The Lutheran Hour

You don't have to earn God's favor. It is the relief waiting to find us before we even knew we had a problem.

How do you respond to tough questions about God and faith? Hear how Jesus delivers us from the tightest of tight spots and keeps us from falling into a trap.

Proper Attire Required: how God covers us with the robe of Christ's perfect righteousness.

Jesus offers His abundant life to people plagued by pain and problems.

To be a disciple is to be a learner. Jesus loves you enough to make you teachable.

In Jesus, we don't need to compare ourselves to anyone else. Instead, we are free to better appreciate them.

In God’s family, forgiveness is non-negotiable. It’s not up for debate because forgiveness is what makes us who we are.

The Book of Nature can open your mind to the possibility that God is real. The Book of Scripture, the Bible, goes further, like a friend who’s been there.

Archives August--God lavishly sows the seed of His Word. Responses vary.

Archives August--It's not wrong to have possessions, but to love anything in such a way that it takes the place of God is spiritually deadly.

Archives August--God hears our cry for justice, not as an indifferent judge, but as our merciful heavenly Father.

Archives August--Jesus is the ultimate "Good Samaritan," the unlikely Rescuer who binds our wounds, carries us to safety, and pays the price through His cross.

Archives August--Effective communicators tell stories to make a point. Hear how Jesus' parables point us to Himself.

The certainty that Jesus offers is not theoretical or experimental. It’s the certainty of a promise, of a secure relationship.

A day will come when the grief will end, the groans will be silenced. Jesus will return and the dead in Christ will arise with bodies glorified.

Jesus has triumphed over all the powers of death and hell and He has pledged Himself to be your protector and the armor that you wear.

Blessing, in a Biblical sense, means God’s favor in any circumstance, no exceptions, because there is no place or circumstance in which God does not belong.

You don't have to worry about making a name for yourself. In Christ, God has already given you His.

Depression can feel like being "stuck," but we are never truly alone. God meets us with His care and provision.

Anxiety is like a "Check Engine" light for the soul that leads us to take all our concerns to the Lord in prayer.

Jesus forgives and restores us and He sends us out to offer this restoration to others, in His name.

What happens when you find out that acquiring everything you've ever wanted... still isn't enough?

It's often said, "Misery loves company." Christ comes to us in our misery with God's love and mercy.

Our small efforts to become the people Jesus saved us to be might seem insignificant, but small efforts compound.

If Easter tells us that Jesus the King has won, then Ascension tells us the King is reigning, and His reign is good.

Offer up your plans to God in prayer and see what God does with them. Let your plans become prayers that lead you to praise.

God is the God of second chances, not for Himself but for others.

Because Jesus lives, your future is certain. You can also be confident that your present life has meaning and worth. In the Lord, your labor is not in vain.

The risen Jesus is the "display model" of what we will be, through faith in Him.

Death is the enemy of life, but in Jesus, God made death become life's servant.

God doesn’t look for valuable, desirable, beautiful people so that He can love them. God loves first, and by loving them He makes people valuable, desirable, and beautiful.

Jesus meets you where you are, not where you should have been.

Jesus is the only way to God, but there are many adventures with Jesus. Which ones will you pick?

When we couldn’t pay the price of our redemption, God did so completely by the life of Jesus.

Through the Bible, God invites us to help Him complete the unfinished drama He's been writing for the world.

To be baptized into Christ, to trust in Him, is to die with Him, to be raised by Him, to pass through the fire under His shelter.

Many voices compete for our attention, but above all, listen to the voice of Jesus and hear what He's done for you.

In the Bible, the Holy Spirit meets us, gives us the mind of Christ, and leads us back into the world as children of God.

Boasting gone wrong--it's the rotten fruit of rightful praise. It happens when we forget that everything we have is a gift, even the things we think we've earned and deserved.

A crossword puzzle uses an answer only once, but Christ is the answer for all people in every place and time.

The Christian faith has the power to make us act better. But that's not the goal.

Solidarity is how Christians understand their relationship to Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus, the Son of God, went where we had gone so that we might go where He goes.

God invites us to speak with Him in prayer and hear from Him in the Bible, to know Him and to love as we are loved.

Christ will return--maybe this year, maybe even today! Pastor German Novelli helps us to prepare for the blessings and challenges of a new year.

God sends His people--the Church--to be His letters to the world, delivering His Word of promise.

Patience can be practiced, tested, strained, and lost. Christians are called to return the patience God in His mercy has shown us, in Christ.

God calls believers to trust and follow Jesus--chosen, but chosen for what?

Belief in the resurrection of Jesus is no siesta. It's a 5am wake-up call, a jolt out of bed that will turn your world upside down.

Christ is the King of an unlikely kingdom. Dr. Chad Lakies describes that kingdom's seemingly upside-down, illogical logic.

Mercy is an others-focused attitude because God is an others-first God.

The lead (or 'lede') of a news story conveys the most essential information. What is the lead of the Good News, the Gospel?

Jesus alone is the Way out, rescuing us from sin, despair, and death. He calls us to live as people "on the way."

Are you feeling worn down or worn out? Through faith, God conforms us to the pattern of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the Helper who comes to dwell in and with us, to encourage and empower us.

Forgiveness isn't a formality with God. Forgiveness is formative. It changes us.

Every age has a stage, not just a stage of life, but also a stage on which to perform and to serve.

God made us to move--toward Him in faith and toward our neighbor in love.

We lost God's name along the way, but God found us and gave us the Name by which we can know Him: Jesus--"God saves."

A paradox doesn't make sense, mathematically. But it can be an accurate description of real-life experience.

God's love finds His people in the wilderness, the place where God gives bread from heaven, water from a rock, and streams in the desert.

"Life narrows down and crisis comes. There, in the narrow place stands Jesus."

Archives August--Dr. Oswald Hoffmann recounts the story of Gideon, an unlikely military leader.

Archives August--Dr. Oswald Hoffmann recounts the story of Moses.

After Jesus claimed the Old Testament was written about Him, the people of His hometown wrote Him off.

Of course, we should search the Scriptures, but we search them for Jesus, the One to Whom the Scriptures point.

God's Law-talk prepares us for God's Gospel-talk. Author Tim Carter (The Executioner's Redemption) is featured.

God's plans for us are not me-centered; they are Christ-centered. Dr. Zeigler talks with "Soul Surfer" author, Bethany Hamilton.

God's Word grows like a perfect garden, bearing fruit in every season.

The Book of Job is not light reading, but Christians read it in the Light of Christ.

The Book of Job can teach us something about prayer and about how we can talk honestly to God, covered by Jesus.

The devil is real, but rather than fretting about the evil he can do, we rejoice in all that Christ has done to defeat him.

Jesus is a tireless Searcher with an affinity for finding lost people.

The Holy Spirit calls us to turn from the darkness of a self-centered life and come into the light of Jesus' self-giving love.

The Church is like a pot of Louisiana gumbo, a diverse stew bound together by the power of Jesus' love.

Our difficulties often become the backdrop against which God reveals His faithfulness. Each challenge is an opportunity for Him to display His power.

Jesus is the Truth Who will take you in to live like He lives, planted in God His Father's love.

Lasting happiness is found in surrender, rather than control.

God is the Searcher Who will not stop looking for us. In our lonely hiding place, He says, "I knew I would find you here."

When Jesus shows up, it's no longer "us vs. them," because Jesus is for everyone, even if everyone is not yet for Jesus.

The risen Christ has folded Death up and put it in its place. Now Christ invites you to trust in Him and find place and purpose in His new creation.

In Jesus, God showed up smack in the middle of life with forgiveness, love, and a promise never to leave us.

Jesus didn't deserve to die on a cross, but He died and rose again in order to give us better than we deserve.

God gets angry at sin, but behind that anger, God is love. We believe this only because of Jesus.

Jesus the Good Shepherd invites all to be His sheep and find pasture. His words of promise will amaze some but anger others.

Jesus is the Light of the world. However, He sometimes keeps that light out of the visible range. We can't see it, but it changes what we see.

Do you want a life that amounts to more than a hill o' beans? Hear how Christ's death and resurrection gives us life with God that can't be measured.

Life was not meant to be a do-it-yourself project. We need God's help, His strength, His gifts.

If you don't need God, you won't know God.

Jesus gives us Himself as the Bread of Life so that everything we need can be filled by Him and His gifts.

Where we might see only a problem, Jesus sees a person who needs an Advocate.

Jesus crosses borders and even breaks down the barrier of death to do the things that make for unity: shared worship, shared mission, shared harvest.

Like an overture that introduces a great musical work, John the Baptizer is the living voice sent by God to bear witness to Jesus' lordship and salvation.

God makes us believers and the more we believe, the more we become involved in the institutions God made--church, marriage, family, and work.

When you're not limited by the size of your table, you can invite everyone.

Do you need more faith? Then you need the Word. Faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ.

The Good Life--what is it? Pastor Chad Lakies says life is truly good when it's life the way God meant it to be.

Jesus sets a good example, but good examples can't help dead people. Only God's Son can make us alive again.

The church welcomes people, but does it also welcome their problems? Dr. Michael Zeigler says the church should be a place that makes room for both joy and sorrow.