The Joshua Victor Theory

Sermon Outline:  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. ·          Isaiah 29—miracles of Jesus’ ministry. 700 years before Jesus. Example of the miracles in the Gospel reading—heal the deaf and mute. ·          Prophecy > fulfillment shows the Bible is God’s inspired Word ·          deaf hear, blind see, the meek and the poor rejoicing in the Lord. Reversals of injustice, suffering, oppression. ·          Reversals go beyond the suffering, to also oppressors >> ruthless come to nothing; scoffer ceases; all who watch to do evil, cut off ·          Take a sample at any age in history, and find suffering and injustice—different kinds, but ultimately the same. Progress in some ways, regress in others. ·     ...

October newsletter We are a country of people who ostensibly love freedom. We take pride in the Declaration of Independence and it’s proclamation that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” We consider liberty or freedom to be the freedom from oppression, tyranny, unjust laws and taxation, etc. From this founding document others later argued against the injustice of slavery and inequality. Thus, when we talk about freedom, it is usually understood as freedom from something. Freedom from what constrains, holds back, imposes expectations or limitations on us. Yet even in a free society, we recognize that this freedom is not completely unbounded. As Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. humorously put it: “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins.” We also talk widely about freedom of expression, and as that is practiced in countless forms, we see...