Playing the Long Game

Month three of our 2022 evangelism campaign is behind us. We discussed hesitation last month. This month, let’s talk about how quickly we should expect to see results in our evangelism.

Nobody becomes a Christian overnight. Regeneration happens in an instant, but the road to regeneration is often long and winding. When we’re sharing the gospel with someone, we usually don’t know where they are on that road. That’s why personal evangelism requires patience and persistence.

Our evangelistic efforts need to include seeking to understand why they don’t believe. Have they thought long and hard about Christianity and found it to be intellectually improbable? Or have they not thought deeply about life, death, and what comes after? Have they been hurt by the church or Christians? What is their perception of Jesus and the church?

Here are some questions you might ask:

• What do you think about Jesus and Christianity?

• What do you believe happens to us when we die?

• Do you think something is fundamentally wrong with us? What is it?

• What do you think God is like (if you believe he exists)?

Exploring these questions will communicate care to them and help you better understand how they need to hear the gospel. Make no mistake, the only way to be saved is to see their sin and then turn to the Savior. But there are many ways to help them do that. We’re playing the long game — asking, teaching, and inviting — as long as it takes to help them know Christ.

Next Steps

1. Decide who your “one” is for April and prepare to share about them with your small group. If you didn’t share the gospel with your “one” from last month, feel free to pick them and try again this month!

2. Think through the barriers to belief in Jesus your “one” has. Share them with your small group and ask them to help you brainstorm how to approach them.

3. Review the “Who’s Your One?” webpage and make use of the recommended resources at the bottom.

May God give us both love and wisdom as we share the good news of Jesus this month.

Our Monthly Picnic in the Plaza This Sunday!

Grab your lunch and a lawn chair and enjoy a meal with us in the center of our beautiful city. Picnic in the Plaza is an opportunity to show our city how good it is to be part of Sovereign Grace Church.

Directly after our Sunday service we do lunch together right in Plaza Square Park. Pack a lunch, grab lunch from an eatery in town, or take advantage of our famous Buck-O-Slice pizza. Let’s enjoy lunch and fellowship for the glory of God and the good of our neighbors.

We Give Because Christ Gave Himself For Us

Jesus invites us to greater joy by inviting us to greater giving. As we lose our lives for His sake, we find them. Our church testifies to this reality. We give not just of our money, but we share our time, our homes, our talents, our very lives.

Giving on Sundays

Since moving back indoors, we’re now able to receive an offering as part of our service. We do this because it’s an act of worship, one that we all do together. We encourage you to consider giving regularly on Sunday mornings. It’s a helpful practice and encourages your brothers and sisters.

However, do what works best for you. Online giving is always an option.

Thank you for your generosity. Our church is thriving because of the many ways you give.

New Member Sunday

On Sunday we welcomed new members into our church body. Craig and Micki were two of the people joining and they shared a brief testimony of how God knit them into our congregation. Take a few minutes to read their testimony below and thank God for the good work He’s doing through you.

Good morning church family! We are Craig and Micki. We have been married 52 years and have three wonderful adult daughters, Gina, Ellen, and Una. Through them, we have seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Our first service at Sovereign Grace Church of Orange was on Christmas Eve 2020. Our daughter and son-in-law, Steve and Gina, started attending and told us they had decided to become regular attendees. Since we moved from La Quinta, we attended church with Gina and Ellen, and their families, which blessed us greatly. While we were thankful to move, we greatly missed our Palm Desert church. Sovereign Grace so well filled the void we were feeling, that from our perspective, God moved us home. Not only are we worshiping with our biological family, which we love, but we are part of the family of this church.

God first used Pastor Mike and Lois to make us feel so welcomed every Sunday. We also immediately appreciated the solid biblical teaching by Eric, Dustin, Mike, and even when our pastoral resident, Andrew came, and filled the pulpit. We felt each one had carefully handled God’s Word so well. We have been especially thankful for the most recent teaching on the Sovereign Grace Statement of Faith.

Soon after our first visit, we became members of Roger and Alice’s not-so-small group. We built friendships and love for those families, which continues today. God used Kirsi, to encourage Micki to be faithfully reading God’s Word, something she has struggled to do since becoming a Christian.

God used Rebecca and Chris along with Wendy and Chris to help us meet many friends at their “Senior Moments” get-togethers. Every time we get together, we laugh, and have so much fun.

As time went on and the Servin’s amazing group continued to grow, we felt God moving us to Bob and Diane’s small group. We have enjoyed sweet fellowship and prayer. We saw God move in the lives of our group members this past Christmas and on through January and February, as we went through the loss of two of Micki’s cousins. With each loss, God used our small group to pray for us and the surviving family members. Both small groups have encouraged our hearts and through every transition, we have felt the Lord’s hand at work in our lives.

To put our reason for joining the church in a nutshell, we love being part of God’s family, and feel at home here at Sovereign Grace Church of Orange.

Trinity Fellowship Church is a Sovereign Grace Church planted by Michael Granger, his family and a small team in Addis Ababa. They started the Ethiopian Pastors College not long after. SGC’s first quarter mission video for 2022 shares a bit about that story. We’re grateful to God for the many ways He has been good to this church. The video tells a story of partnership, answered prayer, and the gospel going forward in the nations. It’s a story that speaks to our passion for advancing the gospel together through the ministry of our local churches.

You can watch the video here.

That You May Be Certain

On Sunday Pastor Eric begin our series in the book of Acts by preaching from Acts 1:1-5. He showed us that this book was written to give Christians certainty about the things we’ve been taught. Jesus died, Jesus rose, Jesus reigns, and Jesus will return. Until then, He fills us with His Spirit and sends us to every corner of the globe to spread the gospel and make disciples. These things are true.

Listen to the sermon.

Adults and Kids!

On Easter Sunday this year we’re adding two choirs into the mix. The adult choir will be part of our band and sing throughout the service. We’ll bring the kids up for one special song.

Singers of all skill levels are welcome to join! The age range for the children’s choir is 3 to 10 years old.

More details are forthcoming. Right now we just need to know if you’re interested. So sign yourself and your children up using the form below.

Take me to the sign-up form.

“I look upon prayer-meetings as the most profitable exercises in which Christians can engage. They have a direct tendency to kill a worldly, trifling spirit, and to draw down a Divine blessing upon all our concerns.”
John Newton

Our monthly prayer meeting is on the 4th Tuesday of every month. Unite your heart and your voice with ours as we seek God together!

Our next one is this coming Tuesday 3/22/22 at 7:00pm in Old Towne Orange. We’re asking everyone who can be there to be there. Bring a lawn chair, a coat, and a heart ready to meet with the Lord.

All the details are here.