BRING YOUR LUNCH TO FRENCH PARK AFTER SERVICE

This Sunday, immediately after service, we’ll be walking over to French Park to eat lunch and enjoy one another’s company while in the midst of the neighborhood God has placed us in. Here are the details:

• It’s “BYOL” (bring your own lunch). If you forget your lunch or your favorite lunchbox isn’t clean, there are plenty of great restaurants nearby in DTSA.

• It’s optional - but we highly encourage coming!

• Bring some folding chairs - unless you like sitting on the grass, bring something to sit on.

• Expect the Lord to build existing relationships and create new ones with our neighbors

REGIONAL ASSEMBLY OF ELDERS

Every year our pastors join with pastors in our denomination from the southwest United States for a regional retreat. There’s prayer, teaching, singing, fellowship, business meetings, and even some good-natured competition. The retreat is hosted here in Orange County this week.

We’d like to ask you to pray for their time together. Here are a few things to cover:

• Ask God to give grace to Pastor Eric as he leads.

• Ask God to give the pastors unique opportunities to minister to each other.

• Ask God to grow the friendships of the pastors in the region.

• Ask God to use this meeting to further their shared gospel mission.

• Ask God to bless their families while the men are away.

THANK GOD FOR PASTORS

EVERY 1ST & 3RD FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

Outside of Sunday mornings, small groups are the most important moment in the life of our church. Make it a priority to attend small group this Friday at 7pm 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.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SMALL GROUPS, CLICK HERE

APRIL 17 - APRIL 24

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:

THURSDAY, APRIL 20: FRENCH PARK RUN CLUB

• 6:30 am - French Park Grass Area

FRIDAY, APRIL 21: SMALL GROUPS

• 7:00 pm - Erkelens and Lee Home

SATURDAY, APRIL 22: SANTA ANA FUN RUN

• 8:00 am - Santa Ana Stadium

SUNDAY, APRIL 23: SUNDAY GATHERING AT THE EBELL CLUB

• 10:00 am - Meeting Room: Ballroom

SUNDAY, APRIL 23: PICNIC IN THE PARK

• 12:00 pm - French Park grass area

MONDAY, APRIL 24: SPRING CLASS

• 7:00 pm - Schlieder Home

TAKING PART IN OUR GLOBAL MISSION

From Dave Taylor, Director of Global Missions in our family of churches:

In his excellent book ‘Truth on Fire’, Pastor Adam Ramsey writes the following…

‘Relying on our own cleverness to live out the Christian life is like trying to circle the globe in a glider. It might fly for a while, but predictably, it is going to crash. Prayer, on the other hand, is God’s sovereignly appointed means of connecting our never-ending neediness to God’s never-ending power. Prayer is the vehicle through which God will accomplish his invincible purposes, through the lives of weak, dependent people, like you and me.’

If we want our mission to be full of divine power, then our lives must be filled with dependent prayer. We so need Him don’t we? Whatever it is - big or small - we so need Him. So here’s some ways you can be praying for us in the month ahead…

1. Please pray that God would give the members of Sovereign Grace churches opportunities to share the gospel, a life-changing message, with unbelieving family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers over this Easter weekend.

2. Please pray that God would draw unbelievers to Sovereign Grace churches, and save them, as we hold our Easter related events and services all around the world this weekend.

3. Please continue to pray for the Arche Church in Dnipro, Ukraine that Sovereign Grace is relating to, asking God to protect them, and to use them to offer gospel hope as the war continues. They are still serving over 450 refugees a week and long for people to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Even in such sorrow, they are experiencing the joy of new births!

4. Please continue to pray for our Church Planting efforts around the world. With 19 Global Church Plants planned for 2023-2024, we are in much need of His never-ending power in this.

5. Please pray that God would continue to provide financially for Sovereign Grace Churches so that we can fund the gospel opportunities He is giving us throughout the world. All for the glory of His name.

… Thank you for praying for our family of churches. May His grace abound to us all!

WHAT FUELS THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH

Many Christians know they should be passionate about evangelism, but in reality they often find it daunting. In this concise version of God Shines Forth, Daniel Hames and Michael Reeves urge Christians to grow in their knowledge and enjoyment of God―as they know God more, they will be spurred on to authentic service through missions and evangelism. To illustrate how the nature of God influences evangelism and missions, Hames and Reeves address biblical themes such as the glory of God, Christ’s sacrifice, the fallenness of man, and the church’s future hope. They invite readers to look to Jesus as the glory of God in the world, which is the Christian’s ultimate motivation to share the love of God with others. 

PURCHASE A COPY OF THE BOOK HERE

IS GOD’S POWER TO SAVE

On Sunday, we started a 3 week mini-series on evangelism and mission. We began by laying out the foundational principle for all our evangelistic activity: Why should we be eager to share the gospel with our neighbors? Because the gospel and the gospel alone is God’s power for salvation. This is why Paul was so eager to share it in Rom 1:15. But being honest, why aren’t we as eager as him? There are many reasons we could suggest, but the heart of the matter is that we don’t share the gospel because we don’t see the God of the gospel as we should. Before passing “Go” to practical strategies, we need to examine our personal communion with him. Listen to Sunday’s sermon on Rom 1:15-17 in order to drink deeply of the goodness, glory, and generous grace of God so that his gospel will be overflowing from you.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

Since November 2022, Jason has been serving as a Pastoral Resident at our church. Throughout the past few years, Jason has been engaged in a process to discover if God has called him and to equip him to become a pastor at Cross of Grace Santa Ana.

The process has been long and difficult, but the Lord has given him grace along the way and proven him in his gifting. After multiple academic steps, thousands of pages of books read, an internship and a residency, he’s now taking his first two of four formal ordination exams this Saturday.

HE’S ON THE HOME STRETCH

Jason will taking a comprehensive Bible knowledge exam and a written exam pertaining to our theological distinctives. If he passes, he’ll proceed on to one more written exam and an oral exam later this year, followed by the approval of his ordination by the Regional Assembly of Elders and the formal ordination of Jason by the local church - Cross of Grace Church of Santa Ana. First things first, though. Let’s pray for him as he prepares for this Saturday:

• Pray for peace and clarity for Jason as he takes this exam

• Pray for Kayleigh and the kids as they come alongside Jason to help him prepare and serve.

“THE BIG PICTURE” CARDS FOR FAMILIES

Our children’s ministry exists to spread the joy of Jesus to the Kids of CGSA. Every week the kids hear the gospel in an age-targeted manner. The curriculum is designed to come alongside parents as you disciple your children. The new unit starts this Sunday for the Preschool class, and next Sunday for the Elementary class. The new unit is titled The Mission Begins and will be centered on the early church, after Jesus returned to heaven and the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples.

PARENTS, THIS IS A TOOL TO SUPPORT THE PRIMARY ROLE YOU PLAY IN DISCIPLING YOUR CHILDREN

Parents, we have an exciting new resource for you! With this new unit, you will be given Big Picture Cards for Families when you pick up their child from Children’s Ministry. The cards will summarize what the lesson was about, and will equip you with tools and discussion starters to help your kids continue learning at home throughout the week. Parents, our hope is that this helps your children understand how the Bible events they are learning fit into the big picture of God's story.

BRING YOUR LUNCH TO FRENCH PARK AFTER SERVICE ON 4/23

Immediately after Sunday service on 4/23, we’ll be walking over to French Park to eat lunch and enjoy one another’s company while in the midst of the neighborhood God has placed us in. Here are the details:

• It’s “BYOL” (bring your own lunch). If you forget your lunch or your favorite lunchbox isn’t clean, there are plenty of great restaurants nearby in DTSA.

• It’s optional - but we highly encourage coming!

• Bring some folding chairs - unless you like sitting on the grass, bring something to sit on.

• Expect the Lord to build existing relationships and create new ones with our neighbors