Three Circles Evangelism - Session 2

Let's go.

Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Jesus is with the woman at the well, and so I just want to read that entire account, John chapter 4, verse 1, and then we'll go through 39.

Now, when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

And he had to pass through Samaria, so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well, and it was about the sixth hour.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?

For Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.

Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here. The woman answered and said to him, I have no husband.

Jesus said to her, you are right in saying I have no husband, for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true. The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father.

You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such people to worship him.

God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things.

Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, what do you seek or why are you talking with her?

So the woman left her water jar and went away into the town and said to the people, 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.

Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat?

And Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say there are yet four months, then comes the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.

Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, one sows and another reaps.

I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored and you have entered into their labor. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony.

He told him, told me, all that I ever did. So this woman was broken by sin.

And she was far from God. She was a social outcast. And we get those clues from the fact of the time of day where she came to the well, where she lived, and how there were closer water sources.

This woman was getting away from people who knew the truth about her. So she went to draw water at a time where the sun was at its peak, where it was at its hottest, when the women who would be gathering water would have already come in the morning or maybe later on in the evening.

So she's avoiding interaction with people because of the sin that she's been involved with in her life. And so she's an outcast.

And not only that, again, she's going to a water source that is farther away from the nearest one to where she lives. And so she's a social outcast because of the sin that she's committed.

And she's a social outcast because of the sin that she's currently living in. Remember, Jesus said, you're right. You're living with a man who's not even your husband. And so we've got to keep in mind that that is still, even in today's day and age, is still taboo.

Not quite as much as it used to be. But now you've got to go back 2,000 years. Do we understand how taboo that was back in this culture? This woman was living in sin.

And she was an undesirable person for the religious leaders. She was not the type of person that they would look to convert because she was so broken and defiled by sin.

At least that's how people viewed her. What's interesting is Jesus' interaction with her. He gets right to the point. He doesn't, you know, fiddle around.

He doesn't beat around the bush. He gets right to the issue that she's suffering with, the sin that she's involved with. And notice that he didn't offer her relationship advice.

Right? It's like, hey, you know what? Maybe you're so bad with men because you, I don't know. You're not a, I don't know. I don't even want to, you're not a very good cook or something like that. I don't know.

But he's not offering her relationship advice. Right? He knows that that's not really her issue. He didn't give her the name of some therapist in town who she could talk to about her problems.

Nor did he offer some kind of self-help book that, you know, hey, just read this book and maybe it'll help you get back on track with your life. He said that the solution to her sin was himself.

He called out her sin. He pointed out her brokenness. And he offered her the solution, which was himself. So let's review before we continue on.

Again, remember, last week we talked about God's design. That God created us and that God loves us. God designed the world and he designed everything that is in it in the entire universe.

He created everything as it was meant to be and he declared that it was good. He created human beings in his image, the pinnacle of his creation, and he called human beings.

Very good. God created us and he loves us. Then, secondly, we saw that God has a design for every aspect of our lives.

He has a design for our gender identity, which comes from Genesis 1, 27, where it says that he created them male and female. He has a design for our families.

Again, this is all in Genesis. Verse 128, he commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Still the same for us today.

He had this design for our work life that we weren't created to do nothing, but that we were created to work.

And man enjoyed his work at that point in time. He had a design for our marriages in Genesis 2, 24, right? Leave and cleave. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and he shall cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

He had a design for our marriages and God had a design for our relationship with him. But sin has broken all of those good things that God had designed and he designed them to be good.

And so this week we're going to look at a place we all know very well, a place that we called brokenness. We live in a broken world, if you hadn't realized that.

We live in a broken world, not just a broken nation, a broken world. But let me read you some statistics about the United States today.

40% of children in the United States live in a single parent home. A half a million children have been removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect and have been placed in foster care.

An estimated 20 million people are ensnared in some kind of an addiction. Police report over 3,000 violent crimes a day. That sounds kind of small to me, is it about right?

3,000 though is still a lot. Violent crimes a day. Not only are things broken, but college students are being taught that things should be broken.

Which is interesting. Have you guys heard of post-modern theology, philosophy, excuse me? Post-modernism is the school of thought today in your major universities.

And what they are teaching is basically the deconstruction of society as we know it. There is a guy named Jacques Derrida. And basically his point was that we need to get rid of all of these social structures as we know them.

So if you have noticed today that there is a lot of hatred or animosity towards straight white males.

And so Jacques Derrida, who was, I don't know if he was, I don't know. He was white and he was a male, but he was a French philosopher. And he was saying basically all the social structures that you have in the West are there to support the power of the straight white man.

And so he's saying that, you know, those are all in place because whoever has the power is the one who develops, you know, these marriage the way they are, gender the way it is, religion even.

And it all goes to support those who are in control and in power. So what he was saying is we need to deconstruct all of that. That all needs to be broken down.

So then you can, you know, have what you have today. Even truth, right? Truth as you know it is now relative. Whatever is true for you doesn't have to be true for anybody else. And who are you to say that somebody else's truth is not the truth?

Are you confused yet? This stuff is crazy. It's, this is the reprobate mind as we know it. And so that's what we're seeing a lot today is this deconstruction in our society of marriage.

Right? Between a man and a woman. I have a lot of friends from high school and some from college and they're not married because they're, you know, my age 35 and they're living like teenagers still.

They don't want that responsibility. They don't see the importance of having a spouse or having children of their own. They don't want that responsibility. But we see the attack on marriage.

We see the attack on families. The family structure. And I point out a lot. If you watch TV, if you watch sitcoms, who is the dumbest person in the house? The dad.

The dad is the fool. The mom is the boss. Right? She's the tough one. And the kids are the ones who are really running everything. It's sort of how they portray the family.

And that's tragic. I think that that's sad because it should not be the case as the way that God has designed the family with each of the roles given within the household.

Mutual submission in the household. And so we see the deconstruction of that. We see the deconstruction of gender. But now they are saying, according to this postmodern thought, that you are born and you can be whatever you are.

Or who's to say? Just because you're born biologically a male doesn't mean that you are truly a male. And so it's craziness.

I remember when we had Hazel and we went to the sonogram where you can see the gender of the baby. And the doctor told us that we were having a girl and we were excited.

And then afterwards, you know, as we were driving home in the car, it's like, well, how does she know that she's a girl? You know, according to the thought of the day, it's just nuts. And so we see that.

Deconstruction of gender and then deconstruction of the truth. That there is no absolute truth. That we must get rid of all social constructs.

And so have you guys ever heard of a man named Todd Friel? He does a radio program and a show, Wretched. And he'll go and he'll talk to students a lot of times on campuses.

And I watched one with him where he was talking to a girl who had, she was real nice. A very polite person, but she had this stuff indoctrinated into her.

And so, you know, he's talking to her about truth. You know, don't we agree that two plus two is four and not 17? Well, yeah. And so we're then she's trying to bring that into like, well, what do you believe?

Well, what if I want to worship this bicycle? And and that happened to be in the background. And in my view of heaven is that I ride around in this bicycle in beautiful parks all all the rest of my eternity.

Is that right or wrong? And she basically was like, well, if that's what you want to believe, then who am I to tell you otherwise? And so it's just a bunch of craziness.

But it adds to the fact that things are so broken in our world. And here's the thing. Yes, we do not by any means live in a utopia.

But I think that we're doing pretty well as a society, as a culture compared to the rest of the world. We know that God has the design for each and every one of our lives.

God's design tells us. The Bible tells us that God has a design, but it's we, it's us, mankind, who chooses to depart from that design as a result of sin.

We choose to depart from God's design. And this has been true from the very beginning. Adam and Eve, though they knew better, sinned against God.

Remember when Satan came to them in the form of a serpent? And wasn't he basically doing kind of like postmodernism with them? Did God really say that? Is that really true? You know, could it be something else?

And so he's doing the same, he's playing the same game with them. The Bible, word for departing from God's design and going our own way is sin.

And sin is something that all of us do. Let's look at a couple of scriptures. Isaiah 53, 6. All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Romans 3, 23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

So sin is an issue that all of us have. We depart from God's design. And when we do that, it always leads to brokenness.

Sin always leads to brokenness. We know when our communion with God is broken because it feels like fear. It feels like shame. It feels like guilt. It feels like loneliness.

And so when we're feeling that way, what do we do? We hide from God. This is what Adam and Eve did, right? They had sinned. They were broken.

And as a result of that brokenness from their sin, they felt fear. They felt shame. They felt guilt. They felt lonely. And so when God came, they hid from him.

And so their sin broke that fellowship that they had with God. It's we who have sinned against God. It's humanity that has rejected its creator.

As I was thinking about this, it reminded me of a teenager we had in our youth group quite a while ago.

And he was from a pretty rough background. And he started dating one of the girls in our youth group. And, you know, there was kind of some concern because she was, we viewed her as a, she's a good girl, you know, and he's a bad guy.

And so there was some concern, but we were like, well, we want him to come because we want him to hear the gospel. And so, you know, he came. And it seemed like, you know, some things were really getting through to him.

One of his friends got baptized, thought he would one day do the same, but he never did. These two ended up graduating from high school. They were out of the youth ministry. They were still together.

And she ended up getting pregnant and having a baby. They chose not to get married, not that she didn't want it, but he certainly didn't. And so they were living together, and they had a child.

And they would come sporadically, and we'd try to reach out to them. But then he left her, left the girl, left the daughter. And then he, and I'm not trying to, I'm just trying to make a point.

He got with another girl, same thing. And then he went back to the first girl. All this to say that I was aware of what was going on. And he would text me, and he'd talk to me, and he'd let me know, you know, I feel I'm terrible.

You know, I'm far from God. What do I need to do? So I'd give him advice. You know, hey, just come to church, or let's talk. And he never would. And I remember the first time I saw him, he wasn't expecting it.

I think we were at a birthday party or something, and he was there. And the look on his face when he saw me was he just wanted to get out of there. He wanted to hide because I knew the things that he had done.

And it's the same way. And so I bring that up because I think it's the same way with God. When we sin against God, we want to hide from him. We don't want to run towards him. A lot of times people want to run away from him.

Now I'm talking about an unbeliever. They want to run away because they don't want to have to do business with the fact that they have sinned against a holy God. Women, okay, so the woman at the well did just this, didn't she?

She tried to divert the conversation that she was having with Jesus. Remember? Jesus said to her, you're right. And he called out her brokenness and her sin. And instead of wanting to talk about that, she diverted the conversation back to, well, you Jews say that we should worship somewhere else.

But we Samaritans say, you know, something different. You know, I don't want to deal with my sin. Let's talk religion and other things. Because she was uncomfortable with that conversation.

And it's the same case when we share the gospel with people today who are broken. They don't want to talk about that. They'd rather debate about other issues. But Jesus gets her right back on track.

The next thing we see is brokenness disrupts God's design. Brokenness disrupts God's design. It just disrupts our spiritual life. If you remember in Genesis 3, 14 through 15, we have an enemy, the serpent, Satan, who seeks to disrupt our spiritual life.

It disrupts our family life. Pain and childbearing was part of the curse. And I think that's not just pain and childbearing, but from birth on. As we're raising our children, it's often difficult as a result of the curse.

There's brokenness in our family lives. Brokenness in our marriages, right? God said that from now on, as a result of sin, that the woman would desire for her husband's place.

Disruption in our work life. Now, as a result of sin, Genesis 3, 17 through 19 says that we will toil in our work of the earth. And it disrupts our physical life.

As a result of sin, we are dead spiritually and we die physically. Because of what sin has done. Now, this is going to sound strange.

But I think you'll understand it. And I think you'll agree that it's true. Brokenness helps us see our need for change. So, brokenness is bad.

Sin is awful. But, if there's any good news, it's that brokenness can help us see our need for change.

We try to cover our own sin. But as Adam and Eve found out, it doesn't work. It's not sufficient to be covered. And so, there, when God makes them clothing, he makes the first sacrifice in all of Scripture.

When he covers them with skins. Now, those skins belong to an animal at some point in time, right? So, he's laying out from the very beginning that sin is a big deal. And in order for it to be covered, blood must be shed.

And so, brokenness, we try to cover our own sins. And so, that's where we see a lot of other religions that people seek. Or self-help books.

All different kinds of things. What they're really trying to do is cover up their own brokenness. Or try to heal their own brokenness. But those things will always fail them. We do what we can to fix our own or try to fix our own brokenness by pursuing other relationships.

People get into drugs. They get into alcohol. And they strive to find the better me. But again, none of these things work. They all fail the person in the end.

Not being able to heal their brokenness. Brokenness seems like a bad thing. But in many ways, it's a good thing. Because often, it's what God uses to get our attention.

God has a way out of our brokenness. And as we see in our next slide, the answer is the gospel.

How do we deal with brokenness? Well, it's the gospel. Will we choose to take God's way out of brokenness? Or will we choose to help others find their way out of brokenness?

So, when we're talking with somebody and we're presenting the gospel to them, right? We're talking about God's design and how sin has corrupted it, which leads to brokenness.

Now, those different arrows pointing in different directions symbolize all the different things that people try to go to to try to heal their brokenness.

And now, it might seem to work for a while, but it's not going to be able to fix the problem of sin. The only thing that's able to do that, right, is Jesus Christ.

And so, we're sharing the gospel. You're broken, just like me. Just like Jesus was talking with the woman of the well, right? And what is he saying? I have the living water.

I have what you're looking for. I am the Messiah that you have heard about. I'm the one who is the solution to the brokenness that you're experiencing.

And so, in brokenness, when somebody comes to that, hearing the gospel, we know they repent. They believe. Just like, hopefully, that's been the case for you as a Christian.

You repented of your sin. You acknowledge the fact that you needed a Savior, that Jesus paid it all, that you could do nothing, you could bring nothing to God for your salvation, that it was all a work of Jesus Christ.

You believe that. And then, recover and pursue God's design. So, now that you know this truth, now that you believe it, it's time to go back and recover God's design, right?

For yourself, in your family, in your marriage, in your life, in your work, in all things, seeking to recover God's design.

And so, this is the three circles that we're talking about. And this is the tool. And so, next Sunday, we'll come together and we'll talk about the gospel.

And get into more of why that is the solution to our brokenness. Now, here's the deal.

Often, when you, and if you have or when you will, share the gospel with somebody, and you know that they're broken, and you know what they're going through, you know what we often want to do is what?

Fix it or not talk about it. Because, you know, I don't want to, you know, these people are broken. I don't want to, I don't want to pull, I don't want to throw it all back out there in their face, right?

And I don't want to make them feel bad about their brokenness. I would rather just not talk about that. You know, can't we just avoid that thing? Because, again, we're, I think you're, a person who does that is concerned about hurting that other person's feelings.

But here's the deal. What did Jesus do? He talked about it. Right? He was clear about it. He spoke the truth in love.

And so, we do the same thing. Now, again, remembering to speak the truth in love. You know, don't go to somebody and be like, listen, you are one of the worst people that I've ever seen.

Your life is a mess. You know, if I were you, I would, I don't know what I would do. You know, you're just, you're terrible. That's not a good approach. But it is to say, you know, to point out that brokenness.

And then, if you can, identify with it. You should identify with it. Now, you know, Jesus was fully human. He could identify with our weaknesses.

He never sinned. You and I are not Jesus. And I think it's a good thing that we can talk about, hey, and be willing to say, you know, give your testimony.

Listen, here's some things that I have gone through. There's a time in my life where I was far from God and I was broken. And let me tell you what Jesus has done for me. And so, it's not to call them out.

It's not to point fingers at them. But it's to help them see that they are broken. You know, let's not lie about this. Let's not pretend like there isn't an issue with you, that there isn't an issue with the world that we live in.

And then you provide that solution, which is the gospel. Now, the other thing, which Pat said, which I think is good, too, is the other thing we try to do is fix it. We can't fix the brokenness in people as a result of sin.

Only the Holy Spirit is capable of doing that. Now, does that mean that we give up on people? No. But I think there comes a point where, you know, are you casting your pearls before swine? And maybe it's time for you to stop being stubborn and move on and hope that you planted a seed where some growth has taken place.

But you trust and you hope and you pray that God will bring somebody else along to provide some more of the watering and more of that growth. But again, it's not up to us to save people.

You understand that? I had a conversation with somebody afterwards. And I felt the same pressure after last Sunday that you think, okay, if I share my faith with somebody and they don't believe it, then it's my fault if they go to hell.

No, it's not. It's not your fault if they don't believe it. Because you know what? Salvation is not up to us. Our job is to do what?

To tell them. To open our mouth and to speak. And then the results are up to the Holy Spirit. And again, maybe we've planted a seed. Maybe we've watered.

Maybe we're the one who gets to reap the harvest. Or maybe none of that. But the thing is, because I'm a baseball fan, I always think, okay, you know, 3 out of 10 is good in baseball.

That's the only thing that you can do and fail 7 out of 10 times and be considered great at what you do. Right? And so you think, okay, if I could save 3 out of 10 people, then I'm not doing so bad.

But that's not the way that it works. If you go to 10 people and you share the gospel with 10 people, you're batting 1,000 in God's book. And so that has helped me to take some of the pressure off it.

You know what? I have a willing heart. And I want to share the gospel. And I know that that's my part. That I'm to go.

I'm to tell. And then the rest of it is up to the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, it's not you as a person that they're rejecting.

It's the gospel that they're rejecting, which is heartbreaking. But again, I think that that does help you when you're going into talking to people that you don't have to be afraid of that.

That you're going as God's spokesperson to that individual. And the results of that are up to the Holy Spirit. And, you know, it would be great if you're the one who gets to, at that moment, be used by the Lord to lead them to salvation.

But it may not be the case. And if it's not, you're not bailing. You're doing what you've been called to do. I want to share one last experience.

And then we'll end a little early tonight. Maybe if anybody has any questions. I'll take any questions that you might have. And you still have homework.

And I'll get to that in a second. I'll leave these out so I don't forget. I remember an instance where there's an apartment complex that was right down the street from our church in Kansas.

And me and a friend, we went. And it was our goal over the summer. We're going to knock on every single door and just invite them to come to church and pray for them and share the gospel with them.

And we had been doing this for a while with mixed results. And I remember one afternoon, it was a Saturday.

You know, there's other things that we had going on in other places where I could have been. And so I was kind of frustrated because we were knocking and we knocked on a door and there was no answer.

But as we walked by the window, the lady who lived there shouted at us, You're not supposed to be here. You know you're not supposed to be here. And so I was like, what?

That's not God's voice because God wouldn't be saying that. You know, where's this voice coming from? And so, you know, she was speaking to us through her window. She's like, yeah, you're not supposed to be here. The management, whatever.

You know, they've told people like you not to come. And it really made me mad. I didn't get mad with her, but I was mad because I was like, you know what? Here I am.

I am giving my afternoon to come to this place to you people and to share with you a message that can change your life. And you don't even have the, you won't even open your door to allow me to share it with you.

And so I was thinking all of these things in my mind. I think I told her, thanks for the information. We'll keep that in mind. But, you know, I was tempted to be done. I was tempted to tell my buddy, you know what, let's just wrap it up today and we'll come back later.

It was the very next door that we knocked on. A gentleman opened the door and he was probably about 6'5", 6'6", African-American guy, young, real, just solidly built.

And I was like, okay, you know, we went into sharing the gospel with him and he just kind of stood silently and he just kind of looked at us.

And didn't really say much. And my friend was just explaining the gospel to him. And he, I didn't know what was going to happen.

And then all of a sudden I saw a tear trickle down his cheek. And my buddy didn't even know because he's looking at his Bible and he's just going. And I'm seeing that he's, he's, he's realizing that he's broken.

That he needs Jesus Christ. And so I remember nudging my friend and, you know, just kind of pointing like, okay, you know, we're, we're in.

Now let's tell him, you know, the good news about Jesus. And, and I, you know, when you're in that moment, you've been there before, it just, man, you just feel the Holy Spirit.

And you're just, things are coming out. You're talking and you just feel the presence of God. And I remember at the end we were encouraging him, you know, we're just right down the street. Please, you know, we'd come to church. It would make it, you know, you don't have to come to our church to be a Christian.

We would love to be able to continue to, to help you with your walk with the Lord. And, and I'll never forget at the end, he grabbed us and he gave us a hug right there in his, in his doorway.

And I was just like, you know, I wonder what all, if there's anybody else out here in this apartment complex, I wonder what they're thinking when they're, when they're seeing, you know, we two nerdy white guys being embraced by this, you know, much bigger human being.

But it's a beautiful picture of what Jesus does, you know, you just be willing to go, not afraid of the rejection that people might have to the gospel.

But you want to go and you'll be able to have those experiences, those moments where, you know, we just, we left that place and we felt like we were, you know, we were just floating on our way to the car.

So, people are broken and you're not doing them any service if you're not talking to them about their brokenness and telling them about God's solution.

And so as we go through this and as we have engaged, you know, as we communicate or in contact with people in our community and we know that they're broken, don't be afraid to let them know what they already know and offer the gospel as the solution, Jesus Christ as the one who's paid for sin, who has made a way for us to be with God forever.

Thank you.