Our Blog Has Moved!

Just an update to let you know that our blog has been moved to http://www.mwchurch.org.au/blog. Be sure to update your feed readers to use this url instead.

Our website has also undergone a revamp, check it out: http://www.mwchurch.org.au

There will be no new posts made to this blog so please go to the new blog above.

Service Recap – 16.03.2008

Wow – we’ve been a bit slack with the blog updates recently but hope to be posting again more frequently over the coming months.

Music: Can’t Contain, Let The Praises Ring (Lincoln Brewster), You Are The Light (Citipointe COC), Worthy is Jesus & Majesty.

Message: Today Kestrel started our 4 week series, Disciple, with a message called, “No Christians Allowed”. He emphasised the difference between those that call themselves Christians and those that are fully following Jesus – Disciples. The 3 points were, Disciples:

1. Touch Lepers
2. Befriend Prostitutes
3. Offend Pharisees.

Kestrel showed us how Jesus had compassion for the sick and the sinner and that we need to have that same compassion in our lives.

Make sure you come along to Melbourne West Church next Sunday as Kestrel continues the series with “Go Fishing”!

Bon Voyage!

Today Pastor Larry & Norma left for 6 weeks long service leave, returning Sunday 20th April. Some people have all the luck! They are travelling around New Zealand in a motorhome and will be posting details of their trip on their blog, lnblackmore.wordpress.com. Be sure to check it out, as it will be updated quite frequently, and even post a comment. If you need to contact them, you can on +64 212 355 910.
In their absence, Church will run as per usual. Be sure to check your newsletter for events, connect group details, rosters and more – you can download it here. Please support the leadership of the Church during this time with encouragement, promptness and service while they are away.

Service Recap – 02.12.2007

Music: King of Majesty (Hillsong), Can’t Contain (Citipointe COC), There Is Only One God (Citipointe COC) and Hosanna (Brooke Fraser).

Message: Pastor Larry Blackmore kicked off (literally) our What’s God’s Will series today with Part 1: Reading Between the Lines. We learnt about God’s providential will (that which will happen no matter what we do) and His moral will (what we read about in Scripture). Between the two goal posts of Providential and Moral will, we will find God’s perfect will for our life.

Pastor Larry also spoke about sins of commission (things we do that we know we shouldn’t) and sins of omission (sins we do when we don’t do things we know we should). These things will stop us from attaining the perfect will of God.

Highlight: Definitely seeing Pastor Larry kicking a soccer ball into some soccer nets that were setup on the stage during his message – and then seeing the ball get kicked back to him, hitting his laptop and sending his bluetooth remote flying across the stage!

Next week: We continue our series with the message, “Where Do I Go Wrong?” It’s sure to be insightful, entertaining but most importantly, life changing – be there!

What’s Happening in December?

Melbourne West Church has a lot going on in the month of December, so make sure you put these events in your diary!

Firstly, we have moved location for 6 weeks! We will be meeting at West Sunshine Community Centre, Kermeen Street, West Sunshine. Don’t forget! Melways Ref 40 C4 and Google Maps here.

We are also kicking off our December series, “What’s God’s Will?”. Does God have a plan for my life? How will I know? What if I miss it? How much of it is my responsibility? If you’ve ever wondered about God’s will for your life, for you carerr, for your relationships… or even just for the day ahead, you can learn valuable insight, and find great comfort, in this eye opening series.

 

 

On top of this, we have our annual Carols By Candlelight on December 22nd – this is always a hit with the local community. This year we will also be providing pre-entertainment with our “Family Fun Day” activities, which include: jumping castle, face painting, sausage sizzle and pirate Pete & Mrs Balloonatic.

You can find out more details about both of these here.

Chocolate Market

Today Pepper met up at Max Brenners, in Melbourne Central, for a delicious breakfast of waffles, double chocolate soufflles, plus other delights all washed down with some of Max Brenners signature hot chocolate drinks. It was a bit cold, requiring coats, jackets & scarves but was great to just relax and enjoy each others company.

After overdosing on chocolate, we then headed off to the Queen Victoria Markets. Here you can find all kinds of clothes, nic nacs, electronics & curious goods plus the fresh food area. We had a challenge to find the “best value item for $10″… I almost brought a cool Russian style beanie but my other half convinced me that I didn’t need it (plus the fact that she had my wallet!).

After a hour or two of wandering around the QVM, we all headed off home after enjoying a nice morning together.

Bronson

Keep Blogging

I’ve been catching up on my ‘bloglines’. Some of those guys are awesome and inspiring.

I’ve recently been listening to Perry Noble’s ‘Lost’ series while I’ve been working out at the gym (finally got an MP3 player that works OK). Perry has a huge sense of humour and a great preaching style.

This Sunday I’m preaching the third in a series I pinched (unashamedly stole, swiped) from lifechurch.tv called Urban Legends (thanks Craig:). We’ve put together our own marketing videos and material, but I’ve used Craig Groeschel’s messages pretty much as they are. Now I know plenty of Pastors who will think this is shameful – get over it! Why should I re-invent the wheel if someone has already done it??

I’m heading for Traralgon this afternoon. We have our Area Conference there tonight and tomorrow (I’m the ‘Area Chairman’). So I’ve just found out I’ll be preaching tomorrow and seeing as I’ll have mostly Pastors and Leaders there I’m going to be addressing the antidote to feeling lousy on Monday if Sunday didn’t happen like you hoped. The main idea is that most Pastors dont have any ongoing plan or strategy to fulfill their call so their whole life revolves around past results instead of future possibilities. Why live in reality when you can live in faith. The key is to know what you’re doing and where you’re going for next Sunday’s meeting or Youth Group or whatever you’re running. Paul said something to effect in

Phil 3:13-14 (TLB) I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, {14} I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

Have a plan for next Sunday, next month or hwo ever long, but have a plan.

 

Have a great day.

Pastor Larry Blackmore

Service Recap – 10.06.07

Well we’re still here! Sorry that we’ve missed a few Service Recaps lately but we are back in business again.

Music: Jesus You’re Everything (Planetshakers), God of the Universe (Citipointe), For all You’ve done (Hillsong) and Here I am to Worship (Hillsong) .

Message: Pastor Larry spoke on “What are you expecting God to do??”. Checkout Larry’s thoughts here.

Highlights: Had pre-service coffee and carrot cake today, it was delicious! Also a long serving member turned 60 during the week so we song “Happy Birthday” and thanked her for her continual support and service to the church. You are a legend Karen!

Some Assembly Required II

Salt looked at the second part of our “Some Assembly Required” series tonight.

Started the night off with a bit of footy outside then we headed inside for God time. Tonight we determined that we need the power of God if we are going to be able to achieve the mammoth task of assembling our Christian walk into something God can use.

Phillipians 2:12-13 tells us to be energetic in our life of Salvation and that God will be the energy, that is required, deep within us. Now I’m not talking about some hocus-pocus mystical power. I’m talking about the power of God that comes from having a true relationship with God and where time is spent nurturing this relationship.

We did a quick “Temptation/Sale of the Century” Who Am I quiz with some of the clues being:

• Born: St. Louis, Missouri, 1989
• Favorite city: New York, the city that never sleeps
• Favorite song: “I got the power”
• Acting experience: Has been in more than 107 television commercials. Has co-starred with celebrities including Wile E. Coyote, Darth Vader, the Wicked Witch and Elvis. Has made special guest appearances with Ted Danson on Cheers, ABC’s Wide World of Sports, the Emmy awards, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and the Late Show with David Letterman.
• Favorite movies: Loves the sequels that keep going, like Rocky, Lethal Weapon, Spider-Man, and Police Academy
• Couldn’t live without: Portable battery-operated devices and drums
• Two words that best describe him: “Keep going”

Of course this famous ‘person’ was the energizer bunny! Now the reason the energizer bunny can “Keep going” is because of his continually being plugged into his power source: the energizer battery.

Similarily if we are plugged into our power source, God, we can keep on going with the task of assembling our Christian life.

An a lighter note I downloaded a ton of clips off youtube.com of people either doing amazing sporting feats or knacking themselves! After our God time I looped the clip for the rest of the night, great stuff!

Also we caught up with some other young people who hire the room on Sundays for their church. Got to talking with them and we might see if we can hook both of our youth groups up on occasions! There’s a huge harvest so teaming up with other workers is better for the Kingdom!

Kestrel

Service Recap – 22.04.07

Finished the final message in our four-part series called “Survivor: Your Life”. Today we looked at “Living without hope?”

Music: You are the light (Suncoast COC), Let the praises ring (Lincoln Brewster), My Jesus (Rhys Anderson), How great is our God (Chris Tomlin) and Hallelujah (Hillsong).

Message: Larry preached on 3 things we need to do when it feels as though all hope is lost in our lives. Firstly we must Discover God’s Presence. God is with us at all times as Isaiah 43:2-3 shows us. We need to get back to our first love. Secondly we must Determine God’s Purpose. What would God want me to learn from this situation? How can I grow through it? Larry wisely pointed out that God has more faith in us than we have in God sometimes! And thirdly we must Depend On God’s Power. The great Apostle Paul at one stage felt as though all help was lost! But in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 we see that Paul knew he had to rely upon the power of God. Paul had seen God deliver him time and time again from hopelessness and he had no doubt that God would deliver him once more.