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:
10:00 am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
You're invited to our annual Christmas potluck to enjoy an evening of fellowship, fun, and white elephant gift exchanges as we celebrate the coming of Christ!
Costume Contest - Compete to win the “Costume of Christmas” Award. Bonus points will be assigned if your costume pairs with your potluck item!
White Elephant Gift Exchange - We’ll have 2 gift exchanges, one for the kids and one for adults. Please bring a pre-wrapped & unlabeled gift to enter into the exchange. For the kids, just grab something from around the house. For adults, there’s a $5 spending limit, but we encourage you to find something fun around the house if you can.
Potluck - We’re calling on you to help us have plenty of tasty Christmas treats to eat and drink. Please follow the general outline below when bringing a potluck item to share:
If you are a party of 1-2, bring a drink and/or dessert to share
If you are a party of 3, bring a side dish to share
If you are a party of 4 or more, bring a main dish to share
As the Gospel of Mark approaches chapter 8, Jesus travels into regions inhabited by Gentiles. This journey begs one enormous question: will Jesus do for non-Jews what He has done for the Jews? This question maps onto our own experience. The bitter root of comparison and envy takes hold in our hearts and we wonder, “will God be gracious to me like I see Him being gracious to that person in my life?” The three accounts in Mark 7:24-8:10 and the cross that Jesus is eminently marching toward, though, answer all such questions. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to learn more.
The day has finally arrived. Digital check-in is here! This Sunday, you’ll notice a new table in the lobby. Look for a Children’s Ministry Check-In sign, some instructions, and a few QR codes. You can check your kids into Children’s Ministry as early as 9:45am BEFORE the service begins. This is what it will look like:
Come to the table between 9:45am-10am & scan the QR code with your mobile device.
Fill out the new online registration form. It’ll take just a minute to complete.
After you’ve completed the one-time registration form, you’ll check your children in through our online Check-In form, grab a sticker, and come back to drop off your child during the 3-minute break.
We’re excited to expedite our check-in process! Not only will it make check-in easier on our parents and volunteers, it will give us more time to talk to each other and meet new people during the break. It’s a win-win! We encourage you to make the Children’s Ministry Pre-Check a part of your regular Sunday routine.
Before we head into our annual December “Fallow Month” - where we cancel all church events aside from Sunday service and our all-church Christmas Party - we have one last opportunity to gather together as small groups. Outside of Sunday mornings, small groups are the most important moment in the life of our church. Make it a priority to attend the final small group of 2022 in order to encourage one another and be encouraged. To care for others and to be cared for. To point your brothers and sisters to Christ and apply his gospel to their lives, and experience the same.
Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, we’re moving our monthly Women’s Meeting up a week. Tonight, the ladies of CGSA are gathering to share in an informal Friendsgiving dinner as they share in the grace of friendship. We’ll have appetizers, snacks, and desserts for you to enjoy as we spend the evening celebrating God’s goodness through our relationships and giving thanks to his name.
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:
6:30 pm - Schlieder Home
7:00 pm - Houlton, Schlieder, and Erkelens Home
7:00 pm - Cunningham Home
It’s here! The fifth edition of the Sovereign Grace Journal. It’s written by Sovereign Grace pastors for the pastors and members of Sovereign Grace Churches. This edition highlights “our shaping virtues”. While our 7 Shared Values describe what we believe, our Shaping Virtues describe the character attributes we aspire to “put on” (Col. 3:12) as members of Sovereign Grace Churches. The Shared Values characterize the convictions that bind us together, the Shaping Virtues characterize the church culture we’re aiming to build. It’s well worth the read. We hope you will enjoy it. You can download the entire PDF. Or purchase a hard copy on Amazon. Or simply read it article by article (below).
Last time in Mark, Jesus confronted the disciples' hardness of heart and unbelief (6:52). In the following scene, he encounters opposition from those who focus upon cleanliness of their hands while their hearts remain far from God (7:6). In the scribes' and Pharisees' zealous observance of the ceremonies and traditions of the elders, they'd actually come to abandon God's moral law (7:1-13). All the outward cleanliness, ritual, and observances were powerless to cleanse what was actually morally defiled: their hearts. No amount of ceremonial washing, law-keeping, or personal strategies can cleanse us to the core (7:14-23). We need God to do a cleansing work in us and in so doing, draw our hearts near to Him. It’s something that nothing but the blood of Jesus can do.
This year as the pastors and wives of Sovereign Grace gathered to celebrate 40 years of God’s faithfulness, we were blessed with a week of faithful teaching. We were freshly reminded of the power of the cross, our call to reach the lost, and the grace of our partnership together as a family of churches. Your pastoral team encourages you to listen to all 4 of these main sessions. They’ll bless your soul, build you up, and spur you on in gospel mission.
In addition to these, we highly recommend the breakout session, “The Untapped Treasure of Wisdom Literature” by Josh Blount. In this excellent lecture on the Book of Ecclesiastes, Josh holds forth the good news that in the vanity, tragedy, and difficulty of life under the sun, God has given it to us to “be joyful” (Ecc 8:15). This truth meets us where we all live in the frustration, heartache, and thistles & thorns reality that characterizes so much of our lives and injects gospel hope. We can’t commend this one enough to you.
