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 – 07.09.2008

Music: Salvation is Here (Hillsong), All the earth will Sing (Lincoln Brewster), You are Good (Lincoln Brewster),

Message: Pastor Larry finalised ‘The Warrior’ series today with a message titled ‘The Passionate Warrior’. Some key points were:

1. The warrior who abandons his cause becomes passive
2. The warrior who abandons his cause becomes abusive
3. The warrior pursuing his cause becomes consumed with passion!

The passionate warrior always has:

1. Someone to protect
2. A Kingdom to advance

This was a great series and definitely put out a challenge to Men to live life as a Passionate Warrior for God!

Highlights: We had egg and bacon muffins pre-service to celebrate Father’s Day. The were simply delicious and were a hit with the Dads. The Fathers also got a Darrell Lea gift bag filled with Chocolates and Licorce!

Next week: We will be starting a new series called “Freedom!”, you can check out more details here. It’s bound to be a fantastic series as we go over some of the fundamentals of Christianity.

Service Recap – 17.08.2008

Music: I’m not ashamed (Hillsong), Let the praises ring (Lincoln Brewster), God is with me (Citipointe), Jesus paid it all (Kristian Stanfill) and Awesome God (Hillsong).

Message: Today we had Gary Hourigan as guest speaker and he spoke an awesome message on ‘The Power of the Gospel’.

The main theme, of Gary’s message, was that we have to believe that the Father is working in the world around me, I just need to follow and watch God’s reconciliation. Our job is to work with Christ, lift up our eyes and see the work that God is doing! You see the Father is already going ahead of us to prepare the way for us, we just need to believe this truth. It gives you so much freedom.

Some great scripture verses that Gary shared were: John 20:21, 2 Cor 5:18 and Luke 10:1 .

Next week: ‘The Wounded Warrior’ is the third part of our ‘The Warrior’ series and we’ll be looking at this next week. Check out information on the series here.

Service Recap – 10.08.2008

Music: I’m not ashamed (Hillsong), What the world will ne ver take (Hillsong), You are good (Lincoln Brewster) and Almighty God (Tim Hughes).

Message: Pastor Larry continued with week two of our current series, The Warrior, with a message title “The Hesitant Warrior”. The main scripture passage used was Judges 6:14-15, with the classic story of Gideon.

Three points were highlighted:

1. Every warrior faces fears of failure
2. When a warrior’s internal fear of failure exceeds hi faith in God, he becomes hesitant
3. The warrior has what it takes

Next week: We’ll be taking a break from “The Warrior” series next week as we have a guest speaker, Gary Hourigan. Gary is the National Coordinator of Church Development in COC so it is bound to be an awesome day. Make sure you get along!

Service Recap – 03.08.2008

Music: The time has come (Hillsong), God of the universe (Citipointe), For

all You’ve done (Hillsong), You reign (Citipointe) and Worthy is Jesus (Rhys Anderson).

Message: Pastor Larry Blackmore kicked off the first message in our ‘The Warrior‘ series, with the title being ‘The Warrior’s Cause’.

The common potrayal of Jesus as being meek and mild is grossly under-estimating the incredible strength and power of the Son of God. He was a true Warrior to clean out the temple, to pass through the crowds when they wanted to stone Him and to die on the cross when He had power to consume all those before Him.

Larry made three main points to the men in the church:

1. God created you with the heart of a Warrior
2. Every Warrior has a cause to fight for
3. A Warrior without a cause to fight for will find the wrong thing to fight against

The men were then challenged as to what cause they are fighting for at the moment. Is it for their marriage? Is it for you children? Is it for your career? Is it for God?

Next week: We’ll be continuing part two of the series with the title being, ‘The Hesitant Warrior’. Make sure you don’t miss it!

Service Recap – 27.07.2008

Music: The time has come (Hillsong), I live for You (Andrew Ironside), My Saviour Lives (Newlife Church), Grace like Rain (Todd Agnew) and Hail the King (Nathan Ironside).

Message: Pastor Larry preached up a storm today as he shared from Luke 1:17, “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

Larry challenged us several points:

1. if we are not fishers of men, if we are not making disciples, then are we really following Jesus? So many people come to Christ purely because they want their needs met, but Jesus never said He would fix all of our problems. He said “… I will make you fishers of men.”
2. we are not going to be a ‘good family’ church, we are going to be a ‘disciple making’ church!
3. we are not just to have the purpose of saving the lost, but we are to be passionate about it as well!

All in all it was an awesome message so make sure you get the CD or download the podcast.

Next week: We are starting an fantastic series next week called “The Warrior”. This series will be running through the months of August and September.

In every person’s life there is a cause worth fighting for and a victory worth claiming. What is yours? Discover how to not only prepare for the battles ahead, but more importantly, how to emerge victoriously as The Warrior.

For more information check it out here. You do NOT want to miss this!

Service Recap – 06.04.2008

Music: All the earth will sing (Lincoln Brewster), Everlasting God (Lincoln Brewster), King of Majesty (Hillsong), Came to my rescue (Hillsong) and How great is our God (Chris Tomlin).

Message: We wrapped up our Disciple series today with Bronson sharing the last message titled, “Goes out”. Bronson said that we are to live as though we are a missionary in our every day life, it is not just about a ‘mission trip’.

Two key points:

1. A disciple of Jesus makes the message simple
2. Keep compassion central

When we “Go Out” we are to drift every conversation back to Jesus and we are also to show the love of Jesus. Truth and Love.

Next week: AJ Masefau is going to be preaching and it is bound to be a powerful message. AJ is the Victorian Youthnet State Director and is doing an amazing job with the youth of our state. Don’t miss it!!

Service Recap – 30.03.2008

Music: One Way (Hillsong), My Saviour Lives (Newlife Church), Now that You’re near (Hillsong), Grace like Rain (Todd Agnew) and From the inside out (Hillsong).

Message: We continued week 3 of our current series, ‘Disciple’ with Bronson taking the message, “Disciples Break Bread”. Bronson spoke on how the disciples spent a lot of time doing intimate relationships together (Acts 2:42-47) and how relationships in 2008 don’t seem to follow this model.  The two key thoughts were:

1. Breaking bread requires extreme commitment
2. Breaking bread produces extreme results

As disciples we should be committed to having deeper relationships with our neighbours, our families and our church family – this will in turn give us opportunities to share God’s love for them.

Next week: We’ll be wrapping up the series with Bronson sharing on a message titled ‘Goes Out’. Bound to be challenging and very life applicable so make sure you get along!

Service Recap – 23.03.2008

Music: My Redeemer Lives (Hillsong), Salvation is Here (Hillsong), My Jesus (Rhys Anderson), How great is our God (Chris Tomlin), Grace like rain (Todd Agnew).

Message: Kestrel continued on with part 2 of our ‘Disciple’ series. Today’s topic was “Go Fishing” and that as disciples of Jesus we are to not only become like Him, but to do what He did. We are to be fishers of men, or disciplies making disciples.

The key passage today was Luke 5:1-11.

Kestrel said that we do this through doing 2 things:

1. Unquestioning obedience. Just as Daniel did what Mr. Miyagi asked in Karate Kid, we are to do things that Jesus asks of us, even if they do not make sense. Peter lowered the nets again when Jesus asked Him to. (v4-5)
2. Absolute abandonment. The disciples of Jesus left everything to follow Him. They did not do it half-heartidly but with everything that was within them. They desperately wanted to be a follower, disciple of Jesus. (v11)

Highlight: Doing a modern take on “Amazing Grace” by Todd Agnew during the communion time. Plus the delicious hot cross buns made by Zoe!

Next week: Bronson will be taking us through week 3 of our ‘Disciple’ series with a message titled ‘Breaking Bread’. Don’t miss it!

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”!