In today’s episode of Reflections with Andy, we reflect on 1 Corinthians 7:17–24, where Paul encourages believers to be faithful in the circumstances where God has placed them. Along the way, we address one of the Bible’s most challenging topics—slavery in the ancient world—and consider how the larger story of Scripture points toward freedom, dignity, and new life in Christ. Ultimately, this passage reminds us not to wait for some perfect future before living faithfully. God has given us today, and today’s faithfulness is where discipleship begins.

Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

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Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Wednesday morning. I hope you’re doing well and that your week is off to a great start.

Things are rocking and rolling here in Starkville. We had a great crowd in worship on Sunday, and we’re looking forward to an even bigger crowd this coming Sunday. God is good, and God is on the move here at First United Methodist Church in Starkville. We’re grateful to be part of what He’s doing, and I hope that wherever you are, you’re experiencing God’s goodness in your own life as well.

Yesterday I was reading one of my daily devotionals—a reflection on The Rule of St. Benedict, the sixth-century monastic guide for Christian living. It talked about how easily we become so busy that we never quiet our minds enough to hear God’s still, small voice.

As summer begins to wind down—and I know some of you are already back in school or your kids are back in school—I hope you’ll find some space over the next few days to quiet your mind, to know yourself more honestly, and to hear God’s grace more clearly.

That reading stayed with me as I came to today’s passage.

There are really two things I want to talk about today.

First, I want to briefly address Paul’s comments about slavery because that’s a question many people have.

Then I want to spend most of our time on what I think is the heart of this passage: learning to be faithful where God has planted us.

A while back I was at a youth gathering here at church, and some of our students asked a really thoughtful question.

“What do we do with passages in the Bible that talk about slavery?”

That’s a good question.

Whenever we come to difficult passages in Scripture, it’s important to interpret them in light of the larger story of the Bible.

Yes, there are places in both the Old and New Testaments where slavery is treated as part of the social reality of the day.

But we also need to understand what slavery looked like in Paul’s world.

Roman slavery was very different from the race-based chattel slavery that existed in American history.

American slavery was a unique evil that continues to leave deep wounds in our nation.

Roman slavery, while still unjust, wasn’t based primarily on race, and it wasn’t uncommon for enslaved people to gain their freedom or even rise to positions of influence in Roman society.

That doesn’t make slavery good.

It simply helps us understand the world Paul was writing into.

Then we step back and ask, “What’s the larger story of Scripture?”

The defining story of the Old Testament is God freeing His people from slavery in Egypt.

Jesus begins His ministry by proclaiming freedom for the captives.

Paul later writes that in Christ there is “neither slave nor free... for all are one in Christ Jesus.”

The movement of Scripture is always toward freedom, dignity, and redemption.

So when we encounter difficult passages like this one, we read them through the larger story of God’s work in the world.

But I think Paul’s main point here isn’t actually slavery.

It’s faithfulness.

He says,

“Lead the life that the Lord has assigned to you, to which God called you.”

I’ve had mentors over the years who liked to say,

“Bloom where you’re planted.”

I’ve always loved that phrase.

So often we postpone contentment.

We tell ourselves,

“I’ll be happy when...”

When I graduate.

When I get married.

When I have children.

When I retire.

When I buy the next house.

When I get the promotion.

When my golf game improves.

When my team finally wins.

We’re always chasing some mythical future where everything will finally be right.

Paul says that’s not where faithfulness is found.

Faithfulness is found today.

Now, that doesn’t mean your circumstances can’t change.

Sometimes they should change.

Sometimes they will change.

But your joy and your purpose can’t be tied to some imaginary future version of your life.

Your calling is to be faithful right where you are.

So ask yourself:

How can I be faithful today?

Not tomorrow.

Not someday.

Today.

Serve the neighbor God has placed in front of you today.

Encourage someone today.

Pray today.

Tell your story today.

Show kindness to the cashier at Walmart today.

Forgive someone today.

Pray for those you love today.

Pray for your enemies today.

Live fully in the place where God has planted you today.

Because today is all we’ve really been promised.

None of us knows what tomorrow will bring.

There may be great joys ahead.

There may be great challenges.

But today is the gift God has placed in our hands.

I think back to my early years in ministry.

I remember thinking,

“If I ever pastored a church of one hundred people, I’d never have problems.”

Then I thought,

“If I ever pastored a church of one hundred fifty people...”

You know what I eventually learned?

Churches are churches.

People are people.

Every season has its own blessings and its own challenges.

The grass isn’t always greener somewhere else.

It’s just different grass.

Instead of dreaming about greener grass, maybe we ought to water the grass beneath our own feet.

Fertilize it.

Care for it.

Invest in it.

Bloom where God has planted you.

That’s where you’ll discover His faithfulness.

So today, don’t spend all your energy longing for some future version of your life.

Live faithfully today.

Trust that God has you where you need to be for this moment.

And trust that, in His time, He’ll lead you into whatever comes next.

Thanks for being with me today.

Tomorrow we’ll finish out the rest of 1 Corinthians 7. Paul still has plenty to teach us, and I’m looking forward to exploring it together.

Have a wonderful day, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

In today’s episode of Reflections with Andy, we explore 1 Corinthians 7:1–16 and Paul’s teaching on marriage, singleness, and Christian relationships. While some of Paul’s instructions can be difficult to interpret, the heart of his message is remarkably clear: our lives are not our own. Whether we’re married or single, our identity is found first in Christ, and we’re called to love God and others before ourselves. It’s a timely reminder that the healthiest relationships begin when Jesus—not our spouse, our family, or even ourselves—sits on the throne of our hearts.

Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

Click here if you’d like to join our GroupMe and receive this each morning at 7:00 a.m. CST.

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Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Tuesday morning as we continue our journey through 1 Corinthians.

You know, 1 Corinthians is a fascinating book because Paul addresses so many issues that are challenging and, at times, complicated.

Corinthians always reminds me of something one of my favorite professors in college, Dr. Harold Bryson, used to say. Dr. Bryson taught polity, and one day he made a statement I’ve never forgotten.

He said, “We’d rather talk about Paul than Jesus.”

Then he explained why.

“Paul is hard to understand. Paul says things that can be complicated. Jesus isn’t hard to understand—Jesus is just hard to follow.”

I’ve thought about that a lot over the years.

There are certainly passages in Paul’s letters—like the one we’re reading today—that Christians have debated for centuries.

But Jesus?

Jesus is remarkably clear.

Love your enemies.

Forgive those who hurt you.

Bless those who curse you.

None of that is difficult to understand.

It’s difficult because we don’t want to do it.

So whenever I read Paul, I always try to ask, “What’s the heart of what he’s saying? What’s the principle underneath all these specific instructions?”

I think that’s especially important in today’s passage.

We’re reading 1 Corinthians 7:1–16.

Paul is teaching here about marriage, singleness, divorce, and relationships.

But I think the central message underneath all of it is this:

We do not live for ourselves.

Everything Paul says here points back to that truth.

Whether he’s talking about marriage, singleness, or our responsibilities toward one another, he’s reminding us that the Christian life is never centered on “me.”

It reminds me of an old saying that’s often attributed to one of the Founding Fathers:

“Your right to swing your fist ends where your neighbor’s nose begins.”

I’ve always liked that image.

Yes, we have freedom.

Yes, there are many things we’re allowed to do.

But Christian freedom is always shaped by love for God and love for our neighbor.

Just because I can do something doesn’t mean I should.

We talked about that yesterday.

My life isn’t simply my own.

First and foremost, I belong to the Lord.

And because I belong to Him, I also belong to the people He’s called me to love.

For me, that means Holly.

It means my family.

It means my church.

I don’t simply live for Andy.

I live for Christ.

Paul begins this chapter by saying,

“Now concerning the matters about which you wrote...”

That’s important.

The Corinthians had written Paul asking specific questions, and he’s responding to those questions.

As we read Paul’s letters, we have to remember that sometimes he’s addressing unique situations in a particular church.

That doesn’t make his words any less inspired.

It simply reminds us to pay attention to the context.

In fact, later in the passage Paul even says,

“To the rest I say—I, not the Lord...”

I actually appreciate that honesty.

Once again we see Paul’s humanity.

God is speaking through Paul.

Scripture is fully God’s Word, but He delivers it through a real person writing to real people facing real problems.

I think that’s beautiful.

God uses ordinary people to communicate extraordinary truth.

Paul also says something that sometimes surprises people.

He tells those who are unmarried that remaining single is a perfectly good calling.

I think that’s an important reminder for us today.

As much as I love Holly...

As much as I love my children...

As much as I treasure family...

We have to be careful not to make our families into our gods.

Family is a wonderful gift.

But it isn’t where our identity comes from.

Whether you’re married or single...

Whether you’re divorced or widowed...

Whether you have children, grandchildren, or neither...

None of those things ultimately define who you are.

Your identity is found in Jesus Christ.

Everything else is secondary.

Tim Keller once said that anything you place on the throne of your heart besides Jesus will eventually disorient your life—even if it’s a good thing.

I think that’s exactly right.

Suppose you put your children on the throne of your heart.

Then your entire identity becomes wrapped up in them.

You’ll expect them to succeed because their success becomes your success.

You’ll expect perfection because your sense of worth depends on them.

That’s an unbearable burden for a child to carry.

And what happens when they fail?

Or struggle?

Or make mistakes?

Your identity begins to fall apart because it was built on something that could never support it.

The same thing can happen with a spouse.

Or a career.

Or money.

Or success.

Good things make terrible gods.

Jesus belongs on the throne.

When Jesus is on the throne of your heart, everything else falls into its proper place.

You become a better spouse because you aren’t asking your spouse to complete you.

You become a better parent because your children don’t have to carry your identity.

You become a better friend because you’re free to love people instead of using them to fill something only Christ can fill.

That’s why I think the heart of this passage is so simple.

We don’t exist for ourselves.

We belong to Jesus.

My life is not ultimately about what Andy wants.

It’s about honoring Christ.

It’s about loving my wife well.

Being a good father.

Being a faithful pastor.

Being a good friend.

But underneath all of those roles is one identity that never changes.

I belong to Jesus.

And because I belong to Him, I can love everyone else more faithfully.

So today, remember this:

You don’t live for yourself.

You live for God.

And because you live for God, you live for others.

Thanks for being with us today. I hope you have a wonderful day, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

In today’s Reflections with Andy, we explore 1 Corinthians 6:12–20, where Paul reminds us that not everything we can do is actually good for us. We talk about the difference between freedom and wisdom, why our bodies matter to God, and what it means to glorify Him with every part of our lives. Along the way, we unpack the biblical meaning of “the flesh,” the dangers of living only to satisfy our desires, and the beautiful reminder that, through Christ, our bodies have become temples of the Holy Spirit.

Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

Click here if you’d like to join our GroupMe and receive this each morning at 7:00 a.m. CST.

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Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Monday morning. I hope you’re doing well. I had a great weekend, and I’m looking forward to a great week.

We’ve got a lot to do this week, but thankfully not too many meetings. Any week where I can look at my calendar and realize I don’t have a meeting every night—that’s a good week.

I’m excited about what’s happening here at First United Methodist Church in Starkville. There are some great conversations taking place, some wonderful momentum, and God is blessing our church. I know He’ll continue to do that because He is good.

Today we’re going to read 1 Corinthians 6:12–20, where Paul talks about glorifying God with our bodies.

There are really three things I want to unpack from this passage.

First, Paul’s statement, “All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial.”

Second, I want to talk a little about what he’s saying regarding sexual immorality and prostitution.

Then I want to finish with what may be my favorite part of the passage: “You were bought with a price.”

I think that points us toward something much bigger.

Paul begins by saying,

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial.”

Then he says,

“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.”

This is part of a conversation about the Jewish purity laws.

Faithful Jews had spent their entire lives observing dietary laws—what we would call kosher. But now they are in Christ.

Think about Peter’s vision in Acts, where he sees all kinds of animals and the Lord says, “Rise, Peter. Kill and eat.”

Peter objects, but God tells him, “Do not call unclean what I have made clean.”

Those dietary restrictions no longer define the people of God.

So Paul says, “All things are lawful.”

In other words, Christians are no longer bound by those ceremonial food laws.

But then he immediately adds,

“Not everything is beneficial.”

I think that’s such an important word for Christians today.

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it.

Our culture tends to ask, “Is it allowed?”

The Christian asks, “Is it good? Does it honor Christ? Does it help me become more faithful?”

If we’re approaching sin thinking, “Well, God will forgive me anyway,” then we’re already headed in the wrong direction.

Will God forgive us?

Absolutely.

God is gracious.

But His grace was never meant to become permission to flirt with sin.

Max Lucado once said, “God hates sin because sin destroys His most precious creation.”

That’s exactly right.

Sin is always destructive.

Always.

You’ve probably heard the old saying: “You can’t defeat the demons you play footsie with.”

That’s true.

Don’t skate as close to temptation as you can and assume grace will cover it.

Grace does cover us—but grace is also trying to lead us into a better way of living.

Paul then turns to the issue of sexual immorality.

Part of what he’s addressing is exactly what we’d expect: sex outside the covenant of marriage.

God designed marriage as a covenant, and sexual intimacy belongs within that covenant.

But there’s another layer here that we sometimes miss.

In Corinth, many pagan religions included temple prostitution as part of their worship.

So these believers weren’t simply committing sexual sin.

Many of them were also participating in idolatry and pagan worship.

Paul is saying, “You’re walking away from the Lord in every direction.”

And here’s the deeper issue.

They were living to satisfy every desire they had.

Friends, if your highest goal in life is simply to satisfy your desires—to do whatever feels good, whatever you want, whenever you want—you will eventually destroy yourself.

A life centered on self eventually collapses under its own weight.

But a life centered on Jesus leads to life.

Discipline isn’t about making life smaller.

It’s about making life fuller.

Paul says, “Don’t live this way. It’s destroying you.”

Then he reaches the heart of the passage.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?... You are not your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.”

This is so important because Christians have often misunderstood what Paul means when he talks about “the flesh.”

We are not Gnostics.

Gnosticism was an early Christian heresy that taught the physical body didn’t really matter.

As long as your spirit was right, you could do whatever you wanted with your body.

Paul says exactly the opposite.

Your body matters.

When Scripture talks about “the flesh,” it’s not talking about your physical body.

It’s talking about our sinful desires—those desires that are part of our fallen human nature.

So when Paul tells us to wage war against the flesh, he isn’t telling us to hate our bodies.

He’s telling us to resist those sinful desires that pull us away from God.

Our bodies are good.

God created them.

And through Christ, they have become temples of the Holy Spirit.

That means how we live matters.

How we care for our bodies matters.

How we honor marriage matters.

How we treat ourselves and other people matters.

John Wesley famously encouraged his preachers to walk an hour every day.

He understood that our physical lives and our spiritual lives aren’t enemies.

They belong together.

Our culture doesn’t help us with this.

Instead of sitting around the table enjoying a meal with family or friends, we inhale processed food while driving from one appointment to the next.

We don’t listen to our bodies.

We don’t rest.

We don’t slow down.

We don’t pay attention.

If you’re tired, rest.

If you’re hungry, eat well.

Go for a walk.

Breathe the fresh air.

Touch some grass, as the kids say.

One of the books that’s helped me think about this is The Body Keeps the Score. One of its central insights is that our bodies often tell us things our minds ignore.

Those of you who know me know I love to push myself.

I’ve already told our church here in Starkville that I only seem to have one speed—and it’s fast.

I like to run hard.

But I’ve also had to learn to listen to my body.

Sometimes faithfulness means resting.

Sometimes faithfulness means slowing down.

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God dwells within you.

Your body matters.

So yes, Paul gives us some hard words today.

But they’re good words.

Remember:

“All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial.”

Don’t simply do what feels good.

Do what is good.

Do what honors Christ.

Thanks for being with us today. Tomorrow we move into chapter 7, and there’s a lot there to talk about. Some of it is challenging, but it’s important.

I look forward to seeing you then.

Have a great day.

In today’s Reflection with Andy, we explore 1 Corinthians 6:1–11, where Paul challenges believers to handle conflict differently from the world around them. Rather than rushing to judgment or insisting on our rights, Paul calls Christians to pursue reconciliation, value relationships, and even risk being wronged for the sake of the gospel. Along the way, we wrestle with one of our deepest fears—being taken advantage of—and ask what it would look like to extend the same generous grace to others that God has so freely given to us.

Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

Click here if you’d like to join our GroupMe and receive this each morning at 7:00 a.m. CST.

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Or, if you’d like to read the transcript of the video, keep reading!

Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Friday morning as we get ready for the weekend. I hope you’ve got some big plans.

I don’t think I do. Honestly, it’s just more unboxing. One day the boxes will end—but not today, and definitely not this weekend. The boxes are eternal. Someday Holly and I will be completely unpacked, but we’re not there yet.

So, if you’re in Starkville and you want to come help us unbox, come on! We’d love the company.

I’m also really proud of First United Methodist Church here in Starkville. I challenged the church to have 200 people in worship this past Sunday, and we ended up with almost 220. I’m excited about what God is doing here.

If you live anywhere in the Golden Triangle—Starkville, Columbus, West Point, Oktibbeha County, or anywhere nearby—we’d love for you to come worship with us. I’m excited about what God is doing in this church, and I’d love for you to be a part of it. Come see what God is doing in this special place.

Today we’re reading 1 Corinthians 6:1–11.

This passage is a lot like yesterday’s. Yesterday Paul addressed sexual immorality and sin so serious that it required accountability. Today he’s talking about something different: lawsuits between believers.

As always, it’s important to understand the context of what’s happening.

Scripture Reading

So this passage is about believers taking one another to court. In our world, the closest comparison would probably be civil court.

Paul asks, “Is there no one among you wise enough to settle these disputes?”

If you go back and read the Old Testament—Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy—you’ll see that God’s people always had judges. Moses appointed judges. The elders sat at the city gates and helped resolve disputes. Think about Solomon, famous for his wisdom in settling difficult cases.

So Paul isn’t saying Christians should never have someone arbitrate disagreements. Disagreements happen. People get hurt. Things aren’t always handled well.

What Paul is saying is that, as believers, our first instinct should be to work things out together.

Now, we live in a different world than Paul did. There are situations today where civil courts absolutely have their place, and sometimes they’re necessary. But I think Paul’s heart is still incredibly relevant.

As Christians, especially when dealing with one another, we should exhaust every opportunity to reconcile before we run to the courts. We should be able to navigate conflict through honest conversation, forgiveness, making things right, and restoring one another.

Sometimes that does require someone to step in as an arbiter.

I’ve had seasons in ministry where conflict became so severe that I had to help people work through it. Not literally sitting between them all the time, but helping each side hear the other.

“Here’s what I hear you saying.”

“Here’s what I hear them saying.”

Often people simply stop listening to each other. Helping them hear one another can make all the difference.

Paul says, “I’m saying this to your shame. Is there really no one among you wise enough to help?”

Then Paul shifts, as he often does, into one of his lists of behaviors that are inconsistent with the kingdom of God.

And I always smile a little when Paul does this.

He talks about fornicators, idolaters, thieves, drunkards...

Everybody says, “Yeah! Get ‘em, Lord!”

Then Paul slips in “the greedy.”

That one gets a little closer to home.

What if we really believed greed kept people from inheriting the kingdom of God?

Or idolatry?

We say, “Well, I don’t have any idols.”

Maybe not a statue.

But what do you trust more than God? What do you look to for your security besides God?

Paul sets a very high bar.

But then he reminds them:

“And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

I love that.

The old saying goes, “The Lord accepts us just as we are, but He doesn’t leave us just as we are.”

As Methodists—especially as Wesleyans—we call that sanctification.

We’re called to keep growing.

I want to be more faithful tomorrow than I am today.

I want to love better tomorrow than I love today.

I want every day to become just a little more like Christ.

That’s what Paul is talking about.

But I want to end with something that grabs me every single time I read this passage.

Paul writes:

“Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?”

That’s a hard question.

I’ve said before that one of the greatest fears many of us have—especially those of us who have worked hard for what we have—is being taken advantage of.

It’s why we’re sometimes hesitant to be generous.

“What if they spend the money on drugs?”

“What if they buy alcohol?”

“What if they waste it?”

We’re afraid someone will misuse our generosity.

But Paul asks a different question.

“Wouldn’t you rather be wronged?”

Most of us would answer, “No.”

I don’t want to be wronged.

I don’t want to be defrauded.

But my mom used to say, “They can live with it. I can live without it.”

What someone chooses to do with the generosity I show them is between them and the Lord.

My responsibility is to be generous.

Their response is their responsibility.

Paul is calling Christians to put other people before ourselves.

I want to advocate for you before I advocate for me.

I want to make sure you have what you need.

I want to value you.

I want to love you the way I love myself.

That’s what Paul is pushing us toward.

People will disappoint us.

People will sometimes take advantage of us.

People will wrong us.

But we still work to preserve relationships.

We still choose generosity.

We still choose grace.

And here’s the question that always humbles me.

What if God were as stingy with His grace toward me as I sometimes am with my generosity toward others?

What if God said,

“You know, every time I forgive Andy, he sins again. He keeps taking advantage of My grace. I’m just not going to forgive him this time.”

Where would I be?

It’s not up to me to control how someone uses what I give.

It’s only up to me to decide whether I’ll be generous in the first place.

That’s something we all have to wrestle with, pray about, and continue growing in.

As Christians, we should be among the most generous people in the world.

Thanks for being with us today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

If you’re anywhere near Starkville, come worship with us this Sunday at First United Methodist Church. We’d love to have you.

Have a great day, and I’ll see you next time.

As we continue through 1 Corinthians, we come to one of Paul’s most difficult chapters—a passage about church discipline, accountability, and protecting the witness of the Christian community. Rather than encouraging judgmentalism, Paul calls the church to lovingly confront patterns of unrepentant sin that damage both individuals and the body of Christ. In this episode, we explore the difference between condemnation and accountability, why integrity matters for the church’s witness, and how grace and truth always belong together in the life of a healthy Christian community.

Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

Click here if you’d like to join our GroupMe and receive this each morning at 7:00 a.m. CST.

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Or, if you’d like to read the transcript of the video, keep reading!

Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Thursday morning. I hope you’re doing well today.

I’m kind of excited about today. I’ve got lunch with some clergy friends, which I’m looking forward to, and later we’re going to take popsicles to one of our local school bands as they practice in this Mississippi heat. As a recovering high school band parent—well, I guess I’m still a band parent, just at the college level now—I know how hard those students work. So today, pray for all of our students as they begin band camp, football practice, and all the activities that come with the start of a new school year.

Today we’re going to read all of 1 Corinthians chapter 5. I thought about breaking it into two sections, but it really works best as one complete passage. Like yesterday’s reading, this chapter contains some difficult words from Paul. It’s a passage that has sometimes been misused throughout church history, but it’s also one we need to wrestle with because it teaches us something important about the life of the church.

Read 1 Corinthians 5.

This chapter is the biblical foundation for what has historically been called church discipline or, in the most serious cases, excommunication. Even in the United Methodist Church there is a process, though thankfully a lengthy and careful one, by which someone can be removed from church membership or leadership if necessary.

So what’s happening here?

Paul tells us that a man in the Corinthian church is living in a sexual relationship with his father’s wife—most likely his stepmother. Even in the pagan culture of Corinth, this was considered immoral. Paul says, “Even the Gentiles don’t do this.”

But Paul’s greatest concern isn’t simply the sin itself.

His concern is that the church is tolerating it—and apparently even boasting about it. Instead of grieving over what is happening, they are celebrating it, and in doing so they are damaging the witness of the church.

Paul’s response is severe. He tells them to remove the man from the fellowship so that, through the painful consequences of his actions, he might ultimately be brought to repentance and be saved.

Then Paul broadens the conversation. He reminds them that he is not talking about avoiding sinful people in the world. If Christians refused to associate with sinners outside the church, we’d have to leave the world altogether.

Instead, Paul is talking about people inside the church who openly claim the name of Christ while persisting in unrepentant patterns of destructive behavior.

That’s an important distinction.

Unfortunately, this passage has sometimes been used to justify removing people over disagreements, traditions, or personal preferences. That’s not what Paul is addressing here. He’s talking about conduct that so clearly contradicts the gospel that it damages the witness and integrity of the church itself.

One of the consistent themes throughout the New Testament is that the early church earned a reputation for its love, holiness, generosity, and integrity. The world may not have agreed with Christians, but they respected the way they lived.

When the church loses its integrity, it becomes much harder for people to trust what we have to say about Jesus.

Our witness matters.

That doesn’t mean we become harsh or judgmental. Quite the opposite.

Think about Jesus. Yes, He overturned the tables in the temple—but He spent far more time healing the sick, welcoming sinners, forgiving the broken, and caring for the vulnerable. If our favorite image of Jesus is only the One overturning tables, we’ve missed most of His ministry.

So this passage shouldn’t become our first response whenever someone sins.

Instead, it reminds us of something else: the importance of Christian accountability.

The church isn’t just a collection of individuals. It’s a family. Healthy families lovingly tell one another the truth.

Sometimes loving someone means saying, “I care about you too much to let you keep going down this path.”

That’s not condemnation.

That’s love.

One of the greatest challenges of our culture is radical individualism—the idea that no one has the right to speak into my life. But Paul says that within the body of Christ, we actually do have that responsibility toward one another. We love one another enough to encourage, correct, restore, and help each other grow.

As a pastor, I need that accountability too.

If I say or do something that harms the witness of Christ or the reputation of the church, I hope someone who loves me will come alongside me and say, “Andy, that’s not who we are. That’s not who God is calling you to be.”

Healthy churches don’t protect reputations—they protect people.

I once heard someone say that the quickest way to destroy the church is to make protecting the institution more important than protecting the body of Christ.

Our goal is never simply preserving an organization.

Our goal is becoming a healthy community where Christ is honored, people are loved, and truth is spoken with grace.

This is a difficult chapter, but it’s an important one because it reminds us that love sometimes requires accountability. Grace and truth are never enemies. In Jesus, they always walk together.

Thanks for being with me today. I hope you have a wonderful day, and as always, know that I’m praying for you. I appreciate your prayers for me as well.

We’ll continue tomorrow in 1 Corinthians. Have a great day.

In this Wednesday reflection on 1 Corinthians 4:14–21, Paul’s shift from sarcasm to direct fatherly warning crystallizes around one line: the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. It’s easy to mistake the volume of our talking about faith for actual faithfulness — to feel like we’re participating in the gospel because we say the right things, while our actions tell a different story. Paul is coming to find out which it is, and his arrival will come either with love and gentleness or with correction, depending on what he finds.

Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

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Good morning! Great to be with you on this Wednesday as we continue through First Corinthians. Good things happening here — looking forward to Sunday, where we’ll be talking about our stories and the power of testimony.

Yesterday we saw Paul’s sarcasm on full display. Today he kicks it up a notch. Let’s read chapter 4, verses 14 through 21:

“I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?”

There it is. Yesterday Paul gave them sarcasm — oh, you’ve already become kings, how wonderful for you. Today he gives them something more direct: I’m coming, and when I get there, I’ll find out whether you’ve been walking the walk or just talking. Would you prefer I arrive with love and gentleness, or with a stick?

I appreciate that Paul leads with his motivation before he drops that line. I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. He’s not coming as an adversary. He’s coming as a father — and fathers correct their children precisely because they love them. That’s the context for everything that follows.

But the line that really stops me is this one: the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. There’s a lot of talking that goes on, friends. A lot of talking. And it’s very easy to mistake our talking for faithfulness. Easy to confuse how much we say about our faith with how much we actually live it.

I get paid to use my mouth. I talk for a living and I enjoy it. But even for me — maybe especially for me — the question is whether the talking is matched by the acting. Paul and Elvis were apparently on the same page here: a little less conversation, a little more action.

I heard a statistic recently that when people were asked how often you need to attend church to consider yourself an active member, the most common answer was once a month. Twelve times a year. That’s not a lot. And it’s a pretty good picture of what Paul is describing — people who talk about how much their faith means to them, how much they love their church, how important Scripture and prayer are to their lives, but whose actions don’t quite match the words.

Talking about faith feels good. It gives us a sense of participation, maybe even a sense of power. But Paul says the kingdom doesn’t run on talk. It runs on power — the power of actual obedience, actual service, actual love in action.

Now, Paul also mentions coming with a stick — and I want to sit with that for a second, because I think the deeper point is about accountability and correction. I was having conversations with several staff members here at Starkville First just yesterday about one of the things I genuinely appreciate about the United Methodist system: the concept of submission and accountability. I submit myself to my committees, to my SPRC, to my District Superintendent, to my Bishop. I don’t live an independent life — I live in relationship, and that relationship includes accountability. Which means sometimes I get corrected. And honestly? I’ve had mentors I deeply love come to me with what I can only describe as verbal corrections that felt very much like a stick in the moment. I did not enjoy it. But I learned from it, and I became more faithful because of it.

That’s the point of accountability — allowing others to speak into your life so that when you’re wrong, you can be corrected; when you’re impure, you can be refined; when you need to learn, you can be taught. It requires humility. It requires making yourself genuinely accountable to people who love you enough to tell you the hard thing.

So here’s the question worth sitting with today: who in your life have you given permission to correct you? And are you more talk than action — or are you faithfully, if imperfectly, trying to live out the good news of Jesus Christ?

If you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk. Let’s speak our faith and live our faith today. Tomorrow we move into chapter 5 — and yes, the whooping stick makes its appearance. Have a great day!

In our Tuesday reflection on 1 Corinthians 4:1–13, Paul’s biting sarcasm — already you have become kings! — skewers the Corinthians’ tendency to boast about their gifts as though those gifts were their own achievement. Paul’s point is simple: if what you have is a gift, the praise belongs to the giver, not the recipient. Humility is the only appropriate response to grace. But the heart of the reflection lands on verse 10 — we are fools for the sake of Christ — and the deeply countercultural math of the gospel. When reviled, bless. When slandered, speak kindly. When persecuted, endure. None of that makes sense by the world’s standards, and that’s exactly the point. Grace that makes too much sense probably isn’t grace — real grace is always a gift that wasn’t earned, always looks a little strange from the outside, always challenges the world’s ledger of fairness and retaliation. Christianity should be a little weird. We serve a God who was raised from the dead, and we ought to live like it — foolishly, joyfully, and fully.

Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

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Good morning! Great to be with you on this Tuesday as we continue through First Corinthians. This is just a fascinating letter — personal, honest, sometimes confusing, always interesting. I mentioned that Paul breaks out the whooping stick in chapter 5, and that’s still coming, don’t worry. But today in chapter 4, he breaks out something else I deeply appreciate: sarcasm. As someone who is also fluent in that particular tongue, I have a profound appreciation for Paul in this passage. Let’s read chapter 4, verses 1 through 13:

“Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.

I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so that you may learn through us the meaning of the saying, ‘Nothing beyond what is written,’ so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we are in disrepute. To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.”

Already you have become kings! I mean — the gift of sarcasm is alive and well in Paul’s letters. He’s letting the Corinthians have it, but with a smile and a raised eyebrow rather than a raised voice. You’ve got it all figured out, haven’t you? You’re already rich, already wise, already kings — while we apostles are just out here being beaten, hungry, slandered, and treated like the dregs of the earth. You know. No big deal.

But beyond the beautiful sarcasm, Paul is making a serious point. The Corinthians had significant gifts — talented, capable people — and they were holding those gifts over each other, using them as status markers. And Paul says: wait. If what you have is a gift, then it isn’t yours. You didn’t earn it. You didn’t produce it. If it’s truly a gift, then the praise belongs to the one who gave it, which is God. So what exactly are you boasting about?

That’s a word worth sitting with. Whatever ability or strength or platform or talent you have — if it’s genuinely a gift from God, then humility isn’t optional. It’s the only appropriate response.

And then there’s verse 10, which I keep coming back to: we are fools for the sake of Christ. That phrase does something to me every time. Paul isn’t complaining here — he’s describing a kind of calling. To live in a way that looks foolish by the world’s standards. To bless when reviled. To speak kindly when slandered. To endure when persecuted. To respond to being slapped in the face not with retaliation but with grace.

That doesn’t make sense. And it’s not supposed to. Because God’s math and the world’s math are different equations.

The world’s math says: I have this gift, this ability, this platform — therefore I matter, therefore I’m above you. God’s math says: everything I have is a gift, therefore I owe it back in service, therefore the last shall be first and the servant of all shall be greatest.

The world’s math says: you hurt me, I hurt you back. That’s fair. That balances. God’s math says: turn the other cheek. Bless those who curse you. That’s not fair. It doesn’t balance. It looks foolish.

And maybe that’s exactly the point. Maybe grace should look a little unsettling to the people around us. Maybe forgiveness extended without earning it should seem strange. Maybe the way we love — even people who don’t deserve it, even people who’ve hurt us — should make people pause and wonder what’s wrong with us.

I hope I’m so full of grace and love that I occasionally seem like a fool. I hope my math doesn’t always add up by the world’s standards. There’s a bumper sticker around Austin, Texas that says Keep Austin Weird. Maybe we ought to say Keep Christianity Weird. Keep it foolish. Keep grace offensive in the best possible way — because grace that makes perfect sense isn’t really grace, it’s just common decency. Grace, real grace, is always a gift that wasn’t earned, which means it always looks a little strange from the outside.

We serve a God who was raised from the dead. That’s weird. That’s gloriously weird. Let’s be fools for Christ today — living foolishly, joyfully, and fully with everything we’ve got.

Tomorrow we’ll pick up with the rest of chapter 4. Have a great day!

Below is the transcript of my sermon and a link to see the pictures referenced.

Romans 8:28

Our next reading of Scripture comes from Paul’s Letter to the Romans, chapter 8. We’ll be reading just one verse—Romans 8:28.

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

This is the Word of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Last week I mentioned one of the running jokes in my ministry: whatever passage I just read is usually my favorite passage in the Bible. The truth is, I love Scripture. I genuinely love it. I’m looking forward to resuming our Wednesday Bible studies this fall. I’ll be teaching on Wednesday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Every morning I also record a short online devotional called Rooted. If you’re interested in receiving it by email, there’s information in your bulletin about how to sign up. I simply love God’s Word. I love studying it, teaching it, and learning from it alongside God’s people.

There are certain verses that have shaped my life more than others. Last week I preached from what I would call the lens through which I read the entire Bible: John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Whoever. That word has shaped the way I read every other passage in Scripture.

I also have what I call my favorite preaching verse. It’s Romans 2:4: “Do you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” I love that verse because fear is a terrible motivator for faith. You can scare people for six months, but eventually fear wears off. Being afraid of God isn’t what transforms us. What changes us is discovering the kindness of God. We don’t repent because God threatens us. We repent because God loves us.

But today we’ve come to what are probably the two verses that have become my life verses. Genesis 50:20: “What you intended for evil, God intended for good.” And Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” Today I want to tell you why those verses mean so much to me. I want to share a little of my story and explain how these verses have shaped my life, my ministry, and, I hope, the ministry we’ll share together.

My full name is Andrew Thomas Stoddard, but everybody calls me Andy. People have asked, “What should we call you?” Andy is just fine. If my mama could call me Andy, you can too. I was even talking with Josie this morning about what the children should call me. It’s funny—you spend your whole life teaching children to say “Yes, sir” and “Yes, ma’am,” and then one day you’re the person they’re saying it to. If they need a title, “Pastor” is perfectly fine.

But here’s the thing. Today I’m Andy Stoddard. I wasn’t always. I brought a picture with me. That chubby little fellow was me. But when that picture was taken, I wasn’t Andrew Thomas Stoddard. I was Andrew Thomas Jones.

My family story is... complicated. Holly suggested I might need a flowchart to explain it, and honestly, she was probably right. So let me introduce a few people. When I say Mama, I’m talking about Maxine Stoddard—my grandmother, who raised me. When I say Daddy, I’m talking about Connie Stoddard, my grandfather. When I say Mama Sarah, I’m talking about my biological mother. And when I mention Charles Jones, I’m referring to my biological father.

I was born in McComb, Mississippi, in April of 1976. Lincoln County and Pike County—that’s where my people are. If you’ve ever met a Woodall or a Beginner from that part of Mississippi, chances are we’re related somehow.

Mama Sarah was a special education teacher in the McComb school system. She married my biological father, Charles Jones. From the outside, life probably looked normal. But it wasn’t. Charles struggled with alcoholism and addiction. Eventually Mama Sarah realized she could not raise me in that environment. She left. She tried one last time to make the marriage work, but it became clear it wasn’t going to happen.

As she walked out the front door carrying me in her arms, Charles shot her in the back. She died protecting me. In one of her final acts, she handed me to her best friend, who drove away while friends hid me around McComb for hours because they feared his family would try to find me. I was two years old. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served fifteen years in prison. I’ve never really known him. In fact, I wouldn’t recognize him if he walked into this sanctuary this morning.

There are details that make the story even harder. Mama Sarah was murdered on April 16th—her mother’s birthday. She was buried on April 18th—my birthday. So birthdays have never really been a big celebration in our family. They’ve always carried a measure of grief.

Now let me tell you a little about the family that raised me. My grandmother, Maxine, was actually living in Ecuador when Mama Sarah was born. She had married a man named Carol Leon, and they spent several years there. Eventually that marriage also became abusive. She returned home to Mississippi with two children, determined to build a better life. She worked during the week in New Orleans while her mother helped raise the children back home. Those were difficult years. But they were years marked by extraordinary strength.

Eventually Mama and Daddy adopted me and raised me as their own. To the world, we probably looked like an ordinary family. But underneath, we carried deep wounds. That tragedy became one of the defining moments of my life. Outside of coming to know Jesus Christ, nothing has shaped me more.

It’s one of the reasons I love being a pastor. I love sitting beside hospital beds. I love praying with families. I love walking with people through grief. Because I understand, at least in part, what suffering feels like. Don’t ever tell me the worst thing can’t happen. It can. But here’s what I also know. God is still good.

I’ve never been a fan of what I call Christian fairy tales. You know the story: Someone becomes a Christian... and suddenly everything works out. They win the football game. They get the promotion. The diagnosis disappears. Sometimes that’s not how life works. Sometimes you follow Jesus... and you still lose the game. You still lose your job. You still bury someone you love. Following Christ doesn’t mean life becomes easy. It means you never have to walk through life alone.

That tragedy shaped me. It made me passionate about forgiveness. It made me realistic about suffering. It also gave me a tremendous sense of urgency. I shouldn’t be standing here. That’s not a metaphor. I literally shouldn’t be here. God spared my life. I’m not going to waste one second He’s given me.

I want to go to heaven tired. So when you come to church... wear your running shoes. Because we’re going to run. We’re going to work. We’re going to serve. We’re going to share the good news of Jesus Christ with Starkville, the Golden Triangle, and wherever God opens doors.

And yes... I’m going to make mistakes. I’m going to say things wrong. I’ll probably get part of the service out of order. But I’ll love you. I’ll work hard. And together we’ll do everything we can to proclaim the grace of Jesus Christ.

Because I believe this. I really believe this. I believe Christ conquered the grave. I believe forgiveness is real. I believe broken lives can be restored. I believe Jesus still changes people. He certainly changed me.

When I was a senior in high school, I was an angry young man. One night I sat in my bedroom and simply prayed, “Lord, I can’t do this anymore. You’re going to have to help me.” And He did. Jesus Christ changed my life. Every Sunday, we’ll offer an invitation because I believe people still need Jesus. He changed me. He can change anyone.

God also used people to shape me. My teachers at Bogue Chitto... my church family at Johnson Chapel United Methodist Church... pastors... Sunday school teachers... people who loved a hurting kid when they didn’t have to. Honestly, I should have become another statistic. Instead, people invested in me. Teachers, thank you. You save lives every day. The church that raised me saved mine.

Then God shaped me through every appointment He gave me. Boyle, Linn, and Linton taught me how to love people. Coy taught me how to fail—and how to be myself. Ripley taught me leadership. Asbury taught me vision. St. Matthew’s taught me how to lead through joy, through conflict, through COVID, through cancer, through grief, through disaffiliation. Looking back now, I believe every single church prepared me for this one. Romans 8:28.

If I hadn’t been raised by my grandparents... I wouldn’t have attended those schools. I wouldn’t have met Holly. I wouldn’t have become a United Methodist. I wouldn’t have served those churches. I wouldn’t be standing here.

Please hear me carefully. Romans 8:28 does not say that all things are good. Some things are evil. Some things are heartbreaking. God does not cause evil. We live in a fallen world. But God is so powerful that He can redeem even what evil intends to destroy. That’s the promise. Our pain shapes us. But it does not define us. The grace of Jesus Christ defines us.

And if you’ll allow me to stop preaching for just a minute and start meddling... it’s been a hard few years. You’ve been through a great deal. I’ve been through some difficult years too. Pain looks different for different people, but pain is still pain.

Here’s what I want you to know. I believe God has not abandoned this church. I believe He has been preparing this church. The world doesn’t need another perfect church. It needs a church redeemed by the blood of Jesus. A church that’s cried. A church that’s struggled. A church that’s learned grace. A church that has discovered that God’s faithfulness is greater than its failures.

Friends, I believe every part of my journey—both the beautiful moments and the painful ones—has brought me here. And I believe every part of your journey has brought you here as well. Now we get to write the next chapter together.

So put on your running shoes. We’ve got work to do. We’ve got a kingdom to build. We’ve got a Savior to proclaim. And I am honored to be your pastor. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in the days ahead.

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In today’s Rooted in Christ reflection, we continue through 1 Corinthians 3, where Paul confronts the divisions within the Corinthian church and reminds believers that true spiritual maturity is marked by unity, not rivalry. We explore why Paul insists that neither the one who plants nor the one who waters deserves the credit—only God gives the growth—and what that means for pastors, churches, and our own faith. Along the way, we consider the importance of building our lives on the only foundation that can withstand life’s fires: Jesus Christ. This episode is an invitation to pursue unity through the Holy Spirit, resist placing our trust in human leaders, and rest confidently in the faithfulness of Christ, our firm foundation.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

Click here if you’d like to join our GroupMe and receive this each morning at 7:00 a.m. CST.

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Rooted in Christ – 1 Corinthians 3

Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Monday morning. I hope you had a great weekend. We had a wonderful weekend at church, and I’m looking forward to a great day today and a great week ahead.

It’s always good to be in God’s Word and to spend time unpacking what God wants to say to us through Scripture. As we talked about on Friday, reading Scripture puts us in a place where the Holy Spirit can work in our lives. It’s one of the primary ways God shapes us, teaches us, and helps us grow.

Today we’re going to read all of 1 Corinthians chapter 3. It’s twenty-three verses—not too long—but there’s a lot packed into it.

Read 1 Corinthians 3:1–23.

There’s so much here to unpack.

Paul begins by picking up where he left off at the end of chapter 2, where he talked about spiritual discernment and having the mind of Christ. Now he says, “I could not speak to you as spiritual people.” Why? Because they weren’t ready.

“I fed you with milk, not solid food, because you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready.”

How does Paul know they’re not ready? Because there is jealousy and quarreling among them. They’re still arguing over who their favorite preacher is. They’re still divided.

I had a conversation recently about conflict, and it struck me again how quickly we throw away unity. It seems like unity is always the first casualty whenever disagreements arise.

But I don’t think that’s the way God intends it.

Unity is hard. Real unity requires prayer. It requires humility. It requires allowing the Holy Spirit to work within us. It’s easy to have unity with people who think like we do, vote like we do, worship like we do, or share our theology. That’s easy.

The challenge is having unity with people with whom we disagree.

That only happens through the work of the Holy Spirit.

That’s why Paul sees their divisions as evidence that they’re not living by the Spirit. If they were fully surrendering themselves to the Spirit’s work, they would be pursuing unity rather than division.

Then Paul asks, “What is Apollos? What is Paul?”

They’re servants.

Paul planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the growth.

Paul had a role to play. Apollos had a role to play. But neither of them deserved the credit. God alone brings life.

As a preacher, I think about that often.

One of my professors at Mississippi College, Dr. Bryant, gave me advice I’ve never forgotten. He said, “Prepare like it depends on you. Preach knowing it depends on God.”

That’s how I try to approach ministry.

Work hard. Prepare faithfully. Give it your best. But remember that the results belong to God.

Paul says neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything. God is the one who gives the growth.

That’s true for preachers. It’s true for churches. It’s true for all of us.

I hope these reflections encourage you. I hope I’m a blessing to you. But I’m not the Savior.

No preacher is.

Don’t build your faith on a preacher, because every preacher is human. Every preacher will eventually disappoint you.

Build your faith on Jesus.

That’s exactly where Paul goes next.

“No one can lay any foundation other than the one that has already been laid, and that foundation is Jesus Christ.”

Everything else is secondary.

Then Paul talks about that foundation being tested by fire.

Isn’t that true in life?

Every one of us experiences seasons when our faith feels tested. There are moments when it seems like the fire is too hot, the burden too heavy, or the struggle too great.

In those moments, our job isn’t to save ourselves.

Our job is simply to remain faithful.

If our foundation is Christ, then we can trust that whatever comes, He will hold us.

Paul reminds us that we are God’s temple and that His Spirit dwells within us.

That means our unity matters.

Our love for one another matters.

Our faithfulness matters.

Not because we earn God’s love, but because God’s Spirit is already at work within us.

So today, be careful what you build your life upon.

Don’t build it on a preacher.

Don’t build it on a denomination.

Don’t build it on a church.

Now, hear me carefully—I believe in preachers. I believe in denominations. I believe in the local church. I’m a preacher serving in a denomination at a church, so of course I believe those things matter.

But they are not the foundation.

Jesus is.

As the old hymn says:

“On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”

That’s our hope.

That’s our foundation.

Build your life on Him, and everything else will find its proper place.

Thanks for being with us today. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your Monday, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning as we continue our journey through 1 Corinthians together.

What does it mean to have “the mind of Christ”? In today’s reflection, we conclude 1 Corinthians 2 by exploring the work of the Holy Spirit in shaping our hearts and minds. Paul reminds us that God’s wisdom isn’t discovered through human intellect alone but is revealed through the Spirit, who sanctifies us and helps us see the world through Christ’s eyes. Through Scripture, prayer, worship, Communion, and serving others, the Holy Spirit transforms us day by day. If we want to grow in faith, the path is beautifully simple: read your Bible, pray, worship with God’s people, and allow the Spirit to form the mind of Christ within you.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

Click here if you’d like to join our GroupMe and receive this each morning at 7:00 a.m. CST.

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Good morning!

It’s good to be with you on this Friday morning as we wrap up another week together and finish our time in 1 Corinthians 2.

I hope you’ve got some fun plans this weekend. Holly and I are going to run down to Madison today to take care of a few things at our house. If anybody wants to buy a house—this isn’t a swap meet—but if you’re looking for a house in Madison, I’ve got one I’d love to sell you! So we’re going to head down there, get a few things done, and make a day of it.

Then, of course, I’m really looking forward to worship on Sunday here at Starkville First. Whenever I come to a new church and a new community, I like to spend one Sunday sharing my story—talking about what God has done in my life and the journey that brought me here. Some of you have heard that story before, and if you have, I’d appreciate your prayers as I share it again. If you’ve never heard it and you live in the Golden Triangle area, we’d love to have you join us this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. at Starkville First United Methodist Church. Invite your friends, your neighbors...heck, invite your enemies too. We’d love to have everybody.

Today we’re finishing 1 Corinthians 2, reading verses 6 through 16.

Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age... (passage continues through verse 16).

Back in the 1990s, some of you may remember a series of Bible studies that became very popular. One of the best known was Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. I went through that study as a student, and later, as a youth pastor, I taught the youth edition to our students. It was an excellent study that centered around the life of Moses and reminded us that our job isn’t to ask God to bless what we’re doing. Our job is to see where God is already at work and join Him there.

There was another study from around that same time called The Mind of Christ, and that’s what today’s passage makes me think of.

Paul says, “We have the mind of Christ.”

What a remarkable statement.

The goal of the Christian life is to allow the Holy Spirit to shape our minds so that we begin to think more like Jesus.

Paul says elsewhere to “take every thought captive.” In other words, we allow the Spirit to search our hearts, convict us of sin, show us where we need to grow, and gradually align our thoughts with God’s thoughts.

That’s really the work of the Holy Spirit.

Paul writes:

“These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit... We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God.”

The Spirit helps us see what we could never see on our own.

So how do we put ourselves in a position where the Spirit can do that work?

I’m glad you asked.

I think one of the most important ways is through daily reading of Scripture.

When we read the Bible, we’re not simply looking for information—although information certainly matters. We read looking for transformation.

As you read, pay attention to the words, phrases, or verses that seem to jump off the page.

Then stop.

Listen.

Ask yourself, “What might the Holy Spirit be saying to me through this passage?”

Sometimes the Spirit comforts us.

Sometimes the Spirit challenges us.

Sometimes the Spirit convicts us.

Sometimes the Spirit reminds us of God’s grace and mercy.

But the Spirit is always at work.

The same is true when we come to the Lord’s Table. As we receive Holy Communion and hear again the story of Christ’s death and resurrection, the Spirit speaks.

The same is true in prayer.

And honestly, I think one of the most overlooked places where the Holy Spirit works is through serving other people.

We often think of the Spirit working only through Bible study or prayer, and certainly He does. But I also think one of the primary ways God shapes us is through serving our neighbors.

As we serve, the Spirit changes us.

As we love others, God teaches us what His love looks like.

As we forgive, we begin to understand His forgiveness.

That’s why relationships matter so much.

God often speaks to us through the people He places in our lives.

One way to recognize the work of the Spirit is simply to ask yourself:

Are there things that bother me now that didn’t used to?

Am I becoming more compassionate?

Am I more willing to forgive?

Do I find myself wanting to pray more, read Scripture more, worship more, or serve more?

Those desires don’t simply appear out of nowhere.

That’s the Holy Spirit at work.

That’s what sanctification looks like.

Little by little, the Spirit forms within us the mind of Christ.

We begin to see the world through His eyes.

We begin to love the people He loves.

We begin to desire the things He desires.

So this weekend, give yourself some space for the Holy Spirit to work.

Read your Bible.

Spend time in prayer.

Worship with God’s people.

Years ago, someone gave me some wonderfully simple advice, and it’s still some of the best advice I’ve ever received:

Read your Bible. Pray. Go to church.

If you’ll do those three things faithfully, I really believe God will work in your life.

The Holy Spirit will continue to shape you, transform you, and form within you the mind of Christ.

Thanks for being with us today.

If you would, pray for me on Sunday as I share my story with our church family here at Starkville First. We’d love to have you worship with us if you’re in the area.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you Monday morning as we begin 1 Corinthians 3 together.

In our reflection on 1 Corinthians 2:1–5, Paul’s declaration — I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified — becomes a call to keep the main thing the main thing. Drawing on C.S. Lewis’s concept of mere Christianity and the historic framework of the Apostles’ Creed, the reflection distinguishes between the foundation of the faith — Jesus Christ, his life, death, resurrection, and return — and the secondary issues that denominations and theological traditions legitimately differ on. Those secondary things matter, but they are not the foundation, and it’s dangerously easy in our current moment to spend most of our energy arguing about them while neglecting the simple gospel the world is actually hungry for. Paul’s deliberate weakness is equally instructive: he came not with rhetorical power but in fear and trembling, so that faith would rest on God’s power rather than human persuasiveness. Your preacher didn’t save you. No theological tradition saved you. Only Jesus. And it’s only Jesus the world needs to hear about today.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

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Good morning! Great to be with you on this Thursday. It’s been a good week — got out to make some visits yesterday, spent some time at the nursing home, and I sure do love getting to be with my people. Looking forward to more of the same today — visits, a lunch meeting, just seeing what good things God does here at Starkville First. I hope wherever you find yourself today, you find God’s goodness in your midst too.

Today we’re moving into First Corinthians — a new series starting with chapter 2, verses 1 through 5:

“When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.”

I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I love that line. It’s a short phrase but it carries a lot of weight, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.

Paul didn’t come to Corinth with some great theological treatise. He didn’t arrive saying I resolved to share with you this particular theological framework or I came to make the case for my specific interpretive tradition. He came with one thing: Christ crucified. The simple gospel.

I’m a big fan of what C.S. Lewis called mere Christianity — the simple, historic orthodoxy of the church. Not a specific theological perspective, not a denominational tradition, but the bedrock of the faith itself. And that bedrock is probably best captured in the Apostles’ Creed: Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead and buried, raised on the third day, ascended to the right hand of the Father, coming again to judge the living and the dead. That’s the foundation. That’s what Paul is talking about.

Now — I want to be clear about something, because I think this gets muddled. I’m a United Methodist. I’m a Wesleyan. That shapes how I read and interpret Scripture, and I think that’s appropriate. We all have a theological lens, and we should. I’m not saying your denominational convictions don’t matter — they do, and I’d encourage you to test them, know them, and stand on them. But there’s a difference between those convictions and the foundation itself.

Your interpretation of baptism is a secondary issue. Your view on predestination is a secondary issue. Your understanding of how the sacraments work is a secondary issue. You can be a faithful Christian and land in different places on all of those things. What is not secondary is Jesus Christ — who he is, what he did, and why it matters. That’s the foundation. Everything else is built on top of it.

And here’s why this matters practically: it is very easy — especially right now, in this cultural moment — to spend the bulk of our energy arguing about secondary issues. Theological debates can be lively and interesting and even fun, in a certain kind of way. But they can also become a substitute for the one thing we’re actually called to proclaim. I love to tell the story, for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. That old hymn gets it exactly right. The story the world needs is not the story of your denomination’s position on a secondary doctrinal matter. It’s the old, old story of Jesus and his love.

Paul also says something worth sitting with here: he didn’t come in strength and confidence and rhetorical power. He came in weakness and fear and trembling. And the reason matters — so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on the power of God. Paul wasn’t trying to make converts to Paul. He was trying to make disciples of Jesus. And he understood that if people came to faith because of his persuasiveness or his personality or his theological sophistication, he’d have built something fragile. Faith built on a person will crumble when that person disappoints you. Faith built on the power of God holds.

That’s a word for all of us who listen to preachers and teachers — myself very much included. Your preacher didn’t save you. Tim Keller didn’t save you. John Wesley didn’t save you. Good preachers, all of them — better than me, certainly — but none of them are the foundation. Jesus is the foundation. Base your faith on him, not on any of us, because we are going to get it wrong. We’re only human.

It’s only Jesus, friends. Christ crucified, resurrected, returning. That’s the simple gospel. That’s what the world needs to hear right now. Let’s proclaim it — with our words, with our service, with our lives — so that all the world may come to know Jesus Christ as Lord.

Tomorrow we’ll pick up with the end of chapter 2. Have a great day!

Why does Paul call the message of the cross “foolishness”? In today’s reflection, we explore why the Gospel challenged both Jews and Greeks in the first century—and why it still challenges us today. Rather than trusting in human wisdom, religious achievement, or personal strength, Paul reminds us that Jesus Himself is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God doesn’t call us because we’ve got life figured out; He calls us because of His grace. Our greatest witness isn’t how impressive we are—it’s simply telling others what Jesus has done for us. So today, if you’re going to boast, boast in the Lord.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

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Good morning!

It’s good to be with you on this Wednesday morning. I hope all is well for you as we begin our time together here in Rooted in Christ.

It’s been a busy week. Yesterday I had orientation at Mississippi State. It was good to see some college students and make some new connections. It’s kind of strange not having Wednesday night programming yet, but I know that’ll be starting back up soon once school begins. There are lots of meetings, lots of opportunities to get settled in here at Starkville First, and it’s been a fun week.

I hope wherever you find yourself today that things are going well for you. I also hope these reflections have been a blessing. I know I enjoy doing them every day, and I hope they encourage you no matter where you are.

Today we’re going to finish out chapter one of 1 Corinthians. It’s a little longer section, but it’s one of Paul’s great passages.

1 Corinthians 1:18–31

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God... (passage continues through verse 31).

Paul is writing to a very diverse group of people—both Jews and Gentiles—and the message of Christ is a struggle for both of them.

As he says, “Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”

I’ve always liked something theologian Howard Thurman—or perhaps Howard Wass—once said: “I am neither a pessimist nor an optimist. Christ has died and is risen.” That’s really where our hope is found.

The message of Christ was offensive in Paul’s day for different reasons.

For the Jewish people, Jesus disrupted their understanding of the Law. This letter was written before A.D. 70, so the Temple was still standing and the sacrificial system was still in place. Their whole religious life centered around sacrifices, priests, and the Temple. Then along comes Jesus, claiming to be the fulfillment of it all.

Scripture tells us that Christ became our Passover Lamb. The sacrifice had been made once and for all. No longer would bulls and goats need to be sacrificed because Christ had fully atoned for our sins.

That was a radical claim.

To many Jewish believers, it simply did not compute.

But it was just as difficult for the Greeks.

The Greeks prized philosophy. They admired Socrates, Plato, Aristotle—the great thinkers who could debate and persuade with brilliant arguments.

Jesus certainly says things that are intellectually profound, but I’ve always remembered something one of my professors used to say:

“Jesus isn’t hard to understand. Jesus is just hard to follow.”

Loving your enemies isn’t a difficult concept to grasp.

It’s just difficult to do.

It’s much easier to debate theology than it is to forgive someone who has hurt you.

Paul says that Christ has become for us “wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

In other words, Jesus isn’t simply someone who teaches us wisdom.

He is our wisdom.

Sunday I said in my sermon that truth is not merely a concept; truth is a Person.

Righteousness is not merely a concept; it is a Person.

Salvation is not merely a concept; it is a Person.

His name is Jesus.

That’s why Paul concludes by saying, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

If I’m going to brag about something, let me brag about Jesus.

I’m not going to boast about my wisdom because I’m not that wise.

I’m not going to boast about my morality because I’m not that moral.

I’m not going to boast about my strength because I’m not that strong.

I’m not going to boast about my faithfulness because there are plenty of days when I fall short.

But I can boast about Jesus.

I can boast about what He has done for me.

I can boast that He has become my righteousness, my wisdom, my salvation, and my hope.

I also love what Paul says here about those whom God calls.

He reminds the Corinthians that not many of them were wise by human standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth.

God doesn’t call us because we’re perfect.

He calls us because He is perfect.

God doesn’t call us because we have everything figured out.

He calls us because we don’t.

God doesn’t call us because we’re worthy.

His call is what makes us worthy.

His love is what transforms us.

And that’s why we boast in Him instead of ourselves.

The cross really is foolishness by the world’s standards.

Who saves the world by dying?

Who defeats death by submitting to it?

Who wins by losing?

The Gospel turns every human assumption upside down.

And honestly, I think that’s freeing.

Yes, we should be able to explain our faith. We should be able to articulate what we believe and defend the Gospel.

But at the end of the day, the greatest witness we have is simply telling people what Jesus has done for us.

The greatest witness isn’t our intellect.

It isn’t our arguments.

It isn’t our accomplishments.

It’s Jesus.

Paul keeps bringing everything back to Him.

That’s what Corinthians is about.

That’s what the Christian life is about.

It’s always about Jesus.

So today, if you’re going to boast, boast in the Lord.

Tell somebody how good Jesus has been to you.

Tell somebody what He’s done in your life.

Brag on Jesus today.

Thanks for being with us. Tomorrow we’ll move into 1 Corinthians 2 together.

Have a great day, and I’ll see you then.

In today’s reflection, we begin to see the divisions that plagued the church in Corinth as believers argued over their favorite leaders instead of keeping their focus on Christ. Paul reminds us that pastors and teachers are simply servants whose calling is to point people to Jesus, not themselves. Along the way, we also see Paul’s wonderfully human personality shine through—a reminder that God doesn’t wait for us to become perfect before using us. Ultimately, every disagreement, preference, and personality must give way to the cross of Christ, because the church has always been, and always will be, about Jesus.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

Click here if you’d like to join our GroupMe and receive this each morning at 7:00 a.m. CST.

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Or, if you’d like to read the transcript of the video, keep reading!

Good morning!

It’s good to be with you on this Tuesday morning as we continue together in our daily reflections. We’re one day into 1 Corinthians, and it’s one of my favorite books in the Bible. There are a lot of reasons why I love Corinthians, and today’s reading is one of the biggest. In fact, I’ve quoted this section many times because I think it gets to the heart of what we’re going to see throughout this letter: a church doing great things, but also a church with real problems and real divisions.

So today we’re going to see a little bit about those divisions in Corinth.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 1:10–17:

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

You’re going to see something happening here that we’re going to see over and over again throughout Corinthians: this church is in the middle of conflict. Conflict is raging over all kinds of things. Later we’ll see arguments over spiritual gifts, but today’s issue is one that’s probably even more relatable to us.

They’re arguing over who their favorite preacher is.

That’s really what this passage is about.

Some are saying, “Paul’s my favorite.” Others say, “No, Apollos is my guy.” Others say, “Peter’s the one I follow.” And then, of course, you’ve got the super-spiritual folks who say, “Well, I belong to Christ.” You can almost hear the self-righteousness dripping off that one.

They’re fussing over personalities.

And honestly, that’s still something we do today. We all have preachers we connect with more than others. That’s just human nature.

But what I really love about this passage is that it shows us something beautiful about Scripture itself.

I have a very high view of the authority of Scripture. It is God’s inspired and holy Word. As United Methodists, our doctrine says that Scripture “contains all things necessary for salvation,” and that “all things needful are made plain within it.” I love that. If you need to know something for your salvation, God isn’t hiding it from you. God isn’t playing hide-and-seek with His will. He wants us to know Him.

But even with that high view of Scripture, one of the things I love most about the Bible is that you can still see the humanity of its authors.

Matthew was a Jewish tax collector, and his Gospel feels very Jewish.

Luke was a Gentile physician, and you can see his concern for outsiders and the marginalized.

And then you have Paul.

Paul is wonderfully human.

Listen to him here.

“I thank God I didn’t baptize any of you...well, except Crispus and Gaius...oh yeah, I also baptized the household of Stephanas...beyond that, I don’t really remember if I baptized anybody else.”

You can almost hear him thinking out loud!

I just find that so beautiful.

God uses Paul to write Scripture, and yet Paul is still Paul. His personality comes through. His humanity comes through. Peter even refers to Paul’s letters as Scripture later in the New Testament, while joking that they’re sometimes hard to understand.

God didn’t erase Paul’s personality. He used it.

And I think that’s encouraging for us.

God does not expect you to stop being human before He can use you.

God made you with gifts that nobody else has.

There are things you can do that I can’t do.

There are people you can reach that I can’t reach.

You don’t have to become someone else for God to use you. You don’t have to say, “If only I were more like so-and-so.” God made you as you are, and He intends to use you as you are.

If God can use Paul—with all of Paul’s strengths, quirks, and imperfections—to write Scripture itself, imagine what God can do through your life.

Now, that’s not really Paul’s main point here.

His main point is that these believers are arguing over personalities, and he’s trying to redirect their attention.

He says, “Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel...so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.”

That’s the point.

We’re just people.

As pastors, our job is not to gather fans. Our job is to point people to Jesus.

It’s not about me.

It’s not about being somebody’s favorite preacher.

I’ve got preachers who shaped me. Bill Poole was my pastor growing up. I’ve had mentors in ministry who have meant the world to me.

But ultimately, none of us matter all that much.

Jesus matters.

Paul keeps bringing the Corinthians back to that truth. Every time they divide over personalities, spiritual gifts, worship styles, or anything else, he says, “Take it back to Jesus.”

Take it back to the cross.

Because every preference we have pales in comparison to the goodness, the power, and the glory of Jesus Christ.

That’s what it’s always about.

It’s always about Jesus.

So today, don’t get caught up in human things. Don’t get caught up in personalities, preferences, denominations, or styles. Those things have their place, but they’re never the center.

Jesus is.

Keep your eyes fixed on Him.

Thanks for being with us today. I hope you have a great rest of your day, and we’ll continue tomorrow in 1 Corinthians.

Have a great day!

In this episode, Andy begins a new journey through 1 Corinthians, introducing Paul’s deeply personal letter to one of the most diverse—and divided—churches in the New Testament. After exploring the background of Corinth and why this letter remains so relevant today, Andy reflects on Paul’s opening words of grace, gratitude, and encouragement. Before addressing conflict, Paul reminds the church of who they are: people being transformed by God’s grace. The central message is one we all need to hear—God is faithful. No matter what this week brings, God is still at work in our lives, strengthening us, calling us, and inviting us to live each day with purpose and hope.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

Click here if you’d like to join our GroupMe and receive this each morning at 7:00 a.m. CST.

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Or, if you’d like to read the transcript of the video, keep reading!

WWell, good morning! Happy Monday to you! I hope you are doing well, had a great weekend, enjoyed a wonderful Fourth of July, and are ready to start this week off strong. I think it’s going to be a great week.

It’s good to be settling in. I’ve now had my first full week here in the office at Starkville First United Methodist Church, and things are starting to fall into a rhythm. Hopefully, routines will begin to develop, and we’ll keep living into this new season together. It’s going to be good.

Speaking of routines, we’re going to get back to what we normally do with Rooted, and that’s study a book of the Bible together.

I had several people text me suggestions over the past week, and I think I’ve settled on our next couple of studies. You know I like to alternate between the Old Testament and the New Testament, so after finishing Ecclesiastes I wanted to spend some time in the New Testament.

So our next study will be 1 Corinthians. It’s a longer book, so it’ll keep us busy for a while. Then, after we finish 1 Corinthians, we’ll head back to the Old Testament and study Daniel together. Several of you requested Daniel, and I think that’ll be a lot of fun.

So today let’s introduce 1 Corinthians before we dive into the letter itself.

Paul actually wrote more than two letters to the church at Corinth. We only have two preserved in Scripture, but from what Paul says in these letters, we know there were others.

One of the things I love about Paul’s letters is how personal they are. Almost every letter Paul wrote was written either to a church he helped plant or to people he knew personally. The one exception is Romans. Paul hadn’t yet visited Rome, so Romans serves almost like an introduction—a theological roadmap for the believers there before he arrived. It’s one of the reasons Romans is so rich theologically. Paul is writing to the capital of the empire, introducing both himself and the gospel he preaches.

Corinth, though, is different.

Corinth is deeply personal.

We first meet the Corinthian church in Acts 18. Paul arrives there after leaving Athens, and it’s in Corinth that he meets Priscilla and Aquila. As was his custom, he begins by preaching in the synagogue, sharing the gospel with both Jews and Greeks. Eventually a church is established, but not without plenty of opposition.

Corinth itself was a fascinating city. The comparison I’ve heard over the years is that Corinth was something like New Orleans in the ancient world. It was a major port city and a center of commerce. People from all over the Roman Empire came through Corinth, bringing with them different cultures, religions, philosophies, and ways of life.

That diversity made Corinth exciting.

It also made church life...complicated.

One of the things you’ll notice as we work through this letter is that nearly every chapter addresses some sort of conflict. They’re arguing about leaders. They’re arguing about worship. They’re arguing about spiritual gifts. They’re arguing about morality. If there was something to fuss about, the Corinthians found a way to fuss about it.

That’s what makes this letter so relevant. Churches haven’t changed all that much over two thousand years.

So today let’s begin with verses 1 through 9.

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God... Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ... I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus... God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Notice how Paul begins.

Before he addresses a single problem, he reminds them who they are.

He calls them sanctified in Christ Jesus. They’re people whom God is still shaping, still growing, still transforming. That’s important because, by the time we get deeper into this letter, we’ll see that even the spiritual gifts God has given them have become a source of division rather than unity.

But before Paul deals with the problems, he reminds them of God’s grace.

He also reminds them of his own calling.

Paul begins by saying he is “called to be an apostle.” That’s significant because Paul wasn’t one of the original Twelve. His apostleship comes through his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus in Acts 9. Jesus called him specifically to take the gospel to the Gentiles, and Paul never forgot that calling.

Then he ends this opening section with a simple but powerful reminder:

God is faithful.

That’s where I want us to land today.

God was faithful to Paul.

God was faithful to the church at Corinth.

And God is faithful to us.

People may disappoint us. Friends may fail us. We may have seasons where we feel isolated, discouraged, or alone. We may wonder if anybody notices or cares.

But God is faithful.

God has not abandoned you.

God is still at work in your life.

Paul says He will strengthen you to the end. As long as you’re breathing God’s air, He isn’t finished with you yet.

One of my favorite sayings is this: If you’re looking down at the flowers instead of up at them, it’s a good day.

As long as we’re here, God still has a purpose for us.

So don’t wake up this Monday thinking, “It’s just another Monday.”

Instead, remember that God has something for you today. Someone to encourage. Someone to love. Something to learn. Somewhere to serve.

God is faithful.

That was Paul’s message to the Corinthians.

It’s still God’s message to us.

Thanks for being with me today. Tomorrow we’ll pick up in verse 10, and that’s where the conflict begins. Today we’ve seen God’s faithfulness. Tomorrow we’ll see all the fussing!

Have a great Monday, and I’ll see you in the morning.

Dr. Frank Pollard, longtime pastor of First Baptist Church, Jackson, MS, said something that’s stuck with me for decades. I attended (and joined) there when I was in college, primarily because Dr. Pollard is, to this day, the best preacher I’ve ever heard. In my few years there, he said several things that I have stuck with me. One of those things was “We get our theology from three places: the scriptures we read, the prayers we pray, and the hymns we sing.”

I love the music of the church. I tell young parents that sometimes the most important thing they can do is worship with their children and let their kids see them bow their heads in prayer or open a hymnal. So, on days like this, our nation’s 250th birthday, I often turn to the hymns.

There are a lot of great hymns that inspire both faith in God and love of the nation. I think of America the Beautiful. You really want to click on that link, because it’s Ray Charles’ version, the best ever. I love, though, especially the second verse:

O beautiful for heroes proved
in liberating strife,
who more than self their country loved,
and mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
till all success be nobleness,
and every gain divine.

Of course, I love The Battle Hymn of the Republic. I love verse four so much:

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
while God is marching on.

But in the last few years, another hymn has become my favorite of this type. It’s one I had never heard, but now I find myself singing it quite often. It’s entitled “This is My Song.” I love it for a lot of reasons, one of which is that it shares the same tune (Finlandia) as another of my favorite hymns, Be Still My Soul.

The lyrics to this song. Man, they say capture something I deeply believe, but I struggled to verbalize until I heard this song. I’d like for you to read them:

This is my song, Oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.

This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms:
Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him,
And hearts united learn to live as one.
O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations;
Myself I give thee, let thy will be done.

I love my country so very much. In my ministry, I have had the honor of serving as pastor to many folks who have served. Several of my closest friends are military chaplains. One of the most powerful things I’ve ever witnessed is seeing a new officer receive their first salute. I tear up when I hear Taps at a funeral. Every Sunday in worship, I pray for our leaders and our military. I often think of the saying I heard attributed to Jefferson: “Citizen is the greatest title any person can have.”

THIS is my home, the country where my heart is; here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine. My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.

BUT other hearts in other lands are beating, with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine. But other lands have sunlight too and clover, and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

I love my nation. I am a proud patriot. I think patriotism is a good thing; we should all aspire to be faithful citizens of our nation and work to make it the best possible place it can be. That is our call, our command as Christians. Paul tells us in Romans 13 of our duty to be good citizens. God loves America.

But God loves the world as well (John 3:16). As an American citizen, I am united with every other citizen of our nation in working for its good. As a Christian, I am united with every other follower of Jesus, here in America, but across the world, and across all space and time. I want good for our nation. But I want good for all nations. I want peace in our nation. I want peace in all nations. I want everyone in America to know the goodness of God. I want everyone in the world to know the goodness of God.

That’s why I love this song so much. It says what I believe. I love our nation. Remember what Dr. Pollard said: we get that theology from the hymns we sing. But I also love my brothers and sisters in Christ that I have met in Honduras. In Bethlehem. In Lithuania. In Nicaragua. In Canada. In Mexico. In Russia. All over the world.

Tonight, I’m going to go with some new friends and church members from FUMC Starkville to celebrate our nation and give thanks to God for His great blessings. I encourage you to do the same. And let us resolve not just to celebrate our nation, but work to make our nation what God wants it to be. And let’s work to that Good News of Jesus to all the world, so the final verse of this hymn can be true:

This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms:
Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him,
And hearts united learn to live as one.

God bless America. God save the world. Love you guys. Happy Fourth!

In this final standalone reflection before beginning a new Bible study series, Andy reflects on Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer in John 17:20–24, where Jesus prays not only for His first disciples but for everyone who would one day believe—including us. Exploring the difference between unity and uniformity, this episode considers why Christian unity is so difficult, why it matters so deeply to Jesus, and how only the Holy Spirit can shape us into a people who truly love one another. As we celebrate Independence Day and prepare for a new season together, we’re reminded that one of the Church’s greatest witnesses is not that we all think alike, but that we love alike.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

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Well, good morning! Happy Friday! I hope you are doing well today.

I hope you have some fun Fourth of July plans. We’re going to get together with some folks here in Starkville, hopefully see some fireworks, and just enjoy getting to know more people. We’re really looking forward to it.

Then, of course, Sunday is a big day for us. It’ll be our first Sunday here at Starkville First United Methodist Church. It’ll also be the first time I’ve preached since June 7, and that’s about the longest I’ve gone without preaching in a long time. I’m pent up and ready to go.

I always think of that great quote often attributed to John Wesley: “Preach with enthusiasm, and people will come from miles to watch you burn.” So I’m hoping everybody in Starkville comes Sunday so they can watch me set myself on fire!

Whatever you’ve got planned this weekend, I hope it’s a good one. I hope you get to spend time with family and friends as we celebrate our country and the freedoms we’ve been given. I also hope we’ll pray for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to help us know how to be good citizens.

I remember reading that Thomas Jefferson once said the greatest title he ever held was that of “citizen.” Whether or not that’s the exact wording, it’s a good reminder. As Christians, one of our callings is to seek the good of our communities—to make our cities, towns, counties, states, and nation more like they ought to be.

Now, that’s not really today’s devotion! I just hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July.

Today is our last standalone reflection before we begin studying another book of the Bible together next week. I still haven’t decided which book we’re going to study, so show up Monday morning and we’ll both find out together!

Today I want us to read from John 17, verses 20 through 24.

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me... I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one...”

I love this passage.

A little background helps us appreciate what’s happening here.

This is my preaching Bible—the one I’ll use this Sunday. It’s been with me for a while. I like it because it’s large print, and these old eyes appreciate that! It’s a simple Bible without study notes or commentary.

When we read Scripture today, we naturally think in terms of chapters and verses. But that’s not how the Bible was originally written. The original manuscripts were scrolls, and the chapter and verse divisions weren’t added until centuries later to help people study and reference the text.

That matters here because John 17 isn’t really a standalone chapter. It’s the conclusion of something that begins back in John 13.

John 13 begins Jesus’ final evening with His disciples. It’s the washing of the disciples’ feet, Judas’ betrayal, and Peter’s coming denial. John 14 gives us, “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places.” John 15 is the True Vine. John 16 focuses on the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then John 17 brings everything to its climax with what is often called Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer.

At first Jesus prays for the disciples who are with Him. But then something remarkable happens.

He begins praying for us.

“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word.”

That’s me.

That’s you.

That’s the Church.

Before His arrest...before the cross...Jesus prays for us.

One of the first things He prays is that we would be one.

Earlier in the chapter He prays that the disciples would be one, and then He expands that prayer to everyone who would ever believe through their witness. That’s us.

I find that fascinating because, as Protestants, we’re descendants of a movement whose very name comes from protest. Sometimes we’re much better at separating than we are at uniting.

Unity is hard.

It’s hard to stay unified with people who disagree with us. It’s hard to stay unified with people we don’t always understand. It’s hard to stay unified with people who think differently, vote differently, worship differently, or come from different backgrounds.

But this is exactly what Jesus prays for.

He prays that we would be one just as He and the Father are one. The Nicene Creed tells us that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are of one substance. Jesus points to that perfect unity and says, “That’s what I desire for My people.”

Notice, though, that unity is not the same thing as uniformity.

Being one doesn’t mean we all think exactly alike. It doesn’t mean we have identical opinions, theology, personalities, or preferences. I don’t believe Jesus is asking us to become copies of one another.

Instead, He’s praying that we would love one another.

There’s a saying often attributed to John Wesley: “Though we may not think alike, may we not love alike?”

I think that’s much closer to the unity Jesus is describing.

Seeking that kind of unity sanctifies us. It changes us. It draws us closer to Christ because we cannot love people like that apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot become one by sheer determination. The Spirit has to shape us, soften us, and teach us to love.

Loving people is hard.

Unity is hard.

Relationships are hard.

But that’s exactly why Jesus prayed for us.

As Paul writes in Romans, “If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

That’s a worthy goal for every church and every Christian.

So today, may we hear Jesus praying for us. May we seek unity—not uniformity, but genuine Christ-centered unity. May we love one another even when it’s difficult, because the world will know whose we are by the love we have for one another.

Thanks for being with me this week. Monday we’ll begin a new study through a book of the Bible, and I hope you’ll join me.

Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend. Be safe. If you’re in the Starkville or Golden Triangle area, we’d love to have you worship with us Sunday morning at Starkville First United Methodist Church.

Grace and peace, and I’ll see you Monday.

In today’s reflection, we turn to Zephaniah 3:14–18 and one of the most beautiful images in all of Scripture: a God who rejoices over His people with singing. Together we’ll explore what it means to be loved by God, why the prophets continue to speak hope into seasons of uncertainty, and how our understanding of ourselves changes when we remember that the Bible begins not with humanity’s failure, but with God’s declaration that His creation is “very good.” This reflection offers an encouraging reminder that God’s grace is greater than our past, His love is constant, and every new day is an opportunity to hear His voice calling us His beloved.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

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Well, good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Thursday morning as we continue together in our daily reflections.

This week we’ve been looking at different passages of Scripture that speak about new beginnings and fresh starts—about how God is always doing something new. That is such a powerful truth to remember. God is always at work, always moving, always accomplishing more than we can imagine.

When I think about Scripture’s great themes of renewal and hope, I often find myself drawn to the prophets. The prophets lived through incredibly difficult times. They experienced exile, judgment, uncertainty, and loss, and yet they consistently found hope because they knew God had not abandoned His people.

That’s one reason I return to the prophets so often. I also find myself returning to the Psalms for the same reason. Both speak grace into difficult seasons.

Today we’re going to read from Zephaniah 3:14–18.

“Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!

The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
He has turned away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear disaster no more.

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands grow weak.

The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty warrior who saves;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will renew you in His love;
He will exult over you with loud singing.”

Years ago there was a wonderful Christian album called Glory Revealed. I guess I should probably say “album” because saying “CD” shows my age. Maybe next I’ll be talking about eight-track tapes.

One of the songs on that album was based on this very passage, and I can still remember the chorus:

“The Lord your God is with you...
He takes great delight in you...
He will quiet you with His love...
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

I have always loved that image.

The translation I’m reading today says, “He will renew you in His love,” but another translation says, “He will quiet you with His love.”

I’ve always found that deeply comforting.

It makes me think about being a child.

Think about your mother—or maybe your father or your grandparents.

When you were frightened...

When you were sick...

When you were upset...

How often did they simply hold you?

Rock you?

Sing over you?

Now think about how many of you have done exactly the same thing for your own children or grandchildren.

How many parents have walked the floor with a crying baby in the middle of the night, singing lullabies over and over again?

How many of us first learned the faith because someone sang it to us?

That’s one reason I think the old hymns still matter so much.

Even today, when you hear contemporary worship songs, they’ll often weave an old hymn into the middle of the song. And it’s amazing—the congregation almost always sings the old hymn the loudest.

We’ll see you tomorrow.

Today we look at Isaiah 43:18–21, and are reminded that God is always at work doing “a new thing,” even in seasons of uncertainty and transition. Spoken originally to Israel as they faced exile, God’s promise to make “rivers in the desert” demonstrates that He brings life and hope where none seems possible. While our past experiences—both successes and failures—shape us, they do not define us. Like Peter, Paul, and John Wesley, we are continually renewed by God’s grace. The invitation is to stop living captive to yesterday, trust that God is already working ahead of us, and faithfully join Him in the new work He is accomplishing today.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

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Well, good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Wednesday morning as we continue together in our daily reflections.

I hope you’re doing well. I hope your week is going well.

Things are good for me. Yesterday was my first full day in the office here at First United Methodist Church of Starkville. I think I’ll go back to work today—we’ll see. I always know things are going well if I show up and the key to my office still works. That’s why I usually leave my office door unlocked. It gives me a better chance of sneaking in if they decide they don’t want me anymore! So, if I can still get into the office today, life is good. I’ll report back tomorrow and let you know.

This week we’re simply looking at different passages of Scripture that I think are meaningful, encouraging, and fitting for new beginnings. Next week we’ll begin another study through a book of the Bible, but this week I just wanted to spend some time reflecting on passages that have shaped my own faith.

Today we’re going to read from Isaiah 43:18–21.

“Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.

The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.”

Isaiah is one of the longest books in the Bible. As we read Scripture, it’s helpful to understand how it’s organized. We have the Pentateuch—the first five books of Moses—followed by the historical books, the wisdom books, and then the prophets.

The prophets are divided into the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets. That distinction has nothing to do with importance. The Major Prophets are simply longer books, while the Minor Prophets are shorter. In ancient times, the Minor Prophets were often copied together onto a single scroll.

Then, of course, we come to the New Testament with the Gospels, Acts, Paul’s letters, the General Epistles, and finally Revelation—which we’re not going to talk about today! I taught Revelation in Sunday School once, and it took a verylong time.

Isaiah covers a huge span of Israel’s history, and it contains some of the most beautiful passages in all of Scripture. Later in the book we find the great Servant Songs:

“He was pierced for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities...
and by His wounds we are healed.”

Those words point us toward Jesus centuries before His birth.

But here in chapter 43 we find another beautiful promise.

Did you notice that God repeats Himself?

“I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

Then just one verse later:

“I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

Whenever Scripture repeats something, pay attention.

The deserts of Israel are harsh places. Water is scarce. Rivers don’t belong there.

That’s precisely the point.

God promises to bring life where life should not exist.

This section also follows one of my favorite passages in all of Isaiah:

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you...
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned...
For I am the Lord your God...
I have called you by name. You are mine.”

Those are incredibly comforting words.

But here’s what’s remarkable.

God speaks those promises as Israel is preparing to go into exile.

These are not words spoken after everything gets better.

They’re spoken before everything falls apart.

Judgment is coming.

Pain is coming.

Loss is coming.

And yet God says, “I am with you.”

Friends, I think that’s a word for us.

Verse 18 says:

“Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.”

You’re not bound by your past.

Your mistakes have shaped you.

Your victories have shaped you.

Your failures have shaped you.

They’ve all helped make you who you are.

But they do not define you.

Because God says:

“I am about to do a new thing.”

I love that.

God doesn’t say, “I’ll do a new thing if you’re paying attention.”

He simply says, “I’m doing a new thing.”

The question isn’t whether God is at work.

The question is whether we’ll have eyes to see what He’s already doing.

Will we recognize His work?

Will we join Him in it?

Will we participate in the new thing He is bringing into the world?

It’s so easy to believe we’ll never outrun our past.

We begin to think we’re nothing more than the sum total of our failures.

But that’s not how God sees us.

Think about Peter.

Peter denied Jesus three times. It wasn’t only Judas who failed on Good Friday. Peter had three opportunities to say, “Yes, I belong to Him,” and three times he denied it.

Yet God wasn’t finished with Peter.

Think about Paul.

Before he became the great missionary, he was Saul—the man persecuting the Church on the road to Damascus. Yet God wasn’t finished with him either.

Think about John Wesley.

He came to America as a missionary and considered his ministry a failure. He returned to England discouraged and brokenhearted. Yet it was after that disappointment, when his heart was “strangely warmed,” that he discovered the grace that would change not only his life but the world.

And then there are people like me.

And people like you.

We all make mistakes.

We all fail.

We all stumble.

But through God’s grace, we keep walking.

I’m reminded of Psalm 139:

“Even if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.”

There is no place we can go where God’s grace cannot find us.

So today, don’t let your past imprison you.

Learn from it.

Grow through it.

But don’t live there.

Your past may have shaped you, but it does not define you.

You are defined by the grace of God.

So today, live in that grace.

Live in hope.

Live in love.

Serve God.

Love your neighbor.

And watch for the new thing God is already doing.

Thanks for being with me today.

Tomorrow we’ll look at another passage together, and then next week we’ll begin a new study through a book of the Bible. If there’s a particular book you’d like us to study, send me a message. I’d love to hear your ideas.

Have a great day, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Today, we start a new season of our Reflections as we reflect on Lamentations 3:21–25, We see that new beginnings are grounded in hope. Looking to the example of Jeremiah, who proclaimed God’s faithfulness while witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem, we remember that following Christ does not guarantee an easy life, but it does offer a meaningful one sustained by God’s steadfast love. Faith is trusting God’s presence even when circumstances are painful or uncertain, believing that His mercies are “new every morning.” Whether life is joyful or difficult, we hold fast to God’s faithfulness, knowing that every new day is evidence of His grace and that hope remains because God never abandons His people.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

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Well, good morning!

Remember me? I’m Andy Stoddard. It’s good to be with you again for another reflection. It’s been a minute since we’ve done this together.

As you may have noticed, I’m in a completely new environment. I’m recording this from my office at First United Methodist Church of Starkville as I begin my new appointment as senior pastor here. So it’s a whole new setting. You’ll notice some familiar things behind me that you’ve seen before, but there’s some new stuff too.

I’ve still got a lot of work to do getting my office the way I want it. It’s in decent shape—not great—but it’s getting there. My books are still stacked everywhere, and I’ve got to get them organized.

It really is good to be back with you.

This week I’m probably just going to do some daily reflections. I’m not going to jump right back into a full Bible study like we’ve done in the past. We’ll ease back into things, and then next week we’ll begin walking through another book of the Bible together like we always have.

If you’re new to these reflections, welcome. My name is Andy Stoddard. I’m the senior pastor here at Starkville First. I’m married to Holly, and we have two children, Sarah and Thomas. I love Scripture. I love God’s Word. I love the Church. I love my United Methodist Church. I love baseball—I’m a Giants fan, and unfortunately they’re terrible this year. Our bullpen can’t seem to get anybody out, but it is what it is.

More than anything, I love ministry, and I love seeing God change people’s lives.

One of the primary ways I believe God changes us is through reading Scripture. People have heard me say this a million times: if you want to do something nice for your preacher—if you want to give your pastor a gift—read your Bible. Read it every day. I promise you, if you read your Bible every day, God will do something with that.

So today we’re going to begin in God’s Word.

Since this is a new beginning for me—and, in some ways, for all of us—I thought we’d begin in the book of Lamentations. Maybe that sounds like an odd choice, but hopefully you’ll see why.

We’re going to read Lamentations 3:21–25:

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.

‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,
‘therefore I will hope in Him.’

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul that seeks Him.”

And yes, I’m drinking this morning from my Mississippi State Wesley Foundation mug. If you’ve got a student headed to Mississippi State University this fall, I’d encourage you to connect them with Amy and the wonderful ministry happening through the Wesley Foundation.

I love this passage because it’s a passage of hope.

New beginnings call for new hope.

Now, many of you know the story behind Lamentations. It’s traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who is often called “the weeping prophet.” Jeremiah ministers during one of the darkest moments in Israel’s history, when Jerusalem falls and the people are carried into exile.

Much of Jeremiah and much of Lamentations is heartbreaking. It is the voice of someone who has been faithful to God and yet watches everything he loves fall apart.

There is grief. There is loss. There is sorrow.

In many ways, Lamentations is like the Psalms. It gives us permission to bring our brokenness before God.

Because following Jesus does not guarantee an easy life.

I think sometimes we’ve bought into what I call the “Christian fairy tale”—the idea that if you follow Jesus, everything will suddenly become easy.

That’s just not what Scripture teaches.

Sometimes life becomes harder when we follow Jesus.

But it also becomes more meaningful.

An easy life without beauty can never compare to a difficult life filled with the beauty of Christ.

When we experience God’s love and allow that love to flow through us toward friend and enemy alike, we discover something truly beautiful.

That’s what Jeremiah discovers.

Even though he’s losing everything—even the land, the Temple, the nation itself—he can still say:

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning.
Great is Your faithfulness.”

That’s remarkable.

His circumstances have not changed.

God’s faithfulness has not changed either.

Friends, God’s goodness is always there, even when we struggle to see it.

That’s what faith is.

The writer of Hebrews says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

If everything were obvious, it wouldn’t require faith.

Faith is trusting when we cannot yet see.

Faith is believing that God is with us when every emotion tells us otherwise.

Faith is stepping toward the edge of uncertainty and believing that somehow God will meet us there.

So today, I don’t know what you’re carrying.

Maybe life is wonderful right now.

If that’s you, praise God.

Celebrate His goodness.

I’ve had people tell me before, “Andy, I almost feel guilty because my testimony isn’t dramatic.”

Don’t.

I’d much rather someone have an easier life than a more dramatic testimony.

So if life is good today, thank God for it.

But if today feels more like Jeremiah...

If life doesn’t make sense...

If it feels like you’re losing something...

If your tears have become your daily bread...

Hold on.

You have to go through Good Friday before you get to Easter.

You have to walk through death before resurrection.

There’s a line from Turnpike Troubadours that I’ve always loved:

“We all want to be Hank Williams.
We just don’t want to have to die.”

That’s true spiritually, too.

Before resurrection comes surrender.

Before new life comes letting go of the old.

So if today feels like one of those seasons where everything is changing, hold on.

Jeremiah discovered that even while losing everything, God’s mercy had not run out.

His steadfast love had not failed.

Morning by morning, new mercies he saw.

Friends, if God woke you up today...

If He put breath in your lungs...

If He has given you another sunrise...

Then there is still grace for today.

One of the ladies in one of my churches used to tell me, “Andy, it’s better to be seen than viewed.”

I’ve never forgotten that.

So if you’re being seen today instead of viewed, it’s a good day.

Great is His faithfulness.

Find His grace.

Find His joy.

Find His truth.

This week we’ll continue with a different passage each morning—a simple devotional as we ease back into our rhythm together.

Then next week we’ll begin another study through a book of the Bible.

If there’s a particular book you’d like to study or a theme you’d like to explore, send me a message or an email. I’d love to hear your ideas as we begin this new journey together.

Thanks for being with me today.

Have a great rest of your day, and I’ll see you in the morning.

In this final reflection on Ecclesiastes 12, the Teacher brings the entire book to its ultimate conclusion after wrestling with wisdom, pleasure, mortality, anxiety, and the fleeting nature of life. After exploring nearly every avenue for meaning, Ecclesiastes ends with a simple but profound truth: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of everyone.” The devotion explains that fearing God is not about terror but about reverence, awe, and recognizing God’s greatness and holiness. From that reverence flows obedience, which Jesus ultimately summarizes as loving God and loving neighbor. The reflection closes by emphasizing that, after all the searching and existential struggle in Ecclesiastes, the purpose of life is found not in wealth, success, or control, but in faithfully loving God and others.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

You can read today’s passage here.

Click here if you’d like to join our GroupMe and receive this each morning at 7:00 a.m. CST.

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Well, good morning. It’s good to be with you on this Friday morning as we finish Ecclesiastes together. Today will be the final day of our Ecclesiastes study as we walk through chapter 12.

Then we’ll be off for a little while. Next week is going to be a bit of a crazy one for me. Monday and Tuesday I’ll still be in the office, and then Wednesday through Friday I’ll be at the Mississippi Annual Conference of the The United Methodist Church. Then June 7 will be my last Sunday preaching at St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church.

After that, I’ll begin the process of moving to Starkville. Some things will go up before then, but our actual moving day will probably be later in the month. My first Sunday in Starkville will be July 5, and right now my goal is for Rooted to start back on July 6. I don’t want to promise that date, but that’s what I’m aiming for.

Everything will continue in the same places—Substack, Facebook, YouTube, podcasts, GroupMe, all of that. And honestly, there’s a pretty good chance I’ll pop up here and there over the next month with some reflections and thoughts. I’m not disappearing. As I keep telling people, I’m not dying—I’m just moving north.

So if you follow Rooted, I’ll still hopefully be a part of your life through the joy of technology.

Now let’s read Ecclesiastes 12 together:

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with the rain…

…before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it.

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher; all is vanity.

Besides being wise, the Teacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs. The Teacher sought to find pleasing words, and he wrote words of truth plainly.

The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by one shepherd.

Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep His commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

“Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” That sounds like somebody who’s been in graduate school a very long time. I felt that verse deep in my soul.

But after examining everything—wisdom, pleasure, work, wealth, meaning, success, anxiety, mortality—the Teacher finally lands here:

“The end of the matter…fear God and keep His commandments, for that is the whole duty of everyone.”

That’s it. That’s the conclusion.

Fear God.

Now when Scripture talks about fearing God, we often misunderstand that because we hear the word “fear” and think terror. We think being afraid of snakes or storms or whatever scares us.

But biblical fear is closer to reverence, awe, and respect.

The fear of the Lord means understanding who God is and who we are. It means recognizing that God is God and we are not.

God is greater than us, wiser than us, holier than us. Scripture tells us His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. God is other. God is beyond us.

And yet, we know God because He has revealed Himself to us—through Scripture and most fully through Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. So what we know of God, we know through Christ.

And because we fear God—because we recognize who He is—we keep His commandments.

And what are those commandments?

Jesus tells us plainly: love God and love neighbor.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus says all the Law and the Prophets hang on those two commands.

If you really think about it, all the commandments boil down to those things.

If you love God, you won’t worship idols. You won’t take His name in vain. You’ll honor Him.

If you love your neighbor, you won’t murder them, steal from them, betray them, or covet what belongs to them.

Everything ultimately distills down to love God and love neighbor.

That is the whole duty of everyone.

And honestly, after all the angst and frustration and searching in Ecclesiastes, I love that the Teacher ends there. After all the wrestling, he finally comes back to the thing that matters most.

Fear God. Keep His commandments. Love God. Love neighbor.

That’s it, y’all.

That’s the whole shooting match.

So let’s live that out.

And friends, it has truly been a joy to walk through Ecclesiastes with you. It has been a joy to serve St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church these past eleven years. I’m deeply thankful for this season, and I’m thankful for each of you.

I’m also thankful for Ricky James, who will follow behind me and do a phenomenal job.

And remember—we’re not going away. We’ll be back in about a month, just in a different context.

Love y’all. Thank you for walking through this with me, and we’ll see you soon.

Have a great weekend.