We still want to serve our awesome SG Kids during this time of having no public physical gathering and so we have come up with a fun plan!

Firstly, we are still doing our memory verse, except we are going to do it as a church! 5 minutes before the service at 9:55am, Abigail Chavez, our Kids Ministry Intern, will take the whole church through this month’s memory verse! Prizes will be awarded for adults and kids!

Secondly, we are introducing a kids song into our normal worship time! So make sure you have your kids in during the singing!

Thirdly, Abigail is also putting together a video resource for the kids and families. It will take our kids through 4 sessions leading up into Easter. It will be designed so that you can sit down and watch the bible read, explained, and acted out in a fun, kid-oriented manner. There will also be craft resources sent out for you to print off and do with your kids. You can choose when and how you want to do this. It may work to do it on the Saturday, or on Sunday after the service. Please check your email on Sunday morning to get this SG Kids resource for Sunday

Finally, make sure you have a plan for how what you are going to do for your kids during the service, whether you want them in for the singing and sermon or just the songs. Each family is different: some will set up craft, some will set up a movie, others will keep them in. It’s up to you!

One of the ways that Scripture calls us to respond to trouble, like the COVID-19 pandemic, is to pray, knowing that God will answer our prayers. David writes in Psalm 20, “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion.” (Psalm 20.1-2). God is eager to send help when we ask him for it in prayer.

Just last week, Mark Prater (Executive Director of SG Churches) called all the Churches in the USA to a day of prayer. And now, one week one, I’m eager to do the same for us here in Australia, calling us to a day of prayer and fasting on Friday 27th March, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that we all face

Please join us in this if at all possible. Here’s a list of items that we can pray for:

• Ask God to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus throughout our world, and bring healing and comfort to those that do have the virus, and to their families.

• Ask God to protect and strengthen frontline healthcare workers, as they tend to the sick.

• As God to protect those who are especially vulnerable to the virus, that this sickness would pass over them and not infect them.

• Ask God to be near to all those who may have lost work in all this and who may be negatively impacted financially, and to provide for them.

• Ask God to give wisdom and strength to the Pastors of Sovereign Grace Churches, starting here in Australia, and then beyond, as we seek to make daily and weekly decisions relating to the many and varied aspects of Church life.

• Ask God to give wisdom and strength to the Leaders of our Countries as they seek to make good decisions for our health and well-being.

• Ask God to give us opportunities and courage to share the hope we have in the Gospel with unbelievers who are without hope and fearful.

• Ask the Prince of Peace to give us peace as we walk through this pandemic together, trusting in His sovereign rule and reign. For as John 14.27 tells us, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Don’t let your hearts be troubled or fearful.”

May we all keep looking up at this time. Forever His.

If you’d like more information on fasting, listen to Pastor Dave Taylor’s recent sermon here:

https://soundcloud.com/user-986589168/running-dependant?in=user-986589168/sets/the-race-of-our-lives

Until further notice we’ll be meeting online via Zoom. If you’d like to join us you can find all the information you need at www.sgparra.org.au/zoom

Here are some suggested books to read through with all your new spare time! No excuses now for any of us hey?! You could even start a book club with people from church and read it together and discuss via facetime.

• How Long O Lord - D.A. Carson

• Praying with Paul - D.A. Carson

• Running Scared - Ed Welch

• A Small Book For The Anxious Heart - Ed Welch

• Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering - Tim Keller

• Caring For One Another - Ed Welch

• The Wisdom of the Cross - Commentary on Job - Christopher Ash

• What’s Best Next - Matt Perman

• 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You - Tony Reinke

• Living the Cross Centred Life - CJ Mahaney (I have 24 copies of this book, $10 each, let me know if you want one!).

I am thinking of starting a book club via Zoom for anyone interested. If you are, let me know what book you are keen to read through.

What a weird joy it was to gather “online’ last Sunday! Thank you all for tuning in and worshipping together. For me, it underscored how important the physical gathering is. God made us with bodies for a reason. Yet, He has allowed the updates in technology so that we can still enjoy relationships, even when separated.

I wanted to take the time in the preaching to prepare our hearts for the suffering, trials, and hardships that are likely to come our way in the next 6 months and beyond.

My main idea was: “As we approach the seas of suffering we have firm biblical foundations to stand on to keep our head above water”

Points:

1. We need to understand the origin of suffering

2. We need to accept the reality of suffering

3. We have a Sovereign God to turn to amidst suffering

4. We have an opportunity during suffering

5. We have ultimate victory over suffering

Catch up by listening to it here.

If you’d like to read the manuscript you can here

Watch the Zoom here

With the recent and constant changes, it makes it hard to plan anything more than about 2 days out! So I am not going to give any grand plan or strategy for how we are going to organise and structure things just yet. I will need a bit more time and help to do that. But for this week:

• Starting Point will be on Zoom (I will send out a link)

• Ladies Growth Groups will be on Zoom (your GG leader will send out a link)

• Church will be on Zoom (same link as last week)

• We are coming up with a plan to help you do your own SG Kids on a Sunday!

• All other church based events are cancelled for the time being. Not that we have that many!

• I will start sending the newsletter twice a week now so that I can avoid sending multiple emails and give you updated information, especially for Sunday!

• Pastoral Care: I am here for you! If you need to chat, pray, talk, read, study, or just hang out. Let’s Zoom! I don’t want anyone to feel isolated or alone or uncared for in this time :) I am Zoom Pastor now!

Let’s keep up the communications, prayer requests, and support for each other via texts, calls, even letters!

Much love!

Thank you so much for those of you who have committed to giving to our 2020 Go Forward Fund, we have received indications of your giving from over half of the church and we are already at roughly $37,000! This is an outstanding expression of your love for the Saviour and your generous hearts! I cannot wait to start sending this money out!

If you haven’t yet given, you still can! The earlier the better but there is no official cut off date.

Fill in the form attached here and email it to me or to rp@sovgrace.org.au.

I have now launched our very own Resource Page which helps you to get connected to our best resources internally and externally. For example, you can find the ‘Mark Prayer Blog’ which gives you updates about SG Worldwide from the perspective of Mark our Executive Director. You can go to the ‘Ordinary Pastor Podcast’ and here from CJ Mahaney and Jeff Purswell about how we seek to pastor local SG Churches. You can find the ‘Sovereign Grace Music” website to access 30+ years of worship albums, kids albums, lyrics, blogs, resources, chord charts etc. from Bob Kauflin and the team. There is a list of a number of SG authors who have written books to serve you, and much more.I hope having this here blesses you and spurs you on in your faith!

We had a great morning rejoicing in God our Fortress and Rock (Psalm 62:5-8), reflecting on our certain hope (John 11), rehearsing the great Love of God evidenced to us in Christ (Ephesians 3:17-19), and receiving a hard word from Ephesians 5:3-14. The main point: As children of light we are to love the light and hate the dark. I had three points:

1. Depart the Dark (v.3-7)

2. Walk in the Light (v.8-10)

3. Shine as a Light (v.11-14)

Take some time to re-listen to the message and reflect on how to apply it in your life. One good application question would be:

Where in your life do you ‘dim the lights’, so to speak, so that the light doesn’t expose sin for what it is?

-       Is it in the media you consume?

-       How you talk with particular friends or colleagues?

-      Or is it in your private headspace?

You can listen to it on our podcast or on our sermon page. For further listening, i did an episode on Entertainment for my ‘Following Jesus Podcast’, listen to it here.

Also, we sang a two new songs: “Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor” by Matt Boswell and “How Vast the Love” by Sovereign Grace, take some time this week to listen to them again! Go to our three music playlists to find the songs!

May these lyrics stir your soul and fuel your faith:

“Christ the sure and steady anchor,
In the fury of the storm;
When the winds of doubt blow through me,
And my sails have all been torn.
In the suffering, in the sorrow,
When my sinking hopes are few;
I will hold fast to the anchor,
It will never be removed.

Christ the sure and steady anchor,
While the tempest rages on;
When temptation claims the battle,
And it seems the night has won.
Deeper still then goes the anchor,
Though I justly stand accused;
I will hold fast to the anchor,
It shall never be removed.

Christ the sure and steady anchor,
Through the floods of unbelief;
Hopeless somehow, O my soul, now,
Lift your eyes to Calvary.
This my ballast of assurance,
See his love forever proved.
I will hold fast to the anchor,
It will never be removed.

Christ the sure and steady anchor,
As we face the wave of death;
When these trials give way to glory,
As we draw our final breath.
We will cross that great horizon,
Clouds behind and life secure;
And the calm will be the better,
For the storms that we endure.

Christ the sure of our salvation,
Ever faithful, ever true!
We will hold fast to the anchor,
It shall never be removed.”

Matt Boswell

Ladies Coffee morning will be at the Spring’s house this week, 10am-12pm, bring something to share. But stay tuned for changes due to the coronavirus.