rpc college ministry

thoughts on doubt

2012-02-27T21:05:00.000-05:00

A pastor I respected while in seminary once said, “you’ve never truly believed until you have truly doubted.” At the time, I thought this was decent advice. Now, almost ten years later, I realize that this may not be good advice. What place does doubt have in Christianity or should it have a place at all? Doug Kelly, in his Systematic Theology book, describes the western rejection of God’s testimony of Himself in creation and conscience. Doubt, Kelly explains, is a rejection of God’s testimony. On page 251 Kelly quotes T.F. Torrance, “Doubt rests upon a form of self-certainty” and “There is always a deep-seated element of false subjectivity in doubt”. This chapter helped me put together a string of thoughts on the subject.

Ultimately doubt and skepticism hold self as their authority and not scripture. God’s word tells us in James 1:6, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” One who treats scripture as a skeptic has no foundation and will be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. The one who holds the word of God as ultimate authority for faith and practice will stand on a secure foundation. We cannot trust our fallen intellect. Instead we must believe that we might truly know.

no meeting on tuesday this week

2012-02-13T15:36:00.000-05:00

Meet with us on THURSDAY night at Redeemer Presbyterian Church to continue our study of Zechariah. We're changing our meeting day and location one more time. Hope to see you there!

we had a Christmas party

2012-02-10T15:47:00.000-05:00

Yes, almost two months ago we had a tacky sweater Christmas party. It was an especially tacky night of laughing and eating and gift-giving.

It was good to see our "home folk" who are away at college. It was also good to see my wife search our house for a week looking for junk to give away as gifts. Looking forward to many more parties with these students.

we are still here

2012-02-07T22:28:00.000-05:00

Redeemer Presbyterian Church College Ministry is still going strong! We finished Colossians, then moved on to a book by Martin Lloyd-Jones, The Plight of Man and the power of God. Now we are deep into Zechariah (the 31st book of the Old Testament). As we studied chapter 4 of this book tonight, we realized the depth our our human inability and the hope of God's sovereignty.

Zechariah was sent to encourage the people to continue the work of rebuilding the temple. The candles in this fifth vision represent the truth of God coming to a dark world. He is building His church and He will finish the work. Human plans fail and change. This is why we must pray and faithfully continue the work... through discouragement, through despair, through struggles.

These truths give us hope, especially in evangelism. We will see our churches, college ministries, and relationships grow WHEN we are faithfully doing God's work as He said to do it. He will complete the work.

like books?

2011-10-27T12:32:00.000-04:00

Come visit us at the book table! We will be on campus today around lunch time with a few free books that might help answer some of your burning questions about God, the Bible, church and other important topics. Stop by and say hello. We would love to meet you!

book of the month... october 11

2011-10-26T12:39:00.000-04:00

book of the month... september 11

2011-09-07T14:29:00.000-04:00

Our book of the month for September is "In My Place Condemned He Stood" by J.I. Packer and Mark Dever. We've been talking a lot during our weekly meetings about evangelism and the "true Gospel." This book is very helpful in making clear the centrality of the Gospel in life and evangelism. It covers topics like the atonement and the sovereignty of God in salvation. It's a small book that is worth reading more than once.

our study has a new home

2011-08-31T13:48:00.000-04:00

Last night we had our first meeting on campus at Coastal College of Georgia. We pray that meeting on campus will give us greater opportunity to meet students, build relationships and extend our passion for knowing and loving Christ.

We opened the Word to Colossians 1:21-23. These verses challenge us to live out a "true gospel" by realizing how necessary it was for Christ to reconcile us. Lots of questions followed. We are looking forward to many more deep discussions on campus.

Join us next Tuesday at 7:30pm.

colossians continued

2011-08-26T16:30:00.001-04:00

Thursday night we continued our study through the book of Colossians. The Hymn of Christ, Colossians 1:15-20, was our particular passage of study and many commentators believe this was written by Paul to combat an early form of Gnosticism. This heresy denied the deity of Christ, but Paul uses this hymn to declare otherwise.

This led us to discuss how heresies today have risen because of a misunderstanding of the true nature of Christ. Much of the misunderstanding occurs when humans think that words, which describe finite beings, also place the same limitations on an infinite being like God. For instance, when Paul says that Christ is the “firstborn of all creation” in Colossians 1:15 does he means that Christ cannot be God because he had a beginning? From the context of this passage we must understand that Paul’s meaning of firstborn is prominence and not physical birth. We also discussed the fact that Jesus being God also makes Him Lord, Creator and Sustainer. If this is true, it should give us hope for everyday living. When things do not go as planned do we remember that Jesus is creator and sustainer?

Please join us as we study and journey together.

questions for Charlie

2011-08-19T21:18:00.000-04:00

Name: Charlie Turner
Family: I married my college sweetheart, Melissa, in 2002. We have three children: Dean, Millie, and Stella Belle (ages 6,5,3).

What do you do? I am a member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. I lead RPC College Ministry. I own a Snow Cone business called the Snow Shack.

What is something interesting about yourself? I was a Baptist for the first twenty-nine and a half years of my life. I spent almost 10 of those years as youth pastor, music pastor, associate pastor in different churches. When I felt the Lord leading me in the Presbyterian direction, I left my job in a cozy Baptist church office, opened the Snow Shack with my wife, and joined RPC.

Why college ministry? I love learning and growing in God's word. I love teaching people almost as much as I love learning. College students are at an exciting stage in life... making important life decisions, becoming responsible adults, etc. They ask great questions and search for deep answers. I have always loved teaching college-aged people. Melissa and I have the RPC group in our home every Thursday night for Bible study. It's the highlight of our week.

What's next? Hopefully move our Bible Study to the campus of Coastal College of Georgia (we're currently having a little trouble with the CCG allowing us on campus for Bible Study). Keep running the Snow Shack to support my family financially. Begin the process of licensure in the PCA church.

See more about the Snow Shack here. Follow Snow Shack on twitter here. Find Charlie and Melissa on facebook here.

colossians

2011-08-12T18:05:00.000-04:00

Last night we started our study in the book of Colossians. We centered discussion around verse four which speaks of genuine or true faith. Paul, the writer of Colossians, was thankful for the genuine faith that he heard of among the church in Colossea. How do we know their faith was genuine? Because love was the fruit of their faith. This can only be evidence of a supernatural work of the Spirit. How does this "genuine love" look? Philippians chapter 2 instructs us to look out for the needs of others, considering them as more important than ourselves. This is the difference between a Christ-centered love and a world-centered love. Are we doing good to others for our own gain? Is your faith genuine?

book of the month... august 11

2011-08-05T09:20:00.001-04:00

This month's book of the month is The Mortification of Sin by John Owen. It's a great book to continue our discussion from the first few meetings about man's role in sanctification. I especially like the introduction by J.I. Packer who helps clear up some misunderstandings about this process in a practical way. You might consider reading this book a few times in order to completely understand John Owen's puritanical writing style. It's a small book so it won't be too much of an overwhelming addition to your fall semester reading list.

talking about the church

2011-07-29T21:16:00.001-04:00

Why is the Church necessary? This is the question that we pondered Thursday night at our College Bible study. The Church is necessary because it has been appointed by God to lead those outside the covenant into a right knowledge of God and His truth. However, our present culture, which has been influenced by the Enlightenment and Evolution, teaches that truth is something apart from God and through the unaided mind man can somehow determine who God is and what he requires. This is not a biblical view of man. Doug Kelly in his Systematic Theology rightly comments that, “those who seek to know God and his truth outside Israel and the Church are always doomed to failure.” God and his truth have always been revealed within a believing community as Jesus’ high priestly prayer demonstrates, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” May this truth exhort us to be more evangelistic. Since the church, as the Westminster Confession of faith says, is “God’s ordinary means of salvation,” we as members of that body must see the absolute necessity in carrying the knowledge of God and his truth to the lost.

welcome

2011-07-22T23:27:00.001-04:00

Last night’s study was very beneficial in aiding our understanding of Sanctification. "Sanctification" being the work of God’s free grace that renews the whole man after his image and enables him to die unto sin and live unto righteousness more and more each day. We discussed questions about Sanctification like “are there two types of Christians… those who are spiritual and those who are not?” We also discussed the theology behind a “let go and let God” mentality. There are two errors we have to avoid: (1) That we let go and let God. By “letting go” we are releasing ourselves from “working out our salvation with fear and trembling.” (2) The opinion that God’s favor can be earned by human works. To have a healthy balance we must remember that God is doing the work in us. However, we cannot forget our calling to mortify the deeds of the flesh, die to sin, and live in loving obedience unto God. Sanctification should drive us to humility rather than haughtiness. “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” –John Owen

Looking forward to many, many more Thursday nights with the college students of this community.

JULY 2011

2011-07-09T19:44:00.000-04:00