What a week!
Our world is reeling.
I rather suspect that some of your lives are as well.
I promise you that for your investment of just a few minutes in listening to this PODCAST, you will reap a return on your investment in the form of some much needed encouragement.
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God bless you richly as you listen.
While I am both honored and humbled to teach some precious people at camp, I have not left you PODCAST-less.
THIS is one of the most powerful and profound messages in all of Scripture: How to Survive—Yeah, verily—to THRIVE in the desert.
You are in for a life-altering, paradigm-shifting tour of the biblical stage that will change the way you read and understand your Bible.
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.
As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, Jesus is in every book, 39 out of 39 books, in the OT.
Genesis: Jesus is the Seed of the woman (3).
Exodus: Jesus is the Passover Lamb (12).
Leviticus: Anointed High Priest (8).
Numbers: Brazen serpent (21).
Deuteronomy: The Promised Prophet (18).
Joshua: Captain of the Lord’s angelic army (5).
Judges: Angel of the Lord (2).
Ruth: Our Kinsman-Redeemer (2).
1 Samuel: The coming Messiah (2).
2 Samuel: Seed of David (7).
1 Kings: Thick cloud of God’s glory (8).
2 Kings: The Lord God of Israel (19).
1 Chronicles: The God of our salvation (16).
2 Chronicles: The God of our fathers (20).
Ezra: Lord of heaven and earth (1).
Nehemiah: God who keeps His Covenant (1).
Esther: The God of providence (Esther).
Job: Our Risen Redeemer (19).
Psalms: The King of glory (24).
Proverbs: Personification of wisdom (8).
Ecclesiastes: The God to be obeyed (12).
Song of Solomon: The one who loves selflessly (SoS).
Isaiah: The Suffering Servant (53).
Jeremiah: The Lord our righteousness (23).
Lamentations: The faithful / compassionate God (3).
Ezekiel: Lord who dwells with His people (48).
Daniel: The Son of Man (7).
Hosea: Picture of God’s redemptive love (3).
Joel: Giver of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2).
Amos: The plumb-line by which all is measured (7).
Obadiah: Destroyer of the wicked (1).
Jonah: The God of second chances (2).
Micah: Messiah to be born in Bethlehem (5).
Nahum: The Lord who is slow to anger (1).
Habakkuk: The Rock of our salvation (1).
Zephaniah: The King of Israel (3).
Haggai: The One who will bring peace (2).
Zechariah: King riding on a donkey (9).
Malachi: The sun of righteousness (4).
No wonder, then, that as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:2 (NASB),
“Like newborn babies, (we) long for the pure milk of the word (including the so-called OT!), so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”
As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, The Apostle Paul made an astonishing statement to the committed-Christ-Followers living in Rome.
In other words, to those living in the belly of the beast.
So to encourage these embattled believers living right there as residence of this ancient sin-city, Paul wrote this amazing statement in his letter to the Roman believers,
“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
In a city where everyone was against these beleaguered believers in Jesus, Paul assured them that God would never be against them. God would never be against then because God was for them.
Guess what? He is for you too!
A blessedly-beautiful three-in-one proposition.
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.
This week, I have been reading a fascinating book of historical fiction entitled, The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas.
As you will hear in this PODCAST, in the book Douglas records a conversation between Marcellus, son of a Roman Senator who has fallen out of favor with Emperor Tiberias, and Marcellus’ slave, Demetrius.
The conversation goes like this:
‘Demetrius’—Marcellus swept the sky with an all-inclusive arm—’do you ever believe in the gods?’
‘If it is my master’s wish, I do,’ replied Demetrius, perfunctorily.
‘No, no,’ said Marcellus, testily, ‘be honest. Never mind what I believe. Tell me what you think about the gods. Do you ever pray to them?’
‘When I was a small boy, sir,’ complied Demetrius, ‘my mother taught us to invoke the gods. She was quite religious. There was a pretty statue of Priapus in our flower garden. I can still remember my mother kneeling there, on a fine spring day, with a little trowel in one hand and a basket of plants in the other. She believed that Priapus made things grow…. And my mother prayed to Athene every morning when my brothers and I followed the teacher into our schoolroom.’ He was silent for a while; and then, prodded by an encouraging nod from Marcellus, he continued: ‘My father offered libations to the gods on their feast-days, but I think that was to please my mother.’
‘This is most interesting—and touching, too,’ observed Marcellus. ‘But you haven’t quite answered my question, Demetrius. Do you believe in the gods—now?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Do you mean that you don’t believe they render any service to men? Or do you doubt that the gods exist, at all?’
‘I think it better for the mind, sir, to disbelieve in their existence. The last time I prayed—it was on the day that our home was broken up. As my father was led away in chains, I knelt by my mother and we prayed to Zeus—the Father of gods and men—to protect his life. But Zeus either did not hear us; or, hearing us, had no power to aid us; or, having power to aid us, refused to do so. It is better, I think, to believe that he did not hear us than to believe that he was unable or unwilling to give aid. … That afternoon my mother went away—upon her own invitation—because she could bear no more sorrow…. I have not prayed to the gods since that day, sir. I have cursed and reviled them, on occasions; but with very little hope that they might resent my blasphemies. Cursing the gods is foolish and futile, I think.’
Well, you could reason, of course Zeus did not hear Demetrius’ prayers. There was no Zeus to hear him.
And of course, you could also argue, there was no answer to his prayer because there was no Zeus who promised Demetrius what Jesus promised to us:
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Yet, how many of us have had a crisis of faith equal to that of Demetrius precisely because we prayed to our God in a time of crisis, in Jesus’ name, the same Jesus who did indeed make to us this promise:
“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened…”
…and yet, nothing happened.
What exactly did Jesus mean by those words, His prayer promise to us?
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God bless you richly as you listen.
The Via Dolorosa!
What images are conjured up in your head when you hear these words? What are its sights? How about its sounds? What’s it like to walk the path that Jesus walked on His final journey to the cross?
My friends, get ready to grow some goosebumps as you listen to this PODCAST.
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.
Please note that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.
Thank you for listening. God bless you as you do!
At the Safe Haven, we are having a glorious time working our way through the Lord’s Prayer, little by little, phrase by majestic phrase.
Think of the Lord’s Prayer as the Son of God teaching you and me how to pray to God. Amazing.
And it all starts with the enigmatic little phrase:
Hallowed be Your name.
Which means, as is commonly and correctly taught, to treat God’s name as holy.
But what exactly does that mean? To treat God’s name as holy? Not to cuss? Not to joke about God? What does treating God’s name as holy truly mean?
Let me approach it like this: It is THE bedrock declaration of the entire Bible, the foundation upon which our Judeo-Christian heritage rests. I am referring, of course, to Deuteronomy 6:4.
Our Jewish friends call it the Shema, which means “to hear.” The first word of this magnificent verse, Deuteronomy 6:4. As in “Hear O Israel…” As if God Himself is shouting, “HEAR THIS, my people. DON’T MISS THIS! LISTEN!!!”
Deuteronomy 6:4. An absolutely revolutionary statement proclaimed to a people — God’s people — living in a land polluted with (Are you ready?) polytheism, the worship of many gods.
Deuteronomy 6:4 is the declaration of monotheism, our belief in one God:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
Now watch this: “Hallowed be Your Name” does indeed mean to treat God’s name as holy. As uncommon. A God unlike any other god. A different God. A God set apart, unique from every other god.
When the Israelites settled in the Promised Land, it was a land awash in gods, filled to overflowing with pagan gods. Gods of the rain, gods of the harvest, gods of the storms, gods of the sea, gods of fertility/prosperity.
Put them all together and you can basically divide these many gods into two categories: gods of nature; gods of the economy. Or to put that a little more crassly: gods of Health and gods of Wealth.
The pagans in the land (those who worshipped these gods) prayed constantly to these gods, begging them for two things: a problem-free life (no droughts, no diseases), and a prosperously-full life (bountiful harvests, robust herds of sheep or goats).
They prayed constantly to their nature gods for happiness and health. They prayed constantly to the economy gods for prosperity and wealth.
In short, they babbled off their prayers to their gods, begging them to send fewer problems and more money.
The point of which is this: Along came the one true God of the Bible.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
The one true God who is not the god of the sea, not the god of the rain, not the god of the harvest, not the god of fertility, not the god of prosperity, not the god of the storms, No!.
Our God, the God of the Bible, the God of the Israelites, the God of Jesus, OUR GOD created the Universe. He transcends the sea, rain, harvest, fertility, prosperity, and storms.
In fact, here’s a news bulletin for you. Our God sometimes sends the storms.
God uses the sea, rain, harvest, fertility, prosperity (or lack thereof), storms — nature and the economy — to accomplish His purposes.
Now, here comes the key to this entire discussion. Are you ready? Because once you hear and embrace this, you will never view prayer the same way again.
The pagans of Jesus’ day prayed to their gods to make their lives more comfortable and prosperous. Did you get that? The pagans prayed to their gods to make their lives more comfortable and prosperous. Sound familiar? It should. Their “babbling” (Jesus’ word, not mine) sounded like this:
Gimme, gimme, gimme…
I want, I want, I want…
Please, please, please…
They even made bargains with their gods.
If you’ll do this, then I’ll do this…
If you’ll give me this, then I’ll give you this…
You talk about treating gods as common!
Their gods to them were nothing more than good luck charms. Like a sanctified rabbit’s foot. Like genies in bottles whose sole purpose was to grant to them their wishes. Wishes for lives that were comfortable and prosperous, healthy and wealthy.
Now for the punchline to this entire discussion:
We don’t treat our God that way.
We don’t treat our God as a common pagan god!
We do not worship God because we hope that He will give us a life that is comfortable and prosperous. We don’t beg God for stuff. We don’t make bargains with our God. We don’t try to manipulate Him, or to force His hand into giving us anything.
That’s what the pagans of Jesus’ day did. That’s what the pagans of our day do.
Do you see it? The people on the hillside that day sure should have seen it. Listen to what Jesus said:
Matthew 6:7-9 (NIV) — And when you pray, do not keep on BABBLING LIKE PAGANS, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
How do pagans pray? They babble on and on to their gods du jour to give them this and that… STUFF. Stuff that will make their lives comfortable and prosperous. Stuff that will make them healthy and wealthy. Stuff that will make them happy.
We don’t. We don’t pray to God to get stuff. We worship God for one, and only one reason: Because He is God.
We don’t have to tell God our needs; He knows our needs. He has already promised to meet our needs.
We don’t beg God to still the storms; God promises to go with us through life’s storms.
We don’t treat our God as a common pagan god to give us stuff — only to get ticked off and bitter, only to have our faith falter or fail — when He doesn’t give us our stuff.
We are not like spoiled children constantly nagging their parents for stuff.
You heard what Jesus said:
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
We don’t even have to ask.
We don’t pray to God to get stuff, stuff that will make us happy, healthy, or wealthy.
We pray for one reason and only one reason: Because He is God. The very fact that we are allowed access into His presence is enough.
Did you read that carefully? It bears repeating:
The very fact that we are allowed access into His presence is enough.
Or at least it ought to be.
We don’t beg our God to solve all our problems or still all our storms; we trust God to use our problems and our storms for our good and His glory.
Do you see it? We don’t treat God as a common good luck charm — with a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately attitude.
When we shut the door and are alone with God, what’s the first thing we pray? The very first thing we pray?
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
May I keep Your name holy.
May I treat You today, O God, as utterly uncommon.
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Dewey Bertolini 