Communication Essentials

God has created us to relate to other people. Relationships bring the greatest joys and the deepest sorrows in life. As believers, God wants to help us learn to develop and grow great relationships. Great does not mean perfect. Perfect relationships are not possible. Why?

James 3:2a (NIV) We all stumble in many ways.

I stumble in many ways. You stumble in many ways. When two stumbling people get together, you don’t get perfection. When two stumbling people get together in a relationship, they need a miracle from God to grow a great relationship. But with God’s help, that is possible.

Today my topic is “Improving Communication.” Communication is one of the important keys in every relationship. Communication occurs in all relationships, but effective communication is necessary for relationships to grow.

James 3:2b (NIV) If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

Since James has just told us that everyone stumbles in many ways, many of stumbles will be in our speech, in our communication. In fact, God is telling us that as we improve our speech, as we minimize our faults when we talk, it will positively impact all areas of our lives. Communication is vital in all aspects of our lives these days.

The usage of cell phones has exploded across the world. In 1999, there were about 500 million cell phone subscriptions. In 2010, it is estimated there will be 5 billion mobile phone subscriptions.The number of land lines has leveled off at about 1 billion.

Cell phone communication has exploded because you can use them to communicate anytime, anywhere in multiple ways. However, cell phone communication is not perfect, is it? Sometimes you can get a lot of static in the communication and it’s hard to hear. Other times, if you’re too far from a cell tower and the power is low, you may get a dropped call. Still other times, there are simply places where the cell signal cannot penetrate and the phone won’t work. Engineers continue to work to improve cell phone communication.

Today, God wants us to work at improving our speech communication, whether it’s face to face or on a cell phone. We’re going to take a look at three communication principles from the book of Ephesians. God wrote the book on communication and He has something to teach each one of us this morning. The principles we are going to learn can be used in every kind of relationship.

Listen to my February 28, 2010 message “Improving Communication” (message-notes).