Sermon notes for March 1, 2026
Second Sunday in Lent
We will use the following texts.
Genesis 12:1-4
12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[a]4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
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Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.
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Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
4 What then are we to say was gained by[a] Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed[b] God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. 5 But to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.
13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
16 For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”), in the presence of the God in whom he believed,[a] who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
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-John 3:1-17
3 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus[a] by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”[b] 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You[c] must be born from above.’[d] 8 The wind[e] blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
11 “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you[f] do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.[g] 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.[h]
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.
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Sermon: Stepping into the Life of Promise
Scriptures: Genesis 12:1-4; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17
In the name of the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit I welcome you to this study of scriptures.
Friends, you may not be aware of The Revised Common Lectionary which is a standardized, three-year cycle of weekly scripture readings used by most mainline Protestant churches in the U.S. and Canada for Sunday worship. It coordinates readings from the Old Testament, Psalms, Epistles, and Gospels to align with the church calendar. We are currently in the season of Lent.
Generally, if the preacher is following the lectionary (which I usually do), I will read all of the chosen verses to see which one or ones “speak to me”. This is the inspiration. This week all of the readings resonated with me. I saw a commonality that ran through Genesis, Psalms, Romans, and the gospel of John. That's why we have four scripture readings today.
From there, with the Spirit's guidance, I delve deeper into the Scripture for the underlying theme. Then I gather background and supporting materials to bring forth a sermon that hopefully explains, expands, and answers the question, “What does this mean for me today?” Because I believe that these words are designed to change us.
And speaking of change, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who wrote profoundly about Christian faith.
He is quoted as saying, "A preacher's job is to comfort the troubled and trouble the comfortable"
Hang on because today I may be doing both.
Stepping into the Life of Promise
We are starting with the troubling of the comfortable. Relax, this is not about troubling you … yet.
The story of faith does not begin with a human searching for God; it begins with God interrupting a human life.
When we meet Abram in Genesis 12, he isn't a young man looking for adventure. He is seventy-five years old. He is settled. He has his "father’s house," a country, and a kinship network. In the ancient world, these weren't just sentimental things, they were your social security, your identity, and your protection.
Then comes the Divine Disruption: "Go."
God tells Abram to trade his certainty for a promise. Notice the tension: God promises a "great nation" and a "great name," but he doesn't provide a map. He provides a direction: "To the land that I will show you."
Faith is a journey toward a destination that only God can see.
The Call to "Go" (Genesis 12)
Abram was 75 years old when God told him to leave everything familiar. Usually, we think of that age as a time to settle in, not to move out.
The Question for us is, “Do we have a country, a home, a habit, a mindset, a comfort zone, or anything else that we feel God is calling us to leave behind right now?
Okay, maybe I am doing a little troubling here.
Ask yourself honestly, “Why is it harder to trust the "land God will show you versus the land you can already see? It's it fear of the unknown? Or are we just too comfortable with where we are to move to a “Promised Land” which we cannot see?
We often want the "blessing" without the "going." But the text suggests that the blessing is found in the going. Abram’s obedience wasn't about earning God’s favor; it was about positioning himself to receive what God was already giving.
"But let’s be honest: positioning yourself for a blessing often feels a lot like positioning yourself for a panic attack. When you leave the 'land you can see' for a promise you can't, you start looking over your shoulder. You start looking at the horizon for help. And that brings us to the song Abram would have needed for the road."
If Genesis 12 is the "call" to the journey, Psalm 121 is the "song" of the traveler.
As Abram walked toward Canaan, or as we walk toward the unknown future God has called us into, we inevitably look at “the hills." There is only peril in those mountains. In the ancient Near East, the hills were places of danger, they were where bandits hid and where pagan shrines (the "high places") were built.
Our Question here is, “When you feel overwhelmed, what are the "hills" you tend to look toward first? Sometimes in our modern lives, our hills may be mountains of debt, job insecurity, troubles at home or abroad.
Now reflect on this: How does the image of a "Keeper who never sleeps" change the way you view your current anxieties?
The Psalmist asks the universal human question: "From where will my help come?"
The answer is, our help doesn't come from the landscape; it comes from the Creator of the landscape. The poem uses the word "keep" (or "keeper") multiple times in just eight verses.
He (God) is the Keeper who does not slumber.
He is the Shade at your right hand.
He keeps your "going out" and your "coming in."
This is the bridge between Abram’s journey and our lives today. The theme here is the protective care of God . We can afford to step out into the unknown because we are held by a Guardian who never blinks.
"It’s comforting to know God watches our 'going out and coming in,' but it raises a deeper, more personal question: Why? Why would the Creator of the hills care so much for a wandering traveler? Is it because the traveler is perfect? Is it because they’ve walked the path flawlessly? To answer that, we move from the story of the journey to the theology of the journey. Paul, writing to the Romans, uses Abraham as 'Exhibit A' to explain the 'why' behind the 'how.'"
In Paul’s day, people thought they could "work" their way to God and that, if they checked enough boxes and followed enough laws, they would earn a "wage" of righteousness. But Paul points back to Genesis. He notes that Abraham was called "righteous" before he did anything impressive. He was a flawed man who simply believed the God who "calls into existence the things that do not exist."
Paul’s point is radical: If you work for a paycheck, your boss doesn't "gift" you the money; he owes it to you. But God wants a relationship, not a business transaction. He wants to give you the inheritance of the world as a gift of grace. The only "work" required of us is the work of trust, the same trust Abram had when he packed his tents and left Haran.
Paul makes a sharp distinction between a wage (something earned) and a gift (something received by grace).
The question we must ask ourselves is, in what areas of our spiritual life do we still feel like we are trying to "earn a paycheck" rather than receive a gift?
Think about this: If your standing with God is based entirely on His promise and our trust (rather than our performance), how does that change the way we handle failure?
"This idea of a 'free gift' sounds wonderful on paper, but for those of us who like to be in control, it is incredibly difficult to swallow. We want a checklist; God offers a relationship. We want a map; God offers a Spirit. We see this exact tension play out in a midnight conversation between a man who had spent his whole life 'earning the paycheck' and the One who came to offer the 'gift.'"
We arrive at a dark street in Jerusalem where a religious leader named Nicodemus is trying to make sense of Jesus. Nicodemus is a "teacher of Israel." He knows the laws. He knows the history. But he is stuck.
Jesus tells him something that shatters his categories: "You must be born from above."
Nicodemus thinks in earthly terms: "How can an old man crawl back into the womb?" But Jesus is talking about a spiritual displacement. Just as Abram had to leave his physical country, Nicodemus had to leave his "religious country" that is his reliance on his own status and knowledge.
Jesus describes the Spirit like the wind. You can’t grab the wind. You can’t tell it where to blow. You can only set your sails to it.
This is the culmination of our theme:
The Call: "Go" (Genesis)
The Protection: "I will keep you" (Psalms)
The Means: "By faith, not works" (Romans)
The Power: "By the Spirit" (John)
Nicodemus was a "teacher of Israel," yet he was baffled by the idea of being born again. He wanted a logical explanation, but Jesus gave him the metaphor of the wind.
My Question is (and this may be troubling the comfortable) Where do you see the "wind of the Spirit" moving in your life or community in ways that you can't quite explain or control?
Jesus says the Son was sent "not to condemn the world, but to save it." How does that specific focus on rescue over judgment reshape how we should interact with our neighbors?
"Nicodemus came looking for a logical explanation, but Jesus gave him a new life. He reminds us that this journey isn't just about moving our feet to a new land; it’s about moving our hearts into a new reality. It all culminates in the most famous promise ever spoken."
As we are getting close to the end of this sermon, I will attempt to comfort the troubled with the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16. We often read it as a slogan, but in this context, it is the ultimate "Promise." God so loved the world, this messy, traveling, wandering world, that He gave His Son. Why? Not to condemn the travelers, but to save them.
Today, we find ourselves at various thresholds.
Maybe you are facing a "Genesis 12" moment where the familiar is fading and the future is a blank page.
Maybe you are in a "Psalm 121" moment, feeling the oppressive heat of the sun and wondering if God really is watching over you.
Or maybe you are a "Nicodemus," trying to figure out if you can really start over.
The message of these scriptures is consistent: God moves first. He calls, He keeps, He justifies, and He gives new life.
We don't have to be perfect to start the journey; we only have to be willing to "lift up our eyes" and walk.
May you trust the Promise, rely on the Keeper, and feel the wind of the Spirit at your back as you go. Amen
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Opening Prayer: The Prayer of the First Step
Let us pray:
Holy and Eternal God,
You are the Voice that calls us out of the familiar and the Spirit that breathes life into the weary. We gather here today—some of us feeling settled like Abram in Haran, and others feeling the restless wind of change.
We confess that we often prefer the safety of what we know over the promise of where You are leading. Forgive us when we try to earn Your love like a wage, or when we look to the hills of our own strength for help.
Open our ears this hour to hear Your call.
Open our hearts to receive the gift of Your grace that we could never earn.
As we journey through these scriptures, remind us that we do not walk alone. Be our Keeper who does not slumber, and our Shade at our right hand. Transform us, renew us, and give us the courage to be "born from above" this day.
In the name of the One who was lifted up so that we might live, Jesus Christ,
Amen.
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A Closing Prayer for the Journey
God of Abram and Sarah, God of the traveler and the seeker, we thank You that You do not wait for us to find our own way to You. Thank You for being the One who initiates, who calls, and who keeps. As we stand on the thresholds of our own lives - facing decisions, transitions, and unknowns - grant us the courage to step out. Help us to trust the Promise more than the Map. May Your Spirit blow through our lives like the wind, bringing us into the new life that only You can provide.
Through Jesus Christ, who is our Way, our Truth, and our Life. Amen
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The Benediction: The Blessing of the Open Road
And now, as you go forth from this place:
May the Lord, who called Abram to a land unknown, guide your feet into paths of peace.
May the Lord, who is your Keeper, watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth and forevermore.
May the God of Grace, who credits your faith as righteousness, fill you with a peace that the world cannot give.
And may the Spirit, which blows where it chooses, set your sails for the adventure of the Kingdom.
Go now in the confidence that you are not condemned, but saved; not alone, but kept; and not lost, but led by the God who loves the world.
Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.
Amen.
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