Last week was our first Summer School class. A big thanks to the brothers and sisters from both churches who attended on Zoom. Your participation glorifies God and strengthens the church.

The topic we covered was “Church and State: Deciding When to Submit or Rebel.” We have three suggestions for those of you who’d like to study the topic further:

(1) R.C. Sproul’s Lecture series on Church and State.

(2) “Should Churches in California Defy Government Restrictions? A response to John MacArthur” by Gavin Ortlund

(3) “Covid, Christians, and the Civil Magistrate” by Keith Mathison. It’s a 20-minute read but worth every minute. Here are a few highlights:

“God does not pit obedience to Himself against obedience to civil magistrates. We are most certainly to obey God, but as Romans 13 indicates, one of the ways we obey God is to obey those God Himself has sovereignly and providentially put in authority over us. This includes civil magistrates. Even those we don't like.”

“The various civil magistrates at the federal, state, and local levels have to make difficult decisions. Can they wait until there is a worldwide consensus on the seriousness of the virus in every circumstance? No…One of the legitimate tasks of the civil magistrate is to protect the lives of citizens. In the midst of a storm of conflicting and ever-changing information, they have to attempt to protect lives when they believe there is a legitimate threat.”

“I have no idea whether face masks are an effective means of slowing the spread of this virus, but if the biblical principles summarized above are true, it matters little because the mandate to wear them in public indoor places for the time being is not contradicting any command of God. Does it infringe on my ability to do what I want to do when I want to do it? Perhaps, but autonomously doing what I want to do when I want to do it is not an axiom of biblical ethics.”

“If Christians disagree, should they simply ignore these mandates? Given what Romans 13 and other texts clearly say, a Christian needs to ask whether he is 100% certain that what the civil magistrate is requiring is the principled equivalent to bowing to a statue of Nebuchadnezzar before disobeying the magistrate. According to Romans 13:2, God takes very seriously resistance to the authorities He has placed over us: ‘those who resist will incur judgment.’ We cannot take that lightly.”

“I don’t think anyone is being asked to deny Christ yet or not preach the Gospel. If that happens, then Acts 5 does come into play, and you absolutely have to obey God. What we are being asked to do right now is more akin to what churches have been asked to do for a time in past pandemics (e.g. the Black Plague, the Spanish Flu, etc.) and what churches have been asked to do for a time during war in some places. In other words, we are being asked to put up with temporary inconveniences. That requires patience.”

Join us for our next Summer School class on Tuesday 8/11 when we cover “Politics: Matters of Wisdom, Conscience, and Love.” We will send out the Zoom link via email. Contact the church office if you think you are not in our directory.

TELL US HOW OUR CHURCH CAN BETTER REFLECT THE TIMELESS TRAITS OF THE CHURCH

As we progress through the book of Acts throughout this coming year, our aim is as a church to be further conformed to reflect the timeless traits of the Church. Since you, the members of the local church, are the local church, we want you to participate. This involves you.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

As you listen to sermons and study the book of Acts and the Lord makes you aware of ways in which you as a member, or we as a church can grow, we’d encourage you to share your feedback. To make it easy for you, we’ve created a feedback form on our website. How can our ministries better reflect our mission? How can the Gospel be more centered in the life and message of our church? Are there opportunities for further biblical discipleship within our walls? If you have answers to these questions and others like them over this next year, fill out a form and let us know.

FILL OUT A FEEDBACK FORM HERE.

This past Sunday, Jeff Schlieder preached from Acts 1:1-11 regarding a momentous event in the history of the world - when just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave His followers their “marching orders” until He returns. His essential instruction? To proclaim a message as far as the ends of the earth. Further, He promised to supply the needed power for that proclamation - the Holy Spirit. This message serves as a foundation for the rest of the book of Acts and much of our lives as Christians. Listen to it to learn more.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

Omar And Sandi Are Getting Married Sunday!

This Sunday, (8/2) two of our dear friends, Omar and Sandi are going to be joined in holy matrimony. Spend time this week praying over them as they prepare for the wedding and prepare to be married. If you’re able, consider offering your help to them as they make final preparations for their wedding.

LET’S CONTINUE TO BE A CHURCH THAT PRAYS

Keep sending us your prayer requests. We’ll keep sharing them (annomously) and share other guidelines for how you can be praying during the week. It’s important to know how to pray for one another and to ask the Lord to guide us, sustain us and encourage us each individually in this season.

1. Pray for those who are currently experiencing joblessness or decreased wages. Consider how God might be positioning you to mercifully come alongside them.

2. Pray for those who are experiencing illness or physical pain at the moment.

3. Pray for Omar and Sandi as they prepare to become husband and wife on Sunday.

4. Pray for the Lord to conform our local church to the timeless traits of the Church through our series in Acts

5. Pray that the Lord would bear fruit through our outreach efforts to our neighbors in French Park and give us opportunities to love them and spread the joy of Jesus to them.

6. Pray for the efforts of individuals in our church who are ministering to, serving and sharing the Gospel with neighbors, coworkers, friends and family.

7. Pray for continued wisdom on the part of SGSA leaders as we continually seek to pivot in line with God’s will.

8. Pray for parents and children as they prepare for the beginning of a remote school year.

9. Pray for God to bear Gospel fruit through other churches ministering in our neighborhood and city.

10. Pray for all those in positions of authority - don’t forget to pray for the members of Congress, the President, our mayor, our city council, our governor and others.

11. Pray for the requests of individuals who have shared them on our church Slack prayer channel. If you have questions about how to be added to this, email office@sovgracesantaana.org

    KEEP SENDING PRAYER REQUESTS TO PRAYERS@SOVGRACESANTAANA.ORG.

JULY 27TH-AUGUST 2ND

Every Tuesday we will be publishing a blog to share what is going in the life of the church for that week! We hope that this serves you and helps to keep you updated.

TUESDAY, JULY 28: SUMMER SCHOOL CLASS: CHURCH AND STATE - DECIDING WHEN TO OBEY OR REBEL

• 7:30pm, Zoom Link will sent via email. If you aren’t sure if you are in our church directory, contact us here.

FRIDAY, JULY 31: NO SMALL GROUP (5th FRIDAY)

• Have a safe and socially-distanced dinner with a family in the church or shoot Omar and Sandi a message congratulating them on their upcoming wedding or ask them if there’s any way you can help them get ready for Sunday.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2: SERVICE AT 10:00AM AT THE EBELL CLUB

• Meeting Room - Outdoor Courtyard

WE WANT OUR LOCAL CHURCH TO REFLECT THE TIMELESS TRAITS OF THE CHURCH

As we introduced the book of Acts Sunday, we were advised that over this next year, we may feel uncomfortable at times - uncomfortable at seeing differences between what God intended for the local church and what we see in our local church. In Acts, we may see a people fervently praying in response to even the most minor crisis and see, in contrast, something different in our life together.

YOU’RE A PART OF IT - WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Our encouragement to you is to lean into that discomfort. Where that discomfort exists are the places where we have room to grow. And we want to hear about ways that you think our local church can better reflect the timeless traits of the church. Here are some questions to ask to guide you toward playing your part in the process as we embark on our journey through the book of Acts:

1. In what ways can our gathered worship, leadership, outreach and discipleship better reflect the timeless traits of the church?

2. What fruit do you see the message of the Gospel producing in Acts that you don’t see in and through our local church?

3. Does our church in any way place the Gospel less at the center of our message and ministry than the early Apostles and disciples did in the book of Acts?

4. Are there ways that the early Church depended on the power of the Holy Spirit that are not necessarily reflected in our life together?

When you have some feedback or when you’d like to talk about how we, as a church, can get closer to what God has called us to be together, email kyle@sovgracesantaana.org.

CHURCH AND STATE: DECIDING WHEN TO SUBMIT OR REBEL

Our first Summer Sunday School class is tonight at 7:30pm. You should have received an email with the Zoom Link and call details. If you did not receive it, you can send us an email now to get the info in time for the call tonight!

ACTS GIVES US THE TIMELESS TRAITS OF THE CHURCH

“If Jesus were here today, He would _________”. How many times have you heard someone say something like this? When we say things like this, it reflects that in order to know how Christians should live, what the Church should be or what the Church should do, the only option we have is to speculate at what Jesus would say or do if He were with us today.

But the point of the book of Acts is that Jesus was on earth, He gave His Church a specific mission, built His Church through His Spirit in a specific way and, as an eternally living Savior, has never told us to do Church differently. We don’t have to guess at what the Church is or should be doing. We have the book of Acts. Listen to last Sunday’s introduction to Acts to learn more.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

CLASS IS IN SESSION

We’ve planned a series of online classes to answer pressing questions:

When should we engage in civil disobedience?
What does the bible say about racial reconciliation and gender identity?
What should I do when I disagree with other Christians about important political issues?

It’s time for Summer School. Come hear the pastors engage with the bible on these topics. Bring your questions.

The titles for each class are below.

JULY 28
CHURCH AND STATE: DECIDING WHEN TO SUBMIT OR REBEL.

AUGUST 11
POLITICS: MATTERS OF WISDOM, CONSCIENCE, AND LOVE.

AUGUST 25
CRITICAL THEORY: RECOGNIZING AN UNFAMILIAR WORLD VIEW.

We’re teaming up with Sovereign Grace Church of Orange. All church members and regular attenders from both churches are welcome. There’s no registration or homework. We’ll send the Zoom link out to our church directories beforehand.

Contact the church office with your questions or if you aren’t sure you’re in our directory.