Our monthly Women’s Group meeting is this Thursday at 7:00 pm. The ladies are starting a three month study on the book of James. Anyone high-school-aged and older is invited and everyone will be learning and growing together whether you’re new to reading the Bible or have been a Christian for many years - so invite your friends, neighbors and family members. For questions, email office@crossofgracesa.org.
In Acts 20, Paul calls the Ephesian elders to meet him at Miletus. After ministering together for three long years and developing a wonderfully close relationship, he knows he’ll never see them again. For all he knows, he may even be nearing the end of his life. When they arrive, Paul addresses them one final time and gives his dear friends and colaborers his final instructions - describing what matters most in life and ministry moving forward. His farewell speech could be summarized as “There is no better life than the one God has called you to”. To learn more and to understand what Paul would tell you “matters most”, listen to last Sunday’s sermon.
LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE
Have you registered yet for our ¡Confident Conversations! class? If not, you can do so here. There’s still room.
If you’d like to improve your Spanish, then register. Even if you already speak Spanish, we encourage you to register and play a part in helping others gain confidence in having conversations where language is a barrier to fellowship. Our 2021 spring class will take place every other Monday beginning Monday, March 22 for a total of 6 class sessions. No purchase or registration fee is required. Please email office@crossofgracesa.org for any further questions.
After missing an in-person Easter last year, we’ll be gathering on Easter Sunday, 2021 to celebrate and worship the Savior whom the grave could not hold.
Invite your English and Spanish (or any language, for that matter) speaking friends and family to join us at the Ebell Club at 10:00am on Sunday, April 4.
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:
7:00 pm - Erkelens Home
10:00 am - Meeting Room: Outdoor Courtyard
Our annual Communion Service was different this year, but it was no less sweet. Check out some of the moments from our post-service lunch captured on camera.
Interested in diving deeper into the subject of baptism or feasting your mind on the topic of the Lord’s Table? Here’s a few suggestions for you:
Sovereign Grace Churches Statement of Faith - We Believe: A Statement of Faith - See section 12, paragraph 3, “The Sacraments of the Church.”
The free PDF can be found here: We Believe: A Statement of Faith (PDF)
Books
40 Questions About Baptism and the Lord's Supper, by John S. Hammet
From Paedobaptism to Credobaptism, by W. Gary Crampton
Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ, edited by Thomas Schreiner
The Lord’s Supper as a Means of Grace: More than a Memory, by Richard Barcellos (quoted in Sunday’s sermon)
The Lord’s Supper: Eternal Word in Broken Bread, by Robert Letham
Systematic Theology, by Wayne Grudem (see chapters 48-50, Means of Grace Within the Church, Baptism, and The Lord’s Supper)
Español: Teologia Sistemica
Articles
God's Visible Media: The Sacraments in a Digital Age, by Daniel R. Hyde
Means of Grace, by Ligonier Ministries
What is a Means of Grace, by Nicholas T. Batzig
Baptism, by Stephen Wellum
The Lord's Supper, by Jonathan Griffiths
The Ordinances of the Church, by Gregg Allison
On Sunday, Jeff Schlieder conveyed from Acts a Biblical understanding of the sacraments of the Church - Communion and Baptism. While we can often “go through the motions” with these two sacraments, we were encouraged to value them, see the Gospel made visible and tangible in them and to treat them as expressions of God’s grace to us. The sermon was followed by a special bilingual sharing of the Lord’s Table and an offsite lunch afterward.
Listen to the sermon and check out the additional blog post with suggested resources to deepen your understanding and appreciation of the sacraments Christ gave to us.
LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE
Jeremy Treat, pastor at Reality Church in LA, offers what amounts to an outstanding introduction to the Gospel through the lens of the Kingdom of God in a way that’s understandable to Christians of all ages. A book recently read and highly recommended by both pastor Kyle and pastor Jeff, Seek First is a rare find among books that are published by young contemporary authors.
Treat opens the book with a strong statement: “The key to life is finding what matters most and building your life around it”. He concludes that the answer to what matters most is what Jesus talked the most about and instructed His followers to “seek first” - the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). As we continue our Sunday preaching series in Acts, where we watch the Kingdom of God breaking into the world, Seek First is a great complement to aid your understand of what God’s Kingdom is and what it means to actually live seeking His kingdom in all of life.
YOU CAN PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE
It is almost time to spring forward! Daylight Savings time 2021 begins at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, March 14. Make sure before you head to bed on Saturday night to set your clocks one hour ahead so you make it to church on time.
