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Die With You Boots On

CityWest — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:37:57 +0000

Any one reading the blog’s or listening to the sermon’s going on at CityWest can testify that God is moving. He has been greatly challenging us, certainly convicting us, gradually breaking us, and above all, loving us. The question being raised however is, “How are we responding”?

A few of us gather early most mornings to pray for the church, our community, country, and above all, that God would once again pour out His Spirit upon His people. We are a sinful, messed up bunch, that desperately need God to strip us of ourselves, and reshape us in a way that glorifies Him. Once again, prayer this morning was nothing short of ‘Amazing’! Such an incredible feeling of God moving in power amongst us, and sharing His love, and pain with us.

Day by day, God is opening our eye’s to see the state of our life’s, and where our ‘treasure’ lies. We are a stubborn people, but we are beginning to realise that we’ve been missing something. As one said in their prayer this morning, “You [Jesus] didn’t die on the cross, just so that we would sing a few song’s, listen to a sermon and put some money in the bag. You died for more than just that”.

Confronting isn’t it!

Early last week I was moved by a plaque on “The Memorial Cross” at Mt Macedon. It read, “To those brave men and women who gave their lives for their God, their King, and their country. May we be found worthy of their sacrifice“. Wouldn’t it be great if all ‘Christians’ felt the same towards Christ’s sacrifice? I can only imagine what the church would look like, and the power it would have. How Beautiful.

I came upon this article by Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in America and it really moved me in much the same way the plaque on that cross did. I know it’s long, but please, read through it, you won’t regret it.

Die With Your Boots On

Mark Driscoll

Preaching Pastor at Mars Hill Church

This is a series on 11 Leadership Lessons from 12 Disciples, based on the recent sermon Jesus Calls the Twelve, on Luke 6:12-16.

Lesson #11: Die with your boots on

You’re either going to go out like Judas or Jesus—that’s how your life is going to end. You’re going to go out like Jesus, faithful to the end, whatever the cost, or you’re going to go out like Judas, prematurely, tragically, rebelliously, shamefully. I want you to keep your boots on, finish strong, run your race, see it through to the end, be a completer, a finisher, a closer of the things God has given you to do.

As you read this, maybe you’re like me, you may wonder, “What happened to these guys?” We know in the Bible, they went forward. Some of them were cowards, but they toughened up. The resurrection put some steel in their spine. They preached, they taught, they planted churches. John wrote five books of the Bible, Peter wrote two. These guys did get some stuff done, but the Bible doesn’t tell us how they finished—for that we’ve got to go to history. Did they die with their boots on? Here are some of their stories from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. It was first written in 1559, and it’s fantastic. Gotta love the Puritans.

James

Wonder how James died?

The first apostle to suffer after the martyrdom of Stephen was James, the brother of John. Clement tells us when this James was brought to the tribunal seat, he that brought him and was the cause of his trouble, seeing him to be condemned and that he should suffer death, was in such sort moved within heart and conscience that he went to the execution and confessed himself also of his own accord to be a Christian. And so were they led forth together, where in the way he desired of James to forgive him what he had done. After James had a little pause with himself upon the matter, turning to him he said, “Peace to thee, my brother,” and kissed him, and both were beheaded.

James had a critic who wanted him murdered. He had a Judas, and on the way to be crucified, apparently he had some conversation with his Judas, and his Judas repented and said, “I’m sorry. Let’s get beheaded together for Jesus,” and they did. James is a bad man—in a good way.

Thomas

“Thomas preached to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Carmenians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Margians. He was killed in Calamina, India.” Most of these men died murderous martyrdom. You know what? Mars Hill Church would be much smaller but much holier, more effective, more fruitful, I think, if we had a little bit of suffering. Can’t make it happen, I’ve tried. But what happens is when people start giving their life for the cause of the gospel, all of a sudden those who are playing church stop playing. They either step up for Jesus, and go from “come and see” to “go and die,” or like Judas, they just walk away and go do something else.

Simon

“Simon, brother of Jude and James the younger who were all the sons of Mary Cleophas and Alphaeus, was bishop of Jerusalem after James,” Jesus’ brother. “He was crucified in Egypt.” Crucified. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it well: “When Christ calls a man, he calls him to come and die.” Come and die. When Jesus says, “Pick up your cross and follow me,” that’s what it means to be a disciple, that you go the way of Jesus. You give your life for what he gave his life to, the glory of God and the good of others for the church. “The other Simon, the apostle, he was also crucified.”

Bartholomew

“Bartholomew is said to have preached in India and translated the Gospel of Matthew into their tongue. He was beaten, crucified, and beheaded.”

Andrew

Andrew, Peter’s brother, was crucified. Bernard and St. Cyprian mentioned the confession and martyrdom of this blessed apostle. Partly from them and partly from other reliable writers, we gather the following material:

When Andrew, through his diligent preaching had brought many to the faith of Christ, Egeas the governor asked permission to the Roman senate to force all Christians to sacrifice to and honor the Roman idols. Andrew thought he should resist Egeas and went to him, telling them that a judge of men should first know and worship as judge in heaven. ‘While worshiping the true God,’ Andrew said, ‘he should banish all false gods and blind idols from his mind.’ Furious at Andrew, Egeas demanded to know if he was the man who had recently overthrown the temples of the gods and persuaded men to become Christians, a ‘superstitious’ sect that had recently been declared illegal by the Romans.

Andrew replied that, ‘The rulers of Rome didn’t understand the truth. The son of God who came into the world for man’s sake taught that the Roman gods were devils, enemies of mankind teaching men to offend God, and causing him to turn away from them. By serving the devil, men fall into all kinds of wickedness,’ Andrew said. ‘And after they die, nothing but their evil deeds are remembered.’ The proconsul ordered Andrew not to preach these things anymore or he would face a speedy crucifixion.”

If you were going to get crucified, would you stop calling yourself a Christian?

Whereupon Andrew replied,

“I would not have preached the honor and glory of the cross if I feared the death of the cross.” He was condemned to be crucified for teaching a new sect and taking away the religion of the Roman gods. Andrew, going toward the place of execution, and seeing the cross waiting for him, never changed his expression, neither did he fail in his speech. His body fainted not, nor did his reason fail him as often happens to men about to die. He said, “‘Oh cross, most welcome and longed for, with a willing mind, joyfully and desirously I come to you being the scholar of him which did hang on you because I have always been your lover and yearn to embrace you.”

“You boys want to crucify me? There’s a good spot, go for it. I belong to Jesus.”

Matthew

“Matthew wrote his Gospel to the Jews in the Hebrew tongue after he had converted Ethiopia and all Egypt. Hircanius, the king, sent someone to kill him with a spear.”

Philip

“After years of preaching to the barbarous nations, Philip was stoned, crucified, and buried with his daughter.”

Peter

The first of the ten persecutions was stirred up by Nero about 64 A.D. His rage against Christians was so fierce that Eusebius records, “A man might then see cities full of men’s bodies, the old lying together with the young, and the dead bodies of women cast out naked without reverence of that sex in the open streets.” Many Christians in those days thought that Nero was the Antichrist because of his cruelty and abominations. The Apostle Peter was condemned to death during this persecution. Although some say that he escaped, it is known that many Christians encouraged him to leave the city and the story goes that as he came to the city gates, Peter saw Jesus coming to meet him. “Lord, where are you going?” Peter asked. “I am coming again to be crucified,” was the answer. Seeing that his suffering was understood, Peter turned around, returned to the city where Jerome tells us he was crucified upside down at his own request, saying he was not worthy to be crucified the same way his Lord was.

John

“The second persecution began during the reign of Domitian, the brother of Titus. Domitian exiled John to the island of Patmos.” It’s an actual spot and I’ve been there. “But on Domitian’s death, John was allowed to return to Ephesus in the year A.D. 70. He remained there until the reign of Trajan, governing the churches of Asia, and writing his Gospel until he died at about the age of one hundred.”

But at a hundred, he may have had a lot of scars on his body, because before they exiled him, they tried to kill him. They boiled him alive, and he lived through it, so they exiled him for a while. He got out and wrote books of the Bible, as a boiled old man.

We’re glad you come and see. You need to go and die.

Father God, I pray for us as a people. We’re in a day where we get a lot of come-and-see. There are free sermons on the Internet, classes, training, Christian music, radio stations, radio preachers, church events, mass crusades, services, small groups. It seems, Lord God, like there are more come-and-see opportunities than any people have ever been offered in the history of the world. And God, we rejoice in the come-and-see opportunities. We rejoice that people come to hear the Bible and see lives change through Jesus.

But God, I pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit and the hearts and minds and the lives of our people, that they would respond to your call to become Christians, that they would respond to your call to persevere as Christians, that they would give like Christians should give, that they would serve like Christians should serve, that they would suffer like Christians should suffer, that they would testify like Christians should testify, and Lord God, I pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit on us as a people that we wouldn’t just be a come-and-see people, that we’d be a go-and-die people.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

CityWest iPhone App

CityWest — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:59:20 +0000

Attention CityWest iPhone users! We have the closest thing to an iPhone App up and running for our website. Recent enhancements to our website allows iPhone users to view our website in a “mobile format” which closely resembles an official App. Until some rich person joins CityWest and donates a stack of money to develop an official App, this is as good as it gets!

But follow these instructions below and you’ll have a web experience on your iPhone that looks and feels like an App! Please note that for the time being, audio streaming of our sermons are not available through this “App” due to the limitations of the software our iPhones come with.

Without further ado, follow these instructions and you’ll get it up and running on your iPhone in no time! Blackberry users should be able to alter these intructions to have a similar result.

Open up Safari on your iPhone and enter our web address: www.citywestchurch.com.au On the left is a screen shot of the traditional website. You may get this screen or the mobile enhanced version as shown above. Once loaded, click on the “+” sign on the bottom of the screen. This is a function to add a bookmark. But what we aim to do here is add a bookmark to your iPhone – not just Safari.

Next select the “Add to Home Screen” button. This function allows you to add the bookmark to your iPhone home screen. The end result being you simply select this “bookmark” as you would select any App.

Here you get to name your bookmark. You will notice the CityWest logo is automatically added as an icon. In order to keep things neat, delete the “church” in the title. This allows you to view this bookmark neatly on your iPhone home screen.

A new button appears on your home screen! This button can be moved around on your iPhone just like any App. Next time you want to access the website, simply select this button and your done! Just like an App!

And there you have it! It’s simply a bookmark to our website. Due to an enhancement in the coding of our website, mobile users experience the website in a very similar way an App operates. The default landing page are the various blog posts at CityWest. As mentioned above, currently the iPhone doesn’t allow direct audio streaming of sermons from a website. We’ll have to wait till we have the funds for an official App to allow for this. In the meantime, feel free to subscribe to our podcast here.

Be sure to explore other parts of the website by clicking on the drop arrow in the top right hand corner. This gives you access to a tonne of different pages from our website. Be sure to check this frequently as updates will occur soon.

And there you have it! It’s like having an App without actually having an App! Please feel free to contact us here if you have any questions or issues.

Featured Music Video | Mess Of Me

CityWest — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:24:24 +0000

Today’s featured music video is by the award winning band of Christian rockers known as Switchfoot. Known for their hard and heavy guitar rifts and power ballads, Switchfoot has been around since 1996 and have produced a number of hit albums.

In light of the current sermon series at CityWest – “Invasion Of God” – a common theme is repentance. Repentance is simply an acknowledgement of something wrong in your life, confessing it and turning your back on it and conquering it with the help of God.

Switchfoot fits into this mindset perfectly. All five members are surfing fanatics and the word “switchfoot” is a surfing term as lead singer Jon Foreman explains..

“We all love to surf and have been surfing all our lives so to us, the name made sense. To switch your feet means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction. It’s about change and movement, a different way of approaching life..”

When we see sin in our lives, it’s always a good idea to “switchfoot” – turn and face the opposite direction. But a prerequisite of this is to actually acknowledge the mess in our life in the first place. As fallen human beings, this is a tough place to go – to admit that we haven’t got it “all together” as we make it out to be.

But if we are honest with ourselves, it’s often very plain of the mess we have made of our lives and the need to “switchfoot”. In this light, we hope you enjoy “Mess Of Me” from Switchfoot’s new album, “Hello Hurricane”. Lyrics are below the video.

I am my own affliction
I am my own disease
There ain’t no drug that they could sell
Ah there ain’t no drugs to make me well
There ain’t no drugs
It’s not enough
There ain’t no drugs
The sickness is myself
– Chorus –
I made a mess of me I wanna get back the rest of me
I’ve made a mess of me I wanna spend the rest of my life alive
I’ve made a mess of me I wanna reverse this tragedy
I’ve made a mess of me I wanna spend the rest of my live alive
The rest of my life alive!
We lock our souls in cages
We hide inside our shells
It’s hard to feed to the ones you love
Oh when you can’t forgive yourself
Yeah forgive yourself!
There ain’t no drugs
There ain’t no drugs
There ain’t no drugs
The sickness is myself
– Chorus –
I made a mess of me I wanna get back the rest of me
I’ve made a mess of me I wanna spend the rest of my life alive
I’ve made a mess of me I wanna reverse this tragedy
I’ve made a mess of me I wanna spend the rest of my live alive
The rest of my life alive!
AHHHHHHOOOOO!
There ain’t no drug
There ain’t no drug
There ain’t no drug
No drugs to make me well
There ain’t no drug
It’s not enough
We´re breaking up
The sickness is myself
The sickness is myself
– Chorus –
I made a mess of me I wanna get back the rest of me
I’ve made a mess of me I wanna spend the rest of my life alive
I’ve made a mess of me I wanna reverse this tragedy
I’ve made a mess of me I wanna spend the rest of my live alive
The rest of my life alive!

Free Mark Driscoll Audio Book Download

CityWest — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:32:35 +0000

Be sure to grab yourself a free Audio Book download of Mark Driscoll’s, “Religion Saves: + nine other misconceptions” – available now @ www.christianaudio.com.

This book is based on the same titled sermon series held at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Check out the sermons here.

Basically Mars Hill Church opened up a web based survey and asked for people to post any questions they would like Mark Driscoll to address. After receiving thousands of questions and thousands of votes against these questions, the top ten areas were addressed in a sermon series and a book was put together.

Now you can download a copy of the audio book for free thanks to www.christianaudio.com!

Simply log in or create an account and for the month of February, it’s yours for free! Simple!

Australia Day Picnic

CityWest — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:47:58 +0000

Well Australia Day 2010 has come and gone. Today a bunch of people from CityWest went to Point Cook Coastal Park for a good ‘ol Aussie BBQ. There is nothing like a good BBQ and to have one with close friends on Australia Day is especially good.

We got to rest and relax under the shade of tree’s while the kids played on the playgrounds and beach. The weather was awesome and to top it off, the aroma of a BBQ cooking a few feet away was the icing on the cake!

Thanks to Harold for organising the event!

Below is a short video with some of the happy snaps from the day. Hope you enjoy!

Free Books By John Piper

CityWest — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:43:10 +0000

John Piper is the Pastor for Preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. John is the author of more than 30 books and more than 25 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org

His website includes a vast resource of quality teaching and preaching and he freely makes this available for the Body of Christ.

In today’s age of “celebrity pastors” who make a living on travelling the world pushing their books at inflated places and then travelling on to their next destination in their Lear Jets to talk more about the so called “prosperity gospel”, John is a welcome contrast.

He is perhaps best known by the quote embedded in the following image…

“God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him” – what a way to view your life! What a sharp contradiction to the “live your best life now” or “seven steps to happiness” so freely peddled into today’s Christian bookstores.

Although John is a Pastor, Speaker and Author – and he writes a tonne of books, what contrasts him from others is that he also makes his books, and all his teaching material, freely available to all! What an awesome blessing he is to the Church and a glowing example of what it means to be a servant of Jesus.

Below are just 10 examples of books available for free download from his website desiringGod.org. In fact, if you head over to his website, you will find 54 books available for free download in PDF format.

Feel free to download to your heart’s content – Download Adobe PDF Reader here.

Desiring God | Download PDF

The great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. Discord between duty and delight doesn’t exist: delight is our duty. Piper stuns us again and again with things we saw in the Bible, but never dared to believe. Join him on this dangerous quest for maximum joy in God. But beware, it may cost you your life. Never mind – “the steadfast love of the Lord is better than life” (Psalm 63:3).

Don’t Waste Your Life | Download PDF

God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work, not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.

Music Video by Lacrae | Don’t Waste Your Life

Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die | Download PDF

The death of Jesus is of foremost importance for the world. And the central issue of Jesus’ death is not the cause, but the meaning—God’s meaning.

Finally Alive | Download PDF

What does the Bible teach about the miracle of rebirth? In this new book, John Piper explores Jesus’ peculiar command, “You must be born again.”

History’s Most Spectacular Sin | Download PDF

The most spectacular sin in the history of the world is the murder of the innocent, pure, perfect, and infinitely worthy Son of God. And at the center of that evil is the Satan-empowered betrayal of Jesus by his friend, Judas.

The Misery Of Job & The Mercy Of God | Download PDF

Job lost everything: his wealth, his health, and his ten children. All swept away in one satanic storm. Reduced to a heap of flesh, ashes, and tears—rebuked by friends and jeered by strangers—righteous Job wrestled over the purpose and presence of God in the midst of unbearable pain.

Video of John Piper’s Poetry on the Book of Job

The Power Of Words & The Wonder Of God | Download PDF

John Piper, Sinclair Ferguson, Mark Driscoll, and other leaders from Desiring God’s 2008 national conference examine the life-altering power of our words and their impact in sharing the gospel.

Conference video trailer upon which this book is based…

The Prodigals Sister| Download PDF

It has been ten years since the Prodigal Son left everything he knew – his home, his sister, his older brother, and his father. And now the prodigal’s sister intends to fulfil her promise, to find the Prodigal dead and bring him home alive.

Stand | Download PDF

Many people seek to better their lives by leaving, changing, swapping, or modifying their commitments. But God’s Word holds up a beautiful value that, while difficult, leads to deep satisfaction and great reward: endurance. Such long, steady, hold-the-course perseverance is especially needed within our vacillating generation.

A Sweet & Bitter Providence | Download PDF

The timeless themes of sex, racial tension, and God’s perplexing and perfect plans are as much a part of our human experience today as they were for Ruth and Boaz over three thousand years ago.

Video trailer for the book…

Prayer Culture

CityWest — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:11:50 +0000

“Is Prayer your steering wheel, or your spare tyre?” – Corrie Ten Boom

Over the past month or so, God has humbled CityWest Church, and started to bring us towards an awareness of His Vision and plan for this nation. For too long, “We” – the church, have been those that Isaiah prophesied about when he wrote..

“And the Lord said:”Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.” Isaiah 29:13

CityWest Church has begun a journey of “refreshing” as God is pouring out His Spirit upon each of us one by one, and drawing us into a fuller knowledge of who He is.

One thing that often hinders us, is our desire to draw into Him. God wants to be with us, and although we say that we want to be with Him, like in Isaiah, our hearts are no where near God and we think that a 5 minute devotional is going to be enough to submerse ourselves in Him, and live according to His Spirit.

What fools are we! Who are we kidding? God is waiting for us to come to Him in sacrifice and pour ourselves out at His feet, and all we give Him is a quick, “Hello, cant stay cause I’m in a rush but just wanted to say thanks! love ya.”

He doesn’t need us to complete His mission, any more than I need my children to help me do what I do. But, I get no greater joy than having my child come to me and say, “Can i help you daddy?” And that is what God is longing for. We are His children, the “Bride of Christ”, and He desires to have us fall on our knees, Humble ourselves, and give Him our devotion.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” Col 3:2-4.

The Dictionary defines “devote” as, “To give or apply ones time, attention or self, entirely.” God doesn’t want a part of us, He wants all of us. Entirely! If we want to see God working in and through us, then we need to give Him more than 5 minutes of our day, or 2 hours on Sunday. He needs to have our whole lives.

God will not compromise, and neither should we. unless we conform to His standards, we wont make the grade. We need to sacrifice our lives for the sake of the Gospel. Remember…

“Take your cross up DAILY!”

It says in the bible that the disciples fell asleep as Jesus prayed. He spent hours in prayer. If the Son of God, Jesus Christ, needed to spend hours in prayer drawing near to God, then how much more should we? We need to stop making prayer our “spare tyre”, or “get out of jail free” card – our helping hand – and make prayer the “steering wheel” of our lives. You might be amazed at where you can go when you let God set the course for your life.

“These I will bring tomy holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” Isaiah 56:7.

God is restoring His “House of Prayer” here at CityWest Church. If you want to see God’s throne put back where it belongs in your life, then please join us daily as we meet to pray, and seek His face, and bring our selves, families, church, community and nation before His throne. Then we will see God move in an amazing way as His Spirit becomes manifest and pours itself out on our dry and thirsty land. Let Prayer become a culture not a meeting!

“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2Chron 7:14

Please join as as we gather for prayer daily at the following times and locations…

Sunday | 9:30am | CityWest Church
Monday | 7:00pm | Daniel & Kylie Lynne’s home
Tuesday | 7:00pm | Daniel & Kylie Lynne’s home
Wednesday | 6:30am | CityWest Church
Thursday | 8:30pm | CityWest Church
Friday | 6:30am | CityWest Church
Saturday 7:00am | CityWest Church

Please see Daniel Lynne for more information.

Featured Music Video | Skillet – Monster

CityWest — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:57:25 +0000

Today’s featured music video is from the award winning Christian band Skillet. Known for their heavy music and piercing lyrics, Skillet continues to belt out songs that relate to a mass audience. In fact the song “Monster” was played as an opening song at a number of American Football games.

While they enjoy the moment to spread their music, the band takes great pride in helping spread the message of a dying humanity and its need for a Saviour. And the song “Monster” is a glowing example of this.

In Romans 7, Paul takes the time to describe the typical human condition. He is in torment as he sees, even in his own life, an ugly pattern emerge. The things he doesn’t want to do, he keeps on doing. And the things he wants to do, these things are impossible for him. He talks about a war raging inside of him and is best expressed in the following passage..

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Rom 7:21-24

Paul sees that he is living in a body of death. And if you were honest with yourself, you would come to the same conclusion. You know that the “old person” inside of you rages at your new nature and you constantly find yourself at war with your old nature. It’s like you have a monster inside of you.

On your own, this is impossible. Give up and give up now. Surrender to the fact that this war will never be won on your own. It takes the death of Jesus to pay for this monster inside of you. And it takes the Spirit of God to help you detach yourself and put to death that monster once and for all. And only then, can you be free.

In this light, we present the song, “Monster” by Skillet. Lyrics are below the video…

Skillet | Monster – lyrics

The secret side of me,
I’ll never let you see.
I keep it caged but I can’t control it.
So stay away from me,
The beast is ugly.
I feel the rage and I just can’t hold it.

It’s scratchin’ on the walls,
In the closet, in the halls.
It comes awake and I can’t control it.
Hidin’ under the bed,
In my body, in my head.
Why won’t somebody come and save me from this
Make it end.

I feel it deep within,
It’s just beneath the skin,
I must confess that I feel like a monster.

I hate what I’ve become,
The nightmare’s just begun.
I must confess that I feel like a monster.

I feel like a monster.

My secret side I keep,
Hid under lock and key.
I keep it caged but I can’t control it.
Cause if I let him out,
He’ll tear me up, break me down.
Why won’t somebody come and save me from this
Make it end.

It’s hidin in the dark,
It’s teeth are razor sharp,
There’s no escape for me,
It wants my soul, it wants my heart.

No one can hear me scream,
Maybe it’s just a dream,
Or maybe it’s inside of me.
Stop this monster.

I feel it deep within,
It’s just beneath the skin,
I must confess that I feel like a monster. X3

I’m gonna lose control,
It’s something radical,
I must confess that I feel like a monster.
I, I feel like a monster. X4

YouVersion & Free New Living Translation

CityWest — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:38:25 +0000

If you own an iPhone or Blackberry and you’re after a great Bible Application, then YouVersion is for you! The website describes the YouVersion Application the following way…

“YouVersion.com has given you the ability to engage with Scripture like never before, and with YouVersion mobile you have access to the Bible, corresponding contributions, reading plans, and online community no matter where you are. With YouVersion mobile the Bible is with you…during your morning commute in the tube, while waiting in line at the grocery store, or in church on Sunday. YouVersion gives you the power to engage in 41 different translations, in 22 languages, on one device that rests in the palm of your hand.

What a great resource! And to top it off, this application is completely free! And for a very limited time, you can also download a “local” copy of the New Living Translation for free also! For those without an iPhone or Blackberry, don’t despair! Make sure you check out YouVersion for an awesome online Bible tool and community. Give it a go now! Why not enter a query in the search box below:

YouVersion: Online Bible

Add this to your site

And if you’re after some great Bible reading plans, YouVersion is also the place to go with over 20 different plans to choose from! Altogether an awesome tool for the Body of Christ. Check out the following video for a glimpse into the reading plans at YouVersion..

All links are below.

YouVersion Website

YouVersion iPhone Application – once installed, download free New Living Translation

YouVersion Blackberry Application – enter link in your Blackberry

Bible Reading Plans

Mobile YouVersion

The Folly Of The Gospel

CityWest — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:48:57 +0000

The Gospel message Jesus left us behind to tell the world is a very powerful message. Untouched and delivered faithfully, it can have an enormous impact on a person’s life. It’s got nothing to do with the charisma or the story telling ability of the person sharing the Gospel – rather there is power behind the message.

Apostle Paul fully understood this power when he penned..

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..” Rom 1:16a

Through the story of the Gospel, God’s power can break into a persons life and bring salvation into it. However, if you were honest with yourself, the story of a man who lived more than 2000 years ago, did some miracles, was murdered, died for all our sins and was mysteriously resurrected and taken back into heaven seems a little far fetched to base your life on.

And according to the Bible, God loves the “foolishness” of the Gospel message to shatter the “wisdom” of man. To the hard hearted human, the Gospel message seems like utter nonsense – verbal diarrhea – and a great way to ridicule those “simple minded people” who place their trust in such a story.

As Christian’s, we should take delight in the fact that God has purposely designed things to be this way. He is in control and He uses the “folly” of the Gospel to separate those who will believe and those who won’t. Have a read of this…

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor 1:18

There it is again, “the power of God.” Embedded into the Gospel message is the power of God. This invisible power has the ability to penetrate a persons heart and soul and bring about change no natural process can explain. We’ve seen it time and time again where a person is confronted with this power – they are never the same again!

For this reason, we should never shrink back in our responsibility to share the Gospel. If we do, we are holding back the power of God to impact a persons life. Will all believe? Nope – actually most will see it as complete nonsense. But to those who God has already begun His work on, whose hearts have been been softened by the Spirit of God, the sharing of the Gospel will allow the power of God to come flooding through.

What an awesome privilege and responsibility God has left us with! Our job is to simply pass the message along, step back and watch the result. And it’s in this context that we share the following video as a great help. Please feel free to pass it along to your friends and family. The direct link can be found here.

Baptism December 2009

CityWest — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:11:52 +0000

On Sunday, 20th December we had an awesome baptism service at CityWest Church. Five precious souls who have been changed by Jesus decided to go ahead and publicly declare their new found faith in their Saviour.

Sunday was also our Christmas celebration and Pastor Mark shared a great message where he merged the birth of Jesus and how He continues to be born into the lives of those that open their heart to him.

The day was preceded with our Little Gems Christmas Concert – where the children of CityWest Church put on an awesome performance in celebrating the birth of Jesus. And on Sunday, we had a full on celebration with an awesome message, baptism service and followed by a CityWest special – the good old BBQ lunch!

The Gospel was shared. Food was eaten. People mingled. Kids had fun and five souls had the awesome privilege of getting baptised. What an awesome day to cap off an awesome weekend! Jesus still rules and is in the business of saving people!

After the Baptism, the following video was shown to give others a glimpse into how Jesus has begun to change the lives of 5 people – John, Lydia, Marina, Carla & Jamie. Hope you enjoy!

Baptism Dec 2009

Featured Music Video

CityWest — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:09:45 +0000

At CityWest Church, we celebrate diversity. In this day and age where the masses are bombarded with all sorts of sensory input, it’s easy for the message of the Gospel to be lost in the midst of all the “noise” out there.

Thank God that even His followers are making a lot of noise also – especially in the area of music. And because we embrace anything that glorifies the message of the Gospel in a true and honest way, we begin a new segment on our blog – featured music video’s.

Here you will find regular postings of the latest and best Christian music video’s. We embrace any genre – as long as the music and lyrics amplify Christ into the minds of people.

To kick things off, we present Flyleaf – an alternative rock band from Texas. All 5 band members are Christians and their music is heavy and resonates with a theme of followers of Jesus Christ. Flyleaf is known for their honest and raw music coupled with lyrics that abandon your typical Christian cliche. And this suites us perfectly at CityWest Church. We are a church which pursues relationship – not religion.

Below is the video to Flyleaf’s new song, “Beautiful Bride” from their new album, “Momentum Mori”. As Christian’s we are the “Bride of Christ” – a beautiful bride which Christ is preparing every day to present to Himself as spotless and pure.

The song talks about how we are all connected to each other through our submission to Jesus. It also calls for us to rise up and be the Body of Christ as we aught to be. Awesome theme and awesome lyrics.

Flyleaf’s take on this topic is typically them – heavy music and visuals which may seem uncommon to the typical Christ follower. Hope you enjoy! And be sure to check out the lyrics below the song to get the full meaning behind the song.

Beautiful Bride lyrics:

Unified diversity
Functioning as one body
Every part encouraged by the other
No one independent of another
You’re irreplaceable, indispensable
You’re incredible
Incredible

(Chorus)
Beautiful bride
Body of Christ
One flesh abiding
Strong and unifying
Fighting ends in forgiveness
Unite and fight all division
Beautiful bride

Strengthen your arms now
Train your fingers for battle
Urgency’s here now
Train your fingers for battle
Fighting this violence
With your feet wrapped in peace
Sad tears and silence
Now screams of joy
Victory

(Chorus)
Beautiful bride
Body of Christ
One flesh abiding
Strong and unifying
Fighting ends in forgiveness
Unite and fight all division
Beautiful bride

Beautiful bride
Body of Christ
One flesh abiding
Strong and unifying

We’re not gonna fall and forget
How far You went to pick us up
If one part’s hurt the whole body’s sick
If one part mourns we all mourn with Him
Rejoice, and we’ll sing with you
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

(Chorus)
Beautiful bride
Body of Christ
One flesh abiding
Strong and unifying
Fighting ends in forgiveness
Unite and fight all division
Beautiful bride (x2)

Free Audio Download | Desiring God

CityWest — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:21:41 +0000

Hey CityWesterners!

If you’re looking for a great audio book for absolutely free, then look no further. In light of the “Invasion Of God” current sermon series, comes an awesome gift – courtesy of John Piper.

John Piper is known for his passion towards knowing God on a deeper and more intimate level. Listen to any of his sermons and it is clear that this man is sold out to God in a way many of us have little comprehension about.

Now thanks to christianaudio.com, Piper’s book, “Desiring God” audio book is available for free! Christianaudio.com is a great online ministry which sells audiobooks of some of Christianity’s best known authors.

As part of their ministry, they have a “free download of the month” which gives anyone with an account with them a free, top quality, audio download. All you need to do is register on their site here – which takes a couple of minutes to do. And bam! You get a free audio download every month!

In addition to this, they have audiobooks to purchase and free podcasts to subscribe to. One of the best ways to discover a new author is the “First Chapters” podcast where they publish the first chapter of a tonne of books to wet your appetite for the rest of the book. What an awesome way to get to know a book before you invest in purchasing!

John Piper is well known for his saying, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him” – and that’s the message behind his awesome book, “Desiring God”. So what are you waiting for? Register an account with christianaudio.com here now and download this awesome audiobook for free! (available only during the month of November.)

Frontline Skirmish Day Out

CityWest — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:20:13 +0000

Well the Frontline Skirmish Day Out has come and gone and it was a great day out! We were blessed with a 30 degree day – however some may have called it a curse due to the extreme heat experienced during game play!

Twenty two of us ventured out for a day of basically blowing each other up with paintballs. The picture to the left was the post game photo. By this stage each of us were suffering multiple welt wounds, smelt real bad, were dehydrated but were satisfied with a great day out.

Special thanks go to John for organising the whole day. Also to Ruth and Simone for the half time lunch BBQ. Coming out of the battle field to the site of a table full of awesome food was a site for sore eyes and a delight for nostrils which had becomed accustomed to the smell of dirt, sweat and busted up paintballs!

What was especially awesome is that half our group comprised of people outside of our normal church men’s group. It was a great way to get to know these guys and hopefully it opens up their mind that “churchy blokes” aren’t a bad bunch to hang out with!

Be sure to check out the video below for the pre and post war photo’s. And if you’re a bloke in the western suburbs looking for a great mens group to share food, fun and fellowship with, be sure to check out Frontline on our website.

Another Gospel?

CityWest — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:07:11 +0000

The Bible warns us not to follow any other Gospel apart from the one found in it’s pages. And it’s for good reason as any deviation from the true Gospel will only end up turning out bad – cause the real Jesus will not be found in it.

Currently we are in the “Incarnate” sermon series – an expository on the Gospel of John. We’re going through the entire Gospel verse by verse and we are getting to know Jesus from the perspective of John – the disciple Jesus loved.

While we don’t subscribe to “other gospels” – that is twisted religions and philosophies – what we do celebrate is how the Body Of Christ, the Church, continuously churns out top quality material for the Church at large. One great example of this is Mars Hill Church – Pastored by Mark Driscoll.

At Mars Hill, they have just started a sermon series on the Gospel of Luke. A fascinating thing about Luke is that he was a doctor who was commissioned by a Roman government official, Theophilus, to investigate this man called Jesus. Theophilius funded this whole investigation as he wanted to get his facts right about Jesus.

The result? The Gospel of Luke. The story of Jesus. Luke also wrote a sequel – the Book of Acts – the story of the church. Together Luke & Acts make up the biggest contribution of a single author in the New Testament! All because a rich Government official wanted to know about Jesus!

Recently Mark Driscoll travelled the Mid East and surrounding areas and retraced many of Luke’s adventures as he chronicled the life of Jesus. The result is a sermon series that will take 3 years to complete with a tonne of video footage of the Holy Lands. The experience also gave Mark an insight into Jesus he never knew before. For example, how can a public toilet block offer insight into the life of Jesus? Check out this video..

How good is our Jesus? To think that the disgusting taste and fumes of human waste was the last thing He tasted and smelt before He died and still willingly did this for us in order to reconcile us back to God is utterly amazing.

So while we go through the Gospel of John and glean insight from John’s perspective, if you crave to know more about Jesus, we highly recommend Mars Hill Church and their series “Luke’s Gospel – Investigating The Man Who Is God”. Get another Gospel into you heart today!

Frontline Warriors Day Out

CityWest — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:18:04 +0000

For those not in the know, Frontline is the CityWest Church Men’s Group. After spending 5 weeks going through The Warrior series, we thought we’d put our money where our mouth is and have a day out to play Skirmish. To the women, our message is simple…it’s a bloke thing OK? You ladies can stick to decorating flowers and stuff like that.

John has done a great job in putting together the day and below is part of the form outlining the day. To download the form, click here.

The guys of Frontline have decided to go out and spend a day getting to know each other better and introducing new guys to the Frontline experience.

WORLD SERIES PAINTBALL. – LITTLE RIVER SITE.

What better way to bond, than to spend a day shooting at each other with balls of paint. This is a great time to invite a friend to come join the Frontline Warriors. Introduce them to the guys and tell them to run for cover.

This event will take place on the 31^st October, 2009. The paintball session will run from 11am to 3pm. The price is $90.00 and includes the following:-

Clothes Hire
200 Paintballs
BBQ Lunch
Bus Hire

Additional paintballs can be purchased on the day should someone be trigger happy!!!!

We are limited to 30 participants with a $50 deposit required at the time of booking. Please see John. Please note that your spot cannot be held until the $50.00 is paid. This is a condition of entry from the paintball centre.

Balance of payment can be made in one lump sum or in instalments. Please see John. All payments must be finalised by the 18^th October 2009.

We are in the process of organising a bus that will seat 30 people and when these details are finalised we will advise departure and return times. Please fill out the slip below and give to John as an indication as to how many participants we will have.

The guys of Frontline have decided to go out and spend a day getting to know each other better and introducing new guys to the Frontline experience.

WORLD SERIES PAINTBALL. – LITTLE RIVER SITE.

This event will take place on the 31^st October, 2009. The paintball session will run from 11am to 3pm. The price is $90.00 and includes the following:-

Clothes Hire

200 Paintballs

BBQ Lunch

Bus Hire

Additional paintballs can be purchased on the day should someone be trigger happy!!!!

Balance of payment can be made in one lump sum or in instalments. Please see John. All payments must be finalised by the 18^th October 2009.

Spoken Word Poetry

CityWest — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:21:25 +0000

Looking for some inspiration today? Want a fresh and new perspective on the reality of our King? Well then spend two and a half minutes with the following video. Then spend a day to absorb it all. The spend a life time in awe and worship. Hope you enjoy!

Angels Look Into These Things

CityWest — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:47:41 +0000

Sunday 23rd August, 2009 was a very special day at CityWest Church. We had the pleasure of celebrating the Baptism of three precious souls – Alex, Catena and Luke.

We love and serve an awesome God! Even today, more than 2000 years since Jesus walked the Earth, God is in the business of saving souls. He pursues us while we are “spiritually dead” – dead in our ability to have any notion of following a God we cannot see or understand. And He does this despite ourselves.

Why does He do this? Because He is a good and loving God. His heart pumps with the message of “salvation” and he intervenes time and time again into our reality to snatch people from living this life, and the one to come, apart from Him.

And the result of this is a changed life. 1 Peter 1:8-9 says…

“You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.”

The salvation of even a single soul is a big deal to God. Time and time again, he whispered this into the minds of the prophets in ancient times and they wrote these things down – how God will step in and intervene in order to save mankind. But they couldn’t fully grasp this as the time had yet not come.

But this all pointed to Jesus and, when He came, everything changed. Everything. 1 Peter 1:12 (NLT) says…

“[the prophets]….were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.”

Because of Jesus, the salvation of a sinful soul is now possible. What was once impossible is now a reality. It’s a reality so wonderful that even angels eagerly watch this drama unfold. It’s a drama that happens in the souls of people all over the world and has been happening for over 2000 years.

On Sunday, 23rd August 2009, we watched the Baptism of Alex, Cantena and Luke. But we were not alone. Angelic eyes were all over the place.

August 2009 Baptism
Uploaded by CityWestChurch

Mars Hill Church iPhone App

CityWest — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:21:22 +0000

Are you after a great app for your iPhone/iPod Touch? The Mars Hill app is now free to download from iTunes.

And what a sweet little app this is! The content and ease of use will blow you away. Once again, Mars Hill have raised the bar!

So what does the app do? The Mars Hill Church blog says you can:

Listen to any Mars Hill sermon available on www.marshillchurch.org
Watch any Mars Hill sermon video
Stream any Mars Hill music
Email sermon links to your friends
Give to the mission of Mars Hill
Stay informed and up to date through the blog
Get campus locations and listings

And in typical Mars Hill fashion, all this is completely free! Here’s a couple more screen shots to wet your appetite:

What are you waiting for? Download it now from iTunes!

Frontline | Don’t Waste Your Life

CityWest — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:21:59 +0000

Attention men of CityWest! Following the completion of our current Warrior series and Paintball excursion in September, brace yourselves for a new curriculum.

We will be going through John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life.” One of the lines used in this awesome 10 part teaching series is “Let none say in the end, “I wasted it.”

The biggest tragedy is to live the life that society demands of us while robbing us of what life is really about. And at CityWest Church , we will spend 10 months finding out exactly what not wasting your life is all about.

To cut the point, living a life with Jesus at it’s centre is the ultimate reality a man could ever aim for. Some may scoff at this comment. But they do so while stuffing into their lives the junk to fill the emptiness of of a life pursuing “self” instead of King Jesus. Deep down, they know, they’ve wasted it.

Get into the groove of what we’ll be talking about by watching this clip from Christian artist Lacrae. This is the theme song behind the curriculum and the lyrics are below for you to follow. Commences at Frontline in October.

Hook (Cam)

Don’t wanna waste my life

Verse 1 (LeCrae)

I know a lot of people out there scared they gone die/
couple of em thinking they’ll be livin’ in the sky/
but while I’m here livin’ man I gotta ask why,
what am here fo I gotta figure out/
waste my life?/ no I gotta make it count/
if Christ is real then what am I gone do about/
everything in Luke 12:15 down to 21/
you really oughta go and check it out/

Paul said if Christ ain’t resurrect then we wasted our lives/
well that implies that our life’s built around Jesus being alive/
everyday I’m living tryin’ show the world why/
Christ is more than everything you’ll ever try/
better than pretty women and sinning and living
to get a minute of any women and men that you admire/

ain’t no lie/ We created for Him/
outta the dust he made us for Him/
Elects us and he saves us for Him/
Jesus comes and raises for Him/
Magnify the Father why bother with something lesser/
he made us so we could bless Him
and to the world we confess him/
resurrects him/

so I know I got life/
matter fact better man I know I got Christ/
if you don’t’ see His ways in my days and nights/
you can hit my brakes you can stop my lights/
man I lost my rights/
I lost my life/
forget the money cars and toss that ice/
the cost is Christ/
and they could never offer me anything on the planet that’ll cost that price.

Verse 2 (Dwayne Tryumf)
(Note: verse 2 is not part of the music video)

Armed and dangerous
So the devil jus can’t handle us
Christian youth them a stand wid us
Livin’ n driven/ given a vision/ fullfillin the commission he handed us

London to Los Angeles
Da rap evangelist
Ma daddy wouldn’t abandon us
“I gotta back pack fulla tracts plus I keep a Johnny Mac”
So are you ready to jam with us

So lets go, gimme the word an lets go
Persecution lets go
Tribulation lets go
Across the nation lets go
Procrastination bes go

Hung on the cross in the cold
Died for da young and the old
Can’t say you never know
Heaven knows
How many souls are going to hell or to heaven so we gotta go in and get em

Verse 3 (LeCrae)

Suffer/ Yeah do it for Christ
if you trying to figure what to do with your life/
if you making a lot money hope you doing it right
because the money is Gods you better steward it right/

stay focused
if you ain’t got no ride/
your life ain’t wrapped up in what you drive/
the clothes you wear
the job you work/
the color your skin naw you Christian first/

people living life for a job/
make a lil money start living for a car/
get em a house a wife kids and a dog/
when they retire they living high on the hog/
but guess what they didn’t ever really live at all/
to live is Christ yeah that’s Paul I recall/ to die is gain
so for Christ we give it all/
he’s the treasure you’ll never find in a mall/

Your money your singleness, marriage, talents, your time/
they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine/
that’s why it’s Christ in my rhymes/
That’s why it’s Christ all the time/
see my whole world is built around him He’s the life in my lines/

I refuse to waste my life/
he’s too true ta chase that ice/
here’s my gifts and time cause I’m constantly trying to be used to praise the Christ/
If he’s truly raised to life/
then this news should change your life/
and by his grace you can put your faith in place that rules your days and nights.