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

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Episode: “Thanksgiving and 2021 Year in review”

We’re thankful for our viewers. In our Thanksgiving program, we will look back at the 2021 television series and chat about the significance of this year’s programming. As always, you’ll hear Israeli-flavored music. Let’s gather together with thankful hearts.

Transcript

Caption transcript for “Thanksgiving and 2021 Year in review”

00:03 David Hart: Welcome to "Our Jewish Roots,"
00:05 with insightful Bible teaching by Dr. Jeffrey Seif.
00:08 On today's special Thanksgiving program, we take a moment and
00:12 look back at 2021 and review what the Lord has done
00:15 through this ministry.
00:18 David: We're so glad you've joined us today, I'm David Hart.
00:20 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
00:21 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: And I am Jeffrey Seif.
00:25 Here is your word for today: "toda raba."
00:29 Thank you very much. And it's Thanksgiving, right?
00:32 Kirsten: It is.
00:33 One of our favorite seasons, I think.
00:35 We're thankful to be here, again, in the studio.
00:38 Jeffrey: When I was driving on the way here
00:40 I was just thinking how thankful I am, honestly.
00:42 I don't always think in those terms because I think about the
00:45 troubles of the day and the challenges, but I'm just at such
00:48 a peaceful place, just thinking how God's been so good amidst
00:51 the turbulence of trying times.
00:53 Kirsten: It is.
00:55 We just--we're thankful for the fact that we've all made it
00:59 through this crazy year, it's a time of flexibility
01:03 and surviving the world that's just kind of topsy-turvy,
01:07 but we made it.
01:09 Jeffrey: It's my first pandemic, to tell you the truth,
01:11 but a student of history, in the ancient Near East, more so than
01:15 the world in general, I know plagues have been around,
01:18 and I'm so thankful that God got us through it
01:20 and got you through it too.
01:22 David: And pretty amazing we've been able to stay at this
01:24 desk during the whole pandemic.
01:26 It's pretty amazing that we've been able to do that.
01:28 Jeffrey: Yes, difficulties notwithstanding,
01:30 friends stayed with us, thank you.
01:33 David: We're gonna take you now to some excerpts from our
01:35 first program that we brought you in 2021:
01:38 "Sar Shalom: Prince of Peace."
01:40 Let's go there now.
01:43 ♪♪♪
01:53 ♪♪♪
02:03 ♪♪♪
02:13 ♪♪♪
02:23 ♪♪♪
02:33 ♪♪♪
02:38 ♪♪♪
02:43 narrator: "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in
02:47 their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
02:51 Seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain and his
02:55 disciples came unto him, and he taught them, saying...
04:12 Jeffrey: At the base of the Mount of Olives,
04:14 there's a garden called Gat Shemanim in Hebrew, Gethsemane.
04:19 You might recall Yeshua, Jesus, went there to pray,
04:23 and he sweat blood that last night, that fateful night.
04:28 It's interesting, it seems to me, that shemen or oil
04:32 is produced by getting the olives together
04:34 and putting them under pressure.
04:36 And this oil is extracted that's then used to make ohr
04:41 or in Hebrew, ohr is light.
04:45 Light factors in various ways in the New Testament story.
04:48 There were maidens that carry the light
04:50 to pierce the darkness.
04:52 In the passage that I wanna consider with you in this
04:55 segment, Jesus says to his talmidim, to his disciples,
04:59 quote, "You are the light of the world."
05:03 He doesn't just say that.
05:04 He says, "Similarly," in Matthew chapter 5, that
05:06 "you are melach haaretz," you are the salt of the earth.
05:12 There is a Hebrew expression, Mitzvah.
05:15 Means commandment, and it is applied to being a blessing.
05:20 The Lord would have his people to do Mitzvot to do
05:23 blessings, and hence, if you see someone in need, instead of
05:28 waiting to be beckoned into service, why not of your own
05:32 accord take the initiative to roll up your sleeves
05:35 and just go help?
05:38 And if we're beckoned to go where we don't wish to go, and
05:42 we're unable to, you know, remove ourselves from that
05:45 situation, why not go with something of a good attitude
05:50 and be a witness to the love of God?
05:52 The way that leads to life hopefully is told in a church,
05:56 but it's the way of life that's lived outside of the church.
06:00 In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord talked about attending to
06:03 our business, brothers learning to dwell together peaceably, men
06:06 and women learning to come to terms, one's holding their
06:09 sexual appetites in check, their angers, what to do with the
06:12 money, what to do with various energies, et cetera.
06:15 It's all there in the sermon.
06:17 Hear Jesus's words.
06:19 It's a way that leads to life.
06:21 And your life will be better by virtue of your so doing.
06:27 David: The series you just saw was originally
06:29 filmed ten years ago.
06:31 Dr. Seif, ten years ago, but--
06:34 Kirsten: "Sar Shalom." It was beautiful.
06:36 Jeffrey: The story's timeless.
06:38 David: It's still relevant for us today, yes.
06:39 Jeffrey: It surely is because the program is about
06:41 the Scripture, and the Scripture carries on every generation,
06:44 you know?
06:45 And to depict that visually, it's good 100 years from now.
06:48 David: Yes.
06:49 Kirsten: You haven't changed a bit.
06:51 [Jeffrey laughing] Hopefully a little wiser, hopefully.
06:53 Kirsten: That's my gift at Thanksgiving for you.
06:54 Jeffrey: Thank you, yes.
06:56 David: And the Bible hasn't changed a bit,
06:58 it's still relevant.
06:59 Jeffrey: No, no, no.
07:01 No, no, no, and I'm so thankful for our friends, for you,
07:02 that help us to continue to tell this story.
07:05 Some of you caught on to the Jesus story 10 years ago,
07:08 20, 30, 40, I don't know.
07:10 Some need to catch that story tomorrow and by supporting
07:14 this ministry, you're helping us to tell the story.
07:18 We're all about looking at the good news through the eyes
07:21 of the Jews, and we think there's value in it.
07:24 And we invest our energies and resources in it.
07:26 Would you please help us, please?
07:28 It's Thanksgiving time and people make decisions about
07:31 what they wanna do for the Christmas season.
07:34 You know, a good gift to Jesus on Christmas, as we approach all
07:39 of that, would be to make an investment in helping
07:42 the next generation learn about him.
07:45 If you find value in what we do,
07:47 please help us to continue to do it.
07:50 Kirsten: An easy way to do that is through
07:52 our website, levitt.com.
07:54 We make it easy for you to make a donation to our program.
07:57 You can also watch past programs,
08:00 read the Levitt Letter, personal letter.
08:02 You wouldn't believe how much information is available
08:05 to you free on our website.
08:07 Another thing that's coming up is?
08:10 David: Yes, "Faith of Our Fathers"
08:11 was a series we brought you this year.
08:13 Let's see some excerpts of that right now.
08:18 narrator: The Word of God has given us examples of faith
08:21 that have shaped virtually every aspect
08:23 of the believer's life today.
08:26 Where would we be without the examples of Noah, Abraham,
08:30 and Isaac, David, and ultimately that of Yeshua, Jesus.
08:37 Faith is woven into the fabric of America as well.
08:41 From the pilgrims to John Adams, to Patrick Henry
08:45 and George Washington.
08:47 God's providential hand remained highly esteemed
08:51 and honored above all.
08:53 Faith unshakeable, faith unstoppable,
08:57 "Faith of Our Fathers."
09:04 narrator: In the formative days of our nation, there were
09:06 some who thought it important to remain loyal to the British
09:09 king; others rejected the monarchy, favoring liberty.
09:14 Among them, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington,
09:18 Ben Franklin, patriots all.
09:22 They would boldly proclaim that the truths of liberty
09:25 were self-evident and endowed by their creator.
09:30 Meanwhile, there were still others in Philadelphia,
09:33 unknown figures in history, who considered the godly direction
09:37 of the Founding Fathers vitally important.
09:43 male: Good day, Betsy.
09:45 Betsy: Good day, sir.
09:46 I'm finally putting the finishing stitches on this,
09:49 the last star.
09:53 male: You've certainly been diligent.
09:55 Betsy: I must say, my efforts have been facilitated
09:58 by your kind visits.
10:00 It's most comforting to know that the fate of this nation,
10:04 our fate, is in the hands of godly men.
10:08 Jeffrey: And I'm thinking of, you know, declarations.
10:12 You know, when I think of the faith of our fathers, if you
10:14 look at those who signed our Declaration of Independence.
10:18 I mean, this is a--this is an Independence right here but it's
10:20 more of a Declaration of Dependence, I should say,
10:24 because people really felt dependent on God.
10:26 Well, I shouldn't just say back in biblical days.
10:28 Certainly with the founders in our culture, so many were
10:31 ministers of those signers.
10:33 And there was a kind of punkish kind of, you know,
10:38 declaring independence.
10:40 Even, you know the expression, "John Hancock" when someone
10:44 signs their signature, some will say, "Here, I need your John
10:46 Hancock," because on the Declaration, he signed it in
10:50 really big letters so his signature is bigger
10:52 than the others.
10:54 And the reason for that is, is King George was notorious for
10:57 his poor vision, and he wrote his name really big and then he
11:01 puts the quill down and says, "I bet you George can read that.
11:05 He ought to be able to see that."
11:07 He's throwing down the gauntlet."
11:09 It's not just a Declaration of Independence,
11:11 it's a Declaration of War.
11:13 It's making a stand.
11:15 Dave Barton: What folks don't realize is that in his plan of
11:18 education, the two reading books were Isaac Watts' hymnal,
11:21 and the Bible.
11:23 Jeffrey: Amazing.
11:25 Dave: That's what Jefferson had students read in school.
11:26 Isaac Watts' hymnal is where we get great hymns
11:28 of the Christian faith.
11:29 "Joy to the World" is one of his hymns.
11:31 The other thing Jefferson did while he was there is we have
11:34 a brand-new capitol.
11:35 Brand-new White House, brand-new capitol.
11:37 And so as they move into the capitol in November of 1800, by
11:41 December 4, it's interesting, the records of Congress tell us
11:44 that with Jefferson presiding over the Senate, and Theodore
11:46 Sedgwick over the House, they said, "Let's have church
11:50 every Sunday in the House of Representatives.
11:52 That's the biggest room we have in the building,
11:54 and the Constitution, we don't work on Sundays."
11:56 That's the Sunday Sabbath.
11:58 It's called the Sunday's Excepted clause.
12:00 So Jefferson helped start the church in the Capitol and by
12:03 1867 that was the largest Protestant church
12:06 of the United States.
12:08 These are actually sermons that were preached in that church
12:10 that Jefferson helped start.
12:12 It says: "The imperishable and saving words of Christ
12:14 delivered in the hall of the House of Representatives."
12:16 This is 1860.
12:17 Jeffrey: Well, there you go.
12:19 Yeah, he was really big on separating the church
12:20 and state, wasn't he?
12:22 Dave: That's right.
12:23 And that separation of church and state letter, if anybody
12:25 reads it, it's 233 words long, it's three paragraphs, it's
12:27 simple, and it says: "Because of separation, church and state,
12:30 the government's not going to stop a religious activity."
12:32 Oh my gosh, we've got just the opposite today.
12:35 ♪ Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, ♪
12:42 ♪ for amber waves of grain, ♪
12:49 ♪ for purple mountain majesties ♪
12:57 ♪ above the fruited plain! ♪
13:04 ♪ America! ♪
13:08 ♪ America! ♪
13:11 ♪ God shed his grace on thee, ♪
13:18 ♪ and crown thy good with brotherhood ♪
13:26 ♪ from sea to shining sea. ♪
13:36 ♪ America! ♪
13:39 ♪ America! ♪
13:42 ♪ God shed his grace on thee. ♪♪
13:58 Kirsten: That was just a small portion
13:59 of our whole series, "Faith of Our Fathers."
14:02 And that was an extremely popular series.
14:06 I read everybody's view, or the viewer mail,
14:09 and they loved what you brought.
14:11 Jeffrey: Well, it was a wee thing.
14:13 Of course, it always is, but with David Barton there, I mean,
14:16 he's such an expert historian, and people just don't know
14:19 about the Judeo-Christian roots of our culture.
14:22 People are looking to deny that in reconstructionist visions
14:26 of what America's all about.
14:28 Definitely, it was a decided Christian country
14:30 at the beginning.
14:32 Kirsten: It was powerful, and we just--we loved the dramatic
14:34 reenactments, the costuming, our production crew
14:39 went all out on this, and that costs a lot of money.
14:42 I mean, to come up with all the new costumes,
14:44 everything--pricey.
14:46 Jeffrey: Yeah, and you know, to the point, you know, David
14:48 mentioned earlier in the program about these new programs that
14:52 we're bringing to you and that we brought to you.
14:54 While we're bringing them to you and I'm not correcting David,
14:58 the truth of the matter is, is that you're bringing them
15:00 to you, because this is viewer-supported.
15:05 And at Thanksgiving, we just wanna say thank you
15:09 for the giving.
15:10 Please stay with us.
15:12 There's so much more to come.
15:13 David: Another series that we brought to you in 2021
15:16 that people seemed to really enjoy,
15:18 "Is Joshua More Than a Conqueror?"
15:20 Let's go to some excerpts of that right now.
15:25 ♪♪♪
15:35 ♪♪♪
15:45 ♪♪♪
15:55 ♪♪♪
16:04 male: What happened in Mount Sinai was a miracle.
16:07 A personal message to Moses inscribed in stone
16:11 by the very finger of Adonai.
16:14 Days later, it's left me wondering, still searching
16:17 for words to explain our journey on the Mount.
16:27 Joshua: Why'd he choose me?
16:30 He could have chosen any of the elders, Gershom, Eliezer.
16:38 There was this thick cloud that covered us.
16:43 For six days nothing could be seen.
16:48 And all the more I wondered why he'd chosen me.
16:52 Jeffrey: As though Moses gets all the attention initially
16:55 and rightly so as the principal leader, he had an assistant.
17:01 His name was Joshua.
17:03 Interesting fellow, to be sure.
17:06 His name was Hosea originally but his name was changed from a
17:10 word for salvation to Yehoshua, that is "God is salvation."
17:17 And he was going to learn that.
17:19 Interesting word in Hebrew.
17:21 In Greek salvation is sozo, means saved, it means healed,
17:27 be made whole, put back together again.
17:30 The word "Yeshua" or Joshua in Hebrew, it means to heal,
17:37 it means to deliver, it means to redeem, to save.
17:42 And Joshua was all that, and in so doing, he led Israel,
17:48 and he indeed was more than just a conqueror.
17:52 Though he was that, to be sure.
17:55 Jeffrey: It's been a miraculous journey.
17:58 The Jordan River has dried up to facilitate its crossing.
18:02 The mighty walls of Jericho have fallen down, and now
18:05 with heaven-sent cunning, Joshua leads his men to yet
18:09 another victory at the city of Ai.
18:14 Jeffrey: Ai went up in flames, finally.
18:18 Israel got burned beforehand, however, in another sense,
18:23 and we're gonna tell that story here today.
18:25 It's a tragic story, actually.
18:28 Victory's one thing, defeat's another.
18:30 In the Bible, we get a little bit of both.
18:33 Actually, in the Scripture, if you look at the miraculous
18:37 victory so far, the parting of the sea, the Jordan, the
18:41 Israelites crossing through, yeah, that's 17 verses for that.
18:46 If you look at the miracle in the war at Jericho,
18:50 a sum total of 27 verses for that.
18:54 The battle of Ai, a small city, it shouldn't have taken much,
19:00 it was a tragedy: 81 verses by my reckoning for that
19:06 in the Hebrew Bible.
19:08 You know, men, we want the best in life.
19:10 We feel we don't always get it.
19:12 We think--we go for an ideal, we think we got a raw deal.
19:15 Get that faith at work and seek the Lord for what he would have
19:19 you to do, and find divine strategy has for you to help you
19:23 to be the head and not the tail, to be a conqueror
19:26 and not conquered, to be a victor and not a victim.
19:30 And you yourself can experience what God, like Joshua,
19:33 you can be more than a conqueror.
19:38 ♪♪♪
19:44 David: The actor who you saw portray Joshua in this drama,
19:47 his real name is Joshua.
19:49 He's a good friend of ours.
19:51 He's been a part of this ministry for years,
19:54 and you may recognize him as?
19:57 Kirsten: Bearded Bible Brothers.
19:58 David: Yes.
20:00 Kirsten: And the other half of the famous brother duo,
20:03 Caleb, is right here.
20:05 He's behind camera 2.
20:07 He edits, they're good-looking and talented, and it just kind
20:11 of makes you disgusted, so much in one family.
20:15 But that is part of what we do on social media, so part of your
20:18 donation dollars goes to produce so much more
20:21 than just this program.
20:23 So, in our Thanksgiving program we thank you for supporting this
20:27 ministry, all the other programming that there is.
20:30 Look on levitt.com, just google "Our Jewish Roots" and Levitt,
20:35 and you'll see so much, I promise, on social media sites.
20:38 David: Another series we brought you in 2021:
20:41 "Eretz Israel: The Land of Israel."
20:44 Let's show you some excerpts of that right now.
20:47 ♪♪♪
20:52 narrator: "Look to the North, the South, the East, the West."
21:04 ♪♪♪
21:08 narrator: "All the land which thou seeth, to thee will I give
21:12 it and to thy seed forever.
21:17 Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber
21:22 nor sleep."
21:30 "Eretz Israel."
21:33 ♪♪♪
21:42 narrator: "Now the Lord said unto Abram, 'Get thee out of thy
21:45 country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house, unto a
21:50 land that I will show thee and I will make of thee a great nation
21:55 and I will bless thee and make thy name great
21:58 and thou shall be a blessing.
22:00 And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him
22:04 that curseth thee.
22:06 And in these shall all families of the earth be blessed,' and
22:10 Abram took Sarai his wife, his nephew Lot, all the substance
22:15 and persons they had acquired in Haran and journeyed to Canaan."
22:22 Jeffrey: Well, there's a map, and there's a map.
22:25 Today, individuals are fond of speaking of the road map for
22:29 peace, and typically those that are engaged in the road map
22:33 for peace are simply looking to carve up Israel
22:36 piece by piece by piece.
22:38 I look at the Bible as something of a road map and therein it
22:42 delineates clearly what God's will is, what his ways are,
22:47 what his intentions are for people and places.
22:51 And it is so explicit.
22:53 It's not even a tacit inference.
22:56 It's noted very clearly.
22:58 In fact, in Exodus chapter 32, Moses is on record petitioning
23:03 God, reminding him of his own promise noted to the patriarchs,
23:08 to Avraham, to Yitzhak and Ya' aqov,
23:10 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, quote,
23:13 in chapter 32, verse 13, "I'll multiply your descendants
23:17 as the stars; and all this land that I have
23:21 spoken I will give to your descendants,
23:24 and they shall inherit it forever."
23:28 Let me ask you a question.
23:29 How long do you think forever is?
23:33 Seems to me that forever is like a really long time.
23:39 David Dolan: I'm standing in Independence Hall in Tel Aviv
23:42 where the State of Israel was declared in 1948.
23:45 But much happened in the years before that that led
23:48 to that historic moment.
23:50 In 1931, the Arab leader of the land, Haj Amin Al-Husayni, held
23:54 a pan-Islamic conference bringing Muslims from around the
23:56 region where they declared there will be no Jewish state
23:59 here in the land.
24:01 Two years later, a man named Adolf Hitler came to power in
24:04 Germany, soon after writing "Mein Kampf" where he declared
24:07 that all the Jews of Europe would be slaughtered.
24:10 Two hundred and fifty thousand Jewish refugees fled Germany
24:14 during the 1930s and came here to live in the land.
24:17 As their numbers increased, the Muslim resistance
24:19 increased as well.
24:21 And in 1936, an Arab general strike was held.
24:25 Eighty Jews were killed in rioting throughout the land.
24:28 As a result of that, the British held a conference and decided to
24:32 partition the land into an Arab and a Jewish state, no longer
24:36 promising to fulfill the mandate's call for just
24:39 a Jewish state west of the Jordan River.
24:41 Jeffrey: This series, "Eretz Israel: The Land of Israel,"
24:45 was prayerfully and carefully put together with the mind to
24:49 counterbalance the insanity, to bring biblical medicine
24:55 to life's assorted hurts.
24:57 What I want you to know is that not only does the Bible, does
25:03 the God of the Bible, commend this land to a particular
25:08 people, but he notes herein as well that there's places for
25:14 many other peoples to dwell peaceably round about
25:18 and even within Israel.
25:20 He says in verse 22 of the 47th chapter that "residents herein
25:26 should find a place to dwell peacefully amongst the Hebrew
25:29 people if they're minded to do so."
25:32 There's a wonderful story, there's room for all
25:34 in God's arms.
25:36 And his arm is extended.
25:38 And it seems we're living in a time today when God's extending
25:42 his arm to Jewish people and non-Jewish people, and bringing
25:46 a testimony the world over, how God is, in fact, working and
25:51 walking upon the earth to make his will and ways known
25:55 fully and finally.
25:59 ♪♪♪
26:04 Jeffrey: I am really thankful to have been able to participate
26:08 with you in "Eretz Israel," the series, "The Land of Israel."
26:14 Thank you for supporting the people of Israel,
26:17 and the land of Israel.
26:19 You know, one of the things I learned as a new pastor,
26:23 whenever there's an event, a banquet or something,
26:27 a seasoned minister will always thank the kitchen staff,
26:32 and the wait staff and what have you,
26:35 because the reality is though there's someone
26:39 who gives the speech and does the music, truth be known,
26:43 there's a cadre of others that make it all happen.
26:47 I get to be on a camera with the Harts, and thank you for that.
26:50 But the reality is, you bring these programs to you.
26:56 Thank you for supporting us, the Jewish people,
26:59 the land of Israel.
27:00 And God bless you for so doing.
27:03 David: Can I go back to the series
27:04 that we just saw for a minute?
27:06 Jeffrey: Sure.
27:07 David: We know you loved doing this series.
27:09 You looked like Indiana Jones in the Jeep going all over Israel,
27:12 kind of jealous.
27:13 Little bit jealous.
27:15 Jeffrey: Yeah, I play to that.
27:16 I like that outdoors look.
27:18 But it's great to go to places where the tour buses don't go.
27:20 David: You took us a lot of places off the beaten track.
27:22 Jeffrey: Off the beaten path, yes.
27:24 Kirsten: And just to let all of you know, yes,
27:26 it's been a crazy year.
27:27 We haven't been able to be in the land,
27:29 but we're planning this spring, this March, to be back
27:32 and on that tour bus that you mention.
27:34 And we'll be really thankful to set our feet
27:37 on that holy land once again.
27:39 Jeffrey: Yes, I remember when my son was young, we'd read
27:43 stories and they called it the magic school bus, reading
27:46 a book, and it takes you to a place where there's mystery.
27:50 That is so true for Israel, and I hope you can go with us.
27:53 Thank you for coming with us on the journey in television,
27:56 but go to the land too.
27:58 David: Amen, we have so much more coming your way.
28:01 We love to leave our program with a song from our founder,
28:04 but before we do that.
28:05 Jeffrey: A word from the Scripture:
28:07 Shaalu shalom Yerushalayim.
28:10 David: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
28:13 ♪♪♪
28:18 ♪♪♪
28:25 CC BY ABERDEEN CAPTIONING 1-800-688-6621 WWW.ABERCAP.COM

Guest organizations and links

Kirsten Hart
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Amazon
- YouTube
- Linkedin
- IMDB
David Hart
- Facebook
- IMDB
Dr. Jeffrey L. Seif
- Amazon
- IMDB

Our Jewish Roots

Levitt Letter