As you will hear in this PODCAST, Jesus knows it. He understandably recoils from it. But He must now prepare His disciples for it.
Here in Matthew 16, and its parallel passage in Mark 8, we have reached a crucial moment in the life and ministry of Jesus. Make no mistake about it. These words here in Matthew 16 are a game-changer…
One that reveals much to us about the character of Jesus and the strategy of Satan.
An intriguing story that raises our understanding of spiritual warfare to a whole new level.
One that will impact YOUR life just as it has my life, in a profoundly insightful way.
As always, we have much to talk about. And trust me, you will be encouraged as you and I study this watershed passage together.
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The disciples were never at their lowest. Yet our friend, Peter, was never at his finest.
As you will hear in this PODCAST, Peter made a declaration the reverberations of which have echoed down through the two thousand years of church history. This was HUGE.
What Peter said and where he said it are mind-blowing in their impact upon our world and in our lives.
This might just be my very favorite passage in all of the Gospels. Perhaps after hearing this, it will be yours too.
Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.
Enjoy! And may God richly bless you as you listen.
You are in for a rare treat! One PODCAST consisting of two precious parables.
While I am away ministering to some pretty special people at Hume Lake Christian Camp, you have the opportunity to listen in on a past podcast that brings with it a present and priceless blessing. Two of them!
Why these two parables don’t get more attention, I’ll never know. For contained within them are two of the most blessed truths of our faith.
The two parables of which I speak: The Parable of the Buried Treasure, and the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price.
Two parables that, despite their similarities, reveal two totally distinct but equally precious truths.
If you need a jolt of overwhelming encouragement, you need look no further.
Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it might take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.
God bless you as you listen.
And PLEASE share a link to this podcast with your friends.
We are going to begin this week’s PODCAST precisely from where we left off in last week’s podcast.
We left off last week by considering together this most enigmatic verse (Hebrews 5:8):
Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered.
If you are at all uncomfortable with that, then the rest of this story will make no sense, and will leave you with an even greater discomfort.
But if you are willing to allow for the fact that “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered,” then you are in for this great big blessing: The grand and glorious realization that Jesus, just like you and just like me, learned in real time what it means to live a life of obedience to God the Father.
We stressed last week, and I will ever-so-briefly remind you now, that Jesus was fully human, just like us. Last week we discussed some of the implications of Hebrews 4:15, where the writer emphatically affirms this ever-so-comforting reality:
Jesus understands all of our human weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings and temptations we do, yet He did not sin.
Jesus experienced every human emotion, felt keenly every human feeling — including our feelings of fear, insecurity, uncertainty, abandonment, betrayal.
I mean, you just wait until we get to the Garden of Gethsemane, at which time there will be no doubt that in Jesus 100% deity meets 100% humanity, with all that that word humanity implies.
As we saw so vividly last week, life threw at Jesus unexpected challenges, unanticipated conflicts, undeserved difficulties, uninvited troubles… Just like life throws at us.
Jesus learned, just as so many of us are now learning, that sometimes, perhaps even most times, our richest life lessons can be taught only in the crucible of calamity.
By the reading of books our minds become broad. But it is only as we walk the pathway of pain that our souls become deep.
Something that Jesus learned.
Something that we are each learning.
Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered.
Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed it might take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.
Gifts of Gratitude: If interested in expressing your gratitude in this tangible way, please check the Gifts of Gratitude link at the top of this page, or click HERE.
Dewey Bertolini 