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:
6:30am - French Park grass area
7:00pm - Houlton, Roenicke, & Erkelens Home
10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
Every six months, we hold a brief members meeting after service, which lasts about 30 minutes. The meeting is mandatory for all members, but guests are welcome as well. It’s 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, provide some important updates, and look forward to where we believe the Lord is taking us. Plan to stay an extra 30-45min on Sunday, 12/8 and come eager to hear what God is up to at Cross of Grace.
After exhorting us to ask God for wisdom (1:5-11), James reveals the wisdom we need most in the midst of trials in 1:12-18. More than anything, we need to understand what God is and is not doing through the trials that we face. He's testing our faith and love in order to strip away lesser loves and increase our affection for him (1:12). He's not in any way tempting us after cheaper loves which take us down a path to death (1:13-15). Because everything he gives is good (1:16-17) and what God bears in us is life (1:18). By his gracious will, he's "brought us forth by the word of truth," the gospel, "that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." Since God has already made us new, we can respond to trials as the new people that we are. Even more, since the "firstfruits" of the new creation has already begun to blossom in us, we can be confident that God will bring us into the full harvest to come - when we "receive the crown of life." As Christians, we happily persevere until that day, trusting that the end of all our trials is the blessed outcome of beholding the Lord of glory with our own two eyes.
Fallow Month begins in December, so make it a priority to attend the last Men’s Meeting of the year tonight. All guys, 15 years and older, are invited to participate in a conversation where "men talk like men" about God. Join in at Hopper & Burr (202 W 4th St, Santa Ana, CA 92701) at 7:00 pm.
P.S. Take note that in November, our Men’s Meeting has been moved up from the 2nd to the 1st Thursday of the month
Our fall 2024 Bridge Course began on Monday, 9/9. For the past 9 weeks, we’ve shared meals and built relationships with our neighbors as we’ve wrestled through the big questions of life. Friendships have been formed. Many honest perspectives have been shared. Questions have been answered. The gospel has been proclaimed. And it’s been an absolute blast.
During our journey on the Bridge, here’s what we’ve discussed so far:
Am I a good person?
Why doesn’t God forgive everyone?
How can God allow suffering?
How could God send people to hell?
Can we really trust the Bible?
Is Jesus really the only way?
Why did Jesus have to die?
Why do we matter?
Is Christianity really worth it?
We wrap things up this week by asking the very appropriate question, “Where do we go from here?” This will take us into a discussion about the local church and God’s enduring purpose for it in the world. A conversation that will conclude with an invitation to our neighbors to join us there on Sunday.
If you have a friend who’s asking, “Can I love Jesus but not the church?” Skeptical about getting involved with “organized religion.” Or is on the fence with whether or not they should give up sleeping in on Sunday mornings, invite them to join us for this final meeting! We trust they’ll come away seeing the church in a new light.
When and where does it take place?
Date: Monday, November 11, 2024
Time: 7pm-9pm
Location: Hopper & Burr, 202 W 4th St, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Dinner provided!
Invite your friends & neighbors to join in today!
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news” (Romans 10:15).
On Saturday, November 23rd, we’re going into our French Park neighborhood and DTSA to have spiritual conversations with our neighbors. We’ll take the initiative to get to know them, ask how we can pray for them, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Love to do this sort of thing? Come on down! Scared to do this kind of thing? Then come on down as well! We’re expecting that the Lord will use us to extend his welcome to our neighbors as he takes our very ordinary efforts and blesses them in extraordinary ways. You’re invited to grow more confident in striking up spiritual conversations, learn from your brothers and sisters as you watch them reaching out, and see God “paint our city blue,” one blade of grass at a time.
We’ll meet at the Ebell parking lot at 9:45am to pray before we go out. We’ll wrap up around noon at Hidden House for a quick debrief.
Please reach out to Robert Lopez if you have any questions.
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:
6:30am - French Park grass area
7:00pm - Hopper & Burr (202 W Fourth St, Santa Ana 92701)
10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
12:30pm - Houlton Home
Register here for the class
7:00pm - Hopper & Burr (202 W Fourth St, Santa Ana 92701)
Registration is open throughout the course - invite a friend anytime!
All of us experience a gap between where we are and where we want to be. We want to be spiritually whole. We long for our lives in this world to “work.” Last week in James 1:1-4, we learned that the trials we endure are designed by God to get us to where we want to go. If trials are the vehicles, then wisdom is the way to wholeness. James 1:5-11, contains the first mention of “wisdom” in the letter and highlights our need to turn away from our own understanding and acknowledge God in all the various ways that will be examined throughout the rest of the book. And to get this wisdom, all we have to do is ask. And ask we can and ask we should. Because the foolish sinners that we are have become beloved sons and daughters before our God and Father through our faith in Christ the Son. Because God is rich with wisdom and ready to give it away without reservation. Because the wealth of this wisdom is a treasure no one can take from the "lowly," and remains the prize of prizes even to the one with plenty. Believe God has what we lack. Believe God will listen and answer. Be confident and ask away!
On October 31, 1517, a German Monk named Martin Luther nailed a document calling for reform in the Catholic Church to the door of the local church in Wittenburg. What followed was a movement that has changed both the Church and the world to this day!
In case you missed it, we published a blog full of Reformation resources. Check out the post here.
Our small groups encourage genuine relationships within the church. Each group meets in a home, splitting their time between singing, praying, and discussion. All groups welcome guests. Outside of Sunday mornings, small groups are the most important moments in the life of our church. There are two more small groups left in 2024, before our December fallow month. Make it a priority to attend one this Friday.
For more information about our small groups, click here.
