Tonight and tomorrow are 5th Thursdays & Fridays, which means our small groups won’t be meeting together.
It also means that it’s an extra free night to spend with your neighbors! Take advantage of the time and have someone over for dinner. Host something in your neighborhood. Spend time with friends from church. Use this opportunity to share in and keep on spreading the joy of Jesus wherever you are.
This Saturday, from 9am-11:30am, Cordell & Marina Warm are graciously opening their home to host another monthly prayer meeting. All are welcome to join as we pray for the needs of our church, the good of our neighbors, and ask God to bring revival in our city.
As you prepare your hearts for the prayer meeting. Here are some verses to pray through and reflect upon:
Joel 2:28-32
Micah 7:18-20
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
1 Peter 4:10
“15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” - Ephesians 1:15-23
If you’ve been visiting Cross of Grace for any length of time and would like to learn more about what we believe as a church and how those beliefs take shape in the life of the church, this class is for you. If you’re discerning whether or not this is the church family the Lord is calling you to, this class is for you. If you’re ready to take the next step in pursuing membership at Cross of Grace, Starting Point is your starting point to do so!
Wherever you’re at in the process, we invite you to join us one two hour class. Immediately after church at the Roenicke home in Santa Ana with lunch and childcare provided.
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. Below we’ve got a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:
Basketball in the Park
6:00pm - El Camino Park
Reach out to Manny for more info
French Park Run Club
6:30am - French Park Grass Area
Monthly Prayer Meeting
9:00am - Warm residence
Contact Cordell & Marina for details
Sunday Gathering at Ebell Club
10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
Youth Ministry
6:30pm - Hopper & Burr in DTSA
Learn more about Youth Ministry here
The Bridge Course
7:00pm - Hopper & Burr in DTSA
We’ve got 2 meetings left!
Invite someone to join us for Bridge!
“Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller. Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing - and getting greater all the time” - John Piper
We believe that our journey through the Book of Exodus will do just this - make the gospel big. That Exodus will help the gospel-centered people and church we’re striving to be keep our gospel-center from becoming small and disconnected from the rest of life. Because, as we get older, the church gets larger, life gets messier, and we put more distance between the present and the moment we first believed, we need a gospel that keeps pace.
Ask yourself:
Do you struggle to “apply the gospel” to your life? Then remember the exodus.
Do you have a small or one-dimensional gospel? One that doesn’t make you say, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (Ex 15:11). Then remember the exodus.
Do you have a one-sided gospel that focuses mostly on what you were saved FROM, but not what you’ve been saved FOR? Then remember the exodus.
Check out the outline below. Learn how the saints of old “looked back” to the exodus. Take in the many “glorious deeds” of God and see how Christ perfects them. Study the Scripture references provided. Encounter the God of the gospel and watch this shape your heart and mind. Expect that as we journey through this book, the gospel will be growing greater and greater in our eyes.
This Sunday, we began a new sermon series in the Book of Exodus. Exodus begins with Israel in Egypt (1:1-7). The rest of the story is about how God gets them out. What he does to get them out is the gospel of the Old Testament. Apart from this gospel of the OT, we cannot fully understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. But through this story, we’ll see and feel the finished work of Christ as bigger and greater than we did before. Learning how the good news of the gospel really does respond to all the bad news of life. Encountering the many riches of the gospel that’ll keep us glorifying God today, tomorrow, and forevermore. Being fueled with amazement not just for what we’ve been saved from, but all that we’ve been saved for.
Each month, the ladies of CGSA gather for a time of discussion, encouragement, and prayer. All to promote the growth of women in Christ as women in Christ.
Tonight, they’ll finish their discussion of the book My Dear Hemlock. A modern take on C.S. Lewis’ classic, The Screwtape Letters, which is designed to answer the question, “What if Screwtape tempted a woman?” Whether you’ve read the book or not, come and join in on a conversation that promises to be the best kind of provocative and point you back to Christ. We hope to see you there!
During Sunday's sermon, we encountered "the most comforting doctrine" of God's providence. The truth that God uses everything to bring about his good will.
Check out these excerpts from our Statement of Faith & the Scripture references below to anchor your heart in the reality that God is always working for the good of his people and the glory of his name.
SoF 3.1 - God's Sovereign Purposes - God Ordains All Things for His Glory
From all eternity, God sovereignly ordained all that exists and all that occurs in his creation,[1] in order to display the fullness of his glory.[2] God’s plans are efficacious, always coming to pass,[3] and they are universal, encompassing all the affairs of nature,[4] history,[5] and individual lives.[6] These decrees are an exercise of his free,[7] unchangeable,[8] wise,[9] and holy will.[10] Yet God, in his foreordination, is not the author of sin,[11] nor do his decrees negate the will of his creatures, who act with the power of willing choice in accord with their nature.[12] His ordaining and governing all things is compatible with his creatures’ moral accountability[13] such that God never condemns a person unjustly.[14] Therefore, all persons are responsible for their actions, which have real and eternal consequences.[15]
Scripture References: [1] Ps 33:11; Isa 37:26; Eph 1:11.
[2] Rom 11:36; Exod 14:17-18; Ps 19:1.
[3] Ps 33:11; Isa 46:9-10; 55:11.
[4] Job 37:6-13; Col 1:16-17.
[5] Ps 33:10-11; Prov 21:1.
[6] Prov 16:9; 20:24; Ps 139:6.
[7] Rom 9:15.
[8] Num 23:19; Heb 6:17.
[9] Rom 11:33.
[10] Eph 1:11.
[11] James 1:13; 1 John 1:5.
[12] Acts 2:23; Rom 9:14-24; Phil 2:12-13.
[13] Rom 3:19.
[14] Dan 4:37; Rom 1:20.
[15] Luke 10:28; John 3:16.
SoF 4.1 - Creation, Providence, and Man - God Creates and Rules All Things
In the beginning, the triune God freely created out of nothing the universe and everything in it by the word of his power, all for his own pleasure and the display of his glory.[1] God declared the entirety of his creation to be very good,[2] and even in its fallen state it tells of his greatness[3] and is to be delighted in[4] and stewarded for his glory.[5] As supreme Creator, God is separate from and transcendent over all he has made.[6] As sovereign Lord, he is present with his creation to sustain all things,[7] govern all creatures, and direct all circumstances in accord with his holy and loving will.[8] In everything God supremely acts for his glory[9] and for the good of his people in Christ,[10] granting us great comfort and unshakable hope in God’s love, wisdom, and faithfulness to us in this life and in eternity.[11]
Scripture References: [1] Gen 1; Ps 19:1; 33:6; John 1:3; Col 1:15-17; Heb 11:3; Rev 4:11.
[2] Gen 1:31.
[3] Ps 19:1-6; Rom 1:20.
[4] Ps 111:2; 1 Tim 4:4.
[5] Gen 1:26, 28; Ps 8.
[6] 1 Kings 8:27; Isa 6:1; 66:1.
[7] Ps 145:15; 147:8-9; Luke 12:24; Heb 1:3.
[8] Eph 1:11; Rom 8:28-29.
[9] Isa 43:7; Eph 1:6, 12.
[10] Gen 50:20; Rom 8:28; Eph 1:22.
[11] Rom 5:3-5; 8:31; Phil 1:6; 1 Pet 4:19; Jude 24.
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom 11:36)
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. Below we’ve got a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:
Basketball in the Park
6:30pm - El Camino Park
Reach out to Manny for more info
French Park Run Club
6:30am - French Park Grass Area
Women’s Meeting
7:00pm - Schlieder Home
Sunday Gathering at Ebell Club
10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
The Bridge Course
7:00pm - Hopper & Burr in DTSA
We’ve got 3 meetings left!
Invite someone to join us for Bridge!
From Mark Prater, Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches:
Let’s be honest, Sovereign Grace Churches is inadequate! We are inadequate because God has called us to a gospel mission we can’t accomplish apart from His power, provision, direction, wisdom, and help. John Piper writes, "Prayer has the wonderful capacity to highlight our emptiness and God’s fullness at the same time. It is wonderfully suited to express our inadequacy and God’s all-sufficiency.”
Below you will find the "Sovereign Grace Churches Fourth Quarter Prayer Requests.” As I read through them, I feel inadequate to accomplish them on my own. I hope reading them has the same effect on you because acknowledging our inadequacy is just what we need to fall on our knees and cry out to our all-sufficient God for His divine help.
It’s good to acknowledge our inadequacy. Now, let’s pray.
Mark
