The art of communicating

 

Image by Olena from Pixabay

I watched as people streamed into the auditorium to listen to a much-respected and well-known preacher. There was a lot of excitement in the audience, and expectations were high. This was the first day of a three-day conference, and the speaker bombed. His sermon fell flat, and the audience left disappointed. The next morning, he spent in conversation with the local pastor before isolating himself. That evening, the congregation dragged themselves into the church. The chattering and shuffling of the night before were gone. There was an air of inevitability. The sermon and meeting as a whole was a resounding success. What changed? The preacher was the same, the venue was the same, and the audience was the same.

In the modern world, communication has become a science all on its own, a necessary subject to master if you wish to be successful. You need to be able to communicate if you wish to sell something, advertise, write, teach, lead, or even apply for a job.

A meaningful life

 

Click on the image
 to see the book

Richard was dead. For forty years I had been planning to look him up and apologize for my reaction to something he had said as a joke. When I did eventually look for him, I discovered that he had died ten years after the incident and that shocked me and had me scratching about in the past: photographs, messages, and school yearbooks. Names and faces had my brain racing. Was I ever that young? Some names made me smile, some I remembered with displeasure, some I did not.

Thirty of us sat in a classroom forty years ago, and I don't recall one of them trying to contact me since then. I don't blame them. I am not an easy person to get along with. I am not one who would be remembered. I would call very few friends even though we spent five years in the same classroom. Still, I wondered what had become of them.

Christian bashing

 

The_Death of Stephen
 by Gustave_Doré

Christians are lambasted these days as idiots and buffoons. They are ridiculed, laughed at, and mocked. In some countries, Christians are persecuted, hunted, imprisoned, and executed for their beliefs. Christian bashing has become vogue among people who fear the truth about God, life, and death and feel the need to protect their own belief system or religion. It is easier to rant and rave and drown out anyone who threatens your religion or lifestyle than it is to admit they’re wrong. But let’s be honest, the unbelieving world is the last that should be throwing stones at Christians because their vitriol is filled with the same arrogance, malice, and lack of knowledge they accuse Christians of.

Christians all over the world bemoan these attacks and claim that it is getting worse. They point to the 'great falling away’ and wonder, like Elijah, if they are the last generation to hold onto the faith. Elijah was to learn that there were still many who believed. When these attacks come we, like Elijah, feel alone and isolated but take heart that we are not.

Heb 13:5b … for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

The oldest profession - politics

 

Image by Marcin Paśnicki from Pixabay

           Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For   there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

          Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

     For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:

For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. (Rom. 13:1-4)

In its broadest sense politics is the art and science of government (Concise Oxford Dictionary) but, when applied to the individual it encompasses how one governs i.e. sagacious, judicious, expedient, or even craftiness and cunning. The politics of leadership would therefore refer to directing, guiding, and leading using various means, such as wisdom, patience, fairness, or guile to achieve a goal or purpose, in other words, to put it bluntly, politics is the art of persuasion, of convincing people to follow a certain path or direction.

Death and life are in your words

 

Start training your brain.

After investigations, which included experimentation on cats, scientists in the 1940s and 50s made the astounding discovery – the human brain can be programmed to be more alert and attentive in certain areas.

There is a part of the brain known as the Reticular Activating System and it has an important role in deciding your success or failure. Lori Rothstein describes it as ‘starting above your spinal cord and it's about two inches long, it's about the width of a pencil, and it's where all your senses come in.’ ⁱ

Stedman’s Medical Dictionary defines the reticular activating system as:

The part of the reticular formation in the brainstem that plays a central role in bodily and behavioral alertness; its ascending connections affect the function of the cerebral cortex and its descending connections affect bodily posture and reflex mechanisms.ⁱⁱ

The Christian Militant

The martyrdom of St. Stephen
 by Juan Correa de Vivar 

...for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Mat 26:52

From the outset, the Christian church has been under attack. Stephen was stoned, James beheaded, and the apostles beaten and imprisoned, yet there was no retaliation, no revenge, and no counterstruggle, at least not a physically violent one. Their methods of combat were prayer, compassion, and preaching because they believed:

2Cor.10:4  For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, and yet:

Acts 6:7  And the Word of God was increasing. And the number of the disciples in Jerusalem was multiplying exceedingly; even a great crowd of the priests obeyed the faith.

For the next three centuries Christians were persecuted, murdered, used for circus entertainment, set alight as human torches, and fed to wild animals, and yet:

Acts 12:24...the Word of God grew and increased.

Over the years Christians were attacked by Romans, Jews, Persians, Muslims, Vikings, pagans, and even other Christians, and yet:

Acts 19:20  So the Word of God grew mightily and prevailed.

Christianity has been at war since the birth of Jesus when Herod sent his army to kill the babes of Bethlehem. Its weapons of resistance have always been the Word of God and prayer. It was a war won with the blood of martyrs, some of whom gave their lives voluntarily. The endless attacks eventually spilled over into physical retaliation. 

Lord, my enemies are not always Your enemies.

 

An interesting thing happened at Sunday morning service – an elderly lady requested prayer for a sore leg. There was nothing unusual about that and I asked a couple of the leaders to petition God for healing. After the prayer, she said she felt much better, but when she turned to go she winced painfully and it was apparent that her leg was still sore. I said nothing as I watched her clinging to the pews for balance. She was back for evening service and I asked how she felt. She smiled and said she felt fine, she knows that God had touched and healed her. The expression in her eyes, however, told a different story, one of defeat and pain. It’s time for Christians to be real.

Stop Licking Your Lips.

 

Image by Cdd20 from Pixabay

Why the title ‘Stop Licking Your Lips’? Because you cannot speak while licking your lips. And the one thing a lot of Christians find difficult to do is to speak about their faith. Some are ashamed because their values are not the same as their secular friends, we do not want to place our secular friends in a difficult position and possibly lose them as friends as a result of our faith, others don’t want to deal with the derision and questions that follow a testimony of faith, and some are just shy.

I remember a television personality, some years ago, saying, “My faith is my business. Don’t ask me about it, it is a personal thing.” Faith is a personal thing but it is also a relationship thing. Recent years have seen preachers telling their congregations to live their faith because that is how the world will get to know Jesus. This is true to an extent, but sooner or later somebody is going to ask that one question we all dread, “Why do you believe in Jesus?” I have added some verses below for various reasons: