Sharper Iron from KFUO Radio
Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen. Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund, where your investments help support the work of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit lcef.org.
Episodes
January 12, 2026 • 52 mins
On the sixth day, God created all the land animals before crowning His work by creating humanity. God's creation of male and female is deliberate, as He creates the man and the woman in His image to exercise dominion over the rest of creation. God blesses humanity to be fruitful and fill the earth, giving them to eat the fruit of the trees. In all of this, God's creation is very good, so that He finishes His work of creation on the...
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January 9, 2026 • 54 mins
As God continues His creation, He does the work both of separating and filling. He separates the waters above from the waters below on the second day, and He separates the dry land and the seas on the third day. God fills the light and darkness from day one with the sun, moon, and stars on day four. God fills the expanse of day two with flying creatures on day five, and He fills the waters of day three with swimming creatures on da...
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January 8, 2026 • 56 mins
The opening verses of the Bible lay forth the reality that the one true God is the Creator of all creation. Seen through the full revelation of the Holy Scriptures, these verses reveal the true God to be the Triune God. His Word does what He says as He creates light and darkness on the first day, which the context indicates to be a normal, twenty-four hour period of evening and morning. God sees that His creation is good; everythin...
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January 7, 2026 • 53 mins
You can’t understand any story without understanding its beginning, and so you can’t understand the Bible without understanding Genesis. The LORD sets the tone for all of history in the first book of Moses. As the only God, He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. When humanity brings sin and death into His good creation, God does not leave His creation without hope, but He promises that the Offspring of the woman will come a...
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January 7, 2026 • 2 mins
“In the Beginning” is a series on Sharper Iron that studies Genesis. The first book of Moses sets the stage for God’s entire story of salvation. As we learn the beginning of the story, God prepares us to receive the fulfillment of the story: Jesus Christ, the Offspring of the woman who has crushed our enemy’s head.
Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its ...
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December 23, 2025 • 55 mins
St. Paul encourages the Thessalonians to continue in good works without growing tired. Those who do not listen to St. Paul’s instruction must be warned as brothers, in order that their shame might lead to repentance and renewed faith. Before St. Paul finishes, he signs his letter with his own hand and blesses the Thessalonians with the peace and grace of the Lord.
Rev. Ryan Ogrodowicz, pastor at Grace Lutheran Church and School...
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December 22, 2025 • 54 mins
As St. Paul begins to conclude his second letter to the Thessalonians, he encourages them to pray for the ongoing missionary work that he and his companions are doing. The Lord is faithful, and the apostle knows that the Lord’s Word will bear good fruit. In that confidence, he commands the Thessalonians to continue to work diligently to receive their living, just as he had done while among them. This is God’s gift, that Christians ...
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December 19, 2025 • 54 mins
St. Paul thanks God that the Thessalonians are not among those deceived by the devil. God has made them brothers in the Church by choosing them from the beginning for salvation. This has happened through the work of the Spirit in the means of grace. The apostle thus urges the Thessalonians to stand firm in this tradition. Paul prays in confidence that God will comfort and establish the Thessalonians in His grace for every good work...
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December 18, 2025 • 52 mins
St. Paul turns the Thessalonians’ attention to the right teaching concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus. The apostle does not want his beloved congregation to be deceived by any source, and so he warns them concerning the coming of the man of lawlessness, who will attempt to usurp the place of Christ in the Church. Such a spirit of rebellion is already at work, but St. Paul urges confidence on the part of the Church by proclaimin...
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December 17, 2025 • 52 mins
St. Paul and his companions begin the second letter to the Thessalonians in grace and peace from the one true God. It is right for them to be thankful for this Christian congregation because their faith is growing and their love is increasing. This remains true even as they endure persecution and affliction for the sake of Christ. The apostle assures the Thessalonians that this does not mean that they have been separated from God’s...
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December 16, 2025 • 54 mins
St. Paul concludes his first letter to the Thessalonians by commending them to the God of peace, who alone makes His people holy until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as conversion to the Christian faith is God’s work, so is keeping us in the Christian faith God’s work, and St. Paul expresses confidence that God will do this for the Thessalonians. He asks the Thessalonians to pray for him and his team and to bring his aff...
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December 15, 2025 • 54 mins
St. Paul gives further instructions to his brothers in Christ in Thessalonica as to what their lives should look like as Christians waiting for the Last Day. Hearers respect and esteem their pastors as those men work diligently to proclaim the Gospel. Peace reigns in the congregation as those who are weak and faint are treated with patience. Forgiveness trumps vengeance. Joy, prayer, and thanksgiving abound. All of these gifts char...
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December 12, 2025 • 53 mins
St. Paul reminds the Thessalonians about the coming day of the Lord. No one knows the date. Christ’s return will be sudden, and those who have sought security apart from Him will go to destruction. Christians, however, do not live in that darkness. Christ has called us into His light, and so we live in alert, wakeful sobriety produced by attention to the Lord’s Word. His gifts of faith, love, and hope protect us from the devil’s at...
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December 11, 2025 • 54 mins
St. Paul teaches concerning the resurrection of the body so that the Thessalonians will be able to mourn with hope for those who have fallen asleep in Christ. The foundation of this certainty is the death and resurrection of Jesus, through whom God will raise the dead. The apostolic teaching on the matter comes from the Lord Himself who will return visibly and publicly on the Last Day. On that Day, those who have already died will ...
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December 10, 2025 • 53 mins
St. Paul commends the Thessalonians to continued brotherly love for each other, as they have already been taught through the Word of God. Such love should be expressed more and more not only in their local congregation, but throughout their region. In so doing, the Christian goal is not pride, but rather quiet and diligent work in service of the neighbor. This both follows the example that Paul set and gives a truthful witness to t...
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December 9, 2025 • 54 mins
St. Paul encourages the Thessalonians to abound more and more in the way that they are walking according to the word of God. His will for their lives is holiness, which He gives to His people. Such holiness manifests itself in the lives of Christians through chastity, purity, and self-control. Because we know God, we do not live as the pagans do. Instead, we live according to His call through the Gospel.
Rev. Carl Roth, pastor ...
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December 8, 2025 • 56 mins
Timothy’s report concerning the faith and love of the Thessalonians brings joy and comfort to Paul, enlivening him for continued apostolic ministry. He returns thanks to God in his ongoing prayers for the Thessalonians in his time away from them, even as he longs to return to them. Paul commends the Thessalonians into the care of the Triune God, praying that He would continue to make the love of the Thessalonians abound and establi...
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December 5, 2025 • 54 mins
Paul tells the Thessalonians of his great desire to return to see them in person and notes that Satan is the one who hindered such a joyful reunion. As Paul looks forward to the Last Day, he knows that the Thessalonians are a source of great joy. That led him to send Timothy to them to check on them, even when Paul couldn’t go personally. His purpose was to help the Thessalonians remain steadfast in persecution. Still today, Satan ...
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December 4, 2025 • 53 mins
Paul gives thanks for the way the Thessalonians received his preaching as the very Word of God. That Word has brought forth fruit in Thessalonica as the congregation there was joined to the rest of the Church in suffering for the sake of Christ. Paul encourages the Thessalonians to remain faithful to the Lord even in suffering, knowing that God will bring justice and vindication on the Last Day to those who oppose Him.
Rev. Mat...
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December 3, 2025 • 54 mins
Paul reminds the Thessalonians of the time he and his companions spent there. Despite previous opposition in Philippi and persecution in Thessalonica, Paul labored diligently to bring the Gospel to the Thessalonians, not to please man, but to please God. Even as he toiled night and day, he did so with the same care and affection that parents show their children. As the Thessalonians recall the way Paul ministered to them, they are ...
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