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.
This past Sunday, pastor Ricky Alcantar shared 5 helpful steps to practically live out the mission God has called us to.
Your mission field is where you live and do life with those who don’t know Jesus. So the question is not “am I called to a mission field” but “how do I engage the mission field God has already given me?” Below are some examples of mission fields in our lives:
Your workplace
Your neighborhood,
Kid’s activity groups
The gym, and many more
We want to relate who we are to why we are. There are plenty of nice people in our world, but we want to connect the way we love and care for people to the love of Jesus. Below are some examples of how we can be known as Christians:
When asked about your week or weekend tell people about church or community group, befriending the friendless, not participating in gossip, speaking well of others behind their backs, comforting others in distress
Pray and ask God to reveal these people to you. What are some ways we can do this?
Get to know people, remember details about their lives and bring them up in future conversations, invite people to lunch and outings, and have longer conversations that are beyond news, weather, sports.
Notice this is not at the beginning of the list! Many times Christians delay in telling others about Jesus, but if we form relationships with people we can learn how to care and love them better. Below are ways this might play out:
Study the Bible: you never know how what you’ve read in your quiet time can impact someone. We need to know how to apply God’s word to others' need for the gospel.
Listen and learn to ask questions! This will help shape your care, prayers, and love towards others in a meaningful way.
As you form relationships, sin, and crisis will create a need in people’s lives that as a Christian friend you will be able to help them see their need for the gospel. People will turn to those who have shown an interest in them as a person. We want to be those Christians people turn to. You may see this in times of sickness, relationships/marriage/parenting, or personal crisis.
There are opportunities all around you every day to be a witness to the gospel. Let’s lean into what Jesus is doing in our city and join him on his mission to bring our neighbors from death to life through the message of the gospel.
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.
The City of Santa Ana is hosting their annual Fun Run, which includes a Kid Dash, 5K/10K Fun Run and Fit Festival. This is a great opportunity to grab some friends, and make some new friends while walking/running throughout Santa Ana. Registration is open and ongoing. The event takes place April 21st & 22nd.
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!
