Andy Talks Andy Stoddard

Today’s passage is full of good stuff. My entire bible is highlighted today. The Lord has a word of hope for us today. He is going to make all things right in His due time. He is going to restore the remnant. He is going to give life where life has been taken, He is going to make all things as they are made to be. We have this HOPE. And if we have hope, we have strong hands to work, to build the kingdom, to work for good. When we have hope, we have strong hands to work. Losi...

We see the Lord explain why He judged the people today. We see Him tell the people how to live. But His instructions may surprise us, and we may find them harder than we expect. He calls us to kindness today. To mercy today. Those are hard for this age; we show kindness and mercy to “our side,” not to others. He calls us to take care of the weak and needy. To avoid hate in our hearts. To be different. To be holy. This is hard; it’s not about what we do; it’s about who we are.&nbsp...

After the Exile is over, several of the people from Bethel go to the prophet and ask this question. Do we still need to fast? They are asking because the people are back home, and the Temple is being rebuilt. So, must they continue to lament? And the prophet asks this question. Why did you fast? Why is it that you did what you did? For God, or for some other reason? Why do we fast? Why do we do what we do? Is it to get something from God? To “make” Him do w...

In our Traditional message from June 23, 2024, Andy shares with us from Ephesians 2: 19-20. We see that the church is founded upon the teachings of the Apostles. That is what it means to be "Apostolic," to be part of that lineage. But what does that actually mean?

Today, we see a high priest given a crown. At first, you may think that this crown is one that has religious significance. But this is the kind of crown that goes to royalty. In this passage, Joshua is crowned “the Branch.” All of this this points us to Jesus. He is the Branch (John 15: 1-8). He is prophet, priest, and king. He speaks the Word of the Lord, He is our high priest, and He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Today, in this passage, we see everything ...

When I read today’s passage, it first made me scratch my head and think, “huh.” I didn’t really understand exactly what it was saying at first, but after using a tool I really like for Biblical interpretation (the NET Bible), it made a lot more sense. In this passage, this vision points to peace. In time, peace came as Persia defeated Babylon. But, also, in the Lord’s time, peace will come when the Lord returns and makes all things right. But even now in our lives, when we take our conc...