210. Bonus Israel Content - Michael Baer and Father Kelly at Magdala

For freedom, he set me free, not for chains, not for guilt, not for Pharisee. Grace lit the flame, now I'm puffing peace, cigars and victory justified, released. Welcome to the For Freedom Podcast. This podcast exists to bring the freedom of the gospel for everyday Christians with everyday issues. I ain't saved by dress codes, not by what I eat. I'm covered in the righteousness, washed from head to feet. No tally of tradition, no man-made code. Blood bought my freedom, now I ride that road. They clutch pearls when they see smoke rings rise. But my praise still ascends past the legalist cries. Christ plus nothing, that's the real math. So miss me with your fence laws and your extra path. He sat with sinners, I'm sitting with saints. Sipping grace from the bottle, no room for fakes. I light one for liberty, toast to the king. Every ash a sermon, death has lost its sting. For freedom, he set me free. Not for chains, not for guilt, not for Pharisee. Grace lit the flame, now I'm puffing peace, cigars and victory justified, released. For freedom, he set me free. Not for chains, not for guilt, not for Pharisee. Grace lit the flame, now I'm puffing peace, cigars and victory justified, released. Let grace begin. For freedom, you set me free Not for change, not for guilt, not for Pharisee Grace lit the flame, now I'm puffing Now here are your hosts, James Saifert and Brett Martin First of all, let me thank my buddy Marcus for allowing me to do the devotional at the most obscure place that I'm going to be on our trip Thank you, my friend You're very welcome Thank you However, I did think about that and I thought, you know, that could be a bonus because you don't have much to read because there's not much to read But anyway, this is probably the most obscure place You know, I was curious and I looked it up Google came through, I guess But it said on there I looked up, you know, how many times in the Bible is Magdala mentioned and it said rarely or none depending upon the translation Now, if you have the King James Version the word Magdala is actually in there but the ESV, which is the one the one I use It's the perfect one, baby Yeah Corrects the Greek Are we going to go there? Are we going to go there? Are we going to have a translation debate? But anyway And so, you know, I looked that up and found that it talks about in here in Matthew chapter 15 in verse number 39 it says After sending away the crowds this is when Jesus had fed to 4,000 and it says After sending away the crowds he got into a boat and went to the region of Magadil which is in the ESV, KJV again it's Magdala and so we know Jesus was in this region The Bible also tells us in Matthew again in Matthew in Matthew chapter 4 verse 23 And he went throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people So we know Jesus was in this region We know Jesus went to every synagogue and preached and taught Capernaum is very close to here and while he was there he was healing While he was there he was teaching and preaching So it makes I think it's safe for us to imply that Jesus may have stood in this very synagogue and preached He may have stood there and preached and I'm pretty sure that Mary Magdalene was thankful that Jesus made it to her location And so because Mary Magdalene I'd imagine was impacted by the preaching and teaching of Jesus Christ The Bible tells us that she was the one that Jesus cast the seven demons out of And so I was reminded that an encounter with Jesus Christ y'all changes everything It changes everything That obscure woman we don't know anything about her We know what she did after she was saved She was a follower of Jesus She was with him everywhere he went She was at the cross She was around Jesus all the time But it was that initial transformation that initial encounter with Jesus Christ that changed her life forever And one day all of us if you're a follower of Jesus Christ maybe we'll get to chat with her in heaven and just ask her what that was what that was like when Jesus came to her and cast those demons out of her Now she was healed physically but more importantly she was spiritually healed And so I'm so thankful and I'm honored to know that my Lord and my Savior may have walked these very grounds these very grounds His feet may have touched And so just an application point for us If you've had that encounter with Jesus your life has been transformed And it's been transformed not so we can as I tell my church sit, soak, and sour It's been transformed It's been transformed so we can make an impact on those around us We can give them an encounter with Jesus because Jesus lives in and through us And so I just want to encourage each and every one of us This trip has been you know I could go home now and be filled with what I need but this trip has encouraged me in many ways but one is I need to be more vocal for Christ I need to talk about Jesus all the time I talk about a lot of other things that are important to me but Jesus is the most important thing in my life and so I need to be more vocal about Jesus I want people to have an encounter with Jesus and I hope you do too Let's pray Father God we love you we praise you we thank you God it is such an honor to be here it is such an honor to be in the Holy Land it is such an honor to know that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was here He taught He preached He healed He did all those wonderful things Father but He came for one purpose to seek and to save the lost and Lord He's given us that command that we're to go to make disciples to teach them the things of the Lord and so Father I pray I pray God I plead I beg that we be people that can bring an encounter with Jesus to those around us Father God we love you we praise you we thank you we thank you for this place in Jesus name Amen I think I'm not sure if we've been into the let's say some very significant reasons why this is important for us Christians did he talk a little bit about that he talked about the Jewish side that's the most important thing to start off with and our sometimes people take a picture of our mosaic and they put it on Facebook and they say look at the mosaic Jesus saw just consider that we found a twine from the year 43 underneath it so there are lots of nuances okay and they think that maybe the frescoes from the same period and also the Magla stone if you want to see the original of the Magla stone take a flight back to the United States and go to Washington to the Museum of the Bible I was invited there in November the end of November to install the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Magla stone in a very special event a few practical things this is the only synagogue from the Roman period that has frescoes and mosaics the rosette mosaic that's there that's the third of its kind in the country in all the archaeology that has been done there's one in Herod's palace in Masada there's one in the high priest's house in Jerusalem the burned house and this is the third one in poor little Galilee just think about the consequences okay so first of all I'd like to deal with the fact of having a synagogue there were scholars claiming into the 90s so that's let's say 30 years ago that there's no such thing as synagogues until after temple destruction how significant is that statement for us Christians pretty serious because it means that Jesus actually didn't teach in synagogues now we have 12 this was number 7 okay there's a famous philosophical principle you cannot argue against facts okay so that's very interesting second thing you read Luke chapter 8 verse 3 where Mary Magdalene is mentioned and it says these women in plural are supporting Jesus from their wealth now if that's in Herod's palace and it's in the high priest's house in Jerusalem and the same type of decoration frescoes and mosaics you find in every single room of every palace in Pompeii which is contemporary then is Galilee just poor little fishermen and farmers no well at least let's not exaggerate let's do a minimal statement they are on the way up they're industrious they're exporting fish to Rome according to five ancient authors there's commerce if you have commerce most people have a sandwich some people have very deep topics that are overflowing look what they have here 12-14 years after Jesus okay thank you have the audio device if you want now and then the ones who don't have audio device you're my bodyguards and you stay close to me and make sure none of these bastards get at me okay okay so now so this is very very beautiful fact here many Israelis when they come here especially like say professor types and that they ask kind of academic questions they say well why are you so interested in the synagogue and I say well there's a piece of Jewish literature exactly called the New Testament and there we read that Jesus went on Shabbat to Shabbat from synagogue to synagogue teaching and healing to sick right and this is the first time we have such a synagogue so guy was explaining the Jewish side of the synagogue I think I didn't hear all your explanation guy but there's also a huge value for us here as Jesus followers okay and therefore we have one object this synagogue in all its beauty and two very diverse interested audiences stakeholders so we call it crossroads of Jewish and Christian history it's a place where we encounter each other and learn to respect the claim each other has the joy each other has in finding this synagogue many people many people ask me was Jesus here I don't know what guy told you and I don't know what um um um um told you so I'm just I don't know what they told you but um what was the question I was asking I say I cannot assure you because we lost all the videos so you make up your own mind now if you look at the area beyond the screen that screen is there to protect the fresco from the sun that's the market area and it had a second floor part of it at least so you're living there two thousand years ago and your little grandchild if I look around it's mostly grandparents right some parents well probably um and your little child comes home grandchild or child and out of breath the eight or nine year old boy what's that Charlie Jesus is coming how do you know well we're playing over there and everybody says Jesus is coming and you just take like a double take and you say go immediately and get your dad he's down at the port and then go and get uncle Zachariah and auntie Elizabeth and bring them over as well they're over there and within three or four minutes you guys are sitting down inside our synagogue so don't be looking at me because Jesus is going to be in there in five minutes okay so as Jesus is speaking and you're looking over where Jesus is speaking not here in this corner and you're realizing he's making eye contact with people and for the first time in your life you're looking into Jesus' eyes and he's looking into your eyes and then you notice a question arising in your heart and you know it's coming from him and after we just state this question we're going to start walking to our next stop thanks be to God and you have time and silence walking this ancient place alongside Jesus answering the question he just asked you and the question is very simple you heard it before he's asking you personally what would you like me to do for you now found my new name found that good grace found that healing and the tears fell down my face when I found my beginning that has no ending found that second chance found my best friend found my forgiveness found my happiness I've been singing ever since I found my freedom in you thanks for listening to the for freedom podcast if you enjoyed our content do us a favor by liking subscribing or sharing our podcast or whichever podcast platform you use be sure to join us next time for the for freedom podcast

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