Isn’t it AMAZING what we learn when we read the Bible.
As we will be reminded in this PODCAST!!!
Thank you for listening, and for sharing this message!!!
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May I be so presumptuous as to suggest that we each have our own issues?
Well, as you will hear in this PODCAST, I certainly do have mine. And this is certainly one of them.
Thank you for listening, and for sharing this message!!!
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God bless you richly as you listen.
If you will permit me to quote myself, “It is today as it was then.”
As you are about to hear in this PODCAST: Boy, is it ever today as it was then. All courtesy of the Apostle Paul.
May God use the words of an ancient Prophet to elevate your soul, as they have my own.
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God bless you richly as you listen.
I’ll make this brief and to the point.
If you, or anyone whom you know, has and/or is being abused by another, you/they need to hear this PODCAST.
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God bless you richly as you listen.
So many questions.
And as you will hear in this PODCAST, so many stunning answers.
Just to whet your appetite, just a few of the questions (that will indeed be answered in this podcast):
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God bless you richly as you listen.
I will simply say that if you want to know what it should look like to be a committed follower of Jesus, This.Is.It.
In this PODCAST, you will hear the Apostle Peter highlight what is IMHO the attribute of God most often overlooked.
My preparation for this message was for me life-changing. As you hear this message, may it be a blessing in your life as well.
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God bless you richly as you listen.
Fear not, my friends. As you will hear in this PODCAST, Justice will be done!
Trust me. (Better yet, trust Jesus!) JUSTICE WILL BE DONE!
Welcome to Part Three in this 3-part mini-series within a series concerning the Mysterious Member of the Trinity, AKA The Holy Spirit.
Here in the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus presented to His disciples the first extended discussion of the Holy Spirit to be found anywhere in the Bible.
Yes, the Holy Spirit was very present and quite active in the Old Testament, making His first appearance in second verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:2. But not-so-strangely enough, there is within the pages of the Bible no extended discussion of the Holy Spirit until we break the seal on John 14-17, the Upper Room Discourse.
I say not-so-strangely because of a tantalizing little detail that Jesus shared with His men right in the middle of the Upper Room Discourse, in John 15:26 (CEV):
“I will send you the Spirit who comes from the Father and shows what is true. The Spirit will help you and will tell you about Me.”
The Holy Spirit, third person in the Triune Godhead, did not inspire the biblical writers in either the Old nor the New Testaments to write about Himself; He inspired them to write about Jesus. So it is not-so-strange, is not surprising, that it’s not until the 43rd book of the Bible (John), in the final Gospel of the four (John), and in the last of Jesus’ sermons (the Upper Room Discourse) before we are greeted with, and treated to, an exposition of the person and purpose of the Holy Spirit.
BTW, given that the Jesus-mandated-mission of the Holy Spirit is (Jesus’ words, not mine) “to tell you about Me,” I must briefly interject a most important word of caution concerning various ministries, certain denominations, and some peoples’ personal prophetic pronouncements.
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God bless you richly as you listen.
The Apostle John turned out to be quite the lyricist. One could almost sing some of his melodious verses. In fact, many of us have.
As you will hear in this PODCAST, John wasn’t a scholar, not by any stretch of imagination. Quite unlike the Apostle Paul, for example.
John engaged in virtually no complex doctrinal discussions involving the nuances of theology, the kinds of stuff in which Paul reveled.
John’s Greek is so simplistic that 1 John is invariably the first book every 1st-year Greek student translates.
John was a passionate soul, one who wrote far more emotionally than he did academically.
Consequently, John had the uncanny ability to relate to us all on such a visceral level that you get the sense that he understood exactly what it’s like to be us — fragile, fearful, human.
When their paths first crossed, Jesus met a rather unremarkable, uneducated fisherman from the provincial little town of Bethsaida. Yet, by the time Jesus got done with him, John became a prolific author (with one Gospel, three letters, and his magnum opus, the majestic book of Revelation to his literary credit).
John was the only one of the twelve who stayed with Jesus on that fateful day of the crucifixion. So devoted was he to Jesus, that with one of His last, dying breaths, Jesus committed the care of His dearly beloved mom, Mary, to John.
It was John who went from being known as a “Son of Thunder” for his uncontrollable temper, to the “Apostle whom Jesus loved,” as John so referred to himself because he could not get over that fact that Jesus saw in him someone who could be loved.
Among his other glistening credentials, John was for a time the pastor of little family of faith in Ephesus. John was arrested, charged with being a leader of a Christ-following community, sentenced, and subsequently banished to penal colony on island of Patmos.
Separated he now was — by the Aegean Sea — from the people he so loved, his modest little flock in Ephesus. Which explains why, when John was allowed to see the splendors of Heaven, the very first description he wrote was so curiously cryptic to us, but not to him. Just a fragment of a verse that spoke volumes to John: “There was no more sea” (Revelation 21:1).
Anyway, John was eventually released from Patmos. He then apparently became reunited with several people from his former congregation in Ephesus.
Much to John’s delight, many of his former flock had continued in his absence to follow Christ faithfully, and to raise their children to follow Christ. This brought John such enormous joy, as you can imagine, that he wrote this in 2 John:
“How happy I was to meet some of your children and to find them living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded.”
“To find them living according to the truth.” Nothing brings more joy to a parent’s heart than that.
Likewise, there is nothing that brings to a parent more grief and heartache than to watch his or her child reject the truth they so love, and the God whom they so cherish.
That same anguish of soul floods the heart of every spouse whose husband or wife rejects truth, the family’s faith, the one true God. Just as it does anyone who watches helplessly as a beloved friend, relative, whomever, reject the truth.
The gallons of tears shed. The many sleepless nights spent worrying, agonizing, questioning, praying.
Our unnerving lament, written in a minor key, that invariably results from the knowledge that the thing we hold most dear they ridicule with contemptuous disdain.
The ever-present, nagging thought that perhaps if I had only said more, or said less; tried harder, or didn’t try so hard; or hadn’t
succumbed to my own weaknesses and hypocrisies. Maybe then I could have successfully passed onto my children a godly heritage one generation to the next.
And then, of course, there are those self-righteous parents whose own children are thriving in the faith. And they never seem to let you forget that you failed where they succeeded, causing us yet all the more guilt, shame, heartache, and heartbreak.
Just ask the mother of Zacchaeus.
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God bless you richly as you listen.
Why did You let my father molest/rape me? (He went to prison for this, was tried and convicted.) I just want to know why? I am in pain.
As stated in my previous post, from time to time (at a rate of one or two per week) I am going to answer questions that I received from Junior High/Middle School students last month at camp. I asked them to write down for me the one question they would ask God if given the chance.
I will answer each question as if I am speaking directly to them…
I know you are in pain. Pain that I cannot even begin to imagine.
Let me start by stating right up front that “Why?” questions are the most difficult questions to answer. We don’t always know the reasons why.
Oh sure, I could tell you that we live on a fallen planet where bad people do really bad things to good and precious people like you. That this is all the result of Adam and Eve’s sin. That it’s ultimately the devil’s fault. And while there is some truth to each of those statements, you deserve better than a trio of trite clichés, none of which is an adequate explanation for the pain you carry every single day.
What I can tell you is this: Jesus was born into an equally pain-filled world. Within months of His birth, a very bad man by the name of Herod wanted desperately to kill Him. Herod thought of Himself as the “King of the Jews.” So when the Wise Men showed up asking for the whereabouts of the authentic “King of the Jews,” Herod exploded. He ordered every baby boy in Bethlehem two years of age and under to be mercilessly slaughtered. Herod’s murderous rampage caused the streets of Bethlehem to flow with the blood of these innocent toddlers. The anguished wails of their moms and dads, brothers and sisters, echoed throughout the town.
Like you, a part of me cries out to God the single most painful question you or I could ever ask: Why? Why did so many innocent children have to die such a horribly bloody death? Why did innocent moms and dads have to watch helplessly as their government slaughtered their children? Why didn’t God stop the slaughter? Why did God let Herod get away with it?
Well, nowhere in the story (Matthew 2:16-18) does the Bible answer that hauntingly elusive question, “Why?” But it does answer an equally important question — perhaps an even more important question — “Where?” As in, “Where were You, God, when this senseless slaughter was taking place?”
The answer? (Read this slowly, and allow the power of this answer to sink into your soul.) Jesus was right there in the middle of the horror.
Remember that He was the object of the hate. He was the target of the murderous thugs who rode into Bethlehem that night. He was the focus of the frightful rage that erupted into the slaying of all those little kids. He was right in the middle, sharing and feeling the pain of every baby boy who died in His place. He cried bitter tears as He heard the gut-wrenching cries of all those mommys and daddys who lost their children because of Him. He was right there in the middle of it all.
Thankfully, through the intervention of an angel, Jesus didn’t die that night. But the day did come when Jesus died an even more horrific death at the hands of these same Romans. On that dark day, Jesus died for you, Jesus died for me, and Jesus died for every baby boy in Bethlehem who had died for Him on that infamous night. Yes, every single baby butchered that night was greeted in Heaven that night by the waiting and welcoming hands of God.
Good ALWAYS wins; evil ALWAYS loses. Always.
OK, so now watch this: Where was God during that entire time that you were being horribly molested by your dad? Right there beside you. Sharing your pain. Feeling your fear. Cradling you in His arms while you cried. And promising that what your dad intended for evil, God will use for your good. And for the good of many, many people.
One of my Old Testament heroes is named Joseph. His brothers tried to murder him. At the last minute, they changed their plan and sold him as a slave. He was purchased by an Egyptian and forced to live in a foreign country, away from all of his family and friends. He was falsely accused of rape and wrongly imprisoned. He suffered unimaginably as he rotted away in an Egyptian dungeon for nearly 13 years for a crime he did not commit.
“Why?” Why did God let that happen? Why did God let the brothers get away with that? Why didn’t God stop them?
We don’t know why. But we do know where. Where was God during those years of imprisonment? Right in the dungeon with Joseph.
After 13 years, Joseph was miraculously released from his cell (just as you were finally released from your prison of molestation and rape). Even better, God then used Joseph to save His people from the ravages of a famine that hit their land. And when Joseph faced his brothers who had sold him as a slave, he said something that I hope you will memorize. Words that changed my life; words that can change yours as well. Because what was true of Joseph is true of you. Joseph said to his brothers:
You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people (Genesis 50:20, New Living Translation).
Your dad tried to harm you. But God will now transform your pain-filled heart and violated body into the beautiful and radiant person that you are now becoming. God is so good at that. He takes the ashes of the wrongs that we suffer and transforms them into something breathtakingly beautiful to behold. A whole new YOU!
Just think of all the young women you will be able to help and heal someday because of your story. Think of how God allowed you to survive the darkest of nights so that His sunshine of this new day can sparkle through you to others. Think of how His power spared you from a situation that could have been so much worse. Think of the radiant diamond that you have become after being crushed so many, many times.
The very fact that you could come to a Christian camp and be given the opportunity to ask of God that one most important question — Why? — proves where God was while that was happening. Right there with you.
He is with you now.
And I promise you that the very thing your dad did to harm you is the very thing that God will now use to bring SO MUCH GOOD to so many, many people. Yes, the day will come — sooner rather than later — when you will be able to pray,
God, I would never want to go through that again. But I thank You for allowing me to go through it once.
Dewey Bertolini’s Podcast
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Dewey Bertolini 