Finding Hope
1 Peter 1:1-7
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hopethrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Video for this Service can be viewed @ March 31, 2022
For the past twenty plus years I’ve been building snowmen with my daughters out in front of our home. We try to do something different every year and they have come up with some pretty creative ideas. The winter of 2020 we discussed what the theme would be for snowman that winter. My daughter, Amanda said, “With everything that is going on in our world I think it needs to give hope to others.” So we decided on two snowmen holding up a hope sign would be an encouragement to those that walked by.
We continue to live in a world where people need REAL hope. Something that goes beyond wishful thinking and that can sustain us through the most difficult of circumstances. Thomas Brooks learned that…
“A Christian will part with anything rather than his hope; he knows that hope will keep the heart both from aching and breaking, from fainting and sinking; he knows that hope is a beam of God, a spark of glory, and that nothing shall extinguish it till the soul be filled with glory.”
For the next 12 weeks I want to invite you into a study through 1 Peter. Looking at the life and writings of Peter will give us a greater perspective of how Jesus wants to be a living hope for us that will give you an inner strength to face the struggles we encounter in this life!
Grateful to be on this journey with you,
Pastor John
"For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" Romans 15:4