Dewey Bertolini's Podcast

Get ready for a well-deserved pat on the back, and a hearty, “Well done!” In addition to that, welcome to Luke’s heartwarmingly endearing introduction of two precious women: Martha and her sister Mary. As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, this delightful little story now brings us full circle in our discussion of the Return of the Seventy from their very first mission’s trip. You might remember that while debriefing their by-all-accounts exuberantly successful experience, Jesus responded to the Seventy by alluding to this landmark event: “Yes,” Jesus told the Seventy, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!” (Luke 10:18). That statement opened up for us an entire discussion of exactly how Satan, this now-fallen angel and defeated foe, seeks to invade our lives with his nefarious influence. We shared with you then (Podcasts #151 and 152) six ways that we can slam that door to our lives shut to Satan’s influence in our lives. In this podcast, we’ll now look at the other side of that proposition

It’s universally called “The Parable of the Good Samaritan.” Universally, that is, except where Jesus is concerned. As you will hear in this PODCAST, if Luke 10:33 in the NLT is any indication, Jesus would have most likely entitled this, “The Parable of the Despised Samaritan.” A title which goes to the heart of this story, really. Something that I need for you to feel as you listen, and to feel it deeply. For if not, this parable completely loses its punch. Forget about shifting a paradigm. With this one parable, Jesus completely obliterated the paradigm, and created a whole new paradigm on the spot. You are in for both a treat and a challenge. 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.

Jesus was happy. Truly, genuinely happy. Which, if you think about it, and as you will hear in this PODCAST, is a most remarkable statement. As you know, and as we have chronicled over the now 3½ years of this Jesus in High Definition study, Jesus was (to quote Isaiah): "despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Never will that become so heartrendingly obvious as in the days immediately preceding His crucifixion. You want to talk about HD, we’ll soon see His rejection, sorrow, and grief in all of its gripping detail. Jesus was a Man of whom it was written, "Jesus wept." But the fact is, as we have seen and will see as His crucifixion approaches, Jesus wept often, convulsively, with a sorrow that penetrated down to His very bones. Had we seen Him, up close and personal, we would have looked upon a Man who looked like He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders… because He did. But here, in Luke 10, this is the one and only time that this was recorded in any of t

It is, without a doubt, one of the most precious truths in all of the Bible. From the lips of Jesus Himself to the seventy upon their return from their first mission’s trip, in this PODCAST you will hear Him say, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” Fact: Satan is a fallen foe. Fact: The devil has been defeated. As we have discussed for the past two weeks, Fact: Satan is not losing the war; he has already lost it. There is a day coming, sooner rather than later, when in the words of John, “The devil who deceived them (will be) thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20). There is a day coming, sooner rather than later, when at the mere mention of Jesus’ name, “every knee will bow (including the devil and every one of his demonic minions)… and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2). The day has already come when, in the words of James, “the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror,” (James 2). So yes, Satan IS a fallen foe. The dev

Last week, when talking about Jesus watching Satan fall from heaven, we were encouraged by the fact that Satan is a defeated foe. As you will be reminded in this week’s PODCAST, Satan isn’t losing the war; he has already lost it. Be that as it may, however, the devil is winning his share of battles, and the destruction he causes is painful in the extreme. Of all of the names of Satan I shared with you last week, of which there are many in the Bible, arguably the most personally troublesome is the one found in Revelation 9:11. Speaking of the demonic realm, "Their king is the angel from the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon—the Destroyer." I say “most personally troublesome” for three reasons: 1. There is a suffix added to the adverb translated “in Hebrew,” as in “his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,” which makes this term particularly forceful. As if to say that Satan is the ultimate destroyer going all the way back to the very beginnings of the Bible. 2. His “most personall

You and I are embroiled in a cosmic collision of good and evil, a spiritual war that is taking place in real time, in the present tense, on a scale of epic proportions. As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, there can be no doubt in any thinking person’s mind that this war is real, and that it has a profound affect upon our world and our lives. Even an atheist who denounces the existence of God as a delusion, the reality of Satan as a myth, and the authority of Scripture as a collection of fairy tales, cannot deny that operating in our world today is a force for righteousness and a force for unrighteousness, and the daily-if-not-hourly collision of the two. This is how the Apostle Paul described this to the Christ-followers in Ephesus: “A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evi

As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, there is IMHO a no more beautiful blessing in all of the Bible than the one we are going to discuss here. I honestly cannot put into words how excited I am for you to listen in. As you are about to hear, Jesus perfectly defined the Gold Standard for dynamic Christian living. Not only that, but He also gave to each of us the highest calling, the loftiest privilege, the grandest purpose statement for our lives. One that makes getting up in the morning so worth it. Be encouraged as you listen. Take Jesus’ words to heart. Experience His blessing. And then get ready to share that blessing with the 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 as you listen.

As I publish this week’s PODCAST, I am brimming with optimism. Whether you realize it or not, we are blessed with a singular privilege: To be alive at this time, in this place, at this precise moment in human history. As you will hear in this study of Luke 10, we have been handed a golden opportunity to fulfill that which is the highest calling that can be bestowed on any human being. Lofty words, those. But words that I believe with all of my heart. After hearing this podcast, I believe that you will too. Last week, I introduced you to the foundational purpose statement that defines why exactly our Jewish friends are God’s Chosen People. Do you remember what it is? Tikkun ha-olam. Which is defined by our Jewish friends as "repairing the world," ideally by bringing the world under the rule of God in the world. In the words of the rabbis, Tikkun ha-olam “is deeply embedded in the Jewish ethos.” Indeed, defines it. The acknowledgement, the understanding that our world as a whole, and that every one of

Luke 10:1 (NKJV) reads, “After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.” In light of that verse, I want to float a theory. My theory is this: Jesus did nothing arbitrarily or randomly. There was purpose behind everything that Jesus did. Including His sending of the 70. So if my theory holds, that Jesus did not send out the 70 randomly or arbitrarily, we are face with two most-intriguing questions: 1. Why in the world did Jesus send out 70? 2. What does it mean to us today? And as you will soon hear in this PODCAST, it means everything to us today. 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.

Key word for this PODCAST? Expectations. There is nothing more toxic to our faith than when we base our faith on misinformed expectations. More precisely, holding God to expectations that He never intended for us to form; expectations God never committed Himself to fulfill. They say that "confession is good for the soul." OK, here's my confession to you: Every week, when I open the Bible and begin to teach, I keenly, keenly feel my inadequacy. That’s not a me-trying-to-sound-humble statement; that’s a me-being-brutally-honest statement. A true statement, an honest admission, because I know that each and every person who listens to my voice and hears my words is experiencing their own challenges, asking their own questions, working through their own difficulties. Consequently, there is so much that I would like to tell you, but literally so little time. How much can we accomplish in less than an hour together each week? I am certainly not alone in my frustration. I take great comfort that Jesus felt it too

It is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and meaningful of our Christmas carols. As you will hear in this PODCAST, its seven stanzas tell the complete story of Christmas, brilliantly combining both Matthew’s and Luke’s Nativity narratives. The carol to which I refer? The First Noel. The First Noel, the angel did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay; In fields as they lay, keeping their sheep, on a cold winter's night that was so deep. Chorus: Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel. They looked up and saw a star shining in the east beyond them far. And to the earth it gave great light, and so it continued both day and night. And by the light of that same star, three wise men came from country afar. To seek for a king was their intent, and to follow the star wherever it went. This star drew nigh to the northwest, o'er Bethlehem it took it rest. And there it did both stop and stay right over the place where Jesus lay. Then did they know assuredly within that house t

Welcome to December. Not our December, even though today’s date is December 13. Which, BTW, is for our Jewish friends the 7th day of Hanukkah. As you will hear in this PODCAST, I’m talking about Jesus’ December, His final December. 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 accused Jesus of healing Him in the power of Satan. The confusion caused by these Pharisees left the crowd reeling. Thus we read, “Many of them said (of Jesus), ‘He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?’ Others sa

Spoiler alert! You will find this PODCAST heartwarming in the extreme. Let me set it up in this way: When Jesus declared “I AM the good shepherd,” He revealed volumes about Himself and where you and I stand with Him. It would not be an overstatement to suggest that contained within those five words are our theology of exactly who God is and what God is like. Most importantly, how we relate to God, and how He relates to us, in His own words, according to His own description of Himself. And as you will soon hear, of all of the metaphors used by the biblical writers to describe God, none comes close to the beauty of this one statement: "I AM the good shepherd." What does that statement mean -- to Jesus’ original hearers, and to us today? More than you can possibly imagine. 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.

Last week, I introduced you ever-so-briefly to the subject of shepherds. This because Jesus drew our attention to all-things sheep-and-shepherd-related when He defined Himself by saying, “I AM the door (gate) of the sheep.” This week, in this PODCAST, we’ll discover together exactly what Jesus meant when He identified Himself as the “door of the sheep.” The important point to remember from last week is this: Life for the shepherd was and is unpredictable and oh-so-difficult. You might remember that when his or her world is rocked by undeserved trauma of some sort, a shepherd will never ask the question of God, “Why?” Or “Why me?” It is a given that life in the desert is tough, and that problems are the norm. Shepherds “get it” -- that in this world of ours, bad things do indeed happen. Bad things do indeed happen to good people. We live in a world where, as but one example, men are born blind. And as Jesus made crystal-clear in John 9, it has nothing to do with the man’s sins, or his parents' for that mat

You are about to hear an amazing story about a remarkable man, AND an encounter with Jesus that includes one of the most important and practical biblical principles that you will find anywhere in the pages of the Bible. Quite a claim, I know. One that I will absolutely prove in this PODCAST. A principle that I will be presumptuous enough to suggest that you and I need to hear, and of which we need to be reminded, perhaps often. This is on the surface a story about a man born blind (which would be remarkable enough). But it is also a story about sheep, about a sheepfold, about the door of the sheepfold, about Jesus who identified Himself as the “door of the sheep,” and about life in the desert in which the sheep and shepherds in Israel lived and continue to live. Before we get to the story itself, I need very briefly to remind you of something we talked about way back on February 2, 2013, nearly 3 years ago. When God appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush, He made a most remarkable statement: “I have come d

Humanly speaking, he didn’t have a chance on this earth. Until Jesus came along... In this PODCAST, you will meet a man whose deck was decidedly stacked against him. Until Jesus came along… PLEASE do not be tempted to think that because you (thank God!) were not born blind, this story has nothing to say to you today. Truth be told, I cannot think of a more appropriate passage for us to consider together, especially in light of recent events, than this one. Jesus, the master-artist, painted for His hearers (and for US!) a picture worth far more than the proverbial “thousand words.” Welcome to an encounter with God’s Son that you will never ever forget. 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 as you listen.

Jesus made quite a splash (pun intended) when He stood up at the Feast of Tabernacles to declare to the crowds that He was the source of “living water.” As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, He only added to the drama of this most remarkable moment the very next day when He declared Himself to be the “light of the world.” I mean, you talk about a guy who never failed to polarize a crowd, meet Jesus. The hundreds of thousands of people in that crowd on those days either loved Him or hated Him. Just like today. One thing for sure: No one in that crowd, that Josephus numbered at three million, could ignore Him. Just like today. It is today as it was then. 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 as you listen.

The Apostle John, whom you will meet up close and personal in this PODCAST, was a man miraculously transformed. Transformed by an unexpected encounter with a woman of questionable character, brought to Jesus by an unlikely group: the leading rabbis of His day. An encounter that John would never forget. An encounter that I am quite confident WE will never forget. As this woman, and Jesus’ reaction to her, changed John’s mind, heart, soul -- John's LIFE -- forever, may it change ours as well. 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 as you listen.

In this PODCAST, a new chapter has dawned in our ongoing chronological study of the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus has just left His beloved Galilee for the last time. He will not return to Galilee until after the Resurrection. A point not to be missed, Jesus left Galilee now in order to be in Jerusalem for the annual Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles. OK, so here's my question: Why in the world did Jesus literally risk an early arrest and possible untimely death in order to be in Jerusalem for this feast? He surely knew the risks involved. He told His brothers bluntly, "The world hates me… You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come." Yet, He changed His mind and actually went to the Feast, though secretly so as not to be seen. So again I ask, Why now? Why this festival? What was so special about the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) that Jesus risked everything to travel to Jerusalem secretly? In answering this question, you will see a s

As you will hear in this PODCAST, in Matthew 18:21, Peter asked a profoundly important question. A question that haunted him. And if we are honest, a question that at times haunts us. Matthew 18:21 reads, “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Can you think of any question that hits us more profoundly right where we live than this one? There is not a one of us who hasn’t been hurt significantly by someone or someones in the past. Perhaps in the very recent past. Perhaps the person’s hurts continue into the present. Consequently, this whole issue of forgiveness -- what it means and what it does not mean -- could not come too soon, could not be more practical. Especially given the timing and location of Peter’s question. Something that you will hear in this podcast. “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Let’s talk about this. Please remember tha