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.

Pastor’s Desk

Jesus said in Mat 11:28, “Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest”.

Now, either Jesus was misleading us or we’ve got it wrong somewhere. Because I think we all agree that Jesus really can do anything He said He could and/or would do.

We fail to understand that it is better to roll the lightest burdens at once on God, who is the willing, and the gracious burden-bearer, than carry heavy burdens one’s self to God’s dishonor.

But there is a fundamental problem here, and that is that we really aren’t willing to ‘come to Him’, and if we do it’s conditional on what we want Him to do for us or what we think He’ll want us to do for Him.

And so we come to the point of John 5:40, “you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life”.

I know I’ve recently been on about this to the point of boredom, but it is a very critical issue and one that most Christians miss. We want what Jesus promises but we either don’t want to get too close to Him for fear of what it will cost us, or we feel we can’t get close to Him because of what we are.

Beloved, if Jesus says ‘Come’, I suggest we do just that, and let Him sort it out. Because we can’t do it on our own, it’s just too much to carry – works for me!

Pastor Larry Blackmore

Pastor’s Desk

All over Australia people are looking for answers. Many are hurting, lost and broken. T.S. Elliot said ‘we prepare faces, to meet the faces that we meet’ but behind the smiles pain often lurks.

Jesus brings hope to these issues, in his heart of compassion he saw the lost and said

“Do you not say, it is still four months until harvest time comes? Look! I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields and see how they are already white for harvesting” (John 4:35 MKJV).

The harvest is ready. It’s ripe and ready to be brought in. Jesus wanted us to look at the harvest with eyes that see where people are at, and how needy they are, as we all are, for the answer the gospel brings. God has called us to so much more, a life abundant that Jesus promised – a life that overcomes pain & sorrow with faith & joy

Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me; He has anointed me to proclaim the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed,” Luke 4:18 (MKJV).

Look at those key words; they describe pain in people’s lives. Jesus is saying that He has come to heal, save and deliver people from those very things and the Holy Spirit has anointed us to be ministers of reconciliation between God and man, so let us be about His business – Works for me!

Pastor Larry Blackmore

Pastor’s Desk

Trouble and tough times happen, its what we do when trouble comes that matters. Here we see a number of
differing understandings, or methods if you like, from the same verse.

David and his men have been out fighting the enemy but when they come home they find some other enemy has attacked their camp and taken their families. So:-

1Sa 30:6 [MSG] David was in trouble. The men, bitter over the loss of their families, talked of stoning him. But David strengthened himself with trust in his GOD.

David spoke to himself of how God could be trusted to see him through.

[CEV] David was desperate. … he felt the LORD God giving him strength

David gave himself to that trust and felt God’s strength coming over him.

[BBE] David was greatly troubled … he made himself strong in his God

David gets stuck into his thinking and forces himself to believe in the might of his God

[NIV] David was in great distress … he found strength in the LORD his God

There is strength in God if you seek it. Its there to be found for who seek it.

[GNB] David was in great trouble … but the LORD his God gave him courage

God is not mean when it comes to helping us. He wants and has the best for us.

[TLB] David was seriously worried …David took strength from the Lord

Faith takes from God what God is handing out. This is not a wrong thing to do.

David doesn’t sit in his misery and defeat. He gets tough on himself and stirs up his thinking, this activates his trust and faith which pleases God. God’s grace gives
strength and confidence to David and he goes out and gets his life back.

Some of us need to get tough on ourselves and start to believe God is able to change our world; He may need to
change us to do it, but He can and will do it!! – Works for me!

Pastor Larry Blackmore

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

What Are You Expecting God To Do??

Main Thoughts from Sunday’s Message

I don’t believe that disciples in the upper room were expecting God to do what He did.

I do believe we have a pre-concieved mindset on what we think God should be doing as He builds His Church, which across the board He doesn’t seem to be doing. Could this be because we have this pre-concieved mindset??

I do believe God WANTS to do something. I do believe God WANTS to use me/us to do it in our world.

What am I expecting God to do??
I am expecting God to move because that’s what God does!! How??
Well, that’s up to Him because that’s His business — but I expect Him to do SOMETHING!!
So I will give Him my best, and do my best so that He has someone/thing to work with.

1Co 2:9 MSG … No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it– What God has arranged for those who love him.

You ain’t seen nothing yet!!

What are you expecting God to do??

Pastor Larry Blackmore

Pastor’s Desk

Welcome to a great church – Melbourne West Church.

I was reading the 4th chapter of the Gospel of John recently and was struck by the similarity of our own endeavours. Initially we see Jesus sitting down by the well because He was tired from the journey. It’s true that any vision will exact a toll on those on the journey, this is to be expected and not something to sidestep as many do.

In the story we then see a woman come to the well in the middle of the day which indicates something isn’t quite right for her, as she would usually be doing this in the cool of the morning or evening. When things don’t go according to plan, we can often separate ourselves from those God wants to join us to, and end up isolated from the main purpose He has for us.

We then see Jesus put an expectation on her, He asks something of her. Jesus will always ask something of us that isn’t what we expect or even want, but notice He makes comment concerning ‘gifting’.

Many modern Christians seem to think ‘their’ gifting is about them. It’s not, its about ‘the vision’. In our case, that’s 300 in 3, a Church building, and Church plant. What is so encouraging about this story is Jesus’ response to this woman’s unknown need, and this is my main point here.

John 4:10 (NIV) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”

The answer to all this is ‘the living water’ of the Holy Spirit. None of us can or ever will accomplish the vision without this constant infilling of the freshness of God.

John 4:14 (NIV) whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Another interesting aspect here is her seemingly endless circle of failure in life: 5 husbands. Most journeys of life and any God given vision is going to have its trial. It can appear that we are never going to get there.

Finally in v23 we see the key. The Holy Spirit & Truth!

Works for me!!

Pastor Larry Blackmore

Pastor’s Desk

Welcome to a great church – Melbourne West Church.

I have been greatly encouraged over the last 2 weeks as people have picked up on the mantle of prayer that I believe God wants to see over this church.

I’ve been saying that there are many differing types and ways of praying; personal, devotional, supplications, proclamation etc. But the prayer that we need to come into is the prayer of faith and power, the prayer that brings God’s will for a city/community into existence.

This way of praying requires a fair degree of faith and action on our part to actually believe that we are not just a bunch of people coming to pray, but that we are stepping up into something more than we normally are.

If you’ve come along to some of the prayer meetings we’ve had in this last ‘fortnight of prayer’ you’ll have heard me encouraging you to step up into an ‘office’, like a position. Into something that God has called us to be whilst in this way of prayer.

I’ve encouraged us to pray out of the office of ‘prophetic & apostolic’. When I say the prophetic, I don’t mean “Thus saith the Lord”, I mean that we pray prophetically, declaring what we know the will of God to be in terms of the church vision.

When I say the apostolic I refer to the fact that it is the apostolic that builds churches, that breaks through in the spirit realm to establish God’s kingdom on this earth. It is the apostolic that makes a way for the lost to come into the Kingdom of God.

It is my hope that by the end of 2007, not only will we have a building, but that we will be a church that has taken on the responsibility of prayer. That we will see prayer as a calling/office to be embraced, and not a burden to be excused.

Become a ‘church’ prayer, become something more than you are now.

Pastor Larry Blackmore

Pastor’s Desk

Welcome to a great church – Melbourne West Church. I can say that because I know that we serve a GREAT God.

Job 36:26 (TLB) “God is so great that we cannot begin to know him”

A children’s song says ‘My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing that my God cannot do’

If our kids REALLY believed that, they’d be world beaters – no suicide, no rebellion etc. Why don’t our kids believe that? Because mostly we don’t. If we did, we’d see a lot more than we already see.

Our minds have been closed off to the enormity of the God. I know this because I see Christians living lives that say “I don’t believe God is big enough to look after me if I do what He says, therefore I’ll do it my way”.

Our actions display our faith in the greatness of God.

Mat 7:21 (TLB) “Not all who sound religious are really godly people. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but still won’t get to heaven. For the decisive question is whether they obey my Father in heaven.

If you REALLY believe God is great you’ll do what He says.

If you believe God is Great, you can also believe that His church is great – that’s why I believe this is a great church, not because of what I see, but because of what I can’t see but can perceive: the GREATNESS of God.

That’s why we have the standards/values that we have, because God is great and therefore we should do it His way.

I encourage you to lift your faith level in your believing of God’s greatness, your reward will be exceedingly great – there’s nothing my God cannot do!!

Welcome to a great church, Melbourne West Church. Its a privilege to partner you on your journey of Christian purpose and service

Pastor Larry Blackmore

Pastor’s Desk

Welcome to a great church – Melbourne West Church. Many people would have trouble with that statement, possibly even put labels on it: proud, arrogant etc. But I like to call it confidence in who and what God says I am. Let me explain.

Virtually everyone knows the story of Peter’s attempt to walk on water and virtually everyone gets some satisfaction out of the fact that he didn’t make the grade because deep down we now have an excuse for our humanity.

So my questions is ‘Why did Jesus prompt Peter to have a go?’ Was it to prove how useless Peter was without Jesus? Not at all. Jesus actually believed Peter could do it, after all it was Jesus who ‘called’ Peter to the task. So Jesus believed in Peter.

Why did Peter sink then? Yes, he saw the wind and the waves but why was that such an issue? He was supposed to have faith in Jesus, not the water, and Jesus wasn’t sinking. So why did he sink?

Peter sank because he didn’t have any faith in himself. You may say we aren’t supposed to have faith in ourselves; I beg to differ. There is nothing more annoying or useless than a person who cannot believe the great things that others say about them – they’re being humble. No they’re not, they’re being naughty!

God has invested His very BEST in me and you, He says ‘It is GOOD’, so who are we second guess Him and doubt and sink into the waves of oblivion. GOD BELIEVES IN YOU! Believe in yourself and join Him for a stroll into greatness – He waits for you!

Welcome to a great church, Melbourne West Church. Its a privilege to partner you on the journey of Christian purpose.

Pastor Larry Blackmore