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Caption transcript for Esther (2017): “Chosen for a Purpose” (2/8)

• 00:05 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
• 00:09 is that they might be saved.
• 00:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek
• 00:15 for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon.
• 00:40 Hi, I'm David Hart.
• 00:41 Welcome to Zola Levitt Presents.
• 00:42 And I'm Kirsten Hart.
• 00:44 We are proud to bring an encore presentation of
• 00:46 "Esther, For Such a Time as this"
• 00:50 first aired in 2010
• 00:52 and we're bringing it back with the new Guest Teachers and
• 00:55 a Guest Analyst even.
• 00:57 Yes, Jeffrey Seif is with us.
• 00:59 Many of you know him already.
• 01:01 Chaim Malespin is our new friend and we just love him
• 01:03 and his wife will be bringing a Hebrew lesson.
• 01:06 And Ted Pearce, he's a musician.
• 01:09 And he will be here and we're going to
• 01:11 talk about Esther and that amazing story.
• 01:15 But first let's go to our dramatic reenactment where
• 01:18 Mordecai overhears a plot to kill the king.
• 01:24 While king Xerxes garnered favor with most of his subjects
• 01:28 there were those who would usurp the throne.
• 01:32 While sitting at the king's gate
• 01:34 Mordecai overhears a disturbing conversation.
• 01:38 He meets with Esther and informs her of a wicked plot.
• 02:34 Contrary to popular mythology, Jews are a good, just, equitable people.
• 02:44 Oh, to be sure, we have our scoundrels
• 02:47 but these prove to be the exception and not the rule.
• 02:53 I think Torah formation being built atop biblical principles
• 02:56 has a way of developing character in individuals
• 02:59 that wouldn't otherwise be there.
• 03:02 That's the reality of the Jewish people.
• 03:05 The myth however is that Jews are
• 03:08 a horrible lot, a miserable lot.
• 03:11 We see in the book of Esther, chapter 2
• 03:14 where Mordecai is saving the king.
• 03:17 Xerxes, if you can imagine that
• 03:19 is about to be undone by a scheme.
• 03:22 Mordecai discovers it, he informs the queen,
• 03:25 and it turns out to his salvation.
• 03:28 This to me, for my money, is prototypical
• 03:30 of how Jews in so many ways
• 03:33 bring so much relief and salvation to so many people.
• 03:36 But that's not the story that's told.
• 03:40 Preferred over facts are myths of Jews being a greedy sort,
• 03:47 Jews being a vile sort,
• 03:50 Jews being worthless,
• 03:52 Jews being greedy,
• 03:54 the world being in the "clutches" of the Jews,
• 03:57 the Jews sucking life out of people.
• 03:59 And that's the myth that prevails just on the other side of this border
• 04:04 where Iranian proxies are in place and from which here in Lebanon
• 04:10 they lob missiles over here into Kiryat Shammoth.
• 04:15 22,000 people live over here.
• 04:18 There's a nice, dense population.
• 04:20 Those over here think it's a great target and they just
• 04:24 indiscriminately lob their missiles
• 04:27 on the basis of bizarre construal of history
• 04:31 that Jewish Zionists are bent on the conquest of peoples,
• 04:37 peoples that they subdue and then suck the life out of.
• 04:43 Oh, the myth is incredible.
• 04:45 The myth is very real.
• 04:47 But the testimony in biblical literature is very true.
• 04:52 And from this place with this book
• 04:55 I observe taking my lead from Mordecai.
• 04:58 A gorgeous story here.
• 05:00 A story about a good man.
• 05:03 A story about a Jewish man who's a good citizen in world where he inhabits
• 05:08 and he's given to being a blessing
• 05:10 and a help to the world where he abides.
• 05:13 And that my friend isn't just the story of Mordecai.
• 05:16 That is so much the story of the Jewish people.
• 05:19 And it amazes me.
• 05:21 I'm perplexed, not just amazed with wonderment.
• 05:24 But it's perplexing.
• 05:25 Jews have been around for thousands and thousands of years.
• 05:29 And there are, to date, about 15 million Jews on planet earth.
• 05:34 And why is that?
• 05:36 It's because demonic forces are forever bent
• 05:39 on hiving off sections of the Jewish population.
• 05:44 Not long ago, in my parent's generation,
• 05:46 6 million Jews were slaughtered.
• 05:49 And if the people that are generating the fermenting discontent
• 05:54 from coming over here from Lebanon,
• 05:56 if those people have their way
• 05:58 another 6 million Jews will be destroyed.
• 06:00 And that is these that are dwelling in Israel proper.
• 06:19 Our Resource this week:
• 06:20 the series "Close Encounters with Yeshua" on DVD.
• 06:24 This 10 program series focuses on
• 06:26 how Jesus, Yeshua supernaturally came,
• 06:30 ministered on earth,
• 06:31 and today calls people to draw near to Him.
• 06:34 Each program includes location teaching from Israel,
• 06:38 a dramatic reenactment,
• 06:39 plus interviews with believers about their
• 06:42 journey of faith in the Jewish Messiah.
• 06:44 Contact us for the DVD series
• 06:46 "Close Encounters with Yeshua"
• 06:53 We live in a topsy turvy world
• 06:55 where news events are often twisted leading to untruth.
• 07:01 Here at Zola Levitt Presents we believe
• 07:03 it's important to tell the truth of God's Word, the Bible.
• 07:08 And we believe it should be proclaimed to Israel and the nations.
• 07:12 If you believe the same please consider us in
• 07:16 your monthly giving support.
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• 08:00 and on levitt.com
• 08:02 If you click on to that site
• 08:04 you can see many
• 08:05 of our past programs
• 08:07 Now, let's go back
• 08:08 to our dramatic reenactment
• 08:09 where everyone is bowing down to Haman
• 08:12 except for Mordecai.
• 08:22 And the King exalted Haman
• 08:24 till he was above all the princes in the kingdom.
• 08:28 All of the king's servants would bow before him...
• 08:31 accept for one named Mordecai.
• 09:20 It's like a fairytale from yesterday.
• 09:23 A story long ago replete with the rags to riches queen,
• 09:29 a heinous villain,
• 09:32 all the ingredients of fairy tale.
• 09:35 The problem is it's a story that
• 09:38 belongs to today as much as yesterday.
• 09:43 And it's no fairy tale
• 09:45 but a tale it is.
• 09:48 We read in the book of Esther in Chapter 3, Verse 2,
• 10:01 He wouldn't bow.
• 10:03 There was a villain Haman who demanded
• 10:06 that individuals bow themselves to him.
• 10:10 Mordecai would have none of it.
• 10:13 It raises question if there's a time
• 10:16 when individuals with biblical virtue
• 10:18 need to stand up and resist evil people
• 10:22 even if it means going against the
• 10:24 prevailing currents or even what's sanctioned.
• 10:28 Do individuals need to stand up
• 10:30 "at such a time as this"?
• 10:33 Well Mordecai believed he needed to stand up.
• 10:37 Haman in response said that this Jew
• 10:41 and all the Jews need to be put down.
• 10:47 In Chapter 3, Verse 6
• 10:49 in my version and then yours we're told,
• 11:10 A better man may have been offended by one man and thought nothing of it.
• 11:14 But no, so vitiated, so defiled was Haman,
• 11:19 knowing that he (Mordecai) was a Jew
• 11:22 the angst he felt about Mordecai
• 11:24 stimulated juices within him to destroy a race of people
• 11:30 That friends is tragic.
• 11:33 And you know friends that story as well is today.
• 11:39 Yesterday there was a Haman, oh yes there was.
• 11:41 And that Haman was in Persia.
• 11:43 Ancient Persia is where modern Iran is.
• 11:47 And similarly there's a Haman there too.
• 11:52 And his name is Ahmadinejad.
• 11:54 Similarly at this very shelter where I am standing right now,
• 11:58 and you're going to go into the bowels of it with me in a moment,
• 12:02 in this very shelter people flee because rockets rain down on this place.
• 12:10 The Jewish population is dense here.
• 12:13 And what happens here is terrorists know they can
• 12:17 hit a civilian target - so unleash rockets with fury.
• 12:22 And this anger, this fury, these
• 12:27 arms that bear down on Jewish people
• 12:29 are sponsored by Iran of today.
• 12:34 Hezbollah in affect is their proxy.
• 12:37 And so much as yesterday we see Persian intrigue.
• 12:42 We see an individual bent on destroying all the Jews.
• 12:46 So today in this place many Jews run for refuge
• 12:51 as forces from Iran bring pressure to bear
• 12:56 to destroy the Jews even still.
• 12:59 Come with me - let me show you what it looks like down here.
• 13:15 Our Resource this week
• 13:17 the series "Close Encounters with Yeshua" on DVD.
• 13:21 This 10 program series focuses on how Jesus,
• 13:24 Yeshua supernaturally
• 13:26 came, ministered on earth
• 13:28 and today calls people to draw near to Him.
• 13:31 Each program includes location teaching from Israel,
• 13:34 a dramatic reenactment
• 13:36 plus interviews with believers about their
• 13:38 journey of faith in the Jewish Messiah.
• 13:41 Contact us for the DVD series
• 13:43 "Close Encounters with Yeshua"
• 13:51 For insightful perspectives on Israel and Bible prophecy
• 13:55 ask for our free monthly newsletter, the Levitt Letter.
• 13:59 At levitt.com you can read the newsletter,
• 14:02 watch the TV program,
• 14:04 or visit our online store.
• 14:07 Stay current with us on social media via Facebook and Twitter.
• 14:11 Come with us on a tour of Israel or Petra
• 14:14 or a cruise to Greece and Ephesus.
• 14:17 Please contact us for more information.
• 14:22 We have life changing tours
• 14:24 both in the Fall and the Spring.
• 14:26 We would love it if you would
• 14:28 consider going with us on one of our tours.
• 14:30 Kirsten, tell me one of
• 14:31 your life changing moments in Israel.
• 14:33 I don't know if it's life changing
• 14:35 but it's one of my favorite places.
• 14:37 And where you'll get to go when you go on our tour
• 14:39 is the Dead Sea.
• 14:41 I know they say it's dead
• 14:43 and it's so far below sea level
• 14:44 but has some of the best mud,
• 14:47 facial mud and your whole body, in the world.
• 14:49 Every time we go we slather it on,
• 14:52 we sit out in the sun, we let it dry and scrub it off.
• 14:55 Your skin has never felt better.
• 14:57 It's amazing!
• 14:58 Go with us.
• 14:59 We'd love to have you experience the Dead Sea also.
• 15:02 And now let's go to Deanna Malespin
• 15:04 for our Hebrew lesson today.
• 15:12 Shalom Havarim
• 15:13 Welcome!
• 15:15 Today is Purim .
• 15:17 Purim is a holiday here in Israel.
• 15:21 Purim actually means "Lots".
• 15:24 And we celebrate the life of Queen Esther.
• 15:28 So during this holiday we like to
• 15:30 greet each other by saying
• 15:31 Chag Sameach "Happy Holidays".
• 15:37 Thank you so much Deanna for our Hebrew Lesson.
• 15:40 Weekly we get to learn Hebrew
• 15:42 right here on Zola Levitt Presents.
• 15:44 Today's word was Chag Sameach
• 15:48 Very Good!
• 15:48 which means...
• 15:49 Happy Holiday!
• 15:51 [sings] ♪ Happy Holidays ♪
• 15:52 Yes, we need to experience a
• 15:54 happy holiday in Israel sometime together.
• 15:56 We will!
• 15:57 And the Feast of Purim is
• 15:59 a wonderful time to be there.
• 16:00 It's festive, it's fun, it's happy,
• 16:02 it's Chag Sameach !
• 16:04 Very good! Yes.
• 16:05 But not such a happy time was when Haman
• 16:08 convinced the king to kill all the Jews.
• 16:12 Let's go back to our dramatic reenactment
• 16:14 the story of Esther.
• 17:51 Mom's grab their kids by the arm
• 17:54 and bring them down here.
• 17:58 What's the "here"?
• 17:59 It's a big room.
• 18:00 It's a shelter, deep underground here in northern Israel.
• 18:05 I's nice to see the beautiful pictures
• 18:07 but it's sad because they are put on walls to distract the children.
• 18:14 Mom's bring them here in haste because there's
• 18:18 rockets going on uptown right above.
• 18:23 And it happens all the time.
• 18:25 And they have 60 seconds to grab them and get them in here
• 18:28 because people get killed.
• 18:30 And you want to take their mind off their troubles
• 18:32 so there's some cartoons to lighten the atmosphere.
• 18:36 There's books all over the place.
• 18:38 It's a little library to get the kids off the current
• 18:43 to get them into a book.
• 18:45 Well I want to get you into a book too.
• 18:50 It's a book that talks about what's happening here
• 18:53 in the sense that it reminds that it's an old, old story.
• 18:57 The rockets that are coming into Israel
• 19:00 forcing people underground,
• 19:02 a lot of this is funded by Iranian intrigue.
• 19:07 And similarly here in the book of Esther
• 19:11 played out in ancient Persia
• 19:14 which would be the land where Iran is today.
• 19:17 here there was a scheme enacted to destroy all Jews
• 19:21 and it's explicit that the death sentence
• 19:25 extends to women and children alike.
• 19:29 It's not a very good story.
• 19:31 In Esther Chapter 3, verse 13,
• 19:34 I'll read it in my version
• 19:35 and then give it to you
• 19:37 in a way that's more understandable to you.
• 19:49 And by the way, the Persian mail system was so efficient
• 19:55 that it was even a model for our own "Pony Express" if you can imagine that.
• 19:59 Well, here Haman dispatches these individuals
• 20:03 carrying letters
• 20:05 to all the provinces of the king.
• 20:10 And here it is, it's ugly.
• 20:33 And it says explicitly,
• 21:00 Thank you Dr. Seif
• 21:01 for that wonderful and powerful story today.
• 21:03 We have our Guest Analyst with us today.
• 21:06 Ted Pearce.
• 21:08 So great to have you for this series.
• 21:09 Thank you.
• 21:10 Great to be back again.
• 21:11 Good.
• 21:12 Kirsten and I both grew up in the Church.
• 21:14 I'm a Pastor's son.
• 21:16 Kirsten's folks were in music growing up.
• 21:19 And I know as kids we'd read the Bible.
• 21:23 We loved reading the Bible but
• 21:25 really didn't have a heart for what we were reading
• 21:28 for Israel until about 8 years ago.
• 21:31 And now our heart is there.
• 21:33 Really, full time we love Israel.
• 21:36 How about you?
• 21:37 When was your experience of
• 21:39 feeling like Israel is home?
• 21:41 Well I grew up an atheist.
• 21:45 I was 29 years old when this care dealer
• 21:51 drew me into an argument about the Sabbath.
• 21:53 And actually started reading the Bible
• 21:55 to prove that it was wrong.
• 21:57 I guess you see how that worked out.
• 21:59 But for 4 months I was intent and obsessive about
• 22:03 reading the Bible to find something wrong with it.
• 22:05 Well after 4 months of not being able to do that
• 22:08 I just issued a challenge to God
• 22:11 while driving home one night in my car.
• 22:13 And I was a different person.
• 22:14 That was January 15, 1990.
• 22:17 And then I began reading the Bible to know Him.
• 22:22 To know this Jesus I had called upon in my car.
• 22:25 And it was a totally different experience
• 22:28 than trying to prove He was wrong.
• 22:29 There were 2 things I learned right off the bat.
• 22:32 Number 1 - Jesus was nothing like what I thought He was.
• 22:34 And I think those of us who have been in
• 22:37 the faith for a long time like yourselves,
• 22:38 maybe sometimes we forget that those who don't know Him
• 22:42 have just never met Him.
• 22:43 Right
• 22:43 Cause I just couldn't resist.
• 22:45 I didn't really want to love God.
• 22:47 But I couldn't resist when I met Him.
• 22:49 But the other thing I noticed was
• 22:51 as I read the New Testament,
• 22:53 all these people are Jews.
• 22:55 I mean, I thought Peter was the Pope
• 22:57 and Mary was a Catholic,
• 22:58 and John was a Baptist,
• 22:59 and Paul was a Pentecostal.
• 23:01 But you know where I grew up in Vidor, Texas
• 23:04 we're known for racism and it would have been
• 23:08 dangerous to be a Jewish person in this very religious city.
• 23:12 And so anyways, I remember growing up
• 23:15 wondering why they hated the Jews.
• 23:18 I couldn't figure this out.
• 23:20 I couldn't tell the difference by looking.
• 23:21 So anyway all these years later I'm reading the Bible
• 23:24 and I'm seeing all these people are Jewish.
• 23:27 This is not what I was told.
• 23:29 You know what I mean?
• 23:31 So I wondered what happened to them?
• 23:32 Where did they go?
• 23:34 And I just started calling around
• 23:36 looking for churches that
• 23:38 had a lot of Jewish people.
• 23:40 In Texas?
• 23:42 In Dallas actually.
• 23:44 And finally it was a Pastor told me about Baruch HaShem
• 23:48 a Messianic Jewish Congregation
• 23:51 where that was the first place that
• 23:54 I walked into as a new Believer.
• 23:56 And they're singing and dancing and clapping
• 23:58 and having more fun than any of the bars
• 23:59 that I was playing at with my band.
• 24:01 And anyway I just walked into this totally new culture
• 24:05 that sort of harkens back to ancient times.
• 24:09 They're singing the Scriptures with this...
• 24:12 to me it sounded Arabic you know?
• 24:15 With this Middle Eastern sounding music.
• 24:18 And I just remember listening to it
• 24:21 and I would just weep all the way through the services
• 24:23 cause it was so... Holy.
• 24:26 Well you're talking about music and
• 24:28 the wonderful Jewish flavor in music.
• 24:30 Can we hear one of your songs?
• 24:32 Oh, I would love to do that.
• 24:33 Good, let's go to that now.
• 24:35 Here's our special Guest Analyst
• 24:37 and Musician, Ted Pearce.
• 24:47 ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael ♪
• 24:51 [Repeat] ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael ♪
• 24:55 ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael orah v' simcha ♪
• 24:59 [Repeat] ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael orah v' simcha ♪
• 25:02 ♪ Orah v'simcha, Shabbat m'nucha ♪
• 25:10 ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael orah v' simcha ♪
• 25:14 ♪ Shabbat m'nucha ♪
• 25:16 [Repeat] ♪ Shabbat m'nucha ♪
• 25:19 ♪ Instrumental Interlude ♪
• 25:23 ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael ♪
• 25:27 [Repeat] ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael ♪
• 25:31 ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael orah v' simcha ♪
• 25:34 [Repeat] ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael orah v' simcha ♪
• 25:38 ♪ Orah v'simcha, Shabbat m'nucha ♪
• 25:46 ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael orah v' simcha ♪
• 25:49 ♪ Shabbat m'nucha ♪
• 25:51 [Repeat] ♪ Shabbat m'nucha ♪
• 25:55 Hey!
• 25:56 ♪ Instrumental Interlude ♪
• 26:19 ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael ♪
• 26:23 [Repeat] ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael ♪
• 26:27 ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael orah v' simcha ♪
• 26:31 [Repeat] ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael orah v' simcha ♪
• 26:34 ♪ Orah v'simcha, Shabbat m'nucha ♪
• 26:42 ♪ Yom Zeh l'Yisrael orah v' simcha ♪
• 26:46 ♪ Shabbat m'nucha ♪
• 26:47 [Repeat] ♪ Shabbat m'nucha ♪
• 26:57 Please join us next week
• 26:59 as we continue our series
• 27:00 "Esther, for Such a Time as This".
• 27:03 But for now, Sha'lu Shalom Yerushalayim
• 27:06 Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
• 27:11 Our monthly newsletter the Levitt Letter is free
• 27:14 and full of insightful articles and news commentary from a Messianic perspective.
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• 27:21 along with current and past programs,
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