Scriptural Pursuit is a weekly radio program produced by the Religion Department and broadcast on the University station, WAUS, that discusses the Adult Sabbath School Lesson for the week.
The audio files have been posted on a WordPress site since 2011. For some, Vimeo video recordings are also available. At the beginning of the pandemic, 2020, the host began posting a video recording of the program on YouTube.
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The God of Grace and Judgment
Glenn Russell, Cristian Dumitrescu, and Romulus Chelbegean
God is a God of justice, and justice demands judgment. God is also a God of grace.
The Holy Bible is replete with references to God being a God of Grace and Judgment. Although sin is permitted to continue, someday soon God will put an end to sin. But judgment precedes that final phase of sin. Everyone, sinners saved by grace and sinners chose not to be saved, “will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Although God must judge and condemn sin, the promise of grace is always there, always present, always available for those who will claim it for themselves.
More than declaring a sinner is guilty of not accepting God’s love, the judgment concept reverberates in the halls of human history that God is love. Find out more about it in this week’s Scriptural Pursuit.
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God as Redeemer
Glenn Russell, Cristian Dumitrescu, and Peter van Bemmelen
God doesn’t love us because Christ died for us; Christ died for us because God loved us. The atonement of Christ was not offered to persuade the Father to love those whom He otherwise hated. The death of Christ did not bring forth a love that was not already in existence. Rather, it was a manifestation of the love that was eternally in God’s heart. Jesus never had to persuade the Father to love us.
The death that God endured on the cross is the price His love pays for taking sin seriously while still loving sinners.
When Adam and Eve sinned, God announced to them the Plan of Redemption that originated in Heaven long before God created them. (Genesis 3:15). The Old Testament prophets repeatedly declared that Good News — the Gospel — to their audience. While sin is an intruder, God is the Redeemer!
Jesus’ message very much focused on the message that He “came to seek and save that which was lost — restoring in man the character of God. Redemption is much more than saving men and women from their sins. It is complete restoration of the condition and context that existed in the Garden of Eden. That is the background to this week’s Scriptural Pursuit.
We welcome your comments and response. Please e-mail your response to scripturalpursuit@andrews.edu.
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Bible Lesson 2: In the Beginning
Glenn Russell, Guilherme Borda, and Jo Ann Davidson
Everything in the Bible testifies to the fact that the Lord God created the world, speaking it into existence just as depicted in Genesis 1 and 2. Scripture leaves us no wiggle room regarding that matter. A belief in the biblical story of Creation affects not only our acceptance of an all-powerful Creator God but impacts our understanding of the Sabbath, the Cross, the resurrection, and many other doctrines.
Most scientists today work with an assumption known as “methodological naturalism.” In essence, this is the view that everything that has happened, is happening, or will happen, has a natural cause and, specifically, not what we would call a “supernatural” cause. Critics, however, have also labeled the concept “methodological atheism,” because, strictly applied, it rules out God as Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer.
This week, we’ll look at the biblical doctrine of Creation. If we get Creation wrong, we’re all but certain to get many other things wrong. That’s how crucial the teaching is to a Christian and many others.
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The Triune God
Glenn Russell, Guilherme Borda, and Jo Ann Davidson
Glimpses of Our God is the title of the studies that will be featured during first quarter of this year. January through March of 2012, we’re going to look at God, at various aspects of Him as they have been revealed in the Holy Bible, and at what these things mean for us on a practical level.
Lesson 1 The Triune God
The Bible informs us that God is One. But as we look into this fact further, we discover that this unity is the product of a harmonious relationship among Three distinct Beings, all equally divine and all co-eternal. While the atom can be, and has been (in contradiction to its name), split, this triune God really is the indivisible unity underlying all reality. An important aspect of the Oneness of God that is taught in the Bible is His utter uniqueness. Nothing and no one else is like God. Although the word Trinity doesn’t appear in the Bible, the teaching definitely does. The doctrine of the Trinity, that God is One and composed of three “Persons,” is crucial because it is dealing with who God is, what He is like, how He works, and how He relates to the world. Most important, the deity of Christ is essential to the plan of salvation.
How do Scriptures describe both the plurality and the unity of the Godhead?
Scriptures help us to understand that God exists in three distinct Persons, each with different functions. Yet, They work together as One. This week’s Scriptural Pursuit discussion will help you to further understand this Biblical Truth.
Please feel free to direct your questions and comments to scripturalpursuit@andrews.edu.
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Boasting in the Cross
Glenn Russell, Nestor Soriano, and KC Anyalebechi
The Apostle Paul, aware of a group of people working against his teachings, warned the Church in Galatia to live by the Gospel (the Good News) he taught them.
Contrasting his spiritual approach with his opponents’ self-aggrandizing approach, Paul declares that his only boast is Christ. Recognizing that Christ alone shapes the mission and guarantees its successful accomplishment, Paul acknowledges that human effort, apart from Christ, is nothing. Christ is the beginning. Christ is the conclusion. Christ is everything.
Paul closes his letter to the Galatians with a strong personal appeal, rejecting any outward allegiance to custom and clinging only to the Cross as his reason for life and service, whatever the cost. Scriptural Pursuit discussion explains how one can cling to the cross today.
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The Gospel and the Church
Glenn Russell and Thomas Shepherd
The Holy Bible mandates that one should love God and also love fellow human beings as well. Loving fellowmen implies putting others before ourselves. Understanding that we are saved by grace should make us humble and more patient and compassionate in how we treat others.
How should Christians relate to their brothers and sisters who have stumbled? How can we guard against an indifferent, cold, critical spirit? Scriptural Pursuit discussion this week answers these and other related questions.
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Living by the Spirit
Glenn Russell and Tom Shepherd
Although our sinful nature will always be “prone” to wander from God, if we are willing to surrender to His Spirit, we do not have to be enslaved to the desires of the flesh. This is the thrust of Paul’s message in the texts for the week. You see, Christianity was not merely a set of theological beliefs that centered on Jesus but was also a “way” of life to be “walked.” Walking in this context implies behavior.
Walking or living by the Spirit implies a daily walk along the path that the Spirit dictates. It requires daily choices that side with the Spirit in all matters of decision and that starve our sinful self. Scriptural Pursuit discussion this week helps to understand how this lifestyle can be a reality in your life.
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The Two Covenants
Glenn Russell and Skip MacCarty
God made promises to His followers like Noah, Abraham, the Children of Israel among others. These promises or contracts are called the covenants. God fulfilled and met His part of the contract or covenant. However, more often than not, His followers failed to keep their part of the contract or covenant. Through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, God renewed the covenant with the whole world.
In summary, God makes it clear that He loves you and is willing to forgive your sins if you will accept Him as your God. God takes the initiative to save you. Your part is to accept His provision for your salvation: believe that Jesus died for your sins and accept Him as your personal Savior.
This week’s Scriptural Pursuit will further clarify and explain the old and the new covenant—God’s contract with His followers with the purpose to extent grace whenever and wherever sin is rampant.
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Paul's Pastoral Appeal
Glenn Russell, Tye Davis, and Michael White
In the Galatian churches, open, unmasked error was supplanting the gospel message. Christ, the true foundation of the faith, was virtually renounced for the obsolete ceremonies of Judaism. The apostle saw that if the believers in Galatia were to be saved from the dangerous influences which threatened them, the most decisive measures must be taken, the sharpest warnings given.
This week’s Scriptural Pursuit reveals Paul’s genuine concern, worry, hope, and love of a good shepherd for his wayward flock. He was not just correcting theology; he was seeking to minister to those whom he loved. The letter to the Galatians in a broad sense also shows just how important correct doctrine is. If what we believed were not that important, if doctrinal correctness did not matter all that much, then why would Paul have been so fervent, so uncompromising, in his letter? Paul encourages the Galatians to be genuine followers of Christ.
To be a follower of Christ is more than just the profession of faith; it involves a radical transformation into the likeness of Christ. Paul was “not looking for a few minor alterations in the Galatians but for such a transformation that to see them would be to see Christ.”—Leon Morris, Galatians (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996), p. 142.
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The Priority of the Promise
Glenn Russell, Kevin Wilson, and Michael Jones
Soon after leaving Egypt, the Israelites, or the descendants of Patriarch Jacob, were given the Law of God. Four centuries before that, Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather, was given a promise by God. According to this promise, or covenant, Abraham was assured that his posterity will be greatly blessed; also, they will be given the land of Canaan as their possession.
The giving of the law on Sinai did not invalidate the promise that God made to Abraham, nor did the law alter the promise’s provisions. The law was given so that people might be made aware of the true extent of their sinfulness and recognize their need of God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants.
This week’s Scriptural Pursuit discussion focuses on how the law helps us to better understand just how wonderful that promise really is.
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Old Testament Faith
Glenn Russell, Endi Stojanavic, and Erhard Gallos
Although trained in the Law and practiced strict adherence to the Law, Paul deploys persuasive reasoning skills to present that faith, not logic or reason, is what connects us to God. He uses vibrant examples from the Old Testament to prove his point. Interestingly, in his letter to the Galatians, Paul argues that Abraham was counted righteous on account of his faith. He clearly presents that Abraham’s ground for justification was not obedience; and that obedience is the result of justification. God treated Abraham as if he never sinned because Abraham believed God. You, too, can believe God and accept His gift of salvation from your sins.
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Justification by Faith Alone
Glenn Russell, Filip Milosavljevic, and Richie Charles
This week we continue our discussion on the New Testament book of Galatians — a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to Church in Galatia. This study helps to understand how your salvation from sin is a gift from God Himself. Paul uses a legal term, “justification.” This means although one is sinful or has sinned God, the Father declares that person righteous—as if he or she has never sinned. Christ made this provision possible when He died on the cross for everyone — Christians, Jews, Hindus, Moslems and everyone else in the whole world. Take a look at this week’s program to learn more about justification.
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Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles
Glenn Russell, Andrew Tompkins, and Ranko Stefanovic
This quarter’s Bible study guide invites us to journey with the apostle Paul as he pleads with the Galatians to remain true to Jesus. At the same time, it also gives us a chance to reflect on our own understanding of the gospel—the Good News of how Jesus saves us from our sins. It’s a sincere hope that, over the course of this series, God’s Spirit will spark a spiritual revival in our hearts as we rediscover what God has done for us in Christ. Scriptural Pursuit discussion will focus on Galatians, a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Galatia.
The story of Paul is most of all a story of grace. God showed grace to him when he wasn’t even looking for it and didn’t feel the need of it. And those whom Saul, later known as Paul, persecuted, or might have persecuted, learned how one can genuinely be changed by that grace and how to show grace themselves. Saul’s encounter with the risen Jesus on the Damascus road was the defining moment in his life and in the history of the early church. God changed the one-time persecutor of the church and made him His chosen apostle to bring the gospel to the Gentile world. Saul became known as Paul, the Apostle.
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In Spirit and in Truth
Glenn Russell, Joseph Kidder, and Linda Mack
In His dialogue with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus enunciated basic but key principles of worship (John 4). Jesus is calling for a balanced form of worship: a worship that comes from the heart, that is sincere and deeply felt, that comes from the love and the fear of God. By His example, Christ reinforced the need for God’s supremacy in our regard and service and the importance of worshiping in spirit and truth.
This week’s Scriptural Pursuit will explore themes of worship and praise as revealed in the ministry of the incarnate Christ, the Creator who took upon Himself the form and the flesh of the created.
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Conformity, Compromise, and Crisis in Worship
Glenn Russell, Tammie Lindsey, and Roy Gane
Some seem to think that the more sounds they make, the louder the music, the more emotional excitement generated, the better the worship service. Yet, that is not what worship is about. Worship, however, must lead a worshiper to God and facilitate fellowship among the worshipers.
The book of Revelation proclaims to the last generation a message of warning, a call to obedience, and a call to worship the Creator God. As with Elijah on Carmel, people will in a very dramatic way have to make the most important choice of their lives, a choice that is filled with truly eternal consequences. The good news is that, even before these final events unfold, we can make daily choices that will greatly prepare us to be on the Lord’s side when the climactic battle between good and evil unfolds among the nations. Hopefully, this Scriptural Pursuit discussion will help you discern the right way to worship the Creator God, the Ruler of the universe.
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Worship in the Psalms
Glenn Russell, David Williams, and Matthew Shallenberger
Worship, an experience common to most human beings, is the Scriptural Pursuit discussion topic for July, August and September 2011. We worship God, not ourselves; hence, worship must be about Him, about giving glory to Him, and not about music, culture, or worship styles. Worship should be permeated by a sense of reverence and awe for our God, an attitude that will give us the humility and surrender so needed for true worship. Worship affords an opportunity to recognize who God is and to realize who you are in relationship to God. These and many other Biblical concepts of worship will be discussed in a panel moderated by Glenn Russell.
This week we will look at the Psalms and some of the themes found in them and how these themes relate to the question of worship and what it means for us today. The Psalms give voice to the heart cries of seekers after God in a living dialogue of pleas, assurance, blessing, praise, and celebration. The Book of Psalms has been cherished as the invaluable jewel in the Hebrew Bible by seekers after God in all ages. Hopefully, this discussion will help you to understand and appreciate the worship themes in the Psalms.