Crestwood Church Blog

Pray like this: “Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”.
Matt 6:9-10

We have just faced another week of financial indifference and unprecedented action from our government. This is not exclusive to the UK; most of the Western world is looking long and hard about making massive decisions to strengthen and stabilize their own economies. What is God saying to us? Is he saying anything at all? Are these events just part of what is? Or is there something important to look at from a spiritual angle perspective? It is easy to reject God’s hand in these situations, but what IF God’s hand is in this, in some way.

Our first thought is often, if God is in this, then he is judging us for our godless behaviour, our worldliness as a nation and our immorality and greed.
The one thing that keeps Britain proud today (apart from the Olympians march around London, which will soon be forgotten) is its economy, this has held Britain in good stead and may it into one of the powers of the world. Manufacturing has mainly gone, but our commerce is up there with the big boys. But is it really as simple as that, is it God’s timing to judge us? Have we asked him? We can be so quick to get on our knees and speak out to God asking him to release us from this uncertain time, when we haven’t asked him “is this your will, Almighty God”

What if, God is allowing this to happen not out of judgement, but out of grace. When we discipline our children, we are not judging them, we are chastising them, we are trying to put them back on the right course. Britain has gone majorly off course. Could this be God’s hand allowing people to see that their wealth is not enough to satisfy and fulfil their lives? If God takes away their false securities it exposes the holes and emptiness in our lifestyles that we are so proud of. It seems we have little left if we haven't got our wealth. Is Almighty God trying to bring Britain to its knees so that his grace may be poured into our brokenness.

As a church let’s see times like this as an opportunity for salvation and pray that his kingdom may come into the lives of many who are facing difficulty. That they may find security, hope and peace in that which counts and matters. Pray into his will, not that which seemingly gives us the greater benefits

Labels: God's Will, Grace, Prayer

“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Revelation 3:15-18

It saddens me to see the state of the church in the UK as it is. Some local churches are more interested in advertising their Autumn Bazaar than preaching Christ, others are advertising seemingly safe occult practices, others are more content following in worshipping saints who have long gone to the grave. Some just don’t preach God’s word at all. We have to be so careful that we don’t get caught up in religion or methodology or ritual, so that we constantly keep our focus on the one that really counts: our Lord Jesus Christ
But are we individually or collectively much better. I hope so? John writing to the Laodicean church in Turkey uses some very strong language about a church in a very affluent area, who were content with their little world of “church”. They had put their fulfilment in what was in their pocket and bank account rather than in the one who had rescued them out of the pit of hell.

Just as important as the latter is keeping our perspective right with the way we find contentment with material things. Jesus' condemnation of the city's church for Luke warmness rebukes not their lack of fervour but their lack of effectiveness.
John throws back at the Laodicean’s the very thing that that makes them happy, their riches. They had made their wealth a mighty barrier to God, he came second or worse. Their vast wealth that could have been a vast strength to the expanding Church had become a hindrance.

At Crestwood let us keep seeking after God, keep allowing the Holy Spirit and his Holy Word to refine us and remind us the truth about ourselves.
We all live in days of financial uncertainty, we need to be good stewards of the wealth and possession that God has given us, but don’t use how much we have as a measure for your life. The Laodicean's did and God judged them for it, with some of the most detrimental words recorded in the bible to the church.

Some have very little in this world, but have a storehouse in heaven to give as an offering to Christ. Be those who are content in Christ first, if we are, we will be a greater asset for God’s kingdom.

Labels: Lukewarm, Refined, wealth

Then Zerubbabel...and Jeshua... the high priest, and the whole remnant of God’s people began to obey the message from the Lord their God. When they heard the words of the prophet Haggai, whom the Lord their God had sent, the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave the people this message from the Lord: “I am with you, says the Lord!” Haggai 1:12-13

This morning I was walking through a field of potatoes, waiting for harvesting. The leaves looked dead and rotten and there was no life visible in the leaves. Is this right, has it been a poor year, because of all the rain and little sunshine? No! this is part of the process of farming potatoes to allow the potato tuber to absorb the nutrient from the ground and not the leaves who had done their part.

We can look at the church and see things that aren’t to our liking, which appear unhealthy on the surface, but underneath there is a bumper harvest waiting to occur.

That which is hidden which is unseen is faith in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to leave our rottenness behind so that God’s goodness can speak the loudest. The problem is that so often we want to leave our leaves on show and God’s great harvest is left hidden.

This was the problem in Jerusalem, the people had forgotten about God’s temple and the things of God, they were too busy building their own homes. As a result they believed that God was not with them and that they were unable to carry out the work of God. These verses are the critical point in the book.

It simply says that the people “began to obey the message from the Lord their God and ...feared the Lord” The response from the Lord was, “ I am with you”

Oh that this would be true of Crestwood, that he could say of us, “I am with you”. The reality is, its already true. He is with us and is wanting to reveal a harvest through him. The reality is, we need to believe him, fear him and obey him. Today in church we still take what we want and leave the rest to one side. Often the bit we leave to one side is the best bit, because it is the part that God is seeking to give us. If we saw that field of potatoes, many of us would send in the plough to replant for a new crop next year. We would miss the great harvest. As a church let us see that the Lord is with us, and because of this fact, obey him and fear him, so that we may see a harvest in his church

Labels: Fear of the Lord, harvest, Obey, Potential