The Bethel - Old Trafford Christadelphian Church

The Encounter Nicodemus has with Jesus was all about a man persistently seeking truth. This provides a good example and great model and foundation for baptism and faith. It is something we can do well to continue to follow. With great joy, we baptise and welcome a new yet not so new member to our family at The Bethel.

Was it really a group of hungry widows in the first century that meant the gospel message was spread to us in 2017 or was something else going on? When we are weak and vulnerable, we do stupid and wrong things unless we are truly rooted in God. Stephen was a man grounded in God with godly power running through him like a Van-De-Graff generator. His experiences demonstrate to us how religiousness is not necessarily christlikeness. To respond in a christlike manner when we are vulnerable and week requires Christ to be central in our lives. Stephen showed how Christ was central in his discipline, application, dedication and faithfulness.

Do we understand the language of the Bible, especially those words that we don’t use in everyday language? This morning, Pete asks this question of the word ‘glory’. What is glory? How does Jesus glorify God, and how do we bring glory to God and to Jesus? Pete explains why we should constantly acknowledge and confess, and give them greater importance in our lives.

Part three of three from David's thoughts for the Old Trafford Youth Weekend 2017. David rounds up his ideas on Faith and Hope by talking about how Love should be our overwhelming response to everything, good or bad.

We say we want to see God. Jesus showed us what God was like and in sharing bread and wine together, we are reminded of the life he led in selfless service to us all. We say we want the kindom of God to come, but current world events can make us scared and distracted and we forget to see God's hand at work all around us. Trevor's encouragement was to refocus on JEsus and remember that he did what he did so that we could also have hope to make it through our tough times.

Is 'sin' a dirty word? Is it too readily associated with Christianity's past judgement of fringe society? Martyn reminds us of the complacency that comes with avoiding the subject. Are we in danger of becoming less aware of when we sin or when we are causing others to sin? Martyn encourages us to remember that we are all each other's role models, and that forgiveness in Jesus knows no bounds - something that we should try to emulate.

How about a modern day parable with a familiar theme? Mike relays his recent visit to a sheep herding competition and translates from it God’s plan for us, our lives, and our final sheepfold. But there’s more to it than that - the sheep, like us, respond in different ways. How do we choose to respond - are we refusing, confused, or willing to obey? God knows best - as His plan is always for our good.

As John marvels with us at the incredible ability of a banana tree that has managed to blossom in his South Manchester garden, he shows us that throughout the natural world, we too can see the constancy of God. John goes onto to discuss the constancy in our relationship with God, and our understanding of sin and forgiveness. “God’s forgiveness is there, for us to accept, and to recognise that by seeing Him, we can change.”

Although listening is sometimes hard to do, do you get angry or sad when people are not listened to? How about when it is God that is not lisened to? Not to be listenend to is devaluing, yet it habitually happened throughout the history of Israel. Chris explores how there are always consequences to not listening; and when crisis comes, there is no support or resources to guide and protect us. Chris's encouragement was that we become aligned to God through listening.

Following Howarths of Flixton (@jonthesausage) may give you the drop on knowing the latest offers on their award winning sausages. Following Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) might give you stunning pictures of your city from space and a sense that you haven't really done anything with your life.

But both are superficial when compared to the face to face invitation to follow Jesus.

Martyn rails, once more, against the triviality of social media and explores how truly following Jesus cannot be simply an add-on or a lifestyle choice, but must be a commitment to a new life that completely changes everything.