God So Loved the World
Hosea 11:1-4
“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 But the more they were called,
the more they went away from me.[a]
They sacrificed to the Baals
and they burned incense to images.
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize
it was I who healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love.
To them I was like one who lifts
a little child to the cheek,
and I bent down to feed them.
John 3:16-17
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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
- What is God’s motivation for Christmas?
- We are all looking for…
- The Hebrew word hesed is used to describe
- The Hebrew word ahav describes God’s
- The Greek word used for love is?
- Christmas is God’s way of communicating
- The Greek word cosmos means
- God’s love encompasses the
- The very essence of God is
- The promise of Christmas is?
- Have you ever imagined God angrily “watching you like a hawk,” just waiting to catch you doing something wrong? How can verse John 3:17 reshape any unloving mental images you might carry about how God looks at you?
- Can you remember a time when human love (either from a lover or from a grandparent, parent, sibling, child or friend) filled you with joy? How might God’s even greater love function to make your joy “complete”?
- What is one thing you will take from this message into the coming week?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you love because you ARE love. I am loved, at all times and in all ways, because you ARE love. What a wonderful promise—what an awe-inspiring gift. Amen.