Word given by brother Pedro Dong, and transmitted by Instituto Vida para Todos, directly from the Pérola Auditorium at Estância Árvore da Vida in Sumaré-SP, on 14/07/2024. Text not revised by the author.

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

 

 

1. Our teenagers follow the prophetic word from a distance through the lives, but now we decided to reward them and give this word live at their conference. Thank the Lord, it is a generation that He raised from nothing, like drops of dew that fell as a gift from God to form this great army that will bring the Lord back. We will build the church and preach the gospel today with the help of these teenagers who are forming teams with the captains and senior ones in the churches.
2. The Waldenses were examples in life for us. They emerged from the 12th century and fought for the word of God in the darkest time in the history of the church. They fought bravely, were persecuted, and martyred. Those who persecuted them, tried to finish them off, but they couldn’t. When the Reformation arrived, they adhered to it and, little by little, they adapted to the religious culture of the time. A person who knew them well said the following: “We must avoid the loss of identity, and this can only happen by one thing. If we maintain a constant attachment to the word of God, seeking new light, and not being satisfied with the light that we already have. We must seek new light. A second point is to maintain the emphasis, the evangelistic vigor, that is, to preach the gospel. Our mission is not completed in the world, nor do we fully understand the word of God, but it is our duty to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth, thus fulfilling His will”.

Acts 2:42

3. What is our identity, our DNA as the church life? In the early church, the Lord left us an example of this DNA in relation to the word of God. The word of God given to the church through the teaching of the apostles gives us direction, executes God’s will, governs the church, and does His will. That’s why it’s up to us to have fellowship about it. This is our DNA. The second part of our DNA is that we preach the gospel. We must preach the gospel of the kingdom until the end comes. We cannot lose our evangelistic vigor!
4. By the end of the first century, this first part of the identity had already been polluted. But thank God, the Lord restored it among us. The word for us is not merely a beautiful word, a sermon we preach on Sundays. God’s word to us is the word that performs His own work. When the Lord raised up the United Brethren in the 19th century, the Reformation had not included other truths than justification by faith. But the Lord began to move forward with a group of people who realized that in the church there is no hierarchy, there is no class of clergy who specialize in the word and the rest are just lay people, who understand nothing about serving the Lord. They started to take off their titles and just call each other “brothers and sisters”.
   
5. The second point that the United Brethren brought up is that they were concerned with knowing the oneness of the body of Christ through the Bible. The church freed itself from the Thyatira situation and became Sardis in the Reformation, but it still had many habits. The churches were state-owned, like the Anglican in England and the Lutheran in Germany. Some who did not agree with this, created other private churches, such as the Presbyterian. But in the Bible, it is seen that Christ is the head of the church, and, thus, they sought the oneness of the body of Christ, and many other truths emerged. Truths about Old Testament prophecies, the rapture, the second coming of Christ, and many others. This gave rise to another type of identity, which is that each person would have a new light to present their truth. Thus, several masters emerged with their interpretations and revelations and, unfortunately, this remained merely as content for preaching good messages in other centuries. The word of God is not just content for pretty sermons, but it is for carrying out His work.
   

   Acts 2:42; John 14:10; Is 55:10-11

6. The word of God is what does God’s work. We take this word so that God can execute His will among us. The teachings of the apostles are for us to have fellowship, because, through fellowship in the Word, the church continues. The words that Jesus spoke were not His, but they came from the Father and did the works of the Father. The word of God is like the rain that falls from the heavens with a purpose: to make the earth produce, fertilize, give seed and bread to those who eat.
   
7. The Bible is the word “logos”, the constant word of the Lord. However, God uses this constant word and speaks a “rhema” word to us the moment we need it. The rain that fell last season already passed, we need this season’s rain. There is the word constant (logos), but there is also a dynamic word, like water coming out of a faucet and flowing constantly and dynamically. God is not stationary but moves and performs His work. He speaks. The sunlight that we receive at a given moment is already new light in the next moment. The new light gives life, heat, makes the plantation grow, makes life exist on the earth. This light God sends every moment – this is the word of God. The word that comes from the mouth of God is not static but is dynamic. He continues to send the word, and we receive it to do His will, carry out His work, because in every word God has a design, a purpose.
   
8. Jesus told His disciples that they would be His friends if they did what He commanded. This “command” is the word. The word of God is an order and carries out His work. We are all friends of God, because we do what He says. This is our DNA in relation to the word.
   

   Matt 9:35-38; 24:14

9. We have another DNA, which is to preach the gospel of the kingdom. Our Lord Jesus left the heavens and showed what He came for. The church must follow its King. He went from city to city, village to village, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. We cannot stay behind closed doors, but we need to go to the streets and preach the gospel of the kingdom. And the best way to do this is through books. On the streets we see how distressed, exhausted people are, with illnesses and diseases, and we are bringing healing. We also see that there is a lot of need, our scope is the entire earth. Our mission, our DNA, is to preach the gospel of the kingdom to all the inhabited earth. We are a little flock, but it pleased the Father to give us the kingdom, and therefore, He will give us the way. Today there is a need for workers, for this we can dedicate a period at GPC. Furthermore, we can learn a new language, as there is a need for preaching throughout the earth.
10. In addition to human resources, the Lord is raising financial resources. He raised a group of people who are kingdom investors. Each of us must be encouraged to be a kingdom investor, contributing so that the Lord’s work has resources to advance. It cannot stop due to lack of resources. Let’s take this earth for the Lord!
    

    2 Tim 1:15; 4:16

11. In Paul’s time, there was this word that came out of the mouths of the apostles and did the work of God, but by the end of his life, something of this identity had already been deteriorated. Paul persevered a lot in Ephesus, night and day admonishing, ministering and serving, but everyone in Asia abandoned him. When the apostle is abandoned, it is because there has been no love and appreciation for the apostle’s words for some time. This was one of the reasons for the degradation of the church. Thank God today the Spirit reacted and gave us a generation of teenagers who love the word, appreciate the prophetic word, as well as pre-teens and children who learn from them, and captains and the whole church. Today the love for the word was restored. When love for the word of the apostles is lost, degradation enters, but when love for the word is restored, the Lord restores the church as He always desired.
    

    Acts 9:15-16; Gal 1:11-12; Num 12:1-2, 6-7; Prov 29:18 KJU

12. Paul was chosen by God as a vessel to minister the word of the apostles’ teaching. The word of the apostles does not originate from them, but is a revelation from Jesus Christ, it is God who gives revelation. God used this wonderful vessel and made the gospel expand in the land of the Gentiles. The word of God, through this channel, did God’s work and raised churches in various regions. Then, the enemy of God, knowing that this word given by him made God’s work prosper, used the Judaizers of Jerusalem to confuse God’s people. Wherever Paul went, the Judaizers followed, causing damage, leading the people to observe the law of Moses and circumcision. They also introduced beautiful messages about the genealogy of men from the Jewish past and Jewish myths, distracting the people from the apostle’s words.
13. The region where Paul worked was mainly Greek culture, and the Greeks are very democratic. They were very open to everyone giving their opinion, their idea, and everyone had the right to listen and like it or not, so they thought that it was like that in God’s church too. That’s why in 1 Corinthians 3, each one said they were from Paul, another from Cephas, another from Apollos, another from Christ, and this Greek culture caused division. When the Lord lifts a person, if we are in this democratic concept, we will always question why the Lord only speaks through him. We see the same story with Miriam and Aaron’s questioning of Moses. For the entire house of God, God has one servant and gives the responsibility to him. Although there were other prophets, Moses was the prophet, and through him the Lord would bring direction and government to the people. God reveals His word to His prophet, and whoever does not accept the Lord’s revelation is left without order, without direction. But whoever obeys the word of God is happy. Today we are living the happiest moment in the church life, as we have learned to obey the word of God.
    

    2 Tim 4: 6-8

14. Everyone abandoned Paul, but he knew he had done his part and trusted in the Lord, the upright judge who will judge with justice. A striking characteristic of a servant of the Lord is to love the Lord’s return. Those who really love the Lord’s return fight for His will to be done as quickly as possible, and do not waste time wanting to do their own work, wanting to gain popularity and followers. He who loves the Lord’s return is only interested in the church being built, the gospel of the kingdom being preached, and the Lord returning as soon as possible. Let’s bring the Lord back! This should be our focus! 
15. Anyone who was close to Brother Dong knows that he was a servant who loved the Lord’s return. The Lord used him to lead His church toward the church in Philadelphia. Dong Yu Lan was born in Ningbo, China, in 1920. His childhood alternated between moments of abundance and scarcity, which encouraged him to be an entrepreneur. He was successful in his business and moved to Taiwan in 1949, where he prospered in commerce and set up factories. In 1955 in Taipei, he converted to the Lord, following the ministry of brother Witness Lee. He became a very active and participative member of the church, of which he later became an elder, and always supporting brother Lee’s work. In 1958 he saw the need to migrate to the Western world to take the vision and practice of the church life, and decided to study Portuguese with the aim of moving to Brazil.
16. In 1960, brother Dong answered God’s call and boarded a ship with his family on a journey that lasted 48 days, heading into the unknown. At that time nothing was known about Brazil, some people even advised taking toilet paper and light bulbs, as they didn’t know what they were going to find. It was an act of great courage; it was by faith. The Lord called him and gave him faith. There, brother Dong became brother Lee’s main collaborator in South America. In 1977, while ministering the word at a conference in Belo Horizonte, the Lord confirmed his ministry. Since then, with his help, the Lord had already built churches in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Anápolis, Brasília, Ribeirão Preto, Araraquara, São Carlos, Jaboticabal, Sertãozinho and São José do Rio Preto.
    

    Rev 12:1-6

17. Dong Yu Lan has always been very faithful to the Lord’s burden given by brother Lee and has always emphasized the aspect of life and the practice of the word, as he did not have academic theological training, but rather learned from the words he received in the church and from experiences of life he had. He was an entrepreneur, he made things happen, to bear fruit for the Lord. The Lord soon handed over all the Spanish-speaking countries of South America into his hands, also expanding his work on other continents. In the year 2000, he had a vision of Revelation 12:1-6, which spurred expansion into the African continent. In this vision, he saw the representation of the eagle (North America), the dragon (Europe and Asia), the desert (South America) and the male child (Africa) on the world map. From then on, the need to preach the gospel of the kingdom in Africa was seen, because when the overcomers were ready there, all the overcomers throughout the earth would also be ready, and the male child would be generated for the Lord to return. The male child is the one who fights for the kingdom, and we are part of it! Whoever preaches the gospel of the kingdom, is governed by the word of God, is fighting for the kingdom of God, is included in this strong part! When this male child is born, the dragon will want to devour him, but he will be raptured to the throne of God! That’s why our hope is to be raptured alive, as it won’t be long before that moment arrives. Those who remain will go through the great tribulation, where they will be persecuted by the antichrist, and will have to flee to the wilderness, which is South America. That is why it is important that we leave many books here, to feed the church that will stay for three and a half years.
    

    Matt 16:24-26; Heb 2:5-10; Matt 24:14

18. The content of brother Dong’s ministry was very organic, leading everyone to rely not on themselves, but on the power of life that is in the Word and the Spirit. He said a lot that we must live a life of taking up the cross, learning to deny the soul life. He also brought the vision of the kingdom through the text of Hebrews 2:5-10. As men we are nothing, but the Lord gave us a lot of importance, leading us to inherit the world to come, even causing the envy of the angels. However, today we still do not see all things subject to Him. For example, today we are disturbed by mosquitoes, and we keep trying to get rid of them. But on that day, when our redemption is complete, the moment of glory of the children of God, then all creation will be redeemed from the captivity of corruption. Jesus was crowned with glory and honor, all things are already subject to Him, and today He is perfecting us, so that things will also be subject to us when we are headed by Christ, and in this way, we will reign in the world to come. Therefore, for the end to come, there is a need to preach the gospel of the kingdom.
    

    Matt 28:18-20; Mark 16:15, 19-20

19. The mission of making disciples of all nations always burned in brother Dong’s heart. We are those who preach everywhere, and the Lord cooperates with us, confirming the word through signs.
20. With the heart of an entrepreneur, he soon realized that to do God’s work consistently, there was a need for tools, and his first initiative in this regard was to create a publishing house to publish books, to disseminate the revelation of the Spirit, through the written word. In 1975, the work of the Arvore da Vida publishing house began, a tool used to publish books in many countries in which we operate. A tool increases efficiency, productivity, and work performance. Another tool that the Spirit gave was the Tree of Life magazine, to serve the children of God, breaking our pride that we had the best revelations and giving us the responsibility of taking this word received to other children of God. We must humble ourselves and serve God’s children as waiters, carrying the word of God that we have received.
21. Inspired by Peter Waldo’s model, brother Dong always had the practice of colporting in his heart. Today’s colporteurs bring the revelation of the word to people. Many have the Bible in their hands, but they do not have the revelation, and they do not preach the gospel of the kingdom. We are responsible for preaching the gospel of the kingdom, so we must bring the revelation of the word to people on the streets! Within this role, he created the colporting cooperatives and the BookExpo project, meaning that, right from the beginning, six buses traveled throughout Brazil. Today this project uses adapted trucks, vans, and trailers to travel across several countries.
22. To meet the demand of colporteurs, GPC was created in 1998, producing many colporteurs. Today we need to expand this work much more: get more GPCers, call more workers to be perfected at GPC, form teams of colporteurs to work throughout the inhabited earth, as the Lord has given the continents to us.
23. Not satisfied with the traditional way of the church meeting and living within four walls, wanting the church to have a more accessible environment for people, with a more welcoming environment for the public, and with extended opening hours to welcome everyone who wanted to learn more about the kingdom, he promoted Bookafé in 2009. We cannot be like secret agents hiding in our meeting places, but we must be receptive and reach out to people. Come and see!
24. Brother Dong always closely followed the word taught by brother Lee and ruminated it to feed the churches in South America. His messages were published in books for daily reading, called the Daily Food. This publication became responsible for supplying all the churches in South America, and an important factor of blessing and oneness for the people of God.
25. In 1984, brother Lee noted the very healthy condition among the churches in Brazil. There was a spiritual atmosphere in the churches, a high level of joy and enjoyment in the meetings, and he described on his return to the USA that this was the result he wanted in his work. However, the reaction was skeptical and incredulous, because can anything good come out of Brazil? The Latins are known as fleeting, quick to catch on, but short-lived. From that year on, brother Lee busied himself with making the Chinese version of the Bible and commissioned some to begin training workers in the USA. Brother Dong asked brother Lee how he should continue with the work in South America, as there were no more messages to follow. Brother Lee replied that brother Dong should himself begin to minister the word to the churches in South America. Thus begins another stage of brother Dong’s ministry. It was a moment of transition. 
26. In 1997, when brother Lee’s departure was imminent, brother Dong went to the United States, and shortly before his arrival, brother Lee’s co-workers stated on his deathbed that they would be faithful to him, and that they would not say anything that brother Lee hadn’t spoken. Brother Dong arrived late and did not participate in this commitment, and because he arrived later, he asked permission to see him and was the last cooperator to see him before his death.
27. Brother Dong’s great legacy was the organic way in which he led the Lord’s work. It did not follow conventional or traditional patterns, but rather made innovations under the direction of the Spirit, always seeking practical results to advance the Lord’s work. He was a very productive, innovative and persevering servant of the Lord. He established a solid foundation in the Lord’s work, which provided all the conditions for the church to move towards the church in Philadelphia. All of this gave us the basis to reach today. All these tools that the Lord left for us have been boosted today. Thank God, the dynamic colporting boosted everything else. Today we also have the House of Teens, children, captains, senior ones, the entire church functioning, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, working on all continents. Let’s raise the male child and bring the Lord back!