June 28, 2026

You can find the order of worship and songs here.

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What do you hold most dear? What is your greatest treasure? And suppose God were to ask you to give it up. Would you? Could you?

This is exactly what God asked Abraham to do in Genesis 22. Abraham had but one son born to him in his old age. Nothing and no one was more precious to Abraham than his son Isaac. But God asked Abraham to surrender what he held most dear. "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

How can God ask so much of Abraham?

Is God really asking too much? But if we are not willing to offer up to God what is most precious to us, why offer him anything at all? Worship is not spring cleaning where we get rid of what is excess and will not be missed. To worship God means to offer up to him our best and our dearest. Not free time, but the time we cannot afford to lose. Not the energy that is left over after we have attended to all other affairs, but the first and the best part of us. To worship God means to acknowledge him as our Highest Good. Anything else is mere play-acting.

Abraham did not hesitate.

However, the LORD stopped Abraham just as Abraham "reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son." God provided for Abraham a substitute sacrifice, a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. This was the LORD saying to Abraham, "Did you really think you will sacrifice your only son for me? By no means! For I will sacrifice my only son for you!" And so the LORD gave his only son Jesus to death.

Here is a mystery greater than our minds can comprehend or our words can express. We owe God our best and dearest. But God gave us his best and dearest. We think God is asking us to sacrifice too much. It is, in fact, God who sacrificed more than we can understand, and certainly far more than we have ever deserved. How can we respond to grace except in heartfelt worship?

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Growth Resources

In June we are reading "The Christian Race" by J.C. Ryle. See also 12 for 26.

Announcements

July 5: Sunday school lesson on Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, ch. 77, "The Marks of a True Church."

July 12: Fellowship meal.

Thank you for your continued support of Grace Fallbrook (PCA). Your loving support makes the proclamation of the gospel and the building up of the saints possible. Please visit gracefallbrook.church/give and click on "Give Online Now." You will be directed to the PCA Foundation where you can give towards Grace Fallbrook (PCA).

This Week's Prayers

Please email your prayer request by Thursday to include it in the list for the upcoming week — info@gracefallbrook.church