The Joshua Victor Theory

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today’s Old Testament reading from Genesis 2 is one of the few brief glimpses of life in the goodness and perfection that God made us for, before mankind’s fall into sin. It’s also a foundational Bible passage of who we are and what we were created for as human beings. God makes Adam in the midst of the Garden of Eden—the original paradise. So who are we? The creation of mankind comes as the highest and most tender parts of the story of existence—God had made everything else which was good—all living plants and animals. But then He pulls aside and with special care and attention, as a potter working with raw clay to make a new vessel, and God personally shapes and forms Adam out of the dust of the earth. His very chemistry was linked to the ground that God would give him to farm. And yes, after Adam sinned, God would promise “ dust you are, and to dust you shall return ”—Adam would die and return to the earth f...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. On Sunday we spoke of how we are members of Jesus’ Kingdom as fruitful branches growing from His Vine. Joined to Jesus we are green, alive, and bearing fruit. Today in 2 Corinthians 9, Paul zeroes in on one particular spiritual fruit: generosity. The well-known phrase, “ God loves a cheerful giver .” Immediately upon hearing this phrase, our minds go to money, and our hands go to protect our wallet. Or they might , anyhow, if we think this passage is only about how generous our offering will be in the plate. But while Paul certainly appealed to the Corinthians for financial support for the Christians in poverty in Jerusalem—the Biblical picture of generosity is bigger than cash. It’s a stock phrase in churches, but true nevertheless, that stewardship can be described as giving of our time, talents, and treasure. That’s simply to recognize that there are more ways to give, than just...

“To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.” Amen. Last week, this week, and next, we’re in Matthew chapter 25, a series of three parables that all focus on Jesus’ second coming, and our readiness. Last week we heard about the five wise and five foolish virgins, and how those who were wise were well supplied with God’s free gifts, and were ready for Jesus’ return. This week we have the parable of the ten talents; a lesson in stewardship and how we use God’s gifts until Jesus returns. Next week shows the final judgment and God’s sorting out of the sheep from the goats. Each lesson shows a different aspect of why some pass through the judgment of God into His blessing and glory, and others fall under the judgment and go to their eternal punishment. In the parable today, the master who leaves on a long journey, and entrusts his possessions to three servants—represents Jesus, who has gone to prepare...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. This is the 6 th and final sermon on the book of Galatians, and in the sermons on chapter 5 & 6 we said we’d be talking about sanctification—the Christian’s life of holiness and bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Last week we remembered that even when speaking about sanctification, we live by grace alone—not by our human effort or strength. Rather, like Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Paul returns to that theme again in chapter 6:14, where he writes, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The cross is at the center of the Christian life, and it reorients us away from worldliness and toward Jesus Christ. So another ...

Sermon Outline: ·          Responsive OT reading: festival of Pentecost, bring basket of grain and spoke the recitation. Firstfruits. Confession of God’s fulfilled promises—in the promised land. All blessings from the hand of the Lord. Training them to lift up their hands to God, so they see where the blessing comes from, and to return a portion to Him as a reminder that it all belongs to Him. ·          Learning giving as a child: first money placed in your hand—offering. Then from your allowance; chores. Really the money was never ours in the first place, but our parents put it in our hands to teach us giving, and we in turn used our hands to give back to God. In a similar way, does not God put all our blessings in our hands? Whether purely receiving as a young child who did nothing for it, or through the work and labor of our hands, as in a child doing their chores, God is ultimately the giver and ...