Desperate Communication

Introduction: Socrates and the young man. This morning we continue our series on Desperate Households by looking at one aspect of family life that is vital for the it to exist and to be healthy… that being good communication! Men, how many times have you told your wife something and she still got it wrong? Ladies, how many times have you explained something to your husband’s as clearly as possible and they still didn’t understand it? Parents’ how many times have you told your children to do something and they turned right around and did the opposite? What causes this… bad communication! Good communication is not something that comes easy, it takes work. But when we achieve it in the way that God intended, it can be a blessing to a family and a component to having a healthy productive family.

Proposition: So today we will examine some of the biblical teachings on communication and see what we can gain from them, and see how good communication can bless a family.

Transition: In our study this morning we somewhat begin with the obvious, by looking at the…

I. THE REALITY OF COMMUNICATION

a. We as individuals begin to communicate from the moment we are born

- When we are hungry, thirsty, cranky, or just plain want to be held, what did we do… cry

- Then we learned to speak and then we could verbally ask for what we wanted

- Communication can simply be defined as; the process either verbal or non-verbal by which we share information in such a way as for the other person to understand what we are saying

- Norman Wright a recognized authority on communication states that when we say something to another person there are actually six messages sent

- 1. What you mean to say 2. What you actually say 3. What the other person hears 4. What the other person thinks he/she hears 5. What the other person says about what you said 6. What you think the other person said about what you said

- Family life teacher Gary Smalley says that there are five primary stages of communications that families engage in

- For some who have been here for Sunday school this may be review and for others it may be new

- 1. Clichés – this is common, routine, oft repeated comments and questions, such as “how are you doing today?”

- 2. Facts – this is information /statistics about news, friends, and dates for events and so on. This requires no in-depth thinking or emotion

- 3. Opinions – This includes concerns, expectations, personal goals, dreams, and desires. Due to differences of opinion that naturally arise between two people, especially between men and women it is at this stage that we often encounter the “wall of conflict”

- 4. Feelings – having overcome the wall of conflict, all parties feel safe to share deeply personal feelings and emotions

- 5. Needs – this is the deepest level of communication. It is a level where those involved in communication are intimates and each feels completely safe to reveal their deepest needs and feelings. Truly unless needs are “known” and “met” within a family, they will exist as if they are strangers.

b. Not only do we begin to communicate from the time that we are born, we also see that God has been communicating with us since the beginning as well

- He has done this in two primary fashions General revelation and Special revelation

- General revelation is that which