Salford Elim Church

They know what we want. We are bombarded by ads that are personalised. They all offer a better life, better stuff, better experiences. And the advertising world is right. We do want life to be better. We are tired of what we have been offered so far. Jesus points the way to this blessed life. It’s remarkably simple to understand. And extremely hard to do. Are you ready to explore?

Jesus was such an attractive teacher. He drew all sorts of people to himself: the clever ones, the sophisticated ones and the desperate ones. What he asks of those who want to follow him is to lay aside their fear of what people might think of them and be courageous enough to follow a totally different path through life.

What does a successful life look like?  Is it when everyone praises you - as long as you are doing what they want? Or is it about everyday acts of consistent service and courageous acts that change things? Explore with us what Jesus thought was important and the difference it can make for us.

Jesus is the Resurrection. Let's explore the themes of grief, loss and hope in John chapter 11.

What does Freedom look like for us? Who can you trust? Which leader is worth our vote? Who will lead us out of the mess we are in? Jesus promised that we would be able to hear his voice – and that he would be the leader we have been looking for all this time.

Jesus makes us choose and gives us questions to ask ourselves. Are we willing to make a choice? Are we willing to make a stand?

The first Easter Sunday began with frightened women and perplexed men peering into an empty grave looking for their friend who had been killed a few days earlier. They were looking in the wrong place. They would find him and their worlds would be turned upside down. It's just that he was never going to be found in a graveyard. He had risen. Life would never be the same again.

Sometimes our pain is caused by the reactions of others. We can be overcome by their disapproval and condemnation of us and the way we live. We can be overcome by their disapproval and condemnation of us and the way we live. Watch how Jesus deals with the sense of guilt and the condemnation of others.

Everyone wants to be ‘spiritual’ but no one wants to be ‘religious’. What do we mean by ‘spirituality’ and what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit of God in everyday life?

What did Jesus mean when he identified a piece of bread with his flesh? What does it mean to feed on Jesus? What is happening in communion? And is it any surprise that people were confused by Jesus at times?

What is your deepest hunger? What are the things that feel insatiable? For some it’s intimacy, for others security, for others it might be approval. John points us to Jesus who feeds our deepest hungers.

Anxiety preys on all of us. It makes us fear we won’t have enough, or that we will be overwhelmed. Jesus knows this and is able to transform these fears of not having enough to living abundantly.

In a world where it feels everyone is ready to argue, it’s easy to be defensive about our own assumptions. But if we are going to see the world differently, we need to allow our assumptions about life to be challenged. It’s what Jesus did to people in his time. It’s what he still does.

When John wrote the gospel, he includes just 7 miracles – even though he knew a lot more happened. What his account highlights is how Jesus engages our vulnerabilities and brings us back to health. Back to life.

You can see that some people have been broken by life. Others just hide it well. How honest can we be? Jesus steps into our brokenness and stops us being defined by it.

One of the questions that crops up at regular intervals throughout life is one of the most basic ones: ‘Can we change? Can the direction of my life change?’ Jesus offers hope that things are not fixed, that change is possible to all who are open. It begins with the heart.

Too many of us wonder whether we are good enough, or fear what others might think about us. The power of shame can be crippling. Jesus rescues us from that power so that we can live joy-filled lives.

Life is complicated. We can either try to work out our own pathway, or we can accept the invitation of the One who knows where he is going and wants us to walk alongside him.

John’s gospel, written for people who may never have met Jesus, or perhaps even been born when Jesus was on earth, needed to be rooted in understanding who Jesus was and what his actions meant for them in their time. We are in the same place as them.

Matthew retells the story of Jesus stilling the storm as part of a group of stories about how Jesus confronts all manner of hell-bent evil. He did it because we need to hold onto the core truth of Jesus’ authority over everything - especially when things seem to be going wrong.