Lessons for March 12, 2006 – Second Sunday in Lent The first lesson Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. 2I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to make you into a mighty nation." 3At this, Abram fell face down in the dust. Then God said to him, 4"This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of not just one nation, but a multitude of nations! 5What's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram; now you will be known as Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. 6I will give you millions of descendants who will represent many nations. Kings will be among them! 7"I will continue this everlasting covenant between us, generation after generation. It will continue between me and your offspring forever. And I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. Then God added, "Regarding Sarai, your wife—her name will no longer be Sarai; from now on you will call her Sarah. 16And I will bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings will be among her descendants!" (NLT) Psalm 22:22-30 L. Then I will declare the wonder of your name to my brothers and sisters. C. I will praise you among all your people. Praise the Lord, all you who fear him! L. Honor him, all you descendants of Jacob! C. Show him reverence, all you descendants of Israel! L. For he has not ignored the suffering of the needy. C. He has not turned and walked away. He has listened to their cries for help. L. I will praise you among all the people; C. I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship you. L. The poor will eat and be satisfied. All who seek the Lord will praise him. C. Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy. L. The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him. C. People from every nation will bow down before him. L. For the Lord is king! He rules all the nations. C. Let the rich of the earth feast and worship. L. Let all mortals—those born to die—bow down in his presence. C. Future generations will also serve him. L. Our children will hear about the wonders of the Lord. (NLT) The second lesson Romans 4:13-25 It is clear, then, that God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based on obedience to God's law, but on the new relationship with God that comes by faith. 14So if you claim that God's promise is for those who obey God's law and think they are "good enough" in God's sight, then you are saying that faith is useless. And in that case, the promise is also meaningless. 15But the law brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!) 16So that's why faith is the key! God's promise is given to us as a free gift. And we are certain to receive it, whether or not we follow Jewish customs, if we have faith like Abraham's. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. 17That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, "I have made you the father of many nations." This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who brings into existence what didn't exist before. 18When God promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations, Abraham believed him. God had also said, "Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars," even though such a promise seemed utterly impossible! 19And Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though he knew that he was too old to be a father at the age of one hundred and that Sarah, his wife, had never been able to have children. 20Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised. 22And because of Abraham's faith, God declared him to be righteous. 23Now this wonderful truth—that God declared him to be righteous—wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. 24It was for us, too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead. 25He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God. (NLT) The Gospel Lesson Mark 8:31-38 Then Jesus began to tell them that he, the Son of Man, would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and three days later he would rise again. 32As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and told him he shouldn't say things like that. 33Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then said to Peter very sternly, "Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's." 34Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. "If any of you wants to be my follower," he told them, "you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. 35If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. 36And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? 37Is anything worth more than your soul? 38If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels." (NLT)