On Sunday, April 19, we began a new sermon series on 1 Peter, “Don’t Waste Your Trials,” that will likely take us into the Fall. I opened the first sermon, “Imperishable Hope for God’s People” like this:

Trials have a way of revealing our hopes. What do we trust in when things get rough? I remember after the birth of our third child, my wife experienced some serious complications. As a half-dozen nurses and doctors rushed in to attend to her, I began to understand the severity of what was taking place. They gave her papers to sign to authorize various life saving measures. In that moment, the worst case scenarios began to run through my mind. I imagined Adoniram Judson, first protestant missionary sent to Burma, who wandered the streets begging nursing women to nurse his infant after the death of his wife Ann shortly after childbirth. I wondered if my faith would remain intact if my wife died.

Trials bring forced clarity to our lives, revealing the source of our hope when all else fails. We see this more clearly in the midst of our world today. With a global pandemic, many have felt powerless and hopeless. But even without a global pandemic, our world is filled with trials, pressures, and hostilities that require a sure and steadfast hope.

This leads us to the message of 1 Peter: Christians have a heavenly hope in a hostile world.

Communicating the 1 Peter Series

Similar to our Holy Week livestream events, the Communication team has put together some digital graphics for the 1 Peter sermon series to make it easy for us to invite family, friends, and neighbors to Bethlehem’s livestream (and one day, “in-person”!) worship services. Listed below are links to images that can be easily downloaded and used for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, text, or email.

It’s good to remind those whom you invite that our services can be watched on Facebook, YouTube, AppleTV, Roku, and on our website at bethlehem.church/live-content. Afterward, each service will remain available for viewing on each of these platforms.

We hope you will consider inviting a friend to a 9am service—and especially while it’s easy and “low pressure” for the homebound person to attend church with you during this COVID-19 crisis. We’ve provided sample text below with a link to the livestream on our website, but feel free to add personalized words of invitation and encouragement.

Template text for easy inviting …

You’re invited!
Join me to hear our 1 Peter sermon series on “Don’t Waste Your Trials,” with Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Sundays at 9am
http://bethlehem.church/live-content/

1 Peter – Facebook size
1 Peter – Instagram square or story
1 Peter – Twitter size (best size for email or text)