RUF Mizzou Rev. David A. Barnes

Guest preacher, Samuel Kassing, gifted us with a beautiful sermon on the importance of Church Family from Romans 12:1-21. Specifically, he unpacked three key realities of church family: 1) The Basis of Church Family, 2) The Beauty/brokenness of Church Family, & the Balm of Church family.

Pastor David looks at the family dynamics in Abraham's family, specially Joseph & his brothers, to describe how the Bible paints a very realistic picture of the beauty & brokenness of families. He does this by looking at two principles: 1) The Real(ity) of Family & 2) The Resurrection of Family.

In a world of "expressive Individualism," Pastor David looks at sex at a 50,000ft. level to tell a better & more beautiful story of sacred love. David does this by looking at three points: 1) God's Creative Purposes, 2) The Devil's Crafty Plan, & 3) God's Captivating Power. David borrows heavily from Rev. Robbert Cunningham's "Sacred Eros" to paint a more beautiful picture of sex in our current cultural moment.



Pastor David wants to give full academic & intellectual credit to Rev. Cunningham for his masterful work on "Sacred Eros" & the influence his work has had on David in this sermon. Full credit to his great work. Here is the link to His podcast: https://tcpca.org/every-square-inch-podcast/2022/6/3/sacred-eros

Pastor David seeks to unpack a beautiful, but tough passage in light of our modern sensibilities by telling a more beautiful story about marriage. David does this by looking at 3-biblical realities: 1) The Divine Design of Marriage, 2) The Dignifying Display of Marriage, & 3) The Dynamic Dynamite (Power) of Marriage! Tune it to see how David makes the point that the Gospel is a picture of the Gospel, but the Gospel is ultimately the power of any Christ-Centered marriage.

Pastor David begins with a quick review & then jumps into some anonymously asked questions with Cassia, the RUF Mizzou intern. Students asked some very inquisitive questions that provoked lots of wonderful thoughts. Tune in to hear what questions students were asking & how David/Cassia answered them!

Pastor David explores what the Bible says about Dating! The catch is that the Bible doesn't explicitly talk about Dating, so David explores passages that give us Biblical principles on how to approach this spectrum between "friendship" & "marriage." This can be tough, anxiety producing, confusing, frustrating, etc. Tune in as David unpacks the "posture of dating," "the principles of dating," & "the potential of dating." Next week, we will ask students to submit anonymous questions about dating in college.