Podcasts about hd encore

(Fun Fact: Of all of the thousands of messages I have given over the years, THIS one is my devoted daughter's all-time-favorite!) “It’s the holiday season.” A statement, as you will hear on this PODCAST, that cuts two ways. For far too many of us, this is not “the most wonderful time of the year.” For you, or someone you know, it’s the loneliest time of the year. But it does not have to be. 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.

Don't have time for the full podcast? How about 2 minutes? Enjoy! Hear the entire podcast here: http://traffic.libsyn.com/thesafehaven/Jesus_in_HD_Encore_28.mp3

Snowpocalypse 2019 has hit the PNW. Which means that out of concern for the safety of our precious Safe Haven people, we encouraged each one to stay home, be safe, and be warm and cozy. But despair not, my friends. I dug through our massive archives--5 years back, to be accurate--to pull out one of the most helpful PODCASTS I've ever done. So many answers to so many of your questions will be made crystal clear as you listen. Please feel free to share the link to this podcast with your friends -- http://traffic.libsyn.com/thesafehaven/Jesus_in_HD_Encore_28.mp3. And do remember that depending upon your web browser and connections speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for the podcast to begin to play. Enjoy, and be blessed.

Operaland was rocked over the weekend when allegations of sexual abuse were leveled against famed conductor James Levine. Michael Rice, the disgraced Godfather of opera podcasting (wait, sorry, the creator of the OperaNow! podcast) joins Oliver and Tobias live via phone with his take on this developing story... Then, George plays ‘Monday Evening Quarterback’ and reviews last week’s Met in HD Encore screening of Thomas Adès “The Exterminating Angel”... Plus, it’s ‘The Two Minute Drill’: all your opera headlines from the past week and our hot takes on them... www.facebook.com/OBSCHI1/

While I am away speaking at a Junior High/Middle School Camp at a place near and dear to my heart--Hartland Christian Camp--may I welcome to the Upper Room, and Jesus’ farewell address to His beloved disciples. As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, as we break the seal on this, Jesus’ final night before the crucifixion, I do so with something of a lump in my throat and the pinkish hue of embarrassment upon my otherwise rosy cheeks. This because this particular portion of the grand story of Jesus’ life and ministry hits me most personally. And if, as they say, “Confession is good for the soul,” then I make my confession to you, my beloved little Safe Haven family, tonight. There is embedded within this most amazing scene, Jesus washing His disciples’ feet, a timeless lesson that, if only I could turn back the hands of the clock and the passage of time, I would have taken to heart way back when I was just starting out in my ministry. This pointed and practical warning is as timely today as it was that night in that Upper Room when Jesus gave it to His disciples. A timeless truth that has come to define my life and, more to the point, my ministry today. A living lesson of which you are the beneficiaries. As we detailed last week, this so-called “Last Supper” was a modified Passover seder. I say modified because as we learned last week, the word seder means “order.” As in a carefully choreographed, specifically scripted order to the meal. Yet, at certain significant points along the way, Jesus purposefully departed from that thousands-year-old order and added to that script. Just as Jesus did here, in John 13, at the very beginning of their meal together. It was certainly customary -- very much a part of the script -- for the host (Jesus) to wash His hands ceremonially as meal began. But why did He then wash His disciples’ feet? Especially given that every other departure that Jesus made from the seder script expanded or enhanced the significance of their celebration of Passover, especially in light of His coming death as ultimate Passover Lamb. Every departure, except for this one: Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. A beautiful gesture, to be sure. The quintessential picture of loving humility and servanthood. So much so that foot washing in some Christian traditions even today, has been elevated to a sacrament or ordinance equal to that of Communion and Baptism. You talk about, Paint the picture, Rabbi? How about Jesus kneeling as a slave to wash His disciples’ feet (including Judas’ feet) as a three-dimensional, high definition picture of this? (The this to be explained in the remainder of this Podcast.) 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.

While I am away speaking at Hume Lake, please enjoy this encore PODCAST. 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 down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” Interesting phrase, “milk and honey.” Honey (a jam made of figs and dates) refers to the land of the farmer, and the bounty of the fruit of the land that is grown by the farmers. Milk refers to the land of the shepherd, and that which is produced by the flocks that are raised and cared for by the shepherds. In Israel, both lands -- milk and honey -- come together in a breathtaking variety of geography and climate that (NOW GET THIS) puts into its proper perspective EXACTLY the kind of lives that we are living today. More specifically, HOW and WHY we think the way we do today. We have SO MUCH to learn from this story. 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. Words worth waiting for, I assure you. God bless you as you listen.

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 know about him? You are about to find out. But even more importantly, you are about to see the heart of Jesus in action as He responds in real time to this real threat posed by this very real con-man, the Apostle Judas Iscariot.  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.

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 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 said, ‘These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’” That’s vs 21. And that happened in October. Next we read in verse 22, “Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.” A full two months transpired between John 10:21 & 22. Indeed, after that heated and life-threatening exchange with the Jewish leaders, Jesus and His men got out of Dodge. Jesus needed to, since once again Pharisees wanted to kill Him. So here’s my question: Why in the world, then, did Jesus risk returning to Jerusalem here in the Winter? Why did Jesus literally put His life at risk to be there? The answer is profound. 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 many things are going to become So.Very.Clear in this week’s PODCAST. You are about to hear something of… The precision of the Bible; What theologians call the “inerrancy” of the Bible; How the precious truths of the Bible sometime hinge on just one word; The relevance of the Bible; How a cultural reality from the time and place of Jesus speaks to us in real time, to our very real circumstances, even today. Most importantly: You will hear in unmistakable terms about the care and compassion of the God of the Bible, as Jesus paints the most poignant picture of just how much our gentle Jesus loves and cares about you. We truly are in for a treat this week, courtesy of Jesus. 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.

I was away this week, sharing a precious memorial service for my dearly beloved mom with my family. Consequently, I have selected one of the MOST IMPORTANT podcasts that we have recorded in our Jesus in HD series. In this Encore PODCAST, as we continue in our chronological study of the life and ministry of Jesus, we come to Matthew 18:15-17 -- one of the most seriously significant passages in all of the New Testament, the so-called “Church Discipline” passage. Church Discipline, a teaching in many local churches that really rose into prominence in the late 1970’s and became quite the trend. I can remember attending church leadership conferences back then and hearing pastors -- I’ll use word “boast.” -- of the fact that they recently removed individuals from their congregations, thereby “preserving the purity of their churches.” Others would then oooh and ahhh at the boldness of these pastors in confronting the sin in his church and taking decisive action in order to preserve the purity of his church by the process of Church Discipline as outline by Jesus here in Matthew 18. Today, one of this nation’s leading Church Discipline proponents insists that church discipline, as outlined in Matthew 18, is one of the marks of a healthy church. He writes this on his website, clearly articulating the prevailing view of Church Discipline, and indeed includes this as one of his main talking points as he addresses pastors’ conferences throughout the country, encouraging them to do the same: “Church discipline is the act of correcting sin in the life of the body, including the possible final step of excluding a professing Christian from membership in the church and participation in the Lord’s Supper because of serious unrepentant sin." Consequently, it has become standard practice to “exclude” or remove or excommunicate (you choose the term) unrepentant sinners from their local churches. This notion of Church Discipline is certainly included in many if not most of our evangelical churches' bylaws. Well, in light of the above definition -- More importantly, in light of Jesus’ words in Matthew 18 -- I must ask, Is that really what Jesus taught to His disciples and to us? Let’s discover the answer 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.

One more week of camp. So one more Encore Podcast. My heart goes out to Mother Mary. Her name means “Bitterness.” Sadly, and quite frankly, in many ways Mary lived up to her name.  Being the mother of Jesus was no small task. One that she fulfilled with great dignity. But boy did she face her challenges. In this PODCAST, we will gaze upon a Scriptural snapshot of Mary unlike anything you have ever seen before. Not only that, but we will encounter Jesus in His darkest hour, second only to that night before the crucifixion when He sweat drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. As we do, our love for Him will deepen. Our respect for His mom will broaden. And our understanding of the both of them will stir up within our own hearts a sense of God’s presence in our lives like we’ve never experienced before. 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. May God richly bless you as you listen!

The second of this summer’s Met Live in HD Encore presentation will be of Donizetti’s "L’Elisir d’Amore," with an exceptional cast starring Anna Netrebko as Adina, Matthew Polenzani as Nemorino, Mariusz Kwiecień as Belcore, and Ambrogio Maestri as the clever Dulcamara. In preparation for the broadcast, the Met Opera Guild’s Kyle Homewood joins Naomi Barrettara in a casual conversation discussing things they love about the opera and musical moments to listen for in one of the most popular operatic comedies of the last two centuries.

I’m off doing my camp speaking thing. (I sure would appreciate your prayers: for me, but especially for the campers who are stuck having to listen to me for the week. But I digress.) Anyway, in this PODCAST, you will learn one singularly simple concept which, if you take it to heart, will change your life forever. It is my sense that in contemporary Christian culture in America, we have lost sight of the elegant simplicity spoken of in the New Testament. And consequently, we have lost so much of God’s blessing in the process. So here’s to simplicity, with the hope that your life overflows with God’s bountiful blessing as we together apply this principle to our lives. Please note that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play. 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.

With a Met Live in HD Encore presentation of Puccini’s Tosca coming to theatres this Wednesday, June 22, 2016, today's episode once again reaches into the Talking about Opera archives to give you some added insight into one of Puccini’s dramatic works.

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, keenly so. Which is precisely what He told His disciples in one of the landmark chapters in all of the Bible. Yet, ironically, it’s a chapter that is so often overlooked as to its significance and importance. If I were to ask you to tell me your favorite chapter in the Bible, or the one that brings you the greatest level of comfort, I doubt you’d say John 16. But for me, without a doubt, I’d say John 16. And it’s in this chapter that Jesus expressed my same exact frustration. There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. The scene was the Upper Room. The night was His last night before the crucifixion. Jesus knew what the next 24 hours would be like. Consequently, Jesus had to recalibrate His disciples’ expectations. And so on this night, Jesus huddled with His disciples at what should have been the singular celebration of the year: a Passover Seder. A beautiful night that would soon turn ugly. These men had left everything to follow Jesus. They had literally put their lives on the line to become committed Christ-followers. Jesus had warned them repeatedly that this night was coming -- the night of His betrayal and arrest. But you know, it’s amazing to me what we hear, and what we don’t allow ourselves to hear.

My friends, get ready to grow some goosebumps as you listen to this PODCAST. While I am away speaking at Hartland Christian Camp (one of my all-time favorite places on this planet) consider this your very own personalized tour, with me as your humble tour guide, as together we travel the storied streets of the Via Dolorosa. A short walk riddled with “Ah Ha” moments, too many to count! Enjoy. And may God bless you richly as you listen. Please note that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.

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.

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, and only Jesus was the only one who could provide the answer that he (and sometimes we) sought.   Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for your podcast to begin to play.

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.

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.

Welcome to this Jesus in HD Encore PODCAST.   I am coming off of an exhilarating week with the best students in the world, the Joshua Wilderness Institute students. So in my absence, and for your edification and enjoyment, I have reached way back into the archives, all the way to Podcast #61. This was at the time a wonderfully received and enormously helpful discussion that brought so much peace to so many troubled (and sometimes tortured) souls.   If you were ever going to hear just one message on the mysterious and majestic practice we call prayer, let this one be the one. For here we come to the crux of the matter regarding this glorious thing we call prayer.   So much is going to become so clear in just the next few minutes: Questions about unanswered prayers. Questions about why God even designed this thing called prayer. Questions about the purpose of prayer. Questions about what we ought to pray for, and what we don’t need to pray for.    Why prayer sometimes doesn’t seem to work. Yet why every time we pray biblically, it ALWAYS works.   So much to talk about. I am so glad you are here to share in this discussion with us.   PLEASE NOTE that depending upon your web browser, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play.     HAPPY LISTENING, and may God richly bless you as you listen.

Here, in this PODCAST, is some much-needed hope for every brokenhearted mom. Not to mention every brokenhearted dad. This hope comes courtesy of a man named Levi, though you’d never know it by reading his account of Jesus’ life and ministry. While there is scant little detail in the Bible regarding this remarkable man (Levi is mentioned by name a grand total of only 5 times), scratch beneath the surface and we could write a book about him. Levi deserves our focused attention, and we will be all the richer for having had this discussion. A polarizing figure, Levi was. They either loved him or hated him. Or to put an even finer point to that: The religious hated him; Jesus loved him. And in loving him as Jesus did, Levi becomes a living, breathing canvas on which the heart of Jesus is painted in vivid colors and bold relief. Please Note: Depending upon your web browser, it may take up to 60 seconds for the podcast to begin to play. HAPPY LISTENING!

If you know of anyone who has some mental obstacles to understanding who Jesus is, THIS is the message for them to hear.    An Encore PODCAST while I am speaking at Hume Lake Christian Camps.    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.

While I am away speaking at one of my all-time-favorite places on Earth (Hartland Christian Camp), the topic of this encore PODCAST is one of those subjects that touches us all, deeply and profoundly. The ripples of any divorce, every divorce spread their concentric circles far and wide.   Which compels us to take a sober look at exactly what Jesus DID SAY HERE in Matthew 5:31-32, as well as -- and perhaps especially -- what Jesus DID NOT SAY HERE.   Because once again, this is one of those passages which, when lifted out of its context -- both Scriptural and Cultural -- is so often and so tragically made to say something other than what Jesus intended for it to say. Heaping truck loads of unnecessary grief and guilt upon poor precious people who are just trying by God’s grace to rebuild their broken lives.   Trust me! Over the years, having dealt up close and personal with many, many people, I have heard some of the most atrocious applications of this passage. This to the point where emotionally and spiritually fragile individuals, whose lives have just been rocked by their own tragic divorces, now have whatever fragments they have left of their broken lives crushed by well-meaning, but grossly misinformed, Christians errantly and judgmentally spouting this passage. And then in fine Pharisee-esque style, walk away from them, leaving untold wreckage in their wakes.   Not here. Not in this PODCAST. No way!   Jesus doesn’t do that.   Please note 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.     And PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE share this podcast with your friends.

I am away from my beloved Safe Haven family, helping to lead another Study Tour in Israel.   While I am away, please enjoy this Encore PODCAST.   The cards were unfairly stacked against her. By anyone’s definition, she was a total loser. This woman was by anyone’s standard the quintessential poster-child of the societal outcast.   She lived on the fringes, neglected, or even worse, forgotten by everyone.   Forgotten by everyone, that is, but Jesus.   This one encounter, between Jesus and this notorious woman, changed her life forever.   It might just change yours.   Please note that with some web browsers, it might take up to 60 seconds for the podcast to begin to play.

Welcome to this Encore PODCAST. While I am away speaking to a wonderful group of precious college-age students at a place near and dear to my rather sizable heart -- Hartland Christian Camp -- we travel back into the Safe Haven archives for this most insightful lesson. As you are about to hear, Jesus lived and taught in a spiritual climate remarkably similar to our own. You will be AMAZED at the parallels. This will explain to you, so very clearly, why so many "Christians" treat others and behave before others the way they do. The insights taught here helped me to gain a whole new perspective on the world in which I live, and an even deeper respect for Jesus as He navigated the world in which He lived. Please note that depending upon your connection speed and web browser, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play. HAPPY LISTENING!!!

Welcome to this encore presentation of the introductory PODCAST that launched what was then, back in November of 2012, a brand new and exciting and life-changing series: Jesus in High Definition.  I know my friends in the midwest will laugh at us here in the Pacific Northwest when I say this. But when it snows, oh, around two inches, the city and state virtually shut down. Well, we are into our third straight day of snow, now approaching a full foot. Consequently, there will not be a Safe Haven study tonight. As a result, I will seize the day and take you all the way back to the beginning, to where our study started. Jesus in High Definition, the very first lesson. In this first lesson, we will provide you with an overview of the entire Bible -- think of it as looking at the box-top of a puzzle -- so that we will understand exactly where the individual "pieces" of the Gospels fall within the grand sweep of the biblical drama. By harmonizing the four Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John -- we have been studying the life of Christ in chronological order, from the first utterances of the angels heralding His birth, to His crucifixion and resurrection.  It is our sincere hope and expectation that as we immerse ourselves in Jesus' life and ministry, we will fall more deeply in love with Him, and become more and more like Him. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this little side trip back in time as we revisit our very first study in our wonderful series, Jesus in HD. PLEASE NOTE: With some browsers, it may take up to 60 seconds before the podcast will begin to play.