The Joshua Victor Theory

By Joshua Schneider

Sermons of Pastor Joshua Schneider... more

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about The Joshua Victor Theory:

How many episodes does The Joshua Victor Theory have?

The podcast currently has 516 episodes available.

The Joshua Victor Theory episodes:

November 07, 2011 For All the Saints 2
Revelation 7:9-17. A sermon on the comfort and joys of heaven, and how that relates to our suffering and tribulation now. What is the measure of a saint? How do we become saints? Will heaven be boring? The music and joy of heaven.
(note: I am posting two recordings of this sermon preached on the same text, because they varied quite a bit, while on the same topics)
...more
17min
November 07, 2011 For All the Saints 1
Revelation 7:9-17. A sermon on the comfort and joys of heaven, and how that relates to our suffering and tribulation now. What is the measure of a saint? How do we become saints? Will heaven be boring? The music and joy of heaven.
(note: I am posting two recordings of this sermon preached on the same text, because they varied quite a bit, while on the same topics)
...more
15min
October 31, 2011Slavery, License, and Freedom
Sermon on John 8:31-36 for Reformation Day, on how Jesus sets us free, and about differing understandings of freedom. Freedom that is turned toward sin or evil always ceases to be freedom.
Sermon Talking Points
Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com
Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com
What is the reason for skepticism toward truth today? Was this skepticism equally present in Jesus’ time? John 18:37-38; Acts 17:21 Is God able to make His truth known, and how did He choose to do so?

How were the Jews who talked to Jesus blind about their own slavery & the meaning of freedom? Exodus 1:13-14; 24:18; Ezra 9:9. How is blindness to sin also slavery? John 8:34; Rom. 6:17-18

How does freedom undermine itself when we idolize it? What does freedom easily turn into? Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 2:16; Jude 4

Describe how this false sense or use of freedom can enslave us and hurt others. Give examples. Where do you see this danger in your own life?

What “chains” are broken off of us when Jesus sets us free and forgives our sins? What truth did Martin Luther grasp from the book of Romans that set him free, and helped him realize the source of our freedom? Rom. 3:23-24.

What reaction came against Luther’s (Paul’s!) teaching of salvation as a free gift? What did people fear would happen? How they would misuse freedom? Rom. 6:1-3. Why can’t this fear change the message of the free Gospel? What would happen if fear and compulsion again drove our obedience to God? 1 John 4:18-19.

Who is the Truth that sets us free? John 14:6. How do we exercise our new-found freedom in Christ? How do we walk on the Way that He freed us for?
...more
0min
October 24, 2011Who Fulfills Love's Duty?
Sermon on Matthew 22:34-46 for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost. A sermon about the lawyer's question to Jesus, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus describes man's duty to God and neighbor, and goes on to point them to Himself as the Christ, who would fulfill that duty for us.
Sermon Talking Points
Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com
Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com
When is a question a good question? Is skepticism always harmful? What are types of questions that are bad? What should the goal of a good question be?

What does it mean to say that the question about the commandments were a question of duty? What directions does our “duty” take us in the two commandments Jesus gives? What was the brilliance of Jesus’ answer? Why is love unafraid of, or willingly accept duty? How does that contrast to obedience based on fear? 1 John 4:18

Did Jesus’ simplification or summary of the commandments make them easier or harder? Describe what it means to love God with all your heart. Soul. Mind. Exodus 20:1-11; Job 2:9-10; Luke 23:45; Matt. 16:24-27; Prov. 1:7; Rom. 12:1-2

What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? Matt. 5:44-46; 10:37; 1 John 4:20-21. When is it especially difficult to love our neighbor as ourselves? Where do we find the capacity for such love? 1 John 4:10, 19

How do all the Law and Prophets (the Old Testament) hang or depend on these two commandments? What would happen if love was removed? How is Jesus’ death on the cross the fulfillment of all the Law and Prophets? These two great commands? Spend time reflecting on how Jesus specifically loved God with all His heart, soul, and mind, and loved His neighbor as Himself.

Why did Jesus’ last question for the Pharisees and Sadducees, turn them back to Him for the final deliverance from the guilt of our failed duty to God? What truth about Jesus were they unwilling to see or admit? What made Jesus greater than David or any other earthly king, and what made Him the solution for our dilemma before God?
...more
1h 10min
October 17, 2011Minted In God's Image
Sermon on Matthew 22:15-22 for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, on what Jesus meant by saying that we are to "render to God what is God's". This also was a "Children's Sunday" service at our church.
Sermon Talking Points
Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com
Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com
What was Jesus’ advice about paying taxes? Matthew 22:20-21; 17:24-27; Romans 13:6-7.

What was the bigger point that Jesus was making for His hearers? What was the analogy to the coin, for why they also were “due back” to God?

What does it mean that we are made in the “image of God?” Genesis 1:26-27; What qualities of God are reflected in humanity in a lesser degree? Creativity, reason, spirituality; name more.

How does this belief that we are made in God’s image provide the foundation for the belief in universal human dignity and equality, and the value of human life? Genesis 9:6; Acts 17:26-27

In the original perfection of creation, how did God plan for humans to live out that reality of being made in His image? What qualities would He have expected them to show?

What happened to that image of God in us, when Adam and Eve first sinned? Genesis 3. Describe how today, in the state of our “ruined glory” we can see both hints of the image of God in humanity and also see obvious evidence of the corruption of sin in humanity.

Sin obscures the image of God in us, and leaves scars behind, but what “cleansing” and restoration does God offer, and how? Ephesians 4:17-24; Colossians 3:9-10. 1 John 1:7; John 3:16

How does the fact that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ again give the greatest reaffirmation of human dignity and worth, and show God’s great love for us? Philippians 2:4-10; Colossians 1:19-20; 2:9-10; Romans 5:10
...more
0min
October 10, 2011Dressed for the Wedding
Sermon on Matthew 22:1-14, the Parable of the Wedding Feast, for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost
Sermon Talking Points
Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com
Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com
Identify who and what the main characters and events of the parable represent. How does Isaiah 25:6-9 shape the view of God’s “wedding feast?” Where else is this wedding imagery significant in the Bible? Matt. 25:1-13; Eph. 5; Hosea

Reflect on the incredible honor to be invited to the wedding banquet of the King’s Son, and how foolish it is to despise that invitation for trivial or mundane reasons. How outrageous is it to scoff at His message? Acts 13:41; 2 Pet. 3:3-7

When was the nation of Israel punished by armies and its city destroyed, for disregarding God’s invitation and abusing and killing the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles? 2 Chron. 36:15-21; Matthew 24

What was the basis for the unworthiness of the guests who were first invited? Acts 13:46, and 13:26-52.

What was the basis for the unworthiness of the guest who was thrown out? Where could he have been expected to get a wedding garment? Isaiah 61:10; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 5:25-27; Rev. 3:18. By contrast, what are we wearing if we keep our own “garments”? Isaiah 64:6; Jude 24; Rev. 3:4-5. Who cleanses us to give a clean garment? Isaiah 1:18; Rev. 7:13-14.

For those who remain in the wedding hall after the final judgment, and celebrate the wedding feast, what is their cry of thanksgiving? Isaiah 25:9. What is there to look forward to? Is. 26:6-8
...more
8min
October 03, 2011The Vineyard
Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46, the parable of the Vineyard, teaching about God's incredible act of sending His Son into the world, and the rejection and death He faced.
Sermon Talking Points
Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com
Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com
What is the background of the vineyard imagery so common to Jesus’ parables? Isaiah 5:1-7; 27:2-6; Deut. 6:10-19; John 15. In what way was the vineyard prepared and ready for the people, without their effort? What was expected in return? How were God’s servants, the prophets, treated by the Israelites (tenants)? Jer. 26:20-21; 2 Chron 24:20-22; Mt. 23:34-37; Lk 13:34.

Do we obey God’s commands? Are we bearing fruit that shows we have repented of our sin? Should bearing fruit be difficult if we believe? John 15:5. Why is it dangerous to despise God’s grace?

What is so unbelievable about the master of the vineyard’s final plan to collect the fruits of his vineyard? How does this parallel the incredible love and vulnerability of God in sending His Son?

The tenants had the astonishing thought that they could take squatter’s rights of the vineyard if they killed the heir, the son. How does this parallel the thoughts of the Jewish leaders who recognized they were the subject of the parable? Matt. 21:45-46; John 11:45-53

Though Jesus was rejected and killed, how did God honor Him and crown Him with glory? Matt. 21:42; Psalm 118:22-23. What is the consequence of rejecting God’s offered mercy in Christ? Mt. 21:43-44. Isaiah 8:14-15; Dan. 2:34-35. Why is the cross a stumbling block to people? 1 Cor. 1:18-25

Those who receive instead God’s mercy in Christ, and bear the fruit of His kingdom, gratefully receive the gift of His inheritance, and share in the fruit and blessings of the vineyard. They are built on the sure foundation of Christ.
...more
1h 5min
September 19, 2011 The Compassionate Employer
Sermon on Matthew 20:1-16, the Parable of the Compassionate Employer, and a lesson about grace and generosity.
Sermon Talking Points Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com
1. What was the wage the first workers agreed to accept from the master for a day’s work? When the master returned four more times to the marketplace, why were there still workers there? (v.7)
2. What is surprising about the master’s trips to the marketplace, in light of the fact that he had an employee (v.8)? What about the order in which he made payment? How much he paid to each?
3. What does this parable teach us about the compassion and generosity of our God? What was the protest of the first workers? Were they underpaid? How and when do we show a similar jealousy or resentment? What must we do with sinful feelings of “entitlement?”
4. The end of verse 15 could literally be translated as “Or is your eye evil because I am good?” What does Jesus say about having an “evil eye?” Matthew 6:22-24
5. God commanded this same kind of mercy of His people in Deuteronomy 15:7-11 and 24:14-15. This parable shows how God would (and does!!) keep those same commands. How does the parable show the incarnation of Jesus, and how He took on Himself the atonement of the world?
6. How can we look out for and help the “11th hour” unemployed? What is significant about the fact that this was the “last call” for workers to come into the vineyard? What is the “equal reward” for all who trust in Jesus? It’s not a “reward” in the sense of something we earned, but what? Romans 6:23
...more
15min
September 12, 2011 God's Mercy Received is Mercy Lived
Sermon on Matthew 18:21-35, for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, on Peter's question of how often we are to forgive, and the parable of the Unforgiving Servant.
Sermon Talking Points Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com
1. What did Peter think was a “generous” amount of forgiveness? How far was he off the mark, according to Jesus? What did Jesus intend to teach Peter when He said to forgive seventy times seven? Cf. 1 Corinthians 13:5
2. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, how great was his debt to the master? What does this unpayable debt represent for us? How did the master respond to his plea for mercy?
3. How much smaller was the debt his fellow servant owed him? What does that debt represent for us? How did he respond to his fellow servant’s plea for mercy? What was naturally expected from the master, as to how he should have responded instead? (vs. 32-33) How are we to respond to the pleas of forgiveness from those who “owe” debts of forgiveness to us?
4. What is the challenge and difficulty about living mercifully? What works against this high, holy calling? Why does mercy necessarily translate into merciful action?
5. What is the danger of abusing the mercy and forgiveness that God has shown us, by displaying an utterly opposite attitude of unforgiveness or selfishness? 1 John 4:7-21 (esp. v. 19-21).
6. How do we receive the mercy needed to forgive others? Who paid our unpayable debt to God? How did He pay it? 1 Pet. 1:18-19.
7. In contrast to the unforgiving servant’s attitude, what ought the life of a forgiven Christian look like? How will he or she respond to the mercy they received from God? How will they respond to the sins committed against them?
...more
0min
September 07, 2011 Save the Lost
Sermon on Matthew 18:1-20 for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost. Jesus' plays the role of the Good Shepherd in this passage, teaching and guarding us against many pitfalls to our salvation, including pride, temptations, and unrepentance. He guards us and seeks always to save the lost.
Sermon Talking Points Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com
1. What are the several “pitfalls” that could keep us from salvation, that Jesus teaches about in Matthew 18? What are the spiritual stakes for going astray in the ways Jesus describes?
2. What does Jesus teach is the alternative to spiritual pride? What is necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven? (18:3). How does Jesus reverse the disciple’s expected paradigm for what is the model of both faith and greatness in the kingdom? Philippians 2:3
3. How does Jesus affirm that children believe? Matt. 18:6. Why is it such a great offense against God to lead children into sin? What is the fearful punishment we risk if we do?
4. What point does Jesus make about sin in vs. 7-9? What would be the worse fate? Why do all of us deserve hell? Rom. 3:23; 6:23a. How are we spared from that punishment, through Christ? Rom. 3:24; 6:23b.
5. How does the Bible advise us to flee from sin and temptation? How to avoid it? Rom. 12:9; Gal. 6:1; 1 Cor. 15:33; 10:13
6. What steps does Jesus give for when someone sins against you? What is the goal and aim of the steps? (v. 15). What happens if the person is unwilling to repent, and doesn’t listen? What does that mean spiritually, when their sins are “bound” to them? How does a person reverse that situation and find forgiveness? Acts 3:19
7. How has everything Jesus has done and taught been the work of a Good Shepherd who would save the lost and not have us perish?
...more
0min

FAQs about The Joshua Victor Theory:

How many episodes does The Joshua Victor Theory have?

The podcast currently has 516 episodes available.