“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever…” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
From the 27th of February until the 8th of March, winter academic session of Rivne Bible College “Word of Grace” took place under this slogan. This session was dedicated to the study of the course “Systematic theology”,which was taught by Nikolaj Nikitin. This courseteachs fundamental doctrines of Christianity. During nine study days, Nikolaj was painting the picture of healthy Biblical teaching about God, sin, the Bible, and salvation.
For twelve students from different parts of Ukraine this time was a special blessing.
“Nine days is not enough to learn about how great is our Lord, but this is the lifelong learning journey of a Christian. However, this course helped me to partly open the curtain in this question” (Sergej, Vinnutsja).
The theoretical knowledge was applied in practice: students were walking around the city and talking to people about God, the Bible, and salvation for several days. For some people it was their first time doing this. God helped those, who wanted to fulfill his commandment. The study of Bible versesby heart on the studied topics turned out to be quite useful for their practical assignment.
“Before this academic session I felt some discomfort during conversations with non-believers because I did not know specific Bible passages and just answered: ‘The Bible says so’, but I am going to use important passages and share them with people (Galya, Ivano-Frankivsk).
We spenthe Sunday worship time the Sarny church. Brothers were preaching and sisters shared their testimonies and poems, which worship God. The church hospitality and friendly communication proved that we are one big Christian family regardless of the fact that we are from the capital or from a little town.
God was touching hearts not only during the academic session, but also during every day events. Students, who stayed in the dormitory, had an evening prayer meeting. They were opening their hearts and needs to God and sharing their blessings. They stayed up after midnight to communicate or do their homework.
In the end of the session, Nikolaj gave a parting wish: “I wish you not only to understand theology, but to stay alert, stay in proper doctrine so that no one can mislead you from the true path.”
We will ask the Lord to help us seek Him and get to know Him every day!
We are thankful to everyone, who prayed for the students and teachers and who helpedorganize this academic session!
Daria Derkach
