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Caption transcript for Faith for the Future: “Not by Sight” (7/10)

• 00:01 ♪♪♪
• 00:03 male announcer: Welcome to "Our Jewish Roots."
• 00:06 ♪♪♪
• 00:12 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction
• 00:16 of things not seen.
• 00:18 For by it the men of old received divine approval.
• 00:22 For whatever was written in former days was written for our
• 00:25 instruction, that through endurance and through the
• 00:29 encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope."
• 00:36 Faith for the Future: Our Journey with the Patriarchs.
• 00:43 David Hart: Thank you so much for joining us today,
• 00:45 I am David Hart.
• 00:47 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
• 00:48 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: I am Jeffrey Seif, and I am reminded
• 00:50 of the saying, "A generation comes, a generation goes,
• 00:53 blessed be the name of the Lord."
• 00:55 Kirsten: Oh, that's good.
• 00:57 Well, it's Abraham's time has come and gone, and he's passing
• 01:00 the torch on to the new generation, isn't he?
• 01:02 Jeffrey: It happens. Kirsten: It does.
• 01:04 David: That's what this drama's all about.
• 01:05 Let's go there right now.
• 01:10 announcer: Isaac's father, Abraham, lived a long,
• 01:13 full life, and died at the age of 175.
• 01:17 And Abraham's sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried their father
• 01:22 in the cave of Machpelah, in the field that Abraham
• 01:25 had purchased from the Hittites.
• 01:28 It was here that Sarah had also been buried.
• 01:42 Years ago, God had spoken to Abraham about his two sons.
• 01:47 "As for Ishmael, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful
• 01:51 and will multiply him exceedingly.
• 01:54 Twelve princes shall he beget and I will make him
• 01:57 a great nation.
• 01:59 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, an everlasting
• 02:03 covenant, and with his seed after him."
• 02:15 Jeffrey: There are different expressions for death
• 02:17 in the Hebrew Bible.
• 02:20 On occasion we run into the expression
• 02:22 someone's lamp has gone out.
• 02:25 Another, it's said, that we're like water spilled on the ground
• 02:29 which cannot be gathered up again,
• 02:31 speaks of one's life being played out.
• 02:35 And in the case of Genesis chapter 25 verse 8,
• 02:39 we're told that "Abraham breathed his last."
• 02:44 Earlier in Genesis, we're told that God had breathed the breath
• 02:48 of life into Adam, "ruach," breath, and here we're told that
• 02:55 a famous man has breathed his last.
• 03:00 We're told as well that his body was interred in the cave
• 03:04 of Machpelah, it's an old word meaning double.
• 03:09 And there's a discussion in the Jewish world why that is.
• 03:12 Are there two rooms in the cave next to each other,
• 03:15 one on top of the other?
• 03:17 It's been debated, but one thing's for sure,
• 03:19 talk about double, is this is the very place where Sarah
• 03:23 was buried as well.
• 03:25 This, by the way, this particular cave in the Jewish
• 03:28 world is the second holiest site in the world.
• 03:35 The cave of Machpelah is in Hebron now in what's called the
• 03:38 Palestinian Territories in the West Bank.
• 03:42 But to be sure, Bible readers don't know so much about
• 03:45 West Bank and East Bank and this bank and that bank,
• 03:48 we know the Promised Land, and here's Abraham,
• 03:51 the father of the faith, who's buried in Eretz Kna'an,
• 03:55 the land of Israel, the land of Caanan,
• 03:57 along with his wife and others, very, very revered.
• 04:01 And the salinity of the moment here is even amply attested in
• 04:05 the literature, we're told, as you had seen in the drama,
• 04:08 that there is a peace between Ishmael and Isaac.
• 04:13 Now, tensions between them are going to flare,
• 04:17 and I think probably be overstated.
• 04:19 It's used to kind of analogize the tension between the Arab
• 04:22 peoples and the Hebrew peoples, but we don't see it here,
• 04:25 we see them coming together to bury their father.
• 04:30 And rightly they should, and it's interesting that funerals
• 04:33 are time when people come together.
• 04:36 They bury differences.
• 04:38 To be sure, Ishmael was given his land, his promise,
• 04:42 his blessings, similarly, Isaac was given his.
• 04:46 It's a big world, there's room for everybody in it
• 04:49 to my way of thinking.
• 04:52 We're told in verse 8, and again I'm looking in chapter 25, that
• 04:56 "Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age," 175,
• 05:02 that's a good old age.
• 05:04 There's an expression here that I like,
• 05:06 it says that he was "old and satisfied."
• 05:10 The Hebrew word [speaking Hebrew]
• 05:13 satisfied.
• 05:15 To die satisfied.
• 05:17 And I'd like to speak to that for a moment.
• 05:20 Not every aspect of his life was satisfying, it was wrought
• 05:24 with ups and downs and rounds and rounds,
• 05:26 as it is with human experience.
• 05:29 Abraham is called a Hebrew, Ivri, etymologically means
• 05:35 beyond the river.
• 05:37 He took a journey, he left Ur of Chaldees, modern Kuwait.
• 05:41 He wandered along the fertile crescent.
• 05:44 He came to Eretz Kna'an, the land of Caanan.
• 05:47 God visited him, God spoke to him.
• 05:50 Sometimes his fear spoke to him as well,
• 05:52 he took a detour in Egypt and got himself
• 05:55 and his wife in trouble and escaped that.
• 05:58 Not everything was perfect in his own life circumstances.
• 06:02 He was looking for a child, and he jumped the gun
• 06:05 with Hagar and Ishmael was born.
• 06:08 But then finally, in due course, Isaac was born.
• 06:13 I wouldn't say the guy's perfect, I don't know anyone who
• 06:16 is, and I know that his life was wrought with triumphs
• 06:20 and tragedies and tests.
• 06:22 Since I'm throwing out T words, you might recall that after
• 06:26 finally the child is born, that is Isaac, he was beckoned to go
• 06:30 to Moriah and sacrifice him.
• 06:32 Happily, however, God stopped him and said
• 06:35 he'd provide a sacrifice, and it wasn't Isaac,
• 06:38 but it certainly was a test.
• 06:40 This man had seen a lot of things,
• 06:41 but he went to his grave satisfied.
• 06:46 And wouldn't we all learn that secret, because so many people
• 06:51 don't go through life with a satisfied mind.
• 06:54 There's a kind of perennial discontent that people live
• 06:57 with, anxiety seems so much to characterize the spirit
• 07:01 of the age.
• 07:02 It's worthy to reflect on the question, particularly if we
• 07:05 look at faith for the future.
• 07:09 Does faith have a way of settling the soul, calming us,
• 07:14 enabling us to have a singular focus?
• 07:17 Sometimes fears and problems come out of the shadows,
• 07:21 and they're just phantoms.
• 07:25 Would that we learn the secret to look to the Lord
• 07:28 as our guiding light.
• 07:32 People remember death, and I'm glad they do.
• 07:34 I know in the Jewish world there's a service annually.
• 07:38 I was in England a few weeks ago, and my sisters called
• 07:41 and got together.
• 07:42 We had a yahrzeit service to remember our mother.
• 07:45 In the Jewish world, on the anniversary of the death, we do
• 07:48 that, and everyone went around, you know, the children,
• 07:53 grandchildren, and we said something about Mom
• 07:55 that we remembered.
• 07:57 It's good to do that, but not only remember the dead and
• 08:02 commendable things associated with them, but to remember
• 08:05 the principles of life that led them.
• 08:08 That's the issue here, and certainly Abraham
• 08:11 is the father of faith.
• 08:13 In this series, we're exploring faith.
• 08:17 Faith is a flashlight that dispels the darkness.
• 08:20 And as we're looking at the place where he was laid to rest,
• 08:24 would you enter into his experience of the secret to have
• 08:28 rest, that is rest of the soul, and realize that it comes by
• 08:32 walking by faith, faith in Israel's Messiah, particularly.
• 08:40 The Newer Testament helps us understand that Jews and
• 08:42 Gentiles alike, through faith, are all heirs of Abraham.
• 08:47 And so it is we're celebrating the father of us all,
• 08:51 who gave a life, who walked, who walked by faith,
• 08:55 who had faith in God for his future.
• 08:59 ♪♪♪
• 09:06 announcer: The Dead Sea, referred to in the Bible as the
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• 09:42 male announcer: "Our Jewish Roots" is more than just
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• 10:06 female announcer: Or find everything on our website,
• 10:08 Levitt.com.
• 10:10 male announcer: We invite you to keep in touch
• 10:11 and join us on social media.
• 10:16 David: I'd like to give a little shoutout today
• 10:18 to our son, Ryan Hart, who lived and worked in Jerusalem
• 10:23 for three years.
• 10:24 It changed his life, it changed our lives from going,
• 10:27 we've been ten times now, it can change your life.
• 10:31 We would love for you to join us on a tour to Israel.
• 10:33 We go both in the fall and the spring.
• 10:35 You can find all the information on Levitt.com.
• 10:38 Kirsten: Come with us, it'll change your life.
• 10:39 David: Yes.
• 10:41 Jeffrey: I know a lot of workers in Israel
• 10:42 and around the world, and the reason why they work
• 10:44 is because God's people send them.
• 10:47 That's particularly true of ministry in general.
• 10:50 In this ministry in particular, we wanna be your agent.
• 10:55 We get into homes, heads, and hearts all over the world.
• 10:58 We don't necessarily know who those people are, they write us,
• 11:02 sometimes when people are mad, but we get people writing us and
• 11:05 talking about decisions they've made for the Lord because of us.
• 11:08 Well, not us really, I would say it's because of you, and I
• 11:13 mention that because the reason why we do what we do
• 11:16 is because you enable us to do it.
• 11:18 Please, if you find value in what we do, demonstrate that
• 11:23 in a way that helps us to do it, please.
• 11:26 Our PO box comes up, there's different ways to give.
• 11:29 We don't ask for it often, but I'm asking for it now.
• 11:32 Please, and I'm asking believing that God rewards abundantly
• 11:37 those who sow abundantly into his kingdom.
• 11:40 Kirsten: And abundantly is something we describe in the
• 11:44 giving, but it's also what we give to you, and Dr. Barri Seif
• 11:48 has abundantly blessed us throughout this whole series
• 11:51 with our insight and wisdom.
• 11:53 We're gonna hear from her in a minute.
• 11:55 But first, let's jump into the lives of Isaac and Rebecca,
• 11:58 and see some parenting issues that they're walking through.
• 12:04 ♪♪♪
• 13:08 Dr. Barri Seif: William Cowper wrote, "God works
• 13:11 in mysterious ways his wonders to perform."
• 13:15 This is a mystery.
• 13:17 This is one of those mysteries in Scripture
• 13:20 that I really don't understand.
• 13:23 How did we have the Worldwide Wrestling Federation in the
• 13:29 womb, in Rebecca's womb?
• 13:32 Womb in Hebrew is "rekhem," it's a safe place,
• 13:36 but there was no safety in this womb, was there?
• 13:40 There was a battle between Jacob and Esau.
• 13:44 Now, I've never had children, I've seen babies move around in
• 13:49 their mommy's tummies, but I cannot imagine what it would be
• 13:53 like for one to be wrestling with itself,
• 13:57 let alone both of them.
• 13:59 And they wrestled throughout their entire lives.
• 14:04 I don't understand God's mystery here.
• 14:07 I've had brothers, and they've beat up on each other,
• 14:11 we used to all have sibling rivalry,
• 14:13 but we all get along now.
• 14:16 But with Jacob and Esau, the difficulty and the fighting
• 14:20 and the jealously, we know at the end of the story it works
• 14:25 out well, but right now, it's a challenge.
• 14:29 However, 1 Samuel 16:7 says man doesn't see as God sees.
• 14:36 Man sees with the outer, but God sees with the heart,
• 14:40 and God even knows how to view within the womb.
• 14:45 And there's a mystery of that word "womb," "rekhem."
• 14:50 It comes from the word "rachamim," God's mercies.
• 14:55 God's mercies are new every day.
• 14:57 Great is his faithfulness.
• 14:59 When we don't understand the mystery of God's ways,
• 15:03 we can trust his heart.
• 15:07 David: I mentioned our son, Ryan, earlier in this program.
• 15:10 He has an older brother, and I believe that they
• 15:13 were buddies since birth.
• 15:16 Like, maybe things that we don't know about, but we had it pretty
• 15:20 made as parents with our children growing up.
• 15:23 They got along with each other.
• 15:24 Kirsten: They didn't fight, but these two, Jacob and Esau
• 15:28 just kind of--there were some problems.
• 15:29 Jeffrey: Well, I raised a Jacob and a Zack, and on
• 15:32 occasion, we banged a little head, so it happens.
• 15:34 Kirsten: And I think that's part of brothers.
• 15:36 They do that, but it's interesting, because Barri was
• 15:39 speaking about the fact that they even wrestled in the womb.
• 15:43 There was just something going on in there already that was
• 15:47 happening before they came out.
• 15:49 Jeffrey: It's going on in there and it's happening today.
• 15:52 Kirsten: That's right, and for a meal, that must have been
• 15:55 really good stew, right?
• 15:57 Because Esau sold his birthright for some stew.
• 16:00 Jeffrey: That's true, not a very commendable guy that's
• 16:03 bested by his appetites and throwing away things
• 16:06 that have divine origin.
• 16:07 Kirsten: Very interesting part of the story.
• 16:10 David: That story right now we continue our drama with Jacob
• 16:12 and Esau, grown men, as they have yet another encounter.
• 16:21 male announcer: And the sons of Isaac grew.
• 16:24 Esau became a cunning hunter, a man of the field,
• 16:30 while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
• 16:34 One day, Esau came from the field and was weak from hunger.
• 16:55 [Esau laughing]
• 17:09 ♪♪♪
• 17:24 ♪♪♪
• 17:34 Jeffrey: It has been said that faith is the key that opens
• 17:40 the door to the future.
• 17:43 In this series, we've been looking at faith for the future.
• 17:48 But what I'd like to do in this particular segment is to look
• 17:51 at the very antitheses of that, the very opposite.
• 17:56 That is to say I'm less interested in faith for the
• 18:00 future much as I am interested in looking at future fatigue.
• 18:07 By that I mean that not wanting to look ahead with faith
• 18:09 to the future, but to live for the very moment.
• 18:15 This is a recipe for disaster, and I know that because when I
• 18:19 look in Genesis chapter 25, I see an example of that.
• 18:26 The story here is played out amongst sibling rivals,
• 18:30 Jacob and Esau.
• 18:33 Esau arguably had the birthright in his possession.
• 18:37 In Hebrew it's called "bekorah,"
• 18:40 and it harks like the term birthright.
• 18:43 It harks to the right of birth.
• 18:46 In antiquity, you have a primogenitive system where those
• 18:49 with the first right have a certain share of inheritance
• 18:53 that comes later, but as we see here in the literature, this man
• 18:58 didn't have time for later, he's very fatigued,
• 19:02 and he only cares about the moment.
• 19:05 We're told in Genesis chapter 25 verse 27, these boys grew up,
• 19:10 Esau and Jacob.
• 19:12 Esau was very much a man of the field.
• 19:15 Jacob was much more reflective.
• 19:18 Esau was much more sensual.
• 19:23 He has needs and interests, and they have to be satisfied now.
• 19:28 I mention that because we're told in verse 29 that Jacob made
• 19:32 a stew, and he was very close to his mother.
• 19:35 Esau knew how to kill an animal, Jacob knew what to do with it.
• 19:39 He made a stew, and when Esau comes in from the field,
• 19:43 goodness, he is famished, and he says to Jacob, "Give me some
• 19:48 of that really good stuff, because I am exhausted."
• 19:53 I get that, I've been there, I've been hungry.
• 19:58 Jacob says in verse 31, "Give me the birthright."
• 20:04 The "bekorah," and as I'd mentioned, in antiquity, this
• 20:10 harks to certain privileges that accrue to the person later.
• 20:15 But this person doesn't have time for later, they're just
• 20:18 living for the moment, their senses.
• 20:21 There's a need, they need to fulfill it,
• 20:24 and they need to fulfill it now.
• 20:27 There's no patience, there's no discipline,
• 20:30 there's no reaching into the future, all there is is now.
• 20:33 Esau's hungry, and he says, "Look, of what use is this
• 20:39 birthright to me," what benefit?
• 20:44 Well, I mean, it's a stupid question.
• 20:46 There's a lot of benefits to it, but the point is, he is so
• 20:51 attached to the moment, he's unable to look into the future.
• 20:57 Now, think of this for a moment, please.
• 21:00 This series is called "Faith for the Future," and as I'd
• 21:05 mentioned at the outset of this segment, this is an example that
• 21:10 someone doesn't have the aptitude to look to the future.
• 21:14 His life is characterized by a lack of faith, faithlessness.
• 21:19 He's sensual, all he wants to do is satisfy the very moment.
• 21:24 Friends, this is a recipe for disaster.
• 21:26 You'll get nowhere in life with this.
• 21:29 Jesus is on record in the gospel later on in the 10th chapter
• 21:33 verse 9, saying, "I am the door, and if anyone enters by me,
• 21:38 they will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."
• 21:42 He gives voice to the fact there's a doorway you enter into
• 21:46 by faith in him, and by virtue of one so doing, they go in
• 21:51 and out and find pasture.
• 21:54 It's futuristic, "I am the door.
• 21:57 You go through me and then you will find salvation,"
• 22:01 "sozo" in Greek, wholeness, healness, resources,
• 22:06 that's what's at play in the text.
• 22:08 It's just not being saved as in the soul being saved,
• 22:11 it's wholeness and restoration as in life being salvaged,
• 22:16 both on this side of the grave and to be sure the next.
• 22:21 And what's the key to it?
• 22:23 Well, it's the same key in Genesis as it is in John,
• 22:27 and that is faith.
• 22:29 In the Gospel of John, it's faith in Jesus, and here it's
• 22:33 faith in God who has spoken to Abraham and to his descendants
• 22:38 saying there's a blessing, there's a future, there's
• 22:41 something out there, but here's a man that doesn't have
• 22:43 a mind for it, because all he wants to do is satisfy
• 22:48 his momentary impulses.
• 22:51 We all have impulses, but I want to encourage you to marshal your
• 22:54 resources and look beyond the moment into the future.
• 22:59 That is so very important to have success in life.
• 23:03 There's so much out there.
• 23:04 In Scripture, we're told lift up our heads, look into the future.
• 23:08 Elsewhere in the Bible, here in Genesis, lift up your feet, go,
• 23:13 move, there's so much out there in the future,
• 23:16 but you never find it if you're just trapped in the body,
• 23:21 satisfying the desires of body and mind.
• 23:25 We all have those desires, let's take pains to see to it that
• 23:29 they don't rule over us, but rather let's walk by faith and
• 23:33 not by sight, and then find good success out there in the future.
• 23:39 ♪♪♪
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• 24:34 Kirsten: As a mom of two boys, actually they're grown men
• 24:38 now, I kind of would get mad at the thought that Jacob did
• 24:43 something sneaky to his brother.
• 24:47 But Jacob was planning for his future, wasn't he?
• 24:50 He was looking ahead, and Esau looked at the immediate.
• 24:54 Jeffrey: Esau is criticized by the rabbis for just living
• 24:57 for the here and now, no spiritual interests,
• 25:00 no thinking beyond the moment.
• 25:02 That's judged to be a real character flaw.
• 25:05 Kirsten: Even though Jacob was being sneaky, and I look at
• 25:08 Rebecca, I'm like, how could you put one brother
• 25:11 against the other?
• 25:13 Jeffrey: Listen, that old boy was con artist, that's a fact,
• 25:16 and he got out conned.
• 25:18 You know, God has a way of helping us to polish off
• 25:20 the rough edges, and he was a con artist.
• 25:23 He went away to Paddan Aram, Syria.
• 25:25 He got conned by Laban, his father-in-law,
• 25:28 and so he was humbled, he was beat at the game.
• 25:31 Kirsten: You're right, and that's coming up.
• 25:33 That story is coming up.
• 25:34 We have more to all of this in the next coming weeks,
• 25:37 but it's interesting, isn't it?
• 25:39 David: And there was something that you said
• 25:40 in your teaching in this program, lift up your?
• 25:42 Jeffrey: Feet.
• 25:44 David: And walk by? Jeffrey: Faith.
• 25:45 David: Faith, I love that.
• 25:47 Jeffrey: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's important.
• 25:48 You gotta get-the New Testament author talks about lifting
• 25:50 your drooping hands.
• 25:52 I mean, the Bible encourages us to get up and get going.
• 25:54 Kirsten: And Jacob did that. He saw where he wanted to go.
• 25:58 God had to deal with him some, and we'll see that Laban kind
• 26:01 of had to teach him a lesson or two also, but he was
• 26:05 looking forward, forward into the future.
• 26:07 Jeffrey: Yes, that old boy got beat up by life.
• 26:09 He had it coming.
• 26:11 And we all get beat up a little, because no one's perfect.
• 26:13 Kirsten: We have more of this fascinating story to bring
• 26:15 to you next week, until then...
• 26:18 David: We end our program with...
• 26:20 Jeffrey: Shaalu shalom Yerushalayim.
• 26:22 David: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
• 26:25 ♪♪♪
• 26:28 ♪ Jerusalem, my home ♪
• 26:33 ♪ Jerusalem, my home ♪
• 26:38 ♪ A thousand years, a thousand years ♪
• 26:43 ♪ Jerusalem, my home ♪
• 26:48 ♪ Jerusalem, my love ♪
• 26:52 ♪ Jerusalem, my love ♪
• 26:57 ♪ A thousand years, a thousand years ♪
• 27:02 ♪ Jerusalem, my love ♪
• 27:07 ♪♪♪
• 27:15 ♪ And then Jerusalem ♪
• 27:20 ♪ you'll see Baruch HaShem ♪
• 27:24 ♪ A thousand years, a thousand years ♪
• 27:29 ♪ you'll see Baruch HaShem ♪
• 27:34 ♪ Your king who came before ♪
• 27:39 ♪ your king forevermore ♪
• 27:44 ♪ A thousand years, a thousand years ♪
• 27:48 ♪ your king forevermore ♪
• 27:57 ♪ Forevermore ♪♪
• 28:04 ♪♪♪
• 28:14 ♪♪♪
• 28:19 ♪♪♪
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