AT CAROLS IN THE PARK

It’s the best time of year! What better way to celebrate the birth of Christ than by singing loud for all to hear. 

This Sunday at 6pm, we’ll gather in the heart of French Park to sing carols, spread Christmas cheer, and welcome our neighbors into a night of community. We’ll serve up some hot chocolate, enjoy sweet treats, and extend an invitation for our neighbors to join us at church on Christmas Eve.

Here’s how you can get involved:

1. Invite Santa Ana neighbors, family, and friends to an evening Christmas festivities! We’ve got songs to sing, cookies to eat, and the joys of the season to share with them! You can send out the digital invite linked here.

2. Along with extending an invitation, consider ways you’d like to get involved, either with setup, being part of the choir, or bringing a batch of cookies. Sign-up here.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: POST-CAROLS CHANGE OF PLANS

We’ve canceled the Christmas party that was set to take place right after caroling. The holiday season is filled with many good things, but it sure is a busy time! We’re moving to take an item off the schedule this time around. But by no means is this meant to cut our celebration short! Instead, it will allow us to linger in the park, continue conversations over hot cocoa, spend a few more unhurried moments together, and get home for a good night’s sleep as a new week kicks off.

4 BIBLICAL HANDLES TO SPUR IT ON

On Sunday we held our bi-annual members’ meeting. This is a time to communicate what we wouldn’t communicate on a typical Sunday morning. An opportunity to look back on what God has graciously done in the last 6 months and look forward to where we believe he’s taking us.

Pastor Jeff provided us with 4 helpful handles for our envisioning our Santa Ana mission. A collection of biblical pictures, promises, and perspectives we should make our own. Read them. Believe them. Take them to the bank as we press into the next year of mission in our city.

4 Biblical Handles for our Santa Ana Mission:

1. We are neighbors

Acts 18:9-10 - "And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”"

Like Paul in Corinth, Christ has a people in our city. We live among them. He’s using us to find them.

2. We are laborers

1 Cor 3:5-9 - "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building."

We are his instruments. The workers and tools in his hands. Some of us will plant gospel seeds. Some of us will water them. God will bring the increase & we’ll all enjoy the harvest.

3. We are determined

2 Cor 2:12-17 - "When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”

Our task won’t be easy. Mission is hard. Disappointments will occur. Our plans might get altered. We won't "find Titus in Troas." Suffering will come. At times we might feel stuck. But Christ ALWAYS leads us in triumphal procession. He’s got us marching forward in his victory parade. Spreading the aroma of life in Santa Ana. Inviting our neighbors to join the march. Following after King Jesus as his happy captives - no matter what. Believing that he won’t fail to take us where he wants to go. Confident that wherever we’re headed is good. Declaring and demonstrating that there’s nothing better than belonging to him all along the way.

4. We are hopeful

Mark 4:30-32 - "And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

Our band is starting small. Like a mustard seed, a relatively tiny, ordinary, and unimpressive little group in the midst of our densely populated city. “Yet when it is sown it grows up” into a tree that continues to grow larger and larger, bear fruit that’s sweeter and sweeter, and shelter more and more of our neighbors under the shade of its branches. We believe God will do just this.

It’s our prayer that God would continue to cultivate us into a kind of people brimming with joy and full of hope as we roll up our sleeves and put our hands to the plow of our Santa Ana mission. A church marked by fervent & expectant evangelism, a glad & gracious welcome to all our neighbors who are not yet among us, and deep & rich relationships enjoyed by those within us. A kind of people you want to invite others into. A kind of people our neighbors want to belong to. A kind of people who love being "us" because we are Christ's and he is ours.

MISSED THE MEETING?

Reach out to the pastoral team to get caught up on the important information and updates we covered last Sunday.

DECEMBER 9 - DECEMBER 15

Every Tuesday we publish a blog post to lay out in one place what’s going in the life of the church for the upcoming week. See below for a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12: FRENCH PARK RUN CLUB

• 6:30am - French Park Grass Area

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15: SUNDAY GATHERING AT THE EBELL CLUB

• 10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15: CAROLS IN THE PARK

• 6:00pm - French Park Grass Area

  • Find all the details here & sign-up to volunteer here

WE ARE ONE BODY, MEMBERS ONE OF ANOTHER

Church membership is not “membership in a club.” It’s “membership in a body.” As Paul says in Ephesians 4:25, we are one body, yet “members one of another” - vitally connected and working together for the good of the whole. In this way, becoming a church member is an expression of commitment to the people around you. A grace-empowered pledge to fulfill the “one anothers” of Scripture with a specific group. These others are the men and women identified in a particular local church. As members of Cross of Grace Santa Ana, we have the privilege of living out the Christian life with one another. We celebrate and grieve with one another. We build deep relationship with one another. We join arms to advance the joy of Jesus in a particular neighborhood with one another. We help one another pursue holiness. We remind one another of the sweetness of the gospel.

In light of this, we praise God for the new members - Chase & Anabel Early, Joctan Martinez, Jacob Zato, Jose Meza, and Lily Rodriguez - we had the joy of introducing this last Sunday. Be encouraged by what Chase Early, had to share with us during his new member testimony:

1 Timothy 1:15 - “It is a trustworthy saying and deserving full acceptance: That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among who I am foremost. Yet for this reason I was shown mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Christ Jesus might demonstrate His patience as an example for those who are going to believe upon Him for eternal life.” The eternal lovingkindness of our Heavenly Father has faithfully led me closer to Jesus over the last 15 years since my conversion at San Diego Teen Challenge. God also used my wife, Anabel, to show me there is a church that’s a better fit for our family’s needs. Through the 9Marks church finder webpage, she found Cross of Grace. When I looked at the website, I observed the photos of the profound beauty of simply gathering in homes to worship God. I also read the Statement of Faith and believe the same biblical truths. I also believe that Reformed doctrine is the most biblical interpretation of scripture as it centers on the authority of God’s word, the power of the gospel of grace, and the purpose of mankind to worship and enjoy God forever. My Spirit-born desire is to be a church member where three things are consistently happening.

1. The pastors faithfully, passionately, patiently, and humbly teach God’s Holy Word with love for the Author and the hearer - all without apology.

2. The community of the redeemed is rich in faith, hope, love, and joy and expresses this toward one another by God’s grace through the simple means of studying, praying, worshiping, serving, and living together.

3. The church is evangelistic. Desiring to obey our Lord’s great commission to seek and save the lost and make disciples of all nations until the end of the age.

Since our first Sunday service, I felt so welcomed and blessed to see my family also welcomed with loving, open arms. In the spirit of Christ’s words to “Come!” Pastor Kyle invited my family to have dinner with his family within the first week of attending a Sunday service. From our first Friday small group where the hospitality and authentic kindness that Kyle, Kelsey, and the Houlton family showed, to the listening ears of Pastor Jeff and Christopher at the men’s group, to Pastor Jason and Kayleigh cooking my family a delicious meal and answering my questions for 2 and a half hours on a Sunday evening. Right away, I saw that this congregation was devoted and encouraged to truly live for Jesus without compromise. To be a people who worship God with joy, confess together, pray for one another, and receive God’s glorious mercy together. This is a reason to rejoice! I have also experienced God’s sweet grace through seeing my wife encouraged and loved by the godly women here Rosie, Marina, Liz, Katie, and Kelsey to name a few.

Lastly, I rejoice to see our sons Malachi and Josiah beginning to form Christ-centered relationships. They are blessed to see other godly men loving their wives, leading their families, and delighting in knowing God.

We thank God for adding new laborers to the harvest that’s before us. We’re excited for these new members to join us in spreading the joy of Jesus in Downtown Santa Ana!

THE ONLY FAITH THAT SAVES

James' argument that we must "be doers of the word, not hearers only" reaches its pinnacle and peak in 2:14-26. In this familiar and challenging passage, James clarifies the relationship between faith and works. What role do works play in our acceptance before God? Do faith + works = salvation? So that in the final analysis, we contribute something to the outcome? Does faith alone + nothing = salvation? So that good works are optional, nice to have, but not necessary to be present in the life of the saved person? James offers us a better equation. One that is less mathematical and transactional, and much more organic and alive. Good works flow out of saving faith like the fruit that naturally blossoms on the branches of a plant that’s rooted in nutrient rich soil. Faith is the root. Works are the fruit. All those who plant their roots in Christ will necessarily demonstrate these visible, tangible, and demonstrable signs of life. This is because: we’re saved by faith alone, but true saving faith is never alone.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

DECEMBER 24TH AT 5PM

We’re excited to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with a traditional candlelight service. We'll sing classic carols, read the nativity story, and hear good news of great joy.

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY

All are welcome to join us for this special moment as we rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Invite whoever you’re spending Christmas with to come along as we share in the joy that Jesus was born to bring! You can find a copy of our digital flyer here that you can text, email, or share on social media to invite your family, friends and neighbors to our service.

SING THE SAVIOR’S BIRTH

There are two special events coming up that involve the music ministry of our church. Consider lending your voice to the celebration!

1. Christmas Eve Service - on Christmas Eve, we’ll have a single guitarist and a choir. All voices are welcome. If you’d like to join in, please contact Pastor Kyle.

2. Carols in the Park - On December 15, we’ll be singing carols in French Park. It’ll be less formal than our Christmas Eve choir. The playlist will include a mix of classic hymns, seasonal favorites, and some fun ones for the kids. It’s the more the merrier for all who want to spread Christmas cheer by singing loud for our neighbors to hear! If you’d like to participate, please sign up here and plan on arriving at 5:50pm the day of the event.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

It’s the best time of year! What better way to celebrate the birth of Christ than by singing loud for all to hear. 

On 12/15 at 6pm, we’ll gather together in the heart of French Park to sing carols, spread Christmas cheer, and invite our neighbors to celebrate with us. We’ll serve up some hot chocolate, enjoy sweet treats, and extend an invitation for our neighbors to join us at church on Christmas Eve.

Here’s how you can get involved:

1. Invite Santa Ana neighbors, family, and friends to an evening Christmas festivities! We’ve got songs to sing, cookies to eat, and the joys of the season to share with them! You can share the digital invite linked here.

2. Along with extending an invitation, consider ways you’d like to get involved, either with setup, being part of the choir, or bringing a batch of cookies. SIGN UP HERE.

PLEASE SEE: POST-CAROLS CHANGE OF PLANS

We’ve made the decision to cancel our previously planned Christmas party that was set to take place right after caroling. The holiday season is filled with many good things, but it sure is a busy time! We’re moving to take an item off the schedule this time around. But by no means is this meant to cut our celebration short! Instead, it will allow us to linger in the park, continue conversations over hot cocoa, spend a few more unhurried moments together, and get home for a good night’s sleep as a new week kicks off.

IT’S GOING TO BE A GREAT SUNDAY

This Sunday we have the privilege of welcoming new members into our midst. These are people who have committed to participating in the life of the church and performing the “one anothers” of Scripture with this local body of Christ. They’re also individuals whom we, as a church, commit to do the same with and for. We praise God for building his church in Santa Ana.

Not only do we have this privilege, but right after the service we’ll stick around to reflect on all the Lord has done in the past 6 months and look forward where he’s taking us in 2025!

IMMEDIATELY AFTER SERVICE. MEMBERS REQUIRED, GUESTS INVITED

Every six months, we hold a brief members meeting after service which usually lasts about 30 minutes. This meeting is mandatory for all members, but guests are welcome as well. This meeting is a time to communicate what we wouldn’t communicate on a typical Sunday morning. We’ll look back on what God has graciously done in the last 6 months in our church and look forward to where we believe God is taking us as a church.

DECEMBER 2 - DECEMBER 8

Every Tuesday we publish a blog post to lay out in one place what’s going in the life of the church for the upcoming week. See below for a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5: FRENCH PARK RUN CLUB

• 6:30am - French Park Grass Area

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8: NEW MEMBER SUNDAY & SUNDAY GATHERING AT THE EBELL CLUB

• 10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8: MEMBERS’ MEETING

• 12:00pm - Ebell Club