Fear of the Lord Week 1

We've been having a super full first week here at DTS: Here's a little cap off of whats been up...

(September 27) David Hamilton spoke through YWAMs ministry called Genesis-where webcams connect to the different schools worldwide so leaders can share to different schools where they otherwise couldn’t reach easily. David spoke from the base in Kona Hawaii. He challenged us to read the Bible publically. To take the Word with other students out into the city and read the Bible out loud. Once a month.

(September 28) Tom Bloomer took us on a chilly tour around the city of Lausanne. He spoke on the Spiritual heritage in this city, the history of the believers who have come here before us. Stories of those who have been trained, sending out the first pastors of Switzerland, and the first Christians who have laid down their lives for others. A tour of the cathedral, different points of history around the city where important decisions have occurred to shape history. 

This week (October 1-5) the topic is the “Fear of the Lord,” our speaker being John Bills. He is spending the whole week with us giving lectures on this subject and really delving into what that means, what the Word has to tell us about it, and our misconceptions on how we interrupt it.

In a nutshell folks: (October 1-2)

·      The Fear of God is a reverent sense of awe and respect because you know who you stand before.

·      To fear God is to have a heart that is sensitive to both his goodness and his graciousness.

 We studied the word “Grace” and the verses that applied to this.

·      It means to experience great awe and a deep joy simultaneously when one begins to understand who God really is and what He has done.

Asking ourselves questions like, “Who are we communicating with” “How well do I know and understand the character of God?”

·      Therefore the true fear of God is not a fear that makes a person run away and flee from God. It is a fear that drives him to God and not away.

We will understand his mercy when we understand His holiness. We looked at verses that describe what His holiness is and when people in the Bible are in awe, with a fear of God because of His holiness.

John Bills challenged us to pray dangerously. To ask God to “show me my heart as you see it.” “To break my heart for what breaks Yours.”  “To give us an innate sense of compassion for others suffering.” This opened my eyes. We don’t want to pray for something that might make us uncomfortable. Our generation has become desensitized to suffering. We don’t care to realize its present.

That evening we talked about the Father’s heart of Compassion. Why should we have and show compassion? Because it is a part of God’s character, Jesus Himself modeled it on earth, it honors God, and He commands us to! To truly know God is to defend the cause of the needy. Standing up for the rights of the unfortunate, the needy, the afflicted, to seek justice, defend the poor  and plead for the widow. (Is 1:16-17) Lend freely and sufficiently to our brother in need. (Duet 15:7, 8:10-11)