Word given by brother Pedro Dong, and transmitted by Instituto Vida para Todos, directly from São Paulo-SP, on 30/06/2024. Text not revised by the author.

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

 

1. Dear brothers and sisters, we are very, very happy because the Lord has done great things among us! We truly have an army of the Lord taking the word of the gospel of the kingdom to every place they go. We are achieving oneness, unanimity, and harmony. The PAC and the brothers and sisters from Goiânia are already making, in addition to immersing themselves in the word, war cries to raise morale and spirit (which is something truly from the Lord, because, in human life, we face many obstacles, difficulties, moments in which we are a little depressed, discouraged, but the war cries lift our spirits!), and we are also learning to do explosive immersion which takes us up high.
2. But we learn to do one more thing: refined immersion, which is to quiet oneself and penetrate the depth of the word, that is, we begin to grasp in the spirit: “Lord, what is your feeling when this word was spoken? What is Your feeling behind the superficiality of the word?” When you read this text, you select an immersion point and extract the direction received in it, the admonition of what the Lord wants to say to you, the point at which you are failing, that which you are lacking, that which the Lord wants. So, we seek light what the Lord really wants to talk about, so that He can reveal more to us. Finally, you can say a prayer before the Lord, “Lord, I really want to follow this word, according to what You spoke to me. From now on, I want to move forward in this direction.” If you have anything else, you can add it yourself, you don’t need to restrict yourself to these points. The important thing is to enter the depth of God’s feeling.

Rev 2:2-4

3. Next, we will apply an example of how to go deeper into the word using the third point of Saturday’s immersion, taken from message number eight in this series “The Return to the Church of the Apostolic Age,” which talks about first love. The abandonment of first love happened in the first of the seven churches of Revelation. As the third point of the immersion talked about first love, I wanted to work a little with the brothers and sisters in order to seek a deeper feeling, of how we managed to get there. The church in Ephesus had received many instructions from the apostle Paul, who remained in Ephesus for two to three years, giving opportuneness for everyone from Asia Minor (all seven churches mentioned in Revelation chapters two and three: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) received the word.
   
4. Ephesus is the main city and represents the church from the first half of the first century until the second century. It was a church that received many instructions from the apostle Paul and to which the entire vision of God’s economy, His entire plan, was exposed. So, they knew all the foundations and principles of how the church lives and practices. The church in Ephesus had many works, was able to identify who were the evil men, the false apostles, and had perseverance, endured trials for the name of the Lord and did not allow itself to weaken. But there was a rebuke against it: it had abandoned its first love. Penetrating deeper into this context, we realize that it was a church who was correct, which followed all the foundations left by the apostle, which sought to practice all spiritual principles, but the first love was missing. What does this mean? Thank the Lord, we are being guided to value the prophetic word. It’s not just about proceeding judicially, legally, and saying, “I am in oneness with the prophetic word, I hear the Lives, I follow…” There’s no point in just following everything correctly, but this word needs to produce something real within you. There is no point in doing everything correctly, but being cold, and lacking warmth, love and enthusiasm.

Eph 3:17-19; John 1:1; 1 John 1:4

5. Today, going deeper, we know that the word that comes from the mouth of God circulates among us like the circulation of life, which is why we practice immersion in the word and, like teenagers, we practice transcribing the message, we sleep with God, we wake up with God, we also share with each other, and all of this has to produce something real. It can’t just be about appearance, about external attitudes. This word is Christ Himself. When we allow the word that comes from the mouth of God to circulate among the members of the body of Christ, this word must cause Christ to be sedimented in our hearts. Don’t just focus on appearance. When we allow the word to circulate among us, Christ has to dwell in our heart, He has to come to live in it: in our mind, in our emotions, and in our will. You no longer have as much freedom to think whatever you want. In the past you thought about what you wanted, but today Christ is dwelling there. Your emotion was so fragile, anything left you fragile, but today you allow, through the circulation of the word of God, for Christ to dwell in your emotion. Also, your decisions, which were all made only by you, are now no longer, because Christ is also dwelling in your will, making you begin to make decisions remembering that there is someone living in you and that He must be the Lord and He should be the Lord of your life.
6. How does Christ manage to be deposited in you and come to live within you? This is all an exercise in faith. It’s by faith! This exercise really makes Christ solidify in you. Christ is God and brings God Himself to you. Who is God? God is love. If the origin of the word is God, and God is love, this word will circulate among us and will bring, in addition to Christ, love itself! This circulation of life will deposit Christ in us, it will deposit the love of God in us. It is this love that will produce the first love. Why lose the first love? I only comply externally with external rules. I don’t worry about this circulation of life that does an inner work. I need this word to do an inner work, so I will be rooted and grounded in love.
7. We cannot live as if we were an individual. After we believed in the Lord Jesus, He placed us in the body of Christ. We are a member of the body of Christ, and we need all the other members to be able to understand with all the saints what is the dimension of God, the dimension of Christ, the dimension of this love. We are not aware of this dimension, because, since we understand ourselves as people, we have grown and learned things through this physical body. You are made of three parts: the part that binds you to the earth is this body, because it was made from the dust of the earth. But your spirit was not created from the dust of the earth, but from the breath of the eternal God, as He breathed into the nostrils of the man Adam the breath of life that became the human spirit. As a consequence, man became a living soul. Both the human spirit and the soul of man are not of this earth. We are not limited to the time and space dimensions of this earth, but our spirit and soul come from the eternal God.
8. Therefore, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, we receive the regenerated spirit, we are born again and, from that moment on, we can exercise our faith. Faith is an organ that you can exercise, and it is also like a portal that transports you from this limited dimension of time and space to the dimension where God is: the dimension of eternity, where the breath of God which create you came from. So, you must go through this portal of faith and start seeing things from the dimension of God, the eternal, heavenly, and spiritual dimension. There everything is unlimited! And God is unlimited and infinite. But you need this exercise to reach this dimension. And how are we going to get there and see the dimension of God on the other side? We need all the saints! I cannot live a Christian life alone. I need to live the life of the body. Together with the brothers and sisters, we have wonderful meetings, a wonderful church life. This all allows me to understand the true dimension of God, the true dimension of Christ and also to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all understanding. In this way, I begin to know the love of Christ, which is actually the love of God. God’s agape love is the essence of everything.
9. First John 1 shows that God is light, and the fourth chapter shows that God is love. God is light and He is love. When you are taken to the dimension of God, you realize that there is no darkness there. The dimension of God is light, there is no darkness. The dimension of God is love. Everything is love. The essence and nature of God is love. When you overcome this barrier, this portal of faith, and go to the dimension of God, you experience a love so great that you come to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all understanding. Our logical and natural mind cannot go there, but this faith can take you and the body to know the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. For what purpose? “That you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Eph 1:9-10, 23

10. God wants to fill you, take you by filling you with Christ, with reality itself, with His love. This will produce brotherly love. When we are filled with the agape love of God, it is like weaving, in which the vertical threads are the warp, representing the love of God, who supplies us with love. This love produces in us the life of the body, living with all members, generating brotherly love. These are the horizontal threads, which represent the weave. We are being transformed into a firm fabric. God’s love is a brotherly love, and we will give it to the Lord. So, when the church is filled with all the fullness of God, the Lord can return! Because He will use the church as “the fullness of Him who fills all in all things, so that Christ may be head over all things,” both those in heaven and those on earth. God is just waiting for Christ to fill us through the circulation of the word.
11. Every week God speaks to us through the word, which must circulate among us and be deposited in us. This way, we will never lose our first love. It is not a question of following the church rules like everything being externally correct. You can follow everything but still live a cold Christian life. You are cold, you lack enthusiasm, you lack power. Where is the power? Thank the Lord, we don’t have to live like this. We can live within love. But we need to be open to the word. That’s why it’s important to do the refined immersion. Thus, we penetrate more deeply, we leave the superficiality of the letter and enter more into the feeling of God.

Job 22:21-25 KJU; 2 Pet 1:19

12. Another point we need to record in this message is with respect to Job 22:21-22. If you are still fighting with God, you have no peace, you are in conflict with God. It’s better to let God defeat you. Make peace with God. How will you make peace with God? “Submitting yourself to Him” (KJU). Submit yourself to Him! Stop fighting with the Lord! Bend to Him! But how to bow to Him? Obeying the word. “And prosperity will overtake you” (KJU). If you make peace with God, stop going against Him, having conflict with Him, and then submit yourself to Him, His operative word, His word of command, prosperity will reach you! This only confirms what the Lord has done in our midst. Some people say, “Ah, this prophetic word thing… we have to go to the Bible! The Bible is the scriptures that God left in our hands.” Okay, we have the Bible, which really is the word of God. But, brothers and sisters, the Lord, through the Bible and the teaching of the apostles, has spoken from His mouth every week and every day to us! On the one hand, we have the written word. On the other hand, we have what comes from the mouth of God. What comes from the mouth of God brings us guidance.
13. This is why Second Peter 1:19 states that the prophetic word is like a lamp that shines in a dark night. In the pitch black you have no direction, you don’t know where things are, you don’t know where you’re going. But suddenly, a lamp turns on, a light, and you find your way. So, the word that comes from God’s mouth at all times is the word that gives us guidance. “Accept, therefore, the guidance that comes from the mouth of God, submitting yourself to Him, and prosperity will overtake you” (Job 22:21 KJU). This is instilling the word in the heart through immersion. And “if you turn to the Almighty, you will be built up.” The building of the church, of the body of Christ, is not done by your ability, by your capacity. Someone may say, “I am a good Bible teacher. Through my teaching people will learn, I will build the church,” but that’s not all… We must believe that the One who will build the church is the Lord Himself!
14. The Lord said that Peter was a stone and upon that Rock, He would build His church (Matt 16:18). The One who will build is the Lord Himself. But the Lord needs the church to cooperate with Him. And this occurs through a church that listens to the guidance of the word that comes from the mouth of God. A word that circulates among us as the voice of command, that governs us. We believe that the only one who has the power to build the church is the Almighty. We don’t have the capacity. Our sufficiency comes from God. We do not have the ability to think something as if it came from us. We are only ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, for the letter kills, but of the spirit, which gives life (2 Cor 3:5-6). So, if we turn to the Almighty, we will be edified. The power is His, the ability is His!
15. Continuing to read the verses of Job 22, “You will remove iniquity far from your tents” (v. 23). How has it been living in your home? How have you been living? Unconsciously we still have one foot in the world and one foot in the Lord, in the house of God. One foot in the world why? You can say, “No, I don’t do the world’s things, I haven’t participated in the world’s clubs, parties, it’s been a long time!”However, there is something that holds you back in the world: money. Money worries everyone. It is what brings us sustenance, because tomorrow, Monday, we already have bills to pay, bills arriving. So, we care so much about money that it ends up taking first place in our lives. He is so important that he ends up dominating us, lording over us. This is the iniquity of our tent. There is no need to worry, the Lord will take care of your home. If you take care of God’s things, He will take care of your house, your tent. Do you believe? If “you lay your gold in the dust” (v. 24) it means that, to free yourself from money, you need to recognize that it is worthless, that it turns to dust. It’s not that you’re going to throw away your money. But in your heart, it is no longer in first place. The Lord has freed you from money.
16. And throwing “the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks” (v. 24) represents that the person has plenty of gold. I don’t know if you have money saved in savings, but today no one puts it into savings anymore. How much have you invested in CDB, in shares, in real estate, in this and that? It’s all “the gold of Ophir” and it is the one who commands your life. You are driven by this, every day you follow the stock market because you have shares there. You don’t do anything else. Every day, instead of immersing, you are tracking your gold. O Lord Jesus! Therefore, the gold of Ophir that you possess must become like a stone in the rivers, like a stone that has no value. Instead of giving so much value to your possessions, your properties, your riches, see that it is just an instrument to live for the Lord. All our money is for the Lord, for His work to advance and for Him to return. What’s the point of accumulating wealth if it’s not for the Lord’s work, for Him to work so He can return? What’s the point of all this? You don’t even carry it in the coffin. Our life only makes sense if we do God’s will. So, brothers and sisters, let’s free ourselves from money.
    
17. Continuing the reading we see: “Yes the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver” (v. 25). “Your gold of Ophir” is no longer the most precious thing to you! Why does it say “will return”? Because, when you were a child and teenager, you didn’t value it so much. It is like sparrows, which do not work, and the Lord keeps them all alive. Like the lily flower, which doesn’t need to worry about what to wear tomorrow, and is more beautiful than a queen. Therefore, brothers and sisters, do not worry about this. When you were a child and teenager, you didn’t worry about it, and now, after you become an adult, you worry. Let’s make the Almighty Lord our most precious treasure and our favorite silver again.
18. After this introduction, we will return to the content of church history. With each message, we are getting closer and closer to our current time. We are already in recent history. Last week, we discussed the 19th century, which is after the Reformation, the age of the church in Sardis. At that time, the reform itself was unable to go beyond the restored truth of justification by faith. They were very worried because the slavery of God’s people to the teaching of Jezebel in the church in Thyatira was so great that the Roman Church came to establish that it had the power to forgive people’s sins, and no longer the Lord. The church had the power to excommunicate people, and those who were thus penalized were doomed to go to hell, and no longer to heaven. That’s why even the kings of the earth were afraid of the pope, so as not to be excommunicated. The Reformation, then, brought freedom from these lying things, rescuing the truth that justification is not by works, it is not by paying penance, it is not by buying indulgences to alleviate the penalties of sin, but it is merely by faith. If we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are justified freely. However, it didn’t go beyond this. From the 16th century to the 19th century, this was what prevailed.
19. But, in the 19th century, there was a group of brothers who began to worry about seeing in the Bible the light on what the church really is. Because, until then, even freed from Thyatira, Sardis still brought many previous vices. For example, the church freed itself from the power of Rome, but those in Germany needed the German state to provide protection and support for them. Then it became a state church, the Lutheran Church. And in England they also adopted this, becoming the Anglican Church. And those who considered this a mistake began to look for independent lines, so for example, there was the Presbyterian Church, and others. But in terms of restored truths that came to light, there were still few.

Matt 18:20

1. However, thank God, this group of brothers in Dublin, Ireland, began to search in the Bible for the oneness of the body of Christ, how we can really live as members of the body of Christ. Then they realized that the big mistake was creating a hierarchy in the church, giving titles of father, priest, pastor… There are pastors and teachers in the Bible, but they are not titles, they are functions. They saw in the Bible, in Matthew 18, that wherever two or three are gathered in the name of the Lord, His presence will be there. And so, they began to live in a simple way in the name of the Lord and no longer called anyone by any other title than from brother to brother. From then on, they were recognized as “The Brethren”, which in Brazil we know as “The United Brethren”.
2. A lot of revelation was brought at that time, but it only lasted twenty years, and division between them already occurred. Even this vision could not maintain oneness between them. Then the “Open Brethren” emerged, who accepted more things to welcome others, and the “Exclusive Brethren,” who were very restricted, demanding that one have a vision of the oneness of the body in order to be accepted, mainly, in the breaking of bread. They were very strict about the breaking of bread, which they called fellowship.

Rev 2:6; Exo 19:4

22. Next, a reflection on the “Brethren” movement. A great step was taken for Philadelphia: the vision of the oneness of the body of Christ and the removal of the clerical system. It was a group that no longer practiced church hierarchy, a system of clergy and laity. Because the Lord told the church in Ephesus that He hates the works of the Nicolaitans. God revealed to the children of Israel on Mount Sinai, after bringing them out of Egypt, that He would make them a kingdom of priests. We must always seek to know the heart of the Lord. There is no point in remaining in doctrine, in the superficiality of the letter. We need to understand what the Lord really wants. God only wants His people, who are close to Him. God does not want to create a religious system. God does not want a religious people, but a people intimate with Him, who understand Him, who understand His heart. And He can have these people through His word: “Now therefore, if you will diligently listen to My voice.” It’s all about the word that comes out of God’s mouth.

Exo 19:5-6

23. If we want to please the Lord, understand the Lord’s heart, we need to learn to be diligent in hearing His voice and keeping His covenant. Keeping is practicing. The voice of the Lord, His word, is always a voice of command, an order, and it is up to us to practice and obey what the word commands. “Then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine”, all the earth is the Lord’s. However, He did not have a people that were His. So, He brought them out of Egypt, which represents the same thing as He brought us out of the world today. Egypt is the world. You were all taken out of the world and came to the Lord; you came to Him. Because the Lord wants to make us a special treasure. We are the Lord’s property. The Lord’s will was for them to be a kingdom of priests, and today we are all priests. There is no need for clergy or lay people. They all work. All are priests who serve the Lord, and we are a holy nation, with God’s holy nature.
24. And why did the class of priests emerge among the people of Israel? Moses went up the mountain, God passed on to him the entire Law, the Ten Commandments. As he took a long time to come down, the people began to prevaricate below. They began to pressure Aaron to make a golden calf and called the golden calf after the gods who brought them out of Egypt. God was extremely angry and indignant, and told Moses to come down quickly to see that the people were already carrying out this rebellion. Then Moses broke the two tables of the Law and called those who belonged to God to come to his side. The tribe of Levi went to Moses’ side. He then told them to draw their swords and kill the idolaters, and they killed their own brothers and sisters. Because of this event, this tribe became a tribe of priests. But it wasn’t like this before. God wanted the entire kingdom to be made up of priests.

Eph 4:11-12; 4:12 KJU

25. But now, in the New Testament, Christ died for us and created the church. In the church there is no longer a class of priests and lay people, a system of pastors and lay members. Everyone must be a priest. All must be restored to function as members of the body of Christ. In Ephesians 4 we see that these are not a different class of brothers, but people to whom the Lord gave gifts and perfected, making them gifted men, which God gave to the church as a gift. This was not to replace the other members of the body of Christ, but to perfect the saints for the performance of their service, for the edification of the body of Christ. Gifted men are not a class of people who have titles but are people who have functions. They are not to replace others, but to improve others so that they all work. Verse 12 says, “For the performance of his service,” and in the Updated King James Version we read, “For the work of ministry.” So, what is our ministry? It is building up the body of Christ. The responsibility for building the church does not fall on one or the other, but on all members of the body of Christ.

Eph 4:15-16

26. Verses 15 and 16 show how it is something organic, not according to a religious institution with statutes, an organizational chart, created by man. But it is to grow into Him who is the Head, Christ. The body belongs to the Head, it does not belong to any of us. The body, well-adjusted and consolidated by the help of the entire joint, according to the fair cooperation of each part, carries out its own growth (or increase) for the edification of itself in the sphere of love. The essence of God is love. The building of God has to be done in the sphere of love. There is no competition between us, there is no jealousy, envy, disputes, division, there is none of this. We are members, building ourselves up in love.

1 Pet 2:5, 9-10; Matt 20:20-26

27. Everything is through Jesus Christ; it is what pleases God. We are living stones and are built into a spiritual house when we exercise our priesthood. In Matthew 20, Jesus warns us about what the church is. The context was that the mother of James and John, being a relative of Jesus, went to seek a special privilege for her children by asking if, when the kingdom of heaven arrived. Jesus could place one on His right and one on His left. Jesus said it was not up to Him to do so. The other ten disciples, hearing this, got angry with the two brothers, for it was a “secretive” job, trying to get ahead of everyone. Then Jesus explained to them that in the world governors and chiefs exercised authority, but that it was not like that among them. The church is not an organization of the world. The church is a living organism. We are members of a living body, the body of Christ. Some are not determined to dominate and others to rule over others. This works in the world.
28. The entire kingdom of God is for life, and everything that is not for life needs an organization and a power structure. Without a power structure, this kingdom cannot function. The government that governs our country is part of this lifeless kingdom, which needs a power structure. In democracy, the power structure is organized into three branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary. The others below these also have other power structures. In a company, there is the president, the vice president, the board of directors, the managers, the section head, the department head. Each has a chief above, a Laban. This is the power structure for these organizations to function. But the church is not this organization, it is a living organism. The Head is in charge, we are members of the body of Christ, and among the members of the body of Christ there is order, is just this. But it is not an established hierarchy. Order is established by functioning. Its function determines its order, that’s all. It’s to function, it’s not to dictate to others. O Lord Jesus!

Matt 20:26-28

29. The Lord said to the disciples, “Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” This verb “servant” is very important. It is up to us to serve. Who wants to be great? This person has to work harder and serve others. We are here not to constitute our own power structure. Unfortunately, brothers and sisters, during many centuries of degradation, many people emerged in the church who took advantage of the ecclesiastical structure to extend their power structure, to command, to dominate. This is an ugly thing, because in the church we are just members of the body of Christ.
30. The one who should really govern is Christ as the Head of the church, and it is up to us to have this same spirit that Jesus had while He was here on earth. It’s not about being served: let’s serve! Our spirit here is to serve! We are servants. Say to yourself, “I am a servant!” A servant does not seek recognition. At the time the New Testament was written, servants were people defeated in war, bought and sold as slaves, and worked without payment, without recognition, without a “thank you.” We need to learn to be like this. Let’s serve the Lord without expecting anything in return. Without expecting “thank you very much,” nor many compliments, nor praises, nor recognition. The Lord is seeing everything. He will reward us on that day. But not here on earth; here we are servants. Don’t try to gain a position through your service, set up a power structure. We have to be simple. We are here to serve. The more I can be useful to the Lord, serve more brothers and sisters, the more joyful I am, the more I am satisfied. My salary is this: satisfaction in seeing things working.
    

Matt 23:8

31. There are no differentiated classes among us. We are brothers and sisters. Many people enter the church and find it strange: “There is no pastor here, there is no priest.” But yes, there is. There are many pastors and many priests. They are all priests, but in function, not in title. That’s why some think it’s strange to see us call “brother Dong.” If he were a leader of any other group, he would be addressed as a reverend, an apostle, or some other title. But among us there are no titles. The only title between us is brothers and sisters. We have the same life running among us, we are just brothers and sisters, we have one Head, which is Christ.
32. Returning to the history of the church, in the 2nd century, the class of bishops was created, a fact that introduced the concept of hierarchy in the church and later the idea of a mediating class between God and men, creating pontiffs. Pontiff is a mediating class, the bridge between man and God, the bridge between people who only deal with secular things and people who only deal with the things of God. Eventually the papal system was fully established, and the priest became the mediator between man and God. Sardis did not free itself from this mediating class system. In place of priests, there are pastors who have been ordained.
33. Then God, in the 19th century, used the “Brethren” to restore love between the children of God, regardless of the denomination to which each one belonged. The mediator class was abolished, everyone was treated as brothers and sisters. And they had the revelation that the church was the body of Christ, and everyone was a member of the body, so they were one and could not be divided. They were greatly blessed by God through the revelation of the word. However, after twenty years, division occurred between them. They were divided into two groups: the “exclusive ones” and the “open ones” and many factions derive from them.
34. What was the reason for this problem? It appears that a great step forward has been taken for the Church in Philadelphia. But why hasn’t everything worked out yet? Because, twenty years later, this division has already happened. Let’s use Watchman ‘s Nee explanation, in the book “The Orthodoxy of the Church”, published by Editora Árvore da Vida (p. 85): “We must be very careful and humble; otherwise, we will be caught in the same mistake. We believe that any type of division is the result of a loss of love for one another”. That’s why we need to look for first love! He does not come through doctrine, he does not come through sermons, he comes through the circulation of life, through the word. If we want to keep loving each other, keep the brotherly love between us strong, let’s continue to allow the word to circulate among us and deposit God’s love in us.
35. Continuing with the reading excerpt from the aforementioned book: “When love does not exist or is missing, people pay attention to laws, emphasize forced behaviors and get lost in details looking for flaws”. For example, that strict situation regarding accepting people to break bread as long as they have the same vision. We look for flaws, we get very judicial. Continuing reading, we see: “Once love is in danger, people will be proud of themselves and envious of others, thus generating controversies and disputes. The Holy Spirit is the force of oneness, while the flesh is the force of division. Unless the flesh is treated, sooner or later division will occur”. If you live in the flesh, ultimately you will divide yourself, you will cause some division. Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us live in the spirit.
36. Continuing the reading, we see: “Furthermore, I believe that the lack of this time was that the United Brethren did not see the basis and limit of the church. They clearly saw, on the negative side, the sins of the church, but, on the positive side, as to the church should love one another and be unanimous as to the basis and boundary of the city, they did not see adequately. The Roman Catholic Church gives attention to the union of a church on this earth, while the United Brethren gave attention to an idealistic union of a spiritual church in the heavens.” And they were not able to have a practical oneness, but an idealistic one.
    
37. Concluding the excerpt from the book, we have: “They did not see, or at least they did not see so clearly that the love for one another in the epistles is the love for one another in the church in a city; oneness is the oneness of the church in a city; the gathering is the gathering of the church in a city; the building is the building of the church in a city. In any case, only two types of people talk about the oneness of the church: the Roman Catholic Church talks about the oneness of all churches on earth, while the United Brethren talk about spiritual oneness in the heavens. As a result, the former is nothing but oneness in outward appearance, while the latter is an idealistic oneness; however, it is divisive. Both did not pay attention to the oneness of the church in each and every city, as recorded in the Bible”.
38. Brother Watchman Nee was emphasizing, in the reading above, that practical oneness must happen in each city. The basis of oneness at the locality boundary means that to build the church, we need to build it on the right ground. You are not going to build your house on your neighbor’s land, but you need to have land to build it according to your project. It is one thing to build your house; Another thing is the terrain. Christ also has His church to be built. For Him to build His church, He has to build on certain ground. He cannot build the church on divisive ground, but one that only belongs to one denomination, one faction. Jesus has to build His church on the basis of oneness, the right foundation, the right ground, which includes all of God’s children. As an example, although in São Paulo today, unfortunately, there are many denominations, many Christian groups already created, each one having a divisive ground, each one having their profession of faith, God needed to restore to the point that there were some who had seen what is the right land and to return to it to start building on the right ground.
39. The people of Judah, for example, were taken into Babylonian captivity. They were scattered in Babylon, and God said that was not the right place to build the temple, that they would have to return to Jerusalem. Then God prepared King Cyrus, of Persia, who made a decree giving support to whoever of the people had the heart to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of God. This is God’s thing, He managed to do this. There were probably millions of Jews scattered throughout Babylon, but only fifty thousand Jews returned. But these fifty thousand Jews who went to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple were on the right ground. Whoever remained in Babylon, scattered there, was on the wrong ground, because the temple could not be built there. So, brothers and sisters, it has to be on the correct basis.
40. For example, the bread we break here includes all the children of God genuinely regenerated by the Spirit in the city of São Paulo. They are all in this bread. It’s not just us. They are all part of this church. That’s what Watchman Nee saw it. Building begins in a church, but is not limited to that. The body of Christ is not just one church in a city, but it is all churches. Today our vision has expanded beyond this vision of brother Watchman Nee. Our vision is that, if, in each city, we have brothers and sisters meeting on the right ground, the building of the church cannot be limited to just the building of one church, but of all churches. Together they form the body of Christ. We are all members of the same body; we are building the same church. So we start by practicing church on the right ground in each city, but we don’t limit ourselves to this. We have to have a bigger, global vision. The body of Christ is not just a local church, but it is all churches.
41. According to brother Watchman Nee, the “Exclusive Brethren” opted for the unification of all of them, regardless of the city they were in, falling into the error of the united church – the “Exclusive Brethren” argued that anyone who did not participate in their vision could not have fellowship with them, nor break bread with them, and that no matter what city they were in, everyone who had the same vision as them formed a church. So, this escapes the boundary of the locality that brother Watchman Nee spoke.
    
42. The author also mentions other brothers, the “Open Brethren,” who demanded independent administration of each meeting group, falling into the error of the Congregational Church. Unfortunately, today we are seeing this happen. Each is independent, and they come together, but they have taken the path of the congregational churches. The first “Exclusive Brethren” exceeded the limit of a city; the latter practiced oneness with a limit smaller than a city. The word of God reveals that in a city there must be only one church. Several churches in a city divide the oneness that the Bible demands.
43. Really, brothers and sisters, if we look at the entire Bible, Jerusalem had tens of thousands of people saved, but you can never find it written in the Bible as “the churches of Jerusalem”. The church is one. Antioch was perhaps a much smaller church than Jerusalem, but it remains in the singular: “the church in Antioch”, like “the church in Corinth” and “the church in Ephesus.” But when it comes to a region larger than a city, we can see that the Bible is very accurate. It mentions: “the churches of Asia,” “the churches of Galatia,” “the churches of Macedonia.”
44. Let’s talk a little about brother Watchman Nee, not as a biography because it doesn’t fit here due to time and that’s not the intention. But the intention is to show the progress, the steps that the Lord is taking towards Philadelphia, until reaching today. Watchman Nee was God’s instrument for the church to make a great advance towards Philadelphia. Saved in 1920, at the age of seventeen, in Foochow, capital of Fukien Province, China, he accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior and, at the same time, received the call to serve the Lord. He’s special. The moment he converted to the Lord; the Lord already called him to His work. Watchman Nee received all the influence from a missionary named Dora Yu.
45. Dora Yu was saved at a young age and sent by her family to England to study medicine. When her ship docked in Marseille, in the south of France, she received a strong call to return and preach the gospel in China. She began her work entirely by faith in a suburb of Shanghai and became a prevailing witness to the gospel, leading hundreds of people to the Lord. In February 1920 she was invited to preach in Foochow. Among many who strongly converted to the Lord was Watchman ‘s mother Nee, who had a big change in his life to the point of awakening curiosity in him. His mother had a very strong temper, but suddenly she was transformed.
46. Watchman Nee went to the meeting the next day and was captured by the Lord that same night. With a great desire to serve the Lord, he was accepted by Dora Yu into her Bible school in Shanghai. However, accustomed to sleeping late, enjoying good food and fine clothes, he returned home and finished school. He felt disappointed, he realized that there was a lot to learn, that he was very carnal and needed treatment from the Lord. It was perfected by Margaret Barber, an Anglican missionary, from whom he learned to live under the operation of the cross, that is, not to live by logic, by right or wrong. He read many books and collected the writings of the “Brethren”, which gave him the basis to receive more light in the word. Much of his biblical basis came from the United Brethren.
47. W. Nee ‘s initial burden was to preach the gospel. Almost all his schoolmates converted to the Lord, which resulted in a revival. He began to preach in his hometown, and, with the help of his collaborators, hundreds of people were saved, which helped the church in Foochow to grow. Starting in his second year of school in 1922, he began preaching the gospel to his classmates, and many were saved. Hundreds of people were saved at the same time. With the exception of one, all those whose names he wrote down in his prayer notebook were saved. He had a habit of keeping a prayer notebook to pray for his colleagues.

1 Cor 1:12-13

48. He began looking for meeting spaces in order to expand the work of evangelization. Next came the question of what denomination he belonged to. His family was a member of the Methodist Church. Since he had already won hundreds of people to the Lord, they needed to come together, and the question arose of how they would come together and what denomination they would belong to. As you read Paul’s exhortation on division in 1 Corinthians, each one says, “I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? (1 Cor 1:12-13), he realized that one saying he was from the Presbyterian Church, and he was from the Methodist Church, and a third from the Baptist Church was not biblical. As a member of the Methodist Church, he was in a society of sorts. Even though it didn’t belong in their system, it still wouldn’t escape the consequences. And it would be promoting division in the body of Christ. He saw the gravity of this.
49. He read the Bible again in detail, focused on the oneness of the church, and saw the limit of the locality as the practice of the oneness of the church in the Scriptures. He saw that the church is one, universally, and its practice in each city is also one. Jerusalem was a city where, from the beginning, there were thousands of people saved; it was the church in Jerusalem, all its members belonged to one church. Such was the church in Antioch, the church in Ephesus, etc. With this vision of oneness, Watchman Nee, Leland Wang, and his wife broke bread and drank the cup one night in 1922, not on the basis of a denominational division, but on the ground of church oneness in the southern Chinese city of Foochow. With great joy they worshiped the Lord, for they were on the basis that all the true children of God in that city were part of the bread they broke. This was the vision God gave him.
50. W. Nee ‘s ministry can be summed up as Christ and the church. The revelations that God gave him, combined with the suffering, resulted in a very balanced ministry, with a very clear vision of Christ and the church. His view of Christ had an emphasis on life, and his view of the church was about the content (reality) and practice of the church. His preaching was not doctrinal. In terms of the church, its responsibility was to establish and build churches on the correct basis of oneness to satisfy God’s desire. The result of his ministry at the time he was arrested by the communist government in 1952 was approximately 400 churches built in China, and 30 churches in several Southeast Asian countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.
51. In the meantime, the Lord prepared another young man to be perfected by Watchman Nee: Witness Lee. Watchman Nee was saved in 1920, and Witness Lee was saved in 1925, north of China in the province of Shantung. He learned biblical truths by attending the Assembly of the United Brethren, from Benjamin Newton’s faction. Despite having acquired a lot of knowledge, he received very little life. In search of life, he discovered Watchman’s Nee articles in a Christian periodical called “The Morning Star,” and later became a subscriber to Watchman ’s Nee “The Christian Magazine, from 1925 to 1927. And so, through correspondence and then in person, he met Watchman Nee, who has perfected him over the years, making him his closest collaborator. Because of the critical political situation in China, Brother Nee called an urgent conference of all co-workers in Shanghai in November 1948 to decide whether to remain in China or leave. It was an extremely serious moment, so he suggested that Witness Lee leave the country. He announced to all other coworkers that they should remain in the country, including himself. The political situation worsened, which required Witness Lee to leave for Taiwan in May 1949.
52. In the early 1950s, Watchman Nee visited Hong Kong for the last time. Witness Lee urged him not to return to China, but Brother Nee said he could not help caring for so many churches on the mainland. Watchman Nee was undoubtedly a great servant of God who allowed God to take a great step towards the church in Philadelphia, the church according to God’s will. The vision of the oneness of the church according to the boundary of the locality has given us the practice of the church with the right basis, which includes all the truly Spirit-regenerated children of God in each city. This correct basis is extremely important for the Lord to entrust His word intended for everyone in the church, the prophetic word. However, the vision that the prophetic word establishes the government of the church in practice was still missing, a subject that we will develop later.

Rev 1:11-13, 19-20

53. In Revelation 1, you see that the Lord asked John to record what he saw from the visions (verse one, which is the revelation of Jesus Christ), and that a letter be written and sent to each church. The Lord mentioned the names of seven cities, but said they were seven churches. So, the church is named after the city. It is known by the name of the city. And these seven churches are the seven golden lampstands. John saw One walking among the seven golden lampstands, dressed as a High Priest, who is our own Lord Jesus Christ. So, brothers and sisters, although there are seven churches, seven cities, they represent the church as a whole. The one who circulates between the seven churches is the Lord. In practice, how is the Lord circulating among us? By the word! The presence of the Lord today is in His word. The word represents Himself circulating among us. The seven churches represent all the churches that belong to the body of Christ, and these seven churches also have, in the prophetic sense, the history of the church, from the first century until the Lord’s return.

Rev 1:1; 2:1, 8, 12; Zac 4

54. 54. From the second chapter onwards, you will see that each letter is delivered to the angel of the mentioned church. And who are the angels of the churches? They are the messengers, the servants. God wants to speak to the church. He wants to send a message to it. He uses His servants, who are His messengers, the angels of the churches. Each of these messengers meets in some city, in some church. The word today that the Lord is revealing to us, that comes out of His mouth, that feeds us, gives us direction, governs us, that makes us advance, carry out the work of God, is this word of the revelation of Jesus Christ that God wants to reveal to us, servants. But instead of revealing it to all, He notifies one. In this case, in Revelation, it was John. He was notified, but the revelation is not his. He received the notification and faithfully passed it on to the group of servants. And who are these servants today? It is these brothers who work to transmit the word that the Lord sends to the church, to the members of the body of Christ.
    55. This is in Zechariah 4, in the illustration of the two olive trees, two golden spouts, pouring out the word that God sends in each season, golden oil in a vessel. And this vessel represents the group of servants, the messengers who must faithfully pass through the seven golden tubes to supply the seven lamps of the golden lampstand. This is how the church works. If the Lord has a word, a message for the church, He orders that message to be delivered to the church. Today, if an angel were to deliver the message to the church in Ephesus, he would arrive in the city of Ephesus and not know who to deliver it to. In Watchman ‘s Nee time, would you give it to Presbyterian, Methodist, or Congregational? Which church? Because none of them could represent all of God’s children in that city. That is why, brothers and sisters, the advancement that God gave from the vision He gave to Watchman Nee is so important. This gave us a great benefit: a correct base, a correct terrain of the oneness. And it gave us representation. We managed to represent all of God’s children in each city. Then we are authorized to receive the letter, the message, the prophetic word.
    56. In algebra, when you develop the theorems, you present a thesis and try to approve it, demonstrate it. You often need a necessary condition, but you also need a sufficient condition. Sometimes the necessary condition is difficult to find, but these necessary conditions are not necessarily sufficient. The vision the Lord showed us through brother Watchman Nee is a necessary condition for us to be able to receive the prophetic word. But it is not a sufficient condition for establishing the limits of church government. We will talk about this later.
    57. Thank the Lord for the great advance! I praise the Lord for the moment we are living in. Many brothers and sisters in the past went through great hardships to give us this wonderful condition. Today we are receiving the word that comes from the mouth of God, we have this privilege, we are seeing with our own eyes that the word is operating among us, executing the work of God, with us, I would say, being the most unworthy workers. Don’t you feel this way? We are the most unqualified workers. Less qualified than those workers who worked every three hours. And the Lord came calling at the last hour, perhaps, at the crossroads. He went to find the blind, the paralyzed, those from the cave of Adullam, and is using us through His mercy. So don’t be proud. Let’s stay humble, let’s move forward! Let’s do the Lord’s will and bring the Lord back! Amen!