Dewey Bertolini's Podcast

As you will hear in this PODCAST, Peter will write this extraordinary sentence: “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” Trials, I will remind you, that cost Peter’s readers everything. How did they do it? How was it possible for them—How is it possible for us?—to rejoice when they/we are experiencing the crushing weight of heavy-hearted emotion? You are only 45 minutes away from knowing the answer. 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.

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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. God bless you richly as you listen.

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Think of it. As you will hear in this encore PODCAST… (An encore because I am speaking at one of my all-time favorite places in the world, Hartland Christian Camp)... Promptly at 3 PM… Exactly at That.Very.Moment when Jesus breathed His last… Precisely to the second when Jesus exclaimed, “It is finished. Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit”… This happened: “Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Do you have any idea what that means? It will take the remainder of this discussion for us even to begin to understand What.That.Means. Why did God tear the veil? It was obviously God who ripped it. No human hand could possibly tear it. That veil was an elaborately woven fabric that stood 60 feet high, equal in height to a seven-story building. No one could tear that curtain. Only God could tear that curtain. Which only amplifies the question, Why? 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.

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As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, the time has come for us to have a sensible discussion about an issue that has been grossly misunderstood, and consequently grievously mis-taught, in far too many Christian settings. All of this causing so much harm spiritually, mentally, and emotionally to so many. Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Oh, my dear friends, get ready to be set free! 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.

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As you are about to hear this PODCAST, it was a night that Peter would never, ever forget. Nor should we. For embedded within the events of this night is a blessedly-enduring word of hope and assurance. Hope and assurance for you. Hope and assurance for me. And certainly hope and assurance for someone or someones whom you and I deeply love. 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 can feast on the entire PODCAST here.  http://traffic.libsyn.com/thesafehaven/1_Peter_in_HD_4.mp3

“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

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 bagga

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

As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, all you need to know about the precious people to whom Peter wrote is summarized in three telling terms. One phrase, really. One phrase that so accurately described them. One phrase that so accurately describes each of us. ἐκ-λεκ-τοῖς παρ-επι-δή-μοις διασ-πορᾶς—literally, “elect foreigners in the diaspora.” Now why in the world would Peter begin his first letter with this carefully crafted first phrase? “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect foreigners in the diaspora.” Because the one question looming in minds of Peter’s distressed audience was this: Has God abandoned us? Not to get too personal with you, and at the risk of invading your private space, I cannot help but to wonder if you have ever asked of yourself that exact same question: Has God abandoned me? And Peter wanted them—and us—and you!—to know that as he penned this epistle, that same question was looming large in his own mind and his own soul. Peter knew his audience. Peter knew them. Peter kn

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 t

Did you know that Adolph Hitler survived at least six—SIX!—assassination attempts? As you will hear in this PODCAST, these six assassination attempts occurred in 1921, 1938, 1939, two in 1943, and the final attempt on July 20, 1944. Get this: Any one of which, if successful, would have either prevented World War II—as well as the wholesale slaughter of six million of our precious Jewish friends—or brought both the war and the Holocaust to a screeching halt. The older I get, the more questions I have. As but two examples: First: Why did God allow each of these six assassination attempts to fail? I’m not now going to debate the ethics or lack thereof of political assassination in a time of war. Whether or not as Committed Christ-Followers we should support or condemn such actions is way beyond the scope of tonight’s discussion. I’m simply asking: Would not our world have been a better place if just 1 of those attempts had succeeded? What possible purpose could have been served by God allowing the likes of Hitle

As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, last week as I was rushing at the end to complete on time our discussion of Peter’s release from prison—an effort at which I failed miserably, BTW—we mentioned-in-passing two noteworthy individuals, each of whom deserve far more than passing-mention. Mary, a generous homeowner and gracious hostess who opened her home for going on-fourteen years by the time of this story to the earliest, first generation followers of Jesus, our ancestors in the faith. Mary also happened to be the aunt to our old friend Barnabas, and a very close and personal friend of our even older friend, Peter. And then there is Mary’s son and Barnabas’ cousin—as well as Peter’s protege—John Mark. With glistening credentials such as these, they both do indeed deserve our special attention. Especially given the fact that immediately upon his miraculous release from prison, instinctively Peter made his very first stop to announce his release at Mary’s home. Even more especially given that this is Moth

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.

Acts 12 begins with this poignant—or pregnant with meaning—phrase, Κατ᾽ἐκ-εῖ-νον δὲ τὸν και-ρὸν, “About that time...” Words that, as you will hear in this PODCAST, could just as well have been translated, “At the same time.” “In the meantime.” Or “Meanwhile.” Meaning that while our old friend from last week, the Prophet Agabus, was in beautiful downtown Antioch 300 miles to the North, warning of a coming famine to Jerusalem and Judea in the South… Meaning that while the predominantly non-Jewish believers in Jesus were taking up a love offering to help to alleviate mass starvation and woeful suffering among their Jewish brothers and sisters in Jesus in Jerusalem and throughout Judea… Meaning that while this gloriously beautiful unity of all of these first-generation Christ-followers was being realized throughout Israel and beyond… Κατ᾽ἐκ-εῖ-νον δὲ τὸν και-ρὸν, “In the meantime,” much was going on in Holy City of Jerusalem itself—gut-wrenching, faith-challenging, life-altering events that rocked the world of

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.