RUF at UNCW

Welcome to the Reformed University Fellowship at UNCW Podcast! Each week, we will post the messages from our RUF Large Group meetings at UNCW. This semester, we are looking at the big storyline of redemption that is laid out for us in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In this week's message from Genesis 12 & 15, we see how God further defines His relationship to us as one based on a c...

In this message from our 2023 Fall Conference at Camp Greystone, Rev. Sid Druen teaches us how the doctrine of faith and repentance takes us beyond our efficiency. In this final sermon, we see Jesus tell two stories that celebrate human honesty and how diligently God seeks us and how much He rejoices over us. Outline: Repentance looks like: (1) Looking Up and Feeling Lost, (2) Being Diligently Sou...

In this message from our 2023 Fall Conference at Camp Greystone, Rev. Sid Druen explores Jesus' teaching on the reality of prayer. In Matthew 7, Jesus shows us that we can pray how we want because of who we pray to (our Father in Heaven); and that this Father’s character changes why we pray (and how we live). Outline: (1) Jesus says how to pray (2) Jesus says who we pray to Discussion Question...

In this message from our 2023 Fall Conference at Camp Greystone, Rev. Sid Druen shares how the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount takes us beyond our self-image. In the Matthew 6, Jesus diagnoses our false tendency to perform; and Jesus prescribes a physical therapy (a different, more real practice) as well as an internal medicine (seeing ourselves as God the Father sees us). Outline: (1) Jesus’...

In this message from our 2023 Fall Conference at Camp Greystone, Rev. Sid Druen teaches us how the Kingdom of God actually operates in this world, and this changes both how we live and how we measure progress in our lives. We hope you are helped by it! Outline: What seems small and contained is actually large and all-over-the-place, in God, What looks flaky and hidden is actually transformational...

Welcome to the Reformed University Fellowship at UNCW Podcast! Each week, we will post the messages from our RUF Large Group meetings at UNCW. This semester, we are looking at the big storyline of redemption that is laid out for us in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In this week's message from Genesis 6-9, we explore the story of Noah, his family, the flood, and the promises that God ma...

Welcome to the Reformed University Fellowship at UNCW Podcast! Each week, we will post the messages from our RUF Large Group meetings at UNCW. This semester, we are looking at the big storyline of redemption that is laid out for us in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In this week's message from Genesis 3, we look at the how sin and alienation from God entered into God's good creation...

Welcome to the Reformed University Fellowship at UNCW Podcast! Each week, we will post the messages from our RUF Large Group meetings at UNCW. This semester, we are looking at the big storyline of redemption that is laid out for us in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In this week's message, we look at the Genesis creation account and what it says about who God is and how he relates to us...

Welcome to the Reformed University Fellowship at UNCW Podcast! Each week, we will post the messages from our RUF Large Group meetings at UNCW. This semester, we are looking at the big storyline of redemption that is laid out for us in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. In this week's message, we look at Jesus' resurrection appearance to two of his disciples in Luke 24:13-35 and what th...

In our final sermon from the Apostle's Creed, we ending with a message of hope about what the God is doing right now, and has promised to do in the future. The last four phrases of the Apostles Creed ( the Communion of Saints, the Forgiveness of Sins, the Resurrection of the Body and Life Everlasting)remind us that our hope does not rest in what we can do or accomplish. Our hope rests in what...

This week in our series on the Apostles' Creed we’re continuing to talk about the work of God the Spirit. The Spirit is the Helper who applies redemption to God’s people, empowering them to live as God's servants and witnesses in this world. Tonight, we will see the good news that God hasn't left us to ourselves, and he doesn't expect you fix yourself by yourself! God is loving his...

In this week's Large Group message, guest speaker RUF Area Coordinator Jason Little teaches us about Jesus's famous last prayer from John 17. In this prayer, we are invited to see the unseen reality that holds our lives together: that we are not our own, and that we are infinitely loved. In this prayer, we learn that we belong to the Father, not because of anything WE do, but because Jesus...

We’re moving from the work of God the Father and God the Son— who plan and accomplish redemption (respectively), to the work of God the Spirit, who applies that redemption to God’s people.  In this passage from John we hear Jesus talk about his own project of redemption. Why Jesus is confident that his plans for redemption will not fail? He is confident not because of anything in us, because he kn...

The Apostles Creed is not in the Bible, but it summarizes the big story of the Bible--everything from Creation and Fall to Redemption and Restoration. In this week's sermon, we move from what Jesus has done (past tense) to the present and future tense— what Jesus is doing and will do in the future when he "returns to judge the living and the dead." Scripture teaches us that the prese...

The Apostles’ Creed is the oldest, and most widely accepted statement of faith in Christianity. It wasn’t written by the Apostles (Jesus’s companions) but it became accepted in the early centuries as a faithful summary of what the Apostles taught. In this week's sermon, we are looking the often misunderstood (and sometimes overlooked) part of the Creed which talks about Jesus' descent into...

The Apostles’ Creed is the oldest, and most widely accepted statement of faith in Christianity. It wasn’t written by the Apostles (Jesus’s companions) but it became accepted in the early centuries as a faithful summary of what the Apostles taught. In this week's sermon, we are  looking at Jesus's suffering and death on the cross, and what that accomplishes for us.  As we examine the cruc...

The Apostles’ Creed is the oldest, and most widely accepted statement of faith in Christianity. It wasn’t written by the Apostles (Jesus’s companions) but it became accepted in the early centuries as a faithful summary of what the Apostles taught. In this week's sermon, we are continuing to learn about the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, and the way that his incarnation (taking on fles...

The Apostles’ Creed is the oldest, and most widely accepted statement of faith in Christianity. It wasn’t written by the Apostles (Jesus’s companions) but it became accepted in the early centuries as a faithful summary of what the Apostles taught. In this week's sermon, we move from God the Father to looking at the person and work of Jesus, God the Son.  We will see that the early church saw...

The Apostles’ Creed is the oldest, and most widely accepted statement of faith in Christianity. It wasn’t written by the Apostles (Jesus’s companions) but it became accepted in the early centuries as a faithful summary of what the Apostles taught. The Creed starts where the Bible starts, by reminding us of our place God's created universe. We see that we are not the main character in our stories....

The Apostles’ Creed is the oldest, and most widely accepted statement of faith in Christianity. It wasn’t written by the Apostles (Jesus’s companions) but it became accepted in the early centuries as a faithful summary of what the Apostles taught. Think of the creed like the moon. The moon doesn’t produce light on its own, but because it reflects the sun's light, a full moon can shine quite a bit...

This week we are finishing our Large Group series on Galatians! In this final section, the Apostle Paul closes his letter with a vivid description of the “good life” in Christian community, where both our identity and our ethics flow out of the gracious love of God. In v. 15, Paul uses an important phrase: “a new creation.” The new creation refers to God’s promise to re-make this created world in...

As we continue our RUF Large Group series in Galatians, this weeks passage focuses in on the Gospel's effect on our relationships within the Christian community. In Galatians 5 and 6, Paul reminds us that God the Spirit not only saves us, He also empowers us for loving relationships with others. Practically,  this means that God the Spirit changes us from a “your life for mine” life, to live...

In this week's passage from Galatians, the Apostle Paul begins to explain how salvation by grace through faith in Jesus produces real, lasting change in those whom Christ saves. And that real, lasting change, Paul says, comes not by external works, nor by mere willpower, but by the indwelling power of the third person of the trinity! In other words, the Christian life is a life that only the Spiri...

In this week's passage from Galatians, the Apostle Paul moves from defense of the true gospel to application of that gospel.  He argues that the freedom from condemnation and fear that Jesus gives necessarily leads those who come to faith in Christ to live lives of free obedience to God.   QUOTES:  “The great paradox of the Bible is that the commands of God make spacious p...

In this passage from Galatians 4, Paul closes his argument about freedom and slavery by making an analogy from the book of Genesis. As we follow Paul's logic, we see that gospel reverses the values of the world (and popular religious culture!)--the ‘able’ and the proud are out, the morally sick and sinful are welcomed in. “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus,...