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Caption transcript for Much Like Peter: “Foundation of Faith” (1/9)

• 00:01 David Hart: Shalom, on today's program, we're introduced to two Galilean fishermen who are called
• 00:08 to become fishers of men. Stay tuned for "Our Jewish Roots,"
• 00:10 with Bible teaching by Dr. Jeffrey Seif.
• 00:13 ♪♪♪
• 00:19 male announcer: Sunrise on the Galilee.
• 00:22 Simon Peter prepares his nets for a day at sea.
• 00:26 Much like the sea, Peter is unpredictable,
• 00:29 calm and steady, and then in an instant, tempestuous.
• 00:35 As we reflect upon the Lord's most intriguing disciple,
• 00:38 we can see ourselves, because we too have been broken
• 00:43 and then restored.
• 00:46 We too in so many ways are much like Peter.
• 00:57 David: We're so glad you've joined us today,
• 00:59 I am David Hart.
• 01:00 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
• 01:02 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: And I am Jeffrey Seif.
• 01:03 David: Well, we've been bringing you series for
• 01:04 the last 40 years, so many Bible stories, and I have gotta say,
• 01:07 Dr. Seif, I think this series is one of our favorites.
• 01:12 It's all about Peter.
• 01:14 Why Peter?
• 01:15 Jeffrey: It really is.
• 01:16 I think Peter is so much—I mean, we're so much like Peter
• 01:18 at the end of the day.
• 01:20 Nobody's perfect, and his ups and downs,
• 01:21 I think we can relate to that.
• 01:23 I just love getting into the Bible and getting
• 01:25 into the Bible in Israel and reconstructing these lives.
• 01:28 Kirsten: I did, too, and I just have to tell all of you watching
• 01:31 right now, this is the series to tell your friends about,
• 01:34 tell 'em tune in or go online.
• 01:37 Watch this one.
• 01:39 Visually, it's absolutely beautiful,
• 01:42 and your teachings are right to the heart.
• 01:45 It's good stuff, thank you.
• 01:47 David: We take you now to where it all began.
• 01:49 We take you to Israel right now.
• 01:51 Let's go there.
• 01:55 announcer: The beautiful Sea of Galilee is
• 01:57 the lowest freshwater lake on earth.
• 02:00 At its widest point, it measures 13 miles from north to south,
• 02:04 and seven miles east to west.
• 02:07 The archaeological remains of numerous ports along its shores
• 02:11 attest to its commercial importance in biblical times,
• 02:15 providing the principle source of livelihood for fishermen
• 02:19 who lived in the area.
• 02:20 The waters flowed southward as they do today,
• 02:24 through the Jordan River toward the Dead Sea.
• 02:27 It was here in Galilee 2,000 years ago
• 02:30 that Peter and his brother, Andrew, reflected upon
• 02:34 a recent encounter they had with Yeshua, Jesus,
• 02:38 along the banks of the mighty Jordan.
• 02:41 Andrew: [speaking in Hebrew]
• 02:44 Peter: [speaking in Hebrew]
• 04:17 Jeffrey: In no uncertain terms,
• 04:19 and with no exaggeration whatsoever,
• 04:23 it can be said that this path is the very path that
• 04:27 the first disciples of Jesus walked, with no exaggeration.
• 04:33 This roadway behind me goes back to the eighth
• 04:37 to tenth century B.C.
• 04:40 And in Jesus's day, the place this is leading into
• 04:43 was bustling, known as Bethsaida.
• 04:48 Fascinating place, a number of Jesus's first
• 04:51 [speaking in Hebrew] faired from this place.
• 04:54 The reason why I say in no uncertain terms,
• 04:57 they would frequent this pathway into the city.
• 05:02 Bethsaida, a commercial fishing site from "beth,"
• 05:07 which means house, and "saida,"
• 05:08 which means hunting or fishing.
• 05:12 And indeed, those who lived here who were known
• 05:16 in the biblical literature were later commended
• 05:18 to be fishers of men.
• 05:22 It's a fascinating story, I wanna pick it up
• 05:24 where Yeshua, where Jesus calls his disciples
• 05:27 at the first in the Gospel of John,
• 05:30 there in the 1st chapter.
• 05:33 We're told that Jesus is walking about in verse 38,
• 05:37 and there are some people that are following him,
• 05:40 because [speaking in Hebrew]
• 05:42 John the Baptist, had commended him,
• 05:45 and he says, "What are you looking for?"
• 05:48 What follows is rather telling.
• 05:51 "They said to him, 'Rabbi,' which is translated teacher,
• 05:54 'Where are you staying?'"
• 05:57 Well, this tells me right off the bat
• 06:00 that this document was not written to Jews,
• 06:03 and the reason why I say that, if you're speaking to Jews,
• 06:06 you don't need to bother to explain to them
• 06:09 what the word "rabbi" means.
• 06:11 They already know.
• 06:13 Similarly, as you go down, we're told Andrew,
• 06:16 we see in verse 40, who's referenced
• 06:20 as the brother of Simon Peter, his name was Simon
• 06:25 which means to listen, and Peter was the name
• 06:29 that was given later.
• 06:31 It's just kind of assumed in the text at this point in time.
• 06:35 His brother was one of the two who heard John endorse Jesus
• 06:39 who turned around and he said in verse 41,
• 06:42 "We've found the Messiah," which is translated the Christ.
• 06:47 Now, if you're speaking to Jews, you don't need to explain
• 06:51 what the word "messiah" means, they already know.
• 06:54 If you're speaking to Jews, you don't need to explain
• 06:56 what "rabbi" means, they already know.
• 06:58 But this author needs to explain it to his hearers,
• 07:01 which means at this juncture, the gospel has spread
• 07:04 beyond Israel's borders, and arguably, if you look
• 07:07 at the Johannine gospel that circulated in Ephesus,
• 07:10 far away from the Holy Land, and what this author is trying
• 07:14 to do is explain events that happened in the Holy Land,
• 07:18 giving the Jewish perspective to individuals who were non-Jewish
• 07:22 and translating it.
• 07:24 The principle point here I wanna note, verse 42,
• 07:27 that Andrew, excited as he was,
• 07:31 we're told that he brought Simon to Yeshua.
• 07:35 He reaches out to his brother.
• 07:37 "Hey, you gotta check this out.
• 07:39 I found something good. This is really interesting."
• 07:42 You know, it's interesting to me, by the way,
• 07:43 how the gospel flows down webs of preexisting relationships.
• 07:48 I've got nothing against standing on a street corner
• 07:50 and handing out a pamphlet, but in so many ways it's people
• 07:53 that come to church on the arm of a friend
• 07:55 because someone reaches out and touches.
• 07:57 That's certainly what we have in place here.
• 07:59 And Andrew, we're told, brings Simon,
• 08:03 and Yeshua looked at him.
• 08:05 "You are Simon.
• 08:07 You shall be called Kefa," or Cephas from an Aramaic,
• 08:14 a Semitic language for rock, translated into the Greek,
• 08:18 Peter.
• 08:20 "You shall be called rock."
• 08:22 It's interesting for me, I wouldn't have gone with Kefa,
• 08:25 I would have gone for Cheres, which means clay,
• 08:29 because, you know, he was kinda molded,
• 08:31 you know, kind of impressionable.
• 08:32 You couldn't always count on him.
• 08:34 But isn't it interesting, and it's a great point I wanna just
• 08:37 walk out of this segment with, and that is that Jesus sees
• 08:41 past people's human foibles, and he sees the potential,
• 08:44 what they can be, and he names it here.
• 08:47 It's interesting, the Lord gives us a new name
• 08:49 when we come to him.
• 08:51 He does that, a new identity, lots of new stuff,
• 08:53 lots of good stuff, and we're gonna learn
• 08:55 more about it as we look at Peter and see in ways
• 08:58 how we're much like him.
• 09:01 ♪♪♪
• 09:13 male announcer: Our resource this week,
• 09:15 the Hebrew Names of God cards.
• 09:16 This collection includes 12 vibrant,
• 09:19 high-quality art cards, each with Old
• 09:21 and New Testament connections on the back.
• 09:24 With Scripture and beautifully-written devotionals.
• 09:27 When you contact us, ask for our free monthly newsletter,
• 09:31 the "Levitt Letter," which is full of insightful articles
• 09:34 and news commentary.
• 09:36 Call 1-800-WONDERS, or visit us at Levitt.com.
• 09:45 Jeffrey: I am walking through the gate of Bethsaida,
• 09:49 and as I take this first step, I wanna remind you
• 09:51 that those who walked through the gate of the kingdom,
• 09:54 they walk through it because somebody extends an invitation.
• 09:58 I mention that because when we look at the Johannine gospel,
• 10:02 we see at the first is [speaking in Hebrew]
• 10:04 John the Baptist, and he's a credible person in the culture.
• 10:08 He points to Yeshua, someone hears about him,
• 10:11 Andrew, and what he does is he speaks to a friend,
• 10:14 actually not a friend, excuse me,
• 10:16 he speaks to his own brother.
• 10:17 I hope they were friends.
• 10:19 He speaks to Peter, we know him as Peter,
• 10:22 Kefa back in the day, different names for the fellow,
• 10:25 and he tells him that he's found someone special,
• 10:29 the mashiach.
• 10:31 Then later on, we see as we go through the literature,
• 10:35 Phillip is another one.
• 10:37 We see the gospel spreading through a community,
• 10:39 and this is the community, I'm touching the stones,
• 10:44 Bethsaida.
• 10:45 These people were from here, and it's such a joy to bring
• 10:49 the story to you from here.
• 10:53 But more important than that to my way of thinking,
• 10:57 what's noteworthy in the story is worth underscoring,
• 11:00 and that is that the Lord calls someone,
• 11:04 and what does he do?
• 11:05 He gives them a new name, a new identity.
• 11:10 So many people are so wrapped up in the sins of the past,
• 11:14 yesterday, yesteryear.
• 11:16 Do you know that when you have an experience with Yeshua,
• 11:20 there's a reset button that's pushed?
• 11:23 That reset button is put down, and a whole new life springs up.
• 11:28 We know that to be the case from the Bible,
• 11:31 and I hope you know that to be the case with you.
• 11:34 ♪♪♪
• 11:44 ♪♪♪
• 11:53 ♪♪♪
• 12:03 ♪♪♪
• 12:13 ♪♪♪
• 12:23 ♪ Can it be you're the one he has sent ♪
• 12:42 ♪ his own Son? ♪
• 12:50 ♪ Tell me now, is it you? ♪
• 13:04 ♪ Tell me now, is it true? ♪
• 13:18 ♪ Tell him how the blind can see ♪
• 13:30 ♪ the lame now walk ♪
• 13:37 ♪ the prisoner free ♪
• 13:45 ♪ I have come to do the Father's will ♪
• 13:56 ♪ to show his love divine until the end of time ♪
• 14:12 ♪ I'll tell the world what I have seen ♪
• 14:26 ♪ through the Master's eyes ♪
• 14:33 ♪ how he wept and died ♪
• 14:47 ♪ Now I know, now I see ♪
• 15:00 ♪ Now I live ♪
• 15:07 ♪ I am free by his love ♪♪
• 15:32 Kirsten: I just wanna say a quick hello to my mom and dad,
• 15:36 and your in-laws, who watch our program on their TV
• 15:40 two times a week.
• 15:42 David: Late at night, I think, isn't it?
• 15:45 Kirsten: Late at night, I think around 10:00 or 11:00.
• 15:47 And we love that they get to watch what we do
• 15:49 on their television, but there's so many other ways
• 15:53 that you can watch things all about
• 15:55 "Our Jewish Roots," and our program.
• 15:57 We are literally all over social media.
• 15:59 We are social medial savvy.
• 16:01 All you have to do is click in or Google @OurJewishRoots,
• 16:05 and you'll find us.
• 16:07 And make comments, write to us, we love to respond back,
• 16:10 and we will see you on the internet
• 16:13 on the real televisions.
• 16:15 David: We were able to go to Israel
• 16:17 to film this whole series.
• 16:19 Israeli actors are with us in this series,
• 16:22 Dr. Seif is in Israel, we're in Tiberius where it is just
• 16:27 an amazing place, and we wanna thank you so much
• 16:30 for allowing us to do that, to continue to do that.
• 16:32 Thank you so much.
• 16:34 Right now, we continue with our story of Peter as his brother,
• 16:37 Andrew, tells of his recent encounter
• 16:39 at the Jordan River with John the Baptist.
• 16:42 Let's go there now.
• 16:47 Andrew: [speaking in Hebrew]
• 16:56 Peter: [speaking in Hebrew]
• 17:28 ♪♪♪
• 17:34 Jeffrey: Okay, I'm coming to you from my living room to yours.
• 17:40 Who do you think you are, Seif, Fred Flintstone,
• 17:42 you're in Bedrock?
• 17:43 Well, I am in bedrock, but let me tell you about this place.
• 17:46 This is Bethsaida, and this is the house of a fisherman.
• 17:52 How do you know that?
• 17:53 Well, archaeologists dig around, they find stuff,
• 17:55 and they know the kind of people that lived here.
• 17:58 Well, we know the kind of people that lived in Bethsaida,
• 18:01 because the Newer Testament tells us.
• 18:03 What I want to alight upon is something noted
• 18:05 in the first segment, and that is [speaking in Hebrew]
• 18:09 John the Baptist baptizes, presses repentance,
• 18:14 Andrew is pointed to Yeshua,
• 18:19 then Andrew goes and references Peter.
• 18:23 It's the juxtaposition of the repentance story
• 18:27 and the Peter story that I wanna highlight.
• 18:30 And I wanna introduce you to the concept
• 18:32 that repentance is a process.
• 18:37 It's not just a one-time deal.
• 18:38 I say that because when we look in Matthew chapter 3,
• 18:42 you can hear John rolling it out, he's intense.
• 18:45 In verse 7, John the Baptist says,
• 18:48 "You brood of vipers!
• 18:50 Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
• 18:52 Produce fruit worthy of repentance."
• 18:56 Repentance, "teshuvah," changing your direction,
• 19:00 prove up that you've made the solid turn.
• 19:03 I mean, John is very direct, he's very forceful,
• 19:07 that certainly got Andrew's attention,
• 19:10 and Andrew got Peter's attention,
• 19:12 and Peter got on board with the Jesus story,
• 19:14 but Peter wasn't a quick turn.
• 19:17 That's why I like the juxtaposition of the John
• 19:20 the Baptist story and the Peter introduction that I noted
• 19:23 at the beginning of this particular program.
• 19:26 I mention that on the one hand, when you think of John
• 19:28 the Baptist, you know, repentance is you do it,
• 19:31 you do it now, and it's done with.
• 19:32 But when you look at Peter, we see that it was fluid.
• 19:36 You know, the word Peter means rock,
• 19:38 but he's about as solid as a bowl of jelly on many occasions.
• 19:41 And I'm not trying to insult him,
• 19:43 he's not here to defend himself, but the biblical narrative tells
• 19:46 the story, which by the way is one of the reasons
• 19:49 why I think that he's elevated in that pack of disciples.
• 19:54 Not that he's supposed to be the first papal figure to speak of,
• 19:58 but he's a figure of imperfection
• 20:00 that carries on and matures in the process.
• 20:03 And in that sense, we can all relate to him,
• 20:06 thus a series, "Much Like Peter,"
• 20:10 because in so many ways in so many days,
• 20:12 we are much like him.
• 20:14 Well, here's John the Baptist preaching a repentance message,
• 20:17 turn, turn, turn, and indeed people should.
• 20:21 But if you can turn your pages to later in Matthew,
• 20:25 a few chapters down the road in the Sermon on the Mount,
• 20:28 you might recall the prayer there.
• 20:30 Lord, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those
• 20:34 who trespass against us.
• 20:37 Imperfection is part of the human experience.
• 20:41 My imperfections and yours, certainly his,
• 20:44 and we see it here in the literature.
• 20:46 And that's great news from ancient Jews,
• 20:48 and I say that because it's easy to get guilty.
• 20:51 It's easy to take our eyes off the Lord and put our eyes
• 20:55 on the way that we aren't all that we should be.
• 20:58 And I'm not making light of it, I'm not trying to talk you
• 21:01 out of a conviction if it's resting on your heart,
• 21:03 but I want you to know that God loves you.
• 21:07 And he closes here, and it's really interesting,
• 21:10 it speaks to the point, and I like to make the point
• 21:12 from bedrock here as I said at the outset.
• 21:15 This is a fishing house, and by the way,
• 21:17 it was a really nice house in its day.
• 21:19 I'm coming to you from my living room to yours.
• 21:22 Well, somebody else's, some fisherman's living room.
• 21:24 But when Matthew records the Jesus story and introduces John,
• 21:29 he introduces him with the claim that from these very stones,
• 21:37 God can raise up disciples.
• 21:38 It seems impossible, but he can do it.
• 21:42 He who began a good work in you can bring it to completion.
• 21:46 Get your eyes on him.
• 21:47 I know you're much like Peter, but he's much to be loved
• 21:50 in Christ because indeed, the mashiach loved us.
• 21:55 ♪♪♪
• 22:05 ♪♪♪
• 22:12 Kirsten: My name, Kirsten, has been mispronounced
• 22:14 my whole life.
• 22:16 I get Kristen, I get Kersten, I've always played
• 22:19 with the thought of do I give myself a new name
• 22:22 that's easier to pronounce.
• 22:24 David: I like your name.
• 22:25 Kirsten: Thank you, and here's Jesus, Yeshua,
• 22:29 Messiah, giving someone a new name.
• 22:33 He gave him a new identity, yes?
• 22:36 David: Yes, I think it's profoundly important.
• 22:38 It's a reset button in life, something new,
• 22:41 something encouraging, something prophetic.
• 22:44 And we spend so much time looking in the rearview mirror,
• 22:48 where we've been, the car accidents in the past,
• 22:52 what about fresh slate, new name,
• 22:54 looking forward in the windshield
• 22:55 and getting on with life toward a preferred future?
• 22:58 Kirsten: I like that.
• 23:00 And we've been discussing did he stop being a fisherman?
• 23:03 I mean, we don't know this, it's not written down,
• 23:05 he said I'm gonna call you and make you fishers of men now,
• 23:09 but he probably still did his normal work, right?
• 23:11 David: Well, eating is helpful,
• 23:13 especially if you're raising a family.
• 23:14 The notion of, well, I had a secular vocation,
• 23:17 but now I'm going into a sacred vocation,
• 23:19 I think comes from Catholicism, where those that opt
• 23:23 into a sacred vocation, it's characterized by differentiating
• 23:27 from human experience, whether it's marriage,
• 23:29 you know, family building, or secular vocations.
• 23:33 By way of contradistinction in the Jewish world,
• 23:35 the [speaking in Hebrew] the Pharisees were very popular
• 23:38 among the Jewish rank and file,
• 23:40 because they still worked and they still ministered.
• 23:42 For example, Paul the Apostle,
• 23:44 he earned a living and then ministered.
• 23:46 Of course he'd get donations along the way,
• 23:49 he gets some help from some friends,
• 23:50 but no, I don't have any problem construing them as still out
• 23:54 there beating the bushes, trying to find a dime and a dollar.
• 23:57 David: Still had a family to take care of,
• 23:58 and I think they did pretty well as fishermen back in the day,
• 24:01 but to give all that up to follow Jesus?
• 24:04 David: Well, actually, it's interesting,
• 24:06 Peter was day labor in John and James's family business,
• 24:12 the sons of Zebedee.
• 24:13 He didn't own the boat, he was just minimum-wage worker.
• 24:16 So, it's interesting, the one who was the lowest
• 24:20 on the social strata economically,
• 24:24 becomes the spokesperson for the pack.
• 24:26 That lets you know, talk about a new name and a new identity,
• 24:29 that's a shift, isn't it?
• 24:31 Kirsten: No, I like that.
• 24:33 And I didn't even think about you came from here and Yeshua,
• 24:35 Jesus, is going no, I'm bringing you here,
• 24:38 and then he goes down, and he comes back up,
• 24:40 and he just—well, now I kinda gave myself goosebumps on that.
• 24:44 As the waves of the sea, you go up and you go down,
• 24:47 kind of his story does that, too.
• 24:50 He rises up and he disappoints, and he rises up.
• 24:54 The story of his life a little bit.
• 24:56 Jeffrey: The beauty of it is, from my perspective,
• 24:58 we often look at people and we see what's wrong with them,
• 25:02 whether it's real or imagined.
• 25:04 Well, the problem with this person is this,
• 25:05 and the problem with that person is that.
• 25:08 It takes something else to see what's right with the person,
• 25:11 to actually see beyond the blemishes,
• 25:15 and you see that straightaway with Jesus.
• 25:18 He looks at the man with respect to his potential,
• 25:22 not with respect to his faults.
• 25:24 Now, those faults still carried along as he made his journey,
• 25:29 even subsequent to his new birth with Jesus.
• 25:32 Nevertheless, the Lord saw what was right with him
• 25:35 and got a lot of traction out of that.
• 25:38 David: So, he gave a lot of grace to those guys back
• 25:40 in the day, but he gives a lot of grace to us today, too.
• 25:43 Jeffrey: And that's the point,
• 25:44 and I think that's why Peter is such a good read.
• 25:48 Because his foibles are obvious, they're there,
• 25:53 they're headliner stories, you know.
• 25:55 What an idiot.
• 25:57 And I mean, it's easy to say that about him, but with that,
• 26:03 then there's the grace that's extended to him
• 26:05 and through him.
• 26:07 I think people could relate to people like that.
• 26:10 You know, in another world, in another season,
• 26:12 I served managing a police academy,
• 26:15 you know, and I would, now I was able to hire lieutenants to vet
• 26:18 candidates at various campuses, but when I was doing vetting,
• 26:22 I'd say, listen, just be honest with me here
• 26:24 while we're going through the process.
• 26:26 I'm not expecting perfection.
• 26:28 If Jesus Christ wants to come back and be a police officer
• 26:30 and sit in front of me, I would go, wow,
• 26:32 I got perfection there.
• 26:33 Other than that, all I have are human beings to deal with,
• 26:36 and I can deal with foibles, what I can't deal with
• 26:38 is deceit right now.
• 26:40 And I would just kind of put it out there so people
• 26:42 can be themselves, warts and all, just be honest,
• 26:46 and you know, God knows what we're all about,
• 26:49 and there is special grace to your point.
• 26:52 Kirsten: Good, let's keep that where it is.
• 26:55 Good word, thank you.
• 26:56 David: So much more to come in this series.
• 26:57 We're excited about it.
• 26:59 We get to sing, more teaching, dramatic reenactments,
• 27:02 but it's time to go today.
• 27:04 Jeffrey: It is, and it really is a great series.
• 27:06 Please stick with it for your sake, not for mine.
• 27:09 Peter's a great read.
• 27:10 As you go now, [speaking in Hebrew].
• 27:14 David: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
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• 28:04 ♪♪♪