In this sermon on Sunday we saw that at times we are called to surrender like our Saviour for the sake of others.

We saw that as Jesus surrendered to the authorities to pay the temple tax, which he did not have to do, that there is a glory in surrender. Jesus highlights again that His Kingdom is an upside down world. And now we are to wisely and judiciously follow his advice to surrender our rights for the sake of others, to prevent them stumbling or sinning and to win more to Christ.

I highly recommend reading 1 Corinthians 8-10 and Romans 13-15 for Paul’s in-depth treatment of how we are meant to forgo our rights for the good of others. Also if you study 1 Peter chapters 2 and 3, you’ll see how this practice of Jesus informed his counsel for persecuted Christians.

Rebs did a great job reviewing Tim Keller’s sermon turned into a pamphlet sized book, ‘The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness”. It is short, captivating, and life changing.

I read this whilst at Pastor’s College and my life was turned upside down as I was confronted with more species of pride than I cared to admit.

I highly recommend it. Read it yourself and read it with others and discuss it!

Buy it here from Reformers or its $2 on Kindle

This week there are some two majorly exciting things happening!

Firstly, Alpha round 2 on Monday night at 7:30PM please be praying for it!

Secondly, Richard Song will be preaching as I (Riley) will be on leave this week. Please pray for Him as he continues in his preparation.

There are no Life Groups or Growth Groups this next two weeks but feel free to organise times to hang out with each other in person or online if you are keen and able!

Prayer is such a wonderful gift God has given us. We have an invitation to speak to the Lord and He promises to hear us.

We read in James 5:16 - “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person has great power as it is working”.

At SG Parra, we want to be a church dependent upon God, pleading and praying to our God. Prayer is an act of faith and is dependent upon faith. Faith that God hears, listens, and is able to act.

Here are some ways you can be prayed for or get involved in prayer: 

1. If at any time you’d like prayer, please email: prayer@sgparra.org.au and this will go straight to Riley’s inbox so that he can pray for you as your Pastor.

2. Pre Church Prayer. Join us from 9.15am for pre-service prayer, sign into our service like usual and join the break out room - Pre Service Prayer, we’d love to pray with you.

3. Prophetic Impressions. If you believe you have received a prophetic impression from the Lord that you think could serve the church (1 Cor 14:1-4) please contact Riley or email him at rs@sgparra.org.au to share it with him before the service.

4. Post Church Prayer. If you would like to be prayed for, please join the Post Church Prayer breakout room, after the service. Riley and some other key leaders will be there to pray with you and for you. 

5. Alpha Prayer. If you would like to join our Alpha Prayer team, then please set aside 30 minutes on Monday nights for the next 2-3 months from 8.15pm-8.45pm to pray. A team of us will be praying on the Alpha Zoom, you can sign up for it here (it’s the Alpha rego that guests use.)

6. Life Group Prayer. Finally, let me commend you to pray systematically and consistently for all the members of your Life Group, taking notes during LG and GG and then praying for what people share.

Here is what we know, Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.” 

What a incredible gift prayer is. Please consider letting us know how to pray for you, or consider joining us for prayer.

What a blessed 2 years it’s been at Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta! We thank the Lord for all the incredible gifts He has given us over the past couple years, and for His continual provision again and again!

Though it’s not how we thought we’d celebrate our 2nd birthday, we praise God for the blessing of technology and Zoom! We cannot wait to gather again soon and enjoy fellowship together as a church family!

1 Cor. 1:23-25

‘...but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.'

Prayer is such a wonderful gift God has given us. We have an invitation to speak to the Lord and He promises to hear us.

We read in James 5:16 - “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person has great power as it is working”.

At SG Parra, we want to be a church dependent upon God, pleading and praying to our God. Prayer is an act of faith and is dependent upon faith. Faith that God hears, listens, and is able to act.

Here are some ways you can be prayed for or get involved in prayer: 

1. If at any time you’d like prayer, please email: prayer@sgparra.org.au and this will go straight to Riley’s inbox so that he can pray for you as your Pastor.

2. Pre Church Prayer. Join us from 9.15am for pre-service prayer, sign into our service like usual and join the break out room - Pre Service Prayer, we’d love to pray with you.

3. Prophetic Impressions. If you believe you have received a prophetic impression from the Lord that you think could serve the church (1 Cor 14:1-4) please contact Riley or email him at rs@sgparra.org.au to share it with him before the service.

4. Post Church Prayer. If you would like to be prayed for, please join the Post Church Prayer breakout room, after the service. Riley and some other key leaders will be there to pray with you and for you. 

5. Alpha Prayer. If you would like to join our Alpha Prayer team, then please set aside 30 minutes on Monday nights for the next 2-3 months from 8.15pm-8.45pm to pray. A team of us will be praying on the Alpha Zoom, you can sign up for it here (it’s the Alpha rego that guests use.)

6. Life Group Prayer. Finally, let me commend you to pray systematically and consistently for all the members of your Life Group, taking notes during LG and GG and then praying for what people share.

Here is what we know, Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.” 

What a incredible gift prayer is. Please consider letting us know how to pray for you, or consider joining us for prayer.

Our Alpha series kicked off last night with over 20 new people joining us to explore life, faith and meaning. It was an encouraging night! We had so many people join that we needed to start 4 discussion groups, which was more than we were anticipating.

If you would like to join our Alpha or you know someone who would like it, you can still register by heading to: www.sgparra.org.au/alpha!

A big thank you to our key volunteers who are helping making the nights happen: Richie, Rebs, Matt, Prav, Joel, Jamie, Marcus, Ian, Sammy, CJ, and Sam!

We are back with Life Groups this week! Your LG leaders will send you all the information you need for your Zoom meeting!

By Matt Pettett:

Is there someone who, when they pray, you always lean into a little more and listen carefully to the things that they pray, their choice of words, their heart behind the prayer? Well, here is a book that is not only filled with prayers to pray but filled with model prayers that teach us to pray even as we pray them.

The book is C. H. Spurgeon's Prayers. It is a collection of 26 personal prayers by Charles Spurgeon, the 19th Century English pastor. I use this book in my personal prayer times. It's not a book I read in addition to what I'm already doing, rather I see it as an enhancement of what I'm already doing. Here are 3 ways I think the book has enhanced my prayers - all beginning with "P"!

• Pattern - Spurgeon always begins his prayers with worship of the Lord followed by requests. Learning from Spurgeon in this has helped give me words and ideas for how to adore and honour and praise the Lord in prayer. It helps me shape my prayers not only around the day ahead of me, but also around God's character and will, just as Jesus modelled for us (Matt 6:9-13).

• Particulars - the details of Spurgeon’s requests are very broad so that I no doubt pray for things I'd not have thought to pray for or pray for things in ways I wouldn’t have thought to pray.

• Promises - Spurgeon constantly takes the promises of God and turns them into prayers that connect with real life experiences. One example:

Grant us also the peace-speaking word of promise applied by the Holy Spirit, that “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Let us be forgiven and know it. May there remain no lingering question in our hearts about our reconciliation with God, but by a firm, full assurance based on faith in the finished work of Christ, may we stand as forgiven men and women against whom transgression will never again be mentioned.

The sermon at the end of the book, titled “The Golden Key of Prayer”, is filled with encouragements to pray and is a nice counterbalance to the 26 prayers because it gives some direct insight into the thinking which underpins those prayers.

C.H. Spurgeon's Prayers $8 (Amazon.au) / $8 (Kindle) / Reformers Bookshop (14.99)

You can listen to the message, ‘The Way Up Is Down’ - Matthew 16:21-28 here. In the sermon we saw that : Following Jesus means the way up is down and the only way to truly live is by dying! There were three main points to guide us on the rollercoaster of this chapter: 1) What He Must Do, 2. What We Must Do, 3. Why We Must Do It.

Also, SG Kids had an awesome time gathering with Abigail and the Wahroonga kids! This will be happening again next week.

AND! Check out the latest SG Kids TV episode here!