Reverend Merv Tippe · May 10, 2026
About This Message
Have you ever found yourself working hard to earn something you’ve already been given? That’s the quiet exhaustion many of us carry — striving for acceptance, approval, or belonging that God says is already ours. This week at Westhill Park Baptist Church, we continued our series through the life of Abraham, and the message landed somewhere unexpectedly personal: if you’ve placed your faith in Christ, you can stop auditioning for a role you’ve already been cast in.
Background and Context
Genesis 22 is one of the most gripping and theologically dense passages in all of scripture. God calls Abraham to do the unthinkable — to take his son Isaac, the child of the promise, and offer him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. What unfolds is not a story about cruelty, but about covenant. Every step Abraham takes up that mountain is a step of trust, and twice in the passage he speaks words of striking faith: first to his servants — “we will worship and then we will come back” — and then to Isaac — “God himself will provide the lamb.” Abraham didn’t just believe in God; he believed God, and that distinction, as Paul makes clear in Romans 4, is the very thing credited to him as righteousness.
It’s worth pausing on the location. That mountain in the region of Moriah would later become Jerusalem itself, and the site of Abraham’s altar would become the Temple Mount. Centuries after Abraham climbed that hill with his son, another Father would offer another Son on that same ground — and this time, there would be no ram in the thicket. The story of Abraham is threaded all the way to the cross, which is precisely why he appears in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament figure — over seventy references — and why three of the world’s major religions trace their spiritual heritage back to him.
What We Explored
What made Abraham remarkable wasn’t perfection. He failed — more than once. He took matters into his own hands with Hagar, producing Ishmael in an act of impatience that has echoed through human history ever since. And yet, the Bible describes him as a friend of God and the father of many nations. The message this week leaned into that tension honestly: Abraham’s life isn’t a portrait of flawless obedience, but of a man who, despite his stumbles, kept leaning into the promises of God.
Our pastor shared something that stuck. He recalled a moment in a church service where he felt God clearly pressing him to write two significant cheques for needs being presented — the only problem being that the money wasn’t in the account yet. He told his wife, expecting her to join his side of the argument with God. She didn’t. “If the Holy Spirit’s telling you to do it, then you should just do it.” He did. Within three weeks, the funds were there. He was careful to frame that story not as a formula for reckless financial decisions, but as an illustration of what it looks like to act when God taps you on the shoulder — even when it’s uncomfortable, even when the math doesn’t work out yet.
There was also a quietly moving personal moment when he shared that at the age of eight, after returning home from Vacation Bible School, he had prayed and asked God to make him a pastor. Fifty-nine years passed. Detours, wilderness seasons, and a long stretch of waiting — and then the doors opened at Westhill. He didn’t tell that story to impress anyone. He told it as a testimony to one of the verses he’s clung to through every difficult season: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.” Not maybe. Not perhaps. He shall.
The message also drew a clean distinction between two questions the New Testament raises about Abraham. Paul asks: how are we made right with God? The answer is faith alone. James asks: how do we know if faith is real? The answer is by the fruit it produces. These aren’t contradictions — they’re two angles on the same truth. Genuine faith doesn’t just sit still; it moves.
Key Takeaways
- You can face the unknown with faith.
God consistently calls his people out of comfort and into the uncharted — not because the unknown is safe, but because He is. Abraham simply went when God said go. No negotiating, no conditions, no extended prayer retreats to buy time. Just obedience.
- Your failures don’t disqualify you.
Abraham failed. So did David, Peter, Jonah, and Jacob. God worked through all of them anyway. Our mistakes need not define our walk with God — they can actually deepen our reliance on Him when we bring them honestly to the relationship.
- God’s waiting room is not wasted time.
Joseph waited thirteen years. Moses waited forty. Jesus himself waited thirty before beginning his public ministry. Seasons of waiting in scripture are almost always seasons of preparation, not abandonment. When you’re in God’s waiting room, you are in the safest place you can be.
- Don’t try to help God along.
The Ishmael story is a cautionary tale about what happens when we get tired of waiting and start engineering our own solutions. Our job is faithfulness. God’s job is fulfillment. He never initiates what He is unable, by His power, to complete
A Question Worth Sitting With
“Where in your life are you still striving to earn something — acceptance, worth, belonging — that God may already be freely offering you?”
This Week’s Challenge
Take a few minutes this week to read Genesis 18 through 22 in one sitting. As you read, pay attention to where Abraham waits, where he falters, and where he trusts — and ask yourself honestly which of those moments most resembles where you are right now. Then sit with Romans 4:20–21 and let it speak.
This post was prepared as a ministry resource for Westhill Park Baptist Church. An initial draft was generated with the assistance of Claude AI (claude.ai), developed by Anthropic. All AI-assisted content is reviewed, edited, and approved by church leadership before publication to ensure it faithfully reflects the message and values of our community.
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