Mark 4:21–41 When I was a sophomore in college, my sister lived just a couple blocks away from my apartment. And one day she called me and frantically begged me to come over to her house. She was terrified of something. Something had paralyzed her with fear. A problem had appeared in her life that she could not escape and she needed me to rescue her from it immediately, lest she perish! The problem, of course, was a spider. So I walked over to her apartment, smashed the spide

Genesis 8:13-9:17 In 1 Peter 3, the apostle tells us that the saving waters of baptism correspond to the flood, which is to say that the flood was a type of baptism, a promise of what we would receive in baptism. And understanding this makes the promise that God gives to Noah in Genesis 9 all the more beautiful. In discussing the rainbow that He puts in the sky as a sign of His promise, God tells Noah, “I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures o

Mark 3:1-19 “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” This is the question Jesus asks those who are jealous of His power and popularity. It’s what he asks those who want Him to heal a man on the Sabbath not because they want the man to be healed, but because they want to get rid of the One who is able to heal. And it’s a marvelous question. So in other circumstances, Jesus will ask this crowd, “is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?” But h

Genesis 2:4-25 If you listen to supposed biblical “scholars,” they’ll tell you that the author of Genesis 1 must have been different from the author of Genesis 2. These must be two different creation myths assembled together. And their reasoning is because the tone of these creation accounts is so radically different. In Genesis 1, God is speaking and things are erupting into existence. Light is bursting into being, the massive swaths of dry land are emerging from the sea. Tr

Mark 1:14–28 One of my favorite tropes in old movies is the whole “there’s a new sheriff in town” thing that you find in westerns. So a bunch of bandits have overtaken some little town and are terrorizing the poor citizens. But then the hero arrives and some low-level thugs find him in the street or in the saloon to tell him he’s not welcome. This is their terrain, and he’d better git if he knows what’s good for him. But, of course, the hero responds by easily dispatching the

Matthew 27:11–32 There’s a fascinating thing that happens often in the passion of our Lord. Those who despise His gospel end up confessing His gospel. When the high priest demands that Jesus tell them whether He is the Christ, Jesus responds by saying, “you have said so.” As we heard in our reading this morning, when Pilate asks Jesus if He’s a king, Jesus replies again, “you have said so.” In other words, “you have refused to acknowledge me as your Savior and your King. But

Colossians 2:8-23 The devil is cunning and crafty, but he is not wise. Which is to say, he knows how to lure you into temptation. He...

2 Chronicles 29:1–24 On days like this, it’s easy to hunger for a Hezekiah, for a faithful king who will root out the godless rot in our...

Philippians 1:21-2:11 Very often, when people go to funerals, they feel like they need to say something to those who were closest to the...

2 Kings 5:9-27 Very often in the Scriptures, God reveals the depth of His love for us in the simplicity of His miracles. We see this in...

WEDNESDAY 1 Kings 19 It’s understandable why Elijah is so despondent in our text for today. For some time, he’s been dealing with the...

MONDAY Psalm 32:1-7 On the one hand, it’s a little weird that “Rumpelstiltskin” is one of the most famous fairy tales. It’s weird how a...

MONDAY Psalm 107:1–9 “Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in.” So says the Psalmist. And so he says about...

THURSDAY 2 Samuel 1 A man stands before his judge and king, proud of himself for having destroyed the king’s enemy. For years, this enemy...

1 Samuel 31 When Jesus tells us about Lazarus and the Rich Man in the Gospel of Luke, the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to his...

1 Samuel 28:3-25 When the witch of En-dor conjures up a spirit for Saul, she’s rather terrified and shocked when Samuel appears, which...

Psalm 51 A boy grows up in a Lutheran family, going to his Lutheran church every Sunday, singing the same liturgy week after week. Every...

1 Corinthians 1:1-25 A few times in my years as a pastor, I’ve had visitors show up on Sunday morning who are from an Evangelical or...

Acts 28:16-31 The biggest grudge I hold in my life is not against former friends or estranged family members. It’s not against ex-school...

Acts 28:1-15 Why do snakes creep us out so much? Why do we see them as something evil and terrifying? Well, if you watch nature...