Failure to Communicate/Communicating Failure

When I was a teenager I worked for ACE Hardware of Bloomfield, New Mexico, I hated that job but that’s a post for another day. One day a man came in, walked straight up to me and said, “boy, what we have here a a failure to communicate.”. He then asked if I had ever seen Cool Hand Luke and that I needed to rent it and watch it.

A failure to communicate, that line has stuck with me for over 18 years. I usually answer my self with, “I communicate failure quite well.”.

It seems to me, that most, NOT ALL, but most Christians today are  doing just that; communicating failure.

How?

By failing to communicate the Gospel (Evangelism)

By failing to communicate with God (Prayer)

By failing to allow God to communicate with us ( Private Bible Study/Corporate Worship and Bible Study)

Christianity is not about Failure it’s about Freedom. It’s not about being a Victim but about being a Victor. It’s not about Losing  but Living.

 

Stop Living a life of failure and live a life to the Glory of God Alone. “Soli Deo Gloria”

My Life as a Bell Ringer

When I was a teenager I worked for the Salvation Army as a bell ringer. I did this for two years. I didn’t know much about the Salvation Army then and sadly I don’t know much about them now.

We would meet at the Headquarters and get our assignments,buckets and bells. I often would get assigned to the ruff side of town because I was a big guy and they thought that I wouldn’t get messed with too much.

During my time as a bell ringer I played “police officer” for  a lady who wanted to scare her 5 year old into obeying her has they shopped, I had two drunks that seemed to follow me from location to location; got to say I did have some good times talking and kidding around with them, one time I had a teenage girl, who was not much if any older than me try to give me her baby so she could go into Walmart and buy makeup, I even helped an older women try to find her car, I was not successful.

I think that my time as a bell ringer was almost a precursor for ministry life. I learned how to greet people and deal with some stressful situations. I loved it.

My mom would want you all to know that the bell ringers are not criminals just waiting to snatch your purse or wallet. She used to feel that way before I started working as a bell ringer. Every time we would pass a bell ringer she would grip her purse and high step quickly into the store.

The only set back to being a bell ringer is that months later I could still hear that silly bell ringing.

It is called Theology, not Theory-ology.

Years ago, as I was growing up in New Mexico, God was calling me to the ministry, though I did not know that at the time. All I knew was that I wanted to know Him and His Word more. At our Baptist Association they were offering classes for the South-Western School of Theology. This was apart of the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in San Francisco, California. I told my pastor that I wanted to attend and he told me that someone in the church wanted to pay my way.

I was so excited and wanted to let my friends and family know. I first told my parents and they thought it was great. I called my grandmother to tell her and she wasn’t too happy about it because she wanted me to move to Arkansas and this was going to keep me in New Mexico. My Grandfather, however, was very excited for me.

When I began to tell my friends it was a whole other story with them. I had four or five of my “Christian” friends tell me that I should be very careful. They felt as though it was a bad idea, because, after all, it was called Theology and we all know where that word comes from, it comes from the word “Theory” so it is theory-ology.

I was becoming a little concerned with what they were saying; but then I learned that Theology comes  from Greek Θεός meaning “God” and λόγος, -logy, meaning “study of”.

Theology is not a theory it is a study of God.

We do need to be careful in our study and understanding of God but if we stay firmly within the boundaries of God’s Word and do not read into the Word of God but receive out of the Word of God, we can safely learn and Study Theology without fear.

Bible Study Tools

For over seven years now I have been teaching a Bible Study during the week at church.  Over the years I have seen great spiritual growth in the ones who attend. I love hearing the testimony those who are growing in their walk with God. This week as we were talking about scripture getting taken out of context and generally mangled to death. We  about when people say ” The Bible says that God won’t put more on you than you can handle.”  I told the class that the actual passage does not say this. Someone asked me where the passage was located and for the life of me I knew it was in 1 Corinthians but I could not remember the actual location. I then went to one of my favorite Bible Study tools, The Strong’s Concordance. I quickly found the passage, 1 Corinthians 10:13, and read “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able: but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”. I was quickly asked about the BIG BOOK I had used to help me find the passage. Before the class was over I had given my concordance away and had more people wanting one.

All Christians should have Bible Study Tools, not just the Preacher/Teacher and good start to is with these five books

1.  Bible

When it comes to Bible Study I prefer a Literal, Word for Word, translation such as King James Version, New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New Recised Standard Verison. Just to name some.

2.  Concordance

I prefer Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. You can get a Concordance for the KJV, NASB, NIV. There is also a Comprehensive Concordance  for the ESV, this has all the words in the ESV but it is not keyed to the Hebrew and Greek.

3. Bible Dictionary

I like the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary but there are many good ones out there.

4. Expository Dictionary of Bible Words

I tell people to never look up a Bible word in a regular dictionary, find what the words mean in the Hebrew and Greek.

Vines is good.

5. One-Volume  Commentary of the Whole Bible

The Believer’s Bible Commentary, The MacArthur Bible Commentary, Matthew Henry are some good ones.

This is just a short list to help anyone to start growing a Bible Study Toolbox.