By: Pastor Ty Houghtaling

We can all agree that the world at times seems pretty broken. What broke the world? People. People lie, cheat, and steal. People can be so self-centered. Christians, we know that people are flawed. We have come to believe that we are all born with a sin nature; a nature bent towards rebellion and self-seeking.

God has given us a choice; we can either pursue our self-interests or pursue His design. Christians we know that when people depart from God’s design for their lives, they will always end up in a place of brokenness. Once there in the broken place they obviously try to escape. Maybe they try to start over with a new relationship or they try and numb their pain with alcohol or drugs, or maybe they just “white knuckle it” and “try harder” but none of these attempts seem to bring much peace. At this point they might ask themselves, “is there any way out of my pain and confusion?”

Thankfully God has made a way out of brokenness. He has provided Jesus as “The Way”. The Christian knows this, but our non-believing friends and neighbors do not believe this powerful truth. That’s where we come in, we can offer them an alternative to the cycle of running from God and ending up in disillusionment. We can point them to the good news. Below is a diagram of the three circles evangelism strategy. It has some scripture references to help walk a person through the process of finding a way out of sin. It isn’t a perfect tool but a helpful one in explaining how sin has broken the world and how Jesus can save us and give us a better way to live and to pursue God.

Ty Houghtaling is the Pastor at the First Baptist Church in Artesia