The Joshua Victor Theory

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. In John 3 we meet Nicodemus. Who is he? A moral, religious man. Serious about spiritual matters; curious about Jesus’ teachings. A Pharisee, devoted to purity, good living, and obedience to the Law. He also was an upper-class member of society on the prestigious Sanhedrin, a council of 70 ruling elders, who eventually judged Jesus guilty of blasphemy (though he and his friend Joseph of Arimathea did not consent to their decision). He comes at night to speak to Jesus, hiding his interest from his fellow Pharisees or the Sanhedrin. At the end of the Gospel of John, however, he openly comes out as a disciple of Jesus, honors Jesus’ body in burial in Joseph’s tomb. Early in the story here, his faith is beginning. He sees Jesus is from God. He says: “ Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him”. Jesus’ miracles...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. A blessed Pentecost! Or should we say, Happy Birthday, Christian church? In a way, Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian church, the day when Jesus poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit, so the church would begin to grow and spread around the world. What does the word “conviction” mean to you? Do you think of a “man or woman of conviction”, taking a courageous stand on the truth? Or a court room conviction, like someone sentenced to jail? A convict has been convicted of a crime. An ex-convict has “done the time” and is out of prison. Conviction…has someone ever hauled you into court? Today Jesus uses the word “convict” to describe the work of the Holy Spirit. Before He left, Jesus explained to the disciples that He was sending the Holy Spirit to “ convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment”. The Holy Spirit hauls us into court. Are you “convicted” by t...

  Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! This is the end of 1 John. A letter of faith and love. Re-read the whole letter once or twice this week and reflect on its resurrection messages and the new life we’re given. There’s always more there than we can unpack. Mine the Bible for those precious jewels. God’s Word is a treasure trove for your life! Today we’re mining the word “testimony.” In chapter 5, John compares the testimony of God to the testimony of man. Testimony is a borrowed word from the courtrooms. Witnesses give their testimony to what they’ve seen or heard. “Martyr” is Greek for “witness” and later came to mean someone who died for their testimony, because so many early Christians were put to death because they wouldn’t deny, change, or surrender their testimony to Jesus Christ and His resurrection. A “testimony” or “witness” has a certain “weight” to it. A court weighs whether they can trust the witnesses. That takes discernment. We talked two weeks ago ab...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. In 1 John 5 let’s consider how you’re “Children of New Life.” We’re familiar with our old life under sin and the condemnation of the law. Our daily experience in a broken world. Old life is as familiar as worn-out shoes. But Christ calls us to a new life. Learning, growth, and a new identity. Children of God are born for a new life. 1 John teaches our new life centers around simple things: faith, love, and the true confession of Jesus. First, in v. 1, John writes: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” Believing in Jesus as the Christ and loving God the Father are marks of the children of God. Believing and loving. We don’t become children of God by doing those things, but because Christ first loved us, and by His own will, we were born of God (John 1:12-13). We become who we are by being...

  Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, Alleluia! So far in 1 John we’ve discussed how we are “Raised for Fellowship,” how “We Shall Be Like Him”, and what “Resurrection Love” looks like. Today is not so much of a “resurrection theme”, but John calls us to distinguish truth and lies. This week I shared an essay in the Midweek Encouragement by the Nobel prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn, titled “Live Not by Lies.” He was exiled in 1974 from his homeland in Russia, for criticizing the communist regime, and paid for it by serving a sentence in the gulags—prison labor camps for political prisoners, dissidents, and common criminals. His crime was to think different and to speak out. He witnessed firsthand the horrific power of lies to subjugate a nation and spoke against it at great personal cost. A Christian who chose not to live by lies, he chose to live by the truth. From the Garden of Eden to today, the deadliness of the devil’s countless lies remains the same. The devil is alway...