Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Rev. Waldemar Vinovskis, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Macungie, Pennsylvania, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 18. “Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David.” Idol worship? Man crush? Not here. In chapter 18 Jonathan, prince of Israel, takes David under his w...

Rev. Dr. Martin Noland, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Mateo, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 17. “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him.” Who doesn’t love the story of David and Goliath? So many children’s Bibles prominently feature this story from 1 Samuel 17, a little clean-shaven shepherd...

Rev. John Lukomski, retired LCMS pastor, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 16. “And Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.’ And the LORD said, ‘Take a heifer with you and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.” And invite Jesse to the sacrifice.’” Is God telling Samuel to lie? And does God send an evil spirit into Saul in the second half of chapter 16? It’s...

Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 57. “My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts— the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.” David had hoped he’d be safe in the cave from Saul, but his hideout became a lions’ den, a mo...

Rev. George Murdaugh, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Douglasville, Georgia, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 15. “Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.” Chapter 15 pulls no punches. Saul truly was a good king who was filled with God’s Spirit, obeying in piety and humility. But towards the end of his reign, Saul became in...

Rev. Steven Theiss, retired LCMS pastor, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 14. “But he did not tell his father.” Unbeknownst to King Saul, his son Jonathan slips away to the Philistine garrison. But Jonathan, accompanied only by his armor bearer, has a different mindset than the rest of Israel in chapter 14: whether he is called to fight against long odds or to pass on a promising oppo...

Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Irvine, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 13. “The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” This one act of disobedience in chapter 13 forever ends the line of Saul in favor of the Ho...

Rev. Darrin Sheek, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Anaheim, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 12. “You shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking for yourselves a king.” Saul’s been anointed messiah, proclaimed king, and installed in a grand covenant renewal ceremony. There’s no taking it back, but...

Rev. David Andrus, pastor of Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in St. Louis and Not-Alone.net Ministries, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 11. Why is the king of Israel working in the field with his oxen? Even though Saul was proclaimed heir to Israel’s throne in the previous chapter, Saul doesn’t actually ascend to kingship until he leads the tribes to a crucial victory in chapter 11. W...

Rev. Scott Adle, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Collinsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 10.  “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” Saul’s anointing as messiah in chapter 10 is met with skepticism and even scorn. As it would be with the Lord Jesus, the mockers unwittingly testify to God’s truth: Saul is not merely the “son o...

Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 9. Underwriter of Thy Strong Word “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.” No one except Samuel knows that God has chosen Saul to be Israel’s king—not even Saul! Chapter 9 is...

Rev. John Shank, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 8. “Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.” Chapter 8 tragically begins with history repeating itself, Samuel’s sons falling the way of Eli’s sons before him. Top that off with the powerful enemy forces all a...

Rev. John Lukomski, retired LCMS pastor, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 7. “So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only.” Although chapter 7 narrates everything so simply, these are massive transitions that took place over years. The Ark stays in Kiriath-jearim for 20 years before the people are ready to get rid of their pantheon of fo...

Rev. Christopher Maronde, pastor of St. John-Bingen in Decatur, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 113. “Who is like Yahweh our God, who condescends to us from on high!” … Pardon? The old sense of condescension, referring to a superior graciously coming down to help a subordinate, captures the middle of Psalm 113, which says that God “looks far down on the heavens and the earth.”...

Rev. Robert Paul, pastor of Memorial Lutheran Church & School in Houston, Texas, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 6. Why would God let the Philistines literally cart around His holy ark like some kind of magical plague box? The Philistines made a “box” with images of the mice and buboes sent from God, possibly sculpted into the box itself. So they sent this box of their own design alo...

Rev. Curtis Deterding, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Myers, Florida, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 5. “Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold.” Luther says in the Catechism that “God’s name is certainly holy in itself”; God will hallow His name with or without us,...

Rev. Mark Birkholz, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Oak Lawn, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 4. “Then Samuel’s word befell all of Israel, and Israel went out to meet the Philistines on the battlefield.” The Hebrew opens ominously in one of the most tragic chapters of the Bible. 1 Samuel 4, like Judges 20, begins with Israel wanting to make itself great in its own eyes....

Rev. Mark Femmel, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Maryland Heights, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 3. Have you ever wished that God would call out to you like He did to Samuel, so you could say “Speak, LORD, for your servant hears”? Be careful what you wish for. Chapter 3 shows that prophecy is a grave responsibility (especially when it’s overdue!), one that even Eli the...

Rev. Charles Henrickson, pastor of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Bonne Terre, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 2. “My heart exults in the LORD; [...] He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” Hannah sets a good example of thanksgiving after supplication, but why talk about an anointed king before there was any such thing? Chapter 2 continues to...

Rev. Paul Cain, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Sheridan, Wyoming, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Samuel 1. “And she called his name Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked for him from the LORD. [...] Therefore I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD.’” How should Christians wield political power? The stories of Samuel, Saul, David, and Solomon all begin...

Rev. Gregory Alms, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Catonsville, Maryland, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 16. “Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.” After everything he’s written in response to the pro-Apollos faction in Cor...

Rev. Brian Davies, pastor of Lord of Glory Lutheran Church in Grayslake, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 15. “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. [...] Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” With your arguing and divisiveness, you live as if Christ were still dead. Paul levels this heavy charge against t...

Rev. Andrew Yeager, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Decatur, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 14. If “all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?” While Paul never says that ecstatic speech is categorically evil, he slams the breaks on the Corinthians’ enthusiasm for such “manifestations of the Spirit”...

Rev. Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 13. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way.” Paul isn’t talking about the unique character of falling in love—he’s talking about talking to people from church!...

Rev. Mark Preus, pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church & Campus Center in Laramie, Wyoming, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 12. “It is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Hang around a church long enough, and people will start talking about spirituality, spiritual gifts, spiritual maturity, and the...