Caption transcript for In The Footsteps of The Rabbi From Tarsus (2020): “Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians” (7/8)

• 00:02 ♪♪♪ David Hart: Welcome to "Our Jewish Roots," with insightful
• 00:06 Bible teaching by Dr. Jeffrey Seif.
• 00:08 This week, we look at Paul's letters to the Colossians,
• 00:11 Ephesians, and Philippians, as we follow "In the Footsteps
• 00:15 of the Rabbi from Tarsus."
• 00:18 ♪♪♪
• 00:32 [horse neighing]
• 00:34 ♪♪♪
• 00:44 ♪♪♪
• 00:54 ♪♪♪
• 01:04 ♪♪♪
• 01:18 David: Thank you so much for joining us today.
• 01:19 I'm David Hart.
• 01:20 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
• 01:22 Jeffrey Seif: And I am Jeffrey Seif.
• 01:23 And this is Paul here.
• 01:25 We're taking a look at him in this series.
• 01:27 He says something to the Colossians that's striking to me
• 01:30 in verse 10 of the 1st chapter.
• 01:32 He wants his hearers to walk in a manner worthy of God,
• 01:37 to please him, to bear fruit, and grow.
• 01:40 How's that for someone caring and sharing?
• 01:43 Kirsten: That's good.
• 01:45 Those are some good foundations.
• 01:47 Those are foundations and what we should see from someone.
• 01:51 Jeffrey: Yes, I hope that what I do and what we do
• 01:53 contributes to that growing and glowing at the end of the day.
• 01:56 That's what it's all about.
• 01:58 Kirsten: Very much.
• 01:59 David: Dr. Seif is on location in Ephesus.
• 02:00 Let's go there right now for his teaching.
• 02:05 Jeffrey: Choshek, it's the Hebrew word for darkness.
• 02:09 Or the Hebrew word for light.
• 02:14 There's a concept: coming out of darkness into the light.
• 02:18 In the modern world, people understand themselves to be
• 02:22 enlightened and, in the ancient world,
• 02:25 in Ephesus, particularly, people thought the light shined bright.
• 02:30 Coming to you from Ephesus now, a great city in what was once
• 02:35 Asia Minor, now modern Turkey.
• 02:38 Ephesus, one of the four main cities of the Roman empire with
• 02:44 Antioch to the east, with Alexandria south and west,
• 02:49 and with Rome itself, one of the cities,
• 02:54 one of the great cities.
• 02:56 Today, you can come here and our tours come here annually to look
• 02:59 at the great Kardo, the remnants of the marketplace,
• 03:03 the library, the temple that once stood here,
• 03:09 not so great in my opinion but I'm a little biased
• 03:10 now, aren't I?
• 03:12 The theater that would seat in the vicinity of
• 03:15 24,000 individuals.
• 03:18 Ephesus, the home to hundreds of thousands who were
• 03:22 proud to be here.
• 03:24 Paul loved Ephesus.
• 03:26 I want you to open up your Bibles,
• 03:27 if you will, and I want you to see how he tells the Ephesians,
• 03:30 both Jews and non-Jews alike, that God has built a new house.
• 03:34 He says in chapter 2 that a new house has been built and Jews
• 03:39 and Gentiles alike, as equals, are pillars in the new house and
• 03:44 brethren and friends in the new economy.
• 03:46 He says in chapter 2, verse 1, that individuals that were dead
• 03:51 in their sins and trespasses were made alive in the Messiah.
• 03:57 The word "to sin," etymologically in the Hebrew
• 04:00 Bible, comes from a word to stray,
• 04:03 to miss the mark.
• 04:05 It's like an arrow.
• 04:06 You shoot for the target but it veers off.
• 04:08 They're individuals that miss the mark in life, they sin.
• 04:11 Particularly, he says in verse 2,
• 04:13 that they "walked according to the course of this world."
• 04:16 And he goes on to denote them living,
• 04:17 in verse 3, "in the lusts of the flesh,
• 04:21 fulfilling the desires of the flesh."
• 04:23 By the way, here in this home in Ephesus,
• 04:25 I needed to be careful where we put the camera.
• 04:27 In the room adjacent to this one,
• 04:29 you would think you were in a gallery in Hugh Heffner's
• 04:32 mansion in California, to tell you the truth.
• 04:34 It looks like a Playboy.
• 04:35 I mean, I didn't--I was embarrassed to go in there,
• 04:37 to tell you God's honest truth.
• 04:38 Well, he says the Ephesians here who celebrated sexuality,
• 04:41 he said, "Listen, you wanna come to the God of Israel.
• 04:43 We need to learn a little bit about holiness.
• 04:45 We need to say, 'No' to vice and 'Yes' to virtue," that
• 04:49 individuals that were living in the darkness,
• 04:51 that is fulfilling sins in the darkness,
• 04:53 needed to come into the light and begin to then walk
• 04:55 in the light.
• 04:56 He says here, in verse 14, the Jews and non-Jews that were
• 05:00 alienated one from another now have peace by God who's broken
• 05:05 down the wall of partition and abolished the enmity,
• 05:08 in verse 15, in order, in verse 16,
• 05:10 to then reconcile them one to another.
• 05:12 He goes on in verse 19 to underscore that individuals who
• 05:15 have accepted Yeshua are members of the household of God.
• 05:20 Paul loved the concept of the house.
• 05:22 In fact, we're in a beautiful house in Ephesus right now.
• 05:25 Lots of room.
• 05:27 In fact, Roman culture made room for a lot of people
• 05:29 in their house.
• 05:31 It was very synchronistic.
• 05:33 There were a lot of different kinds of people that were able
• 05:35 to get citizenship and a house, and the Romans cast a vision for
• 05:38 a society of equals if you became a citizen.
• 05:41 Here, we're in a beautiful house of a Roman citizen of a bygone
• 05:44 era but what's interesting about this house is that there was
• 05:47 water running to the house.
• 05:49 The Romans were fantastic in their innovations.
• 05:52 They learned to manage water.
• 05:54 They were very, very modern.
• 05:56 Tragically, however, the Romans had a vision for community
• 06:00 and unity but they didn't have living water going
• 06:02 to their house.
• 06:03 See, that water is available.
• 06:05 The mayim chayim, that kind of water,
• 06:06 we come--we get from the Messiah Yeshua, from Jesus.
• 06:10 And Paul told that story.
• 06:12 And the way individuals get water is they have to turn,
• 06:14 they have to repent.
• 06:17 The Hebrew word for repentance, in fact,
• 06:20 is the word "Teshuvah."
• 06:22 It means to turn, it means to change your direction.
• 06:24 The Greek word for repent is metanoia.
• 06:29 It comes from meta, which means change,
• 06:32 and noia, or noesis, mind, change your mind.
• 06:35 Change your direction, change your mind.
• 06:38 In the biblical vision, individuals are living the wrong
• 06:41 way and individuals must need change.
• 06:45 Paul writes to individuals in Ephesus who,
• 06:48 in fact, have changed and he reminds them of the people they
• 06:52 ought to be, no longer strangers or foreigners but now like sons
• 06:56 and daughters living in the house.
• 06:58 And what does that mean?
• 07:00 If you look in chapter 5, verse 1 and on,
• 07:03 he moralizes as rabbis are given to do.
• 07:05 He talks here in lists.
• 07:08 He talks about vice and he talks about virtue.
• 07:11 He notes in verse 1, "Be imitators of God," in verse 2,
• 07:15 "Walk in love, as the Meshiach, as the Messiah, loved us."
• 07:18 In verse 3, he goes, "Fornication, uncleanness,
• 07:21 covetousness, must need to be eschewed
• 07:24 as with filthiness and foolish talking," and so forth.
• 07:27 He advocates for comportment, that people that walk the walk,
• 07:31 talk the talk, and they live right,
• 07:33 and he likewise then, after noting the list of vices,
• 07:38 he then underscores the importance of virtue: Those who
• 07:41 previously walked in darkness, in verse 8,
• 07:43 must need to walk in the light, and so forth.
• 07:46 Paul has this vision of putting off vice and living by virtue.
• 07:51 But that vision isn't unique to him.
• 07:54 What's unique is that he's talking to non-Jews about it,
• 07:55 to tell you the truth.
• 07:57 That vision comes from the Jewish world.
• 07:58 Jews understood individuals anthropologically to have
• 08:02 something of a dilemma.
• 08:03 The human condition was assaulted on two sides.
• 08:06 There was yetzer ha-ra from ra in Hebrew which means evil.
• 08:10 Yetzer ha-ra means the evil inclination.
• 08:13 Yetzer ha-tov is the good inclination.
• 08:15 Individuals have a struggle between vice and virtue,
• 08:18 between flesh and spirit, to use the Pauline paradigm here.
• 08:25 Individuals that are members of the house of God must need to
• 08:28 walk in the spirit and he underscores that here.
• 08:30 And it's so important, by the way.
• 08:33 The message that he told the Ephesians: You used to live in
• 08:35 sin but now you've come out of a--you've come out of the
• 08:38 countryside into the house.
• 08:40 If you're gonna live in a house, act like a child that
• 08:42 belongs to the house.
• 08:44 It's a great story and the rabbi from Tarsus wrote about it
• 08:46 to the Ephesians some 2,000 years ago.
• 08:50 ♪♪♪
• 09:06 Jeffrey: One step at a time, that's what they say.
• 09:08 It's the way life ought to be lived,
• 09:12 just one step at a time.
• 09:13 Judaism sages picked up on that.
• 09:16 The religious life, the way to live it and walk it,
• 09:19 is called halakha, from the verb "halak" which means to walk.
• 09:22 Paul took a lot of steps, didn't he,
• 09:24 this rabbi from Tarsus, Shaul.
• 09:27 His steps took him to a lot of places.
• 09:30 Most recently, he wound up in Caesarea Maritima.
• 09:34 He was imprisoned there, actually.
• 09:35 It was the tail end of his missionary journey.
• 09:37 He made his way to Yerushalayim, to Jerusalem.
• 09:40 He loved Jerusalem.
• 09:42 The apostle to the Gentiles had a heart for the Jews and trouble
• 09:45 broke out in River City and he wound up getting arrested.
• 09:49 From Caesarea Maritima, he appealed to Rome and inasmuch as
• 09:52 at various times he had to get his own voyage,
• 09:55 this time it was provided for him,
• 09:57 courtesy of the empire.
• 09:59 He makes his way to Rome and there he's imprisoned.
• 10:01 You know, a lot of times people that are in prison,
• 10:04 their minds are just all absorbed in their own problems
• 10:06 but Paul, he wasn't just absorbed in his own problems,
• 10:09 he thought of the world beyond him and what does he do?
• 10:12 He writes letters.
• 10:13 He writes letters to those faraway places.
• 10:15 He's looking to reach out and bring other people into his
• 10:18 world through mail.
• 10:20 Not only that, Luke tells us in Acts that when he's imprisoned
• 10:23 he's able to get some word out and the city of Rome's Jewish
• 10:26 leaders come to him.
• 10:28 And Paul says, "Listen, there's been a big misunderstanding here
• 10:30 because I have done nothing against the teaching,
• 10:32 against the traditions of our fathers.
• 10:35 I am a Jew among Jews.
• 10:37 I believe the Messiah has come true," but he never understood
• 10:39 that as making him non-Jewish or offending the cultural mores
• 10:42 that go along with being Jewish.
• 10:44 Paul was in a very conciliatory mood when he dealt
• 10:47 with the Romans.
• 10:48 He was also in a very conciliatory mood when he picked
• 10:51 up his pen, as evidenced by some of the letters that he wrote.
• 10:53 There, from his imprisonment, he wrote to a church that met in a
• 10:57 rich man's house, comparable to this one right here in Asia,
• 11:00 from where I'm speaking from today.
• 11:03 This fellow had a house group that met there in Colossae.
• 11:07 This was a city, you know, some miles due east of Ephesus.
• 11:12 Ephesus was one of the major cities in the Roman empire.
• 11:16 Paul was an urban planter.
• 11:18 He would establish congregations in big cities and then
• 11:20 satellites would spring out.
• 11:22 Well, here in Rome, he's writing to one of those satellites
• 11:25 in Colossae.
• 11:27 There's a very well-to-do individual named Philemon,
• 11:29 a slave owner, in fact, who's come to faith and faith came
• 11:33 into his heart and his circumstances were reorganized.
• 11:36 Paul, when he wrote to the Colossians in general,
• 11:39 and when he wrote to Philemon in particular,
• 11:41 he addressed the theme of reconciliation.
• 11:44 He was interested in estranged parties coming together.
• 11:46 First, individuals that are estranged from God;
• 11:49 secondly, individuals that are estranged,
• 11:51 one from another.
• 11:53 I want you to open your Bibles please to Colossians.
• 11:55 You'll see it there in chapter 1,
• 11:57 picking up in verse 19.
• 11:58 What does this rabbi from Tarsus say?
• 12:00 He says, "It pleased the Father that in him all the
• 12:05 fullness should dwell."
• 12:07 He has just said that this Yeshua,
• 12:09 this Messiah Jesus, is all things and the Greek here is
• 12:13 pláéráóma, the fullness.
• 12:14 This Jesus is very potent, very powerful.
• 12:16 In him, this fullness dwells, in verse 20,
• 12:20 and by him then he says, and this is the good news.
• 12:23 He says, "By him he can reconcile all
• 12:26 things to himself."
• 12:28 That is, individuals that are estranged from God can be
• 12:31 brought near to God through the person of Jesus.
• 12:34 Individuals that are estranged one from another
• 12:37 can do much the same.
• 12:38 He says in verse 21, "And you, who once were alienated in your
• 12:41 mind by wicked works, he now has reconciled."
• 12:44 I learned about reconciliation from different tutors,
• 12:49 and marriage, by the way, has tutored me just a little bit.
• 12:52 I have learned that my wife and I are at odds with each other,
• 12:56 the fundamental question isn't who's going to win the argument,
• 13:00 who's most profound in their diatribe.
• 13:03 What brings about peace is when someone decides
• 13:07 to stop fighting.
• 13:09 When someone is in a conciliatory mood and takes that
• 13:12 posture, it has a way of de-escalating what otherwise
• 13:16 tends simply to escalate up.
• 13:18 Marriage has taught me about reconciliation.
• 13:21 So has ministry, so has the rabbi from Tarsus.
• 13:24 If you look in Colossians chapter 3,
• 13:27 he picks up on the theme.
• 13:29 He says here, "Therefore, as the elect of God,
• 13:32 holy and beloved," he says, "put on tender mercies,
• 13:35 kindness, humility, meekness, and long-suffering."
• 13:38 There's a Jewish expression, kiy l'olam chasdo,
• 13:42 that is "his mercies endure forever."
• 13:45 And inasmuch as God in the Hebrew Bible is represented
• 13:50 as being given toward mercy, toward compassion,
• 13:53 racham anun, inasmuch as he's oriented that way.
• 13:56 The argument is that those of us that want to orient ourselves
• 14:00 that way would do well to follow that example.
• 14:02 And this, of course, is what Paul is advocating for when he
• 14:05 goes on to say that we ought to bear with one another,
• 14:08 and be forgiving one to another.
• 14:10 The word "forgiving" is interesting.
• 14:13 It means that we are for giving.
• 14:16 Individuals are on the take.
• 14:18 People go through life with a closed hand but to be for giving
• 14:20 invests a kind of energy in one's disposition.
• 14:26 We're reminded to give individuals a break.
• 14:29 It's hard to be forgiving towards someone if they're
• 14:31 at war with us.
• 14:33 Sometimes, circumstances prevail upon us and we have to take
• 14:37 a defensive posture.
• 14:38 I knew that as a career and a police officer.
• 14:40 Sometimes you have to engage and bring justice to bear.
• 14:44 So I don't begrudge individuals that need to get redress for
• 14:48 their grievance but still, better it is that we're the kind
• 14:51 of individual that's minded for as much as possible
• 14:53 to be gracious.
• 14:55 He says here in verse 14 that, above all things,
• 14:58 we do well to put on love.
• 15:00 The verb in Hebrew, love, ahava.
• 15:02 We encounter this affectionately.
• 15:04 [speaking in Hebrew]
• 15:08 "We shall love the Lord our God."
• 15:10 That's not just sentiment.
• 15:13 The--we are sentient being, we have feelings,
• 15:15 but the verb "love" means to do good on behalf of.
• 15:18 And Paul advocates, when he writes to the church in general,
• 15:21 that they do well to be thus minded.
• 15:24 But not just that.
• 15:25 Apparently, when he wrote the Colossian church,
• 15:27 the postman delivered more than one letter because at the same
• 15:30 time Philemon got a personal letter,
• 15:32 and Philemon was the rich guy.
• 15:34 He was really the homeowner there.
• 15:36 Apparently, when Paul was incarcerated in Rome,
• 15:41 he had developed an acquaintance with a fella named Onesimus who
• 15:45 was a runaway slave.
• 15:46 And what happens is he winds up leading Onesimus to the Lord.
• 15:52 He's gonna accept Jesus.
• 15:54 And what he's gonna do that's striking,
• 15:56 that's fascinating, is he's going to advocate that this
• 15:59 fella, Philemon, take back the runaway slave and forgive him.
• 16:04 It's fascinating.
• 16:06 In the ancient world, slaves were considered as utilities.
• 16:09 They were just articulate beasts by Roman law.
• 16:12 They had no rights whatsoever.
• 16:14 You know, a master could crucify a slave.
• 16:16 It meant nothing.
• 16:18 They had--there were just the property of their owner.
• 16:20 It's fascinating here.
• 16:21 Onesimus offended Philemon.
• 16:23 Philemon, however, came to faith in Jesus and so did
• 16:26 Onesimus, interestingly.
• 16:28 And what happens is Paul then not only writes to the church at
• 16:33 Colossae but he sends Philemon back with the letter and he
• 16:37 says, "Listen, I want you to forgive this guy."
• 16:39 You know, the gospel is profound,
• 16:41 the way that lives can be transformed and the newness of
• 16:44 life brings newness of behavior, does it not?
• 16:46 Such is the teaching of the famous rabbi from Tarsus.
• 16:51 ♪♪♪
• 16:58 male announcer: Our resource this week: the Hebrew Names
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• 17:05 high-quality art cards, each with Old and New Testament
• 17:08 connections on the back, with Scripture and beautifully
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• 17:13 These art cards can be used for personal reflection,
• 17:16 group discussion, or as a beautiful gift for your
• 17:19 friend or pastor.
• 17:21 For this resource and more, call 1-800-WONDERS or visit us at
• 17:25 LEVITT.COM.
• 17:29 Jeffrey: Thirteen years ago, I walked with Paul through
• 17:32 the ancient world.
• 17:34 That's when we did the series you're viewing.
• 17:36 That, as I said, we did 13 years ago, but now we're walking in
• 17:41 the modern world together in considering the Christian
• 17:43 implications for all of that.
• 17:46 Boy, I'd love to share it with you.
• 17:48 The problem we have at a program such as this, it takes a while
• 17:52 to turn around the programs.
• 17:54 I'm dropping this into an older program to let you know
• 17:58 that you can pivot and
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• 18:04 We endeavor to be very contemporary and bring you
• 18:07 a fresh word that speaks
• 18:09 to the moment, that is insightful,
• 18:11 that's spiritual, that looks at the good news
• 18:14 through the eyes of the Jews.
• 18:16 Do check us out and thanks for going with us on the journey.
• 18:21 ♪♪♪
• 18:27 Dr. Seif: Paul came to Rome as a courtesy of the state.
• 18:30 He had appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar he came here in Rome.
• 18:35 You'll see some sites behind me.
• 18:37 One is an Arch of Constantine, came a bit later.
• 18:39 A forum is in close proximity, as is the Great Coliseum behind
• 18:43 which came a little later as well.
• 18:46 But this is Rome and, when Paul was here initially,
• 18:49 he came here, as I said, he was transported courtesy of Rome
• 18:52 by a centurion.
• 18:54 He was under house arrest and it's from here where he wrote
• 18:56 a few Epistles.
• 18:59 He wrote to the Ephesians, he wrote to the Colossians,
• 19:03 he wrote a personal letter to Philemon,
• 19:05 and then he wrote a document called the Philippians which is
• 19:09 arguably the friendliest of Paul's letter.
• 19:13 That's not to say he was a mean sort but it seems that when he
• 19:16 wrote the others, he was disconcerted about one thing
• 19:19 or another, but the Philippian correspondence was
• 19:22 a thank-you letter.
• 19:24 Paul was gleaming with optimism in the letter too.
• 19:27 He even mentions that the Praetorian guard was aware of
• 19:30 his circumstances, that God was getting glory too as the gospel
• 19:34 was spreading out amongst the Praetorians here in Rome.
• 19:38 Paul was chained but he really wasn't chained in the sense he
• 19:42 was free as a bird and he gives voice to his faith and his hope
• 19:46 and his love in the Philippians document,
• 19:49 a thank-you letter to those at Philippi.
• 19:50 Why?
• 19:52 Because they were unyielding in their support for Paul through
• 19:55 the whole tenure of his ministry.
• 19:57 Sometimes, enthusiasm and support can wax and wane but the
• 20:00 Philippians were resolute in their standing behind Paul,
• 20:04 and he writes a thank-you letter.
• 20:06 ♪♪♪
• 20:13 Jeffrey: Behind me is a tribute to a man who,
• 20:15 by dent of determination, he marshaled forces,
• 20:19 he conquered a foe and got the better of an empire as a result
• 20:23 of his so doing.
• 20:24 When Paul wrote from Rome, years before that,
• 20:28 he spoke about another kind of leadership: a servant leader
• 20:31 and, in the Philippian document, he spelled it out so beautifully
• 20:35 in talking about Christ who, "though he was in the form of
• 20:39 God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
• 20:42 But he emptied himself and he took on the form of a servant
• 20:47 and was found in the likeness of men."
• 20:49 So you have a story in Jesus who was great and splendid and
• 20:52 magnificent in a previous existence,
• 20:55 but he came down here to serve.
• 20:57 And I love the juxtaposition here in Rome with the image
• 21:00 of a man who came to conquer.
• 21:02 Jesus conquered the world by love,
• 21:03 not by the sword.
• 21:05 Do you know, the word "ministry" comes from the word "minus"
• 21:07 which means less than?
• 21:09 That is, to count others more worthy than ourselves,
• 21:12 and the rabbi from Tarsus placed a premium on that when he wrote
• 21:16 the Philippians, in part because they were just that.
• 21:20 That is, they were given to service rather than
• 21:22 simply being served.
• 21:23 The Philippians were an interesting group.
• 21:25 They were composed of retired military personnel.
• 21:27 They retired out of the Roman military and they were in a
• 21:31 tax-exempt city in Philippi.
• 21:33 They knew what it was to be of service to,
• 21:35 to go the distance, because they did that in the course of their
• 21:38 own military careers.
• 21:39 But, particularly, Paul goes on to say in the 2nd chapter of
• 21:42 Philippians that "he humbled himself,
• 21:45 and became obedient to death, even death on a cross."
• 21:48 And that would have been a scandal to the Romans here.
• 21:51 This sort of death was reserved for criminals,
• 21:53 for the condemned, not for citizens,
• 21:56 not for people of renown, certainly not for
• 21:58 the majestic sorts.
• 21:59 But, nevertheless, this King came and became a man,
• 22:02 a humble man, and he died on a cross.
• 22:04 But the net result of it all, according to Paul,
• 22:07 was that because of his service, because of his death on the
• 22:10 cross, "the Lord exalted him and bestowed upon him,
• 22:14 the name which was above every name,
• 22:16 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and tongue
• 22:19 confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
• 22:22 I find it interesting that we males of the species perhaps for
• 22:26 reasons that are testosterone-driven,
• 22:28 we're bent on conquest and power and strength,
• 22:30 but Jesus was a man but he wasn't just man,
• 22:33 he was God in man form and what happens is he was
• 22:35 both God and man.
• 22:38 And what does he do?
• 22:39 He comes and he humbles himself and he serves,
• 22:41 with the net result that more people bow the knee to Jesus
• 22:43 than ever have to Constantine the Great who's commemorated
• 22:46 with this tribute behind me.
• 22:49 There's a way that love and service goes further than
• 22:52 power and might.
• 22:53 ♪♪♪
• 23:04 Jeffrey: Caesar was an extremely powerful man but is
• 23:07 the case with powerful men, they don't live forever.
• 23:10 Off to my right, you can't see it,
• 23:13 the remains of where the Senate convened.
• 23:15 Directly behind me is the remains of the temple that was
• 23:21 built atop the place which Julius Caesar's body was burned
• 23:23 after he was executed when, you know,
• 23:27 he did business with the Senate and he was betrayed by some
• 23:30 friends and it's a very famous event.
• 23:32 When I think of the death of a great,
• 23:34 I'm reminded of Jesus who's greater than Caesar but he came
• 23:37 to his power in another way.
• 23:39 And here is--we have the tribute to Caesar behind me but a ruin.
• 23:45 We have the church the world over today that attests to the
• 23:48 fact that there's power in love.
• 23:50 Jesus, who died a criminal's death at the hand of the Romans
• 23:52 has gone on to, in fact, have the greatest name in the world
• 23:55 and people know him better than they do all these
• 23:57 long-forgotten Caesars.
• 23:59 Paul wanted to underscore the importance of service and this
• 24:02 he did when he wrote the Philippians.
• 24:04 And as we follow in the footsteps of the rabbi from
• 24:06 Tarsus and consider what he had to say,
• 24:08 we'd do well to remember the message,
• 24:10 that is that the way to become great is to be a servant of all.
• 24:15 ♪♪♪
• 24:28 David: Paul's letters are really for us.
• 24:32 They're timeless.
• 24:33 It's all about forgiveness, repentance,
• 24:35 back in the day but also for us.
• 24:37 Jeffrey: Yes, and thankfulness too,
• 24:40 which undergirds--
• 24:41 David: We forget that one.
• 24:42 Jeffrey: --the Philippian correspondence.
• 24:44 That's right, but speaking of forgetting and not forgetting,
• 24:46 Paul is so appreciative that these Philippians
• 24:48 never forgot him.
• 24:50 What do you think of this saying?
• 24:52 "One old friend's better than 20 new ones"?
• 24:53 Kirsten: Oh, one tried and true one is good.
• 24:57 You just hold on. Tried and true.
• 24:59 Jeffrey: I appreciate all the new friends I can get but these
• 25:00 are old friends of Paul.
• 25:02 He says as much at the beginning: "They shared with
• 25:04 them from the first day even until now."
• 25:07 A lot of people abandoned Paul but these Philippians stuck with
• 25:10 him and this letter, the overall ethos of it,
• 25:14 is thankfulness for these good friends.
• 25:17 Would that we had more of that kind of commitment going.
• 25:19 David: They stuck with him but I think he also surrounded
• 25:21 himself with people like we've heard about in these teachings.
• 25:25 Jeffrey: Yeah, he did, and some of them left him too.
• 25:27 You know, he began the journey with Barnabas and they
• 25:30 had a church split.
• 25:31 It didn't last to the second missionary journey, so called.
• 25:35 And, you know, people can be trippy.
• 25:37 You know, people have different ideas,
• 25:39 even good people.
• 25:40 But these people sent aid, he says at the end of the letter,
• 25:44 time and time again, and I get into that in my teaching.
• 25:47 One old friend, one new friend, hey,
• 25:50 listen, thank God for friends at the end of the day.
• 25:53 You know, fellowship isn't just a bunch of guys getting
• 25:55 together and chatting.
• 25:57 It's a bunch of fellas in the same ship,
• 25:58 rowing together, and thank you for putting your oars in the
• 26:02 water and helping us get downstream.
• 26:03 I mention that because we've gone against some
• 26:05 difficult headwinds.
• 26:06 It's like that in ministry when some people die,
• 26:09 the founder dies, we move on through time and circumstance,
• 26:13 and thank you for time and time again, rendering aid.
• 26:17 Not just to help us, but to advance the gospel
• 26:21 through what we do.
• 26:23 And through the miracle that is network television,
• 26:26 we just get all over the world.
• 26:28 Thank you.
• 26:29 You put a dollar into this house with a donation, it travels.
• 26:32 Thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 26:34 Kirsten: I wanna jump on the thank you wagon,
• 26:35 also, if I may.
• 26:37 And Paul was thankful for the Philippians that were there
• 26:40 through all kinds of changes and all of you have been there with
• 26:44 us and we again--I know you said thanks.
• 26:47 I wanna say thank you.
• 26:49 Paul was--had to write a whole letter of thankfulness and if we
• 26:52 just can take a minute of your day and thank you for knowing
• 26:56 our heart and our vision and it's to get the good news across
• 27:00 to the world.
• 27:02 Just like Paul did.
• 27:03 David: It really is a miracle, Paul's life.
• 27:04 We have one more week in the series.
• 27:06 We would love for you to join us next week.
• 27:08 Jeffrey: Next week it is and, as you go now,
• 27:10 shaalu shalom Yerushalayim.
• 27:13 David: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
• 27:16 David: Join us right now for additional content that is only
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• 27:25 Visit our website, levitt.com, for the current and past
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• 27:41 Also on our website is the online store.
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• 28:25 David: This has been a paid program brought to you
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