rEBOUND
tOP & bottom circles
Top & Bottom circles
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, at the moment you believed, you became part of God’s family. Just like you cannot change the family of your physical birth, you cannot change or remove yourself from the family of your spiritual birth. Once a child of God, always a child of God. You’re in God’s family forever.
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
To understand this more clearly, look at the circle in the upper corner near the cross. This is a picture of your forever, eternal relationship with God. It began the moment you believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior. We can never get out of the top circle. That circle is a picture of God’s guarantee that all believers will someday go to heaven and live forever with Him.
Romans 8:38-39
2 Timothy 2:13
John 10:28;
Top & Bottom circles
But right now, until God takes us home to heaven, we still live on earth. We remain here so that we can demonstrate God’s grace to others and live in a way that glorifies Him.
To grow up as Christians who please God, we need to stay close to Him, in fellowship with Him. When we’re in fellowship with God, it’s like being in His close company. We can learn about Him from His Word, talk to Him in prayer, and trust in Him in every part of our lives.
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
That everyday relationship we have with God can be shown with another circle in our illustration. This is the fellowship or bottom circle.
FELLOWSHIP
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
Now let’s look at the two circles more closely. There’s only one way into God’s family, the top circle. That way is the cross, where Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we walk through the cross and into the doorway of God’s family, the top circle. The door shuts behind us! We can never get out.
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
God’s fellowship circle is different. Once we’re in, that doorway stays open and we can come back out. When we choose to sin—in other words, when we disobey God’s Word in thoughts, words, or actions—we fall out of that bottom circle. We leave the peaceful company and fellowship of God. We cannot pray effectively or apply the doctrines we’ve learned. We feel unsettled, alone and confused, maybe guilty, sad, or just plain awful.
SIN
FELLOWSHIP
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
FELLOWSHIP
Don’t worry, though. God wants us to come back into His fellowship quickly. Just as God provided our way into the top circle, He also gives us a way to get back into our everyday relationship with Him. Jesus Christ already paid for all our sins on the cross, so God says we can come right back in if we confess our sins. That means we tell Him—not anyone else—what sins we committed that took us out of fellowship. Then right away, we go back into the bottom circle—we’re back in fellowship with God
SIN
1 John 1:9
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
FELLOWSHIP
“If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
See? If we do our part, God does His. It’s that simple! If we name our sins privately to God the Father, He forgives the sins we name and even cleanses us from the sins we’ve forgotten or were not aware of.
SIN
1 John 1:9
Top & Bottom circles
Here’s an easy way to think of it:
As soon as we confess our sins to God the Father, we bounce right back into that bottom circle. It’s like a ball that gets thrown out of bounds then bounces back in. It rebounds back where we want it to be.
Top & Bottom circles
You probably remember by now that nothing can be added to faith in Christ for salvation. In the same way, nothing can be added to rebound for forgiveness of the sins we commit after we’re saved.
Believe in Jesus Christ +
Works Penance Feeling sorry for sins Being good
= Salvation
Rebound +
Works Penance Feeling sorry for sins Being good
= Forgiveness
Top & Bottom circles
And in case you’re wondering, God did not create this simple grace process so that we can get away with sinning as much as we want to. Rather, God created it so that we can get right back on track and keep growing up as Christians.
Remember!
No matter how badly we screw up,
no matter how many times we commit that same annoying sin, if we confess our failure to God, He brings us right back into fellowship with Him.
So if you fall out of the bottom circle, tell God what you did. You’ll rebound back into the circle where you can move forward in your everyday relationship with God.
YOU MADE IT!
LEsson Complete!
Rebound - Top & Bottom - Junior
R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries
Created on January 16, 2024
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Transcript
rEBOUND
tOP & bottom circles
Top & Bottom circles
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, at the moment you believed, you became part of God’s family. Just like you cannot change the family of your physical birth, you cannot change or remove yourself from the family of your spiritual birth. Once a child of God, always a child of God. You’re in God’s family forever.
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
To understand this more clearly, look at the circle in the upper corner near the cross. This is a picture of your forever, eternal relationship with God. It began the moment you believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior. We can never get out of the top circle. That circle is a picture of God’s guarantee that all believers will someday go to heaven and live forever with Him.
Romans 8:38-39
2 Timothy 2:13
John 10:28;
Top & Bottom circles
But right now, until God takes us home to heaven, we still live on earth. We remain here so that we can demonstrate God’s grace to others and live in a way that glorifies Him. To grow up as Christians who please God, we need to stay close to Him, in fellowship with Him. When we’re in fellowship with God, it’s like being in His close company. We can learn about Him from His Word, talk to Him in prayer, and trust in Him in every part of our lives.
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
That everyday relationship we have with God can be shown with another circle in our illustration. This is the fellowship or bottom circle.
FELLOWSHIP
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
Now let’s look at the two circles more closely. There’s only one way into God’s family, the top circle. That way is the cross, where Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we walk through the cross and into the doorway of God’s family, the top circle. The door shuts behind us! We can never get out.
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
God’s fellowship circle is different. Once we’re in, that doorway stays open and we can come back out. When we choose to sin—in other words, when we disobey God’s Word in thoughts, words, or actions—we fall out of that bottom circle. We leave the peaceful company and fellowship of God. We cannot pray effectively or apply the doctrines we’ve learned. We feel unsettled, alone and confused, maybe guilty, sad, or just plain awful.
SIN
FELLOWSHIP
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
FELLOWSHIP
Don’t worry, though. God wants us to come back into His fellowship quickly. Just as God provided our way into the top circle, He also gives us a way to get back into our everyday relationship with Him. Jesus Christ already paid for all our sins on the cross, so God says we can come right back in if we confess our sins. That means we tell Him—not anyone else—what sins we committed that took us out of fellowship. Then right away, we go back into the bottom circle—we’re back in fellowship with God
SIN
1 John 1:9
Top & Bottom circles
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP
FELLOWSHIP
“If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
See? If we do our part, God does His. It’s that simple! If we name our sins privately to God the Father, He forgives the sins we name and even cleanses us from the sins we’ve forgotten or were not aware of.
SIN
1 John 1:9
Top & Bottom circles
Here’s an easy way to think of it:
As soon as we confess our sins to God the Father, we bounce right back into that bottom circle. It’s like a ball that gets thrown out of bounds then bounces back in. It rebounds back where we want it to be.
Top & Bottom circles
You probably remember by now that nothing can be added to faith in Christ for salvation. In the same way, nothing can be added to rebound for forgiveness of the sins we commit after we’re saved.
Believe in Jesus Christ +
Works Penance Feeling sorry for sins Being good
= Salvation
Rebound +
Works Penance Feeling sorry for sins Being good
= Forgiveness
Top & Bottom circles
And in case you’re wondering, God did not create this simple grace process so that we can get away with sinning as much as we want to. Rather, God created it so that we can get right back on track and keep growing up as Christians.
Remember!
No matter how badly we screw up,
no matter how many times we commit that same annoying sin, if we confess our failure to God, He brings us right back into fellowship with Him. So if you fall out of the bottom circle, tell God what you did. You’ll rebound back into the circle where you can move forward in your everyday relationship with God.
YOU MADE IT!
LEsson Complete!