The Joshua Victor Theory

  Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! Hear this great resurrection truth: 1 John 3:2, Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him , because we shall see him as he is. Jesus has risen from the grave and will return one day. Also, we are God’s children now, and will become fully like Jesus when He returns. These two points in our spiritual timeline are the “now” and the “not yet.” The gap is growing ever closer, as we move closer to our Risen Lord’s return. So, the great resurrection truth of 1 John 3, is that we are already God’s children now, and that we shall be like Jesus when He returns. How big is Jesus’ Easter glory? How big a deal to be called children of God, aimed on a trajectory that ends in becoming fully like Jesus, our Risen Lord? Don’t take it for granted! 1 John 3:1 cries out in wonder : “ See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called child...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The seasons of the church year are changing, and we are coming to the end of one year, and the beginning of the season of Advent in a couple of weeks, as we anticipate Christmas. The end of the church year focuses on Christ’s and coming judgment of the living and the dead. Today’s reading from 1 Thessalonians 4 is often heard at funerals, but also gives us some basic information about Jesus return. Paul begins by saying that “ we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep.” When Paul says “ uninformed”, he’s obviously hinting that they have some basic shortcomings understanding death and the end times. One idea in the church seemed to be that some were afraid they had missed Jesus’ return and that He had already come. Today some shortcomings and confusion might include ideas about reincarnation and multiple lives, or ideas about a resurrection without a physical body, or that we tur...

·          Palm Sunday entry: meets both praise and rejection. Jesus weeps over the grim consequences of their rejection. Passing up a golden opportunity. As if shooting both the messenger and the doctor who holds the cure. ·          God’s heart—Jesus’ bitter anguish—you don’t know what you’re refusing! He sees a great evil coming upon them, that is now irreversible—the destruction of Jerusalem and this temple. And bitterest of all, was they were bringing this upon themselves by rejecting the things that make for peace. Jesus laments: “ Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace ! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43  For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44  and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone...