The Joshua Victor Theory

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. This past Wednesday, January 6, the season of Epiphany began. It’s the oldest season of our church year, and bridges between Christmas and Lent. Today we remember Jesus’ Baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. There was a fervor or excitement when John’s ministry began—a fervor about all the promises of a Savior, the Christ, or Messiah, coming to His people. For people living in dark times, this ray of light was deeply welcome and hopeful. Christ, or Messiah, both mean “The Anointed One”—as in the One anointed and chosen by God to be the Savior. Today, we see Jesus being anointed in Baptism by the Holy Spirit, and God’s voice from heaven confirms Jesus is His Son and chosen one. The promises of a Savior were being realized as Jesus stepped into those baptismal waters, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him as a dove. John preached a message of preparation and readiness—of preparing people for Chris...

Part 10 of a sermon series based on Romans 6-14, "God's Greater Story".  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. As we enter Romans 12, a quick recap of where we have been so far in the book of Romans is in order. Chapter 12 marks a significant transition in the topic of the book, marked by a “Therefore.” And as we said before, a good rule when reading, is when you see a “therefore”…ask what is it there for ? It connects what follows, with what came before. Starting from Romans 6, we talked about how we’ve been baptized into God’s Greater Story. In chapters 7-8 We heard how that Greater Story unfolds to us through Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In chapters 9-11 we’ve learned about God’s Greater People, the community of His church. And in these final weeks we’ll see God’s Greater Plan for our lives—the way He desires us to be people of mercy in response to His mercy toward us in Christ Jesus. The “therefore” tells us that the Christian ...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The Baptism of Jesus marks the public beginnings of Jesus’ earthly ministry. In Jesus’ baptism, His identity is first publicly revealed. Let’s read back just a few verses earlier, to get the context from Matthew 3, starting at verse 11: “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was bap...

Note to reader: Recently I've begun preaching from an outline, to try to sharpen my preaching skills, and so rather than a full manuscript, you have my outline below and the Sermon Talking points with Bible References. I may return to writing a full manuscript out soon, but want to work on better oral delivery. If you want to hear my full sermon, you can still access them on thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com Thanks for reading! Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Reading from Romans 5, especially verses 6-8: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 1. Fascination with heroes (examples: real-life heroes—rescue workers, Japanese nuclear workers, soldiers protecting, great leaders, comics, m...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today’s Gospel lesson contrasts two sinners, and their response to Jesus’ message of forgiveness. The first, Simon, was a Pharisee and doubtless a well-respected, righteous man in the community. The second, a nameless woman, was known through the city to be a great sinner. As we can see in their example and the parable that Jesus teaches, the greater the gift someone receives, the greater their gratitude is toward the giver. I want us to reflect today on how great a gift we have received, so that we might show gratitude for it. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The stage for this encounter between Jesus and these two sinners was in all likelihood, literally staged. I mean that whenever the Pharisees arranged to meet Jesus, there was usually a setup, a hidden agenda. Test Him out, trip Him up in His words. A couple of things tip us off. First is tha...