The Joshua Victor Theory

Sermon Outline: 1.       Scene unfolds after the healing of a lame man, healed in the name of Jesus. Peter addresses crowd of Jewish men, second sermon in Acts. Dismisses any thought that this miracle happened by their power or piety (godliness); i.e. we are ordinary men. Not for their glory or greatness; “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” (Ps 115:1) How did this miracle happen? In no other way than this: the name of Jesus—faith in His name. Why does His name hold such power? I’ll gladly tell you! (Courage!) 2.       Heart of the issue: who is this Jesus, and how did you treat Him? How did God treat Him? Uncovers a most painful and shocking irony—they traded in God’s pure and innocent child, Jesus, for a murderer, Barabbas. They had an opportunity to speak for the release of Jesus, which Pilate was ready and willing to do, and they ignorantly follo...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Our text today is the reading from Isaiah 40. It’s scarcely possible for us to contemplate the vastness of the universe and the majesty of God’s glory that it displays. The incredible window seat God gave our earth to view the depths of the universe through telescopes and space exploration has stunned countless humans with the realization that those tiny twinkles of light that pepper the nighttime sky are all giant, burning stars like our sun—and often many times greater in size. And yet they are at such great distances from our own solar system, that it staggers the human imagination. Perhaps if it does not fill us with pride, we might say that because we have those glimpses of the grandeur of the universe, we can even better appreciate Isaiah’s words: “It is [God] who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them li...