Pembina Valley Camp listen2
Pembina Valley Camp
February 5, 2000 Saturday Morning
Sat AM COMMUNICATION
Listening
Both ways, father and son.
Listening with the third ear.
Illustrate with the difficulty of communication when engine noise and helmets make hearing difficult.
Clear signals
Anger may mean fear
Frustration may be manifested in yelling
Love may be communicated in action, word or touch. If not clear, may be missed
How can we learn to make our signals clear?
Be aware of what we are communicating
Use stories to promote hearing.
Illus. David and Nathan re: Bathsheba( Ii Samuel 12), re: going to see Absalom II Samuel 14.
Shakespeare – “know thyself”
Come unto me
God is always waiting for us to hear us
Psalm 17:6 – a prayer with the assurance that God will hear
Possible approach:
We talked about honoring yesterday
One way to honor is to listen
Listening isn’t always obvious
The hindrances to listening
source – feelings/attitudes of speaker – communication – feelings /attitudes of hearer – destination
**use the illustration of prisms and a beam of light, distorted at every point, how can the message get through?
Lenses and images
An image projected, but distorted by intervening lenses.
Change the lenses to clear glass so that the final image is the same as the original image
Feelings of speaker cleared up by knowing ourselves
Communication cleared up by being honest in love Ephesians 4:15
Feelings of hearer cleared up by listening to the message behind the words.
Snowmobile illustration
Same in life
Anger can be fear or frustration
Real listening involves hearing what is behind the words
How do we do that?
Know our own selves so that we know what we are communicating
Listen carefully and learn to hear signals
Tell stories to make sure you are being heard.
Problem, too much stuff for a short talk.
Key on certain aspects of it.
Hearing both ways, fathers/ sons and sons /fathers.
God hearing
Gen. 16:12 – God heard Hagar when she fled from Sarah with her son.
Exodus 2:24; 3:7 – God heard Israel crying in their slavery.
Numbers 11:18 – God heard when they wanted meat, and grumbled, supplied in spite of their grumbling because he really heard.
II Samuel 22:1ff. Esp. 7 David when God heard him and delivered him from Saul
Psalms expressing that God has heard: Psalm 6:8,9; 18:6; 28:6; 31:22; 34:6; 40:1 et al.
Isaiah 38:5 – God heard Hezekiah when he was ill.
Luke 1:13 – God heard Zechariah’s prayer and John was born, what was his prayer?
Jesus and God – John 11:41, 42
God heard Cornelius – Acts 10:31
God re: salvation II Corinthians 6:2
God listens to us
He also has spoken to us
In His Word
In His Son
His communication has been honest, clear and loving.