper at the passage, though, we find something very interesting. It isn’t that they didn’t give it all or give enough. Or even that they had to sell their field. What this is about, in the end, was not what they gave or how they gave,...

Today, we meet one of my favorite persons in all the Bible, Barnabas.  He is called the Son of Encouragement.  We’ll see his story play out through the rest of the book of Acts, but he is a huge deal, a monumental person in the life of the church and the life of Paul. The world, and the church, we need Peters, and we need Pauls. But we also need Barbabuses. We need encouragers today.   Join us for...

In our passage today, we see Peter and John go to the disciples and tell them what had happened and how they were threatened.  We see their prayers. And what do they pray for?  Not protection. Not comfort.  But boldness.  They pray to bold and to be faithful.  And to step out of their comfort zone. That’s where faith comes alive. May that prayer, to leave the comfort zone, be our prayer as well. ...

Today we see that Peter and John’s preaching have consequences.  We see that they are brought before, and they are questioned by the religious leaders. And let’s remember what happened to Peter last time this happened.  He denied.  He turned away. He failed.  But this time, full of the Holy Spirit, he boldly proclaimed the goodness of God.  Last time he denied Jesus. This time, he pointed to Jesus...

Today we see the sermon that Peter preached after the crowd was gathered.  He goes through all the Old Testament, all the way back to Abraham, where God told him that through Abraham’s descendants, all the world would be blessed.  And then we see one of my favorite concepts in all of Acts. When we turn to Jesus, we see that times of refreshment will come.  We all need that, don’t we?  We all want...

We see a pattern begin to emerge in Acts. We saw it in Chapter Two, and we see it today.  A miracle happens. Signs and Wonders happen. And when these signs and wonders happen, it attracts a crowd. And when the crowd is there, the gospel is preached. The Good News is shared.  While maybe we haven’t been healed in the same way as this man, we have all been healed by Jesus. We have been saved.  That...

We've seen the first sermon, the first altar call, and today we see the first church. These first Christians gathered together for worship, for fellowship, and to live out the Gospel.  All were in awe of them, there were signs and wonders, and daily the Lord added to them. They were generous of spirit and generous of action. Why did all of this happen?  They were full of the Spirit, and they...

In our series Relationship Roadmap, Andy shares from Ephesians 6: 1-3.  Children are told to obey their parents.  Just as wives submit, husbands lay down, and children obey. All members of the family are called to submit themselves to the mission and good of the family.      

Yesterday was the first sermon that Peter preached on Pentecost. Today is the altar call.  We see people convicted and say, what must we do?  Peter tells them, to repent, believe, be baptized, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.  But what do these things mean?  Repentance?  "Jesus' Name?"  Filled with the Holy Spirit?  We see folks come and get saved, and the church grows. But what...

Yesterday we looked at the Holy Spirit fall.  Today we look at the first sermon preached on Pentecost.  We see Peter use the Old Testament to show us that the giving of the Holy Spirit and Jesus' life, death, and resurrection were not God's last ideas, but were His plan the entire time. All the Old Testament, all the covenants, they are all pointing to Jesus.  It's always, only, abo...

Today we will look at Pentecost.  What is this day all about?  Did you know it was a Jewish holiday before it became a Christian one?  What does this holy day tell us about God's redemptive power and God's ability to restore that which sin and taken?  And when you hear grace, think Holy Spirit.  Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he'll dig a little dee...

We see Matthias take the place of Judas in the Apostles.  But who were the Apostles?  What did they do?  Why was it so important to have twelve?  What groups did Jesus have around us, and what can this show us about our faith?  Spoiler alert - having community matters. We need community. If our faith feels like it's missing something, my question to you is this, where have you plugged in?  Ou...

Today we begin a new study. We'll start looking at the book of Acts, technically the Acts of the Apostles.  Today we'll look at who wrote it (Luke) and the purpose behind this book. It's the second volume of two that tells the story of Jesus (Luke) and the early church (Acts).  Today we see this introduction and Jesus' command to be His witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and...

In our June 18 Traditional sermon, Andy shares with us from Ephesians 5: 25-33.  In this passage, we see that husbands are commanded to love their wives as Christ loves the church.  As husbands and wives both mutually submit for the good of the marriage, we see the power of Christ in our families!        

Paul is one of the greatest heroes of the faith.  But today, we aren't looking at Paul; we are looking at his friends.  Paul is preaching and doing amazing things. But, because of this, some would like to kill Paul.  Paul's friends, they sneak him out, and they save his life.  We all need friends like that.  Friends who are there for us, who care for us, and will always be there for us,...

Today we read about the Magi, or how you may know them, the Wise Men. We see that even though they didn't have the Old Testament or any knowledge of God, they paid attention and noticed that Jesus was born.  Yet, it was the religious leaders, the ones who had the scriptures and the covenants that missed Him.  They should have been looking for Jesus, but they were not. They missed.  We have be...

Today is one of the stories in the Bible that always convicts me. It's the story of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. Moses is judging the people, and it is too much for him. Jethro sees this and tells him to pass along this responsibility.  This is a word for folks like me, who do too much. But for others, we need to take up responsibility. And all of us, all of us, need wise counsel to tur...