Sunday and my sermon,
Laptop died, crashed, unrecoverable. I have just had to reformat this whole thing.
Problem was at 8am on Sunday morning, when you have not printed your sermon off, that is not the time you want to find that out!!
First time in 15 + years of preaching (old fart I am) that I have had to go from just some sketchy notes, and not a full manuscript. Tommorow you can listen and hear how it went!!

reminds me of this old Joke
Jesus Saves
Jesus and Satan have a discussion as to who is the better programmer. This goes on for a few hours until they come to an agreement to hold a contest, with God as the judge.

They sit themselves at their computers and begin. They type furiously, lines of code streaming up the screen, for several hours straight. Seconds before the end of the competition, a bolt of lightning strikes, taking out the electricity. Moments later, the power is restored, and God announces that the contest is over.

He asks Satan to show what he has come up with. Satan is visibly upset, and cries, “I have nothing. I lost it all when the power went out.”

“Very well, then,” says God, “let us see if Jesus fared any better.”

Jesus enters a command, and the screen comes to life in vivid display, the voices of an angelic choir pour forth from the speakers. Satan is astonished.

He stutters, “B-b-but how? I lost everything, yet Jesus’ program is intact. How did he do it?”

God smiled all-knowingly, “Jesus saves.”

Most of us wouldn’t sell our soul for any amount of money – but many of us give it away one day at a time……

I have been copping some ribbing because I am very quick to post stuff about the Weagles, and slow off the mark when it comes to Freo’s misdemenours. Fair cop, but I never said I wasn’t bias, I am…..and unlike most of the WA (Mark Duffield excepted) I admit it !!!!!!!!!

But anyway, apparently Jeff Farmer has got himself into trouble, and it was really good to see the Fremantle Club act swiftly and decisively in suspending him for 6 weeks. This hurts the team, but shows good leadership on the clubs behalf.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Bob Morgan said “Mr Farmer needs to take on board, with his record accumulating, he may find himself playing in the forward line for Acacia”

Someone over at Dockerland.com has replied,

“He was obviously assuming Kerr and Cousins had the midfield sorted”

Well well well,
with debate on what a church should call itself, this guy has an interesting concept!

WHY SCUM?

It doesn’t sound like a church name … on purpose. We really want to connect with people who have no interest in “church” by society’s definition. There are plenty of churches for “normal people” and we think we have a unique calling to reach out to our otherwise unreached friends. Our name is integral to that process. Whether outcast by society (e.g., punks, skaters, ravers, homeless people…) or by the church itself, many who come can identify with the name “Scum of the Earth” since they have been previously treated as such.
More important to us, however, the name implies that being people of faith does not mean we are better than anyone else. We know many non-Christians who think Christians are out to cast judgment on them. Our name makes it clear that we aren’t about that. We are just aware of our need for God, as Scum of the Earth. Fortunately, God never sees us like that! But the name is humble and we like that. –Chris Baker

To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world. (1 Corinthians 4:11-13)

http://www.scumoftheearth.net/

h/t Tall Skinny Kiwi

Keith Farmer was our second speaker at the 2gether conference. He mentors about 50 Pastors Australia wide. I will post some stuff he talked about soon, as I process it. But one thing he said was amusing (unintentionally).

He said that Churches were like football teams. The captain had to be a good performer on and off the field, he had to have integrity and credibility on and off the field…… can you guess what everyone was thinking at this point??

Well, I called out, “thats right” and everone roared in laughter, knowing I am a keen Dockers supporter. Keith said, “I have obviously touched a nerve here”, and then went on to explain he is a Sydney Swans supporter.

Wayne shared his story on Monday morning. He talked about his dad, his ministry, starting off in a small church in inner city Brisbane. Having the church burn down, struggling.
He shared how they went for “the people know one else wanted”. The down and outs, the prostitutes, cross dressers. It was so refreshing to hear his heart and to hear what the church is doing.

At night he shared some principles which were really really challenging. He talked about how we need to believe that God wants to bless our church and ministry. Sounds simple, but its not. It goes to the heart of how we think about God, what we think of His character, how we think He thinks of us.
He talked about how we need resources to change our cities and become conduits of blessings, and talked about the incredible social programs his church runs. Very inspiring, confronting and challenging. I am really glad I am here.