Dewey Bertolini's Podcast

Defining moments. There aren’t many of these throughout the course of someone’s lifetime. But when they occur, as you will hear in this PODCAST, they are utterly unforgettable. We are talking about game-changing moments; history-altering moments; LIFE-altering moments. Rare snapshots of seminal events, frozen in time, after which your world will never be the same again. Welcome to one such defining moment, courtesy of Jesus, after which the disciples -- three of them -- were never the same again.  And maybe, just maybe, after considering this spectacularly significant sequence of events, with all of its ramifications for our world today… Maybe, just maybe, we too won’t ever be the same. Let’s find out. 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 Bible is THE one and only Life-Giving Book. But how to approach it? In this PODCAST, you will be given the answer to that question! Courtesy of Jesus, we will learn how to read it! With all of its 66 books, printed in minuscule font, with no pictures, strange names, weird customs, unfamiliar geography, violent history, where do we even start? What's the first step? More to the point, what is our connection to this great book? My friends, the answer to that question is startlingly simple. Hear my approach to the Bible, one that has literally revolutionized by understanding of and love for God’s Word. It may just revolutionize yours 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.

Jesus was a revolutionary on so many, many levels.    As you will hear in this PODCAST, Jesus was never afraid to break with convention and go with something that was totally counter-cultural to the times in which He lived, and to the religious tradition to which He belonged.   It is both my sincere hope and confident belief that you will find in this lesson much refreshment for your soul, especially if you are a female.   The time has come for us to -- courtesy of Jesus -- balance the books that have been so out of balance for so long in so much of our present-day Christian culture.   Please remember that depending upon your connection speed and web browser, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.   God bless you as you listen. And PLEASE “Share” this with your family and friends if you do indeed find it to be an encouragement to your soul.

For all of you End Times enthusiasts, this one's for you! Welcome to an epic day in the lives of the disciples as a whole, and Peter in particular.  As you are about to hear in the PODCAST, Peter was a guy who in the blink of an eye rose to the dizzying heights of declaring the very words of God, only to plunge into the abyss of speaking the very words of Satan, and from there to receive from Jesus what could arguably be described as one of the most precious promises Peter or we could ever imagine. All this in the space of just a few hours/minutes. From all outward appearances, Jesus and the disciples were fighting a losing battle. By this time into Jesus’ ministry (2½ years into it, with only 7 months or so before the crucifixion), He and disciples were but a not-so-merry band of 13 men. They were reeling from their resounding rejection at the hands it seemed of everyone. Jesus in particular was at this very moment both a political and religious refugee. The Romans under Antipas’ command were hunting Him; th

When we last left our old friend, John the Baptizer, his faith was in a free-fall.   He was here last week, sort of, to tell you his scintillating story in his own words. (If you have not heard that PODCAST, may I respectfully request that you listen? A story that I promise you, you will never forget.)   Think of it. John… The man whose coming was predicted by the prophets… Whose birth was foretold by an angel… Who identified and introduced Jesus to the world…   John the Baptizer didn’t believe in Jesus any more.   His situation was dire, languishing as he was in Antipas’ Dead-Sea-Side prison (on Eastern side of Dead Sea), his life literally dangling by a thread. The madman Antipas holding in his bloodstained hands the frayed ends of that thread...   Tormented, no doubt John was, by the unobstructed view he had of his boyhood home. directly across the Dead Sea on its Western shore, adopted and raised as John was by Essenes of Qumran…    John had to have THE answer to his doubt-fueled, double-edged question, a

While I am away speaking at a High School camp, I have left you in wonderfully capable hands. Namely, those of our old friend, John the Baptizer.   John the Baptizer is, by his own admission, a walking contradiction. As you will hear in this PODCAST, he had a remarkable beginning, and yet a dismal crash and burn.   In a word, his faith in Jesus COLLAPSED, completely.   His is quite the story to tell. But as you will hear me say, it is John’s story to tell, not mine.   So, if you can employ a little sanctified imagination, I will do my best to be true to John’s story, and respectful of John’s memory, as I sort of try to “become” (if I can put it that way) John the Baptizer.   Please remember that depending upon your connection speed and web browser, it may take up to 60 seconds for the podcast to begin to play.

Jesus now has exactly seven months left. As you will hear in this PODCAST, Jesus knows it. He understandably recoils from it. But He must now prepare His disciples for it. Here in Matthew 16, and its parallel passage in Mark 8, we have reached a crucial moment in the life and ministry of Jesus. Make no mistake about it. These words here in Matthew 16 are a game-changer… One that reveals much to us about the character of Jesus and the strategy of Satan. An intriguing story that raises our understanding of spiritual warfare to a whole new level. One that will impact YOUR life just as it has my life, in a profoundly insightful way.  As always, we have much to talk about. And trust me, you will be encouraged as you and I study this watershed passage 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 as you listen.

The disciples were never at their lowest. Yet our friend, Peter, was never at his finest. As you will hear in this PODCAST, Peter made a declaration the reverberations of which have echoed down through the two thousand years of church history. This was HUGE. What Peter said and where he said it are mind-blowing in their impact upon our world and in our lives. This might just be my very favorite passage in all of the Gospels. Perhaps after hearing this, it will be yours too. 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. Enjoy! And may God richly bless you as you listen.

You are in for a rare treat! One PODCAST consisting of two precious parables. While I am away ministering to some pretty special people at Hume Lake Christian Camp, you have the opportunity to listen in on a past podcast that brings with it a present and priceless blessing. Two of them! Why these two parables don’t get more attention, I’ll never know. For contained within them are two of the most blessed truths of our faith. The two parables of which I speak: The Parable of the Buried Treasure, and the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price. Two parables that, despite their similarities, reveal two totally distinct but equally precious truths. If you need a jolt of overwhelming encouragement, you need look no further. 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 as you listen. And PLEASE share a link to this podcast with your friends.

We are going to begin this week's PODCAST precisely from where we left off in last week's podcast. We left off last week by considering together this most enigmatic verse (Hebrews 5:8): “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered.” If you are at all uncomfortable with that, then the rest of this story will make no sense, and will leave you with an even greater discomfort. But if you are willing to allow for the fact that “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered,” then you are in for this great big blessing: The grand and glorious realization that Jesus, just like you and just like me, learned in real time what it means to live a life of obedience to God the Father. We stressed last week, and I will ever-so-briefly remind you now, that Jesus was fully human, just like us. Last week we discussed some of the implications of Hebrews 4:15, where the writer emphatically affirms this ever-so-comforting reality: Jesus "understands all of

Welcome to one of the strangest stories -- many would call this a troubling tale -- in Jesus’ entire life and ministry.   As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, what happens here in Mark 7, and its parallel passage in Matthew 15, seems highly uncharacteristic of Jesus; uncharitable to a tragically needy-yet-remarkable mommy; and unnecessarily cold and calloused as far as a Jesus is concerned.   A Jesus, I will humbly remind you, who defined Himself as “gentle” in Matthew 11, and who described His mission as one “to seek and to save the lost in Luke 19.   As you read this story, at first blush anyway, Jesus was Anything.But.Gentle in the way He spoke to this panic-stricken mother who was understandably distraught over the condition of her daughter.    Tell you what: If His mission was to seek and to save the lost, you couldn’t find anyone more lost than this woman.   As we read this story together (it’s only 8 verses in Matthew’s account), you tell me if you find this encounter between Jesus and this mom at

I’ll keep this short and sweet. In this PODCAST, you are about to see a side of Jesus that you’ve likely never seen before.   Your love for Jesus is about to grow exponentially. And rightly so.   Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take as much as 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.     God bless you as you listen.

With this PODCAST, we break the seal on the last year of Jesus’ life here on earth.   And admittedly, His last year begins on a rather ominous note.   Immediately following this story, Jesus will leave the country. That is no exaggeration. For the first time in His storied 3½ year ministry, Jesus now has to get out of Dodge, fast!   As we have seen in past podcasts, Jesus was run out of His adopted hometown of Capernaum. He was then run out of Nazareth, His boyhood hometown. On top of that, Herod Antipas was hunting Jesus in order to kill Him (this in the wake of Herod’s senseless execution of John the Baptizer). And so we read this in Mark 7:24:   "Then Jesus left Galilee and went North to the region of Tyre" (in modern-day Lebanon).   Yes, indeed. Jesus was literally run out of Galilee and run out of the country.   Something significant happened in this story, here in Mark 7, that forced Jesus to go North and out of the country, rather than South to the familiar environs of His beloved Jerusalem.    What in

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

A bit of Bible trivia for you. A little factoid that is anything but trivial.   There is one miracle, and only one miracle, that Jesus performed that is recorded in all four Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry.   Only one such miracle. And you are going to hear all about it here, it this PODCAST.   If you didn’t know anything about Jesus, if this discussion was the first time you ever heard of Jesus, if this was the first thing you ever heard about Jesus, you would walk away from this podcast with a heart filled with love for Him, overflowing with an irresistible desire to get to know Him better.   That is how powerful this story is.   Which may well explain why of every miracle Jesus ever performed, every mighty deed that Jesus ever did, the miracle embedded within this story is the only one that is included in all four Gospels.   Which is quite a statement, really, when you consider the fact that the Apostle John concludes his Gospel account with this observation:   The disciples saw Jesus do many o

It may sound strange to you, as you will hear on this PODCAST. But if I kicked a bottle and a genie popped out, offering to grant me but one wish, any idea what I’d wish for? I’d wish for the ability to point my finger at anyone, anywhere, at any time, and become that person for 10 minutes. On the surface of things, an odd request, I know. But if you think about it, for me it makes perfect sense. When people share with me their stories, invariably I feel an acute longing to become that person -- for 10 minutes -- so that I can truly understand what it’s really like to be them.  Just imagine if we each possessed that power. If we did, and become that person for just 10 minutes, we would completely understand. We would understand why they do the things they do; why they say the things they say; why they make the choices that they make; why they act the way they act. All would become so crystal clear. And in knowing the whys behind people’s words, actions, and attitudes, just think of how revolutionizing such kn

This is going to be So.Much.Fun for me. (And for you, I hope!) So indulge me here, because I LOVE this stuff. Look carefully and you might see my bemused smile on my face! It is just so comical to me how easily we take what Jesus made so simple, only to make it so insufferably complicated. And to be perfectly honest with you, I am awestruck. That’s the tone with which I want to teach this PODCAST’s passage. I am awestruck at Jesus’ ability to say so much in so little, so many thoughts communicated in so few words. All of which so practical, helpful, relevant, refreshing, and inspiring to us today. Let me set it up like this: You know the guy in the circus with the hundred plates spinning on a hundred poles? OK. So here’s my question:  What does that picture of a hundred plates spinning high atop a hundred poles have to do with this portrait that Jesus paints here in Matthew 10? The simple, uncomplicated picture of giving someone who is thirsty a cup of cold water? A picture, BTW, that forms the conclusion to

You might call this discussion “One Daddy’s Lament.” Or to put an even finer point on it, “My Daddy’s Lament.” Or even “This Daddy’s Lament.” The “This Daddy” in that title referring to me.   All if which I will explain in mere moments as you listen to this PODCAST.   But for now, I don’t have to tell you that Jesus was a radical in every sense of that word. Jesus did things things that were totally unexpected, unpredictable, unconventional. More to the point of this discussion, Jesus said things that were totally unexpected, unpredictable, unconventional.   I have no doubt that if we had been alive and well back then, privileged to watch Jesus in action, and to hang on His every word, there would have been situations weekly if not daily where we would have done a total double-take. We would have cocked our heads, blinked our eyes, pulled on our ears, and said to ourselves, “Jesus did what? Jesus said what?”    You talk about a guy marching to His own drumbeat, that was Jesus.   And that is certainly true her

It was without a doubt the absolute worst day of Peter’s long and storied and challenging life. As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, we’re talking about one particular Saturday -- the day after the crucifixion.  The day after Peter had denied Jesus three times before Jesus’ accusers. The Saturday before the very first Easter Sunday.  And since for us at Safe Haven, tonight happens to be the Saturday before Easter Sunday, we would do well to consider exactly what was going on and why during that singularly fateful day. A very dark day in otherwise dazzling life of Peter. You talk about an epic fail, a spectacular fall from grace, a stunningly unpredictable turn of events, and crash and burn of mind-numbing proportions… Here’s a quick thumbnail of how Peter’s not-so-Good-Friday developed, leading up to his Horribly-Bad-Saturday before Easter. A day Peter no doubt spent cowering in a corner...  Disgusted by the arrest of his rabbi; Devastated by execution of his hero, mentor, friend; Demoralized by the dea

I want to show you something that I discovered this week. A treasure of a truth that is so practical and so refreshing. Especially in light of this discussion that we began last week.   As you will hear in this PODCAST, we are asking a vitally important question, this in light of Jesus’ words to His apostles:   Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.    Fairly intense words; a rather severe warning, right?    Everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.   So last week and this, we are asking the question:    What does confessing Jesus before men, or acknowledging Jesus publicly here on earth look like?    Or to put it another way:   How outspoken are we to be about our faith? How aggressive are we to be in sharing our faith?  How forceful are we to push our religion on others?   Frankly, over the years -- at countless ser