Good Afternoon Bridge Family,
How are you doing?
I hope everyone is experiencing the peace that comes with having a relationship with Jesus Christ. This week I was reading from John chapter 15. Jesus spoke some challenging and comforting words to His disciples when he said,
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
It’s challenging because we are told that we cannot bear fruit on our own. Our wisdom and strength, as great as we think we are sometimes, does not produce lasting results (eternal benefits). Times like this, remind us of how weak we are and how much we need strength from Jesus Christ, even to make it through the day.
Jesus’ words are also comforting too. How? Because Jesus is promising that if we abide in Him, walk in the power of His Spirit, trust in Him, and rely on His promises and His Word, we will bear much fruit. He will see to it that we do.
Maybe all these times of isolation are truly for our benefit. As we have more time at home, we are confronted, more than ever, with the fact that we need Jesus every day. May Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:16, be more evident in our lives as a result of this time of trial.
Pastor Paul is back!
After taking a couple weeks of vacation (more of a staycation), Pastor Paul is back. He will be leading us for Good Friday and for Easter Sunday.
Livestream Problems?
I’ve heard from a few, that they have been experiencing problems viewing our services over livestream. Many of you have no problems with the livestream at all. Unfortunately, this technology is not always the most reliable.
Since most people are able to watch the livestream without issue, the problem is probably not with anything that we are broadcasting from the church. If you are having problems, possibly it could be because of issues with your own internet connection at the time.
But here are a few pointers to help you troubleshoot:
- Make sure that your internet is working and working fast. Try browsing to other sites to make sure they are coming up quickly. If your internet is slow, the livestream will more than like have problems.
- From our livestream page, sometimes things get stuck. If you refresh your browser window sometimes that will correct the problem.
- Also, from our livestream page, below the player window, there are some links to other places for you to view our livestream from. For example, some people had trouble from our website, but when they went to Facebook it worked better for them. Try those options to see whichever one works best for you.
- If all else fails, patience and flexibility, will be two of the virtues you will want to pray for. 🙂 At a minimum you should be able to view the recorded service later that day or the following day from our website.
Zoom Meetings
Many of you have been taking advantage of our zoom meetings for ABC classes or Life Groups. Some people have expressed concerns about the security of Zoom. In my opinion it is a safe way for people to meet, especially if we take security precautions. We have instructed our leaders as to what those security precautions are. So we feel it is a great tool for us to use, as we try to provide safe meeting options during this time of isolation.
Good Friday
Pastor Paul and Pastor Steve will be pre-recording a service for Good Friday. It will be available to be viewed from our website (https://bridgebible.church), starting on Friday at 5:00pm. You can watch it any time you would like to after that.
Easter
Our Easter Sunday Service will be available by livestream at the same time as our regular Sunday services – 9:00 am.
Reminders of continuing discipleship opportunities
Go to https://bridgebible.church/resources to get information about:
- Adult Life Groups and ABC classes via Zoom
- Bridge Kids for Wednesdays and Sundays (via Youtube channel)
- Bridge Youth (via Instagram)
Encouragement Prayer
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
Pastor Randy