KEEP SENDING PICTURES OF YOUR HOUSEHOLD WORSHIPPING TOGETHER

This was our third Sunday apart from each other and we deeply miss you all. We’re grateful to the Lord, though, for modern technological advances that allow us to worship together despite the inability to meet in person. Thank you for sending photos and videos of your household worshipping together to photos@sovgracesantaana.org. We loved seeing them. This will be what services look like for at least another few weeks, so keep sending them along to remind your brothers and sisters of the voices that are joining together with them as we sing, listen and pray on Sunday mornings. Take a look at a few photos from this livestream Sunday.

WE’VE BEEN ASKING YOU TO SEND US YOUR PRAYER REQUESTS

Thank you for responding and sending them. We’re so used to knowing one another’s needs through experiencing regular fellowship. We talk to one another on Sunday morning. We share life together at small group. We host one another in our homes. We can’t do any of that right now. It’s important to know, however, how to pray for one another and to ask the Lord to guide us, sustain us and encourage us each individually in this season. Here are the prayer requests from this past week (anonymity is maintained):

1. Thank you everyone for praying for our son’s wedding (Sammy and Veronica). Although it was much smaller than originally planned, it was beautiful. Praise God for answered prayer. 

2. Pray for those who are sheltering at home alone. This is particularly difficult for those whoa aren’t surrounded by a whole household of people. Pray for the comfort of the presence of the Lord.

3. Pray for those who have lost their jobs, been furloughed or whose hours have been reduced.

4. Pray for those working in essential services as they go to work and risk infection. Pray for peace and protection.

5. Pray for the spiritual growth and development of each member of our church. Pray that the Lord would strengthen our devotional lives, that He would teach us of His goodness, and that He would draw us near to Himself in dependence

KEEP SENDING PRAYER REQUESTS TO PRAYERS@SOVGRACESANTAANA.ORG.

We Don’t Know When. But We Know He’s Coming Back.

In a time when instability and uncertainty dominates the landscape around us, we have un unshakeable assurance that Jesus is still in control and will one day come back to receive His own to Himself. Until then, our role is to live “soberly” as we await His coming. Listen to this past week’s message to ground yourself in one of the most rock-solid assurances you can have.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

How do we understand a “pandemic” biblically? Why is this happening? What role does such an event have in God’s redemptive purposes? These are important fundamental questions to have answers to. Thankfully, God’s Word speaks very clearly to each of them.

Take a few minutes and read this blog post written by Kevin DeYoung, “The Coronavirus is a Result of the Fall”.

Have a conversation with those in your household over what you read. Discuss it with another family over a “Zoom dinner”. Look up the Scriptures referenced and mediate on them. Fill your mind with God’s Truth rather than the varying opinions and perspectives of everyone around you.

Let’s Worship Together While We Are apart

This Thursday night (March 26th), Sovereign Grace Music is hosting a livestream worship session!

Let's all tune in together at 4:30pm PST and sing praises to our Lord.

You can find Sovereign Grace Music’s Facebook page here.

Life is rapidly changing for everyone. People are working from home, kids are home from school and overall adjusting to being limited to staying in their homes . Events, hangouts, and parties are canceled. It’s tough. We wanted to provide a little window into some of these changes as a reminder that we’re all in this together.

Below we’ve included photos from members with a short note. If you’d like to be included in a future blog post, please send a picture to photos@sovgracesantaana.org with a brief description.

I’m officing full time out of Silas’ bedroom, since Kelsey already works from home at our “home office”. The desk under the bunk bed is a suitable place to work, though! The kids are loving having both mom and dad home, but it’s been more difficult than expected to find a new routine that balances everyone’s schedule. - Kyle Houlton

“In this time it was my goal to engage my students and give them an opportunity to come together and express themselves musically and perform for others. I put this video together of them playing a song I wrote- here’s the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfEXhq2Iz3Q&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2jfnsu2c73opL8At_vhw-edwVe7zTc3CF53ScYjWeBW2AoFNcVHZsf_uE” - Mike Alvarez

“Rayanne and I have been having a lot of fun baking together. Last Sunday we made cinnamon coffee cake before church! “ - Krista Alvarez

“The wedding is on. Thank you all for praying! I am working on wedding stuff and here’s Jim’s project.” - Angie Cunningham

“Kyle is working from home so we are just laying low and hanging out with this little girl! She got some cool new shades from my aunt.” - Cat Roche

WE ASKED YOU TO SEND US YOUR PRAYER REQUESTS

Thank you for responding and sending them. We’re so used to knowing one another’s needs through experiencing regular fellowship. We talk to one another on Sunday morning. We share life together at small group. We host one another in our homes. We can’t do any of that right now. It’s important to know, however, how to pray for one another and to ask the Lord to guide us, sustain us and encourage us each individually in this season. Here are the prayer requests from this past week (anonymity is maintained):

1. Please continue to pray. Sammy and Veronica have decided to postpone the big celebration and have a small backyard ceremony next Saturday. Please pray for wisdom as we try to work out details and good health for us all. Thank you for walking through this process with us. We feel your love and support and faith! Pray for our son’s wedding; still haven’t finalized a place. Pray the wedding would honor the Lord and be extra special for Veronica and Sammy.

2. Praying for the staff and residents of the Orange County Rescue Mission as well as the staff and residents at homeless shelters in the city of Santa Ana. Asking the Lord to give wisdom to the leaders and staff to keep those in their care healthy that outbreaks of COVID-19 among an already vulnerable population living in close quarters would be prevented. Asking the Lord to protect these high density communities as well as those who work in them.

3. My nephew’s 3-year-old son, Simon, is receiving his first round of intense chemo right now because he has brain cancer.  Please pray for healing and protection for his hearing, vision and cognitive function 

KEEP SENDING PRAYER REQUESTS TO PRAYERS@SOVGRACESANTAANA.ORG.

Did You Know we are publishing daily devotionals?

Every day during this quarantine, a member of our pastoral team will be writing a daily #CaliforniaQuarantine devotion to help you anchor your heart and mind in God's Word as you start your day in a changing time.

Head to our facebook page here to follow along.

Extending Mercy In Our Community During the Pandemic

In the midst of this crisis, we want to do all we can to support our church members and Santa Ana neighbors whom are affected by the COVID-19 virus. Ample funds have been made available.

Please consider doing the following:

1) Donate to our relief fund here.

2) If you know someone who could benefit from this program or if you yourself would benefit, fill out the application, here.

EACH FRIDAY UNTIL CHURCH LIFE RETURNS TO NORMAL

Until our church calendar normalizes and we’re allowed to meet together again, we’ll conduct a 1-1.5 hour zoom call to receive a brief update from one another and pray together for one another and for our neighbors. This is the rare chance we get to see one another in one place. We love seeing your faces and hearing your voices.

PLEASE MAKE THIS A PRIORITY ON YOUR CALENDAR

The call-in information for this call is listed below:

Call in online or with the app: https://zoom.us/j/6583688098 (Meeting ID: 658 368 8098)

Call in on your phone without the app or internet: +16699009128,,6583688098# US