Word given by brother Pedro Dong and transmitted by Instituto Vida para Todos, directly from the church auditorium in São Paulo-SP, on 11/08/2024. Text not revised by the author.

We encourage you to watch the full message on the IVPT YouTube channel.

John 1:1; 1 John 1:1

1. In his gospel, John said that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He begins his gospel in eternity, because “the beginning” there meant eternity, even before creation. But in his epistle, he begins: “That which was from the beginning,” referring to the beginning of creation. Which makes us understand that John’s first letter is a continuation of his gospel. John’s gospel reveals that man can receive life from God, eternal life, by believing in Jesus, the One sent by God, who is the Word of God Himself. In his first letter, John reveals how those who have already received life from God, eternal life through faith in the Word, are involved in divine fellowship, for the edification of the body of Christ.
   

   1 John 1:1; 1 John 1:1

2. It is very interesting how the first epistle of John begins. I wanted to draw your attention because apparently, we are so used to reading these terms in the Bible that we don’t realize the extraordinary issue behind this description of 1 John 1:1. I don’t know if you have ever imagined that God, who created the entire universe, wants to give His life to man. We know this from the revelation of the Bible. He created man for this and so that man could subdue the earth, govern it. However, not exactly alone. But the life of God within man, governing man and making him govern the earth by life. That’s how God did it. However, where is God? Who is God? He lives in a place inaccessible to man.
   

   John 1:18; 1 Tim 1:17

3. The gospel of John chapter 1 itself says that no one has ever seen God; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, is the One who revealed it. So, God is invisible, no one has seen God. But this God who created us, He wants to give His life, eternal life, to man. Through His life given to man, He can establish His government here on earth. And through this government, the government of all creation will be extended, that is, all things in the heavens and on earth. However, how can we have access to Him and achieve this life if we have no way of seeing Him, much less touching Him, or contemplating Him? How would the man who was created to be the recipient of His life have access to this life, without having access to His person?
   

   1 Tim 6:16

4. Our God desires to give life to man, He is the only One who possesses immortality, but He dwells in unapproachable light. He is He whom no man has ever seen, nor is able to see. Have you ever noticed this dilemma? How can we access this life? Thank God that in the beginning was the word! Although God is the only God, He is Triune: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father dwells in unapproachable light, no man has ever seen Him. However one day, to be accessible to man, the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ to come here to earth to be a man in order to become approchable to man and be able to give eternal life to him. And this Son of God, Jesus Christ, is the Word Himself. As the Word, He becomes accessible to man to receive the life of God because by believing in the Son sent by the Father, in His Word, eternal life is received.
   

   John 3:16; Eph 1:13

5. The gospel of John chapter three, verse sixteen, is properly the essence of the gospel of John. Thank God that He, who is invisible, sent His own Son, becoming a man and died for us. When He died, the Father resurrected Him. He became the Spirit of truth, the other Comforter, the Spirit of life, able to enter into everyone who believes in Him. Look what a miracle of life! Today it is enough for us to preach the gospel and for a man to receive the gospel and believe in the Word of the gospel, that he is born of God. This man receives life from God through the Word of truth, which is the gospel of our salvation. When you believe in Jesus, through the Word of truth that someone preached to you, which is the gospel of our salvation, you then receive eternal life. Then the Holy Spirit seals you and we become children of God. It’s not a small thing.
   

   1 John 1:1

6. God is unreachable, intangible and He dwells in the unapproachable light. But one day, God sent His Son into the world, who became man, and John, together with other apostles, saw the Word of life. They saw Jesus, they contemplated Him. Contemplating is looking with a purpose, not just seeing. They were constantly contemplating Jesus, His life, His every word and attitude. They beheld the Word of life itself. And not only that, but life was totally abstract, and God was totally invisible which man is not able to see. Yet one day He became visible. He came in the man Jesus and lived here on earth and the men who were with Him, like John, who was one of the witnesses, saw, contemplated, and were able to feel with their own hands. Isn’t it wonderful, brothers and sisters? We read these verses and may superficially pass them off as terms, but look at the meaning. How much is behind this.
7. The apostle John wrote his writings around the year 90 AD, in Ephesus. And in his time the church suffered from the heresy that stated that Christ did not come in the flesh. For this reason, John’s writings aimed to free the church from diabolical deception, since Satan wanted to lead man to mix the faith that God gave him with human logic, since in human logic it is inconceivable that Jesus Christ was a God who became a man. In human logic this is impossible to happen. Then Gnosticism began, around the end of the 1st century and they began to want to analyze the things of God through human logic. Gnosticism led man to enter into deep knowledge of human rationality to try to understand the things of God. Some then went on to say that Jesus Christ when He was born was Jesus, without accepting the description that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born by the virgin Mary. They thought that Jesus was born an ordinary man, like every man and, in baptism, Christ entered that body of Jesus and before the crucifixion. It’s all an attempt to explain the things of faith, the supernatural, divine and spiritual things, through human logic. Then Gnosticism began to distort the truth through these explanations and tried to show men that only some who can delve deeper into this type of “spiritual knowledge” can reach a “spiritual knowledge” that few can achieve. They said that those who achieve this “knowledge” can live a perfect human life. That doesn’t exist.
   

   John 1:1-2; John 1:4

8. This is why John had to write emphasizing that the things of God do not happen by human logic and about how human rationality tries to analyze. That is why he repeats again, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. […] In Him was life, and the life was the light of men”. In this excerpt, John already shows that you need to believe and receive by faith, by the Word.
   

   1 John 1:1-2

9. In first John, verse two, the apostle says: “the life was manifested, and we have seen” how do we see life? So, who is John referring to? To Jesus. Our Lord Jesus is life itself! The Word that the apostle John announced to the church was this life, this Word of life, eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us! On one side there are those who lean towards human knowledge, Gnosticism, distorting the truth, but John was keen to show that God’s things happen through the acceptance of His Word, which is a person. Don’t analyze it by your human logic. This Person is the Word of life, life itself incarnate. This life is eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us! And it is this life that we announce. The apostle John said that he announced this life through the Word of life.
   

   1 John 1:3

10. What the apostle John announced was apparently a word like every man uses as a means of communication, but this Word announced by John was different. It was the very Word of life, eternal life itself! Why can you be sure that this Word is eternal life itself? It is because when it is announced and the recipients believe in it, all those who receive it and believe in it are introduced into the fellowship of life, they enter into the fellowship of the body, they are introduced as members of the body. They receive life and are already placed in the fellowship of the body, in the circulation of life.
    

    1 John 1:3

11. And this fellowship is primarily fellowship with the apostles because this Word was announced by the apostle John, who was used as a channel to announce the Word of life, which is eternal life itself. Whoever receives it enters fellowship (which means participation) in the circulation of life with the one who announced the Word, who in first John was himself. John said this “fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ” because he was not the source of life, the source of life is the Father, and the Son is the eternal life that God wants to give to man.
12. How wonderful! We were totally alienated from the life of God, we had no access to the invisible God and suddenly, one day God sends His Son, who is eternal life Himself, the Word itself and becomes a man to be seen, contemplated, and touched by men and whoever believes in Him does not perish but gains eternal life. Brothers and sisters, look what God has prepared for us!
    

    1 John 1:1; Phil 2:16; John 6:68; John 1:1,4

13. Therefore, brothers and sisters, the expression: “Word of life” is used only here and indicates that this Word of life is a person, it is Christ Himself! In Philippians two, verse sixteen, this expression “word of life” also occurs, however in Greek it does not have the article, being translated as: “word of life”, that is, a word that brings life, not being the same as the single expression present in first John one, verse one. In the gospel of John chapter six there is also a similar expression: “You have the words of eternal life,” but it differs from the one mentioned in first John, as the term used is “rhema” and not “logos,” which means: “you speak/prophesy, the words of eternal life.” It is as if he were saying that Christ, who is the Word of life, spoke the words of eternal life to the disciples.
    

    1 John 1:1

14. It is clear from 1 John 1 that the Word of life is Christ Himself. The Word of life is life itself and eternal life itself, which God wants to give to man. John does not announce Christ as a mere abstract idea as some think, but in a very concrete way, announcing that life was a real Person with whom John had real, personal, and intimate experiences. John lived with Jesus, heard with his own ears, saw with his own eyes and witnessed that Jesus was the very Word of life. He not only defined the Word of life as Jesus but he saw, he was a witness that He was the Word of life Himself!
    

    1 John 1:1; John 1:14

15. As mentioned above, contemplate means to look carefully with a purpose. When you glance at something it means you see it. But when you contemplate, you look carefully, with a purpose to observe something. Contemplating is more than seeing. This indicates that John, like the other disciples who accompanied Jesus, looked closely at everything Jesus did and said and they were witnesses that Jesus was the Word of life. Feeling with your hands indicates that the Word of life was not abstract, but tangible. The Word became flesh and dwelt among men, full of grace and truth. While Jesus lived on earth, He could be touched. Whoever touched Jesus with spiritual faith was touching the Word, life.
    

    Mark 3:10; 5:24b-34

16. Jesus was someone who could be touched. He was eternal life itself that could be touched. In the passage referring to the healing of the sick woman, Jesus was walking and there was a large crowd around Him pressing Him and a certain woman, who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years (having already pass through the hands of many doctors but no one was able to help her), she heard the fame of Jesus, ran through the crowd and touched His clothes because she thought that if she just touched His clothes she would be healed. The moment she touched Him, her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was cured of her affliction. Jesus, recognizing that power had gone out from Him, turned around and asked who had touched Him. The disciples questioned Him that there was a crowd pressing Him and still He asked who had touched Him. Everyone touched Him, but in reality, only one person had touched Him there. Everyone touched the body of Jesus but only one person has touched Him! Everyone touched the body of Jesus but only one person touched His life! In this context, Jesus looked around to see who had touched Him and the woman, afraid and trembling, prostrated herself before Him and said that it was she who had touched Him and Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction”.
    

    John 20:17, 27

17. The excerpts described above show that Jesus was eternal life itself, the life of God, which was there and could be touched. Jesus could be touched. And life could come from Him if one had faith. After His death and resurrection, He appeared to the disciples with a resurrected body and could still be touched. Mary Magdalene not only saw Jesus, but He told her not to touch Him because He had not yet appeared first to the Father after His resurrection. At another time, Jesus had also appeared to His disciples but Thomas was not present, so, suspicious, he said that he would not believe unless he saw it. Jesus gave him a chance and eight days later He appeared again. Jesus told Thomas to put his finger and see His hands and also to put his hand in His side. He also warned him not to be an unbeliever, but a believer. Jesus after the resurrection could still be touched. Jesus no longer appeared physically on the day of Pentecost because the Spirit was poured out and the Church was generated.
18. Thank the Lord today we realize that the Lord can be touched and felt by us through His Word. When the Word of God is spoken among us, we can touch His presence, but now it is by the spirit, not by our hands. But Jesus was touched with hands by His disciples.
    

    1 Cor 15:44

19. Today, we all have natural, physical bodies, created by God. But one day, we who believe in Jesus, will have this body exchanged, transfigured, into a resurrection body, a spiritual body. We will still have a body, but it will not be matter. This body today is made up of matter: atoms, electrons. However, one day we will have a body that will no longer be material. What does this mean? That you can step on the scale, and you won’t weigh anymore. It will no longer have weight because it will have no mass. Gravity will no longer pull you. With this spiritual body we can go anywhere. We will be able to reign with Christ in the manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven, in the heavenly part, taking care of the earth. We will be able to travel without the use of planes or other vehicles. We will have this spiritual body like Jesus who appeared and disappeared. So, Jesus was touched even after the resurrection.
    

    John 1:1; 14:6

20. The Word of life is life itself! Life is something so abstract, difficult to explain. For example, if I ask you to explain a little what life is, I’m sure you’ll have a lot of difficulty explaining what it is. It’s very difficult to explain life. But this life was manifested in the person of Jesus. He Himself said it was life. For you to go to the Father you need to have a life connection with Him. Without a life connection no man has ever seen God, nor is he capable of seeing. You cannot go to the Father. But Jesus, who is the Word of life, who is life itself, He is the path that opens for you to reach the Father. So, He is life itself! He is the way, the truth, and the life.
21. This morning, sitting in fellowship with the brothers, I was thinking: “What is the best definition of truth? What is truth?” For me, the truth is established by those who have been there since the beginning. If in the beginning it was just God, He was the One who was here, there was nothing else, then God is the One who defines what truth is. God is the truth! The reference of truth becomes who it was from the beginning. That is why He is the only true God and Christ is the truth and the life, to be able to give life to man. One day He came to earth to give life to man.
    

    John 3:16; John 3:15; 1:11

22. Eternal life has become so accessible to man, you just need to believe to receive it. God, who was so inaccessible, dwells in the inaccessible light, suddenly offered man life on a platter; I just had to believe in Jesus. Jesus, life itself came here on earth, the Word of life itself, which is the means to reach life, came here on earth. It was just a matter of believing in Him. Look how simple: “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Eternal life, the life of God, was so distant from man, intangible, man had no access. But suddenly, God sends Jesus, life itself, the Word of life itself, as sent by the Father to come to earth. It was just a matter of believing! How does man receive eternal life? It was just a matter of believing. But the Jews did not believe. The Jews rejected Him, persecuted Him, arrested Him, and killed Him. When we talk about the Jews, we mainly refer to the Jewish leaders, the chief priests, the Pharisees. That is why He says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Not only did they not receive Him, but they killed Him, the very life that God gave to man on a platter.
    

    John 6:47; 3:36

23. Eternal life has become so accessible! Just believe in Jesus. Sinful man already carries with himself the wrath of God. He is destined for perdition, he has already been condemned, he just needs to carry out his sentence. The wrath of God is upon every sinful man, but whoever believes will be saved from this wrath, from this eternal perdition and on the contrary, will receive eternal life. And the silly, foolish man does not receive life, he pursues life and kills life. So, we need to praise the Lord that today we have this accessibility to life and can enjoy the Word of life, the fellowship of life. Brothers and sisters, let’s value this more! The life we have within us has to be valued. The Word that we receive, which is the Word that brings life, brings the circulation of life, has to be valued and what can we say about the fellowship of life in which we live in the church life? This is a gift from God! Brothers and sisters, if I didn’t have this church life, where would I be? The best thing you could do would be to join a recreational club, but there isn’t this wonderful church life. O Lord Jesus!
    

    John 1:10-13

24. Therefore, brothers and sisters, the Word of life, life and eternal life itself are Christ Himself. Believing is receiving. Whoever received the Word believed in the Father who sent the Son, received eternal life and became a son of God. The Word of life “was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Who are these “His own?” They are the Jews. The Jews were God’s people. He came for God’s people. And His own did not receive Him. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”. We are not adopted children. We were not adopted by God; we were born of God. We were generated by Him!
25. The apostle John saw, witnessed, and announced this Word of life as the Gospel and whoever believes in the Word announced by him receives Christ as life and becomes a child of God. And more than that, he becomes a member of the body of Christ. The Word received through the apostle’s announcement introduces those who hear it into the fellowship of life. We have to value this! Thank the Lord! Everything I did was not on my merit, what I did was hear the Word of the Lord, believe in it, and I was introduced into the fellowship of life. What a wonderful thing! Lord Jesus!
    

    1 Cor 1:17

26. What is the Gospel? Preaching the gospel is exactly preaching Christ as eternal life. This is the true Gospel. What gospel did Paul preach? He says in 1 Corinthians 1:17 that he did not preach “with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.” I don’t know how to explain it to you, brothers and sisters, but we must understand that only the Word of life, which is Christ Himself, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Word that has its origin in Christ, this Word is life. This Word is eternal life. After we become Christians, many become teachers who learned the Bible. Many have lived a Christian life for a long time, learned to talk about the Bible, and know it a lot, from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation. However, it does not mean that every sermon about the Bible, every preaching about the Word of God, is life. That’s why many teachers or many who preach the Bible try to use the wisdom of the Word, eloquence, persuasive techniques of the Word, to capture the attention of the listeners, so that they can really concentrate and receive some knowledge. Brothers and sisters, this at most leads to receiving a little knowledge of the Bible. But what really generates some effect, produces life, is the Word of life itself. This Word of life is being spoken today.
    

    Eph 3:2-3, 8-9

27. In Paul’s time, he was chosen to speak this Word. Paul was given this grace to preach to the Gentiles the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ. And how did Paul preach this gospel? God wants to give His Word to the church and this Word, if it is Christ Himself, if it contains the life of God, if it contains eternal life, it produces a result which is the edification of the Church, it produces growth in the lives of the members of the body of Christ.
    

    1 Cor 1:17-18; 1 Cor 1:22-24; 2:1-5

28. Therefore, Paul decided among the Corinthians not to use his human wisdom to preach because if he did this, this Word would not bring life. It’s a good sermon, good preaching, but it has no results in life. That’s why Paul says that the Word of the cross is the power of God! When the Word comes from God, the Word comes out with power. That’s why it works with the brothers and sisters who are preaching the gospel of the kingdom on the streets, as they use the Word of the four items of daily immersion and the seven items of kids’ immersion that are all extracted from the Word of the week and when that Word is from God, it leaves with power. We have to preach Christ. If you do not preach Christ, you then preach mere Biblical knowledge, a good sermon, good preaching, which comforts the listeners. But brothers and sisters, we need to learn from Paul: preach Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. That’s why Paul always announced not words of his wisdom, but the testimony of God, not with ostentation, not with flowery words.
    

    1 Cor 1:24; Prov 8:12, 22-23, 30; 2 Sam 23:15

29. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. God has already used Christ as Wisdom and now as Power. What is the difference between wisdom and power? Christ is both one and the other. Wisdom is for planning, designing. And Christ was used by God to plan. He was God’s architect, He planned for God. But what did He plan for God based on? Ephesians 1 has a hard-to-explain word called “good pleasure.” God did everything for His good pleasure. God has something that gives Him pleasure, that gives Him a desire to have it. Do you remember when we talked about when David said with longing? When he said with longing, that was his good pleasure, it was the desire from the bottom of his heart. David just said with longing “I wish I could drink the water right now where the Philistines camped!” Brothers and sisters, just like David’s longing, God has a longing too. He has a good pleasure, a desire, and Christ understood His desire. According to God’s desire, He planned, He became God’s architect, He designed all of this, because He is Wisdom itself!
30. And what is power for? To execute! Christ is both God’s wisdom to plan and God’s power to execute. Therefore, brothers and sisters, how is God carrying out His work today? By His power that is in the Word! That’s why the Word works, brothers and sisters! If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t come from God. But if it works, it comes from God, because Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God!
    

    Eph 1:7; Heb 9:12

31. Christ is the power of God to carry out what was planned. The entire process that Jesus went through was planned with wisdom and by Wisdom, from His incarnation, His human life, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and His ascension. Everything was planned by Christ. The blood of Christ shed on the cross freed man from his sins because after man fell, it seemed that Satan had managed to ruin humanity for God and that He could no longer restore to His original will, the man He created. But no! Christ came and accomplished redemption, freeing man from his sins. Thank God this redemption rescued man back to God because man disobeyed Him and sin entered the world and through sin death also entered, passing on to all men and all sinned and fell short of the glory of God. We were all condemned because of sin and were destined for eternal damnation. But Christ accomplished redemption, rescuing us back to God, to the original situation. So, this redemption cannot be specifically for me or for you, but it has to be a general and eternal redemption. Thank God we had eternal redemption.
    

    Rev 5:9-10; Gen 1:26; Eph 1:9-10, 19-20, 22

32. God’s original purpose in Genesis 1:26 is that God created man in His image and likeness so that man would reign over the earth and subdue it, through the work of Christ this will finally be possible! We will be constituted kingdom and priests and we will reign over the earth. All of this was planned by Wisdom. Christ was also raised to the highest point. He was given all authority in heaven and on earth and all things are under the feet of Christ, but the Church still needs to execute. God wants to put Christ back as head over all things. He is the One who will govern everything. And God will be able to do this with the help of the church. That’s why the Lord’s work is to fill us!
    

    1 Cor 1:2

33. Returning to 1 Corinthians 1, trusting in man’s ability to speak the Word of the Bible is not what solves it. Many think that training good Bible teachers is what solves the problem. What we need is the Word of Christ, the Word of God, which transmits life to those who believe that it was sent from God. Christ was the One who planned, with the Father, all things and was the One who carried out His ministry on earth, and today, as the Spirit of truth executes with power, through the church, all of God’s will. But how does He execute God’s will through the Church? He needs power to execute and that power is the Word. The Church in nineteen centuries did not understand this and rejected the Word. In Paul’s time, they abandoned him in AD 67. All those in Asia abandoned him. And when it arrived in the year 90 AD, in the time of John, many church leaders like Diotrephes, because they were seeking their primacy, pre-eminence and position, ended up rejecting the Word of life that came from John. Thus, for nineteen centuries the church immersed itself in in a story of darkness, at rock bottom and the Lord then used the reform to restore, but to this day it has not been fully restored.
    
34. God needs the Church in Philadelphia to conclude this age. The church in Philadelphia is one that has little strength. We have no power. Where is the power to do God’s work? It’s in the Word! But you need to believe that it is the Word of Christ itself that carries out the work of God. It is not your eloquence, your good sermon, your beautiful message, but the Word itself that is carrying out the work of God with power! We are a little flock, small in number. That’s why we need to work quickly, brothers and sisters! Let’s fill our GPC with GPCers so that we have many workers to meet the Lord’s need to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the entire inhabited earth. For this, brothers and sisters, let’s not compete with the Word of God, using our wisdom, our message, our sermon, but let’s focus on believing that this Word is doing the work. How are we going to do the work in Africa, so far from us? How are we going to be able to take this work to Burundi, the Central African Republic, Congo, and Cameroon? Thank God, it’s not because of our ability. We just need to perfect our colporteurs, who don’t need to be super- preachers. They just need to be faithful and suitable to transmit the Word of God.
    

    2 Tim 2:2; Deut 18:18; Rev 1:1

35. Paul does not tell Timothy to transmit the Word to men who are good preachers, but to men who are faithful in transmitting the Word. A prophet has to be very faithful in transmitting the Word of God, not having freedom in saying what he wants, not even in his beautiful message. He has to say what God commands. Paul transmitted to a group of servants and Timothy was part of this group. It is as if Paul said, “I am faithful to transmit what God told me to say. Now you also need to be faithful and transmit this”. We all have to be faithful messengers and capable of transmitting the Word. Fidelity not to transmit your own words, but only the Word of God. And suitability is honesty not to use the ministry of the Word as a platform for your own work, for your own interests or even hidden interests such as earning money, fame, etc. We have to believe that this is the Word of life that imparts life, and eternal life, that produces the fellowship of life. This is what will bring the Lord back! And we are in it. Therefore, each one of us works humbly, no one gets exalted because we know that the capacity is not ours, the capacity is God’s! It is this Word that gives us the power to carry out God’s work!
    

    Eph 5:26

36. The result of the Word announced by the apostle is to produce the fellowship of the members of the body of Christ with him, because of the Word that produces life. This fellowship with the apostle through the Word is fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. The Word of life received by members circulates among us like the bloodstream. Therefore, to make us understand, God made the church as His body. Our physical body is alive and what keeps it alive is the circulation of blood, which supplies the cells of my body with nutrients and oxygen, in addition to disposing of toxins. Thank God for blood circulation! On the one hand, the Word supplies us with the life and nature of God, on the other hand, the Word of God washes us, cleans us, takes away all residue from us. Let’s remain in this fellowship of life, of the Word of life circulating! This is what will do God’s will! I would say we finally found the way. This is the way that God will use to make the church a church in Philadelphia, a church of the overcomers to bring the Lord back!
    

    Acts 2:42; Eph 5:19; Col 3:16

37. That’s why from the beginning God established a standard, but the church didn’t understand it. In Acts two forty-two they persevered in the teaching of the apostles and had fellowship based on this Word of life. This fellowship means making the Word circulate among us. It’s no small thing to get together in small groups and talk to each other. We are promoting the circulation of life! This produces a normal church life and also takes us out of the world. The early church was freed from money. They all lived in common, no one considered their goods and properties exclusively theirs. They sold it and delivered it to the feet of the apostles. They were free, they were living exclusively as priests of God, as co-kings with God to reign and govern this world today! The church has this reality of the kingdom of heaven. What will happen in the millennial kingdom, the reality is already happening today. Through the circulation of life, we have to let Christ rule, He is the King of the kingdom of heaven and we live under this kingdom.
    

    Acts 2:42

38. The Lord wants to free us from this world. Of the system of this world and the money of this world. I don’t want to be dominated by money. Sometimes the love of money is so strong in us that we can be dominated by it. But the Lord is freeing us from this. Everything we have is for the Lord! Let’s work, because in a normal situation the church grows! Let’s work to double the number of brothers and sisters in the church in one year?! We said this at the teenagers’ conference in July, we still have eleven months to work until July next year. Let’s bring people to the Church, take care of them, preach the gospel of the kingdom in the streets, put everyone to serve the Lord and follow the Word closely. Let’s use our teenagers as this energy that the Lord gave us, like these dew drops, and also use the help of our captains and stewards, who are already fully engaged, let’s involve the entire church and also have an evangelist spirit! Let’s go out everywhere and preach the gospel! Today we don’t need to think about what we’re going to say. We have immersion in hand! We have little strength. But look at the miracle that the Lord is performing! A good number of the brothers and sisters here are in South Africa now. In October we will have a gathering of eight hundred people at the conference in Johannesburg.
    

    1 Thess 5:3

39. Thank the Lord things are moving very quickly. The Lord will be able to return! The world situation is in chaos. Something will happen and a strong man will soon appear and, apparently, he will put this earth in order for only three and a half years and then sudden destruction will come and then the great tribulation begins. But whoever works today with the Word of perseverance for the kingdom of God, the Lord will deliver them from the hour of trial, from the great tribulation. Therefore, brothers and sisters, it is worth dedicating these years of our lives to the Lord. I am not encouraging those who are of school age to stop studying, nor for brothers and sisters who are in the job market to stop working, but all of us, whether studying, working, doing colportage and with our tasks at home, we are priests. We are here to serve the Lord! Our work is mainly based on the Word, because it is what will circulate. The fellowship of life will get us there.
    

    Job 22:21-22; 1 John 1:4; Prov 29:18

40. It is observed that the spiritual prosperity of the church does not depend on capable and eloquent men but depends entirely on following the guidance that comes from the mouth of God and depositing His Words in the heart. By submitting to God, we will have peace and prosperity will reach us. When we love the Word of life and see that this Word is what gives us life, that it has the power to carry out God’s work through the fellowship of life, this church life will be full of joy, as it already is. The church life that follows the principles established by God is one of great joy. “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law.” It doesn’t say that we need to have many capable men among us to carry out God’s work and then we will be happy. It is the Word that does God’s work. That’s the secret, that’s the central point.
    

    Acts 2:42-47; Rom 14:17-18

41. The Word of life that comes from the mouth of the Lord’s prophets brings the revelation of God, this Word governs the church, as it brings supply, light, and direction. Whoever obeys it is happy, the joy is complete. When the church perseveres in the word of the apostles, promoting fellowship in the Word among the saints, the edification of the body of Christ will occur and the church life will be in an environment of joy and simplicity, as the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Spirit Holy. Let’s fight for this kingdom! We can already enjoy this church life in advance, which is the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven, because the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit! Amen! The Lord blesses you!