The revchristruelsen’s Podcast

Miraculous Fallout

In this podcast we celebrate Christ's resurrection from the dead.  

Christ's victory over sin and death is our victory.  

While the world and skeptics may dismiss the ancient accounts, there was indeed miraculous fallout that indicates there was beyond the ordinary going on.  

The Apostles changed drastically, the Christian faith did not go away, and the tomb was empty.  

Christ is the Savior, and He is risen.  What does all of this mean?  

Hymn:  He's Risen, He's Risen (text: CPH, 1941.  Music: public domain.)

The painting: The Holy Women at the Tomb by William-Adolphe-Bouguereau. 1890.  Public domain.  

 

His Victory is Your Victory

The Passover was when God defeated the gods of Egypt, the fallen entities that had set themselves up as gods.  It was not just a human event-it was a spiritual event.  That was a type of the still greater thing to come.  The Passover was when death "passed over" the firstborn sons of the Israelites.  

In Christ, the second death to come passes over us, because Christ has won salvation for us.  All of those events began with the first Maundy Thursday and the Institution of the Lord's Supper . . . . 

The hymn: On My Heart Imprint Your Image (public domain) 

The painting: The Last Supper by Philippe de Champaigne ca. 1652.  public domain.  

 

 

A Service for Good Friday

This is the noon hour service material.  

The Litany for Holy Week, the prayers, John 18-19, and a message.  

The Painting: "Ecce Homo" (Behold, the man!) by Antonio Ciseri, mid 1800s.  (Public domain).  

Part V of In the Wilderness: Remember the Lord Your God.

In this final installment of our Lent series, In the Wilderness, the devil leaves Jesus until an opportune time.  Yet, Jesus will win the victory.  The gods of the other nations cannot be counted on, and the true God, the Creator of all warns us not to go after them for their way is death.  God can be counted on.  Remember the Lord your God! 

The hymn: A Mighty Fortress.  (Public domain).  

The photo: Wheat Grain by Michele Castagnetti, 2022 used under Creative Commons license: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wheat_Grain.jpg

In the Wilderness, Part IV: In All Your Ways

Jesus was Israel reduced to one. In the desert, many people of Israel fell in the trials described in the Exodus and until they entered the Promised land. The trials of the flesh
were difficult to overcome. Jesus’ time in the wilderness for forty days was a reminder of their trials. There, he faced the temptations of the evil one. He experienced the troublesof the flesh, but Jesus was both God and man. It was in His victory that God proclaimed that this was His Son in whom He was well pleased.

In installment IV, we see how the devil selectively quotes Psalm 91, even as Psalm 91 speaks of the devil's demise!  

Hymn: Eternal Father Strong to Save (public domain). 

The photo: Old Olive Trees in the Garden of Gethsemane (by Beko, from Wikimedia Commons, used under Creative Commons license: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Оld_Olive_trees_in_the_Garden_of_Gethsemane,_12.jpg

 

Part III of In the Wilderness: You Shall Not Put God to the Test

Jesus was Israel reduced to one. In the desert, many people of Israel fell in the trials described in the Exodus and until they entered the Promised land. The trials of the flesh
were difficult to overcome. Jesus’ time in the wilderness for forty days was a reminder of their trials. There, he faced the temptations of the evil one. He experienced the troublesof the flesh, but Jesus was both God and man. It was in His victory that God proclaimed that this was His Son in whom He was well pleased.

In part III, the devil uses a selective quotation of a Psalm as his proof that God would bear Jesus up if he would throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple.  If he could get the Son of God to do it, it would be a two-fer.  His plan was to get God's Son to sin by tempting the Father, and to show that he was really a hypocrite and really wasn't the perfect Son of God.  None of this of phased God's Son.  Where Israel failed, God's Son would not falter.  

The hymn: Fight the Good Fight.  (Public domain).

The painting: Christ in the Desert by Ivan Kramskoy, 1872.  (public domain).

In the Wilderness, Part II: Love the Lord Your God with All Your Heart

Jesus was Israel reduced to one. In the desert, many people of Israel fell in the trials described in the Exodus and until they entered the Promised land. The trials of the flesh
were difficult to overcome. Jesus’ time in the wilderness for forty days was a reminder of their trials. There, he faced the temptations of the evil one. He experienced the troublesof the flesh, but Jesus was both God and man. It was in His victory that God proclaimed that this was His Son in whom He was well pleased.

In Part II, the devil offers Jesus the world, but it is not really his to give.  The devil offers humanity many thing, but his "promises" always fall short.  God holds out a far better offer: eternal life in His Son.

The hymn: The King of Love My Shepherd Is (public domain).

The painting: Christ in the Desert by Ivan Kramskoy, 1872.  (public domain).

In the Wilderness: Man Shall Not Live By Bread Alone

Part I - Lent Series 

Jesus was Israel reduced to one. In the desert, many people of Israel fell in the trials described in the Exodus and until they entered the Promised land. The trials of the flesh were difficult to overcome. Jesus’ time in the wilderness for forty days was a reminder of their trials. There, he faced the temptations of the evil one. He experienced the troubles of the flesh, but Jesus was both God and man. It was in His victory that God proclaimed that this was His Son in whom He was well pleased.  

The hymn: Built on the Rock (public domain).

The painting: Christ in the Desert by Ivan Kramskoy, 1872.  (public domain).

God Stands in the Way

Text for discussion: Numbers 22.  

We may seek to do well, but there are times when we stray from the will and ways of God, seeking our own way, not His.  

Sometimes God shows us something different, pulls us in a different direction.  But in some instances God keeps us from being our own worst enemy when we go astray, and God stands in the way.  

Hymn of the day: I Bind Unto Myself Today 

 the painting: Balaam's Ass, 1626.  Rembrandt.  Public domain.  

 

As Moses Lifted Up the Serpent in the Wilderness

Text for discussion: Numbers 21.

Numbers 21 with the fiery serpents biting many Israelites, and Moses setting up a bronze serpent on a pole which they could look at and live is a Bible narrative emblazoned on our minds.  It is to this narrative that Jesus alludes when He speaks of His own crucifixion which was yet to come.  In this chapter we learn about the spiritual warfare taking place in that age, and in our very own age.  

The Hymn: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (public domain)

The engraving: from the Bible panorama, or The Holy Scriptures in picture and story, 1891.  Artist: Foster, William A. (from old catalog) digitized and contributed by The Library of Congress.  Public domain.