Spirit & Truth Bible Seminar (STBS)
Encounter God through a life changing immersion in His story that will transform you by the washing of the Word.
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” – John 4:24 Paul says, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). There is no conflict between God’s Spirit and God’s Truth. It’s just that it is dangerous to study God’s written word apart from His living Spirit. We are called to pursue God “in spirit and in truth”, without any false division between power and wisdom, present-tense experience and eternal truth.
Spirit & Truth Bible Seminar (STBS) is a forty-day immersion in Spirit-empowered exploration of Scripture. The God-inspired Scriptures are a gateway to first-hand encounters with God himself. We will learn to approach Scripture as an opportunity to know and experience God in new and life-giving ways. The result is transformation and renewal as we are empowered to actually live the abundant and victorious life that Scripture says is our birth-right.
This school takes place in the context of our Presence-centered YWAM community at the Lord’s Land, nestled among the towering redwoods of the Mendocino Coast of Northern California. The Lord’s Land, originally a hippie commune, has a rich history of revival and visitation dating back to the Jesus Movement. It is known as a place set apart, where it is easy to experience God’s Presence in a setting of natural beauty and supernatural peace.
A Hermeneutic of Experience
The Bible is a book about experiencing God. It is also a book for experiencing God — a gateway to encounters with God Himself.
As a school, we will learn how to develop a lifestyle of intimacy, established in the Word of God and filled with the power of Holy Spirit. Through this lens of intimacy and encounter, we will pursue an over-arching understanding of the message of the Bible and its major themes.
The majority of our time will be spent in reading, re-reading, studying, discussing, meditating on, and applying the Bible to our lives. We will become comfortable with the time-tested ways Christian mystics of the past explored the depths of God’s Word through prayerful meditation on Scripture.
There will be student led Encounter Bible groups, participation in the ‘Burning Room House of Prayer’ that runs on our property and other activities. You will acquire the skills and habits that empower you to draw life from the Living Word, through Bible reading, study, meditation and encounter.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
- The overarching story, history and context of the Bible
- Specific topics and mega-themes of Scripture
- The authority of Scripture
- Inductive study skills
- A life-style of dependence on the Holy Spirit
- The uses of Scripture in worship, intercession, and encounter
WHO STBS IS FOR
- Recent DTS grads who feel a need for further training in Scripture.
- Full-time YWAM missionaries looking for a season of refreshing and renewal through immersion in Scripture.
- Those seeking new approaches for mining the depths of God’s written word.
- Anyone looking for a Spirit-led approach to the exploration of Scripture.
Spirit & Truth is a time of refreshing and renewal, with opportunities for personal ministry. It is an opportunity to “be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think” (Romans 12:2 TPT). It is our intention that each individual who comes will leave full and refreshed, with increasing passion for the Lord and walking in personal freedom.
