Previous Service
Service available on Youtube, or as text (below), or for audio see the Podcasts page.
Welcome
There will be no services at Bethel on Sunday June 5th – Church Weekend Away at Cloverley Hall, Whitchurch; and on Sunday June 19th – Churches meeting together in Macclesfield Town Centre for Open-Air Service at 10.30am, everyone welcome!
Elders and Deacons meet on Zoom at 7pm on Monday June 13th.
Church AGM on Wednesday 6th July 2022 in Church Lounge at 7pm.
Testimony
“I have always had a strong faith but the Lord God tested me and took away everything I valued (family etc.) and I was left insecure; then I got cancer. I never doubted the Lord or asked, ‘Why me?’ but prayed and asked for strength and courage to cope. The Lord never left me and restored me with different values in life and with good friends.“
“My cancer is now clear 4 years to date and my faith is now stronger and hope is there to help others. I compare myself to Job who lost everything. but later to be replaced due to his strong faith. I will never stop praising my Lord and Saviour, Amen!”
Mo
Picture
“The bulbs had been planted and then started sprouting, their roots down deep. Eventually the first fruit appeared, growing fast, ripening … ready to eat … likewise the Lord works in our lives such that we will see His fruit appear – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. May our roots go deep in Him so that His fruit will abound.”
Stella
Worship
Word
Please read: Rom 5:1-11
Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!
Rom. 5:9-10
Are we “how much more Christians” or are we like Jacob, “Everything is against me!” (Gen. 42:36), not realising that just around the corner was the greatest blessings of his life, meeting his long lost son Joseph (presumed dead)! “How much more,” indeed!
In this section Paul teaches about Assurance of faith! The assurance that we, believers in Jesus, have been saved, are being saved and will be saved! Here in Romans 5:9, 10 Paul reasons from the greater to the lesser (see also Rom. 5:15, 17). Based on the death, resurrection, and intercession of Jesus, remarkable things are taking place. By faith we have been justified, declared righteous; no longer guilty, we stand in a right relationship with God through the sacrificial shedding of Christ’s blood.
Likewise, while we were God’s enemies – He at enmity with us (Rom. 1:18; 2:5; 5:9) and we, hostile towards Him (Rom. 1:30; 8:7; Col. 1:21), hiding from God, now reconciled through the death of His Son. We are now God’s friends! No greater work could be done. God has already done the difficult part, so how much more will we be saved from His End-Time wrath on the day of judgment; cf.
You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath … For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thess. 1:9-10, 5:9
We shall be saved is again emphasised, this time, “through His life,” denoting Christ’s resurrection, (cf. Rom. 4:25); and through us now living “in Christ”, in union with Him, (cf. Rom 6:1-14); and through His ongoing ministry of Intercession,
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Rom. 8:34
He is able to save ‘for ever’ those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.
Heb 7:25
What a remarkably comforting thought!
Quote of the week
“I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life. God gave life that I might enjoy all things”
Verse of the week
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10
Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, what can we say but that we stand in awe of You for the remarkable gracious loving work You have done through Your Son and through the gift of Your Spirit. Thank You that we are now justified, reconciled, Your eternal friends. This is such good news! Help us to freely share it with all and sundry in Jesus Christ, empower us by Your Holy Spirit, Amen!