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Chapter 1: What is the significance of John 4 in the context of evangelism?
You may take your seat in this gathering. My name is Lonnell Dawson Williams. I'm the executive pastor here at 2819 Church. Thank you. To God be the glory. Grateful to be in the room today as we continue in this amazing series. Just believing that God has something special for us on today. I really want to just jump right into the word. I don't want to waste any time.
I believe the first gathering we saw and experienced the fruit of the work. And so I just I don't want to belabor the point. I want God to be God. And so if you can and will, I want you to open up your Bibles to the book of John, the book of John, the book of John. We're going to go to chapter number four.
We're going to shout out Pastor Philip, Miss Lena, while we turn our lead pastors here in this house. Amen. He and I were texting early this morning as he was traveling, and he was just, I'm praying for you. I know God's going to do an amazing thing. And my response to him was, him we proclaim. That's it. And we just believe God has something special.
And to all of our digital disciples online, in the chat, we thank you. We appreciate you. You are a part of our family. You may be in different parts of the world, but you are still a part of this house. And so for that, we celebrate you on this morning.
And to those who are in the room who do not believe yet, I said yet, not at all, but yet, we are of the belief that you can belong before you believe. You can be in this room and learn. And when the Lord pricks your heart and you are ready to take that walk, we are here with you.
John chapter four, we're gonna actually walk through the majority of the entire chapter, but for the purposes of this reading, We are going to actually start with verse number 29 and verse 30, verse 29 and verse 30. And it reads, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? They went out of the town and were coming to him. One more time.
Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? If I could pin a title upon this message, I would call it run and tell that. Run and tell that. When I was a child, it was often that I would find myself into all types of wonderful things. I loved building Legos as a child. I remember reading Goosebump books as a child. How many people remember Goosebumps? I'm that old.
My goodness. All right. Goosebumps. I remember something called a Tamagotchi. Anybody remember Tamagotchis? My son is 10. He got a Tamagotchi for Christmas. I said, I remember this. My Tamagotchi always died for some reason, but nevertheless. But for me, one of the most exciting things that we would do is when we would have to go to the store to go shopping.
I told the story earlier in the first gathering about When I take my children shopping, but when my mama used to take me shopping, she would say the same thing that I say to my children. When I go shopping, we will pull up to the store, no matter where it was. And she would always turn around and she would look over her shoulder and she would say these words. And maybe your mama said it to you.
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Chapter 2: How does Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman illustrate the theme of shame and redemption?
I'll show it the way in which you gauge in worship. I'll show you, based on your life, what matters more, your preference or Jesus. There was a season in our hearts when we would burn for the lost.
That moment when we first came into the faith and everything was about Jesus and we had the Jesus bumper sticker and we carried our Bible everywhere and we spread the gospel to anybody who would listen. But over time, that burden, that burning heart kind of fizzled out. And now the only time when our hearts burn is when we show up late to the gathering and we have to sit in overflow. Yep.
Our hearts used to burn for the loss, but now they burn when we realize how long the line is. And so we turn back around and say, I can watch it on YouTube. Our hearts used to burn when we were online watching because we aren't close, but we knew that we had to be tuned into the proclamation. But now it burns when you see that Pastor Philip is no longer preaching in this season.
Well, you know, pastor's on sabbatical, so I'm going to be on sabbatical too, you know, you know. See, that is the problem. We have lost our burden. There was a day when we were excited to be saved. And the question is not just now, are you saved? The question is, who did your salvation send you to? And this story, I believe, will help us to really understand the power of the words come see.
Now, listen to me. You do not have to be perfect to win the loss. But somebody stays lost if you stay quiet. You get nothing else from the message. That is the thesis. And John makes that point by putting the message in unlikely hands. Not a pastor. Not a scholar, not a theologian, not somebody that is polished, not someone who is platformed or prepared.
A woman with a complicated story carrying a fresh encounter running back to the very people who knew all about her shame saying, come see a man. So before we get to Samaria, my prayer is that by the end of this message, your heart has been pricked to seek after the lost. by telling the truth of who you really are.
See, faith that still runs when it finds something good is great, but love that cannot watch people stay thirsty while you know where the water is. John, in the book of John, he is the son of Zebedee. He is the one in which Jesus loved, and he was a fisherman in one season, and he is the one who wrote in the gospel about the Christological nature of of who Christ is.
It is one of the few and only times where Jesus actually calls himself the Messiah. He's referenced in the text as such. And so this is a very peculiar message that we are being ready to read. Watch what happens in verse number three. If you open up your Bibles, it says, and he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria.
You see, that's a very interesting component because, you know, John was very intentional in his writing. That was not the only way to get from Judea to Galilee. You see, Judea is here. Samaria is here. Galilee is here. And the Jordan River along the right side of the territories. The problem is that the Jews and the Sumerians, they had an issue. There was conflict.
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Chapter 3: What lessons can we learn from the woman's transformation after meeting Jesus?
hiding place can no longer hide you because mercy has an appointment Jesus took the road everybody avoided he entered the region that everybody despised and set at a well to wait and here it is a woman at the well who thought she was coming for water and Jesus knew that she was coming for salvation see she came to the well for water But heaven knew that she was thirsty for a rescue.
Could it be that the place people avoid may be the very place that Jesus appoints? You see, your shame may know where to find you, but so does Jesus. See, some of us thought that the place of our shame was proof God had left us. Yeah, can I ask you something? What if the place we thought disqualified us was the place that Jesus chose for the meeting? All right, that's okay, that's okay.
Not the cleaned up version of our lives. The messed up version. The one we don't like to tell people about. The one that we write in our journal and lock away and hope nobody reads. The one that we put in the closet and lock at the door. The real us. The trifling us. The cussing us. Okay, so y'all don't cuss. All right, that's fine. The well. The place shame used as evidence against her.
And Jesus turned that evidence into the moment of his pursuit. So let's look at the text. Let's look at the text. The text says this. It says, in the sixth hour. My goodness. My goodness. In the sixth hour. That's noon. That's 12 o'clock. That's not a normal hour to draw water. You drew water either in the beginning of the day when it's cool or in the evening when it's cool.
Because at 12 o'clock, you would be there by yourself. Normally, women gather together in the morning and the evening. You take up the water from the well, you carry it back to your home, you drink it, and then by the end of the day, you go back and you get the rest. This is the thing. Why would she go to the well at 12 o'clock? The woman potentially was organizing her entire day to avoid people.
Yeah. See, when you have been hurt long enough, you build a life around isolation. You move at the safest hour. You take the quietest route. You're late, but you leave out early. See, near people without ever being known by people. See, you can be surrounded by people and still be hiding. Shame does not always look like rebellion. Sometimes shame looks like scheduling.
avoidance is what people call wisdom when it has not been healed yet and see avoidance may protect you from people but it also can imprison you from your purpose all right and some of us have learned how to do church the same way you're you arrive just late enough so nobody can talk to you You get out early just enough so nobody can touch you. Avoiding the chat online.
You go to overflow on purpose so you don't have to be in the room. You take a safe distance. You say stuff like, I live 20 minutes away. So, you know, it's raining. So I'm just watching online. I live in Union City and I'm a digital disciple. No, you just at home. Now you'll drive an hour and a half to get to a football game, but you refuse to Oh, okay, that's not y'all.
Praise God for you being in the room. But for y'all online, now you live up the street. You right across the street from Greenbrier talking about I can't make it. Come on. Now watch this. I'm not minimizing what happened to her. But watch this. Shame does not just wound you. Shame starts managing you. When you leave the house, who to avoid? Which room should I go into?
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Chapter 4: Why is urgency in sharing the Gospel emphasized in this message?
Give me that Jesus. But we love the blessing Jesus until Jesus becomes the surgeon Jesus. Everybody wants the gift until he puts his finger in the wound. Everybody wants living water until he says, go call your husband. Yeah, yeah. See, grace will hold you, but grace will never lie to you. Jesus loves you too much to hydrate a lie. So she reaches for water and he reaches for the truth.
He's not asking because he lacks information. He is cognizant enough to know that she actually has had more husbands than that. He's seeking out her honesty. He already knew the five husbands that she had had. He already knew that the man she was with right now, this is not an interrogation. It was an invitation. Living water brings the hidden places out to light.
And some of us want Jesus to fill our bucket while we keep editing the story. See, we want the gift, but we don't want the truth. We want the relief, but we don't want the honesty. Jesus loves you too much to bless the edited version of your life. See, some of us don't want to tell the truth and shame the devil, as my grandmama used to say.
We don't want to tell who we really are, what we've really done, who we have really been around. But the truth shall set you free. Look at verse number 17. The woman answered him, I have no husband. She said, wait a minute. So he brings her to the one sentence she can finally tell the truth about. I have no husband. And watch the mercy. He does not crush her with the truth. He meets her in it.
He says, you're right. You don't. One honest sentence in the presence of Jesus can become the doorway to a new life. Look what he says. He says, for you have five husbands. And the one you with now is not even your husband. What you have said is very true. Now, slow down. Wait a second now. I've been reading this text my whole life. And I'm like, wait a minute. Five husbands. See, naturally.
We assume, based on our own cultural context, that that means she had five affairs. The text never says that. The text gives us no permission to turn her into a punching bag, nor to scandalize her story. What if five husbands meant five funerals? What if five husbands meant five moments of abandonment? Because in that time, a woman could not leave a man. The man had to leave the woman.
Five times, somebody walked away. See, the town counted her husbands, and Jesus counted her wounds. See, we know enough to know her life was broken, but not enough to pretend like we knew her. And isn't it like people to know just enough about your story to judge you, but not enough to understand what happened to you? And that's why you can't judge people's praise.
Because you don't know the hell it took to even walk into these doors. You don't know what they've been through, what their week looked like, the arguments that they had, the depression that they had to fight, the moments of suicide, the baby daddies and baby mamas, husbands and wives and cousins, money challenges, life challenges, the fact that they are in the room.
Got a tear coming down their eyes. It's enough. See, people often know your facts, but do not understand your fractures. See, a fracture is a very small, small break. Oftentimes, people with fractures don't even have to wear a cast, but that does not mean it doesn't hurt. That's another sermon for another time. But Jesus does, and that's the point. The town knew enough to whisper about her,
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Chapter 5: How does the speaker illustrate the importance of personal testimony in evangelism?
Five husbands was not a verdict. It was a diagnosis. And the patient who walks out healed becomes the loudest voice in the waiting room. Y'all missed it. That's okay. That's okay. So watch this. Verse number 28 and 29. So the woman left her water jar and went away in the town and said to the people, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? This is so amazing.
Did you see what she says? She left her water jar. The jar was the whole reason for her to be there at noon. Her routine proved that she came empty. And John says that she left it. But why did she leave it? Because she came carrying a jar, but she left carrying a witness. See, the jar stayed because the thirst changed. Some things only have power because you still thirsty. The woman changed.
She came with a container and left with a calling. She came with shame and she left with a shout. She came alone and went back to be a witness. Isn't that how salvation works? See, you came in this church one way. But you left out another way. You came in with carrying sin. And now you walk out professing and proclaiming that he died on the cross for your sins.
She didn't drop the jar because she forgot it. She dropped the jar because she outgrew it. See, when and if you have an authentic encounter with Jesus, there are some things you just got to drop them. And watch this. Watch where she runs. The woman who came to avoid the town now runs right back into it. I mean, this is interesting. Listen to what she says.
Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? Come see. Not a sermon. Not an argument. See, evangelism is not making yourself impressive. It's making Jesus visible. Not a doctrine. She had down cold an invitation built on the one life she had. It became a door and it was not a debate. And look at what she leads with. Not the miracle, not his teaching.
The very thing she came at noon to hide. He told me everything I ever did. She points people to him using the thing that she was hiding. She did not wait for a new life to witness. I'm coming down your street. Just wait one second. I'm coming. I'm coming. She witnessed from the old one. Some of us have been waiting for a testimony that sounds cleaner.
But God may want to use the one that still has smoke on it. The thing you're trying to hide may be the very thing God wants to turn into a doorway for somebody else. See, you used to be toe up from the flow up. Now you saved. You used to be pretentious and now you're reserved. You used to cuss up a storm and now you pray down heaven. See, she did not get a new platform.
She redirected the one she already had. And look at how it ends. Can this be the Christ? A question, not a statement. She still didn't have the right answer. She had an encounter, not a sermon, not a story, a person to point to. And that was enough for an open door. She dropped the jar that carried her shame.
And some of us are still carrying ours, hoping that Jesus would touch you, but not send you. Feel you, but not make you visible. But what if the thing he healed in private is the very thing he wants to use in public? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And hear me. You have been doing this longer than you can think. You are not deciding whether to witness. You are deciding what to witness for.
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Chapter 6: What challenges do people face in sharing their faith with others?
It's not. Nobody asked you to close the deal. They asked you to open the door. Stop trying to save them. He saves, you point. You are the cup. You were never meant to be the cure. Your job is to carry the water to the thirsty. It was never your job to be the water. You ain't got to be impressive. You don't have to be brilliant. You don't have to know the Nicene Creed.
You don't have to know the Apostles Creed. You don't need to know eschatology or numerology. The only thing you have to do is say, come see a man. Just carry what you have received. See, cups do not heal anyone, but cups make the water available. See, here's the thing. You bring the invitation and Jesus does the work. Open your mouth. He opens their heart.
You point to the well and he makes the spring. And evangelism is not just you doing God's job. It is you joining with what the spirit is already doing. You got to get that weight off your back. Now he came looking and she was met. And they did it for themselves. You do not find him in a vacuum. You yourselves were changed because somebody said to you, come see.
A grandmother, a mother, a friend, a cousin. You saw something on social media, maybe on YouTube or Instagram, and immediately your heart was pricked. And you said, I want to see for myself what it is that God is doing. Can I be honest with y'all about something? Me personally, I like to eat. Thank you. I do. I like to eat, but I also love to cook.
If you've ever had my double-crusted sloppy on my own peach cobbler, you would understand why I say that. Yes, I'm serious. It's amazing. I can't give you that. Somebody got my phone number. I said, what in the world? How do you get my number? Anyway, but this is the thing. Recently, I was on TikTok and a young lady, she was online and she talked about a restaurant that was near the office.
And so I was like, okay, cool. And she opened up the plate. She was like, oh, look at this. This is the turkey wings and the ribs. And I was like, yo, this looks good. And by the end of the video, she like, you know how you have the plastic fork? It was like bit, like she bit into the fork. I mean, that's how... I'm serious. Like, and I'm going to put the video up on my social media.
Y'all going to see it for yourself. I was like, oh my gosh, like that looks good. And I was like, I'm going to share this with the team. So I shared it with a few of the staff members and I was like, you know what? And they only open like went Thursday through Sunday. So I was like, oh yeah, we're going to go there. It's Thursday. I'm going today.
So I went for myself and I ordered the food and it was crazy because the food looked exactly like the video. You know what I'm saying? You know, like sometimes you see commercials and the burger don't look like the burger when you get it. Y'all know what I'm talking about. But the ribs look like the ribs, right? And they taste so good. I mean, they was so good. And I got the peach cobbler.
It wasn't as good as my peach cobbler, but I got the peach cobbler. No, because if you go and it's nasty, I don't want you calling me. But I got the mac and cheese. I got the collard greens. I saw somebody get rib tips. Somebody got the turkey wings that we got. Everything it was so good and the minute we was done man.
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Chapter 7: How can we overcome our fears and insecurities when inviting others to church?
It was not based on the love that I have for him and what he did for me. Right? So in theological language, there was this almost shift in culture where we went from hell and damnation to prosperity. So now Jesus is going to pay my rent. He's going to give me everything I want. Just reach up and grab it. But then we forgot that when this life is over,
There is another part to this story that the Bible is real. The revelation is real. The Bible says that the dead in Christ arise and those who are behind him as he rides on his horse will come back and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. And that those who do not believe will throw and be thrown into the lake of fire for eternal damnation.
I know you care about the person with your last name, but do you care about the person walking down the street? Does your heart break the person who doesn't even realize that they're lost? I mean, truly, does your heart break for them? Or is it just, I made it. It's all that matters. Why aren't you inviting them to church? I mean, you come.
Some of you have room in your car and refuse to pick up the phone. There is literally somebody's name in your phone right now that's going to hell. Matter of fact, pull your phone out. Pull it out. Now, if you don't want to, you don't have to, but pull it out. Go to your contacts. I'm praying for all the green bubbles, but go to your contacts. Real quick, go to your contacts.
And just scroll through your contacts. I see a name, just one name. And begin to count how many of them that you know for a fact don't know Jesus. You're willing to carry them around in your pocket, but refuse to introduce them to the king. 10, 20, 30, homegirls and homeboys, cousins and friends, parents. You have them literally in your phone and you won't even say, come see me.
Come see a man that changed my life. And maybe everybody on your phone is saved. Maybe your whole iPhone or Android phone is just anointed with God's anointed grace. But there are billions of people in the world who don't know Jesus. And if you don't believe me, watch this.
Do you believe in Jesus Christ by any chance? Uh, nope. He and I cut it a long time ago. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Are you recording right now? Yeah, I'm going around asking people if they believe in Jesus. We have to tell you if you stop recording. Okay. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? So I used to be a big church person. Just recently, I don't know anymore. I don't know. Yeah.
I just, I don't know what to believe, honestly. Do you guys believe in Jesus? It's a very complicated question. I don't plan on answering it. Do you guys believe in Jesus? Oddly enough, yes. Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you guys believe in Jesus Christ? No. No? Do you guys believe in Jesus? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? No.
Do you guys believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? No. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you guys believe in Jesus? No. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? No. Do you guys believe in Jesus Christ? I actually do not. Excuse me. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you guys believe in Jesus Christ? Yes, I do. You do?
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Chapter 8: What steps should we take to actively engage in evangelism in our communities?
to experience his grace and his mercy and his love for you to say and recognize that he died on the cross for your sins, that he has come and that he will return and that you do no longer want to have this lack of assurance, but you want blessings and assurance that Jesus is yours.
If you know for a fact that you are a sinner that is saved by grace, still being worked out, still being perfected, but you say, Lord, I no longer want to run. I want to follow you. If I'm talking to you, raise your hand right now. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. I see you. God bless you. I see you. I see you. I see you. God bless you. Hallelujah.
The Bible says that just in one, the angels rejoice. So we had more than one. So heaven is rejoicing and so should you. Listen, I want to give you some clear instructions, and I want to make sure we do this. After every single gathering, if you have just been pricked by your heart to say, I want to know more, there's a tent right outside of this door. It's a black tent. You can go right up to it.
You'll get a Bible. You'll get a bag with instructions and directions on what to do next. The goal is for you to keep coming back. Six months. That's all it takes. You give Jesus six months, and I promise you, your life will change. It will not be perfect, but it will be better. You walk out that tent, you go right to that black tent, you get the information that you need.
And from there, I want to see you next Sunday. I want this whole church to be filled from room to room, pew to pew, seat to seat, not because we want butts in the seat, but because we want people in heaven. If you've been blessed by the word, put your hands together.
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