Second Sunday in Lent 2026

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Sharing of Joys and Concerns

Hymn #371, v. Have Thine Own Way

Silent Prayer

Pastoral Prayer

Lord's Prayer

Children's Message Lucy

Scripture Reading Genesis 12:1-4

Genesis 12:1–4 NIV

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

Sermon

I want to show you a passage of scripture that has always made me curious. It’s from Genesis 11:31–32: “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.”

I have always wondered if Terah received the call we read about later. Why did he head toward Canaan, of all places? While we don’t know why Terah began the journey, we do know this: he settled. But in the very next chapter, God calls Abram and invites him to do three things. The same three things you and I are invited to do.

First, God tells Abram to leave that which is familiar. We hear it this way in Genesis 12:1: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household.” His country was geography, the place on the map. Like saying the United States. Or Illinois. His people were his community. His town. The familiar faces. Like living here in Paris. His father’s household was his family. His identity. His security. His history.

And Abram is called to leave all of it. In other words, Abram, you cannot stay where you are and step into what God has for you. You cannot cling to what is familiar and still move toward the promise. Obedience will require departure.

Secondly, God calls Abram to “go . . . to the land I will show you.” Again, I wonder if Terah had received some sense of this call and chose instead to settle, but God calls Abram to continue on. And yet He doesn’t give Abram a precise location. God doesn’t pull out a map and say to Abram, “See, this is where you are now. And this is where I want you to go.”

It’s a simple call, but it changes everything. God is asking Abram, “Do you trust me enough to leave all that is familiar for a place you do not know?” It was not an easy decision for Abram. And it is not an easy decision for us. Do not breeze past this point. Knowing the end of Abram’s story and how it all works out should not ease the tension for us. Because one day, you may be able to look back and see how everything worked out just like it was supposed to. But that does not mean the step of faith you are being asked to take now is any easier. Abram, Otterbein Church, each of us, will you leave what you know and enter the realm of the unknown in order to be faithful to God?

Now, I can imagine what some of us might say. We can look at this text and wonder, like I did, why Terah settled and Abram set out. And standing at that same intersection ourselves, we might say, “Wait a minute. God gave Abram a promise.”

And you would be right. God did give Abram a promise. In fact, the promise is right there in the text from Genesis 12:2: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”

But you know, we are the recipients of promises all the time. Everywhere we turn, something is promising something. What matters is not the promise, but the character of the promise maker. The toothpaste that promises to make your teeth whiter. The detergent that promises cleaner clothes. The dealership that promises this is finally the car that will solve all your problems.

All make promises. And how many times have we walked away disappointed, switching brands because it just didn’t do what it said it would?

So at this crossroads, it wasn’t ultimately the promise itself that moved Abram forward. It was the One who made it. Abram did not yet have a nation. He did not yet have land. He did not even have a child. All he had was a word from God. And that was enough.

This morning, we receive the bread and the cup. And the truth is, it’s just bread and it’s just juice. But it points us to a greater reality, a greater truth. It points us to the promise of salvation. The bread and cup invite us to trust that Christ gave His life for us, and because we believe Him, we are walking into eternal life. Not because we have seen the whole map. But because we trust the One who made the promise.

Communion

Giving of Tithes and Offering

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

Hymn #Leaning On The Everlasting Arms

*Benediction

God Be With You Till We Meet Again

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