[VIDEO] >> PAUL (V.O.): Here is a trustworthy
saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am the worst. (END) >> DAVID NASSER: Today, uh it is such an honor
to have the great Jim Caviezel in the house with us. Can we welcome him? And um not only is Jim here but he’s here
to talk a lot about an upcoming movie that’s going to take the world by storm. And if we’re not careful we’ll get really
caught up on Jim and we’ll get really caught up on the movie, but know that they are nothing
more than the arrows that are going to point ultimately to the gospel that sets people
free. And it’s a movie that’s really built around
the idea of a particular time in history where the church, the early church, was in a very
vulnerable stage. It was at a place in the center of the world,
in ancient Rome, the church was at a moment where it was about to thrive, it was about
to explode in growth. But it would have taken very little just to
be able to crush it. And the church was under an immense amount
of persecution, the church was under an immense amount of hardship. And in that moment the Apostle Paul, a Roman
citizen who was a Pharisee by birth, a very highly educated man who came from deep pedigree,
had converted to Christ and as a church planter was put in prison because of his faith. And this movies covers that particular moment,
and it covers a conversation and kind of fills in the blanks between Luke and Paul and some
of the other Bible characters that many of us have grown up studying. When you think about the Apostle Paul it’s
pretty interesting, isn’t it? To think ironically enough that his name,
his name by its original root actually means small. The word Paul literally means small in its
original language. But that’s ironic because when I think about
Paul I think about literally a person whose Pauline theology, whose epistles millions
and millions of people across the world studied last Sunday at church, will study tonight
at Campus Community, right? With 6,000 of us in the room. And then we’ll study next week at church
again. He’s probably the most quoted man ever in
history. Jesus Christ is the most important man ever
in history obviously, but no one has been more quoted than the Apostle Paul throughout
history. Not just form the church’s angle but throughout
history. The first time we read about him it’s in
Acts 7, right? He is a murderer, is an accomplice to the
stoning of Stephen at the Lion’s gate outside the city of Jerusalem. And the first time we see him he’s a very
unlikely candidate for an evangelist, for an apologist. But yet we see this moment where he wants
the message of the gospel shut down to the point where he is an accomplice to Stephen’s
murder, and then you go a little bit further and you see he’s on the Damascus road to
take the people of the way—that’s the people of Jesus. And on that Damascus road, he has an “Above
All” encounter with Jesus. And post that moment everything else about
him goes into that moment of conversion from Saul to Paul. From death to life, from blind to see. And he spends the rest of his life 10,000
miles on foot declaring the glory of God. 10,000 miles on foot sharing the good news
that set him free, really swinging away from bad religion gone wrong and towards redemptive
found only in Christ. You think about the impact that the Apostle
Paul that throughout history long after his life on Earth where he was martyred right
outside the city gates of Rome continues to have as an effect. And again we see him as a person who continues
to say, I’m nothing but a servant, I’m not a celebrity. And today we’re going to get to see and
study the impact of his life, and I want you to know that God is wanting you to lay your
life at the altar and make yourself available just like the Apostle Paul. I want you to hear it today and see it today
and not miss the point that there might be someone on paper that you think will never
come to Christ, will never convert, but I think people would have said that about Paul
before the Damascus road moment. And so today as you watch this also don’t
lose the hope that you have for someone that you know who at this moment might even be
an enemy of the gospel, but God through his redemptive power and make them maybe the next
Paul of our generation. Right? So we’re going to watch this movie preview
together, and then we’re going to sit down for some conversations. Let’s watch this. [VIDEO] >> LUKE (V.O.): I Luke send a message
to all those that follow out Lord, Jesus Christ. There is a terrible evil in the world. Darkness is spreading. I know you are suffering persecution. Faith is being tested. I know you question the way. But I’ve come to Rome to find Paul, to write
his story. To bring hope, to bring light into this present
darkness, and to remind us all how God changed a hateful man who will change the history
of the world. >> PAUL: Luke? Am I dreaming? >> LUKE: I’m here. I am stained with the blood of our brothers
and sisters. >> WOMAN 1: No! >> CASSIUS: This is what trust in God gets
you. >> PRISCILLA: People are desperate. We’re the only light left in this city. >> PAUL: I cannot fix their faith. >> LUKE: You can inspire their faith. >> PAUL: You risk people looking to me before
Christ. >> LUKE: The day I heard you preach, my God,
I saw Christ in you! There are many, many children that may never
meet you. There must be a handwritten account of your
or less. >> MAURITIUS: What do you really know about
these Christians. I am concerned with these documents. >> AQUILA: We’ve got to get these out of
Rome. >> PAUL: You think that we are plotting an
escape? >> MAURITIUS: Write another word and I send
you to whatever God you want. >> PAUL: Luke! >> CASSIUS: We’ll gather men to overthrow
Rome. >> AQUILA: To what end? >> CASSIUS: Justice! >> LUKE: They want revenge. >> PAUL: No! >> LUKE: Why not? >> PAUL: Love is the only way. When the moment comes you will have the strength
to do what is right. >> MAURITIUS: Your people die today. >> LUKE: This world doesn’t know a thing
about love. >> PAUL: Where sin abounds, grace abounds
more. (END) >> NASSER: Yeah, pretty exciting. The movie’s coming out March the 23rd. Can we once again welcome the great Jim Caviezel
in the house? Such an honor to have you here, buddy. [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] I know you’ve been at Liberty before. The last time you were in town you were promoting
a little movie by the name of “The Passion of the Christ.” [AUDIENCE CHEERS] And many of us have obviously seen that. One of the highest grossing films of all time. And right off the bat, you have certainly
made a decision as a Hollywood heavyweight, you know, to leverage your fame to be a part
of redemptive movies. You’ve played Christ in that particular
movie, and then now you’ve chosen to play the role of Luke in this movie. What makes you want to be a part of these
kinds of movies? >> JIM CAVIEZEL: Well, um guys, we hold the
truth. They don’t hold the truth. And our Lord gave me an opportunity to do
something with it. Much of the time when we get to a certain
level of power, people turn on our Lord. When I first came into the business Jesus
held me like a little lamb. He held me. I did not know where to go. I had the call the be an actor but it was
going to take him to teach me, to bring me to the right teachers and to the right films
to do. But at some point, I had to make the decision
what films to choose. And I recently heard James Faulkner who plays
Saul and Paul. He said, “I did not play this guy, it played
me.” And that was my prayer for him because that
same thing happened when I was doing the movie “The Passion”. I said I don’t want the world to see me,
I want them to see you, Lord. What good would it be for them to convert
to me and have me lead them in error? I want them not to follow my sin, I want them
to follow the Messiah. >> NASSER: That’s amazing. Yeah. [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] >> NASSER: Jim, you- you grew up in the Christian
home a devout believer, and when you were 19 you felt like the Lord was calling you
to go into acting. And then passed that obviously you had a great
career, and then Mel Gibson chose you for the film “Passion of the Christ”. Take us back to that just before we start
talking about the Paul movie. >> CAVIEZEL: Well some of you may have heard
this story, but it’s true. I had the- a deep experience that happened
when I was about 19 years old in a theatre and I- the- it was from God. And some of you guys have probably already
had those happen to you. But mine was I felt this love that I never
felt before, this peace I had never felt before, and I heard God say, “I’d like you to
be an actor,” exactly. Every night I went to bed and I would- it
was like an indelible mark written on my heart. Every morning I woke up, “I’d like you
to be an actor.” So I was probably 28 years old when I got
the thin red line, and after that point, it was a smorgasbord of films you could choose. So I was just always, as an actor, as a professional
you know, you look through what kind of material do you like. And at some point, I got a phone call from
my agent telling me that Mel Gibson would like to meet with me, but it was kind of-
it was not the standard kind of meeting. And actually, it was his surfing movie I was
meeting on called “Mavericks” and Kevin Reynolds who directed me in “The Account
of Monte Cristo” was probably going to direct this. [AUDIENCE CHEERS] “I’d like to introduce you to the Count
of Monte Cristo yet again.” [AUDIENCE CHEERS] Um, so we- so we go into this meeting and
I’m about 40 minutes in and Mel Gibson shows up. And he starts talking about different things,
and I suddenly have this shot back to when I was 19 years old. At this point I uh- I said, “Wait, this
isn’t a surfing film.” My heart started burning. I said, “You want me to play Jesus, don’t
you?” And he looked at me, he was smoking his cigarette,
and he goes, “Yeah,” looked own. And I said, “Okay.” And so two days later I was- I’ll never
forget it- I was in my kitchen and just taking the garbage out, and the phone rings. And I said, “Hey, hello.” And he says, “Hey Jim, it’s Mel.” I said, “Mel? Mel who?” He said, “I don’t know, Mel Brookes. Hey, so you still want to play this Jesus
guy?” And I said, “Yes.” And he says, “If you do it you may never
work in this town again.” And I get quiet, and I felt fear come into
me. That’s one thing about our faith, when you
feel that, that’s not Jesus. Then he put his hand over the phone. There was a long pause and I could hear him
muffling through the phone. I could hear him say, “He’s not going
to do it.” And I at that point then I could feel the
difference, something came through me that was great love. And it was, “Look, man, we’re all called
to carry our cross. If you don’t pick up and carry your cross
you will be crushed by the weight of it.” And he got silent. >> NASSER: Wow >> CAVIEZEL: And then I said, “Oh my God!” He said, “What?” I said, “I just realized my initials are
J.C. and I’m 33 years old.” He says, “God you’re freaking me out,”
and hung up the phone. [AUDIENCE LAUGHTER] But that’s what happened. >> NASSER: Yeah. >> CAVIEZEL: I mean, it really happened. And we go on to film and it was this young,
you know, coming to conversion that I was going to have to suffer. And that’s what began to happen. The shoulder separation, the cross, the cold,
the hyperthermia, the lung infection, being struck by lightning, the open heart surgery. Uh, you know, I was messed up. But what happened was when I was on the cross,
and I could just barely take it. And you know, I mean, I’d get up there,
they’d tie me up, put me in, and it was near a thousand-foot cliff. So I had already was struggling with my shoulder,
and every time the wind, you know, it’s like a Grand Canyon would come over maybe
at three knots. And all of a sudden it increased to 20-30
knots. The cross would snap and it would rip my shoulder
out. And at one point, you know, I’d have breakfast
in the morning. You’d have to eat because you were so cold,
but then I’d throw up. And it was just constant. And then um, this guy Ken, he was from Australia,
a friend of Mel’s. And he goes, “Hey Jim, Jim, come here.” I said, “You have to come up here, pal,
I’m in pain.” So they brought up a thing and he put these
earphones on, and that’s where he played the song “Above All”. And I just listened to it over, and over,
and over again. My heart started to burn, I mean burn inside. I had tears coming out and I was in it. And at that point, that whole day was gone
in 10 minutes. It just- it took- it put me in the zone and
took me out of my pain, it took me out of my feeling sorry for myself or any of that. And it took me into heaven. And even in all this suffering, man, evil
has no power over us at all. >> NASSER: Yeah. [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] >> NASSER: Take us to this movie, and there-
you play the role of Luke. We know in Scripture that Luke visited the
Apostle Paul when he was in the Mamertine prison. And take us into that dynamic and that relationship,
and what it means to you. >> CAVIEZEL: So there’s no- in certain films,
you’ll watch a guy and you get to see how he talks and his mannerism, and so there’s
a bit of impersonation involved. You know, one time I was looking at Ronald
Reagan, something on him, and I was, *accented* “Well, you and I have a rendezvous with
destiny.” You know, and you start to learn that stuff
for- and then in this one there’s no recordings of it but I started with him from Saul has
a conversion into Paul, a so-called believer. A man who is fervent in his beliefs, but no
love, right? And then you have this other guy who’s lacking,
has everything. He has wealth, he’s a doctor, a Greek, and
I’m sure very prestigious in his area, yet he was lacking something, that- you know. For example, if I was in Hollywood and I had
attained all, you know, homes and money and everything, and I had that lack of love in
my heart, I would feel empty. And you see many people that have had all
the things and yet they commit suicide. Why? There’s this emptiness there. And there was a- the hook in the film to me
was where- when I saw- “I never met Christ in person, but when I saw you I, you know,
saw Christ in you. He became real.” Then I think about that piece and then said
well, you know, the world would look at this and say, “Oh, Biblical movie,” but this
is relevant now. >> NASSER: Just having watched the movie,
and just being moved by it, you’re right. It’s such a- it’s such a reminder, this
movie, of the scandalous love and forgiveness of God. We have this scene from the movie where Paul
and Luke are having a conversation, and Paul is charging Luke about that controversial,
scandalous love and forgiveness. Let’s watch this together, and I want to
get some of your thoughts. [VIDEO] >> PAUL: We cannot repay evil for
evil. Evil can only be overcome with good. >> LUKE: Well, considering all we’ve been
through, can you really fault there response, Paul? >> PAUL: What did you tell them? >> LUKE: Love is the only way. >> PAUL: And after all you have seen, you
still don’t believe it? >> LUKE: This isn’t anything I’ve seen. My God, this is a world in the grip of evil. This- this- this is Nero’s circus. It’s-it’s-it’s passionate hate. Blood washing down the street. Widows, orphans starving to death. Babies born with the slightest defect are
disposed, dispatched, discarded. This world doesn’t know a thing about love. >> PAUL: So you would give up on the world
when Christ did not give up on us? >> LUKE: Why not? >> PAUL: No! >> LUKE: Why not? >> PAUL: Love is the only way. Love that suffers long, love that is kind,
that does not envy, that is not proud. Love that does not dishonor, that does not
seek for itself. Love that is not easily angered. Love that rejoices in truth. Love that never delights in evil. Love that protects, trusts, hopes, endures
all things. That kind of love. Give me your hand. Do you understand? Then write it down. (END) [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] >> NASSER: Wow. Right it down. And that’s exactly what Luke did. The gospel, it’s just so entrenched in this
move, Jim. I mean, there are these secondary themes like
the persecution of the church, there’s the theme of friendship between Luke and Paul. But certainly, the biggest take away has to
be in this movie, the gospel. He takes a lot of heat for doing these kinds
of movies, but at the same time, I told him he’s among brothers and sisters who appreciate
him for leveraging. Can we thank Jim? Man brother, we thank you. We’re for you, we’re praying for you. Thank you. [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] Let’s watch this clip about the influence
of the Apostle Paul. [VIDEO] >> JAMES FAULKNER: This old man Paul,
who is probably at this time 71 years of age, has walked 10,00 miles, has had practically
every disease that you could possibly get, has been stoned twice, flogged many times,
shipwrecked twice, been bitten by a viper- the man who gives us these words to become
the Acts of the Apostles. >> T.J. BERDEN: The reason why I think there hasn’t
been a lot of treatments of Paul’s life on film, his life is so wild and expansive,
and it almost doesn’t seem possible that a person can live- he lived 100 lives in one
life. >> ERIC GROTH: He is absolutely the most prolific
writer of the New Testament. There’s so much when you look at his writings
from all the epistles and his communications, and there’s some deep theology and there’s
some deep lived experiences in the Acts of the Apostles. And there’s so much, like part of it is
like how do you even begin telling that story? >> JIM CAVIEZEL: What kind of talents did
this guy have, how he could speak, how he could write. >> FAULKNER: He has a wide compass and can
deal with many, many people. There are moments when he has to show great
courage and great stoicism in the face of adversity. But he’s also quite capable of being a genuine
human being and having people listen to him as a result. >> ANDREW HYATT: I think that Paul above so
many others knew exactly what sin, mercy, and grace meant in his own life, and how powerful
it was. And, you know, the conversion of someone who
was so seeped into law and tradition, and it was eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth,
and if you didn’t- uh if you sinned and then you didn’t sacrifice, you were not
forgiven by God. This is how it worked in the old- uh you know,
Jewish tradition. And so I think that for him to sort of come
to this conclusion of understanding, oh it’s really about grace, it’s really about mercy,
and it’s all about love, and without those things, we don’t have anything. I think he can speak to it more than anyone
because he knew how far that transformation and how far that journey took him, you know,
from where he was at as Saul, and then the conversion, and then what he did for the next
30 years of his life. Um, everything centered around these three
things, grace, mercy, and love. And I just am so excited to tell this story
and offer these themes to the world at a time when I think that we are so desperate to hear
these things, to hear that we’re loved, to hear that there is mercy and grace for
anything, to hear that there is a God that’s bigger than us that loves us and that we cannot
fall too far from his grasp. And that’s why we’re excited to tell this
story. (END) [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] >> NASSER: Such a powerful movie. I know you have a final thought on your heart
before we bring the distinguished panel out to talk a little bit more about “The Apostle
Paul”. >> CAVIEZEL: I live very close to the Ronald
Reagan Library, and here’s a man, an extraordinary story. I put him up there with Abe Lincoln. He had to fight against one of the greatest
evil that ever was that killed over 150 million people. If we put Mao, 60 million. Eastern Europe behind the iron curtain. Our bosses, our leaders collaborated with
evil. They trumped up this word called “Détente”,
the coexistence of communism and capitalism. And yet freedom was losing. We were losing our liberty, we were losing. He said that- Reagan said that, um “détente”,
*accented* “Détente, isn’t that what a farmer does with his turkey all year long
until Thanksgiving Day? What do we say to our brothers and sisters
now caught behind their iron curtain? Give up your dreams of freedom now because
in order to save our own skins were just too willing to make a deal with your slave masters? Do you and I have the courage to say there
is a price we will not pay? There is a point beyond which evil must not
advance.” He would go on to say that evil is powerless
is the good weren’t afraid. “Well, you and I have a rendezvous with
destiny. We’ll preserve for our children this, the
last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into 1,000
years of darkness. We’re at war with the most dangerous enemy
that has ever faced mankind and his long climb from the swamp to the stars. And it’s been said if we lose this war,
and in so doing lose this great way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest
astonishment that those that had the most to lose did the least to prevent it from happening. Well, I think it’s high time now that we
ask ourselves if we still even know the freedoms that were intended for us by our founding
fathers. Every generation of Americans needs to know
that freedom exists, not to do what you like, but having the right to do what you ought.” And that is the freedom that I wish for you. Set yourselves apart from this corrupt generation. Be saints. You weren’t made to fit in, you were born
to stand out. God bless you. [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] >> NASSER: Wow, thank you, buddy. So good. Man, Amen. That’s awesome, brother. [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] >> NASSER: Jim, you’re more than just a
brother in Christ man, you are a patriot, and honestly just a freedom fighter, and we’re
grateful for you. Can we just one more time thank Jim before
our panel comes out? Thank you, buddy. [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] Hey, we’re going to bring out our panel
next, and so can we welcome first of all- come on- our very own Dr. Hindson to the house? [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] And it’s awesome. And then, of course, Dr. Brennan who teaches
at the School of Divinity. Can we welcome her? [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] Thank you. It’s great to have the great Michael Easley
with us as well. Can we welcome him into the house? Um, we wanted to get- we wanted to get three
spiritual heavyweights to really talk about some of the big takeaways from this movie. I know all three of you have seen this movie,
and three of you’ve experienced the journey of it. But just to kind of start off, obviously no
one else here in the audience and with a simulcast has. So, Michael, will you take us into an overview,
a quick overview of what this particular movie is carrying for us? >> MICHEAL EASLEY: Well, you begin with Paul’s
journeys, and we come to Agrippa especially in the Acts. We know that he’s stranded at Malta. We know that before that shipwreck he tells
the 276 souls that, “We’re going to go to Rome because I am going before Caesar.” And so Paul knew that he would end up at Rome
in some way for fashion or time. The remarkable this about this story is, anytime
you do a book to a movie, we can’t quite get where we want to get, right? There’s always some, you know, “Pride
and Prejudice”, “To Kill a Mocking Bird”, how do you translate it into a film? So when I watch the film, of course, you’re
watching it critically, but extraordinarily what they captured, in my opinion, is this
Luke and Paul potential relationship. And staying very close to Scripture. Obviously, we’re going to have, “Well
it wasn’t quite that way,” because we’ve got this thing in our head. But at the end of the day, Rome’s power,
Paul’s presence, the way it’s depicted in a cultural setting- it does bring it home
in a way that’s refreshing and very accurate to Scripture. >> NASSER: Dr. Hindson you’ve sat on panels
before and even been brought in on movies like- the series like “A.D.” to speak
into it from a theological perspective like Dr. Easley. Tell us about, um the power of storytelling
and not only a permission, but why it’s a good idea to sometime fill in the blanks
and let your imagination think about this dynamic of a relationship, for example, uh
between, you know, a Paul and a Luke. Uh, expound on why that’s okay for us to
let, with guardrails of staying aligned with Scripture, kind of fill in some of the blanks
of, “this might have been what these two characters talked about.” >> DR. ED HINDSON: Yeah, the amazing thing, David,
for me was when I was asked to watch the movie, I have no clue what’s coming. I better open my eyes and take a good look-
it is a phenomenal movie. It’s one of the best movies I’ve ever
seen. It will move you to tears by the end of the
movie. The way they’ve developed the characters
was so powerful, and yet so Biblical. There’s action but they don’t let the
action overplay the characters. So when you listen to the words of Paul, and
Luke, and the Roman soldier, you’re going to feel yourself pulled into this, both believers
and unbelievers. And in a sense, every sermon that a preacher
preaches fills in some of the blanks. He’s always trying to set the setting of
the passage and help you understand what he thinks was going on at that point. A movie is really no different than that,
and the wonderful thing about this movie is Affirm and Sony have done a phenomenal job
in the writing, the production the way it’s developed. From a Biblical standpoint, almost everything
Paul says in the movie comes right out of his letters. He’s literally speaking Scripture constantly
to Luke. And if you know the Bible, you sense that. If you don’t know that Bible, you’re moved
by what he’s saying in those moments. It grabs your mind, your heart, and your soul,
and moves you by the end of the movie to say, what decision am I going to make in light
of this? >> NASSER: Yeah, like a really good Bible
study or even sermon, this is a conversation starter, and hopefully people are going to
watch this and the be drawn to the Word itself. Right? The Word of God that’s living and active
and sharper than any two-edged sword and cuts through bone and life. This is a bit of a, hey you just saw this
play out, now go test it against Scripture and make yourself available. >> HINDSON: And I think the great thing is
the average believer who sees this is going to love this. >> NASSER: Yeah. >> HINDSON: Because it’s so accurate to
Scripture and yet it doesn’t get bogged down. The story moves effectively because as Michael
said, there’s a big difference between reading a book and watching a movie of that book. And I don’t think you could have done a
better job than they’ve done with this particular move, showing us accurately Paul when he was
young, Paul when he was old, and then Luke who’s kind of caught in the middle trying
to figure out, is this really worth living and dying for? Which is a question all of us have to face
in life. If Jesus is worth living, then he’s really
worth dying for. >> NASSER: That’s fantastic. Let’s watch this video which this video
real quick that talks about the Scripture connection that hopefully connects people
to the gospel [VIDEO] >> HYATT: We always start with Scripture,
first and foremost. Everything that we then bring in to try to
create the world and to build the palette of characters, it all has to be referenced
against Scripture. That’s the number one thing. Basically what I do is when I start developing
a script is that I come to Scripture first and then I start to reverse engineer. So, why is Luke in Rome in the prison? Well, at the beginning of 2nd Timothy we learn
that everybody’s abandoned Paul other than he says specifically that Luke is with him. And so I say, oh okay, so Luke is in Rome
as we know from all of our analysis and scholarly history that 2nd Timothy was written about
66-67 A.D. from the Mamertine Prison in Rome. So I start from Scripture and then I go back
to, okay let me look at the history. What’s going on in Rome in A.D. 66-67. Okay, well it’s Nero’s Rome. What’s going on in Nero’s Rome? And then we sort of go into the history of
Rome at the time, and the violence, and what’s going on. And then we just start to kind of place these
Biblical figures exactly where they were, and we’re able to fill in the blanks very
accurately through that process. >> RICH PELUSO: It was important to us in
portraying Paul that we stayed in line with Scripture and that when we really wanted to
fill out Paul as a person, we were able to do that through interactions with our historically
fictional character Mauricious in the story with the perfective in Mamertine Prison. What Andrew Hyatt did, our writer-director,
is he spent a lot of time studying Paul through Scripture, and through the dialogue in the
screenplays went through a refining process of wondering, you know, what-what are things
that Paul and Luke could have talked about, what are things that Paul would have said
kind of in line with his character to move this story along? >> HYATT: One of the hardest things, of course,
is to kind of pull out the storyline, because we can’t just make a story about Paul and
Luke just staring at each other in a prison talking for two hours. I don’t think that’d be very interesting. So the fictional side, so this Mauricious
character that we have in the movie, and Irenica and their daughter who’s ill and dying,
and sort of that whole storyline that comes to our film, that really is from all the other
experiences that we’ve pulled out of Scripture. Where Peter and Paul and Christ met all of
these families, they met all of these Roman centurions, Roman prefects, Roman guards. And we really just kind of pulled a collection
of those to create this character and this fabric of this family that, their daughter’s
sick, they’re praying to the Gods, the God’s aren’t answering. And here come these people that are following
this Christ and they just have a completely different outlook on life. They’re joyful, in the midst of violence
they are happy and they are following this Christ. And then there’s these miracles that are
happening. So we just basically took a collection of
these stories that we have documented over and over again where Peter comes along, Paul
comes along and touches someone and they’re healed. Christ comes along and says something and
they’re healed. And so even though we fictionalized that part
of it, we really feel confident that this is completely in line with Scripture. >> PELUSO: So I can tell you that every scene
and every piece of dialogue and every line has been gone through meticulously, between
us that at Affirm Films, between Andrew and the producers over the last year plus, to
make sure that we have something that in a precise way delivers a Paul and Luke character
that honor and align with Scripture, and also help fill out their lives in a way that helps
us deliver a compelling story. (END) >> NASSER: Another character that’s just
kind of spotlighted in the movie is Priscilla, her and her husband’s dynamic and what they
were facing in that particular moment. Dr. Brennan, you’re a bit of an authority
on not just women’s ministry but the role and the teachings of the Apostle Paul. There’s a lot of misconceptions out there
that Paul thought less of women, and I’d love for you to set up this little scene we’re
going to watch. But talk to us about the role of women and
the importance of women in that particular moment in history as well, as the church was
young, and even today. >> DR. MONICA BRENNAN: This film has had just a personal
effect on my life. And the film means a great deal to me personally. I went into it apprehensive because Paul is
painted in such a negative light by so many today in regards to many suggesting that he
was an advocate for the inferiority of women. But we know when we study Scripture and context
we find the extreme opposite, that he was for women being educated, that he was for
equality in Christ and for women using their unique gifts and callings in the home, church,
and society. So I was thrilled when in the film Aquila
and Priscilla were viewed as a husband and wife team, co-laboring together, which is
what is so clear in Scripture. There was a love and respect in this beautiful
picture of a Christ-centered marriage. And I believe that the church today, the world
today needs to see a vivid image of the Scriptures lived out in the home as well the truths that
we find in Scripture about equality in Christ and unique giftings. Priscilla had a voice in this film, and we
know she had a voice in Scripture as she and her husband, you know, they helped to even
train Apollos. I was so encouraged by that. There is a portion in the film that I was
a little- I didn’t know exactly which direction it was going to go in, because of course,
this is a time of great persecution. And Aquila and Priscilla, their marriage in
the film it looked like it was in some ways under attack. Priscilla wanted to stay in Rome, and Aquila
was like, we need to leave. And they came to that point to where they
had a discussion about, well maybe we should go in different directions. And I cringed because I was like, oh no! You know that is giving in to what culture
says. “Hey, when the persecution is there, when
the trial is there when sufferings are there, let’s just not work on this. Let’s not love, let’s not forgive, let’s
not show that mutual love and respect in our marriage relationship. Let’s not stay committed in the midst of
persecution. However, as the film progressed we have them
in dialogue again, and they said, you know, we’re stronger together. And, you know, and part of God’s plan and
the Scriptures I believe are so clear on is that men and women are alike. We’re to work together in the service of
the gospel. And the marriage here in the film is a picture
of the gospel, of Christ and his love for the church. So I was- I love this film, and it’s a beautiful
picture of what we’re called to live out. >> NASSER: Yeah, you sense that tension particularly,
absolutely in this- [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] In this particular scene where even though
again by design, men are called to be the primary leaders and women are called to be
the primary encouragers, but there’s mutual important, mutual submission, you see Priscilla
cheering him on. “Let’s stay here, let’s take the harder
road.” Both of them were obedient. He wasn’t saying let’s flee, he was saying
let’s go and spread the gospel elsewhere. But they were trying to hear from the Lord,
and you sense that. I love the movie doesn’t just like take
the hands off of that. Let’s watch this together. [VIDEO] >> JOHN LYNCH: There’s very little
known about Aquila and Priscilla, but they were mentioned quite regularly. And they’re never not mentioned without
the other. The equality of their relationship, man and
a woman married on equal footing, it’s so really unheard of. >> JOANNE WHALLEY: It was very intriguing
to me to see the weight given to Priscilla and the respect given to Priscilla and her
opinion, and her- just how she was valued. And then I found the portrait of the marriage
just so refreshing. >> AQUILA: In staying we put the lives of
all-out brothers and sisters under this roof in danger. >> PRISCILLA: And if we go how many people
that rely on us do we condemn to a terrible fate? Christ was clear when he said he was sending
us out among the wolves. >> AQUILA: He also told us to be as wise as
serpents. >> PRISCILLA: And harmless as doves. >> LYNCH: The house of Priscilla and Aquila
is an, to all intents and purposes, an early church. A shelter, a sanctuary, a haven. So Aquila is very much of the opinion that
it is better to cut their losses and to move and to go to Ephesus where Timothy is based,
regain their strength and wait for a better time. And Priscilla is tremendously attached to
Rome, has tremendous affiliation with the children of Rome, does a lot for the children
of Rome, for the poor of Rome, and is torn about whether to stay or to leave. And that’s been really interesting to examine,
and I love that sort of sense equality that Andrew really captures in his script. That really modern relationship of discussion
between husband and wife about what they’re going to do and where they're going to end
up, and the cost of that. You know, this relationship, Priscilla and
Aquila, was a revolutionary relationship. She had a position of power within the early
church. >> WHALLEY: She’s just such a great woman. She’s a great woman in any age. Their marriage is ideal. And I love the way they relate to each other
I love that they’re both strong but when one falters the other one is there, and it
works both ways. I love the commitment that they both have. I love the belief that they have in each other. I mean, how glorious to feel that you have
a life partner who’s got your back, whatever, whatever. I love his respect for her, I love her respect
for him. I mean they’re just, just great people. I mean, just great people. [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] >> EASLEY: David if I may, um you know, Dr.
Brennan’s talking about the woman’s perspective, extraordinarily depicted here, the tension
of a just normal marriage from the background as a woman in the first century. But you have a zealous background, and so
you hear a message like this. How does this cross your story? >> NASSER: Yeah, I think it’s interesting
for me, and I know in this room even with 10,000 students we have those who grew up
in a strong Christian home, and the day that they converted, their Damascus road moment,
was a moment of celebration in their home. But for me it was different, and that’s
where I’ll watch this movie, Dr. Easley, and really resonated with the conversion of
Paul costing him with religious people who were his tribe before his conversion. And so Paul gets saved and immediately three
days later he goes to this synagogue and he’s no longer against Christ but for Christ, preaches
the gospel. And they’re like hey, this guy switched
teams. You know, and that was my story. I came from a Muslim background, so I came
from a very religious background and then I got saved when I was 18. And the night that I went to get baptized
my parents disowned me and kicked me out of the house for becoming a believer. And watching this movie was personal for me
because I watched it and it reminded me that, as Jim said a little while ago, Christianity
doesn’t mean that the road gets easy. Christianity means that all of a sudden you
find purpose in life, and hope in life. And despite the temporary affliction, despite
hardship, really you can find perseverance because your hope is eternal more than anything
else. And this movie does great job of answering
to that. I want us to just watch one last clip and
then I’d love for you to talk about, Dr. Easley, from a- again you’re the president
of a Bible institute, you’re also a pastor, and you’re also an author and a teacher. So from all those dynamic points, talk to
us about just action points and practical things that we can do to use movies like this
as a witnessing tool. But let’s watch this last clip, and I’d
love to hear some of your closing thoughts. [VIDEO] >> HYATT: When I think of God’s
grace and mercy, and who’s the one embodiment of that, it’s always Saul to me. You know, somebody who was persecution Christians
goes from the basically greatest persecutor of the early church into the greatest evangelizer
in all of church history. So it’s always been something that stuck
with me. When I had my encounter with Christ and really
experienced that grace, and love, and mercy for the first time, Paul’s story has always
resonated with me. So after making “Full of Grace” it was
immediately the next choice. There was nobody else to focus on. >> FAULKNER: I spent thirty years playing
villains, and I guess that experience of playing men who always control others is a fantastic
resource for me to know what that is, to have played all those people, and to have done
all those terrible things, not personally but as a character throughout the years. And now to get a chance to explicate their
sins and their guilt through the character Paul. And I find it very uplifting. >> PELUSO: What I think God sees when he sees
someone like Saul, he sees a man or a woman on an extreme kind of scale of passion and
anger and hatred. I feel like God takes great pleasure in flipping
those people. The extreme nature of Paul against the Christians
when it was flipped was just the other side of the spectrum 180 degrees over, that extreme
love for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. >> GROTH: And think it’s that passion, and
ultimately when I whittle down the message from Paul, nobody is beyond the reach of the
grace of God. Doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t
matter what you’ve done, doesn’t matter where you’ve been. I think that’s such a powerful message that
the world needs to hear. To hear Paul say, “I’m the chief of sinners,
and yet I could do nothing without the grace of God.” Everything is redeemable. God is not standing over us going, “Shame. Guilt.” He’s saying, “I love you. I want you. Come to me.” >> CAVIEZEL: God loves us. Before our sin, yes. After our sin, yes. And also during our sin. And a lot of people say, “No, God doesn’t
have that kind of grace. God doesn’t have that kind of big heart.” Yes, he does. He loves us. [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] >> EASLEY: Now David, it’s striking to me
that in this culture love is altruism, we all love, we’re all spiritual, we’re all
kind, we’re all tolerant. You know, we worship these things so much,
and to hear Jim articulate that, that’s not the love of Christ. The love of Christ is truthful, the love of
Christ is clear. The love is Christ is he died in our place,
on our behalf instead of us, and that is the only solution we’ve got. And the compelling part about I think this
time and the way we look at media, people don’t read anymore. I mean, you guys have to read. You’re made to read for an assignment, but
people don’t read. But they watch, and it’s the easiest thing
in the world to grab somebody and take- “Hey, let’s go check this out. I don’t know anything about it. It may be good, it may be bad.” But what they do worship is dialogue, and
after the movie, you just sit down, have a coffee, whatever, and say two-three-four things,
takeaways. What did you like, what didn’t you like? Because people love to give their opinion. They love to dialogue. “Well, my story is-”
We all love to hear each other’s stories. And I think that’s where we’ve got the
power in a good sense to say, “Where are you in your journey? What do you think of this story? You believe it or not?” And that ending scene as we’ve all witnessed
watching the movie, I mean I’m kind of stoic, but I’m fighting back tears. It’s a powerful message. If Christ is not real, his words are not true,
we’re hopeless. And this media format is the easiest way in
the world to take a friend, to take a parent, to take a loved one, somebody you just have
challenges with. “Let’s go check this out. Know nothing about it, let’s go see it.” And maybe Christ would use that to start that
conversation. >> HINDSON: One of the things that I loved
about it is that it makes you think through the dialogue, but in the end, it moves you
to tears, and the subtitle of the move, if you noticed, is “Apostle of Christ.” And while the movie is about Paul, it’s
really about Jesus. But you’re not driven to him until the very
end with the surprise ending. Don’t miss it. >> NASSER: Yeah, definitely the star- [AUDIENCE LAUGHTER] The star is Jesus Christ, and isn’t that
true about all of our- we have the word of our test- we have the blood of the lamb, and
the word of our testimony. And whether it’s Michael Easley’s story,
or Paul the Apostle, or Luke, or Priscilla, or whoever, Jesus is the great star of it. Hey, church, we have such an opportunity with
this witnessing tool to not just invite community groups to come and watch it at the three o’clock
matinee and then have a great dinner discussion afterwards, but to invite lost friends to
come. I want to make sure you don’t miss this,
this movie is so intentional about not just being heady conversation for spiritual people
that love Jesus, but for lost people to watch the- watch the gospel on display, and we need
to champion it. We need to be a part of these kinds of things
because we want excellence, we want Biblical accuracy, and something like this delivers
it. And then so we should go and let people know
that we support them in that way. Are you not thankful again for Jim, and just
this great panel? So thankful for them. God bless you guys. [AUDIENCE APPLAUSE] Hey, I wanted to take just a few seconds to
give you a closing thought, and maybe a challenge. Honestly just a plea. We as Christians always ask for high-quality
events, high-quality opportunities where we can invite lost people to come and hear something
that really stirs up their emotions and sets them up for greater conversations. And we celebrate that, and then we don’t
really submit to it. We really don’t utilize the tools so many
times. When I see something like this put in front
of us I see it as a chance to invite my neighbor. I see it as a chance to invite that family
member. And certainly, during this Easter season,
people are very interested in the message of the gospel. And so I want to challenge you to go to PaulMovie.com
and figure out where the nearest theatre is. Buy tickets in advance. Really vote with your dollars, and your presence,
and realize that your attendance as believers isn’t enough. See this as an opportunity again to bring
someone who maybe is curious about the gospel, or maybe somebody who’s over-churched, somebody
who’s kind of been burnt by religion gone wrong who can come in and hear about just
this beautiful thing called forgiveness. I hope that you join me in going on March
the 23rd to see Paul the Movie.
