Sharper Iron From Kfuo Radio

Rev. Dr. Adam Filipek, pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church and Immanuel Lutheran Church in Lidgerwood, ND, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Amos 1:6-8. The LORD has the right to speak to foreign nations because He is their Creator. This is the foundation laid in Genesis 1-2. For that reason, Amos now turns to the Philistines. The tension between the LORD’s people and the Philistines goes back to their descent from Ham and conflict with Isaac and continues into outright warfare in the days of the judges and the kings. By the time of Amos during the divided kingdom, the prophet’s message is the same for Israel, Judah, and every nation: “Repent!” The Philistines particularly are called to repentance over their failure to leave any remnant of those peoples they conquered. Even though they did not have the Ten Commandments written on tablets of stone, they had the Law of God written upon their hearts; they should have known better. No human being created in the image of God should be treated with such indi

Rev. Gaven Mize, pastor at Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hickory, NC, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Amos 1:3-5. The first two chapters of Amos are comprised of a series of oracles against eight nations, both foreign nations and the LORD’s own people, Judah and Israel. Similar phrases in each of these oracles helps us understand them. The words, “Thus says the LORD,” remind us that the shepherd from Tekoa isn’t spouting his own opinions. He is proclaiming what the only true God has said, and therefore, cannot be ignored except at the peril of death and condemnation. Each judgment is spoken “for three transgressions…and for four,” not so that we would focus on counting, but so that we would recognize constant and repetitive unrepentant sinning. Each judgment is spoken against a specific people. In this text, the prophet singles out Damascus, which is the capital of Aram, a nation that is also called Syria. This nation was a common enemy of both Israel and Judah. Their cruel and inhumane tre

“The Day Is Surely Drawing Near” is a new mini-series on Sharper Iron that digs into the book of Amos. This Old Testament prophet speaks the LORD’s roaring Word in order to call us first to repentance over our idolatry and injustice and second to faith in the Messiah in the line of David, Jesus Christ. Only through faith in Him will we stand forgiven and redeemed on the coming Day of the LORD. Rev. Paul Pater, pastor at Shepherd of the Ridge Lutheran Church in North Ridgeville, OH and Hope Lutheran Church in Sheffield Village, OH, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Amos 1:1-2. Although Amos was a sheep herder from Tekoa, a fortified city in the southern kingdom, Judah, that didn’t prevent the LORD from sending Amos as His prophet to the northern kingdom, Israel. The people of Israel may have been outwardly prosperous under the reign of Jeroboam the son of Joash, but inwardly they were spiritually bankrupt. In the early part of the 8th century BC, Amos spent his ministry to Israel condemning their idolat

Rev. Nate Hill, pastor of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Winchester, TX, studies Exodus 10:1-20 on today’s episode. Pastor Hill discusses the eighth plague, the plague of locusts, including the need to recount the works of the LORD, the call to repentance in the devastation of the plagues, and the fact that no earthly ruler can stand in God’s accomplishment of His people’s salvation. “The Saga of Salvation” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that takes a step-by-step walk through the book of Exodus. This premier account of salvation in the Old Testament proclaims that the LORD is the one true God, the Creator and Redeemer, who alone is worthy of our worship and faith, all the while pointing us forward to the ultimate deliverance He gives through the exodus accomplished by Christ.