Time to break free!

1955…

• Before the internet

• Before 8 tracks

• Before the Beatles

• Before men walked on the moon

• Before Elvis became “The king”

• Before the hippy movement

There was a woman…

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks

• December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama

• Refused to give up bus seat• Arrested• Worked with Martin Luther

King Jr. to organize the bus boycotts

• When asked why she did it, she said…

"I would have to know for once and for all what rights I had

as a human being and a citizen."

In her book “My Story”

“People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired

physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a

working day. … No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in”

Many people are tired

Today’s text: John 4:1-26

A woman that is bound in a spiritual prison..

John 4:1-26

(1) When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,

(2) (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)

(3) He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee.

(4) And he must needs go through Samaria.

(5) Then came he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

(6) Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

(7) There came a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said unto her, Give me to drink.

(8) (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy food.)

(9) Then said the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

(10) Jesus answered and said unto her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.

(11) The woman said unto him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then have you that living water?

(12) Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle?

(13) Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again:

(14) But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

(15) The woman said unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw.

(16) Jesus said unto her, Go, call your husband, and come here.

(17) The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, You have well said, I have no husband:

(18) For you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband: that said you truly.

(19) The woman said unto him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

(20) Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

(21) Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

(22) You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

(23) But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him.

(24) God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

(25) The woman said unto him, I know that Messiah comes, who is called Christ: when he comes, he will tell us all things.

(26) Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto you am he.

The woman in John 4 was stuck in Prison

With 4 walls

Wall One: Her Race/Culture

Wall Two: Her Gender

Wall Three: Her Theology

Wall Four: Her Past

1st Wall..She’s a Samaritan!!!!

(7) There came a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said unto her, Give me to drink.

• Samaritans were half breeds.. ½ Jew, ½ Greek

• They were considered outsiders.

• They were considered criminals.

• They were hated by the Jews…

Samaria Going from Jerusalem to Galilee, the Pharisees would take this path…

Galilee

Judea

Her first wall …

Wall of

Racism

2nd WallShe’s a Woman!!!

(7) There came a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said unto her, Give me to drink.

• Women were second class citizens

• Women were considered property.. Like donkeys

• It was a bad thing to be born a woman…

Each morning Prayer

Jewish men: “Thank you Father for not making me a Gentile, Slave, or a woman”

In the Talmud, one of the 7 types of Pharisees:

Bruised and Bleeding Pharisees

They would rather bump into buildings than glance up in case they catch sight of a woman in public!!

2nd Wall

Wall of

Sexism

3rd wallONLY 5 books in the

Bible!!!Samaritans only accepted the

Pentateuch … First five books of the Bible… And only their Authorized version of the Pentateuch

They believed that worship had to be done on Mount Gerizim

Their view of God

If you only accepted the first 5 books, how would you view God?

He got mad and drove Adam and Eve out

He got mad and destroyed the earth

He got mad and confused our languages

He got mad and left the Hebrews in the wilderness for 40 yrs

He got mad and wouldn’t let Moses in the promise land.

3rd Wall

Wall of

Bad

Theology

4th Wall…She was Divorced!!!

John 4:16-18

(16) Jesus said unto her, Go, call your husband, and come here.

(17) The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, You have well said, I have no husband:

(18) For you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband: that said you truly.

The Power of Gossip

Why was she drawing water in the heat of the day? alone?

Maybe she didn’t want to be around people that gossiped about

her. Would you?

And the 4th Wall goes up

Wall of

Past

Regrets

But Jesus Broke down her 1st Wall!!

He broke down her Wall of Racism… Jesus came for All…even Samaritans

Romans 10:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon

him.

Jesus Broke down her 2nd Wall!!

He broke down her Wall of Sexism… Jesus didn’t care to be caught talking to a

woman… Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor

free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Jesus Broke down her 3rd Wall!!

He broke down her Wall of Bad Theology… She can now worship in

Spirit and Truth… John 4:25-26 The woman

said unto him, I know that Messiah comes, who is called Christ: when he comes, he will tell us all things.(26)

Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto you am he.

Then Jesus Broke down her 4th Wall!!

He broke down her Wall of Past Regrets…

• God is the God of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, … chances…

• Matthew 18:22 Jesus said unto him, I say not unto you, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

• We all have a past… God has cast our sins as far as the East is to the West…

• Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

And her walls came tumbling down!

And she was set free!

Free to:

Love

Live

Worship

BE Who God created her to be!

That’s what Jesus Does!

• He removes the obstacles that keep you from Him…

• That is what his body (the Church) should be doing now…

1 Corinthians 12:18-27

(18) But now has God set the members every one of them in the body, as it has pleased him.

(19) And if they were all one member, where would be the body?

(20) But now are they many members, yet but one body.

(21) And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of you: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

(22) Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

1 Corinthians 12:18-27(23) And those members of the body, which we think to

be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our less respectable parts have greater respect.

(24) For our more respectable parts have no need: but God has arranged the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked:

(25) That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

(26) And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.

(27) Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

And if We are the body of Christ

We should be breaking down the walls of:

RaceGender

Bad TheologyPast Regrets

Are you here this morning…

In a prison cell all your own?

Can you identify with the woman?

Do you need walls broken down?

Or

Have you found yourself to be putting up walls?

Have you found yourself satisfied with keeping people behind walls?

Do you truly believe Christ died for ALL?

IF So…

Come this morning and let God tear

down those walls for you!!!