We see that Jesus is the source of our life. He is the vine; we are branches. Our life flows from Him. Apart from Jesus, we can’t do anything at all. He is our life. When we remain in Him, we have life, and we bear fruit. What is that fruit? Wh...

We are told today that Jesus has not left us orphaned. He is with us. He has given us Himself through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He has given us an advocate and a comforter. We are never alone. If we are Christian, we have the Spirit be...

We resume our time in John 14 this morning by looking at one of the most powerful of all of Jesus’ statements. He is the way, the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father but through Him. What does this mean? What does this mean for our salv...

Today is election day. I’m going to do what I always do or have done for many years. I’m going to go vote. And I am going to read Psalm 2. This Pslam has words to speak to us in moments such as this. This Psalm reminds us of this truth. The Lor...

In our All Saints Sunday sermon, Andy shares with us from Revelation 21:1-6. We are heading home. We aren't yet there, but God is taking us to better place. We rejoice for our saints who are already there. But we know we are going home. 

Jesus tells us today that He is going to His Father’s home and will prepare a place for us. This is a phrase we have heard a lot through the years, and we probably heard a few sermons preached about it. But what is happening? What is Jesus talk...

Peter says he will go with Jesus even to lay down his life. Jesus says that will not happen; in fact, quite the opposite. Peter will deny Jesus three times!  We’ll look at that story later in our readings, but today, consider this. Peter w...

We see Jesus give us a new command today. That we love one another. They will know that we are His disciples by our love. Now, question. Is that our love for all the world? Or our love for fellow Christians? I think the answer is yes. Both. The...

In our Traditional sermon from October 27, 2024, Andy preaches from John 12: 20-26. As a church, we have everything we need to be faithful to the great calling that God has given us. We have an abundant commitment here to move from scarcity to ...

Judas begins the move towards betraying Jesus. Many scholars think Judas could perhaps be trying to force Jesus to become an earthly king by betraying him. I think this could be true. But whatever the historical reality may be, there is a deepe...

Today, Jesus washes the feed of the disciples. There are a lot of things happening here. I’ve been fascinated by what Peter says: don’t wash my feet, but then he says wash all of me. Jesus tells him that he has already had a bath. So, we spent ...

Today, we see Jesus say something that is echoed often in scripture and is said so many times. Jesus did not come to judge us; He came to save us. That’s true. That’s what He tells us here. He came to save us. But He also tells us there will be...

We hear some famous words of Jesus today: When He is lifted up, He will draw all people to Himself. He is, of course, talking about the cross. When Jesus dies upon the cross, He is dying for all. But there is more to this as well. When we lift ...

We see John share a quote from Isaiah that is often mentioned in Jesus’ ministry. In Isaiah, we are told that God will keep people from hearing and seeing. Why? Why did He do this? As United Methodists and Wesleyans, we believe that God desires...

In our Traditional message from October 20, 2024, Andy preaches from 2 Kings 4: 1-7. We talk about God's abundance and how we have all that we need, here, right here, to be faithful to God's call.

We read some verses today that are well-known but difficult to understand to our modern eras. Jesus says that we are to “hate” our lives. What does that mean? We are taught not to hate. To say to hate your life just doesn’t sit right with us. W...

We see Palm Sunday in John’s Gospel today. John usually does not quote a lot of the Old Testament; that is left to the other Gospels. It is significant to me that John does just that in our reading today. He pulls from the prophets to tell us t...

We see Mary anointing Jesus and Judas, and Judas tells Jesus that it is a waste. The money that was spent could have been used in more practical ways to help the poor. Now, of course, we know that Judas was lying, so we should not pay too much ...

We see that the religious leaders, to keep Rome out of their business, intend to kill Jesus. It’s better in their minds for Jesus, just one man, to die than for Rome to come and destroy everything. One man dies so that many can be saved. John t...

We see one of the most powerful moments in all the Bible, at least to me, when Jesus wept. Here’s the thing that always gets me about this passage. Jesus was late on purpose. He showed up late to Lazarus’ grave, on purpose so that He could rais...

In our October 6, 2024 sermon, Andy shared with us from John 10:10. As a church, we are on the verge of something supernatural—something huge. Our world needs what St. Matthew's offers. God has something big in store, and He will give us all th...

After leaving Judea, Jesus decided to return after His friend Lazarus died. We will talk more about what happens next in the coming days, but this passage today shows us that Jesus is late on purpose. As they get ready to leave, the disciples a...

Jesus continues His back and forth with the religious leaders. Today, He tells them that if they will not believe His words, they should look at His works. Friends, that is exactly where we are today at this moment. The world does not believe o...

We see Jesus share with us today two things that made me ponder. First, He has sheep in other flocks. What did this mean to the people who heard Him? What does this mean to us today? And we also see this beautiful reminder.  No one took Hi...

Today’s reading includes one of my favorite passages, John 10:10, which tells us that we have abundant life in Jesus. I’ll actually be preaching on this passage this coming Sunday at St. Matthew’s. But I wanted to take a little time and talk ab...