As we enter the season of Lent, now is a good time to recall last month’s discussion of repentance, so that we can prepare our hearts to fully believe and appreciate Christ’s death and resurrection. Pastor Tom described in his Ash Wednesday post about Lent that: “Repentance is a turning from death, sin, and worldly ways to face our glorious God who freely gives life, joy, and godly disciplines.” When we repent and believe in the Gospel of Jesus, we can recover and pursue “a relationship with the living God, which starts with recognizing our humble circumstances and the all-encompassing goodness and love of our God. (Pastor Tom Milligan)”
God’s Design -> Sin-> Brokenness -> Repent & Believe-> Gospel
As we’ve gone through the 3-Circles method training tool for evangelizing (God’s Design – Brokenness – Gospel), we can be tempted to stop here at the Gospel. And while repenting and believing the Gospel is a life-altering event, we don’t want to fall into the danger of thinking that once we receive our salvation, we are “good to go.” Although we know our Salvation is not dependent on our own doing or our works, but is rather a free gift of God’s grace, Ephesians 4:24 states that we need: “…to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” In other words, we need to be more like Jesus each and every single day.
Recover & Pursue
We can’t forget to circle back to the first circle – “God’s Design.” Pastor Jimmy Scroggin explains that once we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, “God will give us the opportunity to recover and pursue His design for our lives.” God has a specific and unique purpose for each of our lives and in order to know what His will is, we need to know who God is. We are so blessed as a nation to be able to worship God freely and have access to the Bible, God’s living word. This is how and where we learn who God is! As we pursue God through praying and reading the scriptures, let us not forget to also live out the word through obedience to the Holy Spirit’s leadings. Jesus gave us the gift of His Spirit to dwell within us to intercede for us.
“And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
Romans 8:27
In our obedience, we can recover from our sinful nature and be made new in Christ through this process of sanctification. As we learn to lean into God’s purpose and calling for our own lives, our perspective and our hearts will be changed to be more like Jesus. A desire to share our “new lives” with others will be undeniable. This is where the 3-Circles evangelism tool comes full circle!
–Challenge–
Thanks for following along these last 6 months while we’ve explored the 3-Circles training tool for turning everyday conversations into Gospel conversations. As we wrap up this series, I challenge you to take some steps to deepen your faith journey and share it with others!
- Deepen Your Faith – Make it a priority to read your bible daily and hide the word in your heart. Join a prayer group or bible study group to help facilitate this or to help keep you accountable. (2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.) Worship God throughout each day through prayer and praise, in and through all circumstances.
- Share Your Faith – Think of one or two people you know who don’t know Jesus and start praying for them. Pray that their hearts be softened and open to receive the gospel message. Pray for obedience and strength from the Holy Spirit to share the 3 Circles with them. Next time you see them, meet them where they are at and share with them the hope you have that’s in Christ alone! (1 Peter 3:15 – But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.)
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