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LIVE BY THE POWER OF HIS WORD

Key Verse: Ezek. 37: 3-5
"He asked me,” Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life…’”

We want to thank God for a month of hard work with two Bible conferences. The first one (September 7 -10) was focused on young university students. 97 people attended, including 38 university students invited. The second (September 21 -24) had 107 participants, including 45 guests (mainly family and teens), among them 11 university students attended. Some members participated in both conferences.

In this way, the total participation was 175 people, including 48 university students invited.

The title of the conferences was: LIVE, by the power of His Word

It is a time of crisis in Venezuela, the political system is becoming more like a dictatorship, many young people have died in protests, there is a shortage of food and medicines and hundreds of thousands have left the country in search of a better future. Venezuela looks like a valley of dry bones. What should we do as spiritual leaders? It is the time to invest our life in preaching the gospel, raising disciples and sending missionaries. In this way we will experience the power of the Word of God lifting up the young people who are like dry bones in a kingdom of priests and holy people. I thank God for using UBF as a channel of blessing for Venezuela.

During the time of demonstrations, we dedicated ourselves to preach the gospel more to both military men and students. We shared the Word with about 400 people and collected more than 100 contacts from university students. Some of them attended the conference, and confessed Jesus as their savior. Even a student of the UCV (Central University of Venezuela) who was wounded in the head during the demonstrations is encouraged to do the discipleship.  Thank the Lord that we got a very economic, catholic place with capacity for 100 people, where we were treated very kindly. This was key to being able to hold both meetings.

<Summary of the 1st Student Conference - Mainly students attended>

(You can see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kok7VhUs0w)

First Day: Opening Message: Hemmder Alvarez (Systems), "Young man, I say to you: Arise!”(Luke 7: 11-17) - Jesus is able to raise us from physical and spiritual death with His Word. Our country is dominated by an atmosphere of sadness and death, but Jesus tells us: “Young man, I say to you: Arise!” He can change our heart and our country by the power of His Word. While a student, Hemmder left home to live with his girlfriend, but faced many difficulties, to the point of death. But God looked for them and both found Jesus in UBF. They repented of their sins and decided to bring order to their lives; they got married and now they are serving God as a fruitful fellowship leaders.

Message on the night: Pedro Hernandez (Technical in Management), "If my people will humble themselves”(2 Chr 7:11-14) - God promised that if His people humble themselves, seek His face and repent of their wicked ways, then God would hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land. To experience personal, family and social healing, we must humble ourselves before Him. Brother Pedro followed different political philosophies with which he hoped to change the world. But his heart was full of rancor towards his father, lust and disorder. He found Jesus who gave him forgiveness, peace and hope to grow as a spiritual leader for his people and work to expand the kingdom of God. He is very talented in digital designs and always collaborates in assembling the videos of the church.

We ended the evening with heart-moving testimonies from Gabriel Ramos (Technical in Management), Anny (Education Student) and Jolfran (Education Student).

Second Day: Daily Bread: "I will open rivers in solitude”(Isaiah 43: 16-19), José Juan Vivas (Student of Mechanical Engineering) - God planted hope for a people captive in Babylon. They came to that condition because of their sins. But after discipline, God wanted to restore them. God can open paths in the desert and rivers in solitude. José Juan is brother of the missionary Juan Carlos in Argentina. His parents divorced when he was a boy. He lived in depressions and debauchery that caused problems in his studies. But he found Jesus and decided to be his disciple. God gave him peace and joy. He is now advancing in his studies, keeping his heart for the time to form a house church and growing as a faithful and diligent coworker. After this message, we had breakfast and then group Bible Studies, based on the next lecture.  Main Message: "Jesus gives you living water”(John 4:1-30, 39-42), María de Hurtado (Degree Nursing) - The message was preceded by a deep and gracious drama. The love of men could not quench the thirst of the Samaritan woman. On the contrary, she was wounded, ashamed, living an immoral life. Jesus found her and offered her the living water that would forever satisfy her. Jesus taught him to take his sins to the light in order to receive the living water. When she accepted Jesus as the Messiah, she became a powerful evangelist.

Maria's father abandoned her mother when she was two years old. She felt very sad that she did not have the protection of her father. During her teenage years and early college years, she lived as a Samaritan woman, but this brought many emotional problems. Through Bible study at UBF, she found Jesus who filled her heart with living water.

She grew up as disciple and formed a house church with brother Holiver Hurtado. She keeps growing as a shepherdess and coworker. His message and testimony were powerful, showing a gracious and restorative power of God. She shed many tears preparing and delivering this message. And several guests were also identified with her testimony.

Message on the night: "He has Revived!” (Luke 15: 11-32), Holiver Hurtado (Computer) - The younger son came to a miserable condition by going away from his Father's house. But he came to himself and decided to return. Then the Father received him with a big hug, reaffirmed him to be his son, and made a feast to celebrate. His son was dead and alive again. After the divorce of his parents, Holiver led to a disorderly life, with alcohol and parties. Through the Bible study, he found Jesus and little by little his life was restored. He formed his house church with sister Maria Hurtado, and has supported several brothers to grow as disciples of Jesus. Sharing testimonies: Marta Ramos (Technician in Administration), Oswaldo Bolivar (Biology Student), and María Fernanda (Biology Student) showed a grace of God and a power of conversion of God, through each one’s testimony.

Third Day: Daily Bread: "Jesus, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), Dannys Fuentes (Educator) - Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. All the curses for our sins fell on him so that we might be free from condemnation. When Dannys was 7 years old, his father was paralyzed by an accident. He had to work very hard since then to help his mom and siblings. He was very bitter, strict and proud. But through the Bible study, he opened his heart, recognized his pride, and received a forgiveness of his sins. God has changed him to be a cheerful, flexible and humble man. He raised a disciple who is growing well. He is now one of the main co-workers of the ministry. And this year is raised as discipleship coordinator.

Main Message: "Father, forgive them” (Luke 23: 26-56), Eloy (Nursing Student) - From the cross Jesus said: “Father, forgive them because they do not know what they do.” Jesus died for our sins. Despite our ignorance, pride, wickedness, he prayed for us as he sacrificed. Jesus' love from the cross has power to change our lives. Eloy also comes from a broken family, his dad abandoned his mom when he was a few days old. His mother fell into a bipolar crisis. He suffered mistreatment from his stepfather. He became a delinquent teenager. But Jesus called him when he was 19 and gave him a new life. He could forgive his father and his stepfather and now he has a good relationship with them. Now he serves Sunday worship service and health group, and also is a evangelism group coordinator. He is finishing his technical studies in nursing.

After the message of the cross, the altar call was made, inviting young people to recognize their sins and ask for Jesus' forgiveness, accepting him as the King of their lives. Thank God that several young guests got up. It was a very touching time, when many of them shed tears of repentance.

On Saturday night, after the time of sharing testimonies and dinner, we had a dynamic game, where the young people were divided by teams to solve a soup of letters. It was a moment of great and spiritual joy. Then we had a time to worship; this year, young people liked to dance a lot, at a time of praise.

Special Presentation: "God's Will for My Sentimental Relationships” - In our culture, young people are very disoriented about the concept of family. Many guests did not understand why fornication is a sin, nor did they understand the seriousness of adultery. In this seminar, we teach that God created marriage, between a man and a woman, blessing them with sexual intercourse in the garden of Eden. We talked about various issues, such as deviations from the original plan of God, a history of colonization in Venezuela, and its consequences, in particular, how this influenced us to have a culture where adultery has been widely accepted.

Most of our brothers in the church (more than 90%) come from families broken by adultery. But God is God of hope and has called us to challenge the sinful culture of our country, forming house-churches for the glory of God. 13 years ago, in 2004, missionary Sarah Barry visited us and challenged us to form 100 house-churches. God also sent his servants Anna Yang and Little Sarah to give us family Bible studies. Since then, God has formed 23 house-churches at our ministry in Venezuela, including mine. Some have gone out as missionaries, and others have raised other chapters in Venezuela. Let us pray that the Lord will continue to do his work among us and make a new story in our land.

At the end of Saturday, we heard the testimonies of Diana Rojas and Pablo Ponton (Student of Electrical Engineering), which showed very well the work of God’s grace among our brothers.

The special afternoon: we had special presentations, like the Musical of the Dry Bones, The Drama of the Prodigal Son, and Venezuelan Dances.

We ended up praying for Alirio and Yenny Rosales’s family, who will leave for Margarita to plant a new chapter of UBF next Sunday.

4th day: Sunday Message: "The Valley of Dry Bones” (Ezekiel 37: 1-14), Gustavo Prato - In the year 586 B.C., Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon, thousands died and others were taken captive, and they scattered around the nations. The people of Israel had no hope, they were like dry bones. But God gave them a vision that they would be raised by the power of the Word and would be turned into a great army. There is no human philosophy that can give life to the dead. Only the Word of Jesus can do that. So if we want to experience spiritual restoration in our lives and in our people, we must study the Bible, apply it to our life and preach the gospel.

After the message, the call was made for discipleship. Thank God that 15 young people have signed up for the discipleship program. At the end of the meeting, we were filled with joy and hope. We ended by praising and dancing to God. In these times of crisis, we have learned that praise has power. God is pleased with our praises in spirit and truth, and helps us to strengthen. We came back to Caracas and had a delicious dinner in the center, watching the pictures of the conference full of joy.

<2nd Conference >

The 2nd Conference had a similar schedule, three additional messengers were raised, José García (University Professor and husband of my mother-in-law), Gabriel Ramos, and Jose Cecilio Carías. They accepted the messenger training humbly, with heart to learn and they preached powerfully. They were womanizers and drinkers, but now they have restored their families and are growing as humble co-workers of the ministry. Also Jose Gregorio, Rodrigo (Electrical Engineer) and Jose Luis (Educator in Sports) shared their testimonies in the conference.

At the 2nd conference there was a more familiar atmosphere. And several mothers of our brothers decided to accept the Lord. Especially the mother of the missionary Juan Carlos in Argentina was very moved by the Word and the work of God among his children. We had special presentations from children and teens of our ministry. Thank God also several young college students who attended received a grace of God and a total of 12 people rose to the call to discipleship.

In this conference, we pray for Rodrigo and Maria Teresa who will leave together with Diana, daughter of Maria Theresa as missionaries to Bogota, next Friday.

Final Words: I thank God that many sheep confessed their sins and desires to continue to learn from Jesus. We thank God for spiritual and material supports of brothers and missionaries around the world, which enabled us to serve the Lord's sheep more strongly. I also thank God for seeing many young people in our ministry, serving the Lord with all their strengths and hearts.

Please pray that God will bless the new discipleship program this year. And Lord uses us to be a blessing to all these young people.

Glory to God for all his works among us! 

One Word: LIVE, By the Power of His Word

* See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kok7VhUs0w