RUF at Illinois

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 seminar was prepared for the RUF Midwest 2023 Winter Conference in Nashville, IN.

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.