Preaching The Text

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss preaching on Ash Wednesday. The normal temptation with preaching Ash Wednesday is to focus on penitence as a habit of the mind rather than something God brings to us through the law. Nor should preachers forget that the best preparation for Easter isn't simply to preach judgment, but also to give the good news of Christ's forgiving promise.

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson take up Christ the King Sunday texts. Here, they try to speak of Christ's true kingship as the sovereign of a new kingdom ruled by God's grace instead of the law. For those oppressed by accusation and judgment, this is surely good news.

Paulson and Hoyum also provide an update on the future of the show.

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On this episode, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson talk about the end of times according to Jesus in the gospel of Luke. Much of the problem with the end times revolves around the issue of preparation, which the legalist assumes means preparation of the self through holiness which will be vindicated in the end times. But Christ warns against this, since he alone as giver of grace and forgiveness stands at the end of history...

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss the question of marriage and the resurrection. The Saduccees are skeptics of the resurrection, but Jesus teaches the resurrection from the books of Moses. However, we see that the resurrection is not a matter of the law and obedience but of the gospel and faith.

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On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson suggest taking the readings for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost to preach All Saints. They go through the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector who goes out to see Jesus. In return, Zacchaeus finds out that Christ was coming out to find him and bring salvation to his house. This is how Christ makes saints: by justifying the sinner by his grace.

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss the texts for Reformation Sunday. Specifically, they focus on Christ's words about freedom from John 8, where Jesus is disputing with the Jews in the temple. Here we find that freedom in the gospel is freedom from sin and the law's power to accuse. 

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On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss the nature of prayer in connection to the parable of the unjust judge. Here we see what it means to pray in faith that God will grant what we ask, since we ask on the basis of what he has already promised. The lesson of the parable isn't the insistence of prayer or the reluctance of God, but rather speed and generosity of God's answers to praye...

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss Luke's account of Christ's healing of the ten lepers. Jesus directs the ten to go and show themselves to the priests in accord with the prescriptions of the law. But only one, a Samaritan, returns to give thanks to God. It is through this one that we see the working of healing outside the law and in the word of the gospel and faith which claims...

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss the parable of the unworthy servants. Given this text's place in the history of theology and in the Lutheran understanding of law and gospel, they go into some detail on the fact that the law is a system of merit, debt, and duty. Under its rule, all things are owed. Under the gospel, there is no system of merit and duty, and its gifts are given...

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss the difference between heaven and hell. To our common imagination, heaven is a good place for good people, and hell a bad place for bad people. Christ's teaching disrupts this common conception, showing that works and righteousness count for nothing in the end, but only the promise of Christ for sinners.

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On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss the parable of the dishonest manager in Luke's gospel, which they rename it as the parable of the "wiley pastor." The commendable manager uses the absolution – the forgiveness of debt – as generously as he can, in order to gain friends for himself. Likewise, preachers ought to give the absolution as frequently as possible, since it is the best ...

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss Luke's parable of the Lost Sheep. With the shepherd who seeks out the one lost sheep, leaving the other ninety-nine, we see the scandal of God's grace and the recklessness of Christ who seeks out the sinner. We also see that repentance is not something we do, but something that is properly done to us by Christ with his words of law and gospel. 

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss taking up one's cross, hating father and mother, and being a disciple of Christ. What we find in Christ's preaching of the law is that the law will eventually bring sinners to the point of hating parents, hating self, and hating God himself. Once the law has worked this despair of all works and their righteousness, only then can we hear the gos...

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss the way of humility, and the false theories about how to become humble. Though we often are tempted to humble ourselves before God in order to gain his approval, true righteousness and justification comes from God. There we can see that humility is something God lays upon us – not something we take up ourselves.

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On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss divine election. From this text – where Jesus gets a question about the number of people who will be saved – we see that sinners approach God's choice in terms of the law, the only thing they know. But those who come to God with no works or law-keeping to offer know in faith that God chooses by giving a promise to those who do not deserve it.

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss Christ's teaching that he comes to bring judgment, not peace. Jesus arrives with both law and gospel, and in this text, he proclaims the judgment of God against human sin and the division between people that arises because of it. This is the baptism of judgment he undergoes at the cross, making way for the baptism of death and life bestowed upo...

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson take up Christ's teaching on anxiety. Jesus tells the disciples, first of all, not to be afraid about their life day by day. This doesn't take away the anxiety, but intensifies it. But it's his concluding, direct statement which casts out all anxiety: fear not, little flock, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

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On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson take up an inquiry of the crowd with Jesus in which a man asks him to divide his inheritance between himself and his brother. In the course of their conversation, Jesus tells a parable to teach about the danger of coveteousness, and the problem of placing faith in earthly goods. Such goods are gifts of God alone whom faith trusts. This text also brings out the ques...

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss Luke's account of Christ's teaching of the Lord's Prayer. With each of these petitions, we see how Christ teaches us to pray for all the good gifts that God promises. In this way, we can see how true holiness in prayer is not according to law and merit but gospel and grace.

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