DECEMBER 24TH AT 5PM

We’re excited to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with a traditional candlelight service. We'll sing classic carols, read the nativity story, and hear good news of great joy.

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY

All are welcome to join us for this special moment as we rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Invite whoever you’re spending Christmas with to come along as we share in the joy that Jesus was born to bring! You can find a copy of our digital flyer here that you can text, email, or share on social media to invite your family, friends and neighbors to our service.

SING THE SAVIOR’S BIRTH

There are two special events coming up that involve the music ministry of our church. Consider lending your voice to the celebration!

1. Christmas Eve Service - on Christmas Eve, we’ll have a single guitarist and a choir. All voices are welcome. If you’d like to join in, please contact Pastor Kyle.

2. Carols in the Park - On December 15, we’ll be singing carols in French Park. It’ll be less formal than our Christmas Eve choir. The playlist will include a mix of classic hymns, seasonal favorites, and some fun ones for the kids. It’s the more the merrier for all who want to spread Christmas cheer by singing loud for our neighbors to hear! If you’d like to participate, please sign up here and plan on arriving at 5:50pm the day of the event.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

It’s the best time of year! What better way to celebrate the birth of Christ than by singing loud for all to hear. 

On 12/15 at 6pm, we’ll gather together in the heart of French Park to sing carols, spread Christmas cheer, and invite our neighbors to celebrate with us. We’ll serve up some hot chocolate, enjoy sweet treats, and extend an invitation for our neighbors to join us at church on Christmas Eve.

Here’s how you can get involved:

1. Invite Santa Ana neighbors, family, and friends to an evening Christmas festivities! We’ve got songs to sing, cookies to eat, and the joys of the season to share with them! You can share the digital invite linked here.

2. Along with extending an invitation, consider ways you’d like to get involved, either with setup, being part of the choir, or bringing a batch of cookies. SIGN UP HERE.

PLEASE SEE: POST-CAROLS CHANGE OF PLANS

We’ve made the decision to cancel our previously planned Christmas party that was set to take place right after caroling. The holiday season is filled with many good things, but it sure is a busy time! We’re moving to take an item off the schedule this time around. But by no means is this meant to cut our celebration short! Instead, it will allow us to linger in the park, continue conversations over hot cocoa, spend a few more unhurried moments together, and get home for a good night’s sleep as a new week kicks off.

IT’S GOING TO BE A GREAT SUNDAY

This Sunday we have the privilege of welcoming new members into our midst. These are people who have committed to participating in the life of the church and performing the “one anothers” of Scripture with this local body of Christ. They’re also individuals whom we, as a church, commit to do the same with and for. We praise God for building his church in Santa Ana.

Not only do we have this privilege, but right after the service we’ll stick around to reflect on all the Lord has done in the past 6 months and look forward where he’s taking us in 2025!

IMMEDIATELY AFTER SERVICE. MEMBERS REQUIRED, GUESTS INVITED

Every six months, we hold a brief members meeting after service which usually lasts about 30 minutes. This meeting is mandatory for all members, but guests are welcome as well. This meeting is a time to communicate what we wouldn’t communicate on a typical Sunday morning. We’ll look back on what God has graciously done in the last 6 months in our church and look forward to where we believe God is taking us as a church.

DECEMBER 2 - DECEMBER 8

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:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5: FRENCH PARK RUN CLUB

• 6:30am - French Park Grass Area

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8: NEW MEMBER SUNDAY & SUNDAY GATHERING AT THE EBELL CLUB

• 10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8: MEMBERS’ MEETING

• 12:00pm - Ebell Club

BAPTISM SUNDAY

This last Sunday, we had the joy of witnessing the baptism of Marley Muniz, Silas Houlton, Joctan Martinez, Jacob Zato, and Jose Meza. They confessed with their mouths what they’d believed in their hearts and proclaimed the saving work of Christ. What took place in their hearts was made visible before our eyes as they passed through the waters and emerged on the other side. Dying to sin. Being raised to new life. Signifying their sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All the promises of the gospel were sealed and confirmed in their hearts and minds as the Spirit worked through this ordinary means to bring them extraordinary grace. Decisively marking an end to the old life in sin. As well as the beginning of a new life, lived together with Christ’s people for the glory of Christ’s name, which has now begun and will carry on forever.

Check out the pictures and relive this celebration of new life in Christ. As you do, be encouraged that God the Father is still saving sinners through the finished work of the Son applied in the power of the Spirit. The lost are being found. Christ’s mission is advancing in our city. Baptism is proof that this is true.

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 let our church calendar lie fallow. We cancel small groups, men’s and women’s meetings, and any other mid-week activities. 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 refreshed by the work of Christ, fellowship with the saints, and cultivating friendships with unbelieving neighbors.

WHAT’S NOT CANCELLED?

• Regular Sunday Services

• Run Club - a great opportunity to build and enjoy relationships with fellow church members and Santa Ana neighbors

• Carols in the Park, followed by an all-church Christmas Party on Sunday, 12/15 (watch the blog for more details)

• Christmas Eve Candlelight Service (Ebell Club at 5:00PM)

If you have any questions about church events, check out the church calendar. It’s kept up to date to reflect changes to meetings or events.

Subscribe to the church calendar here.

JAMES 2:1-13

God is after a people who demonstrate their obedience by the way they treat his people. One evidence that we're "doers of the word, and not hearers only" is how we treat those in need. If we help those who cannot help themselves. Our willingness to love our neighbor regardless of what he or she can do for us. James challenges us to “show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” (2:1). Why does he need to tell us this? Because we’re prone play favorites, be taken in by outward impressiveness, gravitate to those who are most like us, and invest in relationships we can get something out of. But how did the Lord of glory treat us? He had nothing to gain by choosing us, but he did so anyway. He was rich, but became poor for our sake. He saw us dressed in the “shabby clothing” of our sin, gave us his righteous robes, and offered us a seat at his table. We've been saved by Christ's sacrificial love for neighbors who couldn't do anything to help themselves. He gave himself for our everlasting good, so that we would give ourselves for the good of those around us - no matter who they are.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

CELEBRATE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST

This Sunday, we have the privilege of witnessing men and women publicly identify with Jesus Christ as they profess their faith in his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection. They’ll do this through their baptism. That sacrament and means of grace through which we confess with our mouths what we’ve believed in our hearts. Demonstrating outwardly what was true of us inwardly from the moment we believed. Signifying our union with Jesus in his dying and rising. Marking the end of our old life in sin and commemorating our entrance into a new life with Christ and his people - which carries on forever.

BAPTISM IMMEDIATELY AFTER SERVICE THIS SUNDAY AT THE CUNNINGHAM HOME

Join us at the Cunningham home immediately after church this Sunday (12/1) to celebrate the baptism of new believers and have a hot dog lunch. If you’re interested in being baptized or have questions about baptism, please contact one of our pastors.

THE SEASON OF ADVENT STARTS THIS SUNDAY

This Sunday marks the start of the Advent season! A season that celebrates the “advent” or “coming” of Christ into the world. Looking backward to that time when “the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation” to us through the virgin birth, perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. Looking forward to “our blessed hope” when he returns again to bring his people into the fullness of all he’s accomplished for them. Over the next 4 Sundays, we’ll remember and anticipate as we worship the One who came from heaven to earth and is coming back to usher in a new heavens and earth.

A WEARY WORLD REJOICES

Get ready to celebrate the Savior as we sing well-loved songs, enjoy a season of rest and festivity, enjoy events like Carols in the Park, and top it all off with a traditional candlelight Christmas Eve service.

As we prepare our hearts to enter into this time which is so full of so many wonderful things, would we prioritize the most wonderful of them all: Jesus Christ who was born for us. Prioritize the Christ of Christmas this season and prepare your heart to celebrate his birth by:

• Studying the birth of Christ - As an individual or a family. Open up God’s word, study the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth, and walk through a Christmas devotional as you count down the days to Christmas, light candles around an Advent wreath, and fix your hearts and minds on Christ. Here are a few suggested resources:

  • Children
    Prepare Him Room by Marty Machowski
    Promises Made Promises Kept by Marty Machowski

  • Adult Devotionals
    The Dawn of Redeeming Grace: Daily Devotions for Advent by Sinclair Ferguson
    God With Us: Reflections on the Incarnation by Charles Spurgeon

    Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus by Nancy Guthrie

    A Weary World Rejoices by Melissa Kruger

    Come, Let Us Adore Him: A Daily Advent Devotional by Paul David Tripp

• Singing the birth of Christ - Not just on Sunday mornings, but throughout the entire season! Fill your mind and heart with songs that celebrate the coming of Christ and sharpen your affections for him. Add the following to your Christmas mix:

  • Heaven Has Come by Sovereign Grace Music

  • Prepare Him Room by Sovereign Grace Music

• Spending time with brothers and sisters in Christ - This Christmas season, prioritize Christ by prioritizing his people. Take advantage of our December “Fallow Month” by prioritizing fellowship with one another in the church. Use the times during the week we’d normally meet as a church to: participate in seasonal festivities in DTSA, have a game night, host another family for dinner, or do whatever you enjoy with other members in the church.

• Sharing the good news of the birth of Christ - Make your joy in Christ more full by sharing it with others. Pray for opportunities to share the good news of Christ’s birth with those in your life who have yet to receive him this Christmas season. Plan on inviting your friends, families, and neighbors to our Candlelight Christmas Eve Service at 5pm on 12/24.

HIS POW’R AND GLORY EVERMORE PROCLAIM

We can’t make too big a deal of what’s bound up in our Advent celebration. We can’t exhaust the riches of God’s grace in giving us his Son. We can’t plumb the depth of the wonder that heaven came down for sinners like us. We agree with the words of Charles Spurgeon and carry them into our time of celebration:

“It is an astonishing thing that there should have been a Christ at all: the Incarnation is the miracle of miracles; that he who is Infinite should become an infant, that he who made the worlds should be wrapt in swaddling bands, remains a fact out of which, as from a hive, new wonders continually fly forth.”