Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Rev. Steven Theiss, retired pastor in Frohna, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Joshua 3. In the most important moment of the whole book, God miraculously stops the Jordan River and leads Joshua & the people through on dry ground, a second Exodus. The event is all about continuity. The priests are from the same family of Levi, they have the same Ark of the Covenant, and God is with Jo...

Rev. Rolf Preus, pastor of Trinity-Sidney & St. John-Fairview, Montana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Joshua 2. The story of Rahab is famous. The drama makes it a great story: the soldiers searching for the spies, Rahab hiding them and lying to the soldiers, and finally Rahab helping them escape through a window in the city wall. Underneath the drama though, we see a story of Rahab’s faith...

Rev. John Lukomski, retired pastor in Southern Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Joshua 1. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” This verse from Joshua 1 is one of the most popular in the Bible, but what exactly is God promising? God does not promise to bless our every endeavor. He will be where He...

Rev. Jaime Nava, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Maplewood, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 3 John. It seems like someone took the advice from 2 John and went too far. In his previous letter, John warned not to host false teachers. In 3 John, the apostle criticizes Diotrephes for refusing to host practically anybody, answering to no other Christian authority but himself. On t...

Rev. Scott Adle, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Collinsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 John. “That’s not very loving.” Lots of people talk about love today, but Christian love isn’t about being “nice people”—as Lewis put it, it’s about being “new men.” In 2 John, the apostle applauds a Christian congregation for going against the grain as they live by Christian...

Rev. Dr. Martin Noland, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Mateo, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 66. God isn’t fooled by appearances. There were those in Judah who publicly offered sacrifices to Yahweh while also participating in other religious rites and sinful behavior on the side. These even mocked the faithful for hoping for the Temple to be restored. These divisio...

Rev. John Shank, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 65. “I will not keep silent, but I will repay.” God answers Isaiah’s prayer in chapter 65, promising to distinguish between His chosen ones and those “who forsake the LORD.” The language here is very similar to that of Isaiah 57, but also to that of chapter 1, bracketing the en...

Rev. Gaven Mize, pastor of Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hickory, North Carolina, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 64. “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down!” Isaiah continues his plea on behalf of the people into chapter 64. He invokes God as a warrior, that “the nations might tremble” before His face. As He makes this request, He acknowledges that there is nothi...

Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 63. After what seemed like a good ending for the whole book in the previous chapter, chapter 63 unexpectedly picks up with an oracle of judgment against Bozrah. Why talk about the Edomites when the Babylonians are the big problem? The poetry weaves t...

Rev. Stewart Crown, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Palo Alto, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 62. In chapter 62 Isaiah says “I will not be quiet until her righteousness goes forth.” And he tells the watchmen, “You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest.” Keep asking God again and again, keep praying, until He delivers on His promise. This...

Rev. Steven Theiss, retired pastor in Frohna, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 61. What does it mean to say “the LORD has anointed me” as in Isaiah chapter 61? Typically only kings and priests were anointed by God in Israel. Yet after the Babylonian invasion of Judah, there was no king or high priest left remaining in the land. In even greater audacity, when our Lord Jesus rea...

Rev. Jim Kress, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Englewood, Florida, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 60. Often mothers greet their children who are still in bed with “Rise and shine!” It’s a phrase that signals the beginning of work and the promise of a new day. The phrase comes from Isaiah 60, where it signals the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the most amazing of reversals. The exi...

Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 59. Don’t try to tell God what He should and shouldn’t care about. In chapter 59, Isaiah says that the Judeans who survived the Babylonian conquest are fooling themselves if they think they can impress God with their hypocritical prayers and piety. I...

Rev. Nathan Meador, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 58. The Judean survivors think they’re doing well by God. They call on His name and they fast, yet God shows no regard for their piety. What’s going on? According to Isaiah 58, the people only think they’re sincere because they’ve deluded themselves. They lack the light of God’...

Rev. Ben Ball, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Hamel, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 57. Judah has become a mess in the wake of the Babylonian devastation. Their religion has devolved into sexual immorality and sacrificing children to idols. In chapter 57 Isaiah says that the people are sorceresses and adulterers by their very nature. Isaiah speaks this way to offer re...

Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 56. God will make His barren people fruitful! That’s been the message of the last two chapters, but now in Isaiah 56, the foreigners and eunuchs are wondering about their place in the people of God, since bearing children with a good Hebrew name is a sensitive topic for...

Rev. John Shank, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 55. Yahweh’s word came down like rain. It gave the exiles water and bread in the wilderness of exile—it gave them what they had hungered and thirsted for. In Isaiah 55, the idea of being “fruitful” ties together powerful words about what God does for us. Only His Word gives us...

Rev. William Foy, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Valparaiso, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 53. “Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” These are the words from Isaiah 53 that we hear read at Good Friday every year. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked about this passage, Philip used these words to tell him “the good...

Rev. William Foy, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Valparaiso, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 53. “Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” These are the words from Isaiah 53 that we hear read at Good Friday every year. When the Ethiopian eunuch asked about this passage, Philip used these words to tell him “the good...

Rev. Chris Biernacki, pastor of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Florence, Alabama, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 32. This psalm is called a “maskil.” David wanted us to use it in worship, and he also wanted to teach us from his life experience: if you try to bury your sins and forget about them, they’ll eat you from the inside. We’re lying to ourselves if we think we can deal with the...

Rev. Curtis Deterding, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Myers, Florida, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 52. It’s Christmas and Good Friday at the same time—this remarkable chapter has both of the yearly readings, right next to each other: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news” right before “his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance....

Rev. Doug Nicely, pastor of Jerusalem Lutheran Church in Collinsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 51. “The heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment.” What is this scary-sounding end-of-the-world prediction doing in Isaiah 51? Reading in context, the Babylonian empire must have felt like it was never going to end. They had re-shaped a vast region;...

Rev. David Andrus, pastor of Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in St. Louis and Not-Alone.net Ministries, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 50. “Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.” Isaiah 50 proclaims that God has not divorced His people Israel. He is faithful even when we are faithless, and the remnant of Judah will not be forgotten. Judah has...

Rev. Kevin Parviz, pastor of Congregation Chai v’Shalom in St. Louis, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 49. You haven’t been forgotten; can a mother forget her children? Isaiah 49 uses tender and compassionate language to describe God’s love for us. Even though the exiles felt like they had been cast aside, it turns out they were only hidden like an arrow in God’s quiver or a s...

Rev. Lane Burgland, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Churubusco, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 106. “Gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name.” Christians are not thankful in an abstract sense; rather they concretely say “thank you” to God for His acts of mercy and faithfulness, even in dark times. Even in the midst of exile, God’s people...