Finally!!! My power is back on; my internet is working; I have heat in my home; and the ability to post this PODCAST!!!
Worth waiting for, I believe.
Enjoy!
Thank you for listening, and for sharing this message!!!
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God bless you richly as you listen.
This PODCAST will cause you to gather your loved ones a little closer to you, and to hug them a little tighter. Which is a good thing!
A remarkable story indeed, courtesy of our dear old friend, Peter.
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 will read in the book of Hebrews, and hear on this PODCAST, “Jesus learned obedience from the things he suffered.”
Wait! What???
How could Jesus, who was always consistently obedience, learn obedience?
And what does that mean for us, in our lives, today? And every day?
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.
The picture that you are about to hear me paint in this PODCAST is my Single. Favorite. Scriptural. Snapshot of Jesus, second to none.
Courtesy of our old friend, Peter, who was onsite and who witnessed this up close and far too personal in real time as it happened.
I have a hunch that after hearing this, you will never think of Jesus in quite the same way again.
May my stuttering and stammering words be a blessing in your life.
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.
You’re gonna love this!!! At least, I sure do.
As you will hear on this PODCAST, Jesus’s words, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” freed me from YEARS of enormous guilt.
Think of this as Peter Puts on a Personal Evangelism Clinic, all in just two simple-yet-profound sentences.
Oh, and for good measure, at no extra charge, we will reduce all of Jesus’ teaching regarding our character as Christ-followers to one salient soundbite of but a lean-and-mean four, one-syllable words.
Trust me. You’re gonna LOVE this!
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.
What you are about to hear in this PODCAST is a masterful, masterful example of how two apostles—Peter and Paul—addressed a thorny issue that confronted the first generation of Christ-followers.
The issue of slavery.
Paul in particular will seize upon a teachable moment, presented to him by a runaway slave, and use this moment spectacularly to develop an entire New Testament theology of slavery. AND what it all has to do with us today when it comes to our own thorny social issues which threaten to divide us.
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.
“And just when you thought all was lost…”
As you will hear in this PODCAST, after his customary-yet-warm greeting, Peter could have begun his first foray into his rather short-lived, two-letter, dual-epistle-writing career with these words:
“And just when you thought all was lost…”
Because for Peter’s original readers, All.Was.Lost!
For these now-“scattered abroad exiles” had just been forcibly removed from their homes, had their lives permanently disrupted, and their families dramatically displaced.
Many-if-not-most of them were barely holding on, more surviving than thriving. Precious people precariously perched on the precipice of the abyss of uncertainty, just trying to make it through yet-another threatening day.
All of that to say that Peter could have begun this First Epistle of Peter with the words,
“And just when you thought all was lost…”
Because that was how they felt.
Just.Like.Some.of.Us.
Our challenges may not actually be as dire as theirs. But it sure feels that way some days, doesn’t it? Like we’re just barely hanging on? Like we’re more surviving than thriving? Like we’re maybe one step away from giving up?
“And just when you thought all was lost…”
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, Peter begins his first lovely little letter literally with a literary explosion. It’s as if he has so much that he wants to say so quickly, that the syllables come pouring out of him like a waterfall of words.
Believe it or not, verse 3 all the way to verse 12 is one long and winding and wondrously scenic sentence. You heard that right. A grand total of 315 words (in the NLT), all of which form one single sentence. Only the first part of which we will discuss now, with so much more rich and glorious truth to follow in the coming weeks.
There is an life-altering, soul-stirring insight embedded in verse 3 that we would do well to consider. Since verses 1 & 2 serve as Peter’s greeting, the letter itself actually begins with Verse 3.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
A rather remarkable statement given dire circumstances in which Peter’s original readers were living. We’ve already detailed them for you in the previous two podcasts. I’ll simply remind you that due to circumstances beyond their control—an empire-wide persecution at the bloody hands the infamously ruthless Nero—these were precious people—committed Christ-followers each, each our ancestors in faith—who had literally lost everything.
Even to the point of potentially losing their freedom and even their lives.
Theirs were the darkest of clouds with no silver linings.
A very fragile people living on the precipice with no safety net, clinging to their lives lived under the capricious actions of an unpredictable madman.
So if you were Peter, someone who fully understood and appreciated their seemingly insurmountable challenges—fears, insecurities, uncertainties—why would you begin your letter to them with the words,
“Blessed be the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”?
Does that not sound like a typically empty Christian cliché?
What prompted Peter to write with such audacity as to command his readers—including us—to bless God:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Even in the absolute worst of circumstances?
Obviously, Peter’s words, “Bless be the God,” did not come out of a vacuum. Fact is, there is a long and rich history to these words, and the life-altering, soul-stirring insight embedded within them.
Peter’s opening line was anything but a cutesy little Christian cliché. Not to his original readers. After hearing this podcast, not to us.
Although this does raise one intriguing question:
Bless God?
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”?
I thought God blesses us.
How in the world do you and I bless God?
The answer to that question will change your life.
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.
What perfect timing!!! This PODCAST coming not a moment too soon!
Last week you might remember, I referenced the fact that so many of our precious Safe Haven family—You, not to put too fine a point on it—are going through profoundly challenging and difficult times.
Well guess what? In God’s perfect timing, that just happens to be the theme of 1 Peter.
“God’s Sustaining Strength Through Our (Your!) Sustained Sufferings.”
Be it physical, mental, emotional, relational, or spiritual—I know that many of us come stumbling into Safe Haven on a Saturday night, or click the link to this podcast—some of us feeling as though we are teetering on the breaking point.
Here is what I want you to hear: So did Peter’s original readers. This is a letter written specifically to them/to us/to you!
Get this: In the five short chapters that make up this beloved little letter, Peter will reference the suffering of his readers (including you!) 16 times.
“God’s Sustaining Strength Through Our (Your!) Sustained Sufferings.”
By way of this podcast, welcome to Peter’s world.
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
The Latest News from Jerusalem
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