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