Evangelism in Light of Eternity Part 1

Introduction:

The Title of the sermon to is Evangelism in light of eternity. Evangelism is a difficult topic to talk about. For most believers evangelism is hard, and scary. I want to be up front with you all from the start, I do not come to you today as a master in the area of evangelism. I find evangelism to be just as hard and scary as most do and I need this sermon this morning. While we will talk about some hard truths today I hope you will find a lot of grace as you strive to grow in this very important and needed aspect of the Christian life. As we begin lets open with a word of prayer.

Interrogative: What is Intentional Evangelism and what does it have to do with eternity?

Big Idea: Believers are to have intentional relationships for the purpose of eternal impact.

Sermon Division 2: Purposefully look for opportunities to share about God’s gift of eternal life. (John 4:7-15)

Jesus starts the Conversation: (7-9)

Verse 7: Remember Jesus is weary from his journey. He is sitting next to a deep well with nothing to draw water with and he is thirsty. So Jesus again does the unthinkable and talks to a Samaritan asking for a drink.

Verse 9: This takes the woman by surprise. She points out the relationship between Jews and Samaritans.

Jesus turns the conversation: (10-12)

Verse 10: Jesus points the woman to something bigger than a drink of water. He points to 3 things that must have this woman asking

1) What is the Gift of God?

2) Who is this man?

3) What is living water?

Verse 11 and 12: The woman focuses in on this living water and points out two observations.

1) Jesus does not have anything to draw water with

2) and the well is very deep.

This makes her ask the question: Where do you get this living water? She also starts to question who this man might be: Are you greater than our father Jacob?

Jesus explains his statement and points clearly to God’s gift. (13-15)

Verse 13 and 14: Jesus explains that everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. What he is saying is that you need something different than water, and he is talking about thirst in a metaphorical way. In verse 14 we see Jesus continue with this Gift theme. He explains that he is not actually talking about water but eternal life, that is the gift of God is eternal life and this living water is the Holy Spirit that Jesus is going to be giving soon after he ascends into heaven after his resurrection.

The woman has to work hard to get her water.

She has to walk to the well

Draw water from a deep well

Carry a heavy water jug back to her home

Just to be thirsty again and have to do it all over again

This is a beautiful parallel of what Jesus is offering

The woman cannot work for this water, it is a gift from God

This gift is not something that cannot be earned

This gift is not something that can be lost unlike the woman water which will always leave her thirsty again.

Verse 15: In this verse we see that Jesus and the woman are not on the same page. The woman is not understanding what Jesus is communicating to her. She sees an opportunity for a life of ease and materialism

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Application:

Here we saw Jesus taking the opportunity to share the Gift of eternal life with this woman. He first stated the conversation, then turned the conversation to spiritual things, and lastly explained the gift of eternal life.

First, place yourself where unbelievers are, and second look for opportunities to share the gift of eternal life. Are you looking for opportunities to share the gospel with others?

Conclusion:

Interrogative:

So lets look back to where we started. We started with a question: What is intentional evangelism and what does it have to do with eternity?

Intentional evangelism is intentionally placing yourself in places where unbelievers will be, purposefully looking for opportunities to share about God’s gift of eternal life, and carefully pointing people to their need of a savior. This has everything to do with eternity because humans are eternal: meaning all humans will spend eternity somewhere.

Big Idea:

For this reason, believers are to have intentional relationship for the purpose of eternal impact. That is why we must obey God by confidently evangelizing. And do forget to stand in awe as you behold the power of God at work through intentional evangelism.

Pray