Participants: Shakeela Yasuf
Series Code: DOA
Program Code: DOA000001
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00:41 As-Salaam-Alaikum, to our Muslim brother and sisters,
00:45 Shalom to our Hebrew cousins, 00:48 peace be upon you our Christian friends. 00:51 Welcome to "The Descendants of Abraham." 00:54 We're blessed with your presence here with us today. 00:57 Today in our program we'll look 01:00 at the beginning of Abraham's life. 01:02 And why he is such a prominent figure in Islam, 01:06 Judaism and Christianity. 01:09 The three major world religions honor Abraham 01:13 as their ancestral patriarch, and a man of faith 01:17 who believes in one God. 01:20 Judaism traced their lineage through the Son of Isaac. 01:25 Islam traced their lineage through Abraham's son Ishmael. 01:31 And Christianity tells us that 01:33 he is a spiritual ancestor justified by faith. 01:39 The Holy Bible in the book of beginnings, 01:42 the Book of Genesis, tells us that Abraham 01:45 was born in Ur of the Chaldees, 01:49 married a woman named Sarai. 01:51 And God promised to make of him a great nation. 01:57 The Creator God sends him on a long faith building journey, 02:03 eventually giving them new names. 02:07 The new names were Abraham and Sarah. 02:12 Who was this man called a friend of God? 02:16 This man of faith in the living God, 02:20 the one who choose to obey God rather than men. 02:25 Let's start at the beginning when the Creator God 02:29 first talked with Abraham. 02:32 In the Book of Genesis 12. 02:36 Genesis 12:1-4, "Now the Lord had said to Abram, 02:42 "Get out of your country, from your kindred. 02:45 And from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. 02:50 I will make you a great nation. 02:52 I will bless you and make your name great. 02:55 And you shall be a blessing. 02:57 I will bless those who bless you. 02:59 And I will curse him who curses you. 03:02 And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 03:09 Why did God choose Abraham to be the father of all nations? 03:14 Let's take a look at the promise that the Lord made to Abraham 03:18 while he still lived in Haran. 03:20 Even though his whole family including his father Terah, 03:25 worshipped other god's idols. 03:28 Abraham was faithful to the one true God, 03:32 the same God that created Adam and Eve. 03:35 The same God that created Noah and who Noah worshipped. 03:41 Remember, the promise of God, 03:45 the promise that god made to Abraham. 03:48 "I will make you a great nation and I will bless you 03:52 and make your name great. 03:55 In you shall all families of the earth be blessed." 04:01 God did not say to Abraham that he was going to be the father 04:06 of one nation but of many nations. 04:10 But before the promise could be fulfilled, 04:13 Abraham was asked by the Creator God 04:16 to leave his country and his family, 04:19 everything he knew, everything that was familiar to him. 04:23 God asked him to leave behind. 04:26 To move from his father's house and to journey to a land 04:31 that was unknown to him. 04:34 Abraham was from the line of Shem. 04:38 And God chose him to be the keeper 04:40 of His law for future generations. 04:44 Abraham did not make or take part 04:47 in idolatry as his family did. 04:50 God could trust him as He trusted those before Abraham. 04:55 God's will and his law was entrusted to Adam, 05:01 to Seth, to Enoch, Methuselah, 05:04 Noah and Shem and then Abraham. 05:10 Our God is a creator of all things. 05:14 He chose Abraham to bless all the families of the earth. 05:20 You will notice that there was no mention 05:23 of a Jewish nation here. 05:25 Abraham was the one chosen by the creator 05:28 to preserve the knowledge 05:30 and the worship of the one true God. 05:33 There were no Jews, there were no Israelites at that time. 05:39 God is a God of all people. 05:44 He does not discriminate or segregate. 05:47 He is a God for all mankind regardless of color, 05:52 education, race or nationality. 05:56 He created each one of us for his purpose. 06:02 The creator did not create so many religions, 06:06 all the different religions that we have in this world 06:09 that was not created by Him. 06:12 That was all created by man. 06:14 Man is the one that has chosen his own God and his own path. 06:19 There is only one God, one truth, and one way. 06:25 Abraham was to be a blessing to all not to some. 06:30 Not to one privileged group or people. 06:34 In the Book of Hebrews in the Injeel, 06:38 we read in Hebrews 11:8. 06:43 "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out 06:47 to the place which he would afterward 06:49 receive as an inheritance. 06:52 And he went out, not knowing where he was going." 06:58 What is faith? 07:02 Judaism, Islam and Christianity 07:05 all acknowledge that Abraham was the father of faith. 07:10 But what is faith. 07:12 Again in the Injeel, in Hebrews 11:1, 07:16 we read this description of faith. 07:20 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, 07:24 and the evidence of things not seen." 07:30 So what is that Abraham was hoping for but could not seek? 07:36 Abraham never questioned his God. 07:39 He simply obeyed Him. 07:42 Abraham believed in the promise that God made to him. 07:47 He left his home, his relatives, his native land 07:52 and followed where God was leading. 07:56 All though Abraham did not know where he was going. 07:59 He knew, he could trust his God. 08:03 He did not question if he will like the place 08:06 where God was taking him. 08:08 If there are good job opportunities, 08:11 what the weather was like, what the people are like. 08:14 He never questioned. 08:17 Abraham was living in Ur of the Chaldees, 08:20 when God called him to move. 08:23 His father Terah and his family moved with Abraham to Haran. 08:30 Terah and the rest of the family mixed the worship 08:34 of the true God with other idolatrous practices. 08:40 They stayed in Haran until Terah died, Abraham father. 08:44 After the death of Terah, God once again came 08:49 and spoke to Abraham and told him it's time to move on. 08:55 His brother Nahor and his family decided to stay in Haran 08:59 holding on to their homes and their traditions. 09:04 They did not move with Abraham. 09:08 Abraham and his wife Sarah and his Lot nephew, 09:13 and his nephew Lot continued one to the land that God promised. 09:18 And God blessed Abraham with many servants 09:21 and flocks and herds, all the riches 09:25 of the east at that time. 09:28 Abraham knew that when he left Haran and all his relatives 09:33 that he would probably never ever 09:35 return there or see them again. 09:38 Yet, he was willing to do this because 09:42 his God meant everything to him. 09:47 God had spoken again and Abraham obeyed. 09:52 If you want peace and joy that this world cannot give, 09:59 then God's leading in your life is what you need to obey 10:03 when God talks to you when He speaks to you, 10:06 when you feel He is leading you, obey Him as Abraham did. 10:10 And you will have that peace, you will have that blessing, 10:14 that is a promise of our Creator God. 10:18 I know that this was not an easy thing for Abraham to do. 10:23 To leave all, I too had to walk that road. 10:29 I remember too clearly when I told my father 10:33 that I was choosing to follow the true God of Abraham. 10:38 I remember when I called him and I talked to him on the phone 10:45 and I told him "Daddy I have accepted 10:49 the true God of Abraham, the God of the holy Injeel." 10:57 I will not go into details but I still remember talking to him 11:04 on the phone and when I told him that the phone 11:08 the click of the phone when he hung up 11:11 and I knew that at that time I was being separated 11:17 from my family because I chose to follow the God of Abraham. 11:23 It was painful for me and I'm sure painful for my family too. 11:28 But it was a choice that I had to make. 11:32 There was no other way. 11:33 I had to make that choice to choose to follow 11:37 the one true living God. 11:40 That same God that father Abraham worshipped. 11:45 The ties to our native land, our families, 11:50 our friends of the same faith and culture are very strong 11:55 ties especially to those of us with 11:58 the eastern mindset, very strong ties. 12:01 I know this by personal experience 12:04 with my brothers and sisters. 12:07 I will never tell you that it is an easy road. 12:11 But I will tell you that it's the right road, 12:15 the right path, the right way. 12:18 The only way to find peace 12:21 and contentment in the God of Abraham. 12:27 Our final destination is the heavenly Canaan, 12:32 dwelling with the Creator God and holy angels. 12:37 This world, we know is not our land. 12:42 This world we're living now is very temporary. 12:48 Our destination, our final destination is to dwell 12:53 with the God of heaven and His holy beings. 12:57 And to live in peace without anymore pain, 13:02 without anymore sorrow, with the God who loves us, 13:06 with the God who forgives us. 13:10 This is our final destination not here on this earth. 13:17 But like father Abraham I too was given a choice. 13:22 God never ever forces us to do His will that is not who He is. 13:29 He is not a God that forces anyone. 13:32 He is a God that's His look, this is who I am. 13:36 this is a kind of God I am. 13:38 You can chose to follow Me or you can chose not to. 13:42 Never ever does He forces to worship Him. 13:47 He loves us too much for this. 13:49 He loves us too much to force and coerce us. 13:54 He is not a God that manipulates us or threatens us 13:59 if we chose to turn away from Him. 14:02 Again, because He wants us to be happy 14:08 with whatever choice we make. 14:10 But you know the only choice to truly be content and happy 14:15 is make the choice to follow Him. 14:19 He is a God of love, of forgiveness and of mercy, 14:27 not a God of condemnation. 14:31 Our God has a heart. 14:34 He feels things deeply especially for us. 14:41 When we chose our own way, we hurt Him. 14:46 When His people lost their love for Him, 14:50 here is what His response was. 14:53 Again read in the holy Injeel, 14:57 in Hosea 11:8 "My heart churns within Me." 15:10 "My heart churns within Me." 15:14 That is what our Creator God is saying when we rebel, 15:20 when we go to our own way, when we chose not to follow Him. 15:24 His heart churns within Him. 15:27 He hurts for us, with us. 15:32 He created us to be free moral agents and He does not change. 15:39 God is the same as He was in the beginning 15:43 and as He will be in the end. 15:46 He is now, God does not change, we change. 15:50 He gives us the freedom to worship Him, the God of Abraham. 15:56 Our worship whatever God we choose. 16:01 This kind of freedom only comes from the living God of Abraham. 16:08 I will choose to follow the God of Abraham 16:11 or hold on to the traditions of my culture and family, 16:18 which one would you choose. 16:20 I chose to follow Abraham's God. 16:24 Please do not hold on to the culture, 16:27 do not hold on to the traditions of the family, 16:31 seek the God of Abraham, seek the one true living God. 16:36 That is where you will find peace. 16:39 Like Abraham I had to choose 16:45 to worship and follow the Creator 16:49 and not the created. 16:51 But like Abraham before asking me to follow Him, 16:56 our loving heavenly Father showed himself 16:59 to me in so many different ways. 17:04 I wanted to know the truth and who the God of Abraham was. 17:09 I wanted to know why when God created me a woman 17:14 that I was made to feel unworthy of His love and mercy. 17:19 I was made to feel like 17:22 a second class citizen, like I didn't belong, 17:27 like I had to take-- stand behind everyone else. 17:34 That is not the kind of God that I can worship. 17:38 I use to ask Lord, God why you created me as a woman. 17:44 Then why is it I have to be treated as so unworthy. 17:52 But that is not what the holy Injeel says, 17:56 that is not what the true God of Abraham says. 17:59 That is not who he is. 18:04 As I searched for these truths, 18:07 God revealed to me the truth of who He is. 18:12 And I can give you so many different ways, 18:16 you know, we know, that God speaks to us in dreams, 18:20 in visions and He is spiritual and He is supernatural, 18:27 and He gave me so many supernatural experiences 18:31 that showed me the path to Him. 18:35 And that's the path I followed like Abraham still obeying 18:41 and hoping that when I came to the end of that path, 18:45 I will find the true God and I did. 18:48 And I have the peace and the contentment 18:50 of the joy of knowing my creator. 18:58 Many years ago, I had left the country left 19:03 my homeland and I moved to the United States, 19:09 I missed my family and I had called my daddy 19:13 I had left my Quran all back at home. 19:16 I called my daddy and I said, 19:18 "Daddy I need my Quran." 19:22 He sent me the 2 volumes, 2 volumes of the Quran 19:25 and I started reading and praying 19:29 and I take-- going to classes and so on. 19:33 And one of the things that happened 19:37 is that a fire broke out where I live in my dwelling. 19:43 And I had my Quran on the top of the shelf 19:49 there where I always kept them. 19:52 And when that fire broke out everything 19:58 around my Quran's was fine. 20:01 It was saved. 20:02 It wasn't burned up. 20:04 But my 2 volumes were burnt to ashes. 20:11 Brothers and sisters that hurt me, 20:14 I couldn't understand why that happened. 20:19 But as time went on and I obeyed and I listened 20:26 to the voice of the living God, the God of Abraham. 20:30 He showed me that He wanted me to learn more about 20:36 Him through experiences, through dreams, 20:41 through visions and I should obey those things. 20:43 He led me to the holy Injeel as the Quran points 20:49 to go to the people of the book and to read and I did. 20:54 I was afraid at first, I didn't want anything to do with it. 20:59 But I did and I found the true God of Abraham 21:06 the one that Abraham worshipped, not my family, 21:09 not the different tribes, 21:12 not the different nations but the one God. 21:16 I questioned to Lord of what was taking place in my life 21:20 and I did not at that time understand it. 21:24 But God was not going to leave me without answers. 21:28 Again turning to the holy Injeel, in Isaiah 55:9 21:36 we read, "For my thoughts 21:42 are not your thoughts. 21:44 nor are your ways My ways, "says the Lord. 21:48 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 21:51 so are My ways higher than your ways, 21:55 and My thoughts than your thoughts." 22:02 The influence of our family and our friends 22:06 must never be allowed to interfere 22:09 with the Creator's purpose of our lives. 22:13 Many times God's people are called to dwell among strangers 22:17 so that His will, His purpose 22:20 for our lives could be fulfilled. 22:22 Do not think that true followers of God 22:26 evade problems in their lives. 22:28 As we will see in upcoming programs about Abraham, 22:32 there were many problems that he had to deal with. 22:35 But when you encounter problems and difficulties in your lives, 22:39 go to your heavenly Father in prayer. 22:42 Asking Him to give you the strength 22:44 to carry you through the problem, not to avoid it. 22:49 It is His way of refining you, shaping you, 22:52 into the person He created you to be. 22:55 He has a special purpose for you. 22:58 In the Book of Jeremiah 1:5, this is what He says about you. 23:04 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. 23:08 Before you were born I sanctified you." 23:14 We may not hear the voice of God from heaven as Abraham did. 23:18 But God may be trying to reach us through dreams, 23:22 visions and through His word. 23:25 If you will read His word prayerfully, 23:27 you will be aware of His presence. 23:30 I promise you that. 23:32 He may ask you to leave your careers, 23:34 your wealth and honor among men. 23:38 You may feel strong pull to search for the one true God. 23:42 The God that Abraham worshipped and trusted. 23:46 The God of love, forgiveness and compassion. 23:51 The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 146:3-4, 23:57 "Do not trust in princes or in man who cannot help you. 24:02 His spirit departs, he returns to his earth 24:06 and in that same day his plans perish." 24:11 The only one who will never fail you is the God 24:14 of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. 24:19 Let's get a glimpse of our Father 24:21 through the experience of Moses. 24:23 When Moses asked God to reveal Himself, 24:25 here is what took place. 24:27 We read in the Book of Exodus 34:6-7. 24:32 "Then the Lord passed by in front of him, 24:34 Moses and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, 24:38 compassionate and gracious. 24:41 Slow to anger and abounding in love and kindness and truth. 24:45 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity 24:48 and transgression and sin." 24:53 Here we get some insight of who our Father 24:56 is when Moses needed comfort and assurance, 25:00 our Creator God showed Himself to Moses. 25:04 He revealed His character who He is, 25:07 not what He looked like. 25:09 One who is compassionate, gracious, patient, merciful, 25:15 forgiving our transgressions and sins and full of love 25:20 for His children, you and me. 25:23 He is a God that loves you so much. 25:26 You can trust him. 25:27 He will never let you down. 25:32 When you get to the Descendants of Abraham, 25:35 you can be sure that you're lighting the way 25:37 for all in search of the Creator God and His message of love 25:41 and forgiveness to all nations. 25:44 Thank you for your support and for your prayers. 25:47 All contributions are tax deductible. 25:50 Please visit us online today 25:51 at www.descendantsofabraham.org 25:55 or write to us at the address you see listed on your screen. 25:58 All correspondence will be kept confidential.. 26:04 My brother and my sister, you can talk 26:07 to the Creator God directly. 26:09 You don't need anyone to speak for you. 26:13 We're told in the Book of Isaiah 1:18, 26:17 "Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. 26:22 Though your sins be as scarlet, 26:24 they shall be as white as snow. 26:26 Though they are red like crimson, 26:29 they shall be as wool." 26:33 What kind of God is this that He bids me 26:37 and you to come and reason with Him? 26:42 And then He tells me that my sins, 26:45 my transgressions He will forgive. 26:50 This is the God that Abraham knew and loved. 26:56 He is a God as I mentioned before, does not force, 27:01 does not coerce, does not manipulate. 27:05 He pleads come, let us reason together come to Him, 27:10 talk with Him, reason with Him. 27:14 That is the God that loves you, that loves me. 27:18 He is a God that is compassionate. 27:21 He is a God that will forgive you, your sins. 27:25 No matter, what you have done, 27:27 He will forgive you your sins. 27:30 Do not be afraid to come to Him. 27:33 Come to Him, ask Him to guide in your life. 27:38 He is listening and waiting for your voice. |
Revised 2014-12-17