Every second Thursday of the month, the men of our church gather together to sit under God’s word and spur on each other’s walk with Christ. All guys, 15 years and older, are invited to participate in a conversation where "men talk like men" about God. Join in at the 4th Street Market patio at 7:00 pm.
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:
6:30am - French Park Grass Area
7:00pm - Fourth Street Market Patio
10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
From Dave Taylor, our Director of Global Missions in Sovereign Grace Churches:
Psalm 121.1-2 says, ‘I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.'
As we pray, that’s who's listening and that’s who we get to come to! The LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. The One who will not let our foot be moved, who is our shade at our right hand, and who neither slumbers nor sleeps. The LORD is the One who will help us and so as we pray, what a privilege and what an opportunity it really is!!
With that in mind then, here are some ways that you can be praying for all things Global Missions in the month ahead…
Please pray for the five churches in Pakistan that have recently become Sovereign Grace ‘Candidate’ Churches. After many years of friendship, we’re so pleased by this development. Please be praying for these churches, all ‘Amazing Grace Churches’, along with their six pastors who are beginning the ordination process this month.
Please be praying for Bob Kauflin as he heads over to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to serve at our Ethiopia Pastors College (Trinity Fellowship Pastors College), February 6th-11th. During his time there Bob will be teaching on the practical theology of worship, as well as leading a night of worship at Trinity Fellowship and running a songwriters intensive. Please also pray for the brothers who will be heading over from our Church in Zambia for this special time for our African Churches.
Please pray for the Sovereign Grace Leadership Team as we lead a retreat, February 5th-7th, that will include all of the US Regional Leaders. Asking God to freshly envision, strengthen, and equip these leaders for the important role that they play. They are such a fine group of men.
Please pray for David Del Castillo, Pastor of Gracia Soberana Iglesia Cristiana in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, as he prepares to lead their very first Church Retreat, February 11th-13th. Their guest preacher for the time is Jacobis Aldana, one of our Pastors in Colombia, and the topic is ‘The Centrality of the Gospel’. Please pray that God meets with this dear Church in a powerful way at this retreat, through worship, preaching, and much fellowship.
Please pray for Bob Kauflin, Jeffrey Jo, Myself (Dave Taylor), and the Sovereign Grace Music Team as we put the final preparations in place ready to lead three events in Manila Philippines in March. With over 3000 people already registered across these three events, please be praying for our remaining preparation.
Please pray that wherever we find ourselves in the world, that God would give the members of Sovereign Grace Churches a renewed desire, and opportunities to share the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ with the unbelievers in our communities, colleges and workplaces. The gospel is powerful, and so may we tell of it, and then watch and see all that the Lord may do.
… Thank you so much. May His great and glorious grace abound to us all!
At this juncture of the household code, the ancient and contemporary household composition contrasts sharply. The immediate context of Paul’s words here and the gospel-shaped principles for exercising and experiencing authority, are set in the relationship between slaves and their masters. Before we make the jump to apply them to our modern workplace, we need to grasp the situation into which these words were initially spoken. But far beyond a history lesson, or even an intellectual wrestling with what the Bible has to say about the institution of slavery, the reality that Paul is aiming at in this passage is simultaneously timeless as well as the very thing that has spurred on the abolition of slavery in time. This is the reality of the gospel which teaches us that every Christian is a slave to Christ. Being reconciled to him, we experience a reconciliation to one another which eroded the system of slavery from the bottom up. Being reconciled to him, we’re freed from our slavery to sin and self and get to serve a Master who is committed to the good of those who are his. There’s no one like Jesus and there’s no better life than one lived for him.
Identifying and equipping new leaders is always a high priority for the health of our church, fruitfulness in our life together, and the future of our gospel mission. For this reason, we’re eager to host our first-ever Leadership Development Cohort! Why should you sign-up? Because, in one way or another, we all have the experience of leading and being led. It’s our desire that God’s word would shape our expectations, expression, and reception of leadership wherever we encounter it in life - and especially within our church.
Who is it for?
Anybody aspiring to leadership.
Men with a sense of calling to the office of elder.
Men who may be positioned as small group leaders.
Men and women who may want to serve in the office of deacon.
Anybody who wants to know what the Bible says about growing into a Christ-honoring leader and become more effective in offering biblical counsel and encouraging the church.
How will it run?
We’ll read The Cross and Christian Ministry by D. A. Carson, learn how to articulate theological concepts and ideas, and become equipped to offer biblical counsel to one another. Each session will be a mixture of biblical teaching, group discussion, and evaluation of course assignments.
Once a month, we’ll meet on a Saturday from 7am-9am. Dates subject to vary to ensure max attendance.
Sessions will take place at the Cunningham home. Light snacks and coffee will be provided.
All participants will need to purchase their own copy of the Carson book. Scholarships are available upon request.
Every 1st & 3rd Friday of the month at 7pm, three different groups meet throughout our city to share in the joy of Jesus, encourage one another, and apply the gospel to each other’s lives. Outside of Sunday mornings, small groups are the most important moment in the life of our church. Make it a priority to attend one this Friday.
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:
6:30am - French Park Grass Area
7:00pm - Houlton, Roenicke, and Erkelens Home
7:00am - Cunningham Home
10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
This past Sunday, our church observed Sanctity of Life Sunday. A day that President Reagan established in January of 1984 - corresponding to the date that Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 - to memorialize and commemorate the countless unborn lives that have been lost to abortion in our nation - a number that, since 1973, exceeds 62 million. All these years later, even with Roe now overturned, this issue still matters and there’s still much work to be done in the cause of protecting life.
But ultimately, the reason we mark this date is not merely political, it’s theological. It’s because we believe that every human being, from conception to death, is an image bearer of God, deserving of dignity and the equal protection of the laws of the land, and a neighbor that we’ve been called to love. We don’t proclaim the sanctity of all human life because the president issued a proclamation in the 80’s, but because God has issued a proclamation in his holy word (see Gen 1:26-27, 5:1-2, 9:1-7; Ps 139:13-16). God’s own proclamation of the inherent dignity and value of all human life is summed up in our Statement of Faith, section 4, paragraph 2, “Man’s Creation in God’s Image”:
God created man, male and female, in his own image as the crown of creation and the object of his special care. God directly created Adam from the dust of the earth, and Eve from Adam’s side, as the parents of the entire human race. They were created to know and glorify their Maker by trusting in his goodness and obeying his word. God gave them dominion over all creation, to fill, subdue, and steward the earth as his representatives. All human beings are likewise made in the image of God. Despite the effects of the fall on sinful humanity, all people remain God’s image bearers, capable of fellowship with him and possessing intrinsic dignity and value at every stage of life from conception to death. Redemption in Christ progressively restores fallen men and women to their true humanity as they are conformed to the image of Christ.
As image-bearers of God who have been remade in the image of Christ, we have a calling from God to promote and protect the sanctity of all human life. We encourage you to join us in the following ways:
Praying that God would:
Protect the unborn in our country by changing the hearts of men and women participating in abortions, changing unjust laws that promote abortion, & passing legislation which protects the right to life
Pour out his mercy and grace upon those who have participated in abortions and provide them with his forgiveness in Christ
Provide his people with a zeal to proclaim the the intrinsic dignity and value of every person at every stage of life
Learning more about Sanctity of Life Sunday.
Getting involved with our local crisis pregnancy center, Living Well Pregnancy Centers. At the table this past Sunday, Angie shared 2 immediate ways we could get involved:
Baby Bottle Drive: If you took a baby bottle home, ask your friends and family to help you fill up the bottle with coins, cash or checks and return the filled bottles to church on Sunday, February 18, 2024.
Walk for Life Fundraiser: Join our team and raise money as we walk for life on Saturday, March 2, 2024. If you’d like to join our team, contact us here.
We continue on in our journey through the "household code" in Ephesians. After describing how the realities of the gospel both shape and are reflected in marriage, Paul turns our attention to the fruit of marriage: children. The second pillar of the household code concerns how the gospel shapes our exercise of authority in parenting the children the Lord has given to us. With this, God's word gives us the timely reminder in our world today that children are not a burden to be avoided but a blessing to be received as a good gift of God to the glory of God. Would the Lord work through each of us - those yet to be parents, those in the thick of the parenting task, empty-nesters, and each and every member at Cross of Grace - to commend his mighty works to the next generation (Ps 145:4) and invest in the future members and leaders of Cross of Grace.
Identifying and equipping new leaders is always a high priority for the health of our church, fruitfulness in our life together, and the future of our gospel mission. For this reason, we’re eager to host our first-ever Leadership Development Cohort! Why should you sign-up? Because, in one way or another, we all have the experience of leading and being led. It’s our desire that God’s word would shape our expectations, expression, and reception of leadership wherever we encounter it in life - and especially within our church.
Who is it for?
Anybody aspiring to leadership.
Men with a sense of calling to the office of elder.
Men who may be positioned as small group leaders.
Men and women who may want to serve in the office of deacon.
Anybody who wants to know what the Bible says about growing into a Christ-honoring leader and become more effective in offering biblical counsel and encouraging the church.
How will it run?
We’ll read The Cross and Christian Ministry by D. A. Carson, learn how to articulate theological concepts and ideas, and become equipped to offer biblical counsel to one another. Each session will be a mixture of biblical teaching, group discussion, and evaluation of course assignments.
Once a month, we’ll meet on a Saturday from 7am-9am. Dates subject to vary to ensure max attendance.
Sessions will take place at the Cunningham home. Light snacks and coffee will be provided.
All participants will need to purchase their own copy of the Carson book. Scholarships are available upon request.
