Sermon Central
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Connecting Our Community To Christ
Contributed by Patrick O'loughlin on Oct 7, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: One of the purposes of the church is to connect our community to Christ. How do we do this?
Text: John 4:1-54
Title: Connecting our community to Christ
Introduction
A banner – with our church name/ slogan
•Who we are –Calvary A.O.G.
•What we are all about/slogan
“Connecting our community to Christ.”
3 key words
•Connecting
•Community
•Christ
Describes
Our Method – through “connecting”
Our Mission field –our community
Our Mission –…to Christ
How to connect our community to Christ
1. Connecting
“The Pharisee’s heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her,” Will you give me a drink? (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) (v1-8)
1.Many churches do not do well with connecting to their community.
Why? They spend all their time doing other things.
“The Pharisee’s heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.”
…right now we’re really busy baptizing people…
We’d rather spend our time doing something we are good at.
And right now we’re really good at baptizing people.
We’d also rather spend our time connecting with people who believe like us.
What’s so wrong with that?
The danger: You can easily find yourself ending up as a Pharisee.
What is a Pharisee? Some one who is only into themselves.
"When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria.”
Jesus steps in and he intervenes before the Pharisees can cause any trouble in the church.
This is huge: Notice what Jesus does with his disciples…
When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria.”
He takes his disciples out into the community.
He does not take his disciples to another church service
He takes his disciples out into the community.
If we want to be less like Pharisee’s and more like Jesus we have to connect with our community.
•Pharisees neglect their community.
•Disciples of Jesus connect with their community.
“For the son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost.”
Jesus’ idea of what it means to connect with our community verses the church’s idea of what it means to connect with our community.
"So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her,” Will you give me a drink? (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) "(v1-8)
The church’s idea of what it means to connect with our community.
Connecting with our community means we shop local.
Just because I live, shop or work in my community it does not mean I’m connecting with my community.
Jesus ‘idea of what it means to connect with our community
So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her,” Will you give me a drink?
Connecting with our community means sitting down and spending quality time (one on one) with people who live in our community.
I’ve no time to do that…
I’m too tired to do that…
2. Our Community
1.Different time
2.Different country
3.Different circumstances
The woman at the well is a fair representation of those who live in every community.
1.As a rule they do not associate with Christians
“The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans) (v9)
A.Do the math
Statistic (how many people live in our community)
20 minutes (Dudley, Southbridge, Webster, Oxford, Sturbridge, Thompson) 100,000 people
How many bible –believing Christians? 1-2000 thousand!
2.They are looking for divine help today!
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I 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 won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (v13-15)
