The Joshua Victor Theory

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Today I want speak to you from Romans 13, our epistle reading, because it’s that time of year again where politics loom close in many people’s minds, election battles heat up, and everyone gets “hot and bothered.” Romans 13 is that passage that clearly lays out a Christian’s duty toward the government, and the government’s duty before God. I need to preface my sermon with several “boundary line” statements (in no particular order), so I’m not misunderstood. Number 1: I am your pastor, not a politician, and my role is to preach God’s Truth and the Good News of Jesus Christ, not to advance anyone’s politics or party from the pulpit. Number 2: In it’s proper place, God’s Word is “upstream” from politics and culture, meaning that it should influence your life and your values and morals, before the river of politics and society branches “downstream” from God’s Word. God’s Word critiq...

Ephesians 3:18–19 By faith, “may [you] have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge .” Amen. Every Sunday, in almost any Lutheran Church Missouri Synod church (I can’t speak for others), prayers are offered for “the whole people of God in Christ Jesus, and for all people according to their needs.”   Those include prayers for the spread of the Gospel, and those who do it—pastors, teachers, missionaries, etc. Prayers for those suffering from famine, war, violence, or natural disasters, as our brothers and sisters in Puna on the Big Island, or the North Shore of Kauai. Prayers for the sick and the suffering, in our congregation or others—including friends, family, neighbors, and others. Prayers to bless those who do good and restrain those who do evil. And almost always prayers for our governmental leaders—our president, governor, legislators, public safety workers, judges...

Sermon on Romans 11:1-2a, 13-32, part 9 of a 13 part series in Romans, "God's Greater Story." This sermon is not adapted from the series. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today in Romans chapter 11, we come to another challenging and often misused Bible passage, which is partly why I expanded the verses included in the reading, from what you find in the bulletin insert. Paul renews his discussion from Romans 9 about the make-up and identity of the church, the relation of Jews and Gentiles (non-Jewish peoples) in the church, and the mysteries of God’s eternal choosing or predestination of His people. Part of Paul’s aim in Ch. 11 is to reign in a dangerous attitude of pride or arrogance. From any Gentile Christians who might look down on or even ignore the Jews who had fallen away from God through unbelief in Jesus, and so were under the present “partial hardening” that Paul describes. Paul wants to teach us Gentiles of our place...