August 16, 2026
Assigned Scripture
Genesis 22:1-14
22 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.
“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”
6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
John 15:9-17
9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Group Response
I no longer call you servants; I call you friends.” This sounds like a promotion; but is it always? Throughout Scripture, Abraham is a prototype of the “Friend of God.” By peeking into his life, and the disciples’ lives, we get a glimpse what it means to nourish, abide in, and live out this friendship. This sermon will explore the question: What does it really mean to be a friend of God… especially when life takes us places we wouldn’t pick for ourselves?
Discussion Questions
1. When you hear Jesus say, “I no longer call you servants… I have called you friends,” what about that idea feels inviting to you? What about it feels challenging?
2. The sermon contrasts “working for God” with “living with God.” Where do you notice the difference between those two postures in your own life?
What helps faith feel like friendship rather than employment?
3. Jesus tells his friends what is on the Father’s heart. What do you think God has helped you care about because you have been walking with him?
Is there a person, problem, or need you might have preferred to remain unaware of?
4. Genesis 22 is a difficult story. What do you think it means to “trust the giver when you don’t understand what is happening to the gift”? How is that different from assuming that trusting God means everything will turn out the way we hope?
5. What is something you find yourself holding tightly right now? What might entrusting it to God actually look like?
6. Abraham could say, “God will provide,” partly because he could look backward and remember ways God had already been faithful. What evidence of God’s faithfulness can you see when you look back over your own life?
7. The sermon asks, “How is my friendship with God shaping my friendships with others?” What’s Jesus inviting you toward in your posture with others? How can you step into that this week?