December 14, 2025 – Advent 2025 – Great Joy

Great Joy

Psalm 51:7-12 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

When will David, the psalmist, “be whiter than snow” (verse 7)?

What does David want to hear (verse 8)?

How does David want God to treat his “iniquity” (verse 9)?

What does David want God to “create” in him (verse 10)?

Who does David not want to be taken from him (verse 11)?

What kind of joy does David want restored (verse 12)?

Why does David want a “willing spirit” (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about Christian joy?

Luke 2:8-12 - New International Version (NIV)

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Where were the shepherds (verse 8)?

What were the shepherds doing (verse 8)?

Why were the shepherds “terrified” (verse 9)?

Who will the “good news” the angel brings cause “great joy” for (verse 10)?

What has happened in the “town of David” (verse 11)?

What will be the sign (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about Christian joy?

In your opinion, how does knowing that David was pleading with God to restore the “joy of your salvation” in Psalm 51:7-12 after Nathan had confronted him about Bathsheba add richness to the “good news that will bring great joy” the angel brought in Luke 2:8-12?

Acts 16:25-34 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. ²⁷ The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. ³⁴ The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

When were Paul and Silas “praying and singing hymns to God” (verse 25)?

What caused the prison doors to fly open and the chains to come loose (verse 26)?

Why was the jailer about to kill himself (verse 27)?

Who shouted “don’t harm yourself” (verse 28)?

How did the jailer respond (verse 29)?

What did the jailer ask Paul and Silas (verse 30)?

How did they answer the jailer (verse 31)?

What did they speak to the jailer and his household (verse 32)?

When were the jailer and his household baptized (verse 33)?

Why was the jailer filled with joy (verse 34)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about Christian joy?

In your opinion, how does the joy of the jailer in Acts 16:24-34 compare to the joy that David was pleading for in Psalm 51:7-12?

In your opinion, how is the joy announced by the angel in Luke 2:8-12 related to the joy of the jailer in Acts 16:25-34?

1 Thessalonians 1:2-8a - New International Version (NIV)

² We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. ³ We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. ⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. ⁷ And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. 

How often does the church of the Thessalonians appear in the prayers of Paul, Silas and Timothy (verse 2)?

What do they remember about the Thessalonians (verse 3)?

Who has God chosen (verse 4)?

How did the gospel come to them (verse 5)?

How did they welcome “the message in the midst of severe suffering” (verse 6)?

What did they become (verse 7)?

Where did their “faith in God” become known (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about Christian joy?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 51:7-12 help us understand how the Thessalonian Christians could have had joy “in the midst of severe suffering” in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-8a?

In your opinion, what does 1 Thessalonians 1:2-8a help us understand about the “good news that will bring great joy” announced by the angel in Luke 2:8-12?

In your opinion, how do both Acts 16:25-34 and 1 Thessalonians 1:2-8a prove that Christian joy is not related to physical circumstances?  What is Christian joy related to?

In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Psalms, Luke, Acts and 1 Thessalonians teach us about the source of Christian joy?

In your opinion, how can we model Christian joy today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

December 8, 2024 – Advent 2024 – Preparing

Preparing

Malachi 3:1-4 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

² But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. ³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, ⁴ and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

What will the messenger do (verse 1)?

Who will “come to his temple” (verse 1)?

Who is desired (verse 1)?

How will the Lord come (verse 2)?

Who will be purified and refined (verse 3)?

What “will be acceptable to the Lord” (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about how the way is prepared for the Lord in this passage?

Luke 1:67-80 - New International Version (NIV)

⁶⁷ His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

⁶⁸ “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
    because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
    in the house of his servant David
⁷⁰ (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
⁷¹ salvation from our enemies
    and from the hand of all who hate us—
⁷² to show mercy to our ancestors
    and to remember his holy covenant,
⁷³     the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
⁷⁴ to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
    and to enable us to serve him without fear
⁷⁵     in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

⁷⁶ And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
⁷⁷ to give his people the knowledge of salvation
    through the forgiveness of their sins,
⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God,
    by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
⁷⁹ to shine on those living in darkness
    and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

⁸⁰ And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

Who “was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied” (verse 67)?

What has the Lord, the God of Israel” done (verse 68)?

What has the Lord raised (verse 69)?

What has the Lord remembered (verse 72)?

How will people be able to serve the Lord (verse 74)?

What will Zechariah’s child do for the Lord (verse 76)?

How will Zechariah’s child “give his people the knowledge of salvation” (verse 77)?

Who will “the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on” (verses 78 and 79)?

Where will the “rising sun” “guide our feet into” (verses 78 and 79)?

What did the child do (verse 80)?

Where did the child live (verse 80)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about how the way is prepared for the Lord in this passage?

In your opinion, how does the prophecy of Zechariah in Luke 1:68-79 help us understand the way the Lord would accomplish the refining promised in Malachi 3:1-4?

Luke 2:8-12 - New International Version (NIV)

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Where were the shepherds (verse 8)?

What were they doing (verse 8)?

Who “appeared to them” (verse 9)?

What “shone around them” (verse 9)?

How did they feel (verse 9)?

What did the angel say he brought (verse 10)?

Where had “a Savior” been born (verse 11)?

Who is the “Savior” (verse 11)?

What was their sign (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about how the way is prepared for the Lord in this passage?

In your opinion, how does what happens in Luke 2:8-12 fulfill the prophecy that Malachi 3:1-4 anticipates?

In your opinion, how are Zechariah’s celebration of the birth of John in Luke 1:68-79 and the proclamation of the angel to the shepherds in Luke 2:8-12 similar?

Luke 3:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— ² during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³ He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴ As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.
⁵ Every valley shall be filled in,
    every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
    the rough ways smooth.
⁶ And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

Who was Caesar (verse 1)?

Who was governor of Judea (verse 1)?

Who was tetrarch of Galilee (verse 1)?

Who were the high priests (verse 2)?

What “came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness” (verse 2)?

Where did John go (verse 3)?

What did John preach (verse 3)?

Who wrote “a voice of one calling in the wilderness” (verse 4)?

What will happen to “rough ways” (verse 5)?

Who will see “God’s salvation” (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about how the way is prepared for the Lord in this passage?

In your opinion, how does Luke 3:1-6 show the fulfillment of the prophecy in Malachi 3:1-4?

In your opinion, how does Luke 3:1-6 also show the amazing fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy in Luke 1:68-79?

In your opinion, how would you describe the contrast between the baby in the manager in Luke 2:8-12 and the powerful government officials of Luke 3:1-6?  Which would change the world?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Malachi, Luke, Luke and Luke teach us about refining and salvation?

In your opinion, how should we “prepare the way” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)