Life doesn't work when we ignore God and His orginal design and purpose for our lives. We selfishly do things our own way. The Bible calls this sin. We sin and distort the original design. The consequence of our sin is separation from God- in this life and for all eternity.

"All have sinned and falll short of theh glory of God." -Romans 3:23

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

Sin leads to a place of brokenness. We see this all around us in our own lives as well. When we realize life is not working, we begin to look for a way ouut. We tend to go in many directions trying different things to figure it out on our own. Brokenness lleads to a place of realizing a need for something greater.

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

At this point, we need a remedy-some good news. Because of HHis love, God did not leave us in our brokenness. Jesus, God in human fleshh, came to us and lived perfectly according to God's design. Jesus did not sin. 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 HHis death. Jesus was then raised from teh dead- to provie the only way for us to be rescued and restored to a relationship with God.

"For God loved teh 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

Simply hearing this Good News is not enough! We must admit our sinful brokenness and stop trusting in ourselves. We don't have the power to escape this brokenness on our own. We need to be rescued. We must ask God to forgive us- turning from sin to trust only in Jesus. This is what it means to repent and believe. Believing, we receive new life through Jesus and God turns our lilves in a new direction.

"Repent and believe in the good news." -Mark 1:15b

"For you are saved by grace through faith, and thihs is not from yourselves, it is God's gift- not from works, so that no one can boast." -Ephesians 2:8-9

When God restores our relationship to 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.

"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 thaht we should walk in them." -Ephesians 2:10

Now that you have heard this 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 is because of my sin- 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.

"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 whoh calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." -Romans 10:13