The Joshua Victor Theory

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. As we saw also last week, Romans 8 is rich with deep theology and comfort. Some of the most amazing promises of God are found in this beloved Scripture. Let’s focus in on how God chose us to be conformed to the image of His Son . To be “conformed” is to take on something else’s shape. In Romans 12 Paul tells us not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewal of your mind. So it’s really a question of whose shape or form are we going to take? The easy path, the natural pull of gravity is to adopt the shape or form of the world. It doesn’t take any effort to soak in the values, the morals, and the mindset of the world. We’re marinated in that environment. Self-gratification, self-service, self-interested—the shape of the world is easy to conform to—it fits our natural desires. But to be conformed to the image of Jesus, to be transformed in Him by the renewa...

Sermon Note Outline: ·          Imitation—natural to those we admire; but also even unwittingly copy bad examples. Copy what we see and experience—not what we don’t know. (Good case for not knowing evil! And keeping the example of Christ ever before us!) ·          Imitate? What is God like? Known in Christ. 1:3—every spiritual blessing, 1:5—adoption as sons through Christ, 1:7—redemption, forgiveness; 1:18—glorious inheritance. God is lavish in blessing us, profound in generosity and mercy. Can’t imitate what is uniquely God’s—salvation, source of every blessing, giver of eternal life. Never “match” His goodness, yet Jesus calls us “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). Will never exceed His example, but His grace, His love and Spirit poured into us is the resource to imitate—to begin to act like Him. Can forgive, walk in love, reflect God’s generosity, live out His compassion,...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Please listen again to the words of our sermon text for today, Romans 5:1-5, “ Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us .” The Bible tells a story of a certain young man, who was born to a loving father and mother, and who became a little bit spoiled. In fact his father loved him so much, that the other brothers became jealous of all the favoritism and hated him. His naïve pride irritated them, and finally they planned something unth...