Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Rev. Steven Theiss, retired LCMS pastor, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 11. “The head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” What do head coverings have to do with the Lord’s Supper? Does Paul intend in 1 Corinthians 11 for women to pick up hats on their way into church on Sundays, even today? Paul speaks these words right aft...

Rev. Dr. Kevin Golden, pastor of Village Lutheran Church in Ladue, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 10. “You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” The Corinthians thought they were being spiritual and full of faith as they ate meat in pagan temples, confessing the irreality of fa...

Rev. Stewart Crown, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Palo Alto, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 9. “Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.” God gives us rights that we may give them up for others, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9. Although he had more rights than most as...

Rev. Nathan Meador, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 50. "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine." God doesn't need our help—but even if He did—He wouldn't ask us. Psalm 50 humbles us as it calls on both God’s own “people” as well as the “God-forgetters” to repent. There is no getting away...

Rev. Lane Burgland, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Churubusco, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 8. A lot of churches are talking about their rights these days. “If food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat,” Paul says in chapter 8. Paul shows the Corinthians that love comes before freedom. While our fellow Christians may be “weak,” immature, or even incorr...

Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 7. “Those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short.” Is Paul for or against marriage? In chapter 7 the Apostle charts a middle course, not for the sake of compromise,...

Rev. John Shank, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 6. “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong?” What we have in the body of Christ is more important than our own rights, wealth, or property—what a different perspective Paul gives in chapter 6! But it’s the conseq...

Rev. John Lukomski, retired LCMS pastor and co-host of Wrestling with the Basics on KFUO Radio, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 5. “Deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” The sexually immoral should be kicked out, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6. But how is that loving?  Like us, the Corinthians were prou...

Rev. Doug Nicely, pastor of Jerusalem Lutheran Church in Collinsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 4. “Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?” Paul’s sarcastic and almost threatening language in chapter 4 may seem un-apostle-like, but Paul speaks to the Corinthians with the familiarity and intimacy of a father to his children. And a...

Rev. Ryan Fehrman, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Wausau, Wisconsin, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 3. “I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.” We sometimes talk about being “spiritually fed” as if we were the ones managing our spiritual diet. But Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 says that we’re like children, plants, or buildings—someone else manages the...

Rev. Andrew Jagow, pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 2. “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, [...] but we have the mind of Christ.” People use a lot of the same words that Christians use: love, faith, spirit, heaven—but do they use them with the same meaning? In 1...

Rev. Rolf Preus, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Sidney & St. John Lutheran Church in Fairview, Montana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 1 Corinthians 1. “Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” Paul shows pastoral care and brilliant rhetoric from the very first words of 1 Corint...

Rev. Ingo Dutzmann, retired LCMS pastor in Sebascodegan Island, Maine, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 40. “Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” Although prior to Exodus 40 Moses had spoken to God “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend,” here in the final chapter God inhabits the Taberna...

Rev. Delwyn Campbell, domestic missionary and pastor of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church & Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gary, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 94. Learn more about Pastor Campbell and how to support his work at lcms.org/campbell. “O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!” Does the Bible really s...

Rev. Ned Moerbe, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Blackwell, Oklahoma, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 39. “Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the LORD had commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them.” It was heaven on earth—like the paradise of Genesis, a place where God was intimately present among His people. Exodus 39 describes the Tabernacle a...

Rev. Warren Woerth, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Arnold, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 38. $160 million dollars’ worth—that’s how much gold “was used for the work, in all the construction of the sanctuary.” What does Exodus 38 teach us? It’s not about money or precious metals as much as God’s image. Whatever we “pour” our hearts into and “cast” our aspirations...

Rev. Brady Finnern, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Sartell, Minnesota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 37. “He made the holy anointing oil also, and the pure fragrant incense.” Does this worship smell right? Exodus 37 continues the review of two things that went wrong at the golden calf festival: the misuse of gold to build an idol, and the immoral actions of its fertility cult....

Rev. Brady Finnern, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Sartell, Minnesota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 37. “He made the holy anointing oil also, and the pure fragrant incense.” Does this worship smell right? Exodus 37 continues the review of two things that went wrong at the golden calf festival: the misuse of gold to build an idol, and the immoral actions of its fertility cult....

Rev. John Lukomski, retired LCMS pastor and co-host of Wrestling with the Basics on KFUO Radio, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 36. “So the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.“ For all the details that are exactly the same, this stands out as a tremendous difference in Exodus 36. Before the people reluctantly part...

Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 35. “You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.” This isn’t about whether you’re allowed to start your car or reignite your pilot light. Exodus 35 begins with the gracious announcement that God really gives His people tr...

Rev. Chris Biernacki, pastor of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Florence, Alabama, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 34. “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” Even after everything that happened, God is still willing to put the same offer before Israel, writing down the very same Commandments with His finger. B...

Rev. Kevin Martin, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 33. “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” Ouch. Exodus 33 can come off pretty harsh, but this needs to be understood in light of the intimate relationship between Go...

Rev. Joe Cox, Theology teacher at Lutheran High School South in St. Louis, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 32. “So they gave [their gold] to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” Aaron’s attempt to shift the blame only heightens the drama in Exodus 32. As reasonable as their action was—Moses was presumed dead, the idol was meant to represent Yahweh, and t...

Rev. Paul Cain, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Sheridan, Wyoming, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 31. If the church is Israel, why don’t Christians observe the Sabbath? It’s the worship practice “above all” others, for all “generations, as a covenant forever.” This is how Exodus 31 concludes God’s explanation of Israel’s worship, even prescribing the death penalty for its violat...

Rev. Nathan Meador, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 114 & Psalm 115. Have we been idolizing freedom? Has God driven us outside? Psalms 114 and 115 as we know them work together as a single “hallelujah” song, with refrains of taunting and triumph. These times are not unprecedented, because we see the pattern in God’s Word. The Wo...