On Sunday Pastor Eric preached the opening verses of the story of the great flood from Genesis 6:9-22. He reminded us of this sobering truth: nobody can escape the consequences of their sin unless they get in the boat. The flood reminds us that God sees every sin and injustice, God judges everything sin touches, and God saves those who trust in His mercy.
On Sunday, church member Israel Carbajal preached his first sermon from 2 Corinthians 4:7-18. He reminded us that God has put the precious treasure of the gospel into weak vessels: us. We need not fear our frailty because God is our strength.
On Sunday church intern Dylan Sohie preached from 1 Corinthians 11:1. He reminded us that the Christian life is a life of imitation. Originality is overrated. We want our lives to inspire others to love and serve Jesus.
On Sunday, Pastor Eric reminded us that our greatest enemies are those we fail to recognize. We are influenced by what we listen to, what we sing, and what we read. Are those things Christian or are we being subtly led astray by our enemy? We need to be discerning. Discernment is a crucial skill in order for us to more fully live in the good of the gospel.
Pastor Eric preached from Romans 15:14-33 this past Sunday. He reminded us that affirming the grace of God in one another brings God much glory. When we look at each other, we see what God sees: His Son. The things Jesus has called us to do, we do together. The gospel has bound us to one another.
On Sunday Kyle Houlton, our Santa Ana church planter, preached on John 1:35-51. He asked us to remember what made us decide to devote our lives to Jesus. He provided four glimpses of the glory of Jesus that make Him worthy of our allegiance.
On Sunday Pastor Eric preached from Romans 14:13-23. He reminded us that Jesus has made us free. We are free to do all kinds of things that bring us joy and please Him. But our freedoms can hurt our brothers and sisters. When they do, we are free to love them by restricting ourselves. We no longer ask, "What can I get away with?" We ask, "How can I glorify God while doing good to those for whom Christ died?"
This past Sunday we welcomed new members. Two of them, Wes and Natalie, shared about their experience joining our church. Here it is in their own words:
Wes: We’re so blessed to be up here today before you; and excited, we’ve honestly been looking forward to this for a while. It’s already been such a gift being a part of this fellowship for some time, so it really means a lot to us that we can now be official members.
We moved to Orange last June from Huntington Beach. I work in Orange as well, as a project manager for a construction company. Natalie has battled some chronic illnesses over the years, so she’s busy being an awesome wife and taking care of herself. We moved to Orange mainly to find a bigger place to hopefully grow a family someday, and it made sense both for my work and that it’s about halfway between our parents.
I stumbled on Sovereign Grace Music sometime back and I ended up looking the ministry up, because I’m like that, and saw that there was a church in Orange. So when we were moving, it was definitely one of our top choices to check out. We came here on the first Sunday after we moved, although that wasn’t totally the plan. That morning we started out for another church since it was closer, and we were probably running behind. We prayed on the short drive that God would guide us that day. And as we pulled into the parking lot of this other church, it seemed kind of like a ghost town. There was like one car in the parking lot and not a soul in sight. Not to fault that church at all, but we felt a little strange. It was around 10:25 or so, and we decided, “Let’s go to Sovereign Grace instead; we can make it.”
Natalie: We had written in a journal of mine some time back that we were praying for a church family. We’ve gone to a few other churches before, but nothing has ever felt like home quite like Sovereign Grace. The second Sunday we came, we met Holly and Grant, sat down, and not long after Grant was tapping on my shoulder, inviting us to lunch. It was so refreshing, not only having people introduce themselves to us, but genuinely want to welcome us and get to know us. We met Eric soon after, plenty of others, and really felt like we were part of a family from day one. Not to mention the teaching and music; it’s just been a huge blessing to be a part of this body. Thanks to all of you for your kindness, authenticity, and your example of faith. We look forward to getting to know all of you more and living this life with you.