Andy Talks
729 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 22 hours ago - ★★★★ - 7 ratingsJoin Andy Stoddard as he shares with us his daily reflection. Along with an occasional surprise.
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Episodes
Reflections with Andy - A Warning - Obadiah
April 25, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.29 MBToday 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 may be one of our daily temptations. It’s easy to wish that upon those we are tempted to see as ou...
Reflections with Andy - How Deep is the Father’s Love - Hosea 11
April 24, 2024 10:00 - 11 minutes - 7.8 MBToday, 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. But, right in that moment, His compassion is awakened, and He remembers His great love. Oh, h...
Reflections with Andy - Abide in Me - John 15:1-8
April 23, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.14 MBToday, 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 prayer, scripture, communion, worship, and other things. When we do such things, we remain deeply...
Reflections with Andy - The Good Shepherd - John 10:11-18
April 22, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.15 MBFor 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 not taken; he laid it down for you and for me. Because He loves us. That’s how much value you ha...
Reflections with Andy - You are Loved - Amos 9
April 19, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.08 MBAmos 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 up on His people. He will not forsake His people. He loves His people. He loves you today, no m...
Reflections with Andy - Losing Your Way - Amos 8
April 18, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.3 MBGod 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 be a famine. Not a famine of food, but of hearing the Word of the Lord. They have hardened the...
Reflections with Andy - Go - Amos 7: 10-17
April 17, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.24 MBAmos is rebuked by one of the King’s priests today. He is told, you should not be a prophet here. Go back to your home and prophecy there. However, Amos responds that he is not a prophet. He doesn’t come from a line of prophets. He was simply called by God to go and speak, so that is what he did. Today, you don’t have to be a preacher to speak. You just need to go where it is that God has called you. Go. Be faithful. Follow His voice, follow His lead. Go where He sends. In doing that, yo...
Reflections with Andy - The Plumb Line - Amos 7: 1-9
April 16, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.46 MBTwo of the major parts of our walk with God are the notions of forgiveness and grace and of accountability. We see both of these parts displayed in Amos 7. We see God relent from punishing the sins of His people. But then we see God take a plumb line, a tool that shows how vertical or straight something is, and measure His people against it. Are they being faithful? Are they being true? Are they keeping the covenant? We need to give the Spirit room in our lives to convict us, to show us ...
Sunday Sermon - Show the Beauty
April 15, 2024 10:00 - 25 minutes - 17.6 MBIn our Sunday sermon from INTERSECTION from April 14, 2024, Andy shares with us from Luke 24: 28-39. In the life of Jesus, we have seen beauty, we have seen grace, mercy, and redemption. We know it. But now, now we must show it!
Reflections with Andy - More and More - Amos 6
April 15, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.52 MBToday, in our reading, God continues His rebuke of Israel. He points to their pride, how they lay on beds of ivory and show no concern for the needs around them. They have even begun to use His call for justice as a tool to harm others. They are seeking more and more and more. They are focused on more wealth, more stuff, and more ways to inflate their pride instead of what God calls them to, more love of Him and more love of their neighbors. We, especially those of us who are middle class, f...
Reflections with Andy - Thy Kingdom Come - Amos 5: 18-27
April 10, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.2 MBIn our reading today, we see one of those famous verses from the prophets - let justice flow down like water and righteousness like an everflowing stream. God tells us today through Amos that He does not desire the worship or the festivals, but He desires justice. He desires for us to live out what we pray on Sundays - thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Worship matters, community matters, these things are important. But what God desires most of all is for us to live out that tr...
Reflections with Andy - Lament and Grace - Amos 5: 1-17
April 09, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.33 MBToday, in Amos 5, we see the pain of lament and the hope of grace. The Lord tells the people that judgment is coming. Because of their sin, their idolatry, and their treatment of the poor, judgment is coming, and it will not be fun. There will be great lament and cries of pain over the powerful and strong judgment of the Lord. But we also see in the same way that there is grace. If they turn from evil and do good, the Lord will spare them, and the Lord will be gracious. The Lord will show ...
Reflections with Andy - Correction - Amos 4
April 08, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.28 MBGod today tells the people that He has tried, over and over again, through different methods, to call them back. To correct them from their sin. He uses the “stick and carrot” approach. He has used the carrot of blessing and the stick of pain, all in hopes of calling His people back home. That’s what He wants, that’s what He desires, for us to return home, for us to be saved, for us to be restored. As painful as correction can be, it is one of the greatest blessings that we can ever find. ...
Sunday Sermon - See the Beauty
April 08, 2024 10:00 - 21 minutes - 14.6 MBIn our April 7, 2024 sermon, Andy shares with us from John 20: 19-31. There is much to unpack and understand here. But in the end, we see here that we have a beautiful story, a story of grace, that the world needs to hear. But before the world can know it, we have to see it.
Reflections with Andy - Nothing Really Changes - Amos 3
April 05, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.3 MBToday, Amos shares with the people what it is that God rebukes them for. They are not worshiping in the manner and in the way that God desires. They are not going to Jerusalem. They are not giving the sacrifice; they are going to the false high places in the northern kingdom. They also do not take care of the poor among them. Today, we struggle with the same things. When we worship, do we realize that we are not the audience; we are the participants? We give worship, we do not receive. And ...
Reflections with Andy - Actions Have Consequences - Amos 2
April 04, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.5 MBAmos continues to pronounce judgment today. First, we see an additional nation (Moab) that will be judged. But then God turns His judgment to His people. First, Judah has not kept the covenant in the same way that their ancestors did not. And then Israel, the northern kingdom, has done so much (oppressed the poor, immorality, incorrect worship) that God rebukes. God is not trying to scare us in these passages today. He is simply telling us that our actions will have consequences. Join us...
Reflections with Andy - Who God Uses - Amos 1
April 03, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.31 MBAs we dig into Amos these next few days, we are going to spend some time today first unpacking who he is. He was a shepherd. He was not trained. He was not powerful. He was not from the right place. He was a shepherd whom God laid a word upon. God called him, and he spoke. God doesn’t just use who we think He will; God will use all of us. God can use you today for amazing things. For great things. For powerful thing. He wants to use you today, no matter what. We see in Amos who God uses—al...
Reflections with Andy - Restoration - Joel 3: 17-21
April 02, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.16 MBJoel, the prophets, and all of the scripture point us to God’s restoration. We see in Joel that God will bring judgment against the ones who have persecuted His people. Justice will come. But for Judah, for Jerusalem, restoration will come. The streambeds will flow with water. The Lord dwells in Zion, and He will bring forth life for all His people. Rejoice, for restoration will come. But we are not the ones who have to do it. God is the one who will do it. God is the one who will bring li...
March 31, 2024 - Traditional - Easter - Evidence of Things Unseen
April 01, 2024 10:00 - 24 minutes - 17.2 MBIn our Easter message from our Traditional service, Andy shares with us from Mark 16: 1-8. Easter is the dividing point between the old and the next. We have to imagine who God has called us to be and live remembering who that is.
Reflections with Andy - Don’t Lose Hope - Joel 3: 1-16
April 01, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.19 MBAfter following Jesus during Holy Week, today we resume with Joel. When we were last here, we saw God promise a pouring out of His Spirit upon all. This is the passage that Peter used for Pentecost. In today’s passage, we see God remind the people that judgment will come. God sees how His people have been mistreated and abused; He sees how His people have been oppressed by the nations. One day, in God’s time, there will be a day of judgment, where God will bring righteousness upon those who ...
Reflections with Andy - Good Friday - John 19: 30-42
March 29, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.47 MBToday, we see the cross and what our Lord endured for us out of His great love. We see the ugliness, the brutality, the pain of the cross. We see sin placed upon our Lord and what He endured for our sake and for the sake of the world. Yes, Sunday is coming. But let us not be in such a rush to get to the empty grave that we do not stop and ponder what sin has done. He stretched out His arms of love on the cross so that we could come into His saving embrace. Let us ponder the depth of His me...
Reflections with Andy - Maundy Thursday - John 13:1-17, 31b-35
March 28, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.54 MBJesus gives us two very hard things today. He models for us how are are to serve. And not just generic service, but service that is hard. Service that is dehumanizing. More than holding open a door, but deeply hard service. Then He tells us how folks will know that we are HIs - that we love. To service and to love. Those are hard. Those are difficult. We can’t do them on our own, but it is only the Spirit working through us. Today, we have our marching orders. We know what we are to do. We...
Reflections with Andy - Spy Wednesday - Matthew 26:14-16
March 27, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.5 MBToday in Holy Week, this is often called “Spy Wednesday.” This is the day that Judas begins the process of berating Jesus. But before we get to this, we see the religious leaders looking for a time and a place to arrest Jesus. We see the disciples angry at Jesus for being anointed with ointment and not selling it. Could it be from this place of anger, this place of frustration, that the devil begins to grab that foothold and begin to do his work? What do we do when we do not understand Jesu...
Reflections with Andy - Holy Tuesday - Matthew 23: 1-39
March 26, 2024 10:00 - 11 minutes - 7.74 MBOn Holy Tuesday, Jesus spends much time teaching. Or perhaps you could say He spends much time correcting and speaking out against the religious leaders. We are going to look at what is often called the “Seven Woes,” where Jesus condemns the religious leaders for their hypocrisy, for their self-righteousness, and for how they are actually keeping people from God. We see in the end that Jesus longs to restore these leaders, but they are unwilling. What about us? Will we turn from our self-r...
Reflections with Andy - Holy Monday - Matthew 21: 18-22
March 25, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.33 MBMany things happened to Jesus on Monday of Holy Week, but something that always catches my eye is His cursing of the fig tree. Why did He do that? What did that poor fig tree have to do with any of this? We look at what happens in this moment, and in His teaching, we see something very important, something that can show us about our faith and the fruits we bear. Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he'll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better ...
Sunday Sermon - Fullfillment
March 25, 2024 10:00 - 22 minutes - 15.8 MBIn our Palm Sunday message, Andy shares with us from Mark 11: 1-11. We see that Jesus fulfilled His purpose. He was always headed to Jerusalem. The people expected earthly answers. He was offering spiritual ones. It's the same for us today. Will we look for earthly answers to spiritual realities?
Reflections with Andy - The Spirit - Joel 2: 28-31
March 22, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.25 MBJoel had his prophecies hundreds of years before Jesus, hundreds of years before Pentecost Sunday. Today, we see the exact text that Peter preached from on Pentecost. Upon all flesh, God will pour out His Spirit on sons and daughters, young and old. No longer is the Spirit just to fall upon the prophet, but it falls upon all persons. Today, you have access to the Holy Spirit. We position ourselves to hear from God, to know from God, to know His Spirit, and we will receive that Spirit. To...
Reflections with Andy - The Lord will Repay - Joel 2: 18-27
March 21, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.14 MBToday, in Joel 2, we see the Lord’s response. He will drive away the army, and He will do great things to restore and make all things beautiful. He will repay for the years that the locusts have eaten. The Lord can and will redeem and restore all things; there will be a new heaven and a new earth. God is not done with us yet. This does not mean that the pain we may have felt in the past is invalid or unimportant. Of course, it is. But what this does mean is that God sees. And God will rep...
Reflections with Andy - Mercy Came Running - Joel 2
March 20, 2024 10:00 - 10 minutes - 7.42 MBIn Joel 2, we see that God’s day of judgment is far greater than the army of locusts we saw in Chapter 1. That is why we should always be careful when calling down for God’s great judgment; when He comes in judgment, none of us will be good enough. We see good news today, though; as great as judgment is, God’s grace is great. God’s mercy comes running after us. He longs to forgive us. He loves us and desires to be in a relationship with us. When we turn from our sin and turn to His love, Hi...
Reflections with Andy - Lament and Repent - Joel 1
March 19, 2024 10:00 - 11 minutes - 7.77 MBWhat is a prophet? What do they do? What is their task? As we begin our time together in the minor prophets, we start first with Joel. We look to Joel, and we see great brokenness. In the face of that, we cry out to God. There is a great plague of locusts that are destroying everything in Joel’s time, and that will bring great destruction. In the midst of that, all we can do is turn to God out of our pain, our hurt, and our loss. This brokenness in the world can also lead us to underst...
Sunday Sermon - We Wrestle Against the Greatest Temptation
March 18, 2024 10:00 - 17 minutes - 11.9 MBToday, in our Traditional service, Andy shares with us from John: 12 20-33. We see that we struggle with our greatest temptation - to make our lives completely about ourselves and not about God. To find life, we must die to ourselves.
Reflections with Andy - Sharing Your Faith - Philemon
March 18, 2024 10:00 - 11 minutes - 7.8 MBPhilemon is an interesting small book in the New Testament. Normally, we see Paul appealing to his authority as an apostle, but he doesn’t do that in this letter. In fact, quite the opposite. Paul appeals to love and relationships here as he encourages Philemon to receive Onesimus back. We talk a little about what these relationships look like, about the power of God to save and transform, and then about the good that comes from telling others about Jesus! Join us for our daily reflectio...
Sunday Sermon - We Wrestle Against the Dark
March 11, 2024 10:00 - 20 minutes - 14.3 MBIn our Traditional message from March 10, 2024, we look at John 3: 14-21. We are told that people love darkness more than light. We wrestle against the dark, every day, the darkness that tries to pull us down. But, in truth, darkness can never overcome the light. We have nothing to fear; we stand in the light of Jesus!
Reflections with Andy - Remember Your Chains - Titus 3
March 08, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.45 MBPaul reminds us today that we weren’t always a Christian. What does that reminder do for us? It made me think of one of my favorite contemporary Christian songs from the 1990s by Steven Curtis Chapman - Remember Your Chains. This song, like Paul’s words, is a reminder to remember that our salvation is not something we have earned, but it is a gift. And we should remember that and remember who we used to be. When we remember that, it makes us more thankful for God’s gift and (hopefully) mor...
Reflections with Andy - Self Control - Titus 2
March 07, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.21 MBPaul continues to give Titus advice about how he should train the Christians in Crete. One of the words he continues to give to Titus is self-control. This is mentioned several times in chapter two. Why? Why, for Paul, is this such a big deal? We see that Paul is trying to teach Titus the importance of that self-controlled life, in contrast to the people of Crete, who seem to be doing whatever they please. A life of living for yourself may look appealing. But Paul warns us that it is no...
Reflections with Andy - Character - Titus 1
March 06, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.38 MBWe meet Titus today. He is a Gentile Christian leader, someone brought into the faith by Paul. Paul trusted him to be the pastor of a church he loves - Corinth, and we see today that Paul left Titus in a very hard place for ministry. He left Titus in Crete. Paul tells Titus to work on appointing leaders for the church there, and of all the things that Paul tells him to look for - look for this: character. I think that’s what our church should be focusing on in all things. Not the gifts b...
Reflections with Andy - We Walk Together - 2 Timothy 4: 9-22
March 05, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.18 MBWe see Paul end this letter to Timothy with someone he does at the end of nearly every letter he writes - he thanks people. I sometimes call it his shoutouts. Romans 16 is my favorite example of this. But what he is doing is greeting and giving thanks to all the people who make his ministry possible. It is a reminder we walk together. We need each other. We do not walk alone. Today, I need you. You need me. We need each other. Paul reminds us of that truth today. We need each other. Jo...
Reflections with Andy - The God of Repentance - 2 Timothy 4: 1-8
March 04, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.27 MBOne of my favorite prayers that I pray from the Morning Office says this - “For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, and in us you will show forth your goodness.” Today in 2 Timothy Paul tells us that people will turn from the truth and turn to teachers who only tell them what they long to hear. We all want someone to tell us that we are “good” and they are “bad.” What we need to hear that all of us, “us” and “them” are in need of the power of the Holy Spirit, who leads us into rep...
Sunday Sermon - We Wrestle Against Pride
March 04, 2024 11:00 - 20 minutes - 14 MBIn our Traditional message from March 3, 2024, Andy shares with us from Mark 2: 13-22, where Jesus cleanses the temple. Jesus was faithful to His mission no matter what others thought. For us to be faithful, we must wrestle daily with our pride.
Reflections with Andy - Read Your Bible! - 2 Timothy 3: 10-17
March 01, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.25 MBWe read these words today, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” But what does that mean? We’ve read this passage a million times. But what does this mean? What is scripture? What is its purpose? Why does it matter? Why should we care? Today let’s talk about reading our bible! Join us for our daily reflections wit...
Reflections with Andy - A Hopeless Task? - 2 Timothy 3: 1-9
February 29, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.1 MBToday, Paul tells us that in the last days, things will not get better; in fact, they will get worse. People will sin more; things will be harder and more challenging. It won’t be easy. Is working for good a hopeless task? Will we be able to accomplish anything worthwhile? Is it even worth it to try? We are reminded today that while we can’t change everything, every small act of faithfulness in our lives makes a big difference, even to just a single person. It can change their life. And...
Reflections with Andy - Love Them to Jesus - 2 Timothy 2: 14-26
February 28, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.13 MBPaul today is not writing to social media users in 2024, it just seems like it. He tells us to be gentle with our words, not quarrelsome, but seeking to answer all with gentleness. He says for God may lead them to repentance and a turning from their sins. Isn’t that our point y’all? Isn’t that what we want to happen, what we want to occur? Do we not want to persuade people to follow Jesus? No one ever lost an argument and converted. We can’t argue them into heaven, y’all. We can’t. But,...
Reflections with Andy - Something Deeper - 2 Timothy 2: 1-13
February 27, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.36 MBPaul compares the struggles we face to those of a soldier or of an athlete or a farmer. There will be difficult days, but if we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, we are called to that deeper life that our souls ache for. We know there is more out there; there is something deeper that makes all that we go through worth it. We are not called to these earthly things, but we are called to something truly worth having, something so much deeper. Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10...
Sunday Sermon - We Wrestle Against Ourselves
February 26, 2024 11:00 - 24 minutes - 16.8 MBIn our Traditional message from February 25, 2024, we look at Mark 8: 31-38. Peter has to learn this lesson; we all must learn. To get out of his own way. Sometimes, the hardest battle we must fight is with ourselves and our desire for control.
Reflections with Andy - Not Ashamed - 2 Timothy 1: 8-18
February 26, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.2 MBPaul mentions the word “ashamed” three times in these few verses today. I always try to pay attention when something is mentioned repeatedly, so what is the Word trying to tell us today? Don't be ashamed of following Jesus today, either afraid of what folks outside the church may think or what folks inside the church may think. Follow Jesus. And don’t be ashamed of each other. As Christians, let's stick together and show loyalty and support to one another. Join us for our daily reflect...
Reflections with Andy - The Spirit God Gives Us - 2 Timothy 1: 1-7
February 23, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.19 MBPaul loves Timothy as a son. We see this as we begin 2 Timothy together. Paul tells him to rekindle the gift of God, to remember his family, and to know that he was not given a spirit of cowardice but of power, of love, and of self-discipline. I think it’s so interesting that love is there in the middle of those gifts. When we are full of God’s spirit, we will have that power and that discipline. But when we are full of God’s spirit, our hearts will overflow with His love! Join us for ou...
Reflections with Andy - Fight the Good Fight - 1 Timothy 6: 11-21
February 22, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 6.98 MBPaul gives Timothy some final words today: fight the good fight. He contrasts the way that Timothy (and all of us) are called to live with the way that others live. We are to fight that good fight and hold fast to our confessions. Cling to life that is really life. There are so many things that claim to be life, but they are not. Do not give in to those. Fight for what is truly life. It’s hard to follow after Jesus. It is. But it is a fight worth fighting. Fight that good fight today. ...
Reflections with Andy - Losing Your Soul - 1 Timothy 6: 1-10
February 21, 2024 11:00 - 11 minutes - 7.64 MBPaul talks to us today in 1 Timothy 6: 1-10 about the dangers of desiring and chasing after wealth. But before that, in verses 1-2, he talks about slavery. We take a few minutes to unpack what that means in Roman culture compared to American history. Then, we look closer at why the love of money is the root of all evil and how, if we are not careful, it can cause us to lose our souls. Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he'll dig a little deeper into Scriptu...
Sunday Sermon - We Wrestle Against Temptaiton
February 19, 2024 11:00 - 18 minutes - 12.9 MBIn the February 18, 2024 message, we looked at Mark 1: 9-15. We are looking specifically at the temptation account. We expect spirited careful to be grand and glorious. But normally, it is the ordinary, common battle of putting our pride to death and following Jesus.
Reflections with Andy - Practical Words - 1 Timothy 5: 17-25
February 16, 2024 11:00 - 10 minutes - 7.27 MBPaul is often seen as gruff and sometimes very harsh. And that reputation is well deserved, at times. But today, we see him offer fatherly advice to Timothy. We see him encourage Timothy in some way to help his ailing stomach. We also see Paul remind us that sins, as well as our good works, are known to God. Because of this truth, we should always be people of repentance and of humility. Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he'll dig a little deeper into Scrip...