The Apostle John, whom you will meet up close and personal in this PODCAST, was a man miraculously transformed. Transformed by an unexpected encounter with a woman of questionable character, brought to Jesus by an unlikely group: the leading rabbis of His day.
An encounter that John would never forget.
An encounter that I am quite confident WE will never forget.
As this woman, and Jesus’ reaction to her, changed John’s mind, heart, soul — John’s LIFE! — forever, may it change ours as well.
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In this PODCAST, a new chapter has dawned in our ongoing chronological study of the life and ministry of Jesus.
Jesus has just left His beloved Galilee for the last time. He will not return to Galilee until after the Resurrection. A point not to be missed, Jesus left Galilee now in order to be in Jerusalem for the annual Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles.
OK, so here’s my question:
Why in the world did Jesus literally risk an early arrest and possible untimely death in order to be in Jerusalem for this feast?
He surely knew the risks involved. He told His brothers bluntly,
The world hates me… You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.
Yet, He changed His mind and actually went to the Feast, though secretly so as not to be seen.
So again I ask,
Why now? Why this festival? What was so special about the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) that Jesus risked everything to travel to Jerusalem secretly?
In answering this question, you will see a side of Jesus’ humanness that will endear you to Him in ways you never knew possible. I guaranteed you that this will be well-worth your taking the time to listen! You will find Jesus endearing to your heart and soul in ways you never imagined.
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As you will hear in this PODCAST, in Matthew 18:21, Peter asked a profoundly important question. A question that haunted him. And if we are honest, a question that at times haunts us.
Matthew 18:21 reads,
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Can you think of any question that hits us more profoundly right where we live than this one? There is not a one of us who hasn’t been hurt significantly by someone or someones in the past.
Perhaps in the very recent past.
Perhaps this person or these persons continue to hurt us even now, in the present.
Consequently, this whole issue of forgiveness — what it means and what it does not mean — could not come too soon, could not be more practical.
Especially given the timing and location of Peter’s question. Something that you will hear in this podcast.
Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Let’s talk about this.
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God bless you as you listen. And if it is a blessing to you, please SHARE a link to this podcast with your family and friends.
“Epic,” as in Your-Salvation-and-Mine-Rides-or-Falls-on-This. I kid you not.
This PODCAST is going to be fun, and so instructive. Instructive on two levels.
1. Instructive as we discover together exactly what Jesus meant here in Matthew 18:18-20.
2. Instructive as we are handed, courtesy of Jesus, an opportunity to learn what to do, and perhaps more importantly, what not to do with the Bible.
As you are about to hear, we must bring to this passage every interpretive tool in the tool box in order to arrive at an accurate interpretation and application of this passage.
Let me put it this way: The Apostle Paul encouraged his protégé, young Pastor Timothy, to…
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth, (2 Timothy 2:15).
Do you know why Paul encouraged Timothy to handle the word of truth correctly? Because there were then, as there are now, scores of people — pastors, teachers, conference speakers, authors, commentators — who routinely handle the word of truth incorrectly.
In 1 Timothy 1:3, Paul similarly wrote Timothy,
I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those whose teaching is contrary to the truth.
Why write this? Because there were Sunday school teachers or small group leaders in Timothy’s church who were teaching error.
It is so easy to make the Bible say whatever we want it to say. It is so easy, too easy, to carelessly teach what the Bible does not say.
Case in point: Matthew 18:18-20. A commonly-quoted passage made to mean all sorts of things that, to be perfectly honest with you, Jesus never intended. A passage so often applied in ways that Jesus did not have in mind. He would cringe today to see what so many have done with this passage.
And, as you are about to see, this passage will indeed require us to bring to its interpretation and application a whole set of interpretive tools — a knowledge of language, history, geography, culture, chronology, context, literary & Jewish background — all in an effort to understand what Jesus did indeed intend to convey to His disciples and to us at a singularly watershed moment in Jesus’ ministry.
So in this podcast, dear friend, we have a lot to talk about.
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In this week’s PODCAST, as we continue in our chronological study of the life and ministry of Jesus, we come to Matthew 18:15-17 — one of the most important passages in all of the New Testament, the so-called “Church Discipline” passage.
Church Discipline, a teaching in many local churches that really rose into prominence in the late 1970’s and became quite the trend. I can remember attending church leadership conferences back then and hearing pastors — I’ll use word “boast” — of the fact that they recently removed an individual or individuals from their churches, thereby “preserving the purity of their churches.” Others would then oooh and ahhh at the boldness of the pastor in confronting the sin in his church and taking decisive action in order to preserve the purity of his church by the process of Church Discipline as outline by Jesus here in Matthew 18.
Today, one of this nation’s leading Church Discipline proponents insists that church discipline, as outlined in Matthew 18, is one of the marks of a healthy church. He writes this on his website, clearly articulating the prevailing view of Church Discipline, and indeed includes this as one of his main talking points as he addresses pastors’ conferences throughout the country, encouraging them to do the same:
Church discipline is the act of correcting sin in the life of the body, including the possible final step of excluding a professing Christian from membership in the church and participation in the Lord’s Supper because of serious unrepentant sin.
Consequently, it has become (and in many places still is) standard practice to remove or “exclude” or excommunicate (you choose the term) unrepentant sinners from their local churches. Or if not standard practice, this notion of Church Discipline is certainly included in most of our church bylaws.
Well, in light of the above definition — More importantly, in light of Jesus’ words in Matthew 18 — is that really what Jesus taught to His disciples and to us?
Let’s find out together.
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In this week’s PODCAST, courtesy of the disciples, we get a rare-yet-precious glimpse into the heart of Jesus, the heart of God.
A truly remarkable glimpse. An ironic glimpse.
Ironic because as you will soon hear, the Gospel writers go to great lengths in this story to show us this side of God’s heart. Yet, it is an aspect of God that is rarely talked about. Inexplicably, it receives scant attention.
But we’ll balance the books in this podcast.
And in doing so, tender and heartwarming as this story is, we will hear Jesus will make one of the most severe statements of His entire 3 ½ year ministry. He will trumpet a dire warning and wave a red flag that needs like never before to be waved today, throughout our country and around the world.
You are in for an eye-opening treat, guaranteed. 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.
God bless you as you listen.
And PLEASE, if you think about it and are so inclined, consider sharing a link to this podcast with you loved ones and friends.
If you want to see up close and oh-so-personal the heart of Jesus, look no further than this PODCAST’S passage here in Mark 9.
You are about to see a side of Jesus that is both breathtaking to behold, and irresistible to consider. A high definition video of Jesus that says so much even though it emerges from one very short story.
Perhaps the best place to begin our discussion is here: I love the disciples. I absolutely love the disciples. More to the point, I love how the Gospel writers consistently give to us a brutally honest, utterly unvarnished series of snapshots of exactly who these guys were. And how these guys thought and acted and reacted to each and every situation in which they found themselves.
I love them because to read their stories, to get into their minds and hearts, to understand struggles of their souls, all of that floods my own soul with copious amounts of hope. The hope that if Jesus could love men such as these (and He did!), He can love me too; He can love you too.
Which is precisely the point of this week’s podcast.
If ever the disciples deserved a stinging rebuke, here it is, in bold font and living color. Yet, amazingly, no rebuke was given. Even though I know that the disciples’ words, spoken behind Jesus’ back, must have hurt Him enormously. Even though their discussion unveiled the darkest sides of their souls, exposing a monster that dwells within each of our hearts. A monster which we must deliberately and regularly hold in check, lest he break free and wreak havoc in our lives, and in the lives of those around us.
The monster to which I refer? Take a listen, and you will find out.
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Get ready to grow some goosebumps as you listen to this PODCAST.
I am away speaking at one of my all-time favorite places on the planet. So yes, this is an Encore Podcast. But don’t let that stop you from listening. This is one of the most INSIGHTFUL and EYE-OPENING studies we have had in our Jesus in HD series.
Consider this your very own personalized tour, with me as your humble tour guide, as together we travel the storied streets of the Via Dolorosa. A short walk riddled with “Ah Ha” moments, too many to count!
Enjoy. And may God bless you richly as you listen.
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My goal in this PODCAST? Simple: To keep you out of jail.
Yes, this story in Matthew 17 is THAT positively practical.
It’s interesting to me that of the four Gospel writers (for reasons that we’ll get into in the podcast), only Matthew records this particular story about (of all things) an obscure Old Testament reference to an otherwise obtuse Moses-mandated responsibility, one that Jesus had apparently overlooked or outright rejected.
It’s not surprising to me that Matthew records this. But given the significance of the story, and its practical implications for our lives today, it is very surprising to me that none of the other Gospel writers makes any reference to this curious little episode.
An ever-so-brief snapshot into the life/heart of Jesus.
There’s quite a lot going on here. So we’ll now pick it apart and see what it all meant to Jesus back then, and what it means to us today.
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Dewey Bertolini 