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: “Livelihood”
In the Galilee region in the first century, fishing was the main source of livelihood. See how Peter, James and John went about it and learn about the disciples: twelve imperfect, ordinary Jewish tradesmen chosen to witness firsthand the beginning of the redemption of all mankind.
Series: “The First Christians (2019)”
The Life and Times of Those Who First Believed in Jesus
Originally produced in 1995, The First Christians series explores the background of the customs and manners of Jesus’ day, unearthing the Jewish roots of Christianity. God chose this one people to speak to all humanity for all time. This nine program series seeks to better understand the people with whom He chose to reside on earth. From the studio, David and Kirsten Hart talk with Dr. Jeffrey Seif about the importance and modern applications for each program.

Caption transcript for The First Christians (2019): “Livelihood” (3/9)

  • 00:00 Jeffrey Seif: We all have
  • 00:03 bills to pay, don't we? Bummer on that.
  • 00:05 They did in century 1, as well, and in this program we're gonna
  • 00:08 see how they did it.
  • 00:11 Coming to you with "Zola Levitt Presents."
  • 00:14 ♪♪♪
  • 00:21 male announcer: "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God
  • 00:24 for Israel is that they might be saved.
  • 00:28 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek:
  • 00:31 for the same Lord over all is rich unto all
  • 00:34 that call upon him."
  • 00:36 "Zola Levitt Presents."
  • 00:38 ♪♪♪
  • 00:46 David Hart: Thank you for joining us today on
  • 00:48 "Zola Levitt Presents."
  • 00:49 I'm David Hart.
  • 00:50 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
  • 00:52 Jeffrey: I'm Jeffrey Seif, and you're going to see today
  • 00:54 that there is something fishy going on in century 1.
  • 00:57 Kirsten: Okay, you win with that one.
  • 00:59 Jeffrey: That was stupid, but it gets it moving.
  • 01:01 David: They had to work back in the day.
  • 01:03 Jeffrey: Gotta make a living.
  • 01:04 Kirsten: As we do, and it's all about--today
  • 01:06 is all about livelihoods.
  • 01:08 What was the work like?
  • 01:09 What were the jobs in the 1st century?
  • 01:11 And to learn more about that we're going to learn what it was
  • 01:15 like to be a fisherman back in Jesus's day.
  • 01:19 Let's go to Israel.
  • 01:22 male: The Jewish fishermen on the Sea of Galilee for thousands
  • 01:25 of years of making their living through the ancient art of
  • 01:28 throwing the cast net, setting out the trammel
  • 01:32 nets, the dragnets.
  • 01:35 Mendel Nun in his research has taken the gospel and its
  • 01:38 references to nets and fishing and brought it to life in
  • 01:42 day-to-day terms with his knowledge of the Sea of Galilee,
  • 01:46 the types of fishing methods used through the years,
  • 01:49 the types of fish to be caught, the storms,
  • 01:52 the weather conditions on the Sea of Galilee.
  • 01:56 When Jesus came down from Nazareth and found the
  • 01:58 fishing village of Capernaum, or Kfar Nahum,
  • 02:00 he found a group of fishermen at a place called Tabgha,
  • 02:03 which was the fishing grounds of the people of Capernaum.
  • 02:08 And as Yoel today is throwing his cast net more or less in the
  • 02:12 same manner, using the same kind of fishing net made from the
  • 02:16 same materials that were made by that 1st century fisherman,
  • 02:20 so did they make their living.
  • 02:22 The net we see here in front of us is the--is an exact replica
  • 02:26 of the nets used by the 1st-century fisherman.
  • 02:32 The cast net was weighted down by stones that had been drilled
  • 02:39 to become sinkers.
  • 02:41 Even in the 1st century the more advanced fishermen at that time
  • 02:46 had lead sinkers, but the Sea of Galilee fishermen were poor,
  • 02:51 and it was easier for them to get stone sinkers.
  • 02:54 There is different kinds of nets for the
  • 02:57 different kinds of fishes.
  • 02:59 The fishing industry of the 1st century based its livelihood on
  • 03:03 seasonal fishing, different types of fish.
  • 03:06 The sardines, the fresh-water, Sea-of-Galilee
  • 03:10 sardines in the winter.
  • 03:12 The St. Peter's fish, which is attracted to the hot springs at
  • 03:16 the fishing grounds of Tabgha, and the different fish that are
  • 03:20 related to as good fish and bad fish.
  • 03:24 Being Jewish fishermen, any fish that wasn't kosher was a bad
  • 03:28 fish and as they brought in their catch and separated the
  • 03:32 good from the bad we know what they're talking about.
  • 03:35 We know they're talking about catfish as the bad fish and the
  • 03:37 good fish as the St. Peter's fish, the sardines, the binit.
  • 03:42 Well, it looks like the 20th-century fisherman
  • 03:45 is--has his good days and his bad days, as
  • 03:47 did the 1st-century fisherman.
  • 03:49 Not only on using the cast nets did they make their living,
  • 03:53 but also fish from boats.
  • 03:54 We'll go on now and see a replica of a 1st-century boat.
  • 03:58 ♪♪♪
  • 04:08 male: We've got a nice northwesterly breeze.
  • 04:10 If I were in Capernaum, or Kfar Nahum,
  • 04:14 that breeze would take me right here to Ein Gev.
  • 04:18 If I use the oar to steer a bit I could end up at Kursi,
  • 04:20 at Kursi where the miracle of the swines,
  • 04:24 the demon, the man possessed.
  • 04:26 They happened on Kursi because there were
  • 04:29 great fishing grounds there.
  • 04:32 When we reach our fishing grounds we'd have
  • 04:34 to throw the anchor.
  • 04:36 The anchor is a basalt stone with a drilled hole in it,
  • 04:40 much like the sinkers we saw on the nets before.
  • 04:42 You could come up with a load of fish and then against the wind
  • 04:48 have to roll back, taking turns sleeping under the stern.
  • 04:51 It doesn't look comfortable now, but if you're rowing all day
  • 04:53 it's great to sleep down there and keep warm.
  • 04:55 If a storm should come up it'd be the place to be.
  • 04:59 This boat is a replica of--replica of a boat,
  • 05:03 an authentic replica, which was probably built in a place called
  • 05:08 Magdala, which is right behind me,
  • 05:11 the industrial center of the fishing community
  • 05:14 of the Sea of Galilee.
  • 05:16 There they would preserve fish, build the boats.
  • 05:19 The boat of the 1st century was made of cedar from Lebanon with
  • 05:25 local oak as the ribs.
  • 05:29 The boat itself was cedar.
  • 05:30 The ribs inside were local oak.
  • 05:33 The cedar was put together, handmade with wood dowels.
  • 05:36 There were iron nails used to put the ribs to the boat itself.
  • 05:41 In Mendel Nun's museum at Ein Gev we can find authentic
  • 05:46 nails from that period.
  • 05:48 We're talking thousands of years of Jewish fishing on the Sea of
  • 05:52 Galilee from the 1st century, from the time of Jesus,
  • 05:55 up to the time when Mendel Nun was a fisherman himself
  • 05:59 on the Sea of Galilee.
  • 06:00 The tradition has been kept alive.
  • 06:02 This authentic replica in the authentic place,
  • 06:08 it all happened here on the Sea of Galilee
  • 06:11 nearly 2,000 years ago.
  • 06:20 Zola Levitt: Fishing was always a staple employment in Israel.
  • 06:24 Israel has four seas.
  • 06:26 It has a coast on the Mediterranean,
  • 06:28 which, of course, is invariably an ocean full of fish.
  • 06:31 There is the Sea of Galilee in the north,
  • 06:34 a freshwater lake with its own freshwater fish.
  • 06:37 There is the Red Sea coming up to the south of Israel and--
  • 06:40 in the bottom of the Negev Desert, and it
  • 06:44 is teeming with fish.
  • 06:46 The Dead Sea is the fourth, and it has nothing in it alive,
  • 06:50 but people mine the minerals.
  • 06:53 They have had to make boats that can withstand the water out
  • 06:57 there and, that has been an industry,
  • 06:59 too, all through the ages.
  • 07:01 Early on, people who lived around water discovered clay and
  • 07:05 how to use it, and so pottery has been an employment in
  • 07:10 Israel, and the potter's wheel, something from ancient times,
  • 07:15 still in use today in some places and doing
  • 07:18 a very good job.
  • 07:20 You know, the employment of people in the
  • 07:21 Scriptures is no accident.
  • 07:23 Peter the great fishermen, so called,
  • 07:27 was--of course, when the Lord found him was made a fisher of
  • 07:30 men, and he is the great evangelist.
  • 07:33 You recall the Lord saying to the prospective
  • 07:36 disciples, "Follow me.
  • 07:38 I'll make you fishers of men."
  • 07:39 The patriarchs, for their part, were shepherds.
  • 07:43 They founded a flock and bred it and cared for it and fed it and
  • 07:47 started off a flock called the chosen people.
  • 07:50 King David also in his time was a shepherd.
  • 07:54 Paul was the great church builder.
  • 07:57 He went around founding churches and starting them out.
  • 08:00 He was a tentmaker.
  • 08:02 The original church, so to speak,
  • 08:04 was the tabernacle, a tent, that they carried with them in the
  • 08:07 wilderness, so Paul the tentmaker was the
  • 08:09 maker of churches.
  • 08:10 And David, too, to give him his due,
  • 08:14 was a poet and a musician, and so that talent of his was taken
  • 08:20 when he composed the psalms.
  • 08:22 Some called them the mightiest of David's mighty works.
  • 08:27 The idea of the employment of people of the Bible,
  • 08:30 particularly the disciples, was brought out by the great senate
  • 08:34 chaplain, Peter Marshall.
  • 08:36 Back in the '40s, he gave a sermon so wonderful that it is
  • 08:41 reproduced in the book "A Man Called Peter," which is just a
  • 08:44 wonderful classic of Christian reading.
  • 08:47 And he made this very point: that the disciples were ordinary
  • 08:53 men who labored for a living.
  • 08:55 He pretends that we are a committee going to choose people
  • 08:59 to be disciples, and he talks about, let's say, Peter first.
  • 09:03 "Here comes the first candidate.
  • 09:05 He's just come up from the beach.
  • 09:07 His fishing boat drawn up on the pebbled shore has worn seats,
  • 09:11 patched sails, and the high rudder that is characteristic
  • 09:15 of Galilean fishing craft."
  • 09:17 And he goes on, "His hands are rough, though.
  • 09:19 His robe is rough. He smells of fish."
  • 09:22 He says, "He's an uncouth person--not at all refined,
  • 09:24 or cultured, or educated.
  • 09:26 Blustering, blundering, clumsy, impulsive."
  • 09:30 He says he's getting to be middle-aged.
  • 09:33 His ideas will be hard to change.
  • 09:34 "He is a rough man, and he has lived a rough life.
  • 09:38 When provoked he's liable to burst into profanity,
  • 09:41 and his vocabulary is lurid."
  • 09:43 Can you imagine this big fisherman
  • 09:46 as a disciple of Jesus?
  • 09:48 He would not be your choice, would he?
  • 09:50 No, we'd better send Simon back to his nets and the point of
  • 09:56 this brilliant preacher is none of these disciples seem
  • 09:59 to qualify to be disciples.
  • 10:02 They were just rough-hewn, working men.
  • 10:04 We would never choose them, and he's gonna make that point,
  • 10:06 and then, of course, at the end he's gonna show how the
  • 10:08 Lord makes useful things out of plain material.
  • 10:12 "The next candidates are brothers; they come in together.
  • 10:15 They, too, like Simon Peter, are fishermen.
  • 10:18 They come from the same village, from the same colony of rough,
  • 10:21 strong men who work with their hands for a living.
  • 10:24 But you are not going to hold that against them, are you?
  • 10:27 Let no social snobbishness sway your judgment.
  • 10:30 Remember, the Lord himself was a carpenter.
  • 10:32 There is no shame in manual labor and would it not be to a
  • 10:36 preacher's advantage to know what it is to do manual labor?
  • 10:39 Would it not be excellent preparation for the ministry?"
  • 10:43 And he talks about the sons of thunder.
  • 10:46 "These two men are looking at you.
  • 10:48 Their eyes are steady, accustomed to far distances.
  • 10:51 They are good weather prophets.
  • 10:53 A glance at the sky and a look at the lake,
  • 10:55 and they can tell you what is brewing.
  • 10:56 They know the signs of the sudden squalls that whistle
  • 10:59 through the mountain passes and come screaming down to
  • 11:02 make the water dangerous.
  • 11:04 But it is chiefly their attitude that irritates the others.
  • 11:07 They are not modest men.
  • 11:09 They are boastful and through capped hands they like to shout
  • 11:13 taunts to the other fishermen handing in their nets.
  • 11:16 They have earned for themselves the nickname 'the sons of
  • 11:19 thunder,' because they're always rumbling about something."
  • 11:23 And he goes on to conclude that they would
  • 11:27 not be our choice, either.
  • 11:29 "If we took time to hear the testimony from people who
  • 11:32 know them, our verdict would be unanimous.
  • 11:34 That James and John would simply not do."
  • 11:38 And as he goes on he stresses that because these people work
  • 11:43 for a living, because they cuss, they spit,
  • 11:47 their hands are rough-hewn and so on,
  • 11:50 we wouldn't choose them for the ministry.
  • 11:53 We would be wrong, obviously.
  • 11:55 Now, as the thing goes on we begin to realize God has always
  • 12:00 as a principle taken the plain people.
  • 12:03 With Abraham, he chose just a pagan worshiper or the son of a
  • 12:07 pagan worshiper from Ur to go to Canaan and
  • 12:10 begin the chosen people.
  • 12:12 When he reached for people like Moses and Gideon,
  • 12:17 gosh, Moses said, "I'm not a leader of people,
  • 12:20 and I stammer when I speak.
  • 12:22 I'm not a good choice for this mission."
  • 12:24 Gideon put out the fleece, you know, just wasn't sure.
  • 12:29 He hesitated and hesitated.
  • 12:31 Scripture is full of people--was not the prophet Elijah out in
  • 12:35 the desert afraid of Jezebel and crying to the Lord,
  • 12:38 "There's none left that believe but me and
  • 12:42 now they're coming after me"?
  • 12:44 And that's when God reassured him,
  • 12:46 "No, no, there are 7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal."
  • 12:49 He had an exact count of the believers.
  • 12:51 Straight on through, the Bible is an example
  • 12:53 of the Lord taking up clay.
  • 12:57 Not gold, not precious stones, not silver,
  • 13:00 but plain earth with which he makes useful things.
  • 13:04 2 Corinthians 4 beautifully characterizes the believers as
  • 13:09 creatures made like earthen vessels, with a treasure within.
  • 13:15 Back after this.
  • 13:18 ♪♪♪
  • 13:28 announcer: Our resource this week,
  • 13:30 the "Hebrew Names of God" cards.
  • 13:32 This collection includes 12 vibrant,
  • 13:35 high-quality art cards, each with Old and New Testament
  • 13:38 connections on the back, with Scripture and beautifully
  • 13:41 written devotionals.
  • 13:43 These art cards can be used for personal reflection group
  • 13:46 discussion, or as a beautiful gift for your friend or pastor.
  • 13:50 For this resource and more call 1-800-WONDERS,
  • 13:55 or visit us at levitt.com.
  • 13:59 announcer: For insightful perspectives on Israel and Bible
  • 14:02 prophecy ask for our free monthly newsletter,
  • 14:06 "The Levitt Letter."
  • 14:07 At levitt.com you can read the newsletter,
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  • 14:18 Come with us on a tour of Israel or Petra or a cruise
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  • 14:24 Please contact us for more information.
  • 14:29 David: On our program we love bringing you footage from one of
  • 14:32 my favorite places in Israel.
  • 14:34 I think it might be yours, too.
  • 14:35 I'm not sure, the Sea of Galilee.
  • 14:37 It's beautiful. It's blooming.
  • 14:39 One of the things we love to do is get on what's called the
  • 14:42 Jesus boat and there we will lead you in worship.
  • 14:45 Actually, what we're talking about today is fishermen.
  • 14:48 This is, kind of, a replica of what it was
  • 14:51 like back in that day in that boat.
  • 14:53 Join us.
  • 14:54 Kirsten: Spring and fall. We go two times a year.
  • 14:55 We'd also just like to take a little break from our program
  • 14:57 to tell you thank you for supporting all the ministries
  • 15:02 that we support, for seeing the value of "Zola Levitt Presents."
  • 15:07 You make all of this possible, and we just--we
  • 15:10 thank you so much for that.
  • 15:11 David: Thank you.
  • 15:12 Right now let's go back to Zola's teaching on location.
  • 15:18 Zola: Well, Peter Marshall goes on,
  • 15:19 "I am sure you would not argue with me if I suggested that
  • 15:23 these men had more influence on the course of human history than
  • 15:28 of any other dozen men who ever lived."
  • 15:31 After he makes the point that none of them seemed really
  • 15:34 adequate for the task, and they didn't seem adequate even when
  • 15:38 the Lord left them, you know?
  • 15:39 They had little faith at the end.
  • 15:43 After all, Peter denied him and so forth.
  • 15:45 He goes on, "Philip looks before he leaps;
  • 15:50 Peter leaps before he looks.
  • 15:51 Thomas was a dogged unbeliever until the last minute.
  • 15:54 Judas sought regeneration through revolution,
  • 15:57 instead of revolution through regeneration.
  • 16:01 James and John wanted to get rid of people who differed with
  • 16:04 them, instead of getting rid of the differences so they could
  • 16:07 get the people.
  • 16:08 Had you and I been members of any investigating committee,
  • 16:12 we would have rejected every one of them.
  • 16:14 Yet Jesus chose them, why?
  • 16:18 Mark tells us in his gospel that Jesus chose them," quote,
  • 16:22 "'That they should be with him and that he might
  • 16:26 send them forth to preach.'"
  • 16:28 That's why he chooses every one of us, to tell you the truth.
  • 16:31 Every one of us isn't a preacher.
  • 16:33 I'm not a preacher.
  • 16:35 Some people preach eloquently, like Peter Marshall,
  • 16:38 and some almost stammer and some can talk fluently about the Lord
  • 16:42 but really aren't made for pulpits.
  • 16:44 Every one of us, though, can give out eternal life.
  • 16:48 A little child in the Christian church can pass eternal life out
  • 16:51 to dozens of adults, and that is what he sent us forth to do.
  • 16:57 I always think of the Scripture we use with our tour brochures,
  • 17:00 Matthew 10:5, 6, 7, in there where he tells 'em to go on to
  • 17:06 the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
  • 17:08 "And as ye go preach, saying, 'The kingdom
  • 17:12 of heaven is at hand.'"
  • 17:13 If we only said that much, however the unbeliever
  • 17:17 reacts, we would at least say the gospel.
  • 17:21 "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," and that should make
  • 17:24 people curious to know how to become a member.
  • 17:28 Well, back to the workday life.
  • 17:30 We all have some employment and the employments of the Bible
  • 17:35 people, as we pointed out, were significant to their task.
  • 17:38 Many other employments are mentioned.
  • 17:40 Among the disciples, of course, are various trades and so on.
  • 17:46 They were all tradesmen.
  • 17:47 Agriculture was important.
  • 17:49 Any one of these men could have at least assisted on
  • 17:51 a farm or ranch in Galilee.
  • 17:54 There are plenty there today and the Scripture from start
  • 17:57 to finish is full of farming analogies and parables.
  • 18:01 The Lord used them all the time: the sower of the seed,
  • 18:04 the planter of a field, and so on.
  • 18:06 Dye making is mentioned in the New Testament and the dying
  • 18:11 of fabrics important.
  • 18:14 These fabrics which we copy from the New Testament robes
  • 18:17 are obviously dyed fabrics.
  • 18:21 Publicans, people that collected taxes.
  • 18:24 Matthew was one of them, you know?
  • 18:27 It's often criticized Matthew was hated by the people.
  • 18:31 I think this is rather overdone.
  • 18:33 We don't actually hate the tax collector, I suppose.
  • 18:35 He's a necessity, although it's not like being an IRS agent to
  • 18:43 do what Matthew did, because Matthew worked
  • 18:45 for an occupying government.
  • 18:47 Still somebody had to collect taxes.
  • 18:49 The Romans didn't wanna go themselves for obvious reasons,
  • 18:52 and so they hired people willing to work,
  • 18:54 but for this reason Matthew did not have an excellent reputation
  • 18:58 with his countrymen.
  • 19:00 But hated is maybe too strong.
  • 19:02 The publican Zacchaeus was loved by Jesus, if you recall.
  • 19:06 He got up into the sycamore tree in Jericho when Jesus came
  • 19:09 through town, because he was a short man,
  • 19:11 and he couldn't see over the crowd.
  • 19:13 And when Jesus beheld that, he said he wanted
  • 19:16 to sup with him that day.
  • 19:17 Jesus was criticized for eating his meals with publicans and
  • 19:22 sinners, so it's said, and so are we all in the church,
  • 19:28 I suppose, but Jesus said look deeper than a
  • 19:31 man's occupation, obviously.
  • 19:34 Tanning.
  • 19:36 Peter stayed at the house of Simon the Tanner
  • 19:38 in Joppa in Acts 10.
  • 19:40 That critical chapter again where Gentile salvation
  • 19:44 is first established.
  • 19:45 Peter might have stayed a lot of places.
  • 19:48 Evidently, Simon was a believer, and he chose the tanner's house,
  • 19:54 and it says in the chapter that he went up on the flat
  • 19:58 roof there to pray in Acts 10:9.
  • 20:01 The tanner would have had a large flat roof,
  • 20:04 evidently, to lay out his hides.
  • 20:06 Merchants are mentioned throughout the Scripture and are
  • 20:10 always of a necessity.
  • 20:11 Even the merchants at the temple where Jesus threw over the
  • 20:14 change--the tables of the moneychangers and released the
  • 20:18 doves and so on, the sellers of sacrificial animals,
  • 20:21 they were necessary.
  • 20:23 The moneychangers were necessary.
  • 20:25 The Lord was not objecting to their occupation but to the
  • 20:28 commissions they charged.
  • 20:29 They were robbing the people.
  • 20:31 There is money changing and money changing,
  • 20:33 and you all know that, and they were taking advantage of the
  • 20:36 fact that foreign pilgrims had maybe only a hazy knowledge of
  • 20:39 the exchange rates and were in a hurry and needed to change to
  • 20:43 temple coinage and so on and were just taking too much.
  • 20:47 A realtor. Ananias was a realtor.
  • 20:50 People had to buy and sell property and homes on a constant
  • 20:54 basis in the New Testament.
  • 20:56 We mentioned, of course, Paul and his tent making and how it
  • 21:01 makes such a wonderful analogy to the building of churches.
  • 21:05 And, finally, you know, when we look at the tabernacle,
  • 21:09 the original tent, God had intentions for the very
  • 21:12 materials that were used.
  • 21:15 Gold is symbolic of God himself.
  • 21:19 The hangings, the silver, silver is redemption,
  • 21:23 the things they hang the cloths on.
  • 21:25 And wood, plain wood, is mankind.
  • 21:29 Wood is very plain compared to these precious things,
  • 21:33 rather, like clay, but the Lord Jesus Christ had no
  • 21:38 other occupation but that he was a carpenter,
  • 21:41 one who makes useful things out of wood.
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  • 23:37 Kirsten: That was Zola Levitt playing an ancient instrument
  • 23:41 called a rouche fife.
  • 23:43 Now, he exactly didn't record blowing into that.
  • 23:46 He is actually--was actually an oboist,
  • 23:49 a professional oboist, before he became a TV man and radio
  • 23:53 man and that was his livelihood, which we're talking about today.
  • 23:56 Jeffrey: A journalist first, by the way.
  • 23:58 Kirsten: Was he? Jeffrey: Yes, he was.
  • 23:59 Kirsten: He did everything. Jeffrey: And radio.
  • 24:01 Jeffrey: Well, he did those and, you know,
  • 24:02 the word "vocation" comes from the Latin "vocatio."
  • 24:05 It's where we get the word "voice."
  • 24:07 How's that for two musicians?
  • 24:09 Someone notices a voice within them,
  • 24:10 beckoning them in a particular direction,
  • 24:13 and Zola early in the game, music,
  • 24:15 had a bachelor's and a master's, up to a doctorate, in it.
  • 24:18 Kirsten: And that's what we do.
  • 24:19 I mean, you've sung your whole life for your livelihood.
  • 24:21 David: Right, I have the privilege of
  • 24:23 being involved in an environment where
  • 24:24 all I do is listen to gospel music.
  • 24:28 There are those who maybe don't have that luxury that I do,
  • 24:32 but whatever we do in our livelihood we need to do it
  • 24:35 with vigor and as unto the Lord.
  • 24:39 Jeffrey: That's true.
  • 24:40 You know, the Bible says, "Be excellent at what is good and
  • 24:43 innocent of evil, and the God of peace will soon crush Satan
  • 24:47 underneath our feet."
  • 24:48 Excellence is a good thing.
  • 24:49 If you look at those first disciples,
  • 24:51 fishing was on the menu, and this became something of
  • 24:55 a template for what ministry was all about: to go out and
  • 24:58 to become fishers of men.
  • 25:01 There's all kinds of fish in the sea,
  • 25:03 and there is a parable in the Matthean Gospel about the net
  • 25:06 is thrown out and gathers up all kinds of fish.
  • 25:10 That's true in church work generally,
  • 25:13 and it is true in this ministry in particular.
  • 25:16 A lotta times evangelism is throwing a single
  • 25:19 line out there.
  • 25:21 Television goes all over the world.
  • 25:22 We throw out a big net, and I wanna ask you,
  • 25:26 at the risk of it being redundant because I know the
  • 25:29 question was raised earlier with an encouragement,
  • 25:32 if you'd support us, but please.
  • 25:34 You know, the Bible says that if you give a cup of cold water to
  • 25:38 someone who's on the journey vocationally to advance the
  • 25:41 kingdom, you won't lose your reward.
  • 25:44 There's a blessing in that for you.
  • 25:45 If you send money to "Zola Levitt Presents" I can promise
  • 25:48 you one thing: it doesn't go into my pocket.
  • 25:52 I'm not lining my pockets on the money that comes in here.
  • 25:56 We're using it to make programs.
  • 25:58 I won't tell you how much money I make 'cause you'd be
  • 26:00 embarrassed that it's not as much as you might think.
  • 26:03 None of us do.
  • 26:05 If I was looking to do it for the money,
  • 26:07 I wouldn't be doing this.
  • 26:08 We do it for the love of it.
  • 26:10 I want to encourage you please help us in the doing.
  • 26:13 If you think I'm lying about how simple we live and how much
  • 26:16 money we don't make, come and visit our office.
  • 26:19 I think you'd be impressed.
  • 26:21 David: That's great.
  • 26:23 Kirsten: That's true. We're frugal.
  • 26:24 I think that's a good word for us.
  • 26:26 Jeffrey: Yes, it really is.
  • 26:27 David: Next week, we will talk about the olive.
  • 26:28 What it has to do with family.
  • 26:30 Join us next week.
  • 26:32 Jeffrey: Yes, and until then sha'alu shalom Yerushalayim.
  • 26:37 Kirsten: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
  • 26:41 ♪♪♪
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  • 27:11 ♪♪♪
  • 27:21 male announcer: Our monthly newsletter,
  • 27:22 "The Levitt Letter," is free and full of insightful articles and
  • 27:25 news commentary from a messianic perspective.
  • 27:28 Visit levitt.com to find our newsletter,
  • 27:31 along with current and past programs,
  • 27:34 our television schedule, and much more.
  • 27:36 female announcer: Don't forget to order this week's
  • 27:39 resource by calling 1-800-WONDERS,
  • 27:42 or you can purchase it from our store at levitt.com.
  • 27:47 male announcer: Your donations to Zola Levitt
  • 27:48 Ministries help these organizations bless Israel.
  • 27:51 female announcer: Thanks again for joining us this week.
  • 27:54 Zola Levitt Ministries and this television program depend on
  • 27:57 tax-deductible donations from viewers like you.
  • 28:04 ♪♪♪
  • 28:14 ♪♪♪
  • 28:24 male announcer: This has been a paid program brought to you
  • 28:26 by Zola Levitt Ministries.

Episodes in this series

  1. Birth
  2. The Home
  3. Livelihood
  4. The Family
  5. Agriculture
  6. Government
  7. Religion
  8. Messiah
  9. Death

Links from this show

Guest organizations and links