Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's Word from a Hebrew messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levitam. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to the book of Hebrews. We are talking about quite a few men in the Old Testament. And these men have left an impression on our lives. These men have touched our hearts. We spoke about, you remember, the first few men in scriptures. And some of these men were really showing us that the way to God is the way of faith. believing and trusting our blessed God. And if you remember, the verses that perhaps we haven't made enough emphasis on them in Hebrews 11, is that, listen to this, verse 6, without faith, it is impossible, it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Without faith, dear friend, it is impossible. Listen to this. It is impossible to please God. Faith is essential. Faith is characteristic of the child of God. Faith is what attract us to a living God. It puts like a glue, it glued us to a living God. Faith is essential. And the Bible tell us in Hebrews 11 6, without faith, it is impossible to please God. To trust by faith in the living God. So, if you remember we talked about quite a few men and I want to tag another man that is very dear to us as Jewish people. And this man is our father, Abraham. In his first calling, by the way, his name was Avram. Av-Ram. High Father. Later on, after he received his son and his God changed his name to Av-Ra-Ham. Father of many nations. But initially his name was Av-Ram, father who is high, high father. And Abram teaching us another lesson in the school of faith. I read the verse that I want to dwell on in verse 8 of Hebrews 11. And Hebrews 11 verse 8 says, By faith Abraham. When he was called to go out into a place which he would after receive for an inheritance, he obeyed. And he went out not knowing whither he went. Now let me ask just a question right away, off the bat, before we start to talk about a few points. Do you really understand and believe that God really cares for each one of us individually? Do you understand that? Do I understand that God really is concerned with your individual soul? Well, but I'm just a little screw somewhere in this big congregation. you may say. But do you get a hold of it, that God is really intend to deal with you individually. They care for God for you individually, never mind the whole congregation and the whole church and the whole assembly, but for you individually. For Gideon, for Jimmy, for Billy, for Joe, for Jack. For Miriam, for whoever name you're gonna take, do you understand that God really care for you individually? If you don't, you will always find yourself lost. God is really concerned for each and every one of us individually. He is concerned about Ari, that Ari will be happy. He is concerned about, and I can just point ourselves to each one of us here, he is really concerned about us individually. And as we went through Hebrews chapter 11 in the first verses, we talked about, you remember, and I just remind you, please be patient with me, we talked about the first three men. And we show first of all the sacrifice of faith which we saw in the life of Abel. He offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. We moved along and we see another man by the name of Enoch and we find out that Enoch walked with God and we learn another lesson is not now so much the sacrifice of faith but in Enoch's life we learn a simple another thing the walk of faith. And then we moved along to verse 6 and 7 and so on, and we talked about another man by the name of Noah, and we said that Noah teaches us the works of faith. The sacrifice of faith, the walk of faith, and the works of faith. And we saw so beautifully Noah preparing an ark to the saving of his family. And you remember last week we said, what a man was Noah. that He prepared a big ark in spite of the disappointments from the world and He saved, He led His family to protection. And we ask ourselves, do I lead my children, my mother, my father, my friend, my family to protection in the ark of safety? And we say the ark of safety is very beautiful type of Yeshua the Messiah. You will never find any safety in the world. Only in our blessed Lord and Savior, Yeshua the Messiah. No safety any place. Nothing is sure. Only one thing is sure. Is Yeshua the Messiah died for your sins and for mine. But here we're going to another man. This man is Abraham our father. And Abraham had the call of God. In Abraham, we don't so much see the sacrifice of faith, we don't see the walk of faith, we don't see the works of faith. Well, we see all of them, but we see what we call the life of faith. From the beginning until the end, the life of Abraham tells us the life of faith. The first thing that I want to show you is who And what was the source of his call? You see it will be a shame for me to be influencing another to trust in God and it will be really the source will be me and not God himself. The source of Abraham call and faith was God himself. Do you understand that? Do we understand that if we put our trust in the Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, it must be the source, God himself is the source. Abraham, verse 8 we read, By faith Abraham when he was called. Did God call you? Did God call us? You know that everyone in this world is being called by God to come in. Think of Yeshua the Messiah in Matthew 11. He said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. You come, the invitation of the Lord. He says, come to me. You are looking for rest. You are looking for satisfaction. You are looking for forgiveness of sin. You come to me and I will give you rest. The source of Abraham's call was found in God. What a shame if some of us will follow the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah because my brother or my sister influenced me. There is no weight in that. You don't come to Yeshua, we don't come to God because of our family even. We come to God because the source is God Himself. The source is God. I read a verse in the book of Timothy. Turn with me to Timothy for a minute. 2 Timothy chapter 1. God speaking to Timothy through the apostle Paul and his young men. You know, Timothy was a young man. There are a few young men around here and young women, by the way. And when I'm speaking about the call of God, I'm not talking only to men. I'm talking to ladies as well. And because majority of us here are really sisters in the Lord, ladies. And God was saying through the Apostle Paul to this young man Timothy, He said to him, Be not thou therefore ashamed, in verse 8 of 2 Timothy 1, Be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. But be thou partakers of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Listen to that. According to the power of God, verse 9, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. Timothy was suffering because he stood for Yeshua the Messiah. And when he was suffering, he said to him, don't be ashamed. Remember, God had called us with a holy calling. 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 9 let me repeat do we understand the source of the call of God and you know if we don't recognize that the source is God himself we will never be a happy individual The source is God, and God really cares for us. And He called us with a holy calling. So number one is the source of Abraham's call, and that was God. What happens when we don't answer the call of God? Do you know that while Yeshua, while Jesus called, many refused Him? You know that up till today, when we preach the Gospel, many are refusing the message of the Gospel. Many are refusing the call of God. I want to tell you what the man Solomon, the wise man of Israel, said in Proverbs chapter 1. Listen up. Because I have called, verse 24, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hands, and no man regarded. but ye have set at naught my counsels, and would none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity, and I will mock when your fear cometh." You see what he's saying? He said, I call you, and you refuse, refuse, and refuse, and he says, you know, when the time will come, I will laugh at your calamity. God cares for us. And God wants us to answer to the call. But when an individual refuses the call, I stretch out my hands and you would not, he said. I will also laugh at your calamity. When the day will come, and we're going to have to stand before God, and the men of the world who refuse to accept the offer of salvation, God says, I will also laugh at your calamity. Why? Because I have stretched out my hand. I have called you. I wanted you to be for me. And you have refused the call of God. What a shame! What a shame if we hear the gospel message of Yeshua died for our sins and we refuse and we say, we don't want to hear from you God. What a shame. I will also, he said, will laugh at your calamity. And remember, the source is God. It's not preacher, oh no, the source is God and refusing the call of God is refusing salvation which God had offered freely. Abraham, by faith, we read in Hebrews 11 verse 8, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, he obeyed and he went out not knowing whither He went. When I accepted Yeshua the Messiah as my Savior and my Lord, I was not sure what's going to happen. Immediately when I accepted Him, I said to myself, well, what are my friends going to say? What are my mom and my dad going to say? Yeah, but what are the rabbis going to say? God never asks us. Never he asked us to evaluate his call to what men say. He asked us to simply obey the call of God. The source is God, not man. Don't ever come to God because of men, but come to God because the truth that men represent is the source coming from God himself. That's number one, the source. Number two, is not only the source of Abraham's call, but the character. What kind of character Abraham call had? Well, you gotta believe in God, but live in the world. You gotta believe in God, but live in sin. Is that the kind of character Abraham had? Oh no. When God call us, He wants us to have a different character altogether. Them that are in Yeshua the Mashiach, in Christ Jesus, are a new creation. All things have passed away, for all become new. The character is completely different. There is no way that He calls us, and we obey His call, and we carry on in a life of sin. It is impossible. Abraham's character was outside of this world. Go back to Genesis chapter 12. I'll read verse 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, out of thy kindred, and out of thy father's house. You know, Haran was a well-to-do country. When Abraham was called out of Haran, at this particular chapter 12, he was called to live the country and he was called also to live his kindred. He was called to live the politic of this world, everything that has to do with this world. You see, what people try to do is they try to improve this world. Let me tell you, the church age is about 2,000 years old and the world haven't been improved one bit. In fact, the world is far deeper into sin and corruption than 2,000 years ago. And no Christian or Jewish believer will ever be able to improve this world. This world is really A place where God is not recognized. And Abraham was called to leave it. To leave all the systems of men. Where men to try to deify himself. To take the place of God and to set God aside. You just listen to the news. I've listened to that last night. You just listen to what's going on in the courts today. And you, even in the most spiritual state you are, you will never improve this world. God said to Abraham, I am the source of your call. But the character of your call will be outside of this world. Oh yeah, we dress, we put the tie on, we put the shoes on, we dress like the world. But the character of our life are to be different. Leave, he said to him, leave your country, politics, and your kindred, all the social parties, and all what the world has to offer that has nothing to do with Yeshua the Messiah. And you know what? I'll tell you. I'm just as guilty in that as well. The world is like a magnet. Pulling us closer to it and try to say you mix a little bit of Jesus and a little bit of me. Leave your country and your kindreds. God said unto Abraham. Their character now will be a different character. It's going to be a different character than the world itself. And please turn with me to John 15. And I show you what Yeshua said. John chapter 15 verse 18. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would have loved his own. But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15 verses 18 and 19. You see what he's saying? He's saying, you see, we are out of this world. Abraham, you're out of this country, and your kindred, you are out of this. Oh yeah, you are in the world, but you are out of the world. It's difficult. It's not easy. What I'm saying is not something that we just bluntly rush into, but it's a really seriously thinking about that. The character of our life as believers must be a heavenly character. And I tell you again, if you try to improve the world, you will find to be sucked down into the same condition of this world. And I tell you why. Abraham didn't live alone. Who did Abraham take with him? He took Lot. What happened with Lot? Lot lifted up his eyes and he saw all the Jordan and everything seems to be green and beautiful down there, didn't it? And you know what we find out? Abraham said to him, you choose, you take what you want. And Lot, we find him, and you read the chapters. You find him first of all lifting up his eyes towards Sodom. Secondly, pitching his tent next to Sodom. Thirdly, sitting in the gates of Sodom. And the Bible tells us that Lot was a child of God. You and I, are no match for this world. We are just quickly can be drawn into the lifestyle of the world even as children of God. And therefore, we have to look at the man of Abraham. Instead of looking to this area which was watered and green, God lifted up his eyes. And God said, you lift up your eyes and look to the north and to the south and to the east and to the west. He says, I will give this to you. trust me follow me have a character of a man who is living for God and I will bless you he said to Abraham Abraham's life of faith the third point remember the first point was the source God is the source the second point is the character of life is an outside of this world character Thirdly, and as we talked about point one and point two, you and I really have to admit that the third point will be the cost. Are you willing, am I willing to have this type of character and paying the cost? It costs to live a life for the Lord in this world. It's cost to trust the Lord, to have faith in God. And the reason that many a time we have failed and we are down, unhappy, is because we didn't want to pay the cost. You know what it cost Abraham? I tell you what it cost Abraham. I'm back in Genesis and There was a third point that we read in Genesis chapter 12. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto the land which I will show thee. God called Abraham Not only from the country, not only from the kindred, but also from his father's house. And what happened? God really called Abraham much longer before he called him from Haran. God called Abraham according to Acts chapter 7 in the first verses. He called him already in Ur the Kaladin in Mesopotamia when Abraham was with all his family. And then he told him, Abraham, I want you to leave your family, to leave your father's house, and to go out into a country which I will show you. But you know what happened? Abraham took along his father. His father did not necessarily had the faith of Abraham. His father, and you look at this, look at this, Acts chapter 7, let me just read this, Abraham in chapter 7 verse 2. Harken unto me, he says, the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelled in Haran. You see what's happened? He came and he made a stop in Haran. Why was the stop there? Well, his father came along. And his father took, if you will, the control of this path. And his father decided, we are not going on further to the promised land. We're going to stick around in Haran. And Abraham, in a sense, stayed behind because of his father. Natural ties. And as long as he stayed and his father was alive, Abraham did not move forward. And that's why the writer in Acts chapter 7 says, verse 3, Get thee out of thy country from thy kindred into the land which I will show thee. And then we find out that after the death of his father, Abraham left Haran and moved on. As long as his father remained alive and he kept him from following him, Abraham sticked around with his natural ties. And you know, natural ties are very precious to us. We love our families. We ought to respect our families and our parents. But when it comes to the life of faith, when it comes to walking with Yeshua the Messiah, we must make a choice. I either follow the truth that God called me to, and pay the cost, or I am staying in haram, in disobedience to the call of God. And you can see that there was a cost to pay when we are following the Lord. Yeshua said, if any man love father and mother, brother and sister, wife and children more than me, he is not worthy of me. Now he doesn't mean that we shouldn't love each other, but if you mean, if you are to trust me and your family telling you, no, you don't need to trust the Lord, you are far safer to take the Messiah than rejecting him because of your family rejection. Now you know what's happening. The moment we have trusted Yeshua the Messiah, our love for our family grew far deeper. We far more appreciate and love our people because we know that without the Messiah they are lost. But if our family is holding us down and telling us, no don't accept him, don't follow God because it's not the truth and you know it is the truth, you are far safer to pay the cost and to trust Yeshua and follow him. the cost. The source is God. The character is out of this world. The cost is expensive. And lastly, the reward. In chapter 12 of Genesis, God said to Abraham, and I will make thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shall be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curse thee and in thee shall all the family of the earth shall be blessed there is a reward if we trust the Lord if we follow him in a character which is a heavenly character if we pay the cost and sometimes it's expensive there is a blessing there is a reward God will bless us God will encourage us, God will give us what we don't even think will be a blessing for us. Romans 8, 28, for all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose. It doesn't say all good things, but it says all things. And sometimes things which are painful will be the source of blessing and reward. Now, are we going to have a little bit of the life of Abraham in our life? The source is God. The character, out of this world. Thirdly, we spoke about the fact that it's got to be a costly thing we're going to pay sometime. And fourthly, the reward. God will bless us for every step we take for him. If you are here without the Messiah, I challenge you, the source is not the preacher, is not the congregation, but the source of his call is God himself. He called you. He called you. And if you refuse, he said, I will laugh at your calamity. If you take Him as your Savior and your Lord, He has promised you forgiveness of sins. He has promised you an eternal life. And then He wants you to walk with Him and have a character of a child of God. It's going to cost you, but He's going to reward you and He's going to bless you. May the Lord encourage us. In these difficult days, and I tell you, dear brothers and sisters, these days are difficult, are not easy. Many voices, many messages to listen to, and may we be sound, coming back simply to the Word of God, and God will answer us. God will help us. You have been listening to the Holy Scriptures and Israel with Brother Gideon Levitam. Brother Gideon teaches God's Word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. We do pray that this Bible teaching program is a blessing to you. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teachings on Fridays at 11am and 7pm and Saturdays at 1pm. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible through the prayers and financial support of its listeners. We appreciate your contribution to this ministry. For more information, write to the Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. If the program is a blessing to you and you would like to help in supporting it, you may do so by mail or through our website, holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you and shalom, shalom. May the Lord now bless you and keep you. May his face now shine upon you. May you show forth the light of his countenance. Blessed be the God of Jacob.