13 November 2022 Sunday Morning Service
Bible
Genesis 22:1-12
James 2:14-26
Genesis
22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
22:2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
22:3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
22:4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
22:5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
22:6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,
22:7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
22:8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
22:9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
22:10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
22:11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
22:12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
James
2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
2:15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
2:16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.
2:20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
2:21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
2:22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.
2:24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
2:25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
2:26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.