The revchristruelsen’s Podcast

Luke 4 Revisited: Christus Victor

(A revisit from August 25, 2023)

Text for discussion: Luke 4.  

In this chapter, Jesus is tempted in the desert and begins His ministry.  

Jesus shows us how He is going to stand between us and evil.  The full victory is won at the cross.  It is not just a temporal victory, but an eternal victory, for you . . . . 

 

Hymn: Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me.  A public domain hymn.  

Image: Christ in the Desert by Ivan Kramskoy, 1872.  

Luke 3 Revisited - Laying Down the Gauntlet

(This one goes back to July 21, 2023) 

Discussion: Luke 3.  

When Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River He is baptized into our sin and we in turn our baptized into His mercy and grace. Interestingly, when Jesus goes to the Jordan he is south of the Mesopotamian Mt. Olympus, so to speak.  His ministry is not just to gather in Israel, but to claim the people of the other nations, and Jesus does so by uprooting and overturning their gods.  In this episode you will discover that there is a bigger battle taking place than meets the eye.  

Luke 2 Revisited - A Sword Shall Pierce Your Own Soul Also

This is a revisitation from a podcast from Friday July 07, 2023.

Text for discussion: Luke 2. 
 
Everything mentioned in the narrative of the birth of Christ has significance from beginning to end.  In this one we join the shepherds by the manger . . . . 
 
Hymns: What Child is This, On My Heart Imprint Your Image, We Praise you, O God, Eternal Father, Strong to Save, The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Art: Public domain, John Singleton Copley, "The Nativity" dated, 1776-1777.

Luke 1 Revisited - Song of Zechariah

This is a revisitation of a podcast from June 30, 2023.  

Text for discussion: Luke 1

The Son of God most High's birth happened in the fullness of time.  God's salvation plan for humanity would be fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  John the Baptist would roll out the royal carpet for the King of Kings, Jesus, clothing himself in human flesh.  This is the story of John's birth, and the conception of Jesus, Son of God . . . . 

#226 The Benedictus, "Song of Zechariah.", (LSB, CPH).  

Reflections on the Week That Changed the World: The First Easter

 

Many have built their lives, staked their lives on the ideas of Darwin, but how many know that he was once concerned that he may have "devoted his life to a fantasy" [his own words]!? In contrast the Apostle Peter said that the disciples did not follow "cleverly devised myths" and they were well familiar with cleverly devised myths in the ancient world-and there are many and constant cleverly devised myths we see and experience today.  Yet, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He is RISEN! 

The hymn: Amazing Grace (public domain).

Painting: the Holy Women at the Tomb (by William Adolphe Bouguereau, 1890) Public domain.  

 

Reflections on the Week that Changed the World: the First Good Friday

Today's message is entitled "Two Trees" based on the Genesis 3 and the Passion Account.  

 

The hymn: Jerusalem, My Happy Home.  Public domain.  

The painting:  Ecce Homo (Behold, the Man) by Antonio Ciseri.  Public domain.  

Reflections on the Week that Changed the World: The Last Supper

 

The New Tree of Life and the Great Feast: Moses and the Elders ate and drank and beheld God in a feast; in the Last Supper, God ate in the domain of the Apostles.  The tree of life passed away from history, but God gives a new tree of life and fruits thereof.  

 

The hymn: Lord of Glory, You Hast Bought Us (public domain).  

The painting: The Last Supper by Carl Bloch, 1800s (public domain).  

The Way of the Cross Service

I encourage you to observe one of your congregation's Good Friday services, but I invite you to share in this one, especially, if you are not able to make it to a service on Good Friday.

Recorded in 2021, here we observe Good Friday with the Stations of the Cross Service . . . .   May this service be a blessing to you as you remember how our Lord died upon the cross to atone for our sins.  Our Lord Jesus Christ is now risen . . . .  Let us hear God's word together and recall how Jesus, the lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world . . . . 

The painting: Behold the Man by Antonio Ciseri, 1871.

Bought with Blood

Text for discussion: Deuteronomy 22. 

Seeing the Bible through the modern lens is a dangerous proposition that can lead us to look at the Scriptures in a skewed way.  It matters what lens we bring to the table when we read Scripture.  What do we make of the ancient laws in Scripture even as we live in very different ways in the modern world?  As much as things change, things remain the same!  

The hymn: Be Still My Soul (public domain) 

The engraving (by Dore) a depiction of Moses and the Ten Commandments.  (public domain).

 

Tragedy Outside the City

Text for discussion: Deuteronomy 21.

 

We live in a Fallen world, and sometimes tragedy strikes.  How will people find closure?  How will justice be served?  Man cannot see what happened, but God know all and sees all.  It is His Son who will judge the living and the dead, but in this world we seek to limit the beast mentality and seek a higher way in the God who has created us.  

The hymn: Savior When in Dust to Thee (public domain). 

The engraving (by Dore) a depiction of Moses and the Ten Commandments.  (public domain).