First Houston United Methodist Church

On a recent trip to a prayer labyrinth, Amanda couldn’t find the answers she was looking for. And so she had to surrender and hand everything over to God - and God met her there. When Amanda looks at the Lord’s Prayer, she is reminded of the how we often ask God to sprinkle blessings on top of what we’re doing, instead of seeking God’s kingdom.

The greatest thing we can do to access the divine in our lives is pray. At the start of A Year of Prayer and Discernment, Andy focuses on what an incredible gift prayer is. We have a God who created us who wants to both hear us and speak to us. “Just beyond what we can see and know is a God who wants to move in us.” fmhouston.com

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1 Peter 4:12-17 Jordan looks at 1 Peter 4 and is reminded of "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." Why? Because, as she point out, "the world is just icky sometimes." But Peter reminds us why we are called by God to form relationships - so that we can struggle through these things together. No matter what the pain you go through, don't go it alone. fmhouston.com

1 Peter 3:8-12 In Chapter 3, Peter echoes the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount to remind us of how Jesus Christ talked about living a life of forgiveness rather than retribution. Andy wants us to find ways to be a peacemaker. “Our days can’t be filled with conflict. We have to move on.” fmhouston.com

This week, Andy dives into chapter 2 of 1st Peter. He points out that our church is a diverse church - in the same way, the book of 1 Peter is the sort of story written to a diverse collection of churches. What Peter is writing about needs to be a model for us. “Each of us needs to be loved, each of us needs to be forgiven, and the church needs to be a place where we celebrate these things.” fmhou...

This week, Amanda Davis covers 1 Peter 1:13-16 Where did you see God at work today? fmhouston.com

Micah 6:7-8 Andy remembers a story of a woman who came into a church he worked at in need of food, and how the church responded - and whether their actions were truly just. “The church has to be a safe place to have a dangerous conversation.”

When Andy gives, he realizes that the relationships he’s formed matter. Giving and relationship are intertwined. Whenever we make the decision to give and invest, we see God move in every other area of our lives. fmhouston.com

For Amanda's first sermon, she dives into the importance of service, and what a life lived with that purpose looks like. fmhouston.com

As we talk about loving others as we love ourselves, we have a lot of things to overcome - mostly, ourselves. Paul viewed himself fully as a servant of Jesus Christ - to him, that was his identity. If we did the same, we could avoid falling into all sorts of traps. COVID has separated us from people and from having a mission. Andy talks about finding a way back. fmhouston.com

In Jordan's first sermon at our church, she dives into the parable of the talents, and what happens when you fail to live out the mission that God has given you. fmhouston.com

Keeping the Sabbath holy is a physical and specific act - we have to go out of our way to set it aside in order to worship the Lord. As we enter a new series about the tenets that make up our church, Andy lays out three ways to make the most of your Sabbath. fmhouston.com

Andy points out that Elijah is much harsher to the prophets of Baal than we like to admit - the things Elijah said are so alarming that scholars later dialed it down, thinking surely Elijah could not have said something like this. But Elijah knew that God was with him. Plus, Andy returns to baseball metaphors - twice! - because the Astros won 11 in a row. And, of course, he jinxes them immediately...

Some of us are uncomfortable with the word “prophet.” But prophets are not people who have power, but people who rely on the message of God. We need to be able to rely on that message the same way. Our call is to be a place of refuge from the brokenness of this world. God has given us gifts to share in community together. Because it is not a place that is the presence of God, it is in a community...

The pandemic has taken a lot of things from us, and one of those things has been the ability to gather together and worship. The story we listen to today shows how Solomon built a tangible place for God to be worshiped - but though that temple was grand, it was, like everything else, temporary. In the same way, we must use the symbols around us to point us to God - and not to make them too importa...

For his sermon, Andy needed an example of crossing lines - and on Sunday morning, he got one. As the world begins to open up; Andy finds himself incredibly excited for this moment. We have stepped into a new blessing. It is a time to lead. And Andy wants to help you make it happen. fmhouston.com

As we exit the pandemic, there are many of us who are ready just to forget what happened and move on. But this is a powerful moment we should not let pass by: how do we step forward well and allow God to take the lead? In Joshua, the people of Israel are leaving the wilderness and entering a new land. As God pulled back the waters of the Jordan to allow them to cross, Joshua had the people get sto...

Jesus takes a passage in Deuteronomy and flips it in a new way, so that it teaches us how to follow him - that we need to love God, and love our neighbor. But there’s one more step we need to do. —— fmhouston.com

Andy’s determined not to keep telling stories about baseball now that the Astros have started losing, but he’ll tell one more. And that’s of a player whose gifts were considered unworthy. When Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, he’s writing to a church that is allowing spiritual gifts to rip them apart. It was his challenge to teach them that each of these gifts were equally worthy. What ar...

It is Donyale’s last podcast, and the group talks about the year of ministry that followed George Floyd’s death – the way their approach to ministry changed, and the need to be a church calling for justice. It’s a reconsideration of faith in politics, and call for faith in politics. The Ask Me Anything Podcast will be on a brief hiatus, but will return with new co-hosts later this summer! In the m...

On Confirmation Sunday, Andy wonders what the church will look like in 60, 70 years. Does it invest in mercy and love and kindness? Because that’s what the church should be. Andy has learned a lot about baseball during the Pandemic, and he’s found a metaphor in some of the changes the game has made. fmhouston.com

Ken gets glasses to deal with eye strain and, as glasses do, they give him a little clarity. When Paul writes the Book of Romans, he's writing about the clarity he’s found. Paul is all about the Spirit. He believed that the central pursuit of the Christian life was living from the Spirit of God. Just knowing the law is not enough, we must commune with God. fmhouston.com

On a very loose podcast, the group tries to answer what to do when you feel you need your faith back, and how you're doing better than you think you are. This podcast sounds undedited, but trust me, it is very edited. Ask us a question! fmhouston.com/ama

The Gospel of John, from its opening chapter, challenges us. Rather than begin with the story of the Nativity, it first rewrites Genesis from a Jesus-centric point of view. John tells us to listen, to hear, that God is speaking to us. This should not strike us as unusual, since God has been in the speaking business for a long time. And if we just want to hear ourselves speak, we miss out our chanc...