THE THREE CIRCLES

"God has a design for our lives. (First Circle) His design is all around us in creation, a sunset, and even our bodies. (Psalm 139) When we want to go our own way, be our own boss, and make our own decisions, doing things the way we want, apart from God, we depart from God's design." (Scroggins & Wright, 78)

"The word we use for this departure is called 'sin'. The Bible says we all have sinned, and because of this, we departed from God's design." (Romans 3:23) (79)

"Our sin (Line drawn) takes us all to a place of brokenness. (Second Circle with the squiggly lines) Brokenness can look like struggling relationships, addiction, isolation, or despair. It's guilty feelings, shame, and emptiness. In fact, our whole world is broken. This is all the result of sin. We do our best to fix our brokenness by filling that void with something else. After all, if we got into the brokenness ourselves, we can get out too. Right? Wrong. Often, when we try to change ourselves, we realize the change has to come from somewhere else, and sometimes our attempts to fix our brokenness result in more brokenness." (80-81)

"The word 'Gospel' means good news. (Third Circle) The good news is that God sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life (Think of a down arrow going from the top of the cross to the bottom of the cross in the circle), die the death we deserve because of our sin (represented by the cross in the circle), and be raised from the dead (Think of an up arrow going from the bottom of the cross to the top of the cross in the circle). The Bible says that when Jesus died on the cross, God did a miracle. He took all of our sin and put it on Jesus, and then He took all of Jesus' righteousness and put it on anyone who believes in Jesus. This means we are no longer broken in God's eyes. We are made right with Him. To get into this right standing with God, we need to repent and believe in Jesus. (Second arrow drawn away from brokenness to the Gospel labeled "Repent & Believe." (81-82)

"The change we need comes through the gospel. The word 'repent' means a change of mind that is followed by a change of direction. It means we were headed one way, trying to fix our own brokenness, and now we have turned from that and turned to JESUS. 'Believe' means that we trust that Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection are what make us right with God. Once we repent and believe (represented by the last arrow drawn labeled "recover and pursue"), we can begin to recover and pursue God's design. We get a do-over. Praise the Lord. God gives us unlimited do-overs because we all mess up. Repenting and believing doesn't fix everything, but does forgive everything. Plus, we have Jesus helping us change our hearts and motivating us to recover and pursue God's design." (83-84)

Where do you see yourself on this diagram?

What would prevent you from repenting and believing the gospel today?

God has redeemed me from my brokenness personally, and I would like to show you the way out of your brokenness as well...Jesus was crucified for our sins and raised from the dead so that we could be rescued out of brokenness and live according to His design.

Will you receive Jesus into your heart and life today?

If you made this decision today, I would love to hear about it. Please let me know at Strengthofthesavior@gmail.com. I would love to give you a Bible and talk with you about growing in the Lord, as well as help you find a church for discipleship. It truly is the best decision you will ever make in your life.

Scroggins, Jimmy and Steve Wright with Leslee Bennett. Turning Everyday Conversations into Gospel Conversations. B&H Publishing Group, 2016. (78-84)