Dewey Bertolini's Podcast

Ready to hit the ground running? This is so exciting. And just remember, I Love this stuff! As you will hear in this PODCAST, in the culture of Jesus’ day, the agricultural cycle of sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting, was absolutely central to the existence of the Jewish people. So much so that the agricultural calendar was an essential part of the day-in and day-out rhythm of their lives, including Jesus’. You can understand why. They could not simply go to Roths, Winco, Alberstons, Safeway or some other grocery store to buy their food. Their lives literally depended upon, revolved around their agricultural calendar. Hold onto that thought for a second. Allow me now to shift gears ever so slightly, to this thought: God wants you to know with absolute certainty, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that death is not the end, but is a gloriously grand beginning. Think about that for a second. We live (in theory) with an awesome, palpable sense of anticipation for the day when we will get brand new bodies,

His name was Matthias. I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you had no recollection of this selfless servant of Christ. As you will hear in this PODCAST, Matthias is mentioned only twice in the NT, both times here in Acts 1 (verses 23 and 26). At first blush, Matthias may appear to be just a footnote in the ever-developing drama of redemption. But I can assure you that he is anything but. 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.

Today is Easter Sunday. BUT, as you are about to hear in this PODCAST, today is infinitely, eternally so much more than that. A day of incomparable significance.  "Christ IS risen. He is risen INDEED." But that is only half the story. Ready to hear the other half? Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it might take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play. God bless you richly as you listen.

Such incredibly dramatic moment, on multiple levels. That is what you are about to hear in this PODCAST. Finally, the time had come for Jesus to go home. He had been away from home, more specifically, away from His beloved Father, for some thirty-three years. Jesus, who from eternity past was according to John 1:1 face-to-face with His Father, enjoying from eternity past an unbroken, undiminished intimacy with His Father that eclipses every possible human relationship. Thirty-three years prior to this moment, Jesus left His Father to embark upon a rescue mission of immeasurable importance and eternal consequence. A rescue mission defined by Jesus Himself as His coming “to seek and to save those who are lost” Luke 19:10. That mission was now completed. Now, it was time. Time for Jesus to go home. 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.

So it is with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye that in this PODCAST we bid adieu to Jesus in HD. Lest you regret that we will now no longer hear all-things-Jesus-related, fear not, my friends. For as we now break the seal on the amazing book of Acts and our study of Peter in HD, which of course will then pivot to Paul in HD somewhere around ch 13, and as I will demonstrate in mere moments, the book of Acts is very much a book all about Jesus primarily; Peter, Paul and other apostles secondarily. In this podcast, our goal is to lay the foundation for this entire study. A study that will include: 1. Entire of book of Acts; the lives primarily of both Peter and then Paul, along with an entire array of some of the most interesting individuals you’d every want to meet; 2. The birth, growth, and establishment of what Jesus called in Matthew 16:18 His ekklesia — this when He declared for all the world to hear, “I will build my ekklesia, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” 3. The non-stop-yet-fai

Welcome to the conclusion of Jesus in HD! It's been 205 podcasts in coming, but here it is. On deck, Peter in HD and the bright and beautiful book of Acts. That will be next week. But for now, it is universally referred to as “Great Commission.” As you are about to hear in this PODCAST… Yes, I will readily agree that Jesus’ words here at the tail-end of Matthew’s glorious gospel are indeed “great.” And yes, they do in fact contain a “commission.” Jesus’ final commission to His disciples, to make disciples. But I would prefer to think of this as Jesus’ Ministry Model — both in terms of what He wants us (all of us, each of us) to do, and how He wants us to do it. A ministry model that Jesus intended for us to follow (as Jesus said) “to the very end of the age.” 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 angel said to the women, “But go, tell His disciples — and Peter…” As you will hear in this PODCAST, kudos to Peter for allowing Mark to include this rather inglorious detail about this darkest hour of Peter’s storied life. If the trajectory of Peter’s faith journey was filled with ups and downs, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, here Peter hits rock bottom. What was the significance of the angel’s words to the women, “But go, tell His disciples — and Peter…”? More than you and I could ever imagine. An epic story of falling and rising, regret and redemption. You want to see redemption in real time, here it is. A story of hope and promise that you will not want to miss. 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, Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 referenced what he called the single most important event of human history. And it all centers upon that one-telling-three-word-phrase, “the third day.” Quite a statement that: “I passed on to you what was most important.” Most: πρῶτος, a superlative in Greek. A word that means the best, the chief, the first and foremost of all. Meaning that Paul went over and above to point out in the most emphatic way possible that nothing that he could ever, or would ever write would eclipse this one statement in its importance: “I passed on to you the best—the chief, the first and foremost in importance—fact of all time: Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.” A most-important, and most-specific chronology — not to be overlooked. In this case, the chronology is the story. Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, i

Think of it. As you will hear in this PODCAST… 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. God bless you richly as you listen.

They say that “For every sigh, there’s a psalm.” As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, they are 100% correct. What an absolutely, beautifully inspired collection of very real, honest, soul-soaring, gut-wrenching human expressions is contained within its 150 chapters. So many verses of its 150 songs are profoundly personal prayers that you and I can pray right back to God, giving us an immediate connection with the principle players in the biblical drama. Psalms, the single most emotion-filled book in the Bible. Yes, indeed. For every sigh, there IS a psalm. If variety is the spice of life, then the Book of Psalms is a pretty spicy book. One that includes hymns of praise, thanksgiving, godly wisdom and sound theology, expressions of our doubts and fears balanced by an unshakable faith in God through good times and bad. Imprecatory psalms that are cries for God’s justice and vengeance in an unjust world. Songs of lament that give voice to the many challenges of our painful lives. There are also historical p

Caiaphas, the high priest that year, must have been fit to be tied. Well, somewhat so. As you will hear in this PODCAST, it was Passover. The Holy City, Jerusalem, was teaming with pilgrims. The all-important 3 PM Passover sacrifice at the Temple was fast-approaching. It was arguably single most financially-flourishing day of the year (second only, perhaps, to the Day of Atonement) as far as the corrupt Temple Industrial Complex over which Caiaphas presided was concerned. There was money to be made this day. Lots and lots of money. But the heavens seemed to conspire against Caiaphas. Of all the luck (bad luck indeed), a most-rare, hauntingly-eerie atmospheric anomaly threatened to diminish severely Caiaphas’ shady haul of ill-gotten shekels. At 12 PM, high noon, a mere three hours before the afternoon sacrifice, the sky turned ominously dark. If it stayed that way, there would be no 3 PM Passover Lamb sacrificed that day. Well, according to Matthew 27 — Read ’em and weep, Caiaphas  “At noon, darkness fell acr

Welcome back to the foot of the cross. In this PODCAST, we are now in that six-hour window of time — between 9 AM and 3 PM. 9 AM when the Romans nailed Jesus to His cross; 3 PM, that moment when Jesus finally succumbed to His brutal beatings, His massive blood loss, and the tortures of crucifixion — finally and mercifully to die. Within that six-hour window, Jesus spoke seven times. The final words of His earthly life pre-resurrection. As we noted last week, a complete, seven-sayings, last lingering look into Jesus’ beautiful, sizable, and irresistible soul. The first two of these sayings we discussed last week. We’ll consider the middle two now. And the final three we’ll explain next week. Let me give you a heads-up. Get yourself ready for a rollercoaster of a ride tonight. This because the first of the two that we consider now is without a doubt the most emotional of the seven. I dare say, this may well be the single most emotional scene in the entire Bible. I’ll leave that for you to decide. The second of

“Jesus said…” As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, the fact of the matter is this: Jesus said seven statements, this as His life was literally dripping out of Him drop by precious drop. Each one of the seven — when considered separately — tells a most-dramatic tale. All of the seven — when considered collectively — give us an unparalleled insight into the heart of Jesus. It was, after all, Jesus who much earlier in His ministry said this: “For whatever is in your heart determines what you say” (Matthew 12). On yet another occasion, Luke 6, Jesus said, “What you say flows from what is in your heart.” So if we want to know what is in Jesus’ heart, we need look no further than what Jesus said. His words. And as we are about to learn, what Jesus said from the cross, in the closing moments of His storied life, reveals perhaps most clearly of all exactly what was in His sizable heart. What a beautiful heart His was and is. So join me now at the foot of the cross as we hear for ourselves the final words of Jesu

It is called, appropriately enough, the Via Dolorosa, Latin for “The Way of Sorrows.” For Jesus, it absolutely was a way of sorrows — every single excruciatingly painful step of it, from the Antonia Fortress (where Pilate sentenced Him), to Golgotha (where Jesus’ execution awaited Him). In this PODCAST, we will walk that path together. 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.

His name is Pilate, as in Pontius Pilate — P-i-l-a-t-e, not p-i-l-o-t — even though Pilate did manage to fly himself right into middle of a maelstrom of religious and political corruption and compromise with devastating consequences. In this PODCAST, as we now approach Jesus’ impending crucifixion, the greatest irony of this entire sad saga is that the whole thing is motivated by one thing: self-interest. As we learned in last week’s podcast, on the Jewish side of things, the entire motivation behind the High Priest Caiaphas and the 70-member Sanhedrin in wanting to kill Jesus was the realization that He posed an existential threat to their power, position, prestige, and possessions, all of them paid for with their obscene wealth and ill-gotten gains — the chief thieves, these religious leaders were, in a den of thieves. Which is what, on their watch, the Temple, The House, God’s House, “My Father’s House” (as Jesus called it), had become. As we will learn this week, on Roman side of things, the spineless Pil

To say that after “they” — to quote the Apostle John — “bound Jesus and brought Him first to Annas,” Jesus’ life would never be the same again would be a gross understatement and wholly inaccurate. Fact is, as you are about to hear in this PODCAST, only some 15 hours after this cohort of some six hundred elite Roman soldiers led Him away in chains, Jesus’ life would be over. The Roman leader principally responsible for Jesus’ execution? The Procurator Pontius Pilate, whom we will meet up close and personal next week. The Jewish leader principally responsible for Jesus’ execution, whom we will meet this week? The High Priest Joseph Caiaphas. You read that right. At this point in time, Caiaphas was — Listen! — the highest ranking religious leader throughout all the land, over all the people. As High Priest, Caiaphas was the only person alive permitted behind the veil in Temple into the Holy of Holies, and that on only one day of the year — Day of Atonement. The Holy of Holies, where God’s manifest presence — Hi

They say that “one picture is worth a thousand words.” Sometimes, on rare occasions, one word is worth a thousand pictures. As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, this is one of those occasions. In this case, that one word is “Gethsemane.” As in the Garden of Gethsemane, that very garden to which John referred when he wrote, “On the other side (of the Kidron Valley) there was a garden, and Jesus and his disciples went into it.”  I would not be overstating the case to suggest that everything you and I need to understand about the Gospel is contained in that one word all-telling, “Gethsemane.” Gethsemane, ironically a place of peaceful repose, first pops up on our radar in Matthew’s account of this anything-but-peace-filled night. He wrote with no explanation, “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’” No explanation was needed, at least for Matthew’s original readers. All would have been abundantly familiar with the modest-

No matter how you cut it, this man was an enigma. As you will hear in this PODCAST, this man -- handpicked by Jesus and elevated to the rarified air of the apostles -- repaid Jesus’ generosity by betraying Him to His executioners. Is there any human emotion more painful than that of betrayal?  Ever felt it? Betrayal? That midnight darkness of the soul that enshrouds us like an impenetrable fog when we have dared to trust someone -- with our deepest feelings, our most hidden secrets, as if we have just entrusted to the person our very hearts, perhaps our very lives -- only to have him or her shatter our hearts and break our trust by their soul-crushing betrayal. Jesus sure felt it. The pangs of betrayal. Boy, did He ever! That moment frozen in time when for the first time you see with crystal-clarity that you have been played. Well, for 3½ years Jesus had been played.  Where did this man -- Judas Iscariot -- come from? What causes a man to make the fateful plunge from believer to betrayer? What do we really kn

It's Christmas Day! And to our many precious Jewish friends, the night of December 25 marks the beginning of Hanukkah, 2016. With that in mind, I thought it appropriate to take a little trip, to another time and place -- specifically, to Jesus' final Hanukkah mere months before His crucifixion. As you will hear in this PODCAST, what is most remarkable to me is that Jesus went "up to Jerusalem" to celebrate this Hanukkah at great risk to His life. Why? As John observed in John 10, it was winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem for what John calls the Feast of Dedication. As we break seal on this story, we are now a mere four months from the crucifixion. When we last left Jesus, He had just healed a man born blind following the Feast of Tabernacles in October. This led to a rather heated confrontation with the religious leaders who kicked the now-healed blind man out of synagogue and denied that this man was ever blind. When that didn’t work, because everyone in Jerusalem knew this formerly blind-beggar, they accuse

Jesus’ final words here at the tail-end of the Upper Room Discourse connect directly with Jesus’ opening words at the very beginning of the Upper Room Discourse. As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, Jesus began His parting words to His disciples with this promise: “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” That is the beginning of John 14. Jesus added one last exclamation point to it all with this parting prayer: “Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am.” This at the end of John 17. Jesus’ heartfelt emotion in this moment cannot be overstated. These are the heartsick words of a smitten bride-groom about to leave His newly-betrothed bride. His bride with whom He is very much in love. His bride from whom He must now depart in order to — in the words of John 14 — return to His Father’s house to prepare the place where He and bride will dwell together forever. It was back in Podcast #20, at the wedding at Cana, when I first