I am coming off of an exhilarating week with the BEST high school students you’d ever want to meet.
In this PODCAST, you will hear my opening night message at Hartland Christian Camp. Believing that “openness begets openness,” I get very open, very real, very fast—with them, and now with you.
May my words be a blessing.
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.
If you were Jesus, and you wanted to convey the idea in a way that no one could possibly miss,
That you loved someone…
That you cared about someone more than they could ever even begin to imagine…
That you would be there for that person No.Matter.What…
That in their loneliest moments, when they felt totally abandoned and isolated and detached from everyone, that you were still there for them; that you would ALWAYS be there for them…
That your love and care and kindness towards that person would never change…
That you feel their isolation more than they know…
And that you will be loyal to that person, never to abandon them, never to turn away from them…
But that you are there and will be there now and forever…
If you were Jesus, how would you convey that? What words would you use? What picture would you draw?
In this PODCAST, you will find out. And in finding out, you may never view Jesus in 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.
As you will hear in this PODCAST, on the night before He went to the cross, Jesus made a series of remarkable statements to His disciples, in the Upper Room, during their final Passover Seder together.
John 13-17, those 5 chapters, are often referred to as Upper Room Discourse. They contain rich and rewarding teaching that we’ll dissect and digest in, oh… 3 years or so when we get there. 😉
There is, however, in that wide swath of Scriptural truth one statement that I want to highlight here, that really sets the stage for this discussion.
In John 14, Jesus said this to His disciple Philip, in front of the other 10 (Judas having left to betray Jesus):
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! (vs. 9)
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!
When we began this study of Jesus in HD, we said then, and I remind you frequently, that we are on a journey of discovery. Over two years ago now, we embarked together on an ongoing quest to discover exactly who Jesus is.
In this statement in John 14, Jesus assured us that as we discover together who Jesus is, we are equalling discovering who God is. And this discovery has been nothing short of EXCITING!!!
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!
What we learn about Jesus, we learn about God.
Jesus’ heart is God’s heart.
What Jesus is like, God is like.
What Jesus thinks is what God thinks.
What would Jesus do is what God would do.
And Oh.What.Pleasant.Surprises we have discovered along the way. Soul-enriching, spirit-reviving surprises, that we have uncovered together.
Surprises about the heart of Jesus; surprises about the heart of God.
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.
THANK YOU for listening! God bless you as you listen.
Dewey Bertolini 