In Genesis 22, we find God testing Abraham in order to confirm and strengthen his faith. This test will require the difficult act of obedience God had ever asked of Abraham. What we learn here is that God always graciously provides what he requires from his people. We walk through this story in three parts: 1) An Agonizing Obedience, 2) A Proven Faith, and 3) A Substitutionary Sacrifice.

We take a break from Genesis as Nick Tanaka (Kahului Baptist Church) preaches from Colossians 1.24-2.3. Here we see the call to work hard for the sake of the church in so doing we will display the sufficiency of Christ. There are three truths about Paul’s work for the churches that help us to understand this: 1) the manor of Paul’s labor, 2) the people for whom Paul labored, and 3) the goal of Paul’s labor.

In 1 Timothy 6.17-19, we are warned against abusing the good gifts of God and are exhorted to worship the giver and not the gifts. In verse 17, we find two ways to avoid worshiping our wealth: 1) by not becoming proud about our wealth and 2) by not setting our hope in our wealth. Then in verses 18-19, we find four ways to worship God with our wealth: 1) enjoying our wealth as a gift, 2) prioritizing true wealth, 3) sharing our wealth, and 4) storing up heavenly wealth.