All women age 13 and up are officially invited to our 2018 Women's Retreat. Registration is $20 and includes breakfast and lunch. If finances are a hardship of any kind, please contact kyle@sovgraceoc.org and we'll be happy to accommodate. Take full advantage of this opportunity to spend a day learning, sharing, and encountering the Lord together.
God Is Sending Laborers To Santa Ana
Last year, Jennifer, a member of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, heard that a Sovereign Grace church was being planted in Santa Ana, California. In that moment, she began to wonder if God was calling her out west to join in the work. Fast forward to last week, when she took a trip out to Orange County to visit the church plant and interview for potential jobs.
A woman known for her joy in Christ, but also for her God-glorifying courage and faith, Jennifer has been an example to those around her for years of doing hard things for the sake of the spread of the joy of Jesus. As God uses her in this next season for just such a thing, she would greatly appreciate your prayers. Please pray that God would help Jennifer to find a suitable job, suitable housing in a neighborhood where she can feel secure and that, most importantly, He would strengthen her and use her for the spread of the joy of Jesus in Southern California.
What kind of life do you want to live? What kind of a life should you live? In Colossians 1:9-14, Paul prays that the Colossian church would live a life "worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him". In this last Sunday's message, we learned how we know what pleases the Lord, what kind of life pleases the Lord and ultimately, that through Christ, God already delights in us. Join us next week for the next message in the book of Colossians.
This last Sunday, we opened up a new preaching series in Colossians together and discovered, what, of all things he could say, were the Apostle Paul's first words to the church at Colossae. As was Paul's pattern, we learned that giving thanks to God for the evidence of His grace at work through the Gospel took priority of place. This pattern and priority helps us to know how we ought to address one another.
On Monday, January 15, pastors and leaders gathered together for a breakfast to celebrate and remember what God accomplished through Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his lifetime. In addition to pastors, police officers, senators,city council members, the Mayor Pro Tem, and others came together to not only remember, but to prayerfully ask God to accomplish His reconciling work in our city. Sovereign Grace Santa Ana was represented by Kyle Houlton, Jeff Schleider and Jerry Raquena.
We believe that God has given us everything we need to accomplish the mission He's called us to. But we also acknowledge that appropriate partnerships in our community will only strengthen us in our mission. We are grateful to God for other churches and organizations who are committed to the proclamation of the true and reconciling Gospel of Jesus Christ and the building of His Church.
Starting next month, Sovereign Grace Santa Ana will be hosting monthly men's meetings and monthly women's meetings. These gatherings are aimed at being a context for men and women to talk to one another about the distinct joys - and challenges - of striving to be godly men and godly women. They'll be an opportunity to care for one another, to encourage one another, to learn from one another. Anybody can attend, Christian or not, member of the church or not. Details of the monthly meetings can be found below:
Contact Kyle Houlton at kyle@sovgraceoc.org with any questions.
Sovereign Grace Santa Ana is a mission of another church. It has been through the faith and generosity of this church that a new church in Santa Ana is being built. This past Sunday, our dear friends, brothers and sisters from Sovereign Grace Church of Orange made their biggest sacrifice and gave most generously. They gave Santa Ana their people.
While the members of the team in Santa Ana have been conducting services for the past two months in Downtown Santa Ana, they have now been sent to be exclusively committed to the city of Santa Ana. This is admittedly a loss for Sovereign Grace Church of Orange. But in losing their best people, they have gained a new church. And through this new church, God will save Santa Anans. New brothers, sisters and friends will be added. The Gospel will be preached in a new city. Pray for Sovereign Grace Santa Ana as we endeavor to spread the joy of Jesus in this new season.
God has given Christians the privilege, by virtue of being united with Christ, of being members in His eternal family; the Church. It is no less a privilege for us to be identified as members in a local church. God has even been so kind as to help us to know how to live with our brothers and sisters in the local church. Over 40 passages in Scripture, all containing the phrase "one another" instruct us as to how members of a local church build each other up in Christ. Check out this visually attractive infographic from challies.com to see them all in one place.
Jesus has promised His presence to be with us in the mission He's called us to. He's also given us other local churches with whom we have the privilege of partnering with. We're committed to them. They're committed to us. This is the kind of partnership you want your local church to be a part of. God will spread the joy of Jesus through Downtown Santa Ana through it. To learn more about the contours of our partnership with Sovereign Grace Churches,
Beginning on the second Sunday in January, we'll be embarking on our first preaching series through a book of the Bible. It will be an expository series through the book of Colossians. This is a book about Jesus, the new life given through Him and the shape this new life takes in the local church.
You can do several things to prepare for this series. You can pray that God would use His preached Word to build Sovereign Grace Santa Ana. You can invite your friends and neighbors to join us in this series. Finally, you can begin reading the book of Colossians yourself and even study up with some resources.
