Crestwood Church Blog

Today the average person in the UK cannot sing more than the opening line of a Christmas carol. Only 10% of Primary Schools in our country perform a traditional style “nativity” play and some will not celebrate Christmas at all; because it might offend other faiths. So instead they celebrate Chinese New year or Diwali. Many children when asked about Christmas, do not know what Christmas is really about.
We have been sold a second rate Christmas, made of fairy stories and excess. As a result this has made the REAL Christmas look like a fairy story too. Father Christmas with a big white beard, living in a distant country surrounded by elves and magically coming on Christmas eve and than disappearing again with out any one seeing him, is sadly the same way as people see God. They see Santa coming down a chimney as the same as Jesus coming as a baby to Bethlehem. No wonder why so many people ignore the greatest message of all…
Its great as a parent to have nativity plays, , seeing the children acting out the Christmas story is wonderful; but sometimes we can loose the impact of it, which is far more amazing then we can fully grasp.

The bible says

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel which means God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

The baby wasn’t Mary’s, this child was Jesus the Christ, God the Son.

“So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son”. (John 1:14)

The Word is God, the one who spoke “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3) into the darkness and by him the creation of the world began. The Word is the mediator between heaven and earth, God tangible and close. God has become human and lived among us.

Why? That is a massive question.

Part of the reason is because he loves us, he wants to communicate with us and rescue us from the darkness we live in every day. He wants to bring light and peace to our lives and restores us, to give us joy and hope for tomorrow and for the future.

Sadly like Father Christmas we ignore the message because it sounds to good to be true. What if Christmas (the birth of Christ) is true? No wonder shepherds ran to the place where Jesus was born, no wonder Magi, astronomers from the east who were certainly not Jewish, left their homes and travelled hundreds of miles to seek out a special king.

This Christmas you have a choice, you can worship the real Christmas and believe that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah) who was born to be “Saviour of the World”. Who came in a human body so that he could take your sin upon himself and die in your place. The cradle without the cross, is just a cosy little story, but God became man, so that he could DIE. Our imperfect lives needed someone who was perfect to take our place and only Jesus was.

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of god is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord” Romans 3:23

“Who is this, arising like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright
as the sun, as majestic as an army with billowing banners?” Song of Songs 6:10

I wonder what people see of God in us as they meet with us on Sunday morning. Do they see a God to be revered and trusted or someone that is laughable and of no reputation.
In biblical times, the world was afraid of the Jews, in the days of the early church, powerful Roman Emperors were afraid of the church. They went to great measured to destroy them and their beliefs. Today in much of the Western world, governments and other powers leave us to get on with what we want. Is it because it has no effect on them. We are not meant to be drawing attention to ourselves, but we can sometimes be good at that, the church is often in the news or on TV for all the wrong reasons. What we should be doing is drawing people’s attention to Christ.
How can we be more effective in the days we live in?

Often the church is more like the description found in Rev 3:17 which describes us as “wretched, poor, blind and naked.” This is the description of a prisoner of war, not a victorious “child of God”. This is not giving the right message to the community we live in. We should be flying the banner of God high into the sky and declaring his greatness.
“Joy is the flag flown high form the castle of my heart, where the king in residence there.” I used to sing this in Sunday School, but it is relevant for us today. People should come into God’s house desperate for him and in fear of him. Perhaps we can be far too comfortable sometimes.
Instead of the world imitating the church, we start to be scared of the world and start imitating it.
Let us not fall into this trap and become so immersed in the world that there is hardly a difference in us.

Three things which will make a difference
1. Live with honesty and holiness (as fair as the moon)
2. Live in the truth and live the truth to others (as bright as the sun)
3. Live as one who belongs to the Almighty God. Determined, courageous, confident and not ashamed of Christ (as majestic as an army with billowing banners).
Then those around us will see that the Lord Jesus is alive and his Spirit is in us and that the Father is fighting for us. Lets worship him as a statement to who he is, not just for how we feel on a Sunday morning. I want people to look at Crestwood Church and say, “these people love God and fear him, I must go and find out why”

Andy Hodson

Labels: Courageous, Determined, Revered

As most of you know, I love films, especially fantasy and science fiction films. I know that there are some Christians, whose views I respect, that are dead against Harry Potter because of the witches and magic and other fantasy elements, thinking that it might encourage kids in to the occult. But I think kids can usually discern the difference between literary fantasy and the dark occult. If we start banning them from watching fantasy films or reading fantasy books, what do we do with fairy stories and other such things? We have a long tradition of fantasy in children’s books. Christians have even written fantasy books such as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and CS Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles. The latter series of books are deliberately written to teach Christian truths to children. Even with Harry Potter where there is no intended Christian content, there is much that seems wholesome in its moral framework and its stories of redemption and self sacrifice for others.
Therefore, it may come as some surprise that the fantasy block buster that is about to storm the box office this Christmas fills me with some concern. The film I am talking about is ’The Golden Compass’ . This seems the normal fantasy that we encounter with Harry Potter, Narnia, Lord of the Rings or fairy stories such as Stardust. But there is a difference with this children’s film. It is based, like most fantasy films today, on books. This film is going to be one of three films based on the trilogy written by Philip Pullman called ‘His Dark Materials’ in which the first novel that is filmed is from the book called Northern Lights. One of the major problems with this trilogy is that it is profoundly against Christianity, particularly organised religion. In which God is presented as something evil and authoritarian, and who is overthrown in the last book. Philip Pullman, who is a member of the secular society, makes no bones about his atheism.
In an interview Philip Pullman is asked the following question—’Do you believe in God?’
Philip replies—’I don’t know whether there’s a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say. I think it’s perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don’t know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away. Actually, if he is keeping out of sight, it’s because he’s ashamed of his followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they’re responsible for promoting in his name. If I were him, I’d want nothing to do with them.’
This is not a Crestwood Church plea to boycott the film, especially as a lot of its anti-Christian content has been removed so as to have some chance of financial success in the USA. But I feel that people should be aware of the underlying anti-Christian nature of his books. Just as CS Lewis poured into his Narnia books Christian beliefs and attitudes, so Philip Pullman has poured into these books his atheism and dislike of religion, especially Christianity. So if you do decide to go and see the film. go with your eyes open...(or you won’t see the film)
Alan Dodd

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”
Revelation 3:20

I am sure most of us have been stuck outside our house or car, because we have forgotten or lost our keys. Apart from the obvious embarrassment, the solution can often result in costing quite a bit of money. A new lock, a broken window, either way damage results in a real cost.

I wonder if we have ever thought about the cost of loosing our keys which give us access to God.

Jesus stands at the door of our lives and knocks, asking for access to make himself real to us and to help us, in many ways. Sometimes as the doctor to heal the heart, mind or the body. Sometimes as the teacher to instruct us and to guide us. Sometimes as a true friend so we can just spend some time with him and sometimes as Almighty God, to bring purity, strength and power. What access are we prepared to give him, how often do we turn the key and pretend to not be in and hide behind the sofa?

Each time we do this we are engaging in a very dangerous game. Hiding the key or just ignoring the door bell eventually leads to a key that becomes redundant and that can easily be mislaid or lost or forgotten about.

When we became a believer in Christ it was the same as saying, here is the key to my life, come in whenever you want and change what you want, and guide me when I am going wrong and give me direction for the future among other things.

If we keep locking the door we prevent the Eternal all knowing one from helping us and being real to us, and risk loosing a close relationship that we know we cannot do without.

Life throws so much at us and as a church we will always face problems as well as in our individual lives. Sometimes the problems we face are life’s cause and effect. But some of the problems we face are because we have shut the door and bolted it and turned the key, and as much as God wants to help us, we have said not today, not this week, not this... Lost keys lead to broken windows, they can be repaired but they cost. Our lives don’t have to remain broken; unlock the door.

If Jesus Christ is LORD, then let him have access as LORD and not as some stranger who we meet from time to time on a Sunday.

The Lord Jesus has so much to show us and teach us and help us, we can't possibly do without him, he is not some door to door salesman who wants to sell us some product that we forget about the day after we buy it. He is one who has the keys to eternal life, for this life, for everyday truth and for lasting satisfaction.

Live with the key on the outside of our lives saying “Come in Lord Jesus.”

Andy H

Labels: Keys, Lost, Repair, satisfaction

“All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers”

Luke 2:47

At a governors meeting this week, mention was made of one the children who attends the school. The teachers were amazed at his understanding for one who was so young. Throughout history there have been many genius’ and amazing achievements in many areas of the arts or sciences as well as many other fields of life.

· Mozart was 5 when he wrote “Allegro in C”
· Arit Jaswal India's youngest medicine university student carried out an operation while aged only 7
· Gregory R. Smith He entered college at age 10 and was first nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize at age 12
· William Pitt led England when he was very young.
· Lawrence Edward "Larry" Page (born , 1973) who co-founded the Google internet search engine, was a multi billionaire by the age of 33

But to put things into comparison, everyone falls short of the wonder of the child Jesus.
Who still ceases to amaze people not just 1 year or two years down the line, but over two millennia later.
What is true of the above and many others like them is they excelled in one field, but Jesus continues to excel in every field. Some stand in awe at his power, others his love, some his majesty and some his creative wonders, while still others just worship him for being indescribable; one who is hard to put into words.

All the above after all, were made in his image, and therefore it should be of no surprise that children and adults continue to excel and amaze us. We are all made from the blueprint of God himself. In a sense we contain his fingerprints, his mark that we are his design. Like a great work of art that has been signed by Jesus Christ (how much would that be worth?)
Continue to be amazed and don’t lose sight of the wonder and amazing person of Christ. If he ceases to amaze you, I can guarantee that Christ has not diminished but our relationship or our understanding of him.

Labels: Amazement, Blueprint, fingerprint

‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ Genesis 1:1

Labels: Remembrance, Thanks