Communication

Bible Reading:  I Corinthians 15:26-34

Key Verse: Verse 33 - "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”

Key Words: evil communications corrupt good manners 

We are told to speak the truth in love.  I’ve often said you can say pretty much everything you need to if you say it in the right way, at the right time, and in the right place.

A tip about communication is this – to make sure that we are not the problem.

Let me explain.

A man was having difficulty communicating with his wife and concluded that she was becoming hard of hearing.  So he decided to conduct a test without her knowing it.  One evening he sat in a chair on the far side of the room.  Her back was to him, and she could not see him.  Very quietly he whispered, “Can you hear me?”  There was no response.  Moving a little closer, he asked again, “Can you hear me now?”  Still no reply.  Quietly he edged closer and whispered the same words, but still no answer.  Finally he moved right in behind her chair and said, “Can you hear me now?”  To his surprise and chagrin she responded with irritation in her voice, “For the fourth time, yes!”  What a warning to us about judging! 

                                                                             Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞It’s always wise to make sure that the communication problem is not on “our” end.

 

If You are Backing Up You are Going in the Wrong Direction

Bible Reading:  Jeremiah 3:11-25

Key Verse: Verse 11 -"And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.”

Key Words: The backsliding Israel hath justified herself 

These are the keys to identify a backslider according to Proverbs 14:14. First, you can tell because they are filled with their own ways. (They see nothing wrong with what they are doing.) Number two, the backslider is satisfied with where they are spiritually.

If you’re not moving forward spiritually then you are a backslider.

Jeremiah says the end result of the backslider is they will lie down in shame and will be put to confusion.

John Charles Ryle says of backsliding: “It is a miserable thing to be a backslider. Of all unhappy things that can befall a man, I suppose ‘backsliding’ is the worst. A stranded ship, a broken-winged eagle, a garden overrun with weeds, a harp without strings, a church in ruins – all these are sad sights. But a backslider is a sadder sight still. That true grace shall never be extinguished, and true union with Christ never be broken off, I feel no doubt. But I do believe that a man may fall away so far that he shall lose sight of his own grace, and despair of his own salvation. And if this is not hell, it is certainly the next thing to it! A wounded conscience, a mind sick of itself, a memory full of self-approach, a heart pierced through with the Lord’s arrows, a spirit broken with a load of inward accusation - all this is a taste of hell. It is hell on earth.”

                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse 

What to do:

      ✞Return to God, where you are always accepted.

Let Others Know You Love Them

Bible Reading:  I Corinthians 13

Key Verse: Verse 8 - " Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Key Words:  Charity never faileth 

On this Valentine’s Day it is wise for each of us on this day of “self-gratification” to remember that love, real love doesn’t focus on self but on the one they love.

William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice of the House of Commons, told a touching story. The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria. The doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by breathing the child’s breath. Once when the child was struggling to breathe, the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, “Momma, kiss me!” Without thinking of herself the mother tenderly kissed her daughter. She got diphtheria and some days thereafter she went to be forever with the Lord. Real love forgets self. Real love knows no danger. Real love doesn’t count the cost. The Bible says, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it” (Song of Solomon 8:7).

                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞Every day we should let our spouse know that we love them.

It is Dangerous to Fall in Love with the World

Bible Reading:  I John 2:15-20

Key Verse: Verse 15 & 17 – " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever...”  

Key Words:  Love not the world 

Becoming attached to this world is a dangerous thing. Let me explain with an illustration:

Dr. George Sweeting wrote in Special Sermons for Special Days: “Several years ago our family visited Niagara Falls. It was spring, and ice was rushing down the river. As I viewed the large blocks of ice flowing toward the falls, I could see that there were carcasses of dead fish embedded in the ice. Gulls by the score were riding down the river feeding on the fish. As they came to the brink of the falls, their wings would go out, and they would escape from the falls.

“I watched one gull which seemed to delay and wondered when it would leave. It was engrossed in the carcass of a fish, and when it finally came to the brink of the falls, out went its powerful wings. The bird flapped and flapped and even lifted the ice out of the water, and I thought it would escape. But, it had delayed too long so that its claws had frozen into the ice. The weight of the ice was too great and the gull plunged into the abyss.”

The finest attractions of this world become deadly when we become overly attached to them. They may take us to our destruction if we cannot give them up. And as Sweeting observed.  “Oh, the danger of delay!”

                                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

 What to do: 

✞It’s always wise to obey God and “love not the world.”

 

Respect is Earned

Bible Reading:  Genesis 4:1-8

Key Verse: Verse 4  – "And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:”

Key Words: And the LORD had respect unto Abel 

Respect comes from doing the right things. If you consistently do people right, you’ll earn their respect.

In an unscientific survey I asked some of our youth to name “the reason they respect others.” The number one answer, and I might add, the only answer was, “Because of the way they treat me; right or with love.” Then I asked, “Why do you not respect some people?” The answer will not shock you, but it was, “They do not treat me right.”

How we treat others has everything to do with how they respect or disrespect us.

Waiting to board a plane, on which he had a reservation, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., overheard the plea of a private at the ticket window: “I’m going overseas in three days. I want to see my Ma before I go. I can go home and back only if I travel by plane!” It was explained to him that every seat on the plane was taken. Just then, Brigadier General Roosevelt stepped forward and said, “I’ll surrender my seat to him!” “But,” protested a fellow officer to the general, “this is a matter of rank!”  “That’s right,” quickly replied General Roosevelt, “he’s a son, I’m only a general!” God conferred the highest honor upon us when He called us His sons!

                                                                                 Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

      ✞ Give respect and you’ll reap it in return.

  

Problems are an Opportunity

Bible Reading: Daniel 3: 13-25

Key Verse: Verse  20 - " And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.”

Key Words: Cast them into the burning fiery furnace 

            Now I think you would agree with me that being cast into a fiery furnace is a problem, but it’s also an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to see God work, it’s an opportunity to show others the supremacy of our God, and it’s an opportunity for promotion (vs. 30).

Some years ago an energetic young man began as a clerk in a hardware store. Like many old-time hardware stores, the inventory included thousands of dollars worth of items that were obsolete or seldom called for by customers. The young man was smart enough to know that no thriving business could carry such an inventory and still show a healthy profit. He proposed a sale to get rid of the excess stuff. The owner was reluctant but finally agreed to let him set up a table in the middle of the store and try to sell off a few of the oldest items. Every product was priced at ten cents. The sale was a success, and the young fellow got permission to run a second sale. It, too, went over just as well as the first. This gave the young clerk an idea. Why not open a store that would sell only nickel and dime items? He could run the store, and his boss could supply the capital.

The young man’s boss was not enthusiastic. “The plan will never work,” he said, “because you can’t find enough items to sell at a nickel and dime.” The young man was disappointed but eventually went ahead on his own and made a fortune out of the idea. His name was F. W. Woolworth.

Years later his old boss lamented, “As near as I can figure it, every word I used in turning Woolworth down has cost me about a million dollars!”

Problems are an opportunity. We just have to have wisdom and discernment from God to see it.

                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse 

What to do: 

✞Remember opportunities look a lot like problems! 

Everyone Has Their Own Definition of Faithfulness

Bible Reading:  Revelation 2:1-10

Key Verse: Verse 10 – “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

Key Word: Be thou faithful unto death 

We would all agree that God commands us to be faithful to Him. The thing that I have found is that we don’t all define faithfulness the same way.

Faithful is:

·         Doing what I am supposed to do,

·         Doing it when I am supposed to,

·         Doing it the way I am supposed to, and

·         Doing it that way all the time.

Don’t make excuses for not doing what you are supposed to do. Don’t make excuses for not doing it when you are supposed to do it. Don’t make excuses for not doing it right.

Norman Geisler, as a child, went to a VBS because he was invited by some neighbor children.  He went back to the same church for Sunday School classes for 400 Sundays.  Each week he was faithfully picked up by a bus driver.  Week after week he attended church but never made a commitment to Christ.  Finally, during his senior year in High School, after being picked up for church over 400 times, he did commit his life to Christ.  What if that bus driver had given up on Geisler at 395?  What if the bus driver had said,  “This kid is going nowhere spiritually, why waste any more time on him?”

                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

      ✞Be faithful to God.