The Joshua Victor Theory

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Today, our readings from Genesis 2 and Mark 10, tell us about God creating man and woman. God made us as creatures with a body. We are not like the angels, spiritual beings with no body. God made Adam and Eve in flesh and blood, with bones, muscle, organs, skin, fingers, and toes. Today I want to talk about the special blessing that God gave you a human body that is wonderfully made, male or female. The focus of our consideration is Mark 10:6-8, “ But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh ”. We won’t focus primarily on marriage today, but rather the simpler fact that God blesses us with bodies as males and females. It’s too easy to take for granted. Like a fish taking the water for granted, or us tak...

  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. Earlier this week I was watching two famous professors debate—one an atheist, the other a Christian. They talked about suffering and the problem of evil. The widow in our reading was a real example of suffering. The Christian in the debate, John Lennox, said that everyone senses that there is too much suffering in this world. You can imagine the widow saying: “There’s too much suffering in my life—how can I bear it all?” When suffering strikes close to home—a husband, a son, or another loved one—we ask “why does God allow this to happen?” “How can God be good, when my loved one is dying?” Many turn away from God or simply say that He doesn’t exist, because of tragedies. But getting rid of God gets rid of the greatest hope and answer to suffering—while still leaving us with the suffering. If there is no God in the world, suffering is just a brute fact of existence, and the universe doesn’t care. If there is no G...

Note: this sermon is revised and expanded by myself, from an original sermon by Rev. Dr. Reed Lessing, part of a purchased series of Lent and Easter sermons titled "Job: Blessed Be the Name of the Lord." The entire series is available for purchase through the Concordia Seminary Store as an inexpensive download. Our congregation has greatly appreciated the study of Job in both Sunday Bible class and midweek services, concluding with this message.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. For a child, the dark can be frightening—even and especially the dark bedroom, dark hallway, or dark bathroom at night. And that’s all on “familiar ground” inside the home! Not to mention plenty of other dark and scary places outside the home on unfamiliar ground! No, a child doesn’t want to go alone. Even reassuring words from a tired parent: “There’s nothing to be afraid of. No, there are no monsters. Just go! You’ll be fine!” often aren’t enough to co...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today’s Old Testament reading from Genesis 2 is one of the few brief glimpses of life in the goodness and perfection that God made us for, before mankind’s fall into sin. It’s also a foundational Bible passage of who we are and what we were created for as human beings. God makes Adam in the midst of the Garden of Eden—the original paradise. So who are we? The creation of mankind comes as the highest and most tender parts of the story of existence—God had made everything else which was good—all living plants and animals. But then He pulls aside and with special care and attention, as a potter working with raw clay to make a new vessel, and God personally shapes and forms Adam out of the dust of the earth. His very chemistry was linked to the ground that God would give him to farm. And yes, after Adam sinned, God would promise “ dust you are, and to dust you shall return ”—Adam would die and return to the earth f...

Sermon Outline, expanded:  **Church Trivia--the Latin name for "Quasimodo Geniti" Sunday comes from the words of the Introit: "Like newborn... (babes crave pure spiritual milk)" (1 Peter 1)--and the character in the novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was named "Quasimodo" because he was abandoned at the church on that Sunday, and the priest gave the name.** On Easter evening, what still trapped the disciples? Fear. John 20:19? What did Jesus’ words, actions, and presence bring to the hearts and minds of the troubled disciples? Peace. John 20:19-20. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you…not as the world gives…” (John 16) When Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples, what did He empower them to do? Forgive sins (of the repentant), withhold forgiveness (from the unrepentant) John 20:21-23. How does the church still do this publicly today? Matthew 16:19; 18:18. When does it happen in the wor...