The Joshua Victor Theory

  “To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.” Today our church year begins anew with the season of Advent. We renew our annual cycle of watching and waiting for our Lord. Advent means “to come” and merges our waiting and anticipation for two different comings of the Lord. We remember, reenact, and celebrate Christmas, Christ’s first coming. We anticipate, prepare for, and watch for Christ’s second coming, His return to judge and redeem the world. Advent blends memory and anticipation. Since this is our Christian “New Year’s Day” in a sense, as the church calendar renews, we’re oddly out of step with the world, which doesn’t celebrate New Year’s for another month. The church can never be in complete alignment with the world, which is blind to God’s priorities, and often directly contradicts them. And almost as if to keep us a little off balance, the reading historically used for the 1 st Sunday o...

            In the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. A spiritual storm was launched on Jesus at the cross. All the anger, confusion, discord, and hatred boiling on the surface, was stirred up from Satan and all his demons below. A fury of false accusations, vehement cries, urgent shouts—a rising crescendo; away with this man! This Jesus! How did His own people treat the Son of God? Not with the worship due God’s Son, nor with the honor due the King who rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, nor with the attention due to the pure Teacher of God’s Truth. Instead, like a thorn in their side, a criminal to be crucified, a false prophet and a blasphemer to denounce. They saw Jesus as their enemy, not their Deliverer. See how resolute He is in the midst of the spiritual tornado of lies, death and dishonor; how strong, calm, and even merciful and forgiving. Your rock and refuge in the storms of life. When you ...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Today the cycle of the church year begins anew, with the First Sunday in Advent. We renew a journey of sorts, a journey that lasts us one year—a journey along the places and paths that Jesus followed, from the time He was anticipated as Savior, to His birth in Bethlehem, through His ministry, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. This first half of the church year, we call the “Festival Season.” It wraps up with Pentecost, when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, and follows with the part of the church year that we just finished, is the long “non-festival” season of the church year, or “ordinary time”. Sundays that review the rest of Jesus’ teachings, leading up again to the anticipation of His return. Along the journey, we get to know Jesus better and better, not as a friend who joins us occasionally, but as our constant companion who leads us and has finished the jour...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The city of Jerusalem has been a formidable stronghold for thousands of years. Even before King David captured it for the Israelites, over 3,000 years ago, it was an ancient fortress of the Jebusites. A city on a hill, it resisted the invasions and attacks of countless armies through history. Many kings mounted their forces against it and failed. Many also succeeded, as the city has fallen just as many times throughout history. It’s been a scene of warfare, of defense and offense, of siege, victory, and defeat, for thousands of years. Still today it’s contested land, and the Temple site that once was Jewish, is now covered by a Muslim mosque. But in the middle of all that tumultuous history, one king entered the city like none before or after Him. He came riding in on a borrowed donkey. But it wasn’t the donkey that made His entrance unique. Kings had ridden into Jerusalem on royal mules before, to be crown...

Sermon Outline: ·          Psalm 118 finds its prophetic connection to Jesus in the Gospel reading (Matt. 21). Triumphal entry: both Ps. 118 & 8 are quoted. Jesus coming into Jerusalem on the donkey, fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy (Zech. 9:9). The people shout triumphantly the words of this Psalm to praise and acclaim Jesus as the promised Messiah. “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Their confidence in His identity reached a fevered pitch. The city was exuberant with excitement, and the chief priests and scribes were trying their worst to quell the fervor. But when the celebration continued into the Temple courts, and the priests protested to Jesus, He replied with the words of Psalm 8, that “Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise.” God Himself had prepared this worship for Jesus from the mouths of children. ·     ...