Holy Scriptures and Israel

Narrator: 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 Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: Today turn to the book of Acts, chapter 13, this ministry meeting, and I'm going to read the first 13 verses in the book of Acts. In Hebrew, we call it Ma'asei Shlichim, or the Acts of the Apostles, but actually, it is the acts of the Ruach HaKodesh, of the Holy Spirit of God, who have acted in the lives of people in the world and brought many to the knowledge of Yeshua the Messiah.

Many from among the Jewish people, from among the Gentile world, have come to faith in the Messiah, and it is the act of the Holy Spirit of God, who have been working in lives, opening hearts, and turning many to the Lord, saving souls by the preaching of the gospel. And here we read in chapter 13, and I'm reading the first 13 verses of this chapter, and please follow with me.

Now there were in the assembly that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers, as Barnabas, and Shimon that was called Niger, and Lucius or Lukius of Cyrene, and Menachem, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Sha'ul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Separate me Barnabas and Sha'ul for the work whereunto I have called them." And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

So they, being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, departed unto Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had also John to their minister. And when they had gone through the isle of Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God.

But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Sha'ul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him and said, "O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right way of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season."

And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.

I'll pause here because this is where the section breaks through very nicely in the book of Acts. Brothers and sisters, the book of Acts, as I have mentioned, the first 12 chapters in our studies in the past concerning the acts of the Holy Spirit of God is a development, beginning in the city of Yerushalayim, the city of Jerusalem, where our own people, the Jewish people, have accepted Yeshua the Messiah, bringing forth the message of the gospel to the Samaritan in Acts chapter 8, ultimately going to the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10.

Finally, now the message is broadening out to the nations of the world. When we get to Acts chapter 13, we find really now that the message of the Messianship of Yeshua is being proclaimed through Sha'ul, through Paul, and others like Barnabas to the nations of the world. Now the gospel is going to be spreading to many, many nations. Notice how many cities are mentioned here in chapter 13 and 14.

Notice it begins with Antioch in chapter 13 and verse one. Notice it's going on to Seleucia in verse four, and then to Cyprus in verse 4B. Then it continues to Salamis; this is a city in Syria, it's about 16 kilometers from Antioch, and from there it's moving in verse six to Paphos. Then from there on, you will notice, for example, in verse 14, we have Perga, and then in verse 14B, we have Antioch of Pisidia.

Then we can move on and you can see that the message of the gospel is moving on in chapter 14 and verse one, Iconium, and then verse eight, Lystra, and then back to Antioch at the end of chapter 14. You can see, brothers and sisters, that now the gospel that we began to be preached by Hebrew believers in the city of Jerusalem in the land of Israel, moving now to Samaria, moving now to the uttermost parts of the then-known world.

What we find here in chapter 13 is that while we were talking about Peter and his ministry in the first earlier chapters of the book of Acts, from chapter 13 on, the emphasis is on Sha'ul's ministry, Paul's ministry, among the Gentile world. It is wonderful that that message is still continuing on. You and I would have never come to faith in the Messiah, in the Messianship of Yeshua, and will never know sins forgiven unless the preaching of the gospel continued on over the years and reached us today. 2,000 years later, people such as you and I.

I want us to notice in this chapter 13 something very important. Sometime in ministry or in the service for the Lord, we neglect to realize the importance of the call of the Lord. To serve the Lord is not something that we do in our own flesh. It's not something we do in our own energy. It is something that demands the guidance and the help of the Spirit of God. Ruach HaKodesh. It is the Holy Spirit of God who is the one that is using the servants, using the people of God in the service for the Lord.

We are talking to our families about the Messiah and we don't see much response. We are talking to dear ones that we love to tell them about Yeshua the Messiah and we don't see much response. Sometime we get so discouraged we wonder, is it true what God said in his word? Is the Bible correct of what it said that salvation is for all men? Why don't people come to accept the Messianship of Yeshua? Why do people refuse the gospel? Why is the heart of man so hard?

Unless the Spirit of God does a work in the heart, it doesn't matter what we say. It doesn't matter how much we talk because salvation is not an issue of the energy of the flesh and what we successfully succeed to influence another. It's not like that. Unless the Spirit of God does a work in hearts, hearts will simply not come to him. No one can come unto me, Yeshua said, unless the Father draws them. Then the drawing of the Father in the power of the Spirit of God brings people to himself.

Here in Acts chapter 13, we see how God prepared the servants and he called them for the ministry and they still need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit of God because otherwise, they will never be successful in their spiritual ministry. Look at this. In the first five verses, Acts 13:1-5, we have the call from God of this man by the name of Sha'ul and also his companion, Barnabas. He's calling them for service.

It says first of all in verse one that there were in the church which was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers. Then it gives us a list: Barnaba, Shimon, Lukius, Menachem, and Sha'ul. I mention those words in Hebrew because, in fact, most of them were Jewish, were Hebrew believers. They now were shifting from the central location of the city of Jerusalem to this city that is in Syria called Antioch.

Antioch, beloved brothers and sisters, became the central place where the Gentile world has been hearing the message of the Messianship of Jesus after the Hebrew believers have preached already the gospel to the Samaritans and also gone all the way to the area of Antioch. From there on, we find out that there were brothers in that local assembly in the city of Antioch and it says that some of them were prophets and some of them were teachers.

These are not Old Testament prophets. These are New Testament prophets and they were not necessarily talking about the future, but the prophets were prophesying that which the Lord has spoken concerning in this present time, the church age. They were teaching about the word of God. They were ministering to the believers there in Antioch, not only prophesying or speaking forth the word of God, but teaching them.

Teaching is extremely important. No student can grow in the area that he is called to unless he's being taught. That's why teaching is so essential. Bible studies, the reading of the scripture, the teaching concerning the things of God. There were those five men that are mentioned there: Barnabas, Simon, Lucius, Menachem, and Saul. They were teaching and speaking forth the word of God in the local assembly in Antioch.

Do you know that the assembly, if you for a moment go back with me to Ephesians, was built upon the apostles and the prophets' ministry? Look in Ephesians 2:20. It says, "And you are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Yeshua the Messiah himself being the chief corner stone." In other words, the foundation, the teaching, the instruction that believers receive in the first century, and you and I receive it today, is upon the teaching of the apostles, of the earlier New Testament prophets and the teachers who teach us regularly the word of God consistently, rightly dividing the word of truth, helping us to understand the mind of the Lord through the written word of God.

Here we find out in this chapter 13 that these prophets and teachers were there in the city of Antioch. Those five names: Barnabas, Simon, Lucius, Menachem, and Saul were there ministering to the body of Messiah in this local church. That is why when we gather together to meet together around the Lord, we constantly teach the Bible, open and read the scripture. We take the text and we elaborate on it. We read the text and we expound on the text because teaching and speaking forth, prophesying, speaking forth the word of God, is essential for the building up of the body of the Messiah.

A believer that doesn't read his Bible and doesn't learn from the word of God cannot grow, cannot be fed spiritually from the word of God and grow and mature in his life as a believer. That's why in Antioch they were teaching and speaking forth the word of God. Now, look what happened. In verse two, we learn something that is precious. Notice that as they ministered unto the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Separate me Barnabas and Sha'ul for the work whereunto I have called them."

Sometime we wonder how do I know whether the Lord has called me for ministry. The lesson that we learn here from these men is that they didn't sit at home and wonder whether the Lord called them. They didn't fold their hands and they waited to see some sort of a revelation from God, that the heavens will be opened. No. What we find out is that they ministered unto the Lord. They were going about their spiritual life in their business of ministering the word of God to the brothers and sisters in the local assembly.

They were preaching the word. They were ministering the word. They were sharing the scripture. They were encouraging and building up the body of Messiah as they ministered unto, and notice that it doesn't even say as they ministered unto the brethren, it says as they ministered unto the Lord. They were ministering to the Lord. The Lord doing it because of the brothers and sisters. They were not saying, if I have so many people, then I'm going to begin to do my teaching.

They ministered to the Lord on an ongoing basis. They taught the scripture. Of course, they didn't have the full canon of scripture then. they only had the Old Testament, the Tanakh, and they had the knowledge that they knew of the Messianship of Yeshua through the other disciples, but they ministered to the Lord. They served the Lord through teaching the word of God to God’s people.

As they done this ministry unto the Lord, the Spirit of God was calling them. They never gone to school. They never gone five years to Bible school and qualified to teach the word. We never read of them going to any school. We never read of getting any diploma. We never read of them actually being genius, but they were guided by the Spirit of God. They were moved by God.

I'm thinking about the history of our own people. Moses, Moshe Rabbeinu, our lawgiver, he was learned in the school of Egypt, but he had to unlearn all what he learned in the school of Egypt and go through the school of God. The school of God taught him how to lead our people Israel out of Egypt and bring them and lead them and direct them and instruct them and minister to them until he brought them just before they enter into the promised land.

No school, no education, no diplomas, but it was simply faithfulness to the Lord, to the God who called them for the ministry. It says as they ministered unto the Lord, the Spirit of God said, "Separate unto me Barnabas and Sha'ul for the work wherein I have called them." It's a call from God. It is God who was calling these two men, Barnabas, son of a prophet, and Sha'ul. It was God who was calling these two Jewish men for the ministry among the Gentile world.

The Holy Spirit of God is a divine person. It's not feeling, it's not emotion. He is a person. God the Holy Spirit is one of the persons of the trinity. God the Son, God the Spirit, God the Father. One God, three persons in the godhead. It is the Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh, who have said, separate unto me Barnabas and Sha'ul for the work whereunto I have called them.

The beautiful thing about this is that the Spirit of God will use the people of God who are going about serving him as they move along in the life of service for the Lord. He will direct them. He will call them. He will lead them on as they are serving him and desiring to serve the God who have called them to serve him.

If you for a moment please turn with me to Genesis chapter 24, I want to show you another man that was called by God, was led by God, as he was serving the Lord. In Genesis chapter 24, we know the servant of Abraham, our father Abraham. He was sent by Abraham to go to bring a bride for Isaac his son. Look what he said to Rebecca where he found her later on and he was speaking with her and wanting to know if she would be the one that will be the bride of the son of his master, Abraham. We read of him in verse 26 and 27 of Genesis chapter 24.

"And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord. And he said, 'Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren.'" Being in the way. As he was in the service for the master, as he was serving his master, going to the place where Abraham told him to go, as he was in the way, the Lord led him. That is exactly what we read in Acts chapter 13. As they ministered to the Lord, the Spirit of God called them for the ministry.