Thy Strong Word From Kfuo Radio

Marriage is God’s good gift, yet Paul advises the unmarried to consider remaining as they are. His reason brings an urgency to wedding plans and household concerns: “The present form of this world is passing away.” With trouble pressing upon the Corinthians, he wants to spare them added burdens and encourage undivided devotion to the Lord. How should Christians receive that counsel without turning it into a command against marriage? And what does it mean to love a spouse, build a home, and plan a future in a world that will not last?  The Rev. Roger Mullet, Professor of Theology at Concordia University, Chicago, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 Corinthians 7:25–40. What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about marriage, meat sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection bring the apostle into the daily life of a church struggl

Paul wishes others could remain unmarried as he is, yet he tells husbands and wives not to deprive one another of sexual intimacy. How do those fit together? For Christians in Corinth sorting through questions of desire, devotion, and marital faithfulness, neither marriage nor celibacy offers an escape from loving their neighbor. And when one spouse believes in Christ and the other does not, the questions become even more personal. Paul’s answers challenge easy assumptions about which life is holier and what belonging to Christ means for the promises we have made.  The Rev. Graham Glover of Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in Gainesville, Florida, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 Corinthians 7:1–24.  To learn more about Abiding Savior, visit abidingsavior.info. What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about marriage, meat sacrificed to ido

What if winning a lawsuit could mean losing something far more important? As Christians in Corinth take one another to court, Paul asks something most people would never be willing to consider, “Why not rather suffer wrong?” Their insistence on getting their own way reaches into their sexual lives, too, where freedom has become an excuse for sin. What changes when the person you wrong is your brother in Christ, and the body you claim as your own has been bought with His blood? Paul brings them back to what God has done: washed, sanctified, and justified them in Jesus’ name.  The Rev. John Shank, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 Corinthians 6:1–20.  To learn more about Trinity in Edwardsville, visit trinitylutheranministries.org. What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about ma

A member of the Corinthian church is involved with his father’s wife, yet the congregation remains puffed up with pride, unmoved by a sin that should bring them to tears. Paul tells them to remove him from their fellowship, not as punishment, but so that he may be saved. How can putting someone outside the Church serve his salvation? This difficult passage confronts the danger of leaving sin unchallenged and asks what love requires when a fellow Christian refuses to repent. At its heart stands Christ, our Passover Lamb, sacrificed to free us from the sin that destroys us.  The Rev. Dr. Michael Nielsen, pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church and Preschool in North Prairie, Wisconsin, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 Corinthians 5:1–13.  To learn more about St. John's in North Prairie, visit stjohnsnp.org. What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Ques

The Christians in Corinth are acting haughty, supposing themselves to be like kings, while the apostles who brought them the Gospel are hungry, dishonored, and treated like garbage. Despite this, Paul tells them, “Be imitators of me.” Why would anyone want to follow him? Beneath Paul’s sharp words is a spiritual father’s concern for children who have become disconnected from the cross. This episode explores what they have misunderstood about life in Christ, and how God’s power can be at work even in ministry that appears weak according to worldly reason.  The Rev. Robert Smith, pastor emeritus in Fort Wayne, Indiana, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 Corinthians 4:1–21.  What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about marriage, meat sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection bring the apostle into the daily life of a church st

The Corinthians were taking sides over their favorite preachers, but Paul reminds them who makes the Church grow. Pastors plant and water; God gives the growth. Jesus Christ is the only foundation, and what is built upon Him will be tested as through fire. As Paul calls the congregation God’s holy temple, he exposes the foolishness of boasting in human leaders and delivers a greater promise: “You are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”  The Rev. Ryan Kleimola, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Toledo, Ohio, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 Corinthians 3:1–23.  To learn more about Trinity in Toledo, visit trinitylutheran.org. What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about marriage, meat sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection bring the apostle into the daily life of a church struggling with pride and division. Through it

Paul came to Corinth trembling and without lofty and complicated arguments. Instead, he proclaimed with boldness and with Christ crucified at the center of his preaching. Through that message, then and today, the Holy Spirit brings people to faith and reveals a wisdom the rulers of every age had failed to recognize. Paul challenges the Corinthians' confidence in human wisdom and explains how God makes His saving gifts known through the Spirit's own words. What does it mean, then, to have "the mind of Christ"? The Rev. Curtis Deterding, pastor emeritus in Fort Myers, Florida, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 Corinthians 2:1-16. What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about marriage, meat sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection bring the apostle into the daily life of a church struggling with pride and division. Through it

A crucified Savior? To a world looking for impressive signs and persuasive wisdom, the message sounds absurd. Paul puts that very message at the center of God’s saving work and asks the Corinthians to reconsider what makes someone wise, powerful, or worth following. God chooses the weak and despised, brings human boasting to nothing, and gives sinners everything they need in Christ: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.  The Rev. John Lukomski, pastor emeritus and co-host of Wrestling with the Basics on KFUO Radio, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 Corinthians 1:18–31. What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about marriage, meat sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection bring the apostle into the daily life of a church struggling with pride and division. Through it all, he keeps bringing them back to Christ crucifi

“I follow Paul.” “I follow Apollos.” The Christians in Corinth are picking sides, and Paul has a pointed question for them: Was your favorite preacher crucified for you? As we begin our study of 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses a divided church as saints, gives thanks for the grace God has given them, and calls them back to the crucified Savior whose name they bear in Baptism.  The Rev. John Zimmerman, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pittston, Pennsylvania, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study 1 Corinthians 1:1-17.  To learn more about Immanuel in Scranton, visit immanuelscranton.org. What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about marriage, meat sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection bring the apostle into the daily life of a church struggling with pride and divis

What happens when Christians turn their pastors into rival teams, take one another to court, and leave their neighbors hungry at the Lord’s Supper? Corinth gives Paul plenty to write about. Questions about marriage, meat sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection bring the apostle into the daily life of a church struggling with pride and division. Through it all, he keeps bringing them back to Christ crucified and risen.  In 2 Corinthians, the strained relationship between Paul and the people he loves brings its own painful questions about forgiveness, faithful ministry, suffering, and weakness. These letters give us the treasure in jars of clay, the promise of resurrection, and the assurance that Christ’s grace is sufficient. Join Thy Strong Word as we study 1 and 2 Corinthians verse by verse and hear what God speaks to a troubled church He has called His own.  Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salv

Which headline is real? In this edition of Headlines, the Free-Text First Friday news quiz, Pastor Booe puts his guest to the test with three rounds of strange theology and religion news. Each round features three stories, one real and two invented, and once the truth is revealed, the strange news opens into a deeper conversation about Scripture, theology, and the life of the Church.  The Rev. Shawn Ethridge, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Fulda, Minnesota, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe for Headlines.  Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

The Song ends where Genesis began, under a tree in a garden with two people who are not ashamed. Solomon points us to Revelation 22, Eden restored, and the New Heavens and the New Earth. Love is as strong as death, Solomon writes, and it is the flame of the LORD Himself, which many waters cannot quench. Then brothers appear, worrying over a little sister too young to be spoken for, and they decide that if she is a wall, meaning she has kept herself pure, they will crown her in silver, and if she is a door, meaning she has not, they will board her up in cedar and put a stop to it. Faithfulness is not only a promise between husband and wife, but also the call to every Christian to be loyal to Christ and Him alone. The Rev. Donald Stein, pastor of St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Rockton, IL, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 8:1-14. To learn more about St. Andrews Lutheran, visit standrewrockton.com. The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to e

Solomon describes his bride, beginning at her feet and moving up. He describes her "belly like a heap of wheat encircled with lilies," and her "neck like an ivory tower" and "nose like the tower of Lebanon." The comparisons sound strange to us. In Solomon's mouth, however, they are stately and reminiscent of a kingdom at peace. She answers him: "I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me." That word for desire appears twice more in Scripture, both times in Genesis, both a curse. Does this point us to the reversal of the curse of Eden through the Church's marriage to Christ? The Rev. James Peterson, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Curtis, NE, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 7:1-13.  To learn more about St. John Lutheran in Curtis, visit facebook.com/stjohncurtis. The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight chapters. God's people have sung it since Solomon's day, and Jewish congregations still read it at Passov

She has lost her husband and goes looking again, and the daughters of Jerusalem ask where he went so they can help her search. He turns up in his garden, grazing among the lilies, and tells her there are sixty queens and eighty concubines, but “my dove, my perfect one, is the only one.” And yet, 1 Kings says he finished with seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, so this line is a confession as much as a compliment. How do we make sense of Solomon’s not-so-exclusive love?  The Rev. Peter Burfeind, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Union City, Michigan, and Agnus Dei Lutheran Church in Marshall, Michigan, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 6:1–13.  To learn more about Our Savior and Agnus Dei Lutheran churches, visit facebook.com/oursaviorunioncity and agnusdeimarshall.com. The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight chapters. God's people have sung it since Solomon's day, and Jewish congregations still

He knocks after midnight with his head wet with dew and asks her to open the door. She is already in bed and does not want to get up. By the time she does, hands dripping with myrrh, he is gone. She goes out looking for him, and the watchmen who are supposed to guard the city beat her instead and take her veil. When the daughters of Jerusalem ask what makes this man worth all that, she answers by describing her groom from head to foot: gold, ivory, alabaster, hair black as a raven, lips dripping with myrrh, altogether desirable. She says, "This is my beloved, and this is my friend." The Rev. Shawn Ethridge, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Fulda, Minnesota, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 5:1–16.  To learn more about St. Paul's in Fulda, visit stpaulsfulda.org. The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight chapters. God's people have sung it since Solomon's day, and Jewish congregations still read it at Passove

The bridegroom stands in front of his bride on their wedding night and starts recounting her features. Her eyes, her hair, her teeth, her lips, even the way she holds her head. He goes on like that for six verses, smitten, and then he pronounces something she knows is not true: there is no flaw in you. The Hebrew word underneath "flaw" is the word Leviticus uses for the defect that keeps a priest away from the altar and keeps an animal off it. Solomon said to his bride, Jesus says it about His Church. The Rev. Steven Theiss, serving St. John Lutheran Church (AALC) in Pocahontas, MO, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 4:1-16. The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight chapters. God's people have sung it since Solomon's day, and Jewish congregations still read it at Passover. The Church has heard in it the voice of Christ and His bride, and Luther quoted the Song in The Freedom of a Christian to describe what happens when

She wakes to an empty bed, hunts the dark streets for the one her soul loves, and refuses to let go once she finds him, then charges the daughters of Jerusalem by the gazelles and the does of the field not to stir up love before it pleases. The scene shifts to Solomon's wedding procession coming up out of the wilderness in myrrh and frankincense, sixty armed men ringing the carriage, the king wearing the crown his mother set on him the day his heart was glad. Marriage is worth guarding and worth a parade, and the Church knows a Bridegroom who came up out of the wilderness, wore a crown on His wedding day, and takes hold of His bride so she is never left searching in the dark. The Rev. Scott MacDonald, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Meriden, Connecticut, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 3:1–11.  To learn more about St. John in Connecticut, visit saintjohnmeriden.org. The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight

She calls herself a common wildflower; her beloved calls her a lily among the thorns. Scripture is not embarrassed to celebrate what God gave in marriage: a banner of love over the banqueting house, apples and raisins for a woman sick with love, a young stag leaping over the hills to call his bride out into the spring. The chapter also guards what it celebrates, warning about the little foxes that spoil vineyards in bloom and charging the daughters of Jerusalem twice not to stir up love before it pleases. Every husband and wife who has heard "arise, my love, and come away" knows the ache in it. So does the Church, whose Bridegroom washed her, called her beautiful, and made her so, and who will one day come over the mountains to bring her home for good. The Rev. David Boisclair, senior pastor of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Overland, Missouri, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 2:1–17.  To learn more about Our Redeemer in Overland, visit ourredeemerstl.org. The Song of Solomon is

The Song of Solomon is a book that can make people blush. It opens at the threshold of the bridal chamber with a woman desiring to be kissed by her husband. The forward poetic language doesn't hold back as the first chapter unfolds to reveal the God-pleasing intimacy between husband and wife. So why is this book in the Bible? For that, and for more than that. Through Solomon, God reveals something of the love He has for His Church in Christ, a bridegroom for His bride. You hear it by the end of chapter one, where a field hand with a sunburn and angry brothers is told by her bridegroom that she is the most beautiful among women, before she has changed one thing about herself.  The Rev. Jacob Hercamp, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Noblesville, IN, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 1:1-17.  To learn more about Christ Lutheran, visit clc-in.org. The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight chapters. God's people have

The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight chapters. God's people have sung it since Solomon's day, and Jewish congregations still read it at Passover. The Church has heard in it the voice of Christ and His bride, and Luther quoted the Song in The Freedom of a Christian to describe what happens when Christ takes a sinner as His own. Paul was working the same ground in Ephesians five, where he set marriage beside Christ and the Church and called it a great mystery.  This series works through the whole book verse by verse, from the kiss in chapter one to the seal on the heart in chapter eight. We hear what it says about the body, about desire, and about the marriage God instituted in the garden. We also ask where Christ is in it, since the Church has long heard in these songs the voice of the Bridegroom who gave His life for His bride. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals t