White Sulphur 3 circles
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It is a joy to be here with the saints of White Sulphur once more! For those of you who do not know me yet, I’m Brad Pearce and I pastor Durbin Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, KY. and an ambassador for the Central Kentucky Network of Baptists. CJ and I are not brothers, nor even related as far as we know, but we share the same last name even if I am much better looking.
My intention this evening is to help equip the church in sharing the Gospel. CJ and I have had a lot of conversations lately about this mission of the church. And while out churches may not employ the exact same strategies, we do share the same mission. Our mission is great commission. I’m going to read for us the Great Commission passages. For many of you, this will be a refresher, but this mission, this Great Commission is something that should never become stale to our hearts and ears. This is the direct mission our Lord Jesus have given to us. So let’s listen to these words with attentiveness to the good commands of Christ, our King:
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Church, we are called to make disciples, to build up and into others for the Kingdom of God and His glory. We are called to be witnesses. We may not have the same first hand experience as those gathered for the Ascension of Christ in Acts 1, but if you know Jesus as Savior and Lord then you are a first hand witness of the grace of God! This is exciting! It is the honor of our life that God would invite us into His work and allow us to work in the expansion of His Kingdom. We have to see ourselves as outposts of God’s kingdom. We are God’s representatives living in enemy territory. The statistics prove that we are living in enemy territory. There are more who don’t believe than those of us who do believe. So our homes have to be gospel outposts in our neighborhoods. Our desks have to be gospel outposts in our schools or offices. We have to be gospel outposts when we’re out and about in the community—at the grocery store, the ballpark or the gym.
One of the most basic, but often overlooked aspects of following the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ is sharing the gospel.
Allow me to ask some questions to kind of gauge where we’re at.
I’ve talked a lot about the gospel thus far, but we haven’t defined it.
What is the gospel? Can someone tell me a concise presentation of the gospel? (Life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to pay for the sins of whosever believes in Him and assure us of eternal life in His presence)
Why do we need the gospel? (Sin. We are broken.)
What does understanding the gospel do for the believer? (reconciles us to the Holy God whom our sin separated us. Enables us to live without shame or guilt, being free a Christ. And assures us of eternal glory)
How do you share the gospel? (People can talk about places where they share the gospel. Try to ask them what they might do to explain the gospel to me.)
Over the years, there have been a ton of different gospel presentation methods presented to the church. I’m personally familiar with Share Jesus Without Fear. I recently talked to a guy who uses the bridge diagram. There’s the way of the master. Evangelism explosion. All of these are different tools. You may be more familiar with one than another. This evening I’m going to show you what is called the three circles. I’m very fond of it because of its simplicity, but if you have another one you prefer, that’s great!
The best tool is not the newest or the fanciest or the most expensive. The best tool is the tool you use. A tool has to be used to really be useful. The elder who whittles a trinket on the front porch swing accomplishes more than the guy with a shed full of tools collecting dust.
I say that to say, I’m not ultimately concerned if you leave here today and know another gospel presentation tool. It’s my hope that you leave here today with a renewed passion for sharing the gospel with a lost a dying world.
All of these different presentation tools ultimately do the same thing. They share the gospel. Church, let’s share the gospel.
Now let me get into the specifics about the 3 circles. I want to give a brief biblical foundation for each of the parts then I’ll put it all together in a gospel presentation. At the end of our time this evening, I’m gonna ask you to do something that always gets me a sideways look. I’m gonna ask you to practice sharing the gospel with someone else at your table.
What I love about the three circles is that it works through the whole narrative of the Bible in a concise way. Let’s walk through the main points and then I’ll put it all together for us.
First let’s look at God’s good creation. Open your bibles to Genesis 1.
The Bible opens with these marvelous Words: Genesis 1:1
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
We could do an entire sermon on just this verse, but let’s just marinate on those glorious Words for a moment, “In the beginning GOD.” From before all time God is there and God is good! We find out in the rest of Scripture, that God is all sufficient with Himself. In the first chapter of Genesis we see that He is the creator from whom all blessing flow. He creates the heavens and the earth. He says, “let there be light!” and there it is! He separates the waters. He creates dry land. He produces vegetation. Makes the seasons. Creates birds and sea creatures, livestock, and beast. Our glorious God brings all things into existence and saw that it was good!
Then in verse 26, we start to see God’s good plan for humanity. In these verses that we often overlook as a distant memory from our childhood in Sunday School, we see God’s awesome plan for us. Watch how this plays out:
» Our gender identity (Genesis 1:27 - created us male and female)
27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.
» Our families (Gen. 1:28 - be fruitful and multiply)
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
» Our work life (Gen. 1:28-30; 2:15-17 - dominion over the earth and work the garden)
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” 29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you, 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
» Our rest life (Gen. 2:1-3 - He rested on the seventh day)
1 So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. 2 On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.
» Our marriages (Gen. 2:24 - leave and cleave)
24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.
God designed us for relationship with Him.
» He created us to have unbroken communion with Him (Genesis 3:8 walking in the garden looking for Adam and Eve). He “walked with us and talked with us.”
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
In the beginning it was Good and man’s relationship with God was very Good!
But, We’re obviously not living in this perfect world today.
In the United States today:
» Forty percent of children live in single-parent homes.
» One half of 1 million children have been removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect and placed
in foster care.
» An estimated 20 million people are ensnared in some kind of addiction.
» Police report over 3,000 violent crimes a day.
So what happened?
1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Adam and Eve sinned against God and through the sin of Adam all of humanity that would flow from this first couple, was separated from that direct connection and communion with God. All of the brokenness we see in the world around us connects back to this very moment. Directly after this we see the results of the Fall on full display.
Genesis 3:16–19 (CSB)
16 (SIN DISRUPTS OUR FAMILY LIFE) He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort (NOW THERE IS PAIN IN CHILDBEARING FROM BIRTH AND ONWARD THROUGH THE REST OF BRINGING UP CHILDREN). (SIN DISRUPTS OUR MARRIED LIFE) Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. 17 And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. (SIN DISRUPTS OUR WORK LIFE You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. (SIN DISRUPTS OUR PHYSICAL LIFE, we sweat, we work, and we die) For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
Adam and eve knew they had sinned from the moment they took of the fruit. “Their eyes were opened” then back in verse 7
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
They tried to hide their sin. Humans have done the same ever since. We innately know that we are living in a broken world and try to hide our sin, and justify our lives before the All Holy God.
» We do what we can to fix our own brokenness (relationships, drugs, alcohol, strive for a “better me”), but it doesn’t work. We’re never satisfied because we were designed to be in a direct relationship with God, and none of those things are adequate to fill the hole that separation from Him leaves in our hearts.
If this were the end of the story it would be a sad sad story in deed. However, one of my favorite two words are this, “But God.” It comes from Ephesians 2. I’ll come back to that verse in a moment. Right now, I just want you to know, that Sin is sad and lamentable, BUT GOD made a way out of the brokenness of sin.
Even in the fall narrative we’ve been focussing on, God promised a way out. When speaking to the tempter, satan, in the garden God said this:
15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
He promised that a man would “bruise” the enemies head. That Satan would be crushed!
Then in verse 21 God makes garments of clothes for Adam and Eve out of the skin of an animal. Blood was shed to make a covering. This is the “first gospel” It’s pointing us to God’s ultimate plan. In Jesus Christ.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God has a perfect love that is so great that He loves the unlovable creature that sins against His righteous nature. He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to live and die and rise again so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
So how do we know that we are saved? Well when we believe in the Lord Jesus, repenting of our sin and turning to Him! At my church we begin with a Children’s question. I bring all the kids up front. This past week, we went through the question, “What does it mean to repent?” My 2 and half year old be said, “Let me go!” I thought this was gonna go well… so I put the mic to his face and he said, “repent to Jesus!” He remember when we went through the question the week before and I told them that repentance is mourning our sin and turning from it and to Jesus! What we’re talking about is so simple that even a child can articulate it, but its so profound that many of the world’s brightest minds reject it. The truth is that Our sin has separated us from the Holy God. The only way we could be made right with Him is through an act of God, the cross of Jesus Christ! We turn from sin and turn to Christ! Seeing Christ as the Savior He is and desiring to follow Him!
And what happens from there?
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
The Holy Spirit indwells believers, empowering us to serve and obey God. The connection is restored! We’re reconciled back to our Creator!
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We’re made new creations in Christ! The old has passed away and the new has come! We’re now commissioned to be ambassadors, God making His appeal to the lost world through us! What an honor! What a privilege! And not only are we benefited immediately with new life and new life’s purpose in Christ, we reap eternal benefits as well! Go to the end of the book of Revelation
1 Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, 3 and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
When Jesus arose of the grave, it was the sign and seal that He truly is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the great king whom we are to gladly follow. When God’s plan for this world meets its end, we will see that the curse of sin will be dealt with and put away forever. Those who believe in Christ will enjoy God’s grace in an unmitigated way known only to Adam and Eve before the Fall. We will spend eternity with our Savior, and y’all this is good news. This is the gospel.
So now, let me show you how you can tell that 25 minute story in about two minutes using the three circles.
Our world is broken.
It wasn’t always this way.
Sin separated.
But God being rich in mercy and love provided a way to escape brokeness.
Jesus lived and died and rose again to pay the cost of the sins of whosoever believes in Him.
When we repent of our sins, see that christ paid the cost of our sins, and believe in Him, we are restored to serve, grow, and enjoy the grace of God.
Where do you see yourself in this diagram? Do you know Jesus as Lord? Or are you stuck in brokenness? If so, today is the day. Repent and believe. The kingdom of God is at hand.