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
330 episodes
More Pleasant than Honey (Psalm 119:103)
Honey tastes good. It makes life more pleasant. The psalmist says God’s sayings are even more pleasant to his taste than honey. So do our own tastes need improvement?Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No...
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Season 6
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Episode 22
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3:53
Vindication from God (Genesis 7:1)
Imagine what kind of ridicule and rejection Noah and his family faced in the 120 years between God’s announcement of a flood and the actual flood. There is a parallel between what Noah’s family faced and what Jesus said we will face in the days...
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Season 6
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Episode 21
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4:13
Shot by God (Psalm 119:102)
The psalmist makes some pretty bold and ambitious resolutions—to keep his feet from every evil path and not to turn aside from God’s decrees. In Psalm 119:102, he makes clear the only way this is possible.Music Credit: Johann Sebastian B...
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Season 6
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Episode 20
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3:24
New and Different Perspective (Genesis 6:3, 13, 14, 17, 18, 22)
After God spoke to Noah, Noah’s perspective changed. He now saw all his usual haunts and acquaintances (besides seven of his family members) as places and people that would be *under water* and completely destroyed. God wants us to have a simil...
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Season 6
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Episode 19
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5:06
Avoiding Every Evil Path (Psalm 119:101)
The poet Robert Frost famously talked about two roads diverging in a yellow wood. In Psalm 119:101, the psalmist talks about forks in the road of our life that we encounter every day.Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Branden...
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Season 6
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Episode 18
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3:23
Commands and Compliance (Genesis 6:14, 19–22)
God gave Noah enormous tasks, and then Noah went to work and did them, just as commanded. How do we do a better job complying with what God has commanded us?Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” ari...
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Season 6
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Episode 17
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5:10
Wisdom Superior to That of Our Elders (Psalm 119:100)
Psalm 119:100 concludes a string of three verses where the psalmist reflects on the outstanding effects of God’s word by listing three groups of people who cannot stand up to its wisdom. In this devotion, we consider how God’s word gives us mor...
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Season 6
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Episode 16
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3:57
The Ark and Dinosaurs (Genesis 6:17b–20)
Even though it might not be very devotional content, at some point when talking about Noah’s ark, we have to talk about dinosaurs—both to satisfy human curiosity and to address the criticisms of skeptics.Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir ei...
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Season 6
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Episode 15
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4:54
Wisdom Superior to That of Our Teachers (Psalm 119:99)
Psalm 119:99 continues a string of three verses where the psalmist reflects on the outstanding effects of God’s word by listing three groups of people who cannot stand up to its wisdom. In this devotion, we consider how God’s word gives us more...
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Season 6
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Episode 14
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3:55
The Miraculous Sign before the Flood (Genesis 6:17b–20)
God commanded Noah to bring pairs of all the land creatures with him on the ark. But to enable him to fulfill that command, God also performed a miracle—which would be essentially the last sign and call to repentance for the rest of humanity.
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Season 6
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Episode 13
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4:34
Wisdom Superior to That of Our Enemies (Psalm 119:98)
Psalm 119:98 begins a string of three verses where the psalmist reflects on the outstanding effects of God’s word by listing three groups of people who cannot stand up to its wisdom. In this devotion, we compare the wisdom God’s word gives to t...
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Season 6
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Episode 12
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3:26
God’s Covenant Continues with Noah (Genesis 6:14–18)
The Bible doesn’t record the history of Noah and his family just because they were the sole survivors of the Flood. There is another, even more important reason that Noah and his family figure prominently in the Scriptures.Music Credit: ...
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Season 6
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Episode 11
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4:33
Food for Thought All Day Long (Psalm 119:97)
A really good novel or well-written essay can give you food for thought for weeks or even months, but only God’s word gives you subject matter you can muse on throughout the day, every day, no matter what else you may be doing.Music Cred...
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Season 6
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Episode 10
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3:29
Non-Optional Testimony (Genesis 6:14–17)
The construction assignment God gave Noah put him in a situation where he would have to testify about God’s word to his unbelieving neighbors. The commandments we have from God are really no different. We need God’s mercy and strength to fulfil...
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Season 6
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Episode 9
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5:10
A River for Lambs and Elephants (Psalm 119:96)
In this devotion, we wrap up the twelfth stanza of Psalm 119 by considering the unexhausted and inexhaustible treasures lying there for everyone, of every age and ability, in God’s word.Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Bran...
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Season 6
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Episode 8
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3:40
Exemption from “All Flesh” (Genesis 6:9–13)
How could God say to Noah, “An end to all flesh has occurred to me,” and not include Noah and his family? How could Noah and his family be exempted from ”all flesh”? Perhaps more importantly, how do we exempt ourselves from the destruction that...
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Season 6
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Episode 7
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3:58
Avoiding Ambush (Psalm 119:95)
The wicked love to lie in wait for the faithful and to trap them—to trap them doing wrong, or to trap them with questions they can’t answer. What is the solution for the faithful?Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg...
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Season 6
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Episode 6
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3:53
An Earth Filled with Corruption (Genesis 6:9–11)
As we read the description of the earth in Genesis 6:9–11, we can’t help but ask, “Is this describing life on earth more than 4,000 years ago, or life on earth today?”Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schri...
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Season 6
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Episode 5
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4:50
To Whom Do You Belong? (Psalm 119:94)
Even though we don’t like the idea of belonging to someone else, it’s simply a fact that everybody is the property of someone else, to one extent or another. (Think of how often you use “my” or “mine” in relation to those around you.) So when t...
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Season 6
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Episode 4
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4:06
Swimming Against the Worldly Current (Genesis 6:9)
Noah is described as “blameless in his generations,” and that really meant something in his time.Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).
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Season 6
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Episode 3
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4:09
Never Forget (Psalm 119:93)
Memorials often urge us never to forget the tragedy or atrocity being memorialized, so that we don’t repeat it. The psalmist urges us to follow his lead in resolving never to forget God’s precepts for a very different reason.Music Credi...
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Season 6
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Episode 2
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3:16
Noah’s Righteousness and Blamelessness (Genesis 6:9)
Genesis 6:9 begins the third of the ten “accounts” that make up the book of Genesis (2:4ff; 5:1ff; 6:9ff; 10:1ff; 11:10ff; 11:27ff; 25:12ff; 25:19ff; 36:1ff; 37:2ff). The “account of Noah” begins by talking about Noah’s righteousness and blamel...
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Season 6
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Episode 1
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4:16
How Are You Doing with Your Affliction? (Psalm 119:92)
How are you doing with your affliction? Whether your affliction is a disease, adverse people or circumstances, wrestling with your conscience, wrestling with unhealthy desires, wrestling with the meaning of life, or facing up to the reality of ...
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Season 5
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Episode 34
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3:40
The Favor Noah Found (Genesis 6:8)
In Genesis 6:9 we’re told that, in the midst of an increasingly and breathtakingly wicked world, Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generations, and he made his way through life with God. But before we get there, Genesis 6:8 tells us wh...
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Season 5
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Episode 33
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4:00
Still Standing at God’s Word (Psalm 119:91)
In the first three verses of the twelfth stanza of Psalm 119 (vv. 89–91), the psalmist praises the Lord’s word by going back to its first use, the creation of the universe, and noting how we can still see the effects of that first use to this d...
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Season 5
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Episode 32
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3:44