December 21, 2025 – Advent 2025 – Enduring Love

Enduring Love

1 Chronicles 16:25-35 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
²⁶ For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
²⁷ Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and joy are in his dwelling place.

²⁸ Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
²⁹ Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come before him.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
³⁰     Tremble before him, all the earth!
    The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

³¹ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
    let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
³² Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
    let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!
³³ Let the trees of the forest sing,
    let them sing for joy before the Lord,
    for he comes to judge the earth.

³⁴ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.
³⁵ Cry out, “Save us, God our Savior;
    gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
    and glory in your praise.”

Who is to be “feared above all gods” (verse 25)?

What are the “gods of the nations” (verse 26)?

Where are “strength and joy” (verse 27)?

Who should “ascribe to the Lord glory and strength” (verse 28)?

In your opinion, what does worship in the “splendor of his holiness” mean (verse 29)?

How should the earth react before the Lord (verse 30)?

What does the Lord do “among the nations” (verse 31)?

What should “resound” (verse 32)?

Why should the “trees of the forest sing” (verse 33)?

What “endures forever” (verse 34)?

Who should we cry “save us” to (verse 35)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is our need for God’s love revealed in this passage?

John 3:16 – King James Version (KJV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

How did God feel about “the world” (verse 16)?

Who did God give (verse 16)?

What will those who “believeth in him” have (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is our need for God’s love revealed in this passage?

In your opinion, what plea that David instructed the Levite ministers to cry out in 1 Chronicles 16:25-35 does John 3:16 perfectly answer?

Galatians 2:15-21 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ¹⁶ know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷ “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Who knows “that a person is not justified by works of the law” (verses 15 and 16)?

What justifies a person (verse 16)?

What doesn’t Christ promote (verse 17)?

When would Paul be “a lawbreaker” (verse 18)?

Why did Paul die “to the law” (verse 19)?

Who lives in Paul (verse 20)?

How did “the Son of God” feel about Paul (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is our need for God’s love revealed in this passage?

In your opinion, how does Galatians 2:15-21 transform the salvation of the Jewish nation that 1 Chronicles 16:25-35 to a salvation of everyone who is justified “by faith in Jesus Christ”?

In your opinion, how does Galatians 2:15-21 help us understand the way that John 3:16’s promise to deliver “everlasting life” is accomplished?

1 John 4:7-19 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.

Where does love come from (verse 7)?

Who does not “know God” (verse 8)?

How did God show “his love among us” (verse 9)?

What is love (verse 10)?

Why should we “love one another” (verse 11)?

When is God’s love “made complete in us” (verse 12)?

How do we know “we live in him and he in us” (verse 13)?

What does John “testify that the Father has sent his Son to be” (verse 14)?

What happens when someone “acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God” (verse 15)?

What can we “rely on” (verse 16)?

What are Christians like “in this world” (verse 17)?

How is fear driven out (verse 18)?

Why do we love (verse 19)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is our need for God’s love revealed in this passage?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 16:25-35 show the transformative effect of God’s enduring love for us as proclaimed by David in 1 Chronicles 16:25-35?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 4:7-19 help us understand what the “everlasting life” promised by John 3:16 will be like?

In your opinion, how is the love of God explained by Paul in Galatians 2:15-21 changed by John’s discussion in 1 John 4:7-19?

In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from 1 Chronicles, John, Galatians and 1 John teach us about God’s love as displayed on Christmas morning?

In your opinion, what is our response to God’s enduring love today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)