Walla Walla University Good Word Broadcasts

Key Texts: John 8:44; Prov. 23:23; Acts 20:27–32; 2 Thess. 2:7–12; Ps. 119:105, 116, 130, 133, 160; Prov. 16:25; 2 Cor. 4:3–6. Opening Question: “What can be done to prevent or slow doctrinal and behavioural drift in the Christian community?" The lesson this week covers some interesting territory in that it invites us to look at the early centuries of the Christian era not so much from the viewpoint of the persecutions that took place from time to time, but from a change that took place as Christianity became more and more acceptable, finally becoming the religion of the empire. Along ...

Major Texts: Isa. 41:10; Luke 19:41-44; Matt. 23:37, 38; Heb. 11:35-38; Rev. 2:10; Acts 2:44-47; John 13:35. Opening Question: “Should we regard persecution as something good for the Church, or bad?” The lesson this week picks up the story of the Great Controversy as it played out in the very early stages of the Christian era. It is widely known that the first few centuries after which Christianity appeared in Jerusalem, were very difficult years. The church faced a lot of adversity as did individual Christians. Some periods of time were truly grim featuring the execution of Christians because they would ...

Major Texts for this Lesson: Rev. 12:7-9; Ezek. 28:12-15; Isa. 14:12-14; Gen. 3:15; John 17:24-26 Every story has to have a beginning. The verses listed above all speak to the beginning of the conflict. The first passage is truly remarkable, even disturbing for it tells of a war in heaven. One is hard-pressed to understand why or how there was war in what we would imagine to be a pristine, untroubled space. But the passage is quite clear, that there was war in heaven between Michael and his angels, and the dragon who is elsewhere identified with Satan, and his angels ...

Leading Question: Stories often have an arc. There is tension, and the story draws us along because in the unfolding of each story, we see a bit of ourselves and what it means to be human. When you think of stories that have been powerful in your life, where does waiting fit in the storyline? Scripture Focus: Psalm 27:14, Psalm 131, Psalm 126, Matthew 18:3 The Big Idea: Waiting in the Bible is active, not passive. Active waiting can involve silence and sound, calm and activity. And while waiting is depicted primarily as a human activity, God also waits. For Discussion: In translations from ...

Leading Question: What does it mean to bless God? What does it mean to receive a blessing? Scripture Focus: Psalm 104, Psalm 103, Deuteronomy 6:13, Psalm 96, Psalm 98 The Big Idea: Praise is the beginning, the end, and everything in between in the book of Psalms, absolutely fundamental to the life of God’s people both individually and in community. For Discussion: In Hebrew poetry, when a line is used to start and end a poem, it is called an inclusion. This creates something like a sandwich, holding the meat of the poem inside. Psalm 104, like Psalm 103, begins and ends with the ...

Leading Question: WFor you or people close to you, what is a place that is tied to spiritual experiences or memories of connection with God? Scripture Focus: Psalm 84, Psalm 125, Psalm 122, Psalm 46 The Big Idea: For many of the biblical writers, Zion, or Jerusalem, was the place where God dwelt and from which God blessed the people. For Discussion: The author of Psalm 84 speaks with jubilation and longing about the dwelling place of the LORD. Perhaps most famous is the line in verse 10: “Better is one day in your courts, than a thousand elsewhere.” The subtitle of this psalm ...

Leading Question: What role do stories about the past play in equipping people to navigate life with all its twists and turns? Scripture Focus: Psalm 78, Psalm 105 The Big Idea: Knowing where we come from is an important part of knowing who we are. Many of the psalms contain recitations of the long history of the people with God, and these recitations then form the foundation for discernment in the people’s continued journey with God. For Discussion: In our ongoing quest to make sense of life’s big questions and situate ourselves within some kind of larger narrative, the ways we remember and recount ...

Leading Question: Covenant relationship is a thread that winds throughout the biblical literature, conceptualized in a variety of ways. What does it mean to say humans are in covenant relationship with God? Scripture Focus: Psalm 89, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 23, John 10:11-15, Psalm 22, Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 7:20-28 The Big Idea: Covenant is renegotiated and reimagined many times in the biblical narrative, the constant being that God initiates and sustains relationship with humans. For Discussion: Psalm 89 begins with the phrase, “I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever.” God’s covenant love (ḥesed) is then expounded on by telling the story ...

Leading Question: What is wisdom? Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 28, Psalm 128, Psalm 90, Psalm 137 and 138 The Big Idea: It is usually books like Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes that are described as “wisdom literature.” But the Psalms also include collected wisdom and even the way the songs and poems are organized invites us as readers into a journey of discernment. For Discussion: William Brown describes the book of Psalms as a hymnbook, a prayer book, and a textbook, and argues that the wisdom psalms reveal “points of dialogical contact between Psalms and the wisdom corpus, snapshots of a larger dialogue over what ...

Leading Question: When do we as humans need God’s mercy? Scripture Focus: Psalm 57:9, 10, Psalm 136, Psalm 51 The Big Idea: The covenant loyalty of God is a theme that runs throughout the Bible, and God invites his people to not only see how his covenant love continues forever as the bedrock of existence but also how the invitation remains for humans to partner with God and embody covenant love. For Discussion: Discussion question: Psalm 51 is a well-known poem, memorized by many, some of its lines being used a lyrics in modern songs. What is your most vivid memory of this ...

Leading Question: What does it mean when God stands up? Scripture Focus: Psalm 12:5, Psalm 18, Deuteronomy 15:7-11, Psalm 96, Psalm 99 The Big Idea: The writers of the Psalms understood God as a divine being who intervenes in the human realm, standing up for justice and righteousness and advocating for the oppressed. For Discussion: Along with the metaphor of God as king, discussed earlier in the quarter, the Psalms also depict God as a mighty warrior and a just judge. Psalm 18 is filled with vivid imagery. The most famous metaphor in Psalm 18 is probably “God is my rock.” But the poet ...

Leading Question: Have you ever had something asked of you that felt like an insult, a misunderstanding of who you are and what matters most to you? What was this like for you? Scripture Focus: Psalm 137, Psalm 22, Psalm 73 The Big Idea: Exile is a thread that runs throughout the biblical text. Exile is event, and exile is a metaphor for the human condition. For Discussion: How people understood God’s presence and what they believed about how to access it changed significantly over the centuries in which the biblical literature was written and edited. In Exodus 25:8, the Lord says to Moses, ...

Leading Question: What is it like to be truly and deeply heard? Scripture Focus: Psalm 34, Exodus 2:23-25, Exodus 3:7-8, Psalm 17:8, Psalm 44, Psalm 80 The Big Idea: Throughout the Bible, God is described in anthropomorphic terms. God has ears that hear and eyes that see and a brain that knows and hands that act. These depictions of God in terms of human body parts and actions are used to show God’s deliverance and also the pain of not experiencing expected deliverance. For Discussion: In Psalm 34, God hears the cry of the righteous and delivers them. This progression harkens back to ...