The Joshua Victor Theory

            Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. 1 Peter 4 & 5 tells us that Christians are to expect fiery trials and suffering for the name of Christ, and that Christ endured the same. Jesus Christ, being God’s own Son, and suffering in the flesh Himself, changes everything for us. That God would not remain aloof and distant from our sufferings but come down under it and in the midst of it, and feel the pain, the loneliness, and the struggle of it all, is amazing. No other god has wounds.             It’s hard in the midst of suffering not to be overwhelmed by a sense of the meaninglessness or injustice of it all. On the one hand, if a person believes in God, they are troubled by the question of evil, and wonder how God could allow it. On the other hand, if a person doesn’t believe in God, it must amplify the meaning...

·          Jesus’ soul searching questions and statements: “ cannot serve God and money”  Sets up a choice between two masters, and we can’t have a split love or split loyalty between them. Considering the options, why is it infinitely better to have God as our Master, rather than money? If money is our master, what does it demand of us? We are in a constant pursuit of money, and like an old Lutheran hymn says “ earthly wealth is not abiding, like a stream away is gliding” (LSB 732). Money is like a stream of water—it doesn’t stick around for long, and you can hardly hold it in your hands for long. If we are always chasing after money, we will not find happiness, but only the anxieties and worry that Jesus describes here. Money is a poor master—it can only give us more things to worry about. Money can give you cars and houses, but then those things cause us worries too, and they breakdown and cost us more money. The same is true for everythi...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The Parable of the Sower that Jesus tells today is the first of a great series of parables in the Gospel of Luke, and describes two basic reactions to His parables. He says in verse 10, before explaining the parable, “ To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. ’” You see, believers will hear and understand the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for unbelievers, they will actually confound them and they won’t understand. This is not just a matter of whether you “get it” or not right away—the disciples didn’t get the parable—but they asked questions to learn more. They were hearing the Word with “honest and good hearts”. Others tuned out or ignored the Word. This parable shows us why sometimes the Word of God is sown like a seed, and it grows and bears ...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Today I want to welcome all of our preschool families and children, and thank the children for their excellent recitation of the Bible verses for today, and for their beautiful singing! The verses they recited for you are the focus of my message today, and that whole Gospel reading from Matthew 6 addresses us in a common area of our lives. That is anxiety and worry. While not everyone is a chronic “worrywart,” always anxious about something, I suspect that there are few of us who can avoid the trap of worrying altogether. Worry and anxiety rob us of confidence, sleep, peace, and even of health. How many of you have been stressed out or lost sleep over the family budget, especially in our current economic times? Or dealing with a crisis at work or in the family? Or facing difficult health concerns? Jesus teaches us in this reading that we shouldn’t be weighed down by the worries and the c...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Has endless worrying ever gotten you anywhere? Has being anxious about something accomplished anything? Has the pursuit of food, clothing, and material possessions ever left you satisfied? It’s questions like these that Jesus addresses today, as He teaches us to seek His kingdom, and all these things will be added to us. For where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We’ve been experimenting with some gardening at home. Trying to grow a few cherry tomato plants and herbs in pots and planter boxes on our lanai. Several of our cherry tomatoes are getting large and green and juicy. I’ve been anxiously watching their progress for months now, to the point of being a little ridiculous about it, as my wife can attest. I’m so anxious to see them grow, that I sometimes check on them two, three or more times per da...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Happy Thanksgiving! Today is a holiday where we especially desire and encourage thankfulness to God. In today’s reading from Philippians, Paul shows us thankfulness in two ways: in having thankful thoughts and in a thankful life, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. Paul wasn’t writing this from some position of comfort and ease, but he taught the Philippians contentment while he was writing from prison. He was in chains and facing possible death, yet in that dark place he rejoiced and gave thanks to the Lord. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Learning to have thankful thoughts and a thankful life is a spiritual discipline. It’s an exercise of our faith and a practice of growth in maturity. As a discipline, it’s something that doesn’t seem pleasant at the time, but in the end all discipline produces a harvest of righteousness (Heb. 12:11...