Martin Luther's Evening Prayer

We will always reward those who tell us what we want to hear, so there will be no end of opportunity for politicians or false prophets. A false prophet told Israel assembled the happy talk they wanted to believe, but Jeremiah had to challenge him openly with God's message. We must listen to God's message carefully even though it may not please us at first, for this life because of sin is...

Strings, harpsichord and recorder played on Christmas Day. Send us Fan Mail

The Psalmist celebrates the conflict between the Creator and the Creation, and there is NO doubt as to who will win! We have been blessed with insight so as to recognize the winning side in the comic conflict and have even been called to share the victory.  Hymns of Advent and trust are included in this broadcast.  Send us Fan Mail

This Holy Saturday meditation reflects on the human pain and psychological shame endured by Jesus the Christ in His passion and death. "No greater love  can a man have than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." By this, Jesus has made us friends with Himself, and friends with God Whom we had offended by our sin, but now we can approach to find grace, favor, and welcome. Psalm...

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the highest praise of God is when our lives imitate that of Christ, God-made-Human for our salvation. St. Paul is confident in his own imitation of Christ and urges us to do the same. The saints are models of faith for believers in differing stations of life , and fellow believers who share with us the high calling of God. Excerpts of the All Sa...

This message for Reformation festival reflects on Christ's promise to free His people from condemnation of the law and slavery to sin by the Word of the Gospel. WE are made free, not just in the sense of being cut loose, but made part of the family of God, an heir and co-owner with all the Household of God owns. We are made free not by our continuous obligation to do good works, but by the gi...

The Psalmist celebrates God's Word under many titles in Psalm 119 which has one section for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Dr. Zeile's discussion points out the power in the Word which makes things happen. Thus the power to believe is God's and not the power of human decision-making. Thus our faith is not in ourselves but in the Lord who has called us by the Gospel of Jesus Chr...

Dr. Zeile discusses the sin of worry which is the converse of Trust, the gift of God which allows us to let God do His work while we focus on what we can do. Satan often robs us of our joy as well as our productivity through this sin. It is one of his favorites because we will offer us pleasure if it gets us to sin, the sin of worry torments us as well!  Send us Fan Mail

Psalm 43 speaks of the Christ because the Psalmist had the Spirit of Christ who went to the altar of God. Dr. Zeile explains the significance of the altar as the meeting place between God and Man, a place of sacrifice, a table for those who share in eating the sacrifice, and a symbol of Christ cherished in most traditional Christian Churches- Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox. A reading of James 5, the...

In time for Reformation Day (October 31) we share Luther's Order of Communion Liturgy as celebrated at St. John's Lutheran Church, Taylor, Michigan on Reformation Sunday. Send us Fan Mail

Christ gives practical instructions to His disciples on how to pray, most strikingly in the parable of the Unjust Judge." If persistence pays off with those unfriendly to us, how much MORE will it pay off for those who address their entreaties to a Heavenly Father who loves them! Psalm 50 ("Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you") is prayed, and 3 great hymns regardi...

Job's reward after suffering- restored health, a new family, returned wealth- have struck readers as superficial and unsatisfying. If that is all there is, they are right. Dr. Zeile points out the underlying reward that is only betokened by the earthly restoration of Job. The Easter hymn O Filii et Filiae (O Sons & Daughters of the King)  is sung along with Psalm 147, Colossians 1 is read...

Job did not know it but he suffered for God's glory, that others might find in his bitter experience reason to praise God. He was a precursor of Jesus Christ whose suffering was for the ultimate glory of God in the salvation of souls. Dr. Zeile meditates on this solemn truth: Psalm 107 is prayed and the Communion is celebrated in this broadcast. Send us Fan Mail

We are tempted to think that Job's situation is unique; but it is universal, for there is an arc to life; after we have achieved our peak, our children move away, our health begins to deteriorate, loved ones begin to die off, and we ourselves reach a point where, without faith in God, we have nothing to look forward to. Dr. Zeile develops these thoughts in this installment in his series on Jo...

A "mystery" is something that cannot be explained, analogous to a hole too deep to observe the bottom. Suffering cries out for an explanation, yet too often none is given this side of the grave. Job survived just such suffering and Christ undertook the same on our behalf. Dr. Zeile points out that we have a Savior who has suffered for us and with us. The mystery will not overpower those...

The words of Job 10 could have been spoken by Christ from the cross. In this Good Friday meditation from a series on the book of Job, Dr. Zeile reflects on how our suffering is united with and redeemed by the suffering Son of God. Lamentations 2 is prayed and classic Good Friday hymns are sung: "Hear us Holy Jesus" (based on the Seven Words from the Cross), and the German Agnus Dei, &quo...

Fasting has been a Christian practice for centuries, and assumed in the New Testament, but has fallen off in this last century of plenty. Dr. Zeile develops Isaiah's message about an acceptable fast into guidance for modern believers. Psalm 84 is prayed, along with Compline prayers and the hymns include Franzmann's "Thy Strong Word," and the early medieval hymn "Hark, a Th...

Does marriage have a future beyond "Death do us part"? Dr. Zeile reviews Christ's surprising teaching on this point, a message of deep hope for every Christian spouse. This broadcast includes special prayers for America and for farmers, the Magnificat, and the hymn "Evening and Morning." Send us Fan Mail

After the I John 3 epistle and sequence hymn, Dr. Zeile develops the promise of Christ in John 14 that the promised Holy Spirit would bring all things to the Apostles' rememberance. To "re-member" is to reconnect, and the promise pertains not merely to recalling facts, but connecting the events of salvation and the teachings of Jesus to believers of every age. Christ's words in...

Continuing the series on Job, this message, delivered on Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) meditates on Job's anxiety, the mental suffering he experienced, and the even greater suffering that Christ undertook for us when He sweat blood in Gethsemane. Lenten readings precede the message and the classic Lutheran hymn is sung, "A Lamb goes Uncomplaining Forth."  Send us Fan Mail

A brief exhortation to use the gift of self-government God has given to us as Americans. Send us Fan Mail

From the series "St. Paul Speaks about the Cross," this meditation reflects Paul's insight that peace with God enables us to be at peace with ourselves and others. Psalm 121 is prayed, and the parables of Luke 15 are read, along with the Magnificat, litany, and Lord's Prayer from Vespers, concluding with the hymn "If Thy Beloved Son, O God, Had not to Earth Descended.&quot...

The second in an eight-part series on Job deals with the Dream of Eliphaz. Eliphaz was a friend of Job who had come to comfort but fell into arguing and reproving Job. In the dream he relates a specter tells him that no one is pleasing to God. Eliphaz misapplies this to Job, insisting that Job must be suffering because he displeased God, but the true meaning is that ALL are in need of grace and fo...

This begins an eight-part series of messages on Job. Dr. Zeile discusses the role of Satan whose name means "accuser" in accusing Job before God. After the first chapter he is not heard from again! So Satan's game is, in part, to make trouble and watch from the sidelines. We can avoid Satan's work when we stop accusing others and wait upon God. Send us Fan Mail

Portions of Vespers (Evening Prayer) are included in this episode along with Dr. Zeile's meditation on St. Paul's words concerning enemies of the Cross. They are those who object to Christ's suffering on our behalf, and even more of our suffering in following Christ. They want to replace Christ's atonement with something else, and we ourselves may object to the cost of followin...