(~) Bible Readings for Sunday Feb. 20

 Second Sunday in Lent

Genesis 12:1-8
Romans 4:1-5(6-12)13-17
John 3:1-17


Old Testament                     Genesis 12:1-8

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. 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. 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."  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. Abram took
his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that
they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and
they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land
of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the
oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord
appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So
he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there
he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his
tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an
altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord.

The Epistle                     Romans 4:1-5(6-12)13-17

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to
the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to
boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? "Abraham
believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Now to one who
works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one
who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is
reckoned as righteousness. [So also David speaks of the blessedness of
those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:  "Blessed are
those whose iniquities are forgiven,
          and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin."
Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on
the uncircumcised? We say, "Faith was reckoned to Abraham as
righteousness." How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he
had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He
received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he
had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him
the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus
have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the
circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example
of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.]
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.
If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null
and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no
law, neither is there violation.  For this reason it depends on faith, in
order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his
descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who
share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is
written, "I have made you the father of many nations") -- in the presence
of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into
existence the things that do not exist.


The Gospel                     John 3:1-17

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to
Jesus 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 apart from
the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one
can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." 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?" Jesus answered, "Very
truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born
of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born
of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You
must be born from above.' The wind 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." Nicodemus said to him,
"How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of
Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?  "Very truly, I tell
you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do
not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you
do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven,
the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have
eternal life.  "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.  "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."

Ninure Saunders aka Rainbow Christian

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