The Gospel

God’s design

We see beauty, purpose, and evidence of God’s design all around us.

The Bible tells us that God originally planned a world that worked perfectly – where everyone and everything fit together in harmony.

God made each of us with a purpose – to worship Him and walk with Him.

The Bible says…

God saw all that he made, and it was good. Genesis 1:31

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1

Sin

Life doesn’t work when we ignore God and his original design for our lives.

We selfishly insist on doing things our own way. The Bible calls this sin. We all sin and distort the original design.

The consequence of our sin is separation from God – in this life and for all eternity.

The Bible says…

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23a

Brokenness

Sin leads to a place of brokenness. We see this all around us and in our own lives as well.

When we realize life is not working, we begin to look for a way out. We tend to go in many directions trying different things to figure it out on our own.

Brokenness leads to a place of realizing a need for something greater.

The Bible says…

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served something created instead of the Creator. Romans 1:25

Gospel

At this point, we need a remedy – some good news.

Because of His love, God did not leave us in our brokenness. Jesus, God in human flesh, came to us and lived perfectly according to God’s design.

Jesus came to rescue us – to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He took our sin and shame to the cross, paying the penalty of our sin by his death. Jesus was then raised from the dead – to provide the only way for us to be rescued and restored to a relationship with God.

The Bible says…

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and only Son. John 3:16

He erased the certificate of debt…and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:14

Recover and pursue

When God restores our relationship with Him, we begin to discover meaning and purpose in a broken world. Now we can pursue God’s design in all areas of our lives.

Even when we fall, we understand God’s pathway to be restored – this same Good News of Jesus.

God’s Spirit empowers us to pursue His design and assures us of His presence in this life and for all eternity.

The Bible says…

For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose. Philippians 2:13

For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

What should I do now?

Now that you have heard the Good News, God wants you to respond to Him. You can talk to Him using words like these:

My life is broken – I recognize it’s because of my sin and I need you.

I believe Christ came to live, die, and was raised from the dead – to rescue me from my sin.

Forgive me. I turn from my selfish ways and put my trust in You.

I know that Jesus is Lord of all, and I will follow Him.

The Bible says…

If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13

adapted from: https://www.namb.net/evangelism/life-on-mission-app/

If you prayed the above prayer, please let us know! We’d love to connect with you!

email: vvbcnash@gmail.com