Dear Church,

May I commend to you the monthly “Emerging Nations” email blog that gets sent out. Every month it is full of incredible stories of the work of Sovereign Grace Churches around the world! Use it to be encouraged and to inform your prayers! In the latest installment I was overjoyed to see this story: “Baptisms in Pakistan”

You can read it here: https://www.sovereigngracechurches.org.au/emerging-nations/2020/8/4/zkuws439iopjynfcfjafrsw7th9549

Also read this story of COVID gospel outreach in Zambia

If you would like to subscribe please CLICK HERE

Now that I have your attention! SG Wahroonga is running a Zoom Webinar for married guys on how to improve our romance game! This is based on a fantastic book by CJ Mahaney (founding pastor of Sovereign Grace Churches)!

Pop the date in your diary!

Listen to our sermons on by searching, “Matthew” on our sermons page here

This Sunday we begin our new series on the Gospel of Matthew. We will be spending about two years going through this incredible book. As we prepare for this series there are two resources I want to commend to you:

1) Watch the bible project videos on Matthew. The way they break up the book, and their particular views on Matthew are not the only way of viewing Matthew, however, what I love about these videos is the attention they pay to the literary features of the book, and the analysis they provide. Matthew’s Gospel is a piece of literary genius, each story is well chosen and perfectly placed. There is design and intentionality in every verse. I want us to look out for this as we study the book!

2) Buy a Matthew Journal. We will be selling $5 journals so that you can read through Matthew and make your own bible study notes and reflections.

This series will be a fantastic opportunity for us as a church to get to know Jesus better, learn how to follow Him, and invite others on the journey!

Here is a great quote from JC Ryle":

“The Gospels were written to make us acquainted with Christ. The Holy Ghost has told us the story of His life and death, his sayings and doings, four times over. Four different inspired hands have drawn the picture of the Savior. His ways, His manners, His feelings, His wisdom, His grace, His patience, His love, His power are graciously unfolded to us by four different witnesses. Ought not the sheep to be familiar with the Shepherd? Ought not the patient to be familiar with the Physician? Ought not the bride to be familiar with the Bridegroom? Ought not the sinner to be familiar with the Savior? Beyond doubt it ought to be so. The gospels were written to make men familiar with Christ, and therefore I wish men to study the Gospels. Surely we cannot know this Christ too well! Surely there is not a work nor a deed, nor a day, nor a step, nor a thought in the record of His life, which ought not to be precious to us. We should labor to be familiar with every line that is written about Jesus.”

Church, I am pleased to announce that we will be at JBrewers for at least the next four weeks.

There are some really awesome things about this venue but also some setbacks (service time, SG kids space, capacity, busy road, etc!) but for now it literally is the only place we have!

We need to continue to be vigilant in being COVID-safe and child-safe!

It is a tight fitting space so please ensure you are 1.5m apart, and it is recommended by NSW Health that we wear masks in areas that are hard to social distance in.

Victoria Road is a busy road, and it is very easy for our kids to access it, thus, parents you need to ensure you have your young children with you at all times. Perhaps, it would be best to grab a coffee and head back out to the undercover courtyard and close the gate behind you so the kids can run around but not get out onto the road!

On rainy days: our best option atm is to hire the upstairs office and do kids up there. To do this, we most likely will need to move our service forward to 2:30pm. So please stay tuned on wet weather weeks for updates!

Thank you all for your flexibility and faith in this season!

If you have any concerns or queries, let me know or speak to anyone on the Core Team!

This Sunday there will be our first session of Starting Point being hosted at my house. If you know anyone who is interested, please invite them! At this lunch we will do an overview of the church and get a chance to find a common time that works for everyone for doing the rest of the course. Sign up at rs@sgparra.org.au

Life Groups are on this week! Each group will have a Zoom in option available. Your group leader will send you a link and direct as to what time the Zoom will go live.

On Sunday we had a great time worshipping and fellowshipping together, though we missed out on having the joy and crazy of all the kids being around!

We studied 1 Cor. 9:19-23 and saw that: “we need to be in the world to win the world”! Three main points: 1. The challenge of being in it to win it: over or under adapting. 2. A Model for being in it to win it: we looked at how Paul became all things to all men, that he might win some. 3. An approach to being in it to win it: we looked at Tim Keller’s three step process for communciating the gospel in plural world: a) Enter into the world (drill the hole), b) challenge the world (drop the bomb), c) Appeal to the world and call them to follow Jesus!

You can listen to the message here or watch it here

Our Term 3 Starting Point course has a number of people interested! We are just trying to find the best time to host it to suit everyone’s needs.

Please be praying and thinking through who you could possibly invite to this!

This week Sunday 11-1pm there will be a coffee team training event!

Place: TBC

SG Wahroonga is running the following Zoom event! From Pastor Patrick:

“Dads & Mums, can I ask you a question?

Is there a “right way” to train your children?

We live in a time where we have a myriad of competing voices recommending so many ideas. What about for you as a couple, do you agree with how to ‘train’ your child(en)?

We’d love to engage in an Honest Conversation where we share stories, look at God’s Word and interact with a panel.

Before the night, if you could read this article: Parenting Is Like Jazz, and if you can read chapter 8 in Paul Tripp’s book, ‘Parenting’; entitled ‘Authority’, it will position you well for the night. If you don’t have chapter 8 please email me at pc@sovgrace.org.au & I can send you a copy of the chapter.

Your Life Group Leaders will have the ZOOM code, if you’d like to join us please contact them. Looking forward to seeing you on Zoom next Friday evening!