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An angel wakes Peter the night before his execution and walks him out of a locked prison past the guards. When he shows up at the door where the believers are gathered, a servant girl named Rhoda is so glad to hear his voice that she runs off and leaves him standing outside knocking. The praying believers within the home can’t believe it and say, “it’s his angel.” This chapter is full of drama and humor but also gives us tough questions to wrestle with. The Rev. Ryan Kleimola, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Toledo, OH joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 12:1-25. To learn more about Trinity in Toledo, visit trinitylutheran.org.The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has risen. He has ascended. And now what? Acts answers that question. Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit built the Church from a handful of frightened disciples in Jerusalem into a movement that reached Rome itself. Along the way, you get Pentecost, the first sermons, the first martyrs, the conversion of Paul, the first church councils, shipwrecks, riots, and the persistent, stubborn work of God through Word and Sacrament even when His people didn't have a plan. If you've ever wondered how we got from Easter morning to the Church you sit in today, this is the book. Tune in for this new series on Thy Strong Word with Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors as we open up the Book of Acts. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, 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. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

When Peter comes back from baptizing a Roman household, the first thing he gets is criticism for eating with the wrong people, and he answers by simply telling what God did until the objections fall silent. It was here, at Antioch, that believers were first called Christians, a name probably meant as an insult but stuck as a badge of honor. The gospel keeps crossing the lines we are sure should not be crossed. This episode is for anyone who has ever decided certain people were beyond the reach of grace. The Rev. Nathan Scheck, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Seward, NE, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 11:1-30.To learn more about St. John in Seward, visit stjohnseward.org.The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has risen. He has ascended. And now what? Acts answers that question. Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit built the Church from a handful of frightened disciples in Jerusalem into a movement that reached Rome itself. Along the way, you get Pentecost, the first sermons, the first martyrs, the conversion of Paul, the first church councils, shipwrecks, riots, and the persistent, stubborn work of God through Word and Sacrament even when His people didn't have a plan. If you've ever wondered how we got from Easter morning to the Church you sit in today, this is the book. Tune in for this new series on Thy Strong Word with Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors as we open up the Book of Acts. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, 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. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

Peter crosses a threshold no faithful Jew of his day would cross: he walks into a Gentile's house and opens with a confession, that God has shown him he must not call any person unclean. Then he preaches Jesus, crucified and raised and appointed judge of the living and the dead, and as that word goes out the Holy Spirit falls on the whole household, before Peter can even finish. It is Christ preached who opens the door to the nations, and the Spirit who seals it, poured out on Gentiles the same as on the Jews at Pentecost. The Rev. Peter Burfeind, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Union City, MI and Agnus Dei Lutheran Church in Marshall, MI, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 10:24-48.To learn more about Our Savior and Agnus Dei Lutheran Churches, visit facebook.com/oursaviorunioncity and agnusdeimarshall.com.The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has risen. He has ascended. And now what? Acts answers that question. Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit built the Church from a handful of frightened disciples in Jerusalem into a movement that reached Rome itself. Along the way, you get Pentecost, the first sermons, the first martyrs, the conversion of Paul, the first church councils, shipwrecks, riots, and the persistent, stubborn work of God through Word and Sacrament even when His people didn't have a plan. If you've ever wondered how we got from Easter morning to the Church you sit in today, this is the book. Tune in for this new series on Thy Strong Word with Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors as we open up the Book of Acts. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, 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. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

The word "rise" rings through these chapters like a bell. A paralyzed man rises from a mat he hadn't left in eight years. A dead woman named Tabitha rises and takes Peter's hand. And Peter himself sees a vision that shakes off a lifetime of assumptions about who's in and who's out in the kingdom of God when a sheet full of unclean animals drops from heaven and a voice says, "Rise, Peter. Kill and eat!" Little resurrections, one after another, each one showing the inbreaking of God’s Kingdom in this world. The Rev. Ben Maton, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Charlottesville, VA, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 9:32-10:23.To learn more about Immanuel in Charlottesville, visit immanuelcharlottesville.com.The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has risen. He has ascended. And now what? Acts answers that question. Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit built the Church from a handful of frightened disciples in Jerusalem into a movement that reached Rome itself. Along the way, you get Pentecost, the first sermons, the first martyrs, the conversion of Paul, the first church councils, shipwrecks, riots, and the persistent, stubborn work of God through Word and Sacrament even when His people didn't have a plan. If you've ever wondered how we got from Easter morning to the Church you sit in today, this is the book. Tune in for this new series on Thy Strong Word with Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors as we open up the Book of Acts. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, 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. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

As the nation marks its 250th birthday, we take up the word at the heart of the celebration: freedom. Civil freedom is a genuine, God-given good, worth our gratitude and our protection. But the freedom Christ won for us is a profoundly different thing, and confusing the two can obscure the Gospel. This episode explores the distinction between civil freedom and Christian freedom through the lens of the Lutheran two-kingdoms/realms teaching. The Rev. Graham Glover, pastor of Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in Gainesville, Fl, Army Reserve Chaplain serving the Chief of Chaplain’s Office at the Pentagon in the policy and government affairs section, and Senior Chaplain Fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington, D.C., joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study civil and spiritual freedom.Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, 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. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

A man bent on wiping out the church was on the road to arrest more Christians when a light knocked him to the ground and a voice asked why he was persecuting Jesus himself. Grace ambushed Saul and turned him inside out before he could say a word. Then the Lord asks a frightened disciple named Ananias to go welcome the very man he has every reason to fear, so that two miracles happen at once: the conversion of a persecutor and the obedience of the believer sent to embrace him. This chapter is hope for the people we have written off and a call for the rest of us to go where God sends us. The Rev. Paul Cain, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Sheridan, WY, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 9:1-31.To learn more about Immanuel in Sheridan, visit immanuelsheridan.blogspot.com.The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has risen. He has ascended. And now what? Acts answers that question. Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit built the Church from a handful of frightened disciples in Jerusalem into a movement that reached Rome itself. Along the way, you get Pentecost, the first sermons, the first martyrs, the conversion of Paul, the first church councils, shipwrecks, riots, and the persistent, stubborn work of God through Word and Sacrament even when His people didn't have a plan. If you've ever wondered how we got from Easter morning to the Church you sit in today, this is the book. Tune in for this new series on Thy Strong Word with Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors as we open up the Book of Acts. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, 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. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

An important official from a faraway court is riding home, reading a scroll he cannot understand, when God sends Philip to run alongside the chariot. The man is honest about his confusion: how can I understand unless someone guides me? Philip starts right where he is reading and shows him Jesus on the page, and before long there is water and a baptism and a stranger going home rejoicing. This episode reminds us that the Spirit is often already at work in the people we are nervous to approach. The Rev. Roger Mullet, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Buffalo, WY, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 8:26-40. To learn more about Prince of Peace, visit princeofpeacebuffalo.org.The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has risen. He has ascended. And now what? Acts answers that question. Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit built the Church from a handful of frightened disciples in Jerusalem into a movement that reached Rome itself. Along the way, you get Pentecost, the first sermons, the first martyrs, the conversion of Paul, the first church councils, shipwrecks, riots, and the persistent, stubborn work of God through Word and Sacrament even when His people didn't have a plan. If you've ever wondered how we got from Easter morning to the Church you sit in today, this is the book. Tune in for this new series on Thy Strong Word with Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors as we open up the Book of Acts. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, 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. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

Persecution breaks out, the believers scatter, and what looks like the worst thing that could happen to the church becomes the means by which the gospel spreads. The people who fled kept preaching wherever they landed, and Philip ends up in Samaria, of all places, bringing the message to people the Jews had long despised. We also meet Simon, who wants to buy the Spirit's power, showing how quickly faith can curdle into a hunger for status. This chapter speaks to anyone whose life got blown off course and who wonders what God could possibly do with the pieces. The Rev. David Bass, pastor of St. Michael Lutheran Church and School in Ft. Myers, FL, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 8:1-25. To learn more about St. Michael Lutheran, visit smlcftmyers.com.The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has risen. He has ascended. And now what? Acts answers that question. Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit built the Church from a handful of frightened disciples in Jerusalem into a movement that reached Rome itself. Along the way, you get Pentecost, the first sermons, the first martyrs, the conversion of Paul, the first church councils, shipwrecks, riots, and the persistent, stubborn work of God through Word and Sacrament even when His people didn't have a plan. If you've ever wondered how we got from Easter morning to the Church you sit in today, this is the book. Tune in for this new series on Thy Strong Word with Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors as we open up the Book of Acts. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, 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. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

It is hard to imagine praying for the people actively trying to kill you. Stephen does exactly that, asking God to forgive the very men stoning him while a young man named Saul watches at the edge of the crowd, holding the coats. The first Christian martyr dies praying for his murderers, and one of those murderers becomes the missionary who later carries the gospel across the empire. This chapter shows what it looks like to die the way Christ taught us to live. The Rev. Mark Loder, pastor of St. James Lutheran Church & School in Howard Lake, MN, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 7:23-60.To learn more about St. James Lutheran, visit stjameshl.org.The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has risen. He has ascended. And now what? Acts answers that question. Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit built the Church from a handful of frightened disciples in Jerusalem into a movement that reached Rome itself. Along the way, you get Pentecost, the first sermons, the first martyrs, the conversion of Paul, the first church councils, shipwrecks, riots, and the persistent, stubborn work of God through Word and Sacrament even when His people didn't have a plan. If you've ever wondered how we got from Easter morning to the Church you sit in today, this is the book. Tune in for this new series on Thy Strong Word with Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors as we open up the Book of Acts. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, 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. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

The early church hits a snag in its efforts to take care of the vulnerable among them: some widows are being overlooked in the daily distribution of food, and people are upset. Rather than ignore it, the apostles appoint seven trustworthy men to handle the work so the preaching can continue, honoring both practical care and the ministry of the word. One of those seven, Stephen, turns out to be so full of grace and power that he is hauled before the council on false charges. This episode shows a church learning to serve tables and proclaim Christ at the same time. The Rev. Steven Theiss, serving St. John Lutheran Church (AALC) in Pocahontas, MO, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Acts 6:1-7:22.The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels leave off. Jesus has risen. He has ascended. And now what? Acts answers that question. Luke tells the story of how the Holy Spirit built the Church from a handful of frightened disciples in Jerusalem into a movement that reached Rome itself. Along the way, you get Pentecost, the first sermons, the first martyrs, the conversion of Paul, the first church councils, shipwrecks, riots, and the persistent, stubborn work of God through Word and Sacrament even when His people didn't have a plan. If you've ever wondered how we got from Easter morning to the Church you sit in today, this is the book. Tune in for this new series on Thy Strong Word with Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors as we open up the Book of Acts. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, 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. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.