Crestwood Church Blog

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

With the arrival of Microsoft windows, back in the early 90’s and the constant upgrades, though to “Vista” today. We have moved further away from computer programming. Gone are the days of DOS and other computer language that the average UK resident has little clue of, let alone how to use it. We don’t need to program any more, we just click a box with the mouse or right click to edit something, it has become so easy.

Sadly society has gone down that path as well.

These words from Paul in our modern world could be translated, “whatever is good for you, fits with you, gives you the most money, makes you feel better, puts you on a pedestal and gives you what you need, get it, at all cost. Don’t give in ‘til you get it, once you get it, spend it and ignore everything else.”

Paul’s words are not the programmed words of today, we are still stuck on a default setting of 2008, but I wonder what would happen, if we did re-program our thinking and the way we do things. The reality is, that no matter how different Paul's words and thinking is, it is still the right program to reload into our hearts and minds. If it were merely Paul’s words than yes! We may disagree, but these letters that were written down are the inspired word of God. They have absolute authority over everything else.

We have the greatest software program known to mankind, one that cannot and will not fail, one that will bring us to heaven and one that we give us a life worth living today. Its not found on a floppy disc, memory stick or hard drive, but found in the person of God through the work of the Holy Spirit. Use the program and find the benefits, it is one piece of software that will never need upgrading. It is also software that can be used by multiple users, and has no restrictions on its use. It comes with a fantastic guarantee.

Then the God of peace will be with you.

Labels: Default. change, Guarantee, Mind, Program

posted by Andy Hodson - Saturday, 28 June 2008, 21:04
Permanent Link

“You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’ So disaster will overtake you, and you won’t be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you are not prepared. Isaiah 47:10-12

In the last few days the Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe told his supporters that "only God" could remove him from office.

This could be taken in two ways. One is that he recognises the supreme power of the Almighty God who has infinitely more powerful than a little leader like himself, or secondly that this is a provocative comment to the west and the opposing party led by Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC party leader (Movement for Democratic Change).

As much as I don’t want to be political , I personally believe that this is a statement made to intimidate and rile his opponents . The bigger implication is that he has forgotten who has allowed him to rule for the past 27 years. As much as his comments were meant to belittle the changes that Zimbabwe needs, he is throwing himself into the hands of God himself. Almost daring God to remove him from his office of president.

We live in a fallen world, and we have no real confidence to believe that any other party would eventually be any different from the one that exists now under Mugabe. But our prayer must be that God would raise up a David in that land and stop the troubles and atrocities that are happening in a land which was once the “bread basket of Africa”.

We are reminded that David never once in his own strength sought to remove King Saul from his throne. He knew it was God’s authority and his alone to remove or allow anyone to reign. Our prayer should be that God would intervene and that God would bring about change in that needy land.

If Mugabe continues in the path he has chosen he could easily be like the Babylonians who these verses were originally intended for. If we abuse the power that God has given us, be it in a small way, or right through to being the president of a country, be warned that God will hold you accountable and judge you accordingly for it.

We are reminded not to put our God to the test, because of God so chose, there is no force in the universe that could prevent God from doing what is just and right.

Pray for this land and pray for its leader that he may turn from this foolish path and seek the living God. Pray also for the opposition that if God so choices and bring him into power will rule in a way that honours God and shows compassion to his people.

As much as Zimbabwe is under this dictator we mustn’t forget there is much about our own politics back in the UK which goes totally against the God of the Universe, pray that we may as a nation repent and turn back to God.

Labels: Authority, change, Politics, Repentance

posted by Andy Hodson - Saturday, 21 June 2008, 21:45
Permanent Link

“ I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people.” Daniel 10:5-6

Sometimes (if not always) it is easy to miss the beauty and spectacular characteristics of nature. It is easy to miss the good in each other, the inner and outer beauty, after all, even though fallen because of sin, we are still made in the image of God. We are after all God’s highest creation. But what about Christ Jesus, do we see him, or like the people with Daniel when he saw this vision, missed it completely.

You can come to church every week, and go away happy with friendships and content by having a good time, but do we see Jesus. Do we miss the point of our weekly ritual?

It is unlikely that we have a heavenly revelation like this one Daniel did and John did as he wrote the Revelation, but do we see him at all? What is our appreciation, what is our understanding of the Man, who is risen, who has ascended into heaven and now sits on the throne of heaven?

Daniel’s vision was from God and these are some of the things that he sees.

· A Man in linen clothing– A picture that Christ is our High Priest, he has entered heaven and intercedes on our behalf.

· A Man wearing a Belt of pure gold– Everything about Christ is perfect,

· His body looked like a precious stone– In the original Hebrew this stone would have been “beryl” Beryl is famous for its perfect, six-sided crystals. The Man who was God, holy, perfect, sublime, faultless, awesome.

· His face flashed like lightening- His countenance represents awe and fear, in unity

· His eyes flamed like torches– Eyes that brighten the darkest place and destroy the darkest evil.

· With feet and arms with polished bronze– His strength and justice is just and pure

· His voice roared like a vast multitude– He can be heard above the highest authority on earth. There is no power, no one who is higher or greater than Christ.

Christ Jesus is more than we can imagine, more awesome than we can sing, more mighty that we can declare, worship him, with all that you have and all that you are..

Labels: Awe, Beauty, Brilliance, Fear, Wonder

posted by Andy Hodson - Saturday, 14 June 2008, 20:41
Permanent Link

“For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. Watch out! I have warned you about this ahead of time!” Mark 13:22-23

I have kept my views quiet to the wider church for a number of weeks so as not to offend, but there comes a point when God’s truth is more important. Grace is an essential word in the bible and so is love, but sometimes false teaching has to be condemned for what it is, love only works in truth and grace is extended to those who would embrace it.

I have now spent 3 weeks looking into the Lakewood, Florida so called revival. I have listened to the leaders in several locations across the globe and have come to the same stark decision. These men are not sent form God, they reject the truth of the Word and blaspheme the work of the Holy Spirit. Reducing him to a second rate entity that requires an extra power from outside to top up the rest of us. The leader is a man obsessed with himself and according to him has his own angel called “Emma” has had an operation in heaven, has had direct revelation from both Abraham and Paul as well as his own spirit being able to appear in more than one place at once. Claiming on at least one occasion that he hadn't finished “messing“ with someone as they came forward for healing. The meetings are obsessed with trigger words like, “Fire, glory and the anointing” which send some into a frenzy.

He is asking Pastors and leaders as well as other believers in the church to come to Florida or centres across the world to come to these men so that that they might get a soaking in what they have. I could go on, but what’s the point, these people have so little regard for God’s Word and are leading many astray. The bible talks about an Apostasy or falling away or a great rebellion from God , this seems like a small version of this.

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first 2 Thess 2:3

Don’t be deceived by signs and wonders, we have already been warned, test every spirit, test it against the Word of God if it fails that test it is false. Large crowds, so called miracles, vast times of worship do not always mean that God is working. The evidence of God is changed lives by the power of his Spirit, true repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Labels: Apostacy, False teaching, Revival

posted by Andy Hodson - Wednesday, 4 June 2008, 22:48
Permanent Link