Word given by brother Pedro Dong, transmitted by Instituto Vida para Todos directly from Bogotà, in Colômbia, on 06/18/2023. Text not revised by the author.
- We are in Bogotá, Colombia. We made a trip since last week, visiting the main locations in that country. We have seen the blessing of the Lord in this country for the past two years. It all started when the leaders began to follow the prophetic word with simplicity. The Lord has already blessed with a GPC and bookexpo. Soon, we will start the PAC unit, here in Bogota. All this is for the Lord to advance faster in this region of the earth. Our area of influence is for this region of South America. We want to advance in the Caribbean and in other countries. Thus, with the cooperation of all countries, we will be able to preach the gospel of the kingdom to all nations, and thus the end will come. This is our burden: to preach the gospel of the kingdom, to cooperate with the Lord in this fabric of love, so that God has a dwelling place in the spirit and He has a day of rest. Thus, the seventh day will come, the day of rest, which is the millennium. And we want to reign with Christ.
- All Christians need to keep in mind that God’s work is done by His word. God does not want to do a great religious work. He wants to build up His Church, which is the Body of Christ, a living organism. Everything depends on the speaking of God that dispenses life and results in edification. God’s will is done by the headship of Christ. When God speaks His work is done. Therefore, in the Old Testament, God spoke through the prophets, but since Christ came to earth, in the new covenant, He speaks to us through the Son. He continues to speak to us through the Son. At the beginning of the New Testament, the age of the Son began. After the Son departed, He left 12 apostles to speak for Him. The apostle Peter was then chosen, then Paul, was that channel. God chooses prophets to do His work. Through Paul, God took the gospel to the Gentiles and the gospel reached the west. After Paul, God raised up John. All of them were raised up by His Son. They are channels for speaking to God’s people. Today is no different, He continues to speak to do His will.
Ex 19:4-6
- In Ex 19, when God brought His people out of Egypt, arriving at Mount Sinai, He opened His heart about how He would do His work. It was very difficult to take two million people out of Egypt and transport them across the desert, there wasn’t the structure we have today. But the Lord took them on eagles’ wings. He brought the people to Him. All nations at that time worshiped idols, they were pagans, and no one worshiped the true God. Idolatry has been around since the time of Nimrod. The people had a concept that false gods were punishers. Nimrod, incited by Satan, caused mankind to hate God. He declared that man did not need God. So another interpretation is that nature was controlled by false gods. They offered sacrifices to the gods, so that they would not punish them. The relationship between human beings and the gods was one of fear. But in Ex 19, God shows that He was not like that. He brought the people out of Egypt to be intimate with Him. God is a God of love; He wants to be intimate with His people. God does not want to punish you. He wants to be intimate with you. What to do to be intimate with God? The people who came out of Egypt and didn’t know Him. We know God by hearing His voice. God’s people only need to do one thing: pay attention to the voice and word of the Lord. The voice of the Lord will lead us to be His intimate people.
- God does not require us to be good, in a good living. Only, we have to listen carefully to the word of God. Let the word of God do the work. If we do this, we will be the Lord’s peculiar possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The simple speaking of the Lord can do so much. God’s speaking makes us His peculiar property, makes us a kingdom of priests. Not priests of heathen kingdoms. God, through His speaking, wants to make us a holy nation. Everything is done by the speaking of God. But there is a problem: man thinks that hearing God’s voice once is enough. Man cannot retain just by hearing.
Ex 19:8; Dt 6:1-8
- Man means well, but does not know himself. You hear, but you don’t know what you have heard. He who hears forgets. What you hear today, tomorrow you have forgotten. Therefore, God gives importance to the written word. God has always attached great importance to the book. Because He knows that man thinks that hearing once is enough. Listen and practice! Those who listen justify themselves, but those who practice learn. Those who listen forget, and those who don’t practice justify themselves, but those who practice learn. God is the only Lord. That is why in the Church of the Lord there are not several voices. There is only one direction. There is no middle ground: The Lord demands that we love Him with all our being. But we don’t have that ability. The love for the Lord is great at the beginning, but as the days pass, the love grows cold.
- How can we be a people who love the Lord? How to be a people that does His will? The words which the Lord has commanded must be in our hearts. How can we make these words in our hearts? It’s not enough to listen just once. We need the written word. The word inculcate is to engrave and impress these words on our hearts. Record by repeating several times. How to repeat if you don’t have the words in writing? To inculcate, the word must be close, in our hands. How to inculcate the word? When sleeping and waking up, do immersion. Going to Work: immersion. For breakfast: immersion. We see the importance of inculcating the word of the Lord in our hearts.
Eph 5:18; Co 3:16
- We must be filled with the Spirit. How to fill ourselves with the Spirit? Speaking the word of the Lord. How will the word of Christ live in you? By repeating it, what we call immersion in the word. In this way, the word is engraved in our heart. The word dwelling in our heart will spontaneously do the work of God in us. Thus, we will love the Lord with the first love and do His will, preaching the gospel of the kingdom in the streets. Everything depends on inculcating the word in our hearts. That’s why God pays attention to books.
Gn 5:1; Ex 17:14; 24:7.
- God recorded Adam’s genealogy in a book. Why write in a book? To memorize. God knows man. He gave the book to the man to remember. If God did not have it recorded in the book, the people would not be able to read it. But what was the attitude of the people? They said: “All that the Lord speaks, we will do”. Man has no capacity. The word that gives us capacity. What do you have to do? Inculcate the word. You need to do immersion, repeat this word. The word needs to be engraved in your heart. This word will enable you to practice.
Ex 32:33; Nu 21:14; Dt 17:18-20; 28:58-61
- The book was written by God. It says here that God wrote. Even the battles and wars of the Lord are recorded in a book. Because man quickly forgets what the Lord has done. Man forgets the victories of the Lord. Then the Lord says: record in the book. When a king begins to reign, the first thing: make a copy of the law in a book. You can’t rely on memory. It needs to be written in a book. The king must have a book with him. We need to read every day. The king who immerses himself in the word does not become arrogant, but becomes humble. The word makes us humble. We can’t fulfill it, but the word gives capacity. The practice of immersion in the word helps us to stay in place. Without immersion, we begin to be proud. If you immerse yourself in the word, the Lord will always keep you humble. When you do immersion, the Lord will give you direction. The Lord will bless your leadership. You will not lead by the natural man, but by the word of the Lord.
Jos 1:8
- Joshua had a big challenge ahead of him. God did not allow Moses to enter the good land of Canaan. Joshua was a young man and had a great task. It wasn’t because of Joshua’s ability. We need to meditate day and night. The word will make you successful. The prophetic word does the work of God. The Churches in Colombia discovered this. We must meditate every day. The Lord has prospered these past two years. Don’t stop immersing yourself in the word. Do not deviate from this path. Keep inculcating the word. The Lord spoke through Moses to Joshua. The Lord commanded Joshua not to cease speaking about the Book of the Law, to meditate on it day and night, to be careful to do all that is written therein; then his way would prosper and he would succeed.
2 Ch 17:7-10
- The priests taught the people in the city of Judah. They did so by having the book of the Law with them. It is not reliable to transmit the word only orally. Don’t rely on conveying just by talking. You must have the book, something written. If we are faithful to the word and immerse ourselves in it, the enemy will fear us and nothing will stop us. In the third year of his reign, King Jehoshaphat sent his princes, with the Levites and priests to teach in Judah, with the Book of the Law of the Lord, they went through all the cities of Judah and taught the people. Terror came upon the kingdoms around Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
Ne 8:5-12
- This is our responsibility. In addition to having the Bible in hand, to read precisely and accurately, we have the prophetic word that explains it, so that you understand what you read. The people understood the heart of God. They wept because they lived differently than God spoke. The people celebrated and rejoiced greatly, because they understood the words that were explained to them. That’s why we do colporting. Today, all Christians have the book in their hands, but they don’t understand. Thank God we have the word printed in books, and that word carries the gospel of the kingdom. Our responsibility is to preach the gospel throughout the world.
Mt 1:1; Mk 12:16; Lk 3:4; 4:17; 20:42; Ac 1:1-2
- See the importance of books. Let us follow the line of the last message, concerning the Vaudois. They were the first colporteurs. The Waldenses are continued today with our colporteurs. Today many understand the Bible, receiving the books that contain the gospel of the kingdom.
Rv 1:11; Rv 22:7; 10; 18-20
- John wrote what he saw in a book and sent it to the seven churches. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book, and they must not be sealed up, because the time is at hand, nothing will be added or taken away from the words of the book of this prophecy.
- We saw about the importance of the book, but how can there be a book without paper? A bit of history: the fall of Constantinople. In the year 1453, after a siege lasting 53 days, the eastern capital of Christendom fell to the Turks. Sultan Mohammed II transferred his government to Constantinople, which was renamed Istanbul. Many Greek scholars moved to Italy, from there they left for many other countries in Europe, they managed to save several books and treasures of science in Constantinople, this greatly encouraged the study of the Greek language, literature and science, in preparation for the so-called Protestant Reformation.
- Papermaking began with the discovery of making fine white paper from linen rags. After a series of improvements, a better quality paper was produced. For, without the production of paper, the invention of the press would make no sense. Without the paper, how to have the book? But God is sovereign in all things. At the right moment God allowed the invention of paper.
- On the invention of the printing press. We talk about the importance of the book for recording the Word of God, however, its reproduction depended on scribes, professionals who copied the manuscripts, therefore, it was a very limited edition. At the right moment in human history, God allowed the invention of graphic arts, to give a definitive boost to the massive sowing of the Word of God, aiming at the fulfillment of His purpose.
- The first complete book to be printed by Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, was the Bible. It was a Latin Vulgate version, consisting of 641 pages. This shows God’s great interest behind this invention. Gutenberg spent almost ten years to perfect his invention, with the participation of the investor Fust and his son-in-law, Schoffer, carved the characters in a matrix and molded the letters or types. With the efforts of these three men, around 1450, they printed a Bible in Latin. And the second edition was produced around 1462.
- Due to the high cost of investment and production, the first printed copies were purchased by kings, nobles or priests. Fust was denounced as a practitioner of magical arts and was even thrown into prison. Soon the secret was revealed and entrepreneurs took this art of printing books all over Europe. In 1474 it was introduced in England and in 1508 it appeared in Scotland.
- Before the invention of printing, manuscripts were very rare and expensive, only kings and nobles could buy them. Others who had the means to acquire them were colleges and ecclesiastical communities. A copy of the Bible would cost the labor of an experienced copyist for about 10 months. With the printing press, its cost dropped rapidly, making the Bible accessible to the general public, pulling people out of the complete darkness, ignorance, and superstition created by the clergy.
- A start was made on translating the precious Word of God into different languages. An Italian translation appeared around the year 1474; the translation into the Bohemian language, in 1475; the Dutch translation, in 1477, the same year as the French translation. The Spanish translation appeared in 1478. The light of the Word began to illuminate God’s people.
Mt 13:15-19
- Thank God, these days everyone has access to a copy of the Bible, which can be purchased at a very affordable price. However, without the revelation the people do not understand. All those who hear the Word of the kingdom and do not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their hearts. If we have the revelation of the word: people will see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, convert and be healed.
- Today the Lord is restoring His church through the revelation of the Word, and we have the responsibility to sow this word of the kingdom in people’s hearts through the books. The church in Philadelphia has the word and has the revelation of the word, it also has the responsibility of taking the word of the kingdom through the books.
Ps 119:130; Pr 29:18 KJV
- We need to have the revelation of the word. The revelation of the word clarifies and gives understanding. The revelation of the Word comes from prophecy, it is therefore the prophetic Word. A people that does not accept the revelation of the Lord is a people without order.
Ac 8:30-31
- The Ethiopian eunuch was reading the prophet Isaiah, when Philip approached him and asked if he understood what he read, he replied: “How can I understand, if someone does not explain to me?” Filipe was full of the word; he had immersed himself in the word. And the result was that the eunuch believed in Jesus and was baptized.
- With the press, the Bible accessible to the public: the clergy began to oppose and try to burn the Bibles and also burn the press. The owners of the press were burned alive. They wanted to keep the people in slavery, ignorance and superstition. Satan doesn’t want revelation to get into people’s hands.
- Something that is said: One should not sell books. The word of God must not be sold. We must clarify that every impression has a cost. The printed Bible came at a cost, but look at the benefit. Today, we have the costs of editing and printing books. We minimize these costs, so everyone gets the revelation of the word. But, we are not selling the revelation of the word. We receive revelation for free and we transmit it for free.
- Satan wants to stop books from getting into people’s hands. We know that we received all this from the Lord and it all came from the hand of the Lord. The Lord will deliver many from darkness and they will join us in ending this age. We are not afraid of enemy attacks. The books will be distributed and the seeds will be sown all over the world, then the end will come. One day there will be no more colporteurs, because the great tribulation will come. All who have done this work will have been raptured. But we will have left the books in the hands of the people. Here in Colombia, millions of books will have been sown. Let’s not stop sowing the books!