The Jewish roots of Christianity

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Bible teaching with an emphasis on Israel, prophecy and the Jewish roots of Christianity

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Episode: “Road to Rome”
Paul’s legal troubles land him in stormy waters where he is shipwrecked at Malta. His appeal leads to a prison cell in Rome, but it cannot contain Paul’s desire to share the Gospel during the final years of his life.
Series: “In The Footsteps of The Rabbi From Tarsus (2020)”
This series sheds light on the Apostle Paul, his movements, and his message. Dr. Jeffrey Seif follows in Paul’s footsteps all around the ancient Roman Empire and analyzes his divinely inspired letters to early Church congregations, preserved in the New Testament.

Caption transcript for In The Footsteps of The Rabbi From Tarsus (2020): “Road to Rome” (4/8)

  • 00:02 male announcer: Welcome to "Our Jewish Roots" with insightful
  • 00:06 Bible teaching by Dr. Jeffrey Seif.
  • 00:09 This week, we see Paul's final journey leads to Rome as we
  • 00:13 follow, "In the Footsteps of the Rabbi from Tarsus."
  • 00:18 ♪♪♪
  • 00:32 [horse neighing]
  • 00:34 ♪♪♪
  • 01:17 David Hart: Thank you so much for joining us today.
  • 01:18 I'm David Hart.
  • 01:20 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
  • 01:21 Jeffrey Seif: Jeffrey Seif here and I want you to know that God
  • 01:23 has a wonderful plan for your life.
  • 01:26 Lots of interesting things in the other side of the
  • 01:28 sinner's prayer.
  • 01:30 Not always easy and I think of that when I think of Paul, to
  • 01:32 tell you the truth.
  • 01:34 The Lord led him all over the world and he saw so many things
  • 01:37 and so many interesting circumstances.
  • 01:39 There were troubles, but the good Lord delivered him from
  • 01:41 them all.
  • 01:42 Kirsten: Was part of the journey--it's the ebb and flow.
  • 01:44 I mean, literally, he was on the water ebb and flowing, but it's
  • 01:47 part of our story, part of our journey, Saul to Paul, his life
  • 01:51 changed dramatically.
  • 01:53 Jeffrey: Yes, it's his story, it's our story, it's in
  • 01:57 The Story.
  • 01:58 It's great to bring the world a story.
  • 02:00 David: Right, Paul's story, it's fascinating.
  • 02:02 Let's go to Dr. Seif on location right now.
  • 02:07 Jeffrey: The waters of the Mediterranean here are calm,
  • 02:10 but that's been known to change on occasion.
  • 02:13 In fact, the Mediterranean becomes so precarious that
  • 02:16 shipping stops in the winter.
  • 02:18 No one dares traverse these waters.
  • 02:22 Paul made a trip of a lifetime, one he wouldn't remember for the
  • 02:26 rest of his short lifetime lived there and after when he left
  • 02:30 Caesarea Maritime, Caesarea, in the wake of his appeal to Rome.
  • 02:35 And off to Rome he goes only to, amidst the precariousness of it
  • 02:40 all, be waylaid on the island of Malta in the wake of a
  • 02:44 horrific shipwreck.
  • 02:47 Things start off rather tumultuous.
  • 02:49 As you might recall, Paul is in Jerusalem and a riot ensues as
  • 02:54 Judeans from Asia Minor recognize Paul there and
  • 03:00 they stir it up.
  • 03:01 Paul is taken into custody in the wake of a riot.
  • 03:05 Luke tells the centurion was kindly disposed toward Paul.
  • 03:10 Seeing a ruckus, he pulls him out of the fray.
  • 03:13 Learning through one of Paul's relatives that some were out to
  • 03:17 kill him then, he will get a number of soldiers, a few
  • 03:22 centurions actually, to escort Paul by night to Caesarea.
  • 03:26 And there, in Caesarea, he will go before Felix who will
  • 03:32 procrastinate and then Festus who's minded to do much
  • 03:35 the same.
  • 03:36 Finally, it's when he is getting a hearing before Festus in
  • 03:41 Caesarea Maritime which, by the way, was the ancient Roman home
  • 03:45 away from home.
  • 03:46 It was where the Roman occupiers were headquartered.
  • 03:49 It was there where, realizing that he was not going to get a
  • 03:52 fair trial in Jerusalem because there were too many of the
  • 03:57 powers that be that were given to his demise unfairly, Paul
  • 04:01 then makes his appeal to Caesar in response to which the
  • 04:05 narrative goes in Luke, well, "You appealed to Caesar?
  • 04:09 To Caesar you will go."
  • 04:12 Finally, at the appointed time, Paul boards a ship.
  • 04:15 There's a centurion that's guarding him.
  • 04:18 There were a lot of people on that ship and off they go toward
  • 04:21 Rome, only to then get caught up in precarious waters.
  • 04:25 They have to get rid of cargo.
  • 04:28 Eventually, they're gonna lose the boat but they'll suffer no
  • 04:30 loss of life.
  • 04:32 Even amidst it all, Paul emerges as something of an heroic figure
  • 04:36 because he's the one that's given insight, you know,
  • 04:42 magnificently so, the Lord just endues him with understanding of
  • 04:45 what will become a journey he presages there'll be no loss of
  • 04:49 life and he endears himself to some.
  • 04:52 The net result is that Paul will do just that.
  • 04:55 He will give voice to these prophetic words, the boat will
  • 04:59 be shipwrecked on Malta, and there Paul will spend a season.
  • 05:03 And that Maltin story we'll get to in a second as we continue.
  • 05:07 ♪♪♪
  • 05:13 Jeffrey: The rabbi from Tarsus was far away from home
  • 05:17 on the island of Malta in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea
  • 05:21 where he was shipwrecked.
  • 05:23 Like you to open up your Bibles please and look and see with me
  • 05:26 what Luke tells of his experience there.
  • 05:29 I think it's rather revealing for a variety of reasons.
  • 05:32 If you look in the 28th chapter, we're told that the natives on
  • 05:38 the island, to use the language of the text in verse 2, "showed
  • 05:42 them unusual kindness."
  • 05:46 It seems that we can find ourselves pressed amidst the
  • 05:49 turbulence of trying times, and the Lord sends people to show
  • 05:54 unusual kindness but what's interesting as the story
  • 06:00 continues to unfold, that Paul is there, the weather is rainy,
  • 06:07 they built a fire, they're warming themselves, and a viper
  • 06:12 attaches itself to Paul's hand.
  • 06:15 In response to which, those who in one minute were inclined to
  • 06:19 show great and unusual kindness look at Paul and construe him as
  • 06:25 some heinous figure, some murderer, who, though he has
  • 06:29 fortunately escaped the sea, he can't escape providence, and so
  • 06:34 it is that God is judging him by slaying him by the viper.
  • 06:38 What happens then, however, it's rather interesting is that his
  • 06:43 hand doesn't swell, he doesn't die, he shakes the viper off, in
  • 06:47 the wake of which people then begin to construe him as a god.
  • 06:54 The nature of the story is fascinating for a variety of
  • 06:57 reasons and shows how precarious not just the sea is but how
  • 07:01 precarious people on land can be.
  • 07:04 It can be stormy on land just as on sea as people, moods, and
  • 07:08 thoughts, and feelings toward us can shift so dramatically in
  • 07:13 such a short period of time.
  • 07:16 Pastoral ministry has always struck me like this.
  • 07:19 That is to say, as a minister, one minute they think you're a
  • 07:22 god, another minute they think you're a devil.
  • 07:26 I construe us as just people doing the best that we can to
  • 07:30 serve a God who's perfect and greater than all of us, but
  • 07:33 those of us who step up to do it are imperfect and it seems that
  • 07:36 we absorb a lot of tension and a lot of unreasonable critique and
  • 07:41 expectation as is the case with the apostle here.
  • 07:45 Well, Luke goes on to note this story, but then he says that
  • 07:48 there was a leading citizen on the island and here he says in
  • 07:52 verse 7 that "he entertained us courteously."
  • 07:56 I like the way Luke underscores the way different people are
  • 07:59 responding to Paul: unreasonable kindness, he's a murderer, a
  • 08:03 demonic-type figure, he's a god, and now someone here is showing
  • 08:07 a gentile kind of courteousness, in response to which then Paul
  • 08:12 returns the favor in kind.
  • 08:15 You might recall once upon a time in the temple environs
  • 08:19 apostles were walking, and there was a lame man begging.
  • 08:24 And the apostle said, "Listen, silver and gold we have not,
  • 08:28 but we give you what we have.
  • 08:30 In the name of Jesus, get up and walk," and this person
  • 08:33 was healed.
  • 08:34 Well, Paul didn't have two nickels to rub together that I
  • 08:37 know of but this fella here who's kindly disposed toward
  • 08:40 Paul, Paul returns the favor in kind by laying hands on him.
  • 08:44 There's some sickness there and there's a healing which then the
  • 08:47 news spreads out and people come to be healed.
  • 08:50 The net result of it all is that people are blessed by virtue of
  • 08:54 their experience with the rabbi from Tarsus.
  • 08:59 Let me close out this segment by underscoring the importance of
  • 09:03 being kindly disposed to those that are looking to walk in the
  • 09:07 footsteps of Jesus.
  • 09:09 Ministry is extremely precarious, the Christian
  • 09:11 life is up and down.
  • 09:13 Let's get behind and support those that are advocating for
  • 09:17 Christian faith and virtue out here in a world where virtue is
  • 09:22 in very high demand but very short supply.
  • 09:25 This is a lesson that I learn as I examine "The Footsteps of the
  • 09:30 Rabbi from Tarsus."
  • 09:33 ♪♪♪
  • 09:41 announcer: Our resource on this program, "The Promised Seed
  • 09:44 of Abraham Lineage Chart."
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  • 10:53 Kirsten: Join us on social media but also you can join us the
  • 10:57 same place you just saw Dr. Seif teaching: on the
  • 11:00 Mediterranean Sea.
  • 11:02 Absolutely amazing.
  • 11:03 We go two times a year.
  • 11:05 We go in the fall and also in the springtime.
  • 11:09 So check our website, levitt.com/tours for information
  • 11:12 about our tours.
  • 11:13 Speaking of Dr. Seif on the Mediterranean, that is not a
  • 11:17 cheap way and--or place to film a program, but we do that.
  • 11:23 One of our signatures is to film our teaching series on location,
  • 11:27 whether it be in Israel or on the Mediterranean Sea.
  • 11:30 So thank you so much for making all of this possible.
  • 11:34 We rely on you and we appreciate it.
  • 11:36 David: And actually, Dr. Seif is on location right now in the
  • 11:38 heart of Rome.
  • 11:40 Let's go there now.
  • 11:42 Jeffrey: And here we are in the empire.
  • 11:45 Fascinating to see the old ruins and the places, and it's
  • 11:50 my pleasure, by the way.
  • 11:51 I thank you for turning on the television so that you can see
  • 11:55 what Paul saw, so you can maybe feel it, so you can sense it.
  • 12:01 Here's Paul, a slave for the kingdom, making his way about
  • 12:06 the glorious Roman empire, and it's in that empire finally
  • 12:12 where Paul is brought low.
  • 12:15 Considered unworthy to go on living, he's going to, for all
  • 12:19 intents and purposes or so they'll think, meet an
  • 12:23 inglorious end.
  • 12:25 And in this segment, we'll go to where he arguably ended.
  • 12:28 We'll go to the dungeon, the "X marks the spot."
  • 12:31 We'll show you the Roman prison--there weren't many.
  • 12:35 This was one, perhaps the one where Paul saw his final days.
  • 12:41 He who traveled around the empire that you're looking at
  • 12:43 right now, he who traveled thousands of miles, couldn't go
  • 12:48 a dozen feet as he's restricted in a dungeon.
  • 12:53 And from that dungeon, he will emerge and face his destiny
  • 12:59 to die.
  • 13:01 But truth of the matter is, he started dying the minute he
  • 13:05 started living.
  • 13:06 Now, what do I mean by that?
  • 13:08 If we can for a moment say, "Never mind his final steps,"
  • 13:11 and if with me you can look at that first step, looking here in
  • 13:16 my Bible, it's the Brit Hadashah in Hebrew.
  • 13:19 What that means in English is the New Testament.
  • 13:22 There, Luke in his book called Acts, records an exchange
  • 13:28 between Paul and someone.
  • 13:31 In Acts chapter 9, verse 5: "[speaking in Hebrew]"
  • 13:37 And he said," Paul, that is, "Who are you, Lord?
  • 13:40 [speaking in Hebrew]."
  • 13:45 And he said, "The Lord said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are
  • 13:50 persecuting,'" he goes on to say.
  • 13:52 Paul, at that moment, came to know Jesus.
  • 13:57 What a story.
  • 13:59 It's like Paul was this religious leader.
  • 14:01 He studied for years and years.
  • 14:03 He was the most studied of all of Jesus' disciples.
  • 14:06 The others were common fishermen but, no, Paul was a sage.
  • 14:11 He cut his teeth theologically but, even with his studies,
  • 14:15 something was missing.
  • 14:17 He knew the Word, the written Word, but now he came to know
  • 14:22 the Word incarnate, the Word that was life.
  • 14:25 And that transaction caused something to be infused within
  • 14:29 him with the net result that Paul came to life.
  • 14:34 And after he came to life, he was particularly proactive at
  • 14:39 helping other people come to know life.
  • 14:42 But there was a price to be paid.
  • 14:44 Paul was bleeding to death in some sense the whole while.
  • 14:48 The prophetic word over Paul was the Lord saying, "I'll show him
  • 14:51 what he needs to suffer."
  • 14:55 But Paul counted it all glorious.
  • 14:58 He counted his life as insignificant for the purpose
  • 15:01 of being able to help people know the Lord, from self
  • 15:04 being able to press on to know him better.
  • 15:08 Paul comes to faith on the road to Damascus.
  • 15:11 He goes into Damascus.
  • 15:12 He's gonna wind up being spirited away from Damascus.
  • 15:15 He's gonna see Jerusalem for a season.
  • 15:17 He's gonna see Arabia for a season.
  • 15:19 He's going to see Tarsus for ten years and then the Lord's gonna
  • 15:23 drop it into Barnabas to come and fetch him.
  • 15:26 And Barnabas and Paul together will go to a mission outpost,
  • 15:29 Antioch, cosmopolitan city made up of Jews and non-Jews, rich
  • 15:35 and poor.
  • 15:37 And there, there was a church made up of all kinds of people.
  • 15:40 And in that church, Paul had a vision.
  • 15:43 He already had knowledge of the Word and he had spirit.
  • 15:47 He was a new creation.
  • 15:49 But there, in that matrix, he begins to develop some sense of
  • 15:53 the vision for planet Earth.
  • 15:56 When we follow in the footsteps of the rabbi from Tarsus,
  • 16:00 we note someone who went on various missionary journeys
  • 16:03 from Antioch to make known to the world that the Messiah
  • 16:05 is coming--his name is Jesus-- but not just to the Jewish world
  • 16:08 but to all the world.
  • 16:10 He went by sea, he went by land, he found himself experiencing
  • 16:15 reception and rejection.
  • 16:17 He preached in synagogues.
  • 16:19 Some loved him, some didn't.
  • 16:22 He spoke in marketplaces.
  • 16:24 Some ignored him, some didn't.
  • 16:27 But that intrepid, bold pioneer of the faith was used by God to
  • 16:31 establish communities.
  • 16:33 But there was a price to be paid for, in conjunction with the new
  • 16:36 life, the spirit of anti-life was invested against him with
  • 16:41 the net result that he was arrested on many occasions.
  • 16:46 He escaped from his imprisonment on a number of occasions,
  • 16:49 but not this time.
  • 16:51 And so, off we go to the dungeon in Rome.
  • 16:56 Off he went.
  • 16:58 I would imagine he had a smile on his face, however, for this
  • 17:01 was the man who said he counted his life as nothing.
  • 17:05 For him to invest his life for Christ's sake, for him to die
  • 17:08 for Christ, it's all good.
  • 17:10 This was a man on a mission.
  • 17:12 And his mission finally took him to this place.
  • 17:15 And in a minute, we're gonna see where Paul finished, and we're
  • 17:18 gonna take you to the place that was Paul's final place.
  • 17:23 ♪♪♪
  • 17:28 Jeffrey: I always like working with biblical sources
  • 17:30 whenever possible but in looking at Paul's finish, we just don't
  • 17:34 have biblical resources to draw upon.
  • 17:38 Luke, Paul's historian, tells us that Paul was imprisoned
  • 17:42 in Rome.
  • 17:44 It was more or less a house arrest, a casual arrest, and
  • 17:46 there's a very cogent argument that he was freed from that and
  • 17:50 then he went about and continued his ministry.
  • 17:56 This is enforced by his letter to Titus, for example, when he
  • 18:00 refers to the ministry in Crete that was established, encourages
  • 18:03 Titus to continue on, but, as you follow Paul's missionary
  • 18:07 journeys in Acts, there's no record of him spending any time
  • 18:10 in Crete to speak of.
  • 18:12 For that and other reasons, scholars argue that Paul got out
  • 18:16 of his quandary in Rome and traveled about, only to then
  • 18:21 return to Rome and arguably return to this place in Rome
  • 18:26 where he finished up.
  • 18:28 This place is an interesting place.
  • 18:30 I've spoken to some experts that could speak more to this than I
  • 18:33 but this, arguably, is a prison.
  • 18:36 There's a stairway behind me that I'm going to descend,
  • 18:39 but those who came to this prison came through this hole
  • 18:43 right here.
  • 18:44 Looks like a manhole, I grant, but what this was, this was the
  • 18:46 entrance and people were lowered down.
  • 18:49 They were shoved in there and there's an argument that if Paul
  • 18:53 wasn't placed in this prison as is alleged by the tradition
  • 18:56 then, certainly, one like it.
  • 18:59 And we don't know what other one there'd be because this is the
  • 19:01 one that we know of in Rome.
  • 19:04 Paul, we're told, was executed under Nero, along with Peter,
  • 19:14 and as we consider his finale, if you will, there's a sense
  • 19:19 in which we're saying goodbye to an old friend.
  • 19:23 In this series, we've been concerned with following in the
  • 19:27 footsteps of the rabbi from Tarsus.
  • 19:29 We've been interested in his movements and in his parchments
  • 19:35 and as we do a wrap on his movements, let's just say that
  • 19:38 one of his movements would have been to be compressed inward and
  • 19:42 shoved down this hole where he found himself imprisoned for
  • 19:45 a season.
  • 19:47 Such is the tradition.
  • 19:49 Let's go down and see what we find when we go down into the
  • 19:51 jail that arguably housed Paul.
  • 19:54 ♪♪♪
  • 20:05 Jeffrey: It's hard to get comfortable down here, but then
  • 20:07 again it's not a hotel.
  • 20:09 The walls are pressing in on me.
  • 20:13 I feel like the ceiling's coming down.
  • 20:14 I'm a pretty tall guy anyway and I'm right up against it.
  • 20:17 This is arguably where Paul finished up and, as I'd said,
  • 20:20 it's not comfortable.
  • 20:22 It smells too.
  • 20:24 There's a cistern here where the prisoners could attend to
  • 20:26 their business.
  • 20:28 Must have been a horrible place to be.
  • 20:30 But Paul was no stranger to these environs, interestingly.
  • 20:33 In a world where people extol the virtues of a Christian life,
  • 20:37 how everything comes up roses when, you know, someone prays
  • 20:41 the sinner's prayer, for as much as that's advocated, I don't
  • 20:45 know that the church knows what to do in a place like this.
  • 20:48 Never mind this place for a moment, the Lord prepared Paul
  • 20:50 for this.
  • 20:51 This wasn't his first time when he was in difficult straits.
  • 20:54 He is autobiographical in his Corinthian correspondence,
  • 20:57 and I want you to look in 2 Corinthians chapter 11,
  • 21:00 verse 23, where he shares that he had "abundant labors."
  • 21:04 He says he was "in stripes often," and that's not to say
  • 21:07 he liked wearing stripes, as opposed to Paisley or whatever.
  • 21:10 It's that he was...he was beat so many times.
  • 21:13 His back, his legs, he would have been a mess.
  • 21:18 He says he was "in prisons more often and deaths often.
  • 21:22 Five times I received 40 stripes minus 1."
  • 21:25 He wasn't just whipped with a belt, but there were little
  • 21:27 shards at the end of that, shards to kind of tear into
  • 21:30 the skin, it was horrible.
  • 21:32 "Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned."
  • 21:36 People say, "Was Paul married?"
  • 21:38 I mean, who--at one level, he wasn't much to look at
  • 21:40 and touch.
  • 21:42 He was just living, moving scar tissue, if you will, a busted-up
  • 21:44 kind of fellow for all he'd been through.
  • 21:48 He says, "Three times I was shipwrecked."
  • 21:50 You know, as if all the imprisonment and torture wasn't
  • 21:52 bad enough.
  • 21:54 This guy had a rough go of it.
  • 21:56 But you know what?
  • 21:57 Difficulties notwithstanding, the grace of God sustained him
  • 22:00 and he was able to find a triumph in tragedy.
  • 22:04 ♪♪♪
  • 22:17 Jeffrey: Paul said that he learned to abound and he learned
  • 22:20 to be abased.
  • 22:21 He learned to get it both ways in life.
  • 22:23 Would that we learn that secret.
  • 22:26 Speaking to you from the dungeon where Paul is alleged to have
  • 22:29 finished, deep in the bowels of Rome, speaking from this place,
  • 22:35 let me remind you that there is a triumph that comes from
  • 22:39 tragedy and that's one of the lessons that we learn when we
  • 22:43 consider the life, when we walk in the footsteps of the rabbi
  • 22:47 from Tarsus and look at his life and look at his death.
  • 22:50 We learn there is something more important than life and more
  • 22:53 important than death.
  • 22:55 Here in the dungeon where Paul spent some of his last moments,
  • 23:00 there is a plaque here and it shows Paul in the orant posture.
  • 23:06 I've seen this orant posture with hands up and extended in
  • 23:10 the catacombs of Rome.
  • 23:12 It was the prayer posture in antiquity where people--it's
  • 23:16 indicative of surrender.
  • 23:18 And here, Paul was in something of a triumphant posture.
  • 23:21 Interestingly, he has chains on his hand and he's chained to
  • 23:24 this pillar here, arguably.
  • 23:26 But though he was chained circumstantially, he was a free
  • 23:30 man, free indeed.
  • 23:32 And the reason, of course, is because he who has the Son is
  • 23:35 free indeed.
  • 23:37 And Jesus was in this man's heart and he knew the truth and
  • 23:40 the truth did set him free.
  • 23:42 And Paul would soar like an eagle,
  • 23:44 difficulties notwithstanding.
  • 23:46 Would that we all learn that lesson.
  • 23:49 Would that we learned about the triumph that's made available,
  • 23:53 and the way someone comes to terms with that is they first
  • 23:56 realize that what shackles us in life isn't our circumstance.
  • 24:00 What shackles in life is our sin.
  • 24:03 And we can get free of that the same way Paul did, the same way
  • 24:06 people have been doing it before Paul and after, and that is by
  • 24:09 reaching up to God and out to the future and saying, "Lord,
  • 24:12 please forgive me for my sins," and then reaching out to the
  • 24:15 future with him and say, "Lord, I wanna walk with you in the
  • 24:18 newness of life.
  • 24:20 Please come into my heart and give me the Holy Spirit," and
  • 24:22 then we can get on with our business.
  • 24:25 You know, you can't soar like an eagle if you act like a turkey,
  • 24:27 and there are too many people running around going, "Gobble,
  • 24:29 gobble, gobble."
  • 24:31 Would that we learned what it is to triumph, what it is to soar.
  • 24:36 And so here we are now, midway through our treatment of Paul.
  • 24:43 We're looking at the footsteps of this rabbi from Tarsus.
  • 24:46 In the first six programs we've considered Paul's movements.
  • 24:51 And in the next six, we'll consider his parchments.
  • 24:54 We'll consider his writings.
  • 24:55 And I trust that with me you'll agree that Paul is a principal
  • 25:00 interpreter of the Jesus story, and by coming to terms with
  • 25:03 Paul, you can come to terms with Jesus.
  • 25:05 By coming to terms with Jesus, you can come to terms with life
  • 25:08 and experience the healing that's available to you in life
  • 25:11 by the one who gives new life.
  • 25:13 And this we learn the more so as we consider with Paul as we walk
  • 25:18 in the footsteps of the rabbi from Tarsus.
  • 25:21 ♪♪♪
  • 25:27 Kirsten: In the ancient world, Paul traveled so
  • 25:31 many miles.
  • 25:33 He covered a lot of territory and so did you in the filming of
  • 25:35 the series.
  • 25:37 Jeffrey: Yeah, but there was a difference.
  • 25:38 Paul's travels to Rome, he got a ticket courtesy of the empire.
  • 25:42 Caesar picked up the tab because he got jacked up by the police
  • 25:45 and he appealed to Caesar so he got a free ride, if you will.
  • 25:49 Kirsten: He did.
  • 25:51 Jeffrey: We don't at the end of the day and it's not just a
  • 25:53 question of a passage for me or you to get overseas that when we
  • 25:57 film these series, "In the Footsteps of Paul," we travel
  • 26:00 with a crew in tow and equipment, and that's just for
  • 26:04 the development of the program.
  • 26:06 Then once we get into the studio and do this, that adds expense
  • 26:10 but all that pales in comparison to the studio costs, to the
  • 26:15 network costs, to get it out there on TV.
  • 26:18 You know, Paul got where he was going courtesy of the empire.
  • 26:22 We get where we're going courtesy of your
  • 26:26 sacrificial giving.
  • 26:29 And the wonderful thing about giving, the Good Book says that
  • 26:32 when we give it's given back to us a hundredfold and God has a
  • 26:35 way of blessing personally.
  • 26:37 There's a promise associated with blessing the Jewish people
  • 26:40 in Genesis.
  • 26:41 God says, "I'll bless those who bless you."
  • 26:44 I want you to sow some seed into this ministry, not to bless me
  • 26:47 really, but to bless this story and other people as they
  • 26:51 experience the good news through the eyes of the Jews,
  • 26:54 in particular, here learning about Paul.
  • 26:57 It's a great story, isn't it?
  • 27:00 Kirsten: And we have so much more to bring you here on our
  • 27:02 program but also on social media.
  • 27:04 Please find us and follow us.
  • 27:06 But for now, would you close us out?
  • 27:08 Jeffrey: Yes, follow us, follow Paul and, as you go, shaalu
  • 27:12 shalom Yerushalayim.
  • 27:14 David: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
  • 27:17 announcer: Join us right now for additional content that is
  • 27:20 only available on our social media sites: Facebook, YouTube,
  • 27:23 and Twitter.
  • 27:25 Visit our website, levitt.com, for the current and past
  • 27:28 programs, the television schedule, tour information,
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  • 27:35 articles and news commentary.
  • 27:37 View it online or we can ship it directly to your mailbox
  • 27:40 every month.
  • 27:42 Also on our website is the online store.
  • 27:44 There, you can order this week's resource or you can always give
  • 27:48 us a call at 1-800-WONDERS.
  • 27:52 Your donations to "Our Jewish Roots" help us to support these
  • 27:55 organizations as they bless Israel.
  • 27:58 Please remember we depend on tax-deductible donations from
  • 28:01 viewers like you.
  • 28:04 ♪♪♪
  • 28:25 announcer: This has been a paid program brought to you
  • 28:27 by Zola Levitt Ministries.

Episodes in this series

  1. Persecutor to Advocate
  2. A Message for All Peoples
  3. Turbulent Journeys
  4. Road to Rome
  5. Galatians and Thessalonians
  6. Corinthians and Romans
  7. Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians
  8. Timothy and Titus

Guest organizations and links