This is the second “sermon” I ever preached. It’s a talk I gave to a group of high school students on a Teens Encounter Christ retreat weekend on August 5, 2006, when I was 17 years old. It’s based on a provided outline for the “Communication” talk. I’m posting it online for the sake of having a complete archive of my sermons.
Communication
Life is full of relationships, relationships with friends, relationships with family, relationships at work, a relationship with God, and really, relationships with everyone you meet. Although we don’t think about it much, every relationship requires communication. It’s amazing how quickly a breakdown in communication can damage a relationship.
My mom shared a negative example with me of a communication problem between two of her friends that is affecting their relationship and her relationship with them. I’ll call her friends Ellen and Terri. A couple of months ago, Ellen told my mom that it seemed like whenever she talked to Terri, Terri seemed to be rather “short” with her. Ellen worried that she must have done something to offend Terri. She was now afraid of saying the wrong thing, so she thought she just wouldn’t call Terri. Surely Terri would call her when she was no longer upset. Life got busy as first, Ellen went on vacation, and then Terri did. Several weeks passed with no communication. Recently, Terri shared that she hadn’t heard any thing from Ellen and she feels she must have somehow offended Ellen. Because Ellen has not contacted her, she thinks Ellen must still be offended with her. She decided she would just have to wait for Ellen to make the first move. Both feel they must have offended the other but have no idea how. So both of them were waiting for the other to make the first move. As a result of not talking directly to each other, they are drawing apart and missing out on activities together. My mom has suggested to each that they should call and talk directly to each other, but neither has done it. That affects my mom because they often shared things as a threesome. When we neglect to communicate with others by asking questions and listening to the answers, we convince ourselves of our own (usually incorrect) explanations, which damages our relationships.
I’m going to be talking about three types of communication: communication with yourself, communication with other people, and communication with God.
First is communication with yourself. What you tell yourself and how you view yourself is important. Many people’s opinions of themselves are shaped by what other people say, or worse, how they think other people see them. There is only one whose opinion matters, and that is God. God loves you. No matter what. Nothing you can do can make God love you more, or make him stop loving you. As long as you’re following God’s will, nobody else’s opinion matters. God is watching over you. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “He will not fail you or forsake you.”
You were made for a purpose. Many people constantly tell themselves they are inferior, or that they don’t matter. That’s not true! If you tell yourself something enough, you start to believe it. I know some people who are insecure and think they don’t matter, because they convince themselves they are unimportant. Don’t fall into that trap of believing you are inferior, or useless. God has a plan for you. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope, and a future.” You matter! God made you intentionally, and He never makes mistakes. Ephesians 1:4-5 says, “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ.” You are chosen by God to be His child. Don’t ever tell yourself otherwise!
The second type of communication is communication with others. One of my favorite parts of Christianity is the church. If you’re a Christian, you are part of the family of God. You are an adopted child of the King of the universe. You have millions and millions of brothers and sisters. The church exists first so Christians can build each other up in order to serve God. When I have questions in life, there are people I trust at my church that I can ask. The people you are with have an influence on your life. It is vital to have Christian friends that you trust. That’s one of the things I like about TEC. This is a community of believers that pray for each other and can talk to each other. Everyone is influenced by the people they are with. Like it or not, people who know you as a Christian look at the people you are with when they are looking for God. They decide about God sometimes based only on what they see of Christians.
The second purpose of the church is to spread the good news of God’s grace. Even though it’s vital to have Christian friends, it is important to have non-Christian friends as well. We are commanded to share the news of Christ with the entire world. We do that one person at a time. People listen to people they know. While some people have the gift of talking about God to thousands of people whom they don’t know, most of us only talk to those people we know. If the only people you hang out with are Christians, you can’t really share the news with people who don’t know it! We have the most important message in the world to share. Our mission in life is to tell other people that they are loved. That’s the message I want to share with you, if I had one chance to tell you something: You are loved.
We share this message through our words and actions. Telling someone about God means very little to them if we don’t live out his commands. One of the biggest problems non-Christians see in the church is hypocrisy; Christians not practicing what we preach. On the other hand, we can be the nicest, purest people in the world, and it won’t spread God’s love if no one knows why we’re nice or pure. We still have to talk about God’s love.
The third type of communication is talking with God. To be a Christian means that you have a relationship with God. If you are in a relationship with God, you have to communicate with Him, just like any other relationship in life. Simple, right? Except for the minor detail of how do you communicate with a being you can’t see and who doesn’t have a physical presence? The answer, of course, is prayer. Prayer is talking with God. God listens when we pray. The Bible says in Proverbs 15:29 “The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.”
So how do we pray? Prayer is simply talking with God. I think that’s one of the absolute best parts of being a Christian. God, the Creator of everything, is always available for us to talk to. You can pray in bed, or before meals. You can pray while you’re driving, or in school, or in church, or anytime. Some people even pray while they’re asleep. You don’t need to fold your hands, or close your eyes. Please, don’t close your eyes if you’re praying while you’re driving! One of my favorite ways to pray is through songs. I like to pray through songs at concerts or even through some of the songs this weekend. There’s no wrong way to pray, although Jesus does warn, in Matthew 6:5, “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.” Don’t pray so you look good. It’s really easy to do this. I know I have to watch out for this. I’m comfortable praying out loud, but I sometimes find myself trying to impress other people with my prayers.
A few verses later, Matthew 6:7 says, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Prayer isn’t about the number of words we use, it is about the sincerity and faith behind the words. So, why bother to pray if God already knows what we need? First, because God told us to. First Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.” Ephesians 6:18 says, “Pray in the Spirit at all times.” Second, even though God is in control over this world, he chooses to work through our prayers. There is power in Jesus’ name. Our prayers release God’s power on earth. Praying acknowledges our dependence on God. When we pray, we are reminding ourselves that God created us and that He is in control, not us.
There are five main categories of prayers. The first is thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is us thanking God for who He is and everything He’s done, whether that be something specific, or just life in general. The second is petition. Petition is asking God for something. Asking God for something is not selfish. We should ask for things that further God’s work and glorify God, not things just for us. Philippians 4:6 says “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” The third type is praise. Praise is just us worshipping God, our Creator. A lot of the book of Psalms consists of prayers of praise. The fourth type of prayer is confession. God is holy and pure, and we are sinful. Our sins separate us from God. But, Jesus, God’s son, died as a sacrifice so we could be forgiven. Confession is us admitting that we have messed up and repenting. The fifth type is intercession. Intercession (not a word you hear everyday!) is praying for others. Intercession means to intercede, or to go between, someone’s need and God. The people in the Wheat chapel are here doing intercessory prayer all weekend.
God answers prayer. Sometimes, frequently, we don’t see the answer. God is outside time, so he can change events in any time to answer a prayer. To put it another way I heard once, “God has all eternity to answer the split-second prayer of a driver about to crash.” Don’t try to understand how that works. It’ll give you a headache. God is God; we’re not. Sometimes God says no, either because our requests are not good for us, or do not fit His plan for us. God is like a parent whose child asks, “Can I play with the carving knives?” Obviously, any good parent will say no, you can’t play with the carving knives. That might be what the child wants, but the parent knows what is good for the child, even if the child doesn’t.
God might say, “Yes,” and we’ll see a clear answer to prayer. Or, we might never know how our prayer turned out. He might answer in ways we don’t expect or understand. Third, God might answer, “Wait.” It might not be time yet for the prayer to be answered. We might not be ready, or God might have a different purpose. God is the Author of Life, yet he still tells us to pray and talk with Him.
Communication with God is two way. He communicates with us as well. The first way we hear from Him is through the Bible, His word. The Bible reveals God’s general will for us. When you read the Bible, try praying before you read it, and ask God to show you what he wants you to see. If you don’t know if something is from God, check it against the Bible. God never contradicts himself. Second, He reveals himself through other people. This is called prophecy. Prophecy is forth-telling God’s will, not telling the future. God might give someone a thought they really feel like they need to tell to another person. Sometimes God guides us through general advice from other Christians. Sometimes, we just need to be still and listen for God to speak to us. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Finally, I just want to encourage you to take time to pray. Pray by yourself. Pray with your group. Talk to God. I personally really like to pray with other people. At our church, we have people during and after every service available to pray. A lot of people are afraid to pray out loud with other people. I know I was. But, Jesus said, in Matthew 18:20, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” We’re supposed to pray with other people. Praying is talking with God, not other people. We’re not trying to impress others by our prayers.
I encourage you to go visit the wheat chapel sometime this weekend. They would love to pray with you. Or, just go pray by yourself. Prayer is a powerful gift. Take advantage of our relationship with God. Talk to Him.
Remember, no matter how bad life gets, someone is always there. God is always watching out for you. He has promised to never leave you. He’s always waiting for you to talk to. I’m done talking now, but I’d like you to listen to a song by Phil Joel called “God Is Watching Over You.”
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