Posts Tagged With: Christ

How to Repair a Broken World (It’s Easier Than You May Think!)

Posted on January 10, 2016 by deweybertolini

As I publish this week’s PODCAST, I am brimming with optimism.

Whether you realize it or not, we are blessed with a singular privilege: To be alive at this time, in this place, at this precise moment in human history.

As you will hear in this study of Luke 10, we have been handed a golden opportunity to fulfill that which is the highest calling that can be bestowed on any human being.

Lofty words, those. But words that I believe with all of my heart.

After hearing this podcast, I believe that you will too.

Last week, I introduced you to the foundational purpose statement that defines why exactly our Jewish friends are God’s Chosen People. Do you remember what it is? Tikkun ha-olam. Which is defined by our Jewish friends as “repairing the world,” ideally by bringing the world under the rule of God in the world.

In the words of the rabbis, Tikkun ha-olam “is deeply embedded in the Jewish ethos.” Indeed, defines it. The acknowledgement, the understanding that our world as a whole, and that every one of us who lives in this world is broken and in need of repair.

Tikkun ha-olam: A repair that can only come when the world which God created submits to its Creator.

Which brings us to Jesus’ instructions in Luke 10.

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 richly as you listen.

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The Beginning of the End Game

Posted on January 3, 2016 by deweybertolini

 

 

Luke 10:1 (NKJV) reads,

“After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.”

In light of that verse, I want to float a theory.

My theory is this: Jesus did nothing arbitrarily or randomly.

In other words, there was a particular purpose behind everything that Jesus did.

Including His sending of the 70.

So if my theory holds, that Jesus did not send out the 70 randomly or arbitrarily, we are face with two most-intriguing questions:

1. Why in the world did Jesus send out 70?

2. What does it mean to us today?

And as you will soon hear in this PODCAST, it means everything to us today.

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 richly as you listen.

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God, Why Won’t You Answer My Prayer? (An Encore Podcast)

Posted on December 27, 2015 by deweybertolini

Key word for this PODCAST? Expectations.

There is nothing more toxic to our faith than when we base our faith on misinformed expectations. More precisely, holding God to expectations that He never intended for us to form; expectations God never committed Himself to fulfill.

They say that “confession is good for the soul.” OK, here’s my confession to you: Every week, when I open the Bible and begin to teach, I keenly, keenly feel my inadequacy. That’s not a me-trying-to-sound-humble statement; that’s a me-being-brutally-honest statement. A true statement, an honest admission, because I know that each and every person who listens to my voice and hears my words is experiencing their own challenges, asking their own questions, working through their own difficulties.

Consequently, there is so much that I would like to tell you, but literally so little time. How much can we accomplish in less than an hour together each week?

I am certainly not alone in my frustration. I take great comfort that Jesus felt it too, keenly so. Which is precisely what He told His disciples in one of the landmark chapters in all of the Bible. Yet, ironically, it’s a chapter that is so often overlooked as to its significance and importance.

If I were to ask you to tell me your favorite chapter in the Bible, or the one that brings you the greatest level of comfort, I doubt you’d say John 16. But for me, without a doubt, I’d say John 16. And it’s in this chapter that Jesus expressed my same exact frustration.

There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.

The scene was the Upper Room. The night was His last night before the crucifixion. Jesus knew what the next 24 hours would be like. Consequently, Jesus had to recalibrate His disciples’ expectations. And so on this night, Jesus huddled with His disciples at what should have been the singular celebration of the year: a Passover Seder.

A beautiful night that would soon turn ugly.

These men had left everything to follow Jesus. They had literally put their lives on the line to become committed Christ-followers.

Jesus had warned them repeatedly that this night was coming — the night of His betrayal and arrest.

But you know, it’s amazing to me what we hear, and what we don’t allow ourselves to hear.

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Gentle Shepherd

Posted on November 29, 2015 by deweybertolini

Last week, I introduced you ever-so-briefly to the subject of shepherds. This because Jesus drew our attention to all-things sheep-and-shepherd-related when He defined Himself by saying, “I AM the door (gate) of the sheep.”

This week, in this PODCAST, we’ll discover together exactly what Jesus meant when He identified Himself as the “door of the sheep.”

The important point to remember from last week is this: Life for the shepherd was and is unpredictable and oh-so-difficult.

You might remember that when his or her world is rocked by undeserved trauma of some sort, a shepherd will never ask the question of God, “Why?” Or “Why me?” It is a given that life in the desert is tough, and that problems are the norm.

Shepherds “get it” — that in this world of ours, bad things do indeed happen. Bad things do indeed happen to good people. We live in a world where, as but one example, men are born blind. And as Jesus made crystal-clear in John 9, it has nothing to do with the man’s sins, or his parents’ for that matter, as assumed by the disciples who asked Jesus about that very thing.

In the thinking of a shepherd, the evidence of the blessing of God in someone’s life is NOT the absence of problems or pain. The evidence of God’s blessing is His peace-giving presence that shepherds us through our problems and pain.

As Peter (who knew his fair share of suffering and pain) completely understood, Jesus is and ever will be our “Shepherd, the Guardian of our souls.” (1 Peter 2:25) A shepherd who guards our souls not from trouble, but while we are in the midst of trouble — undeserved, unpredictable, oh-so-difficult problems and personal pain.

Given all of that, what then did Jesus mean when He identified Himself as the “door of the sheep”? More than you can possibly imagine.

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.

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A Man Born Blind (A 1st-Person Rendition)

Posted on November 15, 2015 by deweybertolini

Humanly speaking, he didn’t have a chance on this earth.

Until Jesus came along…

In this PODCAST, you will meet a man whose deck was decidedly stacked against him.

Until Jesus came along…

PLEASE do not be tempted to think that because you (thank God!) were not born blind, this story has nothing to say to you today. Truth be told, I cannot think of a more appropriate passage for us to consider together, especially in light of recent events, than this one.

Jesus, the master-artist, painted for His hearers (and for US!) a picture worth far more than the proverbial “thousand words.”

Welcome to an encounter with God’s Son that you will never ever forget.

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.

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Setting the Record Straight

Posted on November 8, 2015 by deweybertolini

Jesus made quite a splash (pun intended) when He stood up at the Feast of Tabernacles to declare to the crowds that He was the source of “living water.”

As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, He only added to the drama of this most remarkable moment the very next day when He declared Himself to be the “light of the world.”

I mean, you talk about a guy who never failed to polarize a crowd, meet Jesus. The hundreds of thousands in that crowd on those days either loved Him or hated Him.

Just like today.

One thing for sure: No one in that crowd, that Josephus numbered at three million, could ignore Him.

Just like today.

It is today as it was then.

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.

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Forgive and (Don’t) Forget

Posted on October 11, 2015 by deweybertolini

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.

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 if it is a blessing to you, please SHARE a link to this podcast with your family and friends.

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The Epic (and I Do Mean EPIC) Handoff

Posted on October 4, 2015 by deweybertolini

“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.

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.

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Demystifying Church Discipline

Posted on September 27, 2015 by deweybertolini

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.

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.

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Jesus LOVES the Little Children

Posted on September 20, 2015 by deweybertolini

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.

 

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