1.4. A vision of the urgency

The time has come

By José Bernardo

When we look at distance, we see the Word of God. The light concentrates and we see children receiving the Word. If it focuses some more, we see children and youth producing fruit of repentance and obedience. What comes next? What is the final image that we see in the narrower tip of our telescope?

Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity's Gate). Vincent van Gogh, 1890 (Detail) 

Jesus preached the answer and Mark summarizes his evangelization in three phrases, each one answering a key question. Why? “The time has come”. How? “The kingdom of God has come near”. What? “Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15). The compelling reason of the Gospel is that the time is complete. There is nothing to wait for anymore. Nobody is saying ‘slow down’, ‘take your time’… We see the same urgency all across the New Testament since John the Baptist. He urged people to repent and when they tried to flee, he talked about fire. Could it be something more imperative? For John, the era he was announcing, was a time to throw into the fire every tree that did not produce good fruit. Jesus was coming and instead of water, he would baptize people with the Holy Spirit and, since in this context it signifies destruction, with fire. To clear any doubts that Jesus would in fact burn some people, John said, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire” Matthew 3:12.

For many people who have a wrong idea of divine Grace, it is not easy to think of an all-loving Jesus burning people with fire. However, the one who loves the Father first, who is consumed by the zeal for the House of God, confirmed the prophecy of John. When he was preaching in parables we saw the winnowing fork in his hands, and in the evening, after the Last Supper he said, “If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned” John 15:6. The urgency in the Gospel is meant to produce fruit of repentance and obedience. Answering a question of why some people perish and others remain, the Master told the parable of a fig tree that did not produce fruit for three years, and should be cut down (Luke 13:1-9). The gardener bargained for one more year, but the word of the Lord resonates: “unless you repent, you too will all perish”.

Jesus decided to give the Father the fruit he is worthy to receive. It’s all about the Song of the vineyard (Isaiah 5). The Lord gave everything to Israel, but did not receive the fruit of repentance and obedience. Now, the new Israel in Christ must work the harvest with great urgency. “If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.” Luke 13:9.

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

1.3. A vision of the results

It will not return to me empty

By José Bernardo

The Word of God came, asking a child, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” Jer 1:11. Once the boy saw what was intended to be seen, the Lord said: “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.” (v12). Looking through our spiritual telescope, we see the Word of God, and we see children receiving it. When this light concentrates even more, we must see children reacting to the Word.

Harvest Season 03. To Ngoc, vietnamese contemporary artist.

In teaching about results of hearing the Word, Mark tells the stories of the withered fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple (Mark 11:12-26). It is so important that he abandoned his dynamic and objective style to wrap one story inside the other. The last week before the crucifixion had come. It was Passover time and Jesus stayed among the poor in Bethany. The Lord walked every day to Jerusalem with his disciples and met pilgrims visiting the Temple. In the first morning, upon leaving Bethany, he was hungry. He saw a fig tree in leaf at a distance; it should have some fruit. Figs sprout before leafs and some should be ripe even if not all of them. However, Jesus found nothing, even unripe fruits. He prayed according to the situation, and the disciples heard him. In the following morning, they saw the tree withered, remembering what had happen.

This first story helps to explain the equally dramatic cleansing of the Temple. Jesus entered the Temple courts and drove out those who were buying and selling. He even overturned tables and benches and did not allow anybody to carry merchandise. In doing this, he also taught from Isaiah (56:7) and Jeremiah (7:11): “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” Mark 11:17. Jesus saw that people were not obeying the command of the Lord, and then acted to see the Word obeyed. The Lord said, in the very prophecy of Jeremiah quoted by Jesus, “…but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.” Jeremiah 7:23.

Obedience to the Word is the fruit the Lord wants to see, not leafs of an apparent worship. Moreover, it is not difficult to obey the Word of God, because “…whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24. The Lord’s covenant to be our God, and for us to be his people, is based in obedience. We receive grace to obey, because the Word of the Lord is rain that comes down from heaven, it buds and flourishes, so that it gives bread for the eater (Isa 55:10). Indeed, “To obey is better than sacrifice…” 1Sam 15:22.

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

1.2. A vision of the children

Let the little children come to me

By José Bernardo

The Word of God is the first thing we see when we look through our spiritual telescope. God reigns sovereign, and everything reflects his word and good will. It is as the psalmist said: “The earth is filled with your love, Lord; teach me your decrees.” Psalms 119:64. Then, when such powerful light concentrates, what do we see? We see people hearing the Word of God. Who are they?

Cornelia Pointing at Her Children as Her Treasures. Angelica Kauffman,1785. 

John describes how the Jews would not believe in Jesus, even after he performed so many signs (John 12:37-50). Paul also explained to the Romans why the Israelites did not believe in the Good News (Rm 10:16-21). Both repeated the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Isaiah 53:1. Very few people see, hear and experience the Word of God, repent and get saved. However, about children, Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these…” Mark 10:13-16. What strong colors Matthew, Mark and Luke used in the original language to paint this scene! People brought children to Jesus so he could light them up. The disciples spoke as if they were saying something of great value. Jesus felt like he was bending over in terrible pain. He told the disciples to release and not mutilate the children, and affirmed that the Government of God exists for people who are like little children.

Once again we see a passage teaching that not all people receive the Good News. A very specific kind of people are able to see, hear and experience the Gospel. The key to understand who they are is in the expression “…such as these…”. Children do not exactly own the Kingdom, but they have characteristics that allow them, and everybody that has the same characteristics, to be under the ruling of the Almighty King. Again, those characteristics are in the text, implicit in two words: “Let…” and “…do not hinder…”. The root for the word ‘hinder’ in Greek is to curtail, to punish or impede by mutilating. The whole idea is that unless children are mutilated, if they are released, they will come to Jesus, they will submit to his kingship, and that is the Gospel. 

The SUPER20 research on the growth of the Brazilian church shows that 77% of all conversions used to happen when people were under 24 years of age. The largest group was from 11 to 17 years old, which represents 32.7% of the total. People in these age groups are the ones like children; they would be naturally attracted by the Lord once they are released and not mutilated. Let the children come!

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

1.1. A vision of the Word

And God said, let there be light
By José Bernardo

The Scripture says that ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ (Deut 8:3; Mat 4:4). The reason of our existence is the Word of God, which is his ‘manifest will’. This is also the reason for the existence of everything. So, what will we see when we look through our spiritual telescope?

The Prophet Daniel. Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel.

The Book of Hebrews was written to help Jews keep the Christian faith, even if they were going through extreme trials and being lured to return to Judaism. The key to accomplish such an ambitious goal is faith. So, we can say that Hebrews is specialized in faith and chapter 11 is its highest peak. In this chapter, faith is meticulously described and its dynamics are abundantly exemplified. First, the primary example of faith is our knowledge of the arrangement of the eons: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” Hebrews 11:3. The Word of God formed the universe we see. To explain that, the author uses the Greek word rhéma, which means a spoken word or a command, as we see in the very beginning of Genesis.

Evoking Genesis, Hebrews states that everything we see is formed by the Word of God. Therefore, it is correct infer that what we see is the Word of God, in the sense that it is the result of his commands and of his good, pleasing and perfect will. The psalmist echoes this idea saying: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4. What we see is what the Lord said must be; what we see is ‘the manifest will of God’.

The Word of God is the light that will hit our spiritual telescope. John takes us even further: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” John 1:4. Again, what we see is made by nothing other than the Word, and the Word is Jesus. Nature was made through Jesus and the Bible teaches about him. The fact is that if we look to Jesus we’ll see the Word, and when we see the Word of God we will have seen everything. Nature is a register of what God has done; the Bible is his active word that interprets everything. The word of God is enough!

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

1. A telescopic vision

If we just look
By José Bernardo

Anticipation is essential for survival. Every living being has some ability to anticipate what is coming and their lives depend on it. For instance, it is possible to use a telescope to see what is happening from a distance. In doing so, the traveler preview the future and would prepare in advance for what will be found and get the best results. This material experience can be virtually reproduced in business or ministry, and this is what we call a tactical vision. Let’s see how it works.

Galileo Galilei displaying his telescope, H. J. Detouche, 1754

How amazing to see the invisible, to comprehend the incomprehensible, to shorten distances, to find a completely new world. Looking through a telescope leads to a whole new perspective. We are able to anticipate upcoming events, to know in advance things that we will encounter in the future. The same idea applies to tactical vision, either in business or in ministry. Spiritually, our telescope is the divine revelation. We can’t invent a vision; unless we are eluded and deceived, chances are we won’t see what we want to see. We see what the Lord says; we see what he is doing. We perceive his words and actions and they tell us what to expect. This is what may be called ‘the manifest will of God’, our telescopic vision. Looking through it we can be prepared for the future.

This is how a telescope works: the light reflected by objects at a distance enters the larger extremity. Then, the light is concentrated and focused until the observer can see the object closer through the narrow extremity. When we point our spiritual telescope, we also will see a vision that goes from a broad to a concentrated idea. The light in the larger extremity is the Word of God. When it concentrates, we see children and youth receiving the Word of God. At the next stage, we see the transformation of lives and finally, at the closest extremity, there is a clear image of the urgency for the life transformation of children by giving them the Word of God.

If we just look, this is what we’ll see. However, if we don’t have the spiritual telescope, we will ignore what is coming ahead, expending our resources with what is habitual, never being prepared for the future. A telescopic vision is a new vision. Upon receiving it, we need to interpret what this vision means for the present and decide what to do now about the future. While walking for the future, we need to keep that vision in mind. We also have the responsibility to communicate the vision to our disciples, co-workers and partners, people who we want to see preparing alongside us for what we anticipate. Point your spiritual telescope and observe!

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

A greater friendship

An evangelistic experience

By José Bernardo

How would the application of key biblical concepts of evangelization look like in the field? The Bible is not a theoretical book. The Word of God is intended to be put into practice, and it is the most authoritative source to teach us how to communicate the Gospel. Here is what we learned and how we applied it on a daily bases, reaping many fruits for the Glory of the father.

Foto: Romero Britto, Brazilian artist, ‘Big Hug’ (detail)

Trying not to discriminate people before they hear the Word; believing that everything needed for salvation is provided; considering that the essential Gospel is the person of Jesus; trying to offer something that people can see, hear and feel; creating space to proclaim, teach, testify and embody the Gospel; working to communicate in a way that is, at the same time, objective, opportune, gracious, interesting and personal, we find Jesus saying: “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15. Jesus used friendship as an illustration of the redemptive relationship he intends to have with people. Furthermore, this precious idea is enhanced by two counts: the friendship is established by full communication (evangelization) and would not be stopped by the fact that Jesus would soon be leaving this world. That made for a brand new evangelistic program.

We have a program called ‘full worship’, which conveys key components for our relationship with God: worship, confession, thanksgiving, supplication and dedication. We then worked to communicate these elements through the comprehensive idea of friendship and realized that friends freely and frequently praise, confess, thank, ask and offer. These aspects of a very well known relationship between friends became the common ground to communicate how to connect and relate with Jesus. Expressions often used among friends were a reference to those aspects: ‘I love...’, ‘I’m sorry.’, ‘Thank you!’, ‘Please?’ and ‘Need help?’. The approach designed for our traditional Catholic culture is defined by three questions: Who is Jesus for you? Who are you for Jesus? (Answered in John 15:15.) Do you know how to befriend Jesus? An extended hand is used to communicate the whole idea, each finger recalling one of the friendship aspects. Bible stories about Jesus’ relationships were chosen for deeper teaching. The program was named +friends and is presented in many formats, from personal evangelism to children outreach.

Christians who were not previously evangelizing or though they were not capable of it, learned how to easily introduce Jesus as a friend, also having the opportunity to evaluate and deepen their personal relationship with the Lord. Many people who weren’t reached in other ways were pleased to receive the essential Gospel and open to learn more about how to befriend Jesus. The program is offered to churches through a workshop partly dedicated to learn the approach through Scriptures and partly to hands-on experience. As easy as making friends!

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

Seasoned with salt

Efficient and effective evangelization
By José Bernardo

What makes the communication of the Gospel efficient and effective? This is a challenge! We live in terrible times, marked by individualistic fragmentation: everybody trusts solely in their own particular truth; the Church is forced to be tolerant and to say what is politically correct; Humanism infects everything; what matters are the needs, desires and choices of people; religion is reduced to helping them get what they want.  Even worst, we live immersed in an ocean of words, where one more speech hardly stands out. How does the Bible help us?

It could not be more precise or bold: In a continuous flow, Paul told the Colossians to devote themselves to prayer, offered himself as an object of intercession, and presented his utmost request. His desire was to be able to proclaim the mystery of Christ and do it clearly, as was his duty. Paul wanted people to “…know the mystery of God, namely, Christ” Col 2:2. He then turned to the believers and taught how they also could communicate the Gospel efficiently and effectively:  “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Col 4:5,6. The man chosen to spread the Gospel throughout the world, in a colossal cross-cultural effort, provided five key signs of quality in evangelization.

Foto: S. Elayaraja, Indian artist, Tamil woman cooking (detail) 

First, we communicate the ‘mystery of Christ’ clearly, that is with quality. This means that our communication has to be: objective, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders” – believers must relate to outsiders with wisdom (clarity), which speaks of a well-planned and objective approach; opportune, “…make the most of every opportunity” – literally to make the best buy, to find out how to take full advantage of all available time; gracious, “Let your conversation be always full of grace” – grace and joy have the same root, the good mood that fuels generosity and happiness, and it should set the tone of any evangelistic conversation; interesting, “…seasoned with salt” – to season is to carefully prepare a conversation making it attractive; personal, “…so that you may know how to answer everyone” – knowing by observation (perception), therefore treating people in a personal way.

Efficient and effective communication of the Gospel focuses on the person of Christ, and is objective, opportune, gracious, interesting and personal. Paul’s letter to the Colossians is a good example, being strong remedy against the evil heresy that infected the young church. It demonstrates each of the five signs of quality in communicating the Gospel. This letter presents the person of Christ with flying colors. It teaches us how worship can be the best way to evangelize. It also solves our dilemma of how to communicate the Gospel to people of different ethnicities, religions, cultures and social status. In doing that the apostle to the Gentiles nailed it: “…Christ is all, and is in all” Col 3:11.

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

The Great Commission

Same message, four approaches
By José Bernardo

What are the different presentations of the Gospel and why should we use them? The Great Commission is a main subject in the Gospels, and the various reports given by the evangelists reveal different presentations of the Good News. Let us analyze each one in order to envision a full picture of the biblical methodology for communicating the Gospel.

Erick Ayoti kenyan painter, Church at Sunday

Mark, probably the first Gospel to be written, emphasizes the preaching (Mark 16:15), which is the kerygmatic evangelization, consisting in an authoritative proclamation of the kingdom, where the believers are heralds to a conquered world. Mathew highlights making disciples and teaching them everything Jesus taught (Mathew 28:18-20), which is the didactic evangelization and is accomplished by all means of training. Luke conveys the Great Commission in both his books, always talking about the believers being witnesses (Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:8), which is the martyrish evangelization, where the accounts on who Jesus is and how he acted are manifest through storytelling. Finally, John brings forth his peculiar report on the exact moment that Jesus said: “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you" John 20:21. Here we see the vicarious evangelization achieved by embodying Jesus when interacting with others.

Even if liberal theologians have tried to diminish its value, The Great Commission stands as the clear and powerful definition of mission to the Church of all times. Jesus always talked about evangelization as the mission of the Church as well as every believer, making himself the example and calling disciples to be fishers of men. Towards the end of his ministry on earth, Jesus became ever more emphatic, from the night of the Last Supper and after the resurrection through the ascension. We don’t really know how much he actually said about this, but the fact is that all four evangelists reported on it, albeit focusing on a different aspect, portraying four sides of the same cube, a foursquare mission. In doing so, the evangelists also emphasized four methods. Therefore, we should assume that, as the four different reports of the Great Commission are sides of the same mission, also the four methods compose a unique methodology to communicate the essential Gospel of the Kingdom.

When do we use each of these methods? I believe the answer lies on the desired result. We were sent to communicate the Gospel, hence, at any given situation, the method of choice is the one needed, the one that proves to be more effective. At times, it will be proclaiming, at others it may be teaching, if necessary telling stories or even acting like Jesus. According to Mark, the indicator of success will be everybody in the Church, going everywhere in the world, preaching everything in the Gospel to everyone out there. “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’" Isaiah 6:8a.

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

Stairs of wisdom

Transformational knowledge of the Gospel

By José Bernardo

What is and how does the cognitive process connect Gospel knowledge to personal attitude? If we talk about knowledge in the way the world does, possibly we will miss the connection with attitude. However, when we think the way faith is built, as conviction based on discernment, experience and assimilation, there is no way that somebody can know the Gospel and not be transformed in the process. Let’s see what Jesus taught about this cognitive process.

James J. Tissot (French painter and illustrator, 1836-1902)
Jesus preaches in a ship

The disciples wanted to know why Jesus had begun to speak in parables. That should call our attention, since parables are parallels, meaning illustrations given to simplify the understanding of something. However, Jesus refers to the essence of his parables as ‘secrets of the kingdom of heaven’, using the Greek word ‘mustérion’ or mystery, which are truths that can only be accessed when given. Jesus adds that having not been given, even what they did have would be taken from them. Moreover, the disciples did not have to wait for a clear reason for the revelation of mysteries. Jesus said: “For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them” Mathew 13:15.

Jesus quoted Isaiah 6:9,10, and presented a scaled process of knowledge, first from the innermost to the outermost (heart, ears and eyes), and then reversed it from outside in (see, hear and understand). The Hebrew words used to describe the process are self-explanatory, they literally mean that the heart ‘is fat’ (rich), the ears are ‘honored’ (weighed down) and the eyes are ‘delighted’ (closed). These words describe somebody so full of food that they cannot see, hear or feel anything. The same idea is found in the parable that contains this explanation. The habituation, superficiality and diversity fields talk together about eyes, ears and hearts that are not able to absorb the essential message of the Gospel. They are not prepared to understand who Jesus is.

What is clear, therefore, is that healing comes after turning, and turning depends on a process that begins with seeing with the eyes, which means to stare at something, discerning it from everything else. The second step is hearing with the ears, listening and experiencing in a deeper way of perception, fully capturing the meaning. The final step needed to trigger the turning is understanding with the heart, literally ‘putting things together’, which is the complete assimilation of what was seen and heard before. If somebody has the good soil of the Field of Perseverance, they will go through these three stages to change in such a way that will result in holistic healing. Here is something that we should understand when communicating the Gospel: we need to offer something that people can discern, perceive, and assimilate. “Whoever has will be given more!”

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.

The Good News

The essential Gospel

By José Bernardo

What is the essential message of the Gospel or what is the Good News? What can we say when we first talk to a Muslim who has no concept of forgiveness, or to a Buddhist who has no concept of a Creator God? What do we do for a Nicodemus-type, who is confused on what it means to be born a second time? Although missiologists have made the answer very complex, Jesus said that it was as simple as lift up a snake in the wilderness.

Michael Hoyt: A mosaic beneath the dome of
St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington

After the death of Peter and Paul, in the same day according to tradition, when Mark saw himself under the enormous responsibility for the Church in Rome, he did not offer a detailed history of Israel as a context for the Gospel; he did not present a compendium of systematic theology. A post-modern, multi-cultural, hungry for information, living for entertainment and individualistically fragmented society knew who Jesus is. Mark focused on one person and that was enough. When we try to understand Mark’s choice, we see where it came from: “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’" Mark 1:14,15.

It is interesting that right after we hear a powerful summary of the Gospel as preached by Jesus, Mark tells that the disciples were called to be taught. Then, in the last chapter of his book, he reports Jesus sending his disciples in a way that entreats every Christian thereafter (Mark 16:14,15). The intention is clear; the Gospel has to be preached and its essence is presented in the format of an elevator pitch, defined by three key elements: 'why', 'how' and 'what' in regards to the expected reaction. The ‘why’ here means it is time, there is an opportunity; what human beings have anxiously desired for so long is finally possible. The ‘how’ means that the Kingdom of God is near, in our midst (Luke 17:20,21); the Kingdom being the person of Jesus. The ‘what’ means the conversion and the faithful perseverance.

The Gospel is the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of God is Jesus. This is the opportunity and the possibility for a transformed life. From Mathew we learn that the same message Jesus was preaching was previously preached by John the Baptist, and later commanded to the disciples (Mathew 3:1,2; 4:17; 10:7). Therefore, the essence is the presentation of the Kingdom, the person of Jesus, just as Mark did when had to communicate the Gospel in that megacity. This is enough to invite anybody to live a new life. This has also been our experience. Serving in a society that is quickly becoming post-Christian, we have found the importance of revealing Christ to this generation. Furthermore, Jesus made a statement of that: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." John 3:14,15. This is the essential Gospel. Let us lift up the Son!

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Jose Bernardo is the OneHope vice-president for lusophone countries. OneHope is a global agency of the Bible that has worked in 145 countries giving the Word of God to every child.