Be Relation SeriesSermon 1 of 3  Introduction:  I want to make a confession today… Missionaries, as a group, freak me out. They are always so intense about missions! I don’t know if its all missionaries, but the ones I’ve spent time around are always obsessive about reaching outside the church. For a lot of them, your not being a chrisitian unless your telling people who don’t know Jesus about his life, death and resurrection. There is one missionary I really admire though. His name is Pastor Allen, but we just called him PA. He is the missions director at Vanguard College and he was always able to get you excited to share the Bible with people. Maybe that word, mission, is new to you. Well PA had a great definition about missions. Simply put being missional meant to Be relational. If one wanted to be a Christian who did mission, then he was someone who created relationships with those around them to share the Good News of Jesus. PA thought that being being relational was key to being a good Christian. I’m pretty sure he used the phrase “be relational” every ten minutes. You want to be a pastor? Be relational! You want to be a banker? Be relational! You want to come to church on sunday and have no-one bother you? TO BAD, BE RELATIONAL! PA was certain that if you were a christian you needed to be relational with others. To be a christian means you MUST invite people to encounter Christ. But what does that mean? How do you be relational? What does that practically look like? What are the best ways to invite people into a relationship with God? Well, for the next three weeks, we are going to examine the life of Jesus. We are going to examine how Jesus himself invited people into the kingdom of God. Jesus lived a perfect life, so he is the perfect example of how to “be relational”, of how to be a Christian who is focused on mission. My hope is show the extraordinary lengths that we must go through to share Jesus in Rocanville. Section 1: Broken SilenceSo here’s the setup. Jesus is already into his ministry. He has a following of believers that is growing quickly. He has been healing and calling to repent, to ask God for forgiveness for the wrong they’ve done. However the Pharisees, the leaders of the Jewish temple, have caught on. They see Jesus as a threat and a rebel. They won’t stand for this growing “Kingdom of God” movement. So, before the Pharisees can catch up with him, Jesus leaves the region of Judea and begins to move towards the Region of Galilee, To make this Journey, Jesus had a choice. He could either cross the Jorden River and travel through Gentile, none Jewish, territory or he could shorten his to about a three day journey by traveling through Samaria The thing is, Most jews HATED the Samaritans  While the Samaritans were techincally Jewish by blood, they rejected the writings of the Prophets (including the histories [1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Chronicles]) and wisdom literature (Proverbs, Psalms, etc.) because of these writings’ emphasis on Judea and David’s line centered on Jerusalem. Their Scriptures were limited to the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy). In addition the Samaritans had refused to help rebuild the temple and helped Alexander the Great enslave the Jews. Basically, while the Samaritians were Jewish, they were despised for good reason. So Jesus decides to take the shorter route, through Samaria. On his way he stops at a well and waited, his disciples were off buying food. As he waits there a Samaritian women approaches. Now understand not only is she a women, she’s a women coming to the well alone. Just like today, women in Israel travelled in groups. A women by herself meant that their was something WRONG with her, she was unwanted.  She is a woman bearing the history, language, religion, and attitudes of people on the far margin of Judaism. He is male, single, religious, and Jewish, and clearly defined social boundaries ought to keep hi