Author Archives: deweybertolini

Jesus was a revolutionary on so many, many levels.

As you will hear in this PODCAST, Jesus was never afraid to break with convention and go with something that was totally counter-cultural to the times in which He lived, and to the religious tradition to which He belonged.

It is both my sincere hope and confident belief that you will find in this lesson much refreshment for your soul, especially if you are a female. The time has come for us to — courtesy of Jesus — balance the books that have been so out of balance for so long in so much of our present-day Christian culture.

Please remember that depending upon your connection speed and web browser, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.

God bless you as you listen.

And PLEASE “Share” this with your family and friends if you do indeed find it to be an encouragement to your soul.

If you know of anyone who has some mental obstacles to understanding who Jesus is, THIS is the message for them to hear. 

I would even go so far as to suggest that if my many precious Jewish friends were to listen to just one podcast, this would be the one. They would be in for a very pleasant surprise, I am sure. 

An Encore PODCAST while I am speaking at Hume Lake Christian Camps. 

Please remember that depending upon your connection speed and web browser, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.

God bless you as you listen.

For reasons that I won’t go into now, not that long ago I suffered a crisis of faith. I don’t say those words lightly. There is absolutely nothing clichéd about them. Not when they come from my heart to yours.

To state it simply: I DESPERATELY need to rediscover who Jesus was, who Jesus is.

So, with a close group of friends surrounding me (lovingly known as my Safe Haven family), I embarked on what has proven to be an incredible journey of discovery of the Jesus of the Bible — beginning with His birth (to last week where, ironically, Jesus tenderly and lovingly restored John the Baptizer’s faith after he suffered a faith-crisis of his own).

What we have been discovering is that the Jesus of the New Testament is nothing like the Jesus that I thought I knew. The portrait painted of Jesus in the Bible is nothing like the depictions of Jesus I had heard for so many years in church or Sunday school.

Most importantly, the Jesus of the Scriptures is nothing like the distortions of Jesus that are too often demonstrated to the world through the lives of so many of His so-called followers.

The fruit of this study? My faith has literally come roaring back. My love for Jesus is sweeter, deeper, richer than it has been in years.

So I humbly invite you to join the journey with us. Every message (to date, 80 of them) is recorded and posted online. You can jump in anywhere (though I’d recommend starting at the beginning). You can travel this trail at your own pace. I simply ask that like me, you come without any preconceived ideas of whom you think Jesus is. Together, we’ll let the Gospel writers paint the portrait for us.

HERE’S THE LINK to the entire (and growing by the week!) archive of every study, free downloads each. 

And if iTunes is your thing, HERE’S THE LINK to that too.

I would LOVE to have you join this incredible journey with us, and maybe — just maybe — fall deeper in love with Him too.

When we last left our old friend, John the Baptizer, his faith was in a free-fall.

He was here last week, sort of, to tell you his scintillating story in his own words. (If you have not heard that PODCAST, may I respectfully request that you listen? A story that I promise you, you will never forget.)

Think of it. John… The man whose coming was predicted by the prophets… Whose birth was foretold by an angel… Who identified and introduced Jesus to the world…

John the Baptizer didn’t believe in Jesus any more.

His situation was dire, languishing as he was in Antipas’ Dead-Sea-Side prison (on Eastern side of Dead Sea), his life literally dangling by a thread. The madman Antipas holding in his bloodstained hands the frayed ends of that thread…

Tormented, no doubt John was, by the unobstructed view he had of his boyhood home, directly across the Dead Sea on its Western shore, adopted and raised as John was by Essenes of Qumran…

John had to have THE answer to his doubt-fueled, double-edged question, and only Jesus was the only one who could provide the answer that he (and sometimes we) sought.

Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for your podcast to begin to play. HAPPY LISTENING.

John the Baptizer is, by his own admission, a walking contradiction.

As you will hear in this PODCAST, he had a remarkable beginning, and yet in the end a dismal crash and burn.

Simply put, if I may so blunt, during the darkest hour of his now-troubled life, John the Baptizer (if you can believe it) didn’t believe in Jesus anymore.

His is quite the story to tell. But as you will hear me say, it is John’s story to tell, not my story to tell. So, if you can employ a little sanctified imagination, I will do my best to be true to John’s story, and respectful of John’s memory, as I sort of try to “become” (if I can put it that way) John the Baptizer, and tell you his story in the first person, as if I am John.

Please remember that depending upon your connection speed and web browser, it may take up to 60 seconds for the podcast to begin to play.

HAPPY LISTENING.

And if this is a blessing to you, may I presume to ask you to Share this podcast with all of your friends?

God bless you as you listen.

It happened in the no-nothing little town called Nain.

Why there? Why to that woman? What was the point?

And most importantly, as you will learn in the PODCAST, what does this teach us about the nature, character, and heart of God?

His heart towards me. More significantly, His heart towards YOU!

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.

HAPPY LISTENING!