Prayer is central to our mission of spreading the joy of Jesus in our city. Next Thursday, we have the privilege of partnering with pastors and community leaders in Santa Ana to seek God’s glory and our neighbor’s good through prayer. Mark your calendars, stop by on your lunch break, and join us downtown at First Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana as we gather together with the church in our city for the good of our city.
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 am - French Park Grass Area
7:00 pm - Schlieder Home
10:00 am - Meeting Room: Courtyard
It’s here! The sixth edition of the Sovereign Grace Journal. It’s written by Sovereign Grace pastors for the pastors and members of Sovereign Grace Churches. We hope you will enjoy reading it. You can download the entire PDF here. Or purchase a hard copy here.
Two Sundays ago, we laid out the theological principles for mission and evangelism. Filling ourselves with the God of the gospel so that his gospel would overflow from us. This past Sunday, guest preacher, Ricky Alcantar from our sister church, Cross of Grace El Paso, turned our attention to the Book of Acts to look at the progress of the gospel in God's history of redemption. The story of the gospel going forth: from Jesus himself, to that early church, and onto us today. Let’s see our church in this great story God is writing and lean into what Jesus is continuing to do in and through his people.
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
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.
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.
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 am - French Park Grass Area
7:00 pm - Erkelens and Lee Home
8:00 am - Santa Ana Stadium
10:00 am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
12:00 pm - French Park grass area
7:00 pm - Schlieder Home
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…
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
