Our Annual Christmas Party is This Friday

If you’ve been with us for any amount of time, you will have discovered that Sovereign Grace Santa Ana loves to throw a party. Instead of small groups this month, we are joining forces for one night for our annual Christmas Party. There will be amazing food, a Christmas movie that you’ve no doubt seen 100 times and this year, we will be hosting a gift exchange (a real one, not a White Elephant).

DECEMBER 6TH, 6:00PM AT THE HOULTON HOME

How You Can Come Prepared:

1. Bring The Christmas Dish That Best Represents A Traditional Family Christmas For You

2. Bring a Gift To Be Exchanged - Adults only. $5 maximum purchase price. Gift may be valued at more than $5 (something you already own), but between now and the party, you may not spend more than $5 buying something new. Gift will be randomly exchanged.

3. Bring yourself decked out in your most festive Christmas attire - this is entirely up for interpretation. We’re hoping to be surprised and delighted :)

Please RSVP here and let us know how many are coming.

Herod, A Symbol of The End of The Reign of Sin

In week two of our 2019 Christmas series, the cast member of Christmas was a rather unlikely one - a man whose life and actions in the Christmas narrative defy sentimentality, peace and joy. The Biblical authors include Herod for a reason. He stands as a symbol of the end of an era as a new age dawns upon the earth and in our hearts. What becomes starkly evident, though, as we understand the story of the birth of Christ, is that Herod’s kingdom and Christ’s kingdom cannot coexist. Their respective priorities are diametrically opposed. This leads us to consider whether we’re trying to do what’s actually impossible - trying to live as Christians allowing multiple kingdoms to reign and have influence in our own hearts.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

Pray for those without homes or families

Join us today in lifting up our DTSA neighbors without homes or families to spend this Thanksgiving Holiday with. This holiday marks a great opportunity for us to be thankful for all that the Lord has given us. But for some, the things which might characterize most of our list of things to be thankful for are painfully absent from the lists of some. For many, Thanksgiving is a lonely time. For others, the warmth of home is a distant experience. There are those in our community - even perhaps in our church - for whom the Holidays bring to the surface more bad memories than good.

If any of this describes you and we can serve you or pray for you in any way, please email kyle@sovgracesantaana.org.

As a church, we want to lift these neighbors up to the Lord- that He may comfort them & that they may find their hope & thankfulness in Him.

Happy Thanksgiving from Sovereign Grace Church of Santa Ana

We hope you enjoy this Thanksgiving Holiday with your family. The pastoral team of the church are profoundly thankful for you. Your friendship, your joy, your love and faith are a gift of God to your church, your neighbors and your family. We hope you’re filled with thankfulness today toward the God from whom every good and perfect gift comes (James 1:17).

Listen To Christ-Exalting Music This Christmas

Escucha En Español

La Ibi ha producido un álbum corto de Navidad llamado "Celebramos el Gran Regalo" lleno de canciones que cuentan la historia del advenimiento del Salvador y le recuerdan cuán dulce es un mensaje. Escúchalo esta Navidad en Spotify o en Youtube.

Listen In English

Sovereign Grace Music has produced an outstanding Christmas album called “Prepare Him Room” filled with songs that recount the coming of the Savior and warm your soul with the sweetness and wonder of the meaning of His coming. Listen to it on Spotify here. or listen to the Christmas album by La Ibi in Spanish above.

Throw on Your Best Christmas Gear & Let’s Have a Party!

If you’ve been with us for any amount of time, you will have discovered that Sovereign Grace Santa Ana loves to throw a party. Instead of small groups this month, we are joining forces for one night for our annual Christmas Party.

Dress in your most festive attire, bring your favorite Christmas dish, and come ready to enjoy time together. We’ll enjoy watching a Christmas movie that you’ve no doubt seen 100 times and this year, will be hosting a gift exchange (a real one, not a White Elephant).

December 6th, 6:00pm at the Houlton Home

How You Can Come Prepared:

1. Bring The Christmas Dish That Best Represents A Traditional Family Christmas For You

2. Bring a Gift To Be Exchanged - Adults only. $5 maximum purchase price. Gift may be valued at more than $5 (something you already own), but between now and the party, you may not spend more than $5 buying something new. Gift will be randomly exchanged.

3. Bring yourself decked out in your most festive Christmas attire - this is entirely up for interpretation. We’re hoping to be surprised and delighted :)

Please RSVP here and let us know how many are coming.

Weekly Meetings Are Cancelled for December

In the world of agriculture, soil must remain “fallow” once every few years to maintain its fertility for years to come. To lie fallow is to lie unplowed and unplanted for a time in order for nutrients to be restored. In the month of December, we are letting our church calendar lie fallow. Why? Not so that you can pull away from the life of the church, but instead to press into natural and more intimate opportunities to relate to your church family and neighbors. The holiday season is notoriously one of the busiest times of the year. We want to help you to take advantage of the few free moments you have to spend unhurried, unscheduled time with one another and with family for the grand purpose of allowing your heart to be re-fertilized by the work of Christ, fellowship with the saints and companionship with unbelieving neighbors.

What’s Not Cancelled?

• Regular Sunday Services

• Christmas Party on December 6 (Houlton Home. 6:00pm. Please RSVP to office@sovgracesantaana.org)

• Christmas Eve Service (Heninger Elementary. 5:30pm)

If you ever have any questions about church events, you can look to our church calendar, which is always updated to reflect changes to meetings or events.

Subscribe to the church calendar here.

“Always Winter, But Never Christmas”

Yes, Thanksgiving is this week, but this past Sunday, we launched into our 2019 Christmas series. Last year, we met 4 very ordinary members of the “cast of Christmas” through whom God did extraordinary things. This year, we met 5 more members through whom God satisfies our longing. This theme should feel particularly poignant to use after spending months examining the prophets - if the prophets leave us with anything it’s a sense of longing for someone to come and break our cycle of sin - for God to send His promised Messiah. In the first message of the series, we met Gabriel, whom God sent to herald the coming of spring upon a land and a people that had endured a self-imposed long, cold harsh and “Christmas-less” winter”.

Listen to the sermon here.

Longing Satisfied

The Old Testament prophets have taught us to long for a cycle-breaker; to long for a salvation, a relief, a comfort, a rescue that neither we nor the Old testament people of God could provide for themselves. Christmas is the story of the coming of God’s promised Messiah. Christmas is the story of how God unexpectedly - and marvelously - satisfies that longing. This Christmas, we’ll be examining 5 more characters in the cast of Christmas who all teach us how Christmas is a season of the satisfaction of our longing:

Gabriel - A longing for the “fullness of time” satisfied

Herod - A longing for the end of an old and weary era satisfied

The Magi - A longing for the broadening of God’s redemptive plan satisfied

Simeon - A longing for the comfort of God satisfied

Jesus - A longing for the Messiah Himself satisfied

We look forward to spending this Christmas season with you.

The Holidays are Right around the corner

Did you know that your Christmas/holiday Amazon purchases can now help fund our church in a small way? Simply click on this the link below and it will start donating .5% of your qualifying purchases to our General Fund. It doesn't cost you anything. You just designate our church, Sovereign Grace Church of Santa Ana and use smile.amazon.com.

If you have any questions or want to learn more, contact our admin assistant, Krista Alvarez.