RUF at Illinois: Recent Episodes
Ethan Brown
Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) is a Christian ministry at the University of Illinois for the convinced and the unconvinced, the Christian and the skeptic, the cynical and the spiritual. Whether you have been a Christian for as long as you can remember or are exploring the claims of the Bible for the first time, RUF is for you.
God's purposes for us include a generational design, a universal command, and gospel freedom. Listen as Ethan speaks about the good news and good counsel of God's Word, and how our relationship with God our Father shapes the way we relate to our parents.
RUF intern Tim Sandridge speaks on the gift of singleness from 1 Corinthians 7:6-7, 32-35 and Isaiah 56:4-5.
Ethan speaks on the Depravity we experience in our sexuality, the Dignity of God's good design, and how the grace of Jesus meets us right where we are, but doesn't leave us there.
God's design for marriage is good, but we are hopelessly incapable of living in light of that design without his help. Thankfully, God hasn't left us on our own. He tells us in his Word that marriage is a picture of the gospel; and the gospel is the power of marriage.
God's Word says nothing about 21st century dating. But it does give us good counsel and good news that we can apply to this important part of our lives.
God's Word is full of good news and good counsel that can enable us to enjoy deep friendships. Through Jesus Christ, the Friend of Sinners, we can grow in the art of knowing and loving others, which is at the core of what it means to be a friend.
This is the first sermon in a series called "Made for Relationship." We see from Genesis 1 and 2 that God made us for relationship with him and with others. But sin has deformed these relationship. The good news is that Jesus came into the world of deformed relationships to remake the world and restore our relationships. This good news shapes every part of our lives, including the ways we think about friendship, dating, marriage, sex, singleness, and relating to parents & family.
In Ephesians 3:1-13, the Apostle Paul teaches us that the Church of Jesus Christ is a Community of Suffering and a Community that Shines. In these words, we hear a call to love the Church - warts and all - for two big reasons: because God has determined to use the Church in his great plan for the universe and because Jesus loves his Bride.
RUF intern, Tim Sandridge, shares from Ephesians 2:11-22: though we were once far off, we have been brought near, and joined together by the cross of Jesus.
This seminar was prepared for the RUF Midwest 2023 Fall Conference in Grand Junction, MI.
Just as stars shine more brightly when you're in the darkness of a valley, so does the good news about Jesus become more clear when we understand the bad news of our human condition apart from Christ. Ephesians 2:1-10 shows us that there is no one who is so good to be beyond the need of God's grace, but there is also no one so bad to be beyond the reach of God's grace.
Prayer often feels like a spiritual chore, a task to check-off from our religious to-do list. But does it have to be this way? The good news of this passage helps us to move beyond mere duty in our prayers to joy and delight. When this message sinks home, we can live all of life before God's face: for his honor, for our satisfaction, and for the sake of the world.
In Jesus, God has given us a new identity and a new purpose. We can grow into that new identity and purpose as we behold the beauty of God and the abundance of his blessings. The result is that we can live for the glory of God and become a blessing to others.
What if the things we so often find ourselves desiring are not bad in themselves, but are simply insufficient? The good news is that God offers us something much greater and more satisfying than our mundane ambitions. In Jesus, God not only meets all our needs; he also satisfies our deepest longings. This is the first sermon in our new series on Ephesians 1-3, "Become Who You Are."
We can't begin a relationship with the God of grace without knowing our sin, which makes his grace necessary. But to persevere in a relationship with God, we need to see the fruit of God's grace in the midst of a world overrun by the fruit of sin. 2 Samuel 12 helps us to see that God's grace bears fruit even now in our broken world: in lamentation, in adoration, and in consolation.
If you don't know the sickness, you can't know the solution. Looking at our sin isn't fun. But when we look carefully at the ugliness of our sin, we can see more clearly the beauty of our Savior.
RUF intern Tim Sandridge shares from Psalm 23: Because God is our Shepherd and Host, we should let the LORD lead our lives.
The default mode of human religion is trying to ascend to God and bring his blessings down. But the God of the Bible is a God who descends to us and brings us up after him. The mantra of our hearts is "Achieve, achieve, achieve." The message of the Bible is, "Receive, receive, receive." 2 Samuel 7 shows us how God promised king brings us God's promised presence and turns our default mode of relating to God upside-down.
Guest speaker Josué Pernillo continues our series on the Life of King David by pointing us toward the faithfulness of a king who welcomes the messy, the needy, and the unworthy to his table.
This is the first sermon in a new series on the Life of King David. The bad news of our experience is that we often find ourselves serving kings that abuse us or fail to deliver on their promises. But the good news of the gospel is that God has chosen a king for us who can rescue us from our tyrants - even the tyrants we choose for ourselves.
How can you be right with God? And what difference does your answer to this question make in your life today? Listen as Jesus, the master storyteller and the King of the Kingdom, tells us about the love of God that meets us where we are - but doesn't leave us there.
Jesus uses this story of the kingdom to pull back the veil - to show us that things are not always as they appear. Heaven and hell are real. And the Bible is enough.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son shows us that God loves bad sinners...and good ones, too. Whether you're a bad sinner or a good one, we all need the same thing: grace.
Listen as Jesus invites us to delight in a far greater treasure than anything this world can offer. This sermon is a part of a series on the Parables of Jesus, "Stories of the King" that show us who God is, who we are, and what God's kingdom is like.
Who are you? What can you do about the broken things about you? What is the purpose of your life? Jesus taught the Parable of the Good Samaritan in part to give us answers to these questions - and to meet us in the places of our deepest needs.
This sermon is the first in a series on the parables of Jesus, "Stories of the King" that show us who God is, who we are, and what God's kingdom is like.
This sermon was preached at All Souls Presbyterian Church on May 8 as a part of a series on the Ascension of Jesus Christ.
Who is Jesus? A good moral teacher? A man possessed by demons? A fraud? Mark 1:29-45 offers us a vision of the heart and mission of Jesus so that we can know who he is, why he came, and how knowing him changes everything.