What a picture.
As you will hear in this PODCAST, truly did Rabbi Jesus paint for us a masterpiece.
A painting, a portrait guaranteed to make your life freer and lighter.
Thank you for listening, and for sharing this message!!!
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God bless you richly as you listen.
There isn’t a whole lot in this troubled world of ours about which we can be certain.
But as you will hear in this PODCAST, you can be certain of THIS!
And thank you for listening, and for sharing this message!!!
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.
More than a PODCAST; this is a wee bit of a glimpse into the depths of my sizable soul.
And perhaps into yours as well.
All courtesy of Peter, of course.
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.
OK, dear friends. In this encore PODCAST (while I am away speaking), we are about to leap off of the high dive into the shark-infested waters of what has become today an unnecessarily emotionally-charged, needlessly controversial issue among many of our so-called evangelical/fundamental churches.
One that has done immeasurable damage to the precious women in far too many congregations.
It absolutely sickens me to think how so many of us men have depreciated the value of women in the work of God.
And as you will hear ever-so loudly and clearly, it sickens Jesus too.
Who would have thought that women, specifically the role of women within the work of God on this earth, would become a hotbed of controversy? But it has.
And just in case you are wondering here at the “get-go” whether or not I am a complimentarian or an egalitarian on this issue. I am neither. Oh how I hate labels. Words that mean different things to different people (usually inaccurately so) with little or no nuance. Words that carry so much baggage.
That said, I have but one agenda: To let the Bible speak for itself with minimal commentary from me. All to make this one undeniable point as loud and clear, crystal clear as we can:
God has dramatically used, presently uses, and will continue to use women to further His purposes on this planet. Both inside and outside of local churches.
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.
When we last left our old and dear friend, Peter, he was in Jerusalem, languishing in a Roman prison cell, awaiting what he thought was his certain execution.
As you will hear in this PODCAST, Peter had been held in that prison for up to eight long, arduous days—the week of Passover.
So to help you feel this story—if I may put it that way—I need you to think back to one week ago.
It was exactly one week ago when we—in Peter in HD Podcast #51—met the notorious-King Herod Agrippa.
And I need you to consider two compelling/colliding realities now coming into play as far as Peter’s state-of-mind-and-heart while in prison was concerned.
My dear friends, SO MUCH for us to talk about (please forgive that dangling preposition).
And 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.
On its surface, storyline in these final verses of Acts 11 is really pretty simple.
And as you will hear in this PODCAST, this story is as heartwarming as it is simple.
This story is also—and so importantly—equally trend-setting. So much will be set in motion that affects how we do things (or ought to do things) even today!
So.Much.Here, my friends, to give you and me pause to ponder, to think, to process.
Trust me. You are in for a rich and rewarding excursion into the depths of God’s Holy Word.
So get ready for your personal edification to take an exciting and exponential leap forward.
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.
In this week’s PODCAST, we engage in a most important discussion that flows directly out of 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 churches’ bylaws.
Well, in light of the above definition — More importantly, in light of Jesus’ words in Matthew 18 — I must ask, Is that really what Jesus taught to His disciples and to us?
Let’s find out together in this Encore Podcast, an encore because I am presently leading a Study Tour in Israel.
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.
Her Hebrew name was Tabitha.
And as you will hear in this PODCAST, Dorcas was her Greek name.
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Well, she may have had nothing to do with Romeo and Juliet. But fact is, Tabitha by any other name, AKA Dorcas, would still be as sweet, kind, and beautiful. For both Tabitha and Dorcas both mean “Gazelle.” Distinctly beautiful names each, both of which speak to the inner beauty and kindness and sweetness that radiated from this singularly special woman.
So special that Luke singled her out in order specifically to tell her exemplary story. As did Peter, who at news of her untimely demise literally—at a moment’s notice—dropped everything in order to be at her bedside within hours of her passing.
Are you ready to meet Tabitha, the graceful gazelle?
I believe the best way to proceed is simply to read to you her story as recounted/recorded by Luke, inserting clarifying commentary along the way. This in order to add the colors and contours that Luke’s original readers would have enjoyed that we
might otherwise miss.
Trust me. As you meet her, you will never view your life the same way again.
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.
“For more than forty years.”
As you will hear in this PODCAST, five simple words, easily missed if we hastily read the account as recorded for us by Dr. Luke.
Five astonishing words that unlock this entire episode in the life of the first early church in Jerusalem.
“For more than forty years.”
For more than forty years, everywhere this man went someone had to carry him.
For more than forty years this man never knew the simple pleasure of standing on his own two feet.
For more than forty years this man knew nothing of the joys of going for a walk, let alone a jog.
For more than forty years he could never once kick a soccer ball, hit a baseball, throw a football, or run through the waves as they lapped upon the shore of the Mediterranean.
For more than forty years this man never knew a healthy day—never knew for even a minute what it would be like to have two legs that weren’t as limp as dishrags.
For more than forty years this man had in his legs no feeling, no movement, no sensations of any kind.
For more than forty years this man could go up to the Temple courts to beg, but never into Temple to worship since he was prohibited from doing so in Leviticus 21.
For more than forty years this man knew nothing but the prospect of yet another day spent stretching out his arms, reaching out his hands, and begging for alms.
For more than forty years he was forced to endure being ignored, refused, looked down upon, and judged as a sinner.
Such was the life of one man for more than forty years.
This poor beggar, bereft of health, robbed of any hope of self-respect, devoid of any semblance of a life.
Until this day when Peter and John showed up.
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.
Dewey Bertolini’s Podcast
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Dewey Bertolini 