Passage, Paragraph, and Prayer
“Passage, Paragraph, and Prayer” is a biweekly devotional podcast. Each episode consists of a passage from the Bible, a paragraph meditating on that passage, and a closing prayer. This podcast is produced by Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Winner, South Dakota.
Episodes
382 episodes
Divine Wonders at Our Disposal (Psalm 119:129)
What do you think of when you hear about a cave of wonders or a palace filled with wonders? We have heavenly wonders, of infinitely greater value than those wonders, right at our fingertips.Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from ...
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Season 6
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Episode 74
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2:53
Taking Human Life, Part 3 (Genesis 9:4–6)
The reason God gives for his prohibition against taking human life is that he made mankind in his image. Is this referring to a present reality? Is mankind still made in God’s image? Or is this referring back to when God first made mankind, and...
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Season 6
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Episode 73
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4:51
Christianity Is Not a Buffet (Psalm 119:128)
There are plenty of churches and church bodies today that have narrowed their doctrinal basis for membership or fellowship down to just a few basics, and have said or implied that we can agree to disagree about anything beyond that. Is that a C...
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Season 6
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Episode 72
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3:55
Taking Human Life, Part 2 (Genesis 9:4–6)
In Romans 13 Paul says that God has established all governing authorities. To where can we trace that divine establishment? And within that establishment, is the death penalty acceptable, or is it inherently evil and un-Christian?Music C...
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Season 6
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Episode 71
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4:53
Greater than Pure Gold (Psalm 119:127)
The psalmist says he loves God’s commands even more than pure gold. Is he just trying to avoid the threat of God’s punishment by flattering him? Or is God’s word actually that valuable and lovable?Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Tri...
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Season 6
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Episode 70
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3:40
Taking Human Life, Part 1 (Genesis 9:4–6)
In explicitly giving “all that lives and moves” to humans for food, God makes two exceptions. The first we covered last week. We now begin covering the second, that human life should not be taken for food, or for any reason, except as punishmen...
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Season 6
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Episode 69
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4:48
Time for the Lord to Act (Psalm 119:126)
How and when can we tell the Lord that it is time for him to act?Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
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Season 6
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Episode 68
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4:04
Animals Explicitly Given as Food (Genesis 9:1–3)
Genesis 4:2–4 seems to strongly suggest that humans were already eating meat from animals before the Flood. So why does God specifically sanction the human eating of meat after the Flood? And why does he only give one restriction here, when he ...
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Season 6
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Episode 67
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4:40
Being God’s Servant (Psalm 119:125)
As Americans, we don’t like the idea of being someone else’s servant or slave. But the psalmist freely confesses that he is God’s servant. In this devotion we consider what being God’s servant means for us.Music Credit: Johann Sebastian ...
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Season 6
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Episode 66
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3:53
Why Do Wild Animals Fear Humans? (Genesis 9:1–2)
Why do animals that could easily overpower and kill humans run away from them? Why do bugs and critters and fish fly and scurry and swim away as humans approach? Moses gives us the answer as he continues to record God’s promises to Noah and his...
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Season 6
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Episode 65
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4:06
What Is Mercy? (Psalm 119:124)
In Psalm 119:124, the psalmist asks God to deal with him according to his mercy. What is mercy, as opposed to other love words that are used of God?Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Move...
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Season 6
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Episode 64
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3:56
“Be Fruitful and Multiply” 2.0 (Genesis 9:1)
Think of the load of responsibility on the shoulders of Noah and his sons as they look out over the vast and empty earth and realize that the future of mankind depends on them. Except God graciously makes sure it doesn’t.Music Credit: J....
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Season 6
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Episode 63
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4:01
Languishing for God’s Salvation (Psalm 119:123)
In Psalm 119:123, the psalmist literally says his eyes are languishing for the saying or utterance of God’s righteousness. Sometimes “of righteousness” can just be a fancy way of saying that the subject under discussion is righteous (e.g., an a...
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Season 6
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Episode 62
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3:31
Cold and Heat Will Never Cease (Genesis 8:20–22)
Many fear tactics, like the threat of global flooding due to the melting polar ice caps, are used today in an effort to persuade humans to take better care of the earth. We *should* be good stewards of the earth, but God’s promise in Genesis 8:...
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Season 6
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Episode 61
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4:44
Going to the Bank with Jesus (Psalm 119:122)
In Psalm 119:122, the psalmist pictures himself going with the Lord to the bank, only instead of going to obtain a loan for money, they are going to obtain the psalmist’s well-being, with the Lord serving as the guarantor. In this devotion we e...
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Season 6
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Episode 60
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4:03
Burning Flesh—A Soothing Smell? (Genesis 8:20–21)
After Noah and his family left the ark, he killed animals and then put each entire animal on an altar and burned the whole thing to the Lord. Why was this a soothing smell to the Lord, and why did it prompt him to add more promises to his exist...
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Season 6
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Episode 59
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4:26
A Bold Claim (Psalm 119:121)
The psalmist begins the sixteenth stanza of Psalm 119 with the statement, “I have done what is just and right”—a bold claim, especially after having just talked about his dread of God’s judgments at the end of the previous stanza. How can he ma...
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Season 6
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Episode 58
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2:57
First Things First, Even After the Flood (Genesis 8:20)
Can you imagine all the thoughts, concerns, and questions that Noah would have had on his mind after disembarking from the ark (after more than a year) onto a completely new and reshaped earth? Yet one thing was on his mind above all, and it wa...
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Season 6
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Episode 57
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3:49
Bristling Out of Dread for God (Psalm 119:120)
No one has higher standards, no one is more strict, no one issues worse punishments than God. If we don’t come to grips with this truth, we will never truly come to grips with God’s grace.Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Br...
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Season 6
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Episode 56
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4:14
Still Kind and Gracious (Genesis 8:14–19)
Many of us have experienced how, when humans given more power than usual over other humans in a vulnerable position, they are typically very reluctant to give it back up. They like have despotic control. Not God.Music Credit: J. S. Bach,...
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Season 6
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Episode 55
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4:20
Discarded As Dross (Psalm 119:119)
Dross is undesirable material or junk that floats to the top when you are melting metal. The psalmist says that God discards all the wicked of the earth as dross, and that is why he loves God’s testimonies. In this episode we consider what he m...
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Season 6
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Episode 54
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3:51
Waiting on God’s Timing (Genesis 8:10–14)
By the time God finally commanded Noah and his family to come out of the ark, they had been on the ark together, along with the animals, for a year and ten days. We can only imagine what an eternity that must have seemed like. But as always, Go...
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Season 6
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Episode 53
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4:22
Getting Tossed Aside by God (Psalm 119:118)
In Psalm 119:118, the psalmist says that God tosses aside, as if they were junk mail, those who stray from God’s Word and deceive others with their lies.Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement...
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Season 6
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Episode 52
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3:47
Extending the Olive Leaf (Genesis 8:10–11)
“Doves are not considerate birds who bring men tokens of the state of affairs upon the earth. That this dove brought a leaf in its beak [to Noah] is to be attributed alone to an impulse divinely directed” (Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 1:3:16...
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Season 6
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Episode 51
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3:37
Constant Attention to God’s Word (Psalm 119:117)
In Psalm 119:117, the psalmist says that God’s sustaining and saving merits our constant attention to his Word. When we give constant attention to other things, it is usually called an unhealthy obsession. Why is it different with God’s Word?
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Season 6
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Episode 50
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3:19