The Joshua Victor Theory

 Part 4 of series "Singing with the Exiles" by Rev. Reed Lessing “This is what the Lord says to His messiah, to Cyrus …I will break down the gates of bronze.” Isaiah 45:1-2. On the afternoon of August 5, 2010 the 121-year-old San José copper-gold mine in Chile, South America, caved in. Thirty-three men were trapped underneath 2,300 feet of solid rock. Seventeen days after the accident, a note written in bold red letters appeared taped to a drill bit when it was pulled to the surface after penetrating an area believed to be accessible to the trapped workers. It read simply, “ Estamos bien en el refugio, los treinta y tres. ” In English: “ We are fine in the shelter, the 33 of us. ” But they were in survival mode. They ate two spoonful’s of tuna, a sip of milk, and a morsel of peaches—every other day. They heard the voice that said, “You are locked in with no way out.” The Chilean miners knew; O God, they knew. But once the people at the top found out that the men we...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Last week we listened to the words of the prophet Zephaniah, who spoke about God’s joy and how He sings over His redeemed. Today, we rewind the clock even further, another 100-150 years at least, to the words of the prophet Micah, who anticipates the birth of the promised Savior. All the prophets “sang in harmony,” pointing to the Messiah or Christ, along with their various individual concerns. For most of them, the threat of surrounding superpowers like Assyria and Babylon, and the invasion of Israel loomed large. No less for Micah. Micah lived alongside Isaiah, the greatest of the writing prophets. Together, Micah and Isaiah gave great witness to the coming birth of the Savior. Some of Isaiah’s most famous prophecies are of the Virgin Birth (7:14), and the child born to be the Prince of Peace (9:6). This passage in Micah 5, echoes many words of Isaiah. God’s Old Testament people longed for a Savior, a Delive...

Sermon by Pastor Paul Roschke, 12-20-17 I.N.I. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Introduction Last Sunday Pastor Schneider’s sermon on Isaiah helped us to watch for ‘doublets’:  “comfort, comfort” and “double for all her sins”.  Tonight we had a triplet:  3 times we read Psalm 96.  The first reading was from 1st Chronicles which included much of Psalm 96.  The second time, a cantor and a pianist helped us sing parts of it, and we just now read it together for a 3 rd time.   But King David, who is believed to be the author of Psalm 96, had a choir of 4,000 Levites to help the Israelites sing.  The first occasion for singing Psalm 96 was reported in the 1 st Chronicles passage that we read earlier - when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into a tent in Jerusalem.  And then, after the temple was built by King Solomon, every morning and every evening, a portion of the Levitical choir gathered on the t...

            In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Last Sunday, if you were here, we had a bulletin quote from Luther, that whether God’s Law or man’s law, the law should never bind further than love goes, and that love should be the interpreter of the law. “Where there is no love these things become meaningless and the law begins to do harm. The reason for enacting all laws and ordinances is only to establish love, as Paul says, Romans 13:10 ‘Love therefore is the fulfilment of the law.’” Luther’s reflection and St. Paul’s comments both echo Jesus’ words today. He shows the Law is given that we might love. Jesus sums up the whole of God’s law in two great commandments. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and...

Note: for the full audio of the sermon, check out my podcast. This is a limited outline. • Cain and Abel—first brothers on earth, prototype of our conflicts, of worship of God, of temptation and the nature of our hearts under sin. • When Adam and Eve sinned, they gained something they didn’t have before—a knowledge of evil; and the persistent, slavish impulse to give in to it. We’ve carried that same impulse and slavery ever since. Cain is ruled over by it. “sin doesn’t take long to go right to the bottom” (Brandt). • Rejected offering. Why? Cain’s anger, and God’s warning. Genesis 4:7 “ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Sin personified. It’s desire is contrary to you. Sin and disobedience is against our own interest, but we are blind to that. We propel ourselves further in, without consideration to our harm (physical, mental, emotional, moral, spiritual) or...

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Jesus and John the Baptist are talking through messengers in our reading. John, like many others in history, “played second fiddle” to someone more famous, namely Jesus. But John took pains to show that he was content with this role—he wasn’t seeking attention for himself. His proper focus was on elevating Jesus. As Jesus first publicly took the scene, John announced: “ He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30). But even though John knew his secondary role—Jesus shows how great this role was. John was more than a prophet , he is the very messenger prophesied seven centuries earlier by Isaiah and four centuries earlier by Malachi. The one to “prepare the way of the Lord”. Just think that faithful Israelites had been anticipating John’s coming for 7 centuries! That’s more than twice the history of the USA! And by waiting for his coming, they were ultimately waiting for the Messiah whom he would announce. ...