Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio
by KFUO Radio
Thy Strong Word 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.Thy Strong Word is hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, and graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.
Episodes
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Free-Text First Friday: How to Read the Bible (Rebroadcast)
You own a Bible. You have probably started reading it more than once. And somewhere along the way, you wondered whether you were doing it right. On this Free-Text First Friday, we walk through the basic rules that help Christians read Scripture faithfully: why context matters, how Law and Gospel...
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1 Chronicles 4:1–23: Why Does the Bible Remember the King’s Potters?
We know the names of the two towns where the king’s potters lived. Which king did they serve? The Chronicler never says. After tracing David’s royal line, he turns to the rest of Judah’s family. We meet a woman named Hazzelelponi alongside her three brothers, craftsmen whose trade gave a valley…
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1 Chronicles 3:1-24: God's Promise to David Endures
What becomes of a royal family when there is no kingdom left to inherit? David's descendants include familiar kings, disastrous rulers, and a captive carried into exile. But the genealogy keeps going. Children are born, names are recorded, and the family survives after the crown is lost. Why…
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1 Chronicles 2:18–55: Who Invited the Egyptian into the Family Tree?
A man has no sons to carry on his family line, so he gives his daughter in marriage to his Egyptian servant. Generations later, their descendants appear in Judah’s genealogy. What is that story doing among the ancestors and settlements of God’s people? Alongside families connected with Bethlehem,...
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1 Chronicles 2:1–17: The Family Secrets Are in the Bible
Every family has stories it would rather leave out. Judah’s genealogy puts some of its darkest history right on the page: wickedness, judgment, and children born from a union with his daughter-in-law. Yet this is the family line that leads through Boaz and Jesse to David. As First Chronicles...
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1 Chronicles 1:28–54: Abraham Had More Sons Than You Remember
Isaac and Ishmael are only the beginning. Abraham’s family tree branches into peoples and kingdoms that will shape Israel’s history, sometimes as bitter enemies. First Chronicles names sons, chiefs, and kings, including rulers who reigned in Edom before Israel ever had a king. If so many nations...
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1 Chronicles 1:1–27: The Part of the Bible You Skip
Unfamiliar names. Difficult pronunciations. Nobody doing anything. Is this where you start skimming until the Bible gets interesting again? First Chronicles opens with the sort of passage many readers hurry past, but these names have a story to tell. From Adam through Noah to Abraham, the family...
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2 Corinthians 13:1–14: Who Is Really Being Put to the Test?
The Corinthians want proof that Christ speaks through Paul. Like Jesus, who chastised those who looked for signs, the Apostle turns the examination back on them: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” What are they supposed to look for, and how can that examination lead to...
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2 Corinthians 12:1–21: When God Leaves the Thorn
The Apostle Paul could not secure relief from the thorn that tormented him. What was this thorn? We don’t really know. Three times he pleaded with the Lord to remove it. The answer was a promise of sufficient grace. Paul’s account confronts the expectation that extraordinary faith should produce…
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2 Corinthians 11:16–33: Who Would Boast About This?
Forced to answer men who boast about their credentials, Paul presents a record of beatings, prison stays, shipwrecks, hunger, and sleepless nights. He even recounts escaping a city in a basket. Who would offer that as evidence of a ministry worth hearing? Beneath his sharp irony lies a pastor's...
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2 Corinthians 11:1–15: Which Jesus Are They Preaching?
A preacher speaks about Jesus, offers spiritual experiences, and claims to bring good news. Why would Paul warn the congregation against him? The Corinthians are tolerating teachers who proclaim another Jesus and a different gospel, and Paul fears they are being deceived as Eve was. The danger is...
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2 Corinthians 10:1–18: When Gentleness Looks Like Weakness
Paul’s critics have a verdict: his letters sound strong, but in person he is unimpressive. Can someone so easily dismissed really speak with Christ’s authority? Paul answers with the meekness of Christ and the language of warfare, describing weapons powerful enough to demolish arguments raised...
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2 Corinthians 9:1–15: What Does a Generous Giver Reap?
The Corinthians’ eagerness to help had inspired other believers, but their promised gift still needed to be prepared. How can Paul urge them to follow through while insisting that they give willingly, without reluctance or compulsion? His appeal turns to the God who supplies seed for sowing and...
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2 Corinthians 8:1–24: Why Were the Poor Begging to Give?
The Macedonian Christians were suffering and deeply poor, yet they begged to take part in an offering for other believers. What could make giving feel like a privilege under those circumstances? As Paul urges the Corinthians to finish their own collection, he points to the grace of Jesus Christ,...
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2 Corinthians 7:1–16: Good Grief!
Sorrow over sin can lead in very different directions. Paul distinguishes godly grief, which produces repentance leading to salvation, from worldly grief, which produces death. What makes the difference? Paul takes no pleasure in the pain his letter caused the Corinthians. Yet Titus brings…
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2 Corinthians 6:1–18: Can You Receive God’s Grace in Vain?
“Now is the day of salvation.” Paul pleads with the Corinthians not to turn away from the grace God gives them in Christ. His ministry has brought suffering, poverty, and sorrow, yet through it God has given others forgiveness, life, and lasting riches. Why are their hearts narrowing toward the...
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2 Corinthians 5:1–21: Our Aim is to Please God
How can a sinner look forward to meeting his Judge? Paul longs to be at home with the Lord, even as he warns that we must all appear before Christ’s judgment seat. From the promise of bodily resurrection to the astonishing exchange in which the sinless Christ bears our sin, this chapter gives...
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2 Corinthians 4:1–18: Why Put Treasure in Something So Breakable?
Afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, Paul carries the treasure of the Gospel in a fragile clay jar. His weakness makes clear that the power belongs to God. Yet how can a man who has suffered so much call his affliction “light” and “momentary”? Paul weighs present suffering against…
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2 Corinthians 3:1–18: God's Word Kills
God’s commandments came with glory, yet Paul calls their ministry a ministry of death. How can God’s holy Word condemn the very people who receive it? The Law exposes our sin and leaves us unable to claim righteousness through our obedience. The Gospel gives what the Law demands: righteousness...
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2 Corinthians 2:1–17: When It Is Time to Forgive
A congregation has confronted a serious offense. Now Paul warns that its response could leave a repentant sinner overwhelmed by sorrow and give Satan an advantage. What happens when a church knows how to discipline but hesitates to forgive? Writing as a pastor who has shed tears over these...
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2 Corinthians 1:1–24: When Your Strength Gives Out
Paul admits that he was so burdened beyond his strength that he despaired of life itself. What does an apostle cling to when he cannot see a way forward? As we begin Second Corinthians, St. Paul points this troubled congregation to the Father of mercies, whose comfort reaches His people in their...
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1 Corinthians 16:1–24: After the Amen, There Is Work to Do
After proclaiming the resurrection of the dead, Paul turns to a collection, travel plans, and the people the Corinthians need to welcome. These ordinary concerns show what the Gospel means for a congregation learning to live together. Hungry Christians need help, faithful workers need support…
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1 Corinthians 15:45–58: We Shall All Be Changed
If Christ has conquered death, why are we still burying Christians? Our bodies bear Adam’s likeness, marked by weakness, decay, and death. Yet Paul promises that we will also bear the likeness of the risen Christ. What will that transformation mean, and what happens to those still living when the...
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1 Corinthians 15:20–44: What Comes Out of the Grave?
A body lowered into the grave looks like the end of everything. Paul compares it to a seed being sown, because Christ’s resurrection has begun a harvest that death cannot prevent. But what kind of body will rise, and how can something marked by decay and weakness become imperishable and glorious?...
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1 Corinthians 15:1–19: If the Dead Stay Dead
Could Christianity still offer something worthwhile if the dead never rise? Paul refuses to let the Corinthians treat resurrection as an optional belief. If the dead cannot rise, Christ has not been raised, their sins remain unforgiven, and the Christians they have buried are lost. Everything…
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Free Text First Friday: The Bible––Out of Context
“Judge not.” “I can do all things.” “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” These are familiar words of Scripture that even many unbelievers know. Does Jesus forbid us to call anything sinful? Does God promise success at whatever we attempt? What happens when we must confront wickedness?...
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1 Corinthians 14:1–40: Tongues, Women, and Speaking in Worship
Everyone seems to have something to say in Corinth, but who is being helped by what is heard? Paul would rather speak five understandable words than ten thousand in a tongue. He calls for speech that teaches, encourages, and consoles, then tells some speakers to wait, others to remain silent, and...
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1 Corinthians 12:27–13:13: God Loves Me Best
Imagine knowing every mystery, speaking with extraordinary eloquence, and giving away everything you own. Paul says that without love, even these impressive things amount to nothing. His familiar words about patience and kindness confront a congregation whose spiritual gifts have become occasions...
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1 Corinthians 12:1–26: Spiritual Gifts of Grace
Some Christians wonder whether they have anything to offer. Others act as though the Church could get along without everyone else. Paul answers both by pointing to the church as an image of a body that needs its eyes, hands, and feet, including the members that seem weakest. The Spirit who brings...
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1 Corinthians 11:17–34: When the Lord’s Supper Brings Judgment
Some leave hungry while others have had too much to drink, and the Corinthians still call their gathering the Lord’s Supper. Paul brings them back to the night Jesus was betrayed and the words that make this meal His gift: “This is my body, which is for you.” The Apostle also warns that receiving...
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1 Corinthians 11:1–16: Of Hair and Head Coverings
A covered head, an uncovered head, the length of someone’s hair: why does Paul give these things so much attention? In Corinth, outward appearance could communicate honor or shame within the congregation and between husbands and wives. Paul takes the discussion back to creation, then insists that...
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1 Corinthians 10:14–33: Intimate Participation in Christ
Meat from the market may be eaten with thanksgiving, but a meal at an idol’s altar is another matter. Why does the setting change what Christians may do? Paul answers by pointing to the Lord’s Supper, where the bread and cup give us participation in Christ’s body and blood. Fellowship at an altar...
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1 Corinthians 10:1–13: The Danger of Thinking You Cannot Fall
They passed through the sea, ate bread from heaven, and drank from the rock. Yet the wilderness became a graveyard for people God had delivered from Egypt. The Apostle Paul recounts that history to the Corinthian Christians who think they know enough to stand safely near temptation. What makes...
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1 Corinthians 9:1–27: Why Refuse What You’re Owed?
Paul makes a convincing case that the Corinthians should support his ministry, then explains why he has refused their support. Why defend a right he will not exercise? The answer reaches beyond a pastor’s paycheck to the things Christians willingly surrender so that others may hear the Gospel....
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1 Corinthians 8:1–13: What If Your Freedom Costs Someone His Faith?
An idol is nothing, and food cannot bring us closer to God. Some Corinthians know both truths and see no problem eating meat offered to idols. But across the table sits a fellow Christian who once worshiped those gods. What happens when he follows their example while believing he is returning to...
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1 Corinthians 7:25–40: Why Does Paul Recommend Staying Single?
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…
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1 Corinthians 7:1–24: Is It Better Not to Marry?
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...
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1 Corinthians 6:1–20: Sue? Why Not Suffer Wrong, Instead?
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…
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1 Corinthians 5:1–13: The Love Behind Excommunication
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...
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1 Corinthians 4:1-21: A Spectacle to the World
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…
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1 Corinthians 3:1–23: What Will Survive the Fire?
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…
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1 Corinthians 2:1-16: How Can We Know the Mind of God?
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...
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1 Corinthians 1:18–31: The Foolish Cross of Christ
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...
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1 Corinthians 1:1–17: Your Pastor Wasn’t Crucified for You
“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…
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NEW SERIES: 1 & 2 Corinthians
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...
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Free-Text First Friday: Headlines
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…
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Song of Solomon 8:1-14: Under the Apple Tree
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...
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Song of Solomon 7:1-13: "His Desire is For Me"
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...
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Song of Solomon 6:1-13: My Dove...is the Only One
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…
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Song of Solomon 5:1-16: Hair, Black as a Raven
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...
About this show
Thy Strong Word 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.Thy Strong Word is hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, and graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.
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