The line between speaking the truth...and speaking in love. What a difficult line this is. Being loving, speaking the truth.
The average Christian does not want to offend anyone, but God uses us to refine each other...and we let each other down when we do not tell the truth.

Perhaps one of the most unloving thing we can do is either....not tell the truth...or perhaps worse than that...speak to truth about someone when they are not in the room!! What I mean is that Jesus' process of speaking the truth in love, as found in Matthew 18...is pretty clear, and fantastic as it gives the best practical solution to how to speak the truth in love.

Well.....Clem and I had a great time after the game kicking the footy around.
We also enjoyed the hot chocolate and screaming at umpire 17.......who obviously decided to pay kicks only when he felt like it...which was not often when it was clearly a blatant free to Freo....

But the Dockers looked flat. Even during the first half, when we were in the game.
The Saints looked like a team desperate to get into the finals.
If Nick could kick straight, to go with his exceptional marks (truly exceptional)...the Saints might do something....

Lots of stuff changing.
Its interesting being in a church where you just dont get to see the same amount of people you used to...nor the ones you always chatted to.
I have as my first priority to meet those who are visiting. These Sundays I am struggling to even get around to them.

Changes needed in some areas.
I was told the other week by one of my associates that the key reason Hillsong retains people is not because of the music...but their hospitality. That is challenging and important.

Church is family, the Body of Christ. How am I seeking to lead this to happen?

Also some other incredible opportunities opening up in regard to the Performing Arts Theatre. A site might be available...which would be better than I could ever dream of.

The West Coast Eagles are the worst team in the AFL.

After a promising start against the 16th placed team on the ladder...the Eagles were nothing short of poor....little effort, and probably could be accused of not really showing any intensity.

After Worsfold and Sumich both came out promising a good effort, you might question if in fact the coaches have lost their effect on the players.
With Melbourne sitting on 16 and West Coast sitting on 20 points, and with the Demons facing winnable games agains Port Adelaide and Richmond and West Coast probably facing two defeats against Geelong and Hawthorn it appears the West Coast are on track to pick up their first wooden spoon.....and Worsfold to guide his team to their worst season ever.

Dealing with Zechariah 4 and service this week...
here are two of the main quotes from my message....
"Who actually is more important…who do we treat first?
Well I want to be honest and realistic here…because I know in my life, when I am relaxed and sitting down with a good coffee…on Sunday afternoon kicking back….I am primarily concerned about myself…I am not thinking about others 24 hours a day. In fact you could mount an argument that if you don’t look after yourself you wont be able to look after others. To spend all your time worried about others is not actually healthy…in fact I would surmise that you have issues with boundaries if you do that. If you cannot find time for yourself…then you will suffer burnout.
But having said that…lets talk about service…lets talk about what is healthy service…what is balanced service…and maybe there are some adjustments that you need to make at some end of the scale. "

"You know in the 70’s and 80’s of Christendom there was a great emphasis on personal salvation…people need to make the decision to follow Christ themselves. I think although there is truth in that…we know for instance that each of our children are not Christians by birth…we know that each of us have a decision to make…will I follow Jesus or not…we have lost something of the truth of this passage. (John 15) God has formed us for family. We are designed to be part of the body of Christ. People say I can be a Christian and not go to church. As though church is something you go to! Church is not something you go to…it is something you are part of…The church is the body of Christ…either you are part of the body of Christ…or you are journeying towards becoming part of the body of Christ…the church…or you are not. We get annoyed with someone in the body of Christ…and suddenly we say…I am not being part of the church anymore…well actually you are saying you are not part of Christ then! "

Typical of Simon Beaumont, (6pr Presenter) a self confessed Eagles fan, he has had a swipe at Pavlich. Yeah right Simon...it has nothing to do with your bias.
Yeah righ Simon.....sheesh. Give me a break Simon.

The quality is not great, but I have managed to upload my message from Sunday....
It revolves around Zechariah 4.....and how to spot a whinger from 40 paces....

Inglewood Resources Page

Its amazing how preaching can become its own little organic time. What I mean is that sometimes the Holy Spirit can reveal and highlight things to you...as you are speaking. I am not talking about going off and 'chasing rabbits". But sometimes its as if God gets out his highlighter pen and something you have planned to say...or maybe have not planned to say...is suddenly almost like a 'eureka' moment.

Such was the case for me as I spoke about partnership....this verse really impressed itself upon me.

"PHILIPPIANS 2:14-15 "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe."

Seriously....we shine like stars in the universe??? thats amazing, incredible. God's desire for us Christians is that we should be different...and shine!! So many blogs, comments....and other forms of Christian media is negative, cynical, whinging....honestly....there is so much compaining and arguing out there. We are called to be different...and shine.

I am doing terrible in my tipping comp.....but having said that, I reckon this is a really tough week for tipsters....

This is interesting....... I read this on the "Confessions of a small pastor" blog.....

“It will be worth what we’re spending if only one person gets saved.” That comment came from a deacon when I was serving a previous church. He was referring to an expensive project we were undertaking. I nodded in agreement because his sentiment seemed so right. But after thinking about it some more, I decided he was wrong. Here’s why:

Good stewardship demands good planning. Throwing money at a project without careful planning can’t be justified whether it’s done by a church or government. Even if a church has plenty of money (most small ones don’t) adequate planning must be done to assess need, plan action, and specify outcome.
Return should be proportional to investment. For instance, we did a mailer to our entire area for a Christmas program 3 years ago. The direct mail piece, postage, and other expenses ran about $2,500. We mailed to 5,000 households expecting a 1-2% “return” of folks actually attending the program — in other words, 50-to-100 new people attending. Our normal attendance for events like that is about 100. Our actual attendance that night was 188. So, we were right on target with our goal. The next year we did a similar mailout which produced very little response. We dropped the mailers after they did not produce the results we sought.
Limited resources should be employed to produce the highest result. Often there are cheaper ways to accomplish the same thing. Rather than use a mailing list or service, have your church members develop your own mailing list. Or better still, have your members mail personalized cards or invitations to their circle of influence.

Source

This week we are continuining our series on Focus....and I dealing with the topic of partnership...the one between Zechariah and Zerubbabel....

Zechariah and Zerrubabels story….

There must be unity at the top
There must be a very clear decision to lead without gossip.
Leaders are the worst gossipers.
Gossip defined….someone who spreads negative news about someone else without doing the biblical thing first.
Lead from the high places….
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
Eph. 4:29

Proverbs 13:18 "Whoever listens to correction is honored." Sign I saw this week: "I'd rather change my mind and succeed than have my own way and fail."

for the rest....you know the drill...see you this Sunday morning!

Courtesy of "Street View" Google maps....google your own house, you might be suprised!

Here is a simple loop I made up for the new series...focusing on Zechariah 4

For the month of August our church is going to be looking at the 4th chapter of Zechariah....
should be fun!

Here is one of the paragraphs from this weeks message....

For the next month we as a church are going to look at this chapter of scripture. Zechariah 4. I once heard the story of a pastor who preached a great message, the people were touched and came back expecting more of the same. Well they got more of the same because he preached exactly the same message the next week. There were a few people who had not heard it the first time, and they thought it was great. Even those who had heard it the first time thought…yes this is good….The third week everyone rocked up and lo and behold…the pastor preached the same message. A delegation of deacons got together and summed up the courage to approach the rather fiery young man to ask him to explain his actions….
They approached him and said…look the message was great the first week, interesting the next….but now…why three times?
The pastor turned to them with passion and fire in his eyes and said…well you did not do what I said the first week, so I am going to keep giving the same message until you do!!!!

Having a keen vision of what God wants for your life is very important

Now in the month of September at the last Sunday in September we are going to have vision Sunday where we explore what the vision of our particular church is.

But this morning I want to speak about what your vision for your life is.
You see Gods vision for your life is that you would have a good life…a life that is full of promise and blessing. This does not mean you will be rich or materially well off, plenty of Christians are not…and I don’t read about Jesus cruising around the dead sea in his powerboat…
(see you at church for the rest!)