It was helpful to take a few days off, after a busy Easter season. As always, I am so thankful for Wilson and David filling the pulpit for me. We are blessed with a wonderful team at FBC! 

This week we begin a new Sunday morning series on 1 Peter, which we are calling, Living Hope. 

Toward the end of our study of Luke, we saw that Peter “blew it,” denying three times that he even knew Jesus. But thank God for grace and restoration – Jesus forgave Peter and used him mightily in the early church, telling him three times, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17). 

In his first epistle, Peter is doing exactly that. He’s writing to believers who were in need of hope. These brothers and sisters, in what is now Turkey, were walking through some fiery trials. They were suffering. They needed to see, afresh and anew, the hope that we have in Christ. 

I hope we’ll see that, too, as we walk through 1 Peter this spring and summer. I would encourage you to be reading 1 Peter, over and over, so that the sermons on Sunday mornings will grab you all the more. Most of all, pray for the Holy Spirit to do a great work in all of our lives through 1 Peter. 

This Sunday, we’ll talk about “Hope Because of God’s Plan,” from 1 Peter 1:1-5. I’ll see you then. Call a friend and invite them to meet you.