Your Homework For This Week

During this past Sunday’s message, we read John’s account of the crucifixion. John’s priority was to demonstrate Jesus; sovereign control over even His own death. How was this demonstrated? As Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures over and over again even in His dying moments. The Romans and Jews and Satan were all playing right into God’s hands. Two of the most prominently quoted Old Testament passages are Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22.

Your “homework” for this week is to read through both of these passages. Meditate on them. Listen for the echoes of the cross. See the wisdom of God. Marvel at the sovereignty of God over history. Allow your understand of them to help you appreciate the magnificence of God’s unbroken plan of salvation that began millennia before the cross itself.

What History and The Book of John All Hinge Upon

The crucifixion of Jesus. It’s both cruel and gracious. Horrific and beautiful. Shameful and infinitely victorious. It was the moment when Satan seemed to have struck the final death blow to God’s purposes, yet, in all actuality, when Jesus struck the final deathblow not only to satan, but sin and death itself. Listen to last week’s sermon and learn about the history-altering, life-transforming reality of the cross of Christ which makes a claim on every single one of our lives.

Listen to the sermon here.

Our sermon series in the Gospel of John began in July of 2018. Now, almost a year later, it’s drawing to a close. It’s been a profoundly rich experience of meeting Jesus afresh every Sunday. God has revealed His Son to us that we might “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing, you may have life in His name.” As the series draws to a close, here are a few suggestions to help you finish well:

• Read through the entire book one more time to remember where we’ve been

• Listen again to the sermon that God used to affect your perspective/behavior/faith/habits most significantly

• Review your sermon notes

• Prayerfully consider and thank God for the gift of His Word in the Gospel of John

Evidence That God Is Spreading The Joy of Jesus

When Sovereign Grace Church of Santa Ana was established a year and a half ago, we were a small group of people believing that God had called us to plant a church near Downtown Santa Ana. Since then, God has spread the joy of His Son to new believers and to new laborers for the harvest. This past Sunday, we welcomed four more men and women to that number. We praise God as we watch Him accomplish His mission of salvation and as we experience the privilege of gaining new brothers and sisters to live with us in the joy we’ve received from our Savior.

Don’t Forget

Bring a chair and a lunch to go. Maybe even bring an extra lunch for someone who didn’t bring one. Come prepared to enjoy one another’s company in the joy of Jesus. Discuss the sermon. Meet a new Santa Ana neighbor. Build friendships with those whom you love. Head to the second street promenade immediately following the service.

Than To Be a Friend of Caesar’s …

Associating with the cause of Christ is often neither situationally beneficial nor convenient. Pontius Pilate, as he stood with Jesus before him, had the task of issuing a verdict and a sentence. He knew Jesus was innocent. Yet the crowd falsely accused him of treason against Caesar. An innocent verdict could be political suicide. This moment in Pilate’s life was inconvenient. It was one case among hundreds he’d rule on. Seemingly insignificant and terribly inconvenient. Yet in the grand scheme, it was Pilate’s eternity that was being weighed in the balance. In our lives, we experience many moments when siding with Jesus is just flat inconvenient, but in the scope of eternity, is far better than siding with anyone else. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon from John 18-19.

Listen to the sermon here.

Well … What Is It?

We’ve been in the book of John for nearly one entire year. This June, as we move on from the compelling narrative of the Gospel of John, we’ll be spending 6 weeks in a short summer series answering this most important question. The Gospel is the message that we stake our lives on. It’s the message that we claim that our church is founded upon. It’s the message that we say is the only hope for salvation for anybody. So, what is it?

Invite your Santa Ana friends and neighbors this summer to join us and discover what the answer is to this all-important question.

Preparing Men For Ministry Through Theological Education

For the past 18 months, 7 men from Sovereign Grace Church of Santa Ana and Sovereign Grace Church of Orange have been working diligently to complete a new initiative that we’ve begun called “The Theology Course”. This course is a means to guide men who aspire to pastoral ministry or some other leadership roles in the church through a course of theological education that also serves to prepare them for ordination within our denomination. While this does by no means guarantee that they will be pastors, nevertheless, it helps to lay the foundation for the expansion of the mission of spreading the joy of Jesus in Southern California.

We congratulate these men, but even more significantly, we congratulate and thank the wives involved who freed up their husbands and made sacrifices to make completion possible.

Our own Jeff Schlieder was among the 7 graduates and was recognized this past Sunday at Church. Congratulations and THANK YOU, Taylor and Jeff, for your sacrifice and faith to be a part of the spread of the joy of Jesus in Orange County, CA.

Bring a Chair and a Sack Lunch

Head straight over to the Second Street Promenade immediately after the service on June 2 for a lunch in the midst of our neighbors. It’s a great opportunity to spread the joy of Jesus as we enjoy His gifts of food and fellowship!

Thursday at 7:00pm - New Location This Month Only

All women, high school-age and up are invited. It’s a meeting where women gather to learn to talk like women about God. No need to bring anything but yourself and a Bible. If you don’t have a Bible, we’ll have extras available for you.

The location for this week’s meeting has changed. Please contact Rebecca Erkelens at bequita_17@yahoo.com for more address and details.