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”!

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.

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

Fuse Camp 2008!

Wow, Fuse Summer Camp 2008 is on this weekend! It is going to be sooooo awesome!

Our church will be joining the other Christian Outreach Centre churches throughout Victoria for a wicked Youth camp of having fun and seeking God.

Now traditionally Salt Youth have a huge reputation to uphold as top 3 finishes in any form of competition that is held. This year we are going to keep that tradition going!

There should be roughly between 15-20 of us going to Camp so we’ll be in touch to organise transport to and from Camp. I hope your amped!!

Service Recap – 17.02.2008

Music: Everlasting God (Lincoln Brewster), My Saviour Lives (New Life Church), All to You (Lincoln Brewster) and Jesus Paid it all (Kristian Stanfill).

Message: We had a guest speaker today, who is the current Victorian Youthnet Director. AJ Masefau is a passionate man and he spoke from 1 Samual 17 about the story of David and Goliath.

He gave us 5 pebbles we can use to walk in the Victory that Jesus has prepared for us:

1. Know your place is in God
2. You must do all things in the name of Jesus
3. Speak out your victory
4. Face your enemy, take action
5. Only with the power of the Holy Spirit

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.