The Joshua Victor Theory

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. In many churches today, the word “sin” is either missing from their vocabulary, or largely ignored. And this is from the pastors themselves. Sin is too negative—we’d rather focus only on the positive. Or talking about sin might offend us or make us feel bad about ourselves. Imagine if a doctor felt the same about diagnosing and treating diseases, or cancer! Would such a doctor be allowed to practice medicine, if he only sought to make the patient think better of themselves, while ignoring the disease and its treatment? Now who really does the diagnosing though? It’s God’s own Word that makes the diagnosis of our hearts and our lives. It’s God’s own Word that identifies sin and prescribes a cure—both to the heart of the pastor and to the hearers of God’s Word—you! But why should we take sin so seriously anyway? Isn’t it enough to focus only on the positive? Well, gloom about the problem with no word about the ...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Walking isn’t normally a dangerous activity. Walking through your neighborhood or local park or along the beach is healthy exercise. Of course you can add all sorts of dangers into the mix, to make walking a more dangerous activity—walk in the dark; in a dangerous neighborhood; on a treacherous, slippery, or poorly marked trail; or having bad men lying in wait. However, even with potential dangers, many still will take such a walk, and some may even do so unharmed. So even with all dangers taken into account, walking is not normally considered a deadly activity. However, our Bible reading from Ephesians 2 begins by talking about a walk that we’ve all been on—a walk that many people are still walking—that is not only deadly, but everyone who walks it is already dead. “ You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. In our readings today we hear about the original sin, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, and were thrown out of paradise. In the reading from Romans it tells us of the universal impact of this sin: “just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” I’m sure almost everyone has thought at one time or another, “That’s just unfair! Why should the curse of sin and death would fall on all of mankind because of one man’s sin?” We might think that if we had had the chance, we’d have done differently, or perhaps simply that it is wrong for us to be punished for what someone else has done. Let’s examine that claim that God is being “unfair” in light of the reading from Romans, and see what picture emerges of God. Fair is fair! What does fairness really mean? It is fair to get all that you’ve earned or worked for, which is why ...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. In the sermon series for Advent, we will look at how the birth and coming of Jesus Christ was foreshadowed and pictured through various examples, peoples, and events, that we call types or shadows. What is a type or shadow? It’s related to prophecy. Prophecies are the God-given messages spoken by His messengers. They explained events both past, present, and future, usually emphasizing the need for repentance and God’s promised actions. Of course Christ, as the coming Savior, is the most frequent subject of prophecy, and Jesus is like the golden thread that runs through all the tapestry of Scripture. A prophecy is spoken or in writing. A type or shadow would be more like an object lesson or even a prototype. It could be a person or event that prophetically alludes to or foreshadows some greater person or event. But this type or prototype is always something inferior to or less than the final reality it points to. T...