Sermon Tone Analysis

Intentional

Jesus was very intentional in the things he did.

John was very intentional in the things he wrote, recorded about what Jesus said and did.

In this chapter, this is part I and we will focus on setting the stage so you can see the intentionality John used to make some important points about personal evangelism.

According to Mt28:19, we are all to evangelize

Mt28:19 “19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”

Another example is seen in 1Pt2:9

Now in honesty, most people feel awkward, uncomfortable in trying to share the Good News with others

Or, maybe struggle with how to establish connections, contacts to share the good news with.

This chapter is all about some great lessons on personal evangelism, all from Jesus the master teacher.

In this chapter we will see seven principles for personal evangelism, and some other things along the way.

Tonight we will look at a portion of the passage, really setting the stage for Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

So, get engaged with God’s word with me and lets glean,learn, discover together some tools that may help us.

Setting the text

We have been at this awhile, we look and glean from the text, discuss the text, then we break down the text, so let’s start by looking at the text.

What do you notice, see in this passage?

Are there any words that need to be defined?

Can you answer the who, what, where, why and how questions?

Now, together let’s glean from the text and see if some of those questions are answered.

Why did Jesus leave Judea (vv.1-2)?

You have to make an assumption here, it is not clearly stated, the the setting is.

Where did Jesus go, and how did he decide to go (vv.3-4)?

He was going to Galilee

He went through Samaria to get there.

Is there any significance to the place Jesus stopped (vv.5-6)?

He was wearied from the journey and stopped at the place of Jacobs well.

Who is now introduced to the picture at the well (v.7)?

A woman of Samaria

What opportunity arose in (v.9)?

She asked Jesus a question, so it opened the door for dialog with her.

(Transition) Now for us to understand more of this portion of scripture we need the back story, the history, the setting so now we will look at that.

The backstory, the history

Oftentimes when we are told a story it makes perfect sense to the storyteller but the recipient may not get everything unless it is explained out to them.

So a historical look at the backstory on this will help us.

(Insert Map of Palestine picture here)

Palestine stretches 120 miles long from North to south.

There are three distinct sections within the territory

Judea to the extreme south

Galilee to the extreme north

Samaria in between them.

Jesus is leaving the south to go to the home base for him, Galilee.

He is leaving for He did not want there to be a conflict with the Pharisee’s over baptism.

See John and Jesus (well his disciples according to v.2) were both baptizing.

(Insert Routes to Galilee picture here)

Leaving Judea there were three routes to get to Galilee.

Two of them avoided going through Samaria.

The coastal route

The Eastern on the other side of Jordan

The Samarian route

There was a long standing feud between the Jews and the Samaritans (about 727 B.C.)

The 10 northern tribes were taken into captivity by the Assyrians and what was left inter-mixed with the others that were planted in Palestine.

The Jews were no longer pure and the Samaritans came into being and the problems started when the Jews return from captivity .

Jews would not interact or even talk to Samaritans and would go around Samaria via the coastal route or the Eastern route on other side of the Jordan.

Just outside of Sychar was the place of Jacob’s well-19, (Gen33:18, 48:22; Josh24:32)

Jacob bought the land for the well (Gen33:18-19)

Jacob bequeathed it to Joseph (Gen48:22)

Joseph upon his death was taken back from Egypt and buried there (Jos24:32)

Jesus was on a divine timetable and expediency was what was needed, the most direct path was through Samaria

The divine timetable was to set for a divine appointment with an unlikely person (Samaritan woman) at an unlikely time (12:00; not normal time to draw water) and unlikely place (at a well that was 1/2 mile from her home where she could have gotten water closer).

Jesus was no respecter of persons.

He previously met with a religious, moral Jew, now he is going to meet with an immoral Samaritan woman.

(Transition) as we work through this chapter (vv1.26) in several weeks, notice the how things change with the woman, how Jesus evangelism changes her and how her change impacted others.

Now, may we look at personal evangelism from what we have in our passage already?

Jesus and personal evangelism

We need to connect/contact people socially.

(Jn4;7; Lk5:29-32)

Look at Jn4:7 “7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water.

Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.””

look at this

When the church is not growing, when people are not coming to Christ it is oftentimes because we are not going to the people.

We cannot sow seed from within the church (barn), it is sown outside of the building and watered oftentimes within the building and the home.

Hag2:19 “19 ‘Is the seed still in the barn?

Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit.

Yet from this day on I will bless you.’

”” - Let’s take the seed and scatter it in our community, but it takes lot’s of sowers to do it.

We need to connect/contact people socially.

(Jn4;7; Lk5:29-32)

Don’t confuse separation with isolation (2Cor6:14-18; Jn17:15; 1Cor5:9-11)

Of course we are not to hang out with immoral people, we are called to be separate

This does not mean that we isolate ourselves from them, for we cannot impact them if we never interact with them.

Think about Christ’s prayer to the Father

or later the words of Paul

1COr5:9-11 “9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.

11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.”

If we withdraw from the world we cannot impact the world for Jesus.

We need to be ready to share the Good News, the Gospel and fulfill the command of God to “go unto all the world.”

(see Mt28:19).

We need to connect/contact people socially.

(Jn4;7; Lk5:29-32)

Don’t confuse separation with isolation (2Cor6:14-18; Jn17:15; 1Cor5:9-11)

Look for opportunities for social contact (Mk16:15)

Where do you think you can look for opportunities for social contact?

Community centers

Schools

Work

Neighbors

Even at home with friends and family

Some who are closest to us may be the hardest to reach, but are reachable

Mt13:54-58 “54 He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?

55 “Is not this the carpenter’s son?