The Joshua Victor Theory

Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Despite signs that you might see, while driving to and around Lahaina, that say, “We are NOT in the end times,” Jesus told us that “ no one knows the day or the hour ”, and to always be ready for His return. The book of Revelation was written for times just such as ours—times just like the first century of Christianity, the times after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. In the decades after Jesus’ resurrection, while the apostles of our Lord Jesus were busy witnessing to all the world about Him—they encountered resistance. Resistance to the Good News, resistance to hearing that Jesus Christ had conquered the grave. This resistance often became hostile persecution. Sometimes imprisonment, sometimes loss of livelihood, sometimes loss of life. St. John the apostle, who writes the book of Revelation, writes it while he, probably in his old age, was exiled to the island of Patmos, fo...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Last week’s sermon highlighted the personal love and individual care that we have in Jesus, our Good Shepherd; in whom I lack nothing. This Biblical reality is very comforting for us as Christians, but it is also very easy for us to hear, because it fits well with American individualism. But if we limit ourselves to a personal, individual description of the faith, we put blinders on ourselves to the vast importance and beautiful descriptions of our corporate life together as Christians. Perhaps harder for us to hear is that God intended us for community and interdependence. The Christian is part of something much greater than themselves, and greater than their individual relationship with God; we are the body of Christ. Or as Peter describes it in our reading today—a spiritual house, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, etc. All are plural descriptions of the church, not singular. How does this instruct us to live out ou...