The Joshua Victor Theory

  God’s chosen ones clothed in Christ! Grace and peace to you! Amen. I chose Colossians 3, especially verses 15-17 for our Thanksgiving message, for its connection to thankfulness in our singing and worship. Let’s reflect this evening on “Worship as Thanksgiving”. Hear those verses again: “ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful . 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God . 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him .” Worship is more than just music, but music serves a key role. Music often carries or expresses our emotions. Music also sinks deeply in our heart and memory, more than spoken words usually do. Music can be grand and triumphant for an occasion to celebrate or honor;...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Ever since the dawn of mankind, people have tried to push aside God’s rule in favor of our own rule. God’s rule in the Garden of Eden was perfect, harmonious, blessed and peaceful. But Adam and Eve rejected God’s rule in favor of self-rule or autonomy. The logic of sin is: “Better to make our own rules and ignore God’s command.” But the new rule that they ushered into the world was not friendly. Sin and death entered the world and became Adam and Eve’s new slave masters. The question of “Who will rule us?” echoes down through the Old Testament. When the Israelites were ruled by literal slave masters of Egypt, God rescued them. B ut they couldn’t bear the responsibility of freedom and grumbled to have their old easy life of slavery back—craving easy food more than freedom. When they were finally a free nation, they were ruled by Moses, Joshua, the Judges, and prophets like Samuel...

 Sermon notes ·          Read Introit with reference to Hebrew poetry parallelisms. Explanatory, deepening, reflective. Praying the Psalms is an exercise in meditation. Explore in this Psalm how a relationship in prayer creates a wonderful openness between us and God. May He create in us a clean spirit! ·          Context of Psalm: relationship between believer and God. Like many Psalms, shows God’s qualities and the posture of the praying believer. ·          V. 1-2 Humility and repentance before God’s judgment, seeking God’s mercy, faithfulness, righteousness. Acknowledging guilt. No false standing before God. When have you been crushed by your sin, your guilt and failure, and utter unworthiness before God? We cling to His mercy. ·          V. 5 Remember, meditate, ponder—days of old, all you have done, the work of Y...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Today’s parable of the Ten Virgins is a parable of readiness and faith. God has set a day known only to Him as a definitive, final cut-off date. Judgment Day, or the Day of Christ’s Second Coming, when He returns to judge the living and the dead. We confess every week in the Creed that “ He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead”. The final judgment. On that day, God will finally determine who are the just, who will join Him in eternal life, and who are the unjust, who will be sentenced to eternal punishment. The Parable of the Ten Virgins symbolizes this “final cut-off date” when the Bridegroom arrives for the wedding celebration. Upon His arrival, five wise virgins are ready, prepared, and waiting. Five foolish virgins are not. They’ve left just before His arrival, and it is too late to enter in when they return. Pleading at the door emphasizes the fi...

    Children loved by God: grace and peace to you! In a past sermon I talked to you about two different worldviews—a flat, 1D worldview, that revolves around us and what this world has to offer, and a 3D worldview, that revolves around Christ and what His kingdom offers. Faith is like our “3D glasses” to see the spiritual dimension behind things; that there is more to life. A God-centered way to live life, that helps and serves others. It’s the same world, but the believer sees by faith, eyes open to the spiritual struggle between good and evil. Today on All Saints’ Day, we can see something similar at work in 1 John 3:1-3. Believers with their 3D glasses are “children of God.” But unbelievers stuck in 1D aren’t seeing who God or Christ, or even who Christians really are. They may even be antagonistic to Christians. Read 1 John 3 with our 3D faith glasses on: “ See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are .” “See...