On Easter Sunday, we had the privilege of baptising four of our beloved members: Marsha, Joven, Amy and Kristine.

It was such a joy to hear each of their testimonies on how the Lord has been at work in their lives and how He has given them the gift of faith to accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour. We view this as one of the greatest causes for celebration; and celebrate we did! What a privilege it was to witness these four baptisms and enjoy fellowship with these precious brothers and sisters that day!

“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Luke 15:7

On Sunday, Richard kicked off our “Sanctifying the Ordinary” series, looking at what the Bible teaches us about work and how we can take part in sanctifying what can often feel mundane and well, ordinary.

He ended his sermon with six foundational pillars on how the Gospel FREES us to work as God has called us to:

1.         The Gospel frees us to worship God in your work – (Matthew 22:37) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind… Honouring Him through your work - your goal in work isn’t fame, riches, promotions, status but rather loving Him and now making much of Him and enjoying Him as you work. Practically this can look like - Thanking Him for the job that you have, praising God for the evidences of grace that you see in your workplace and honouring Him after a full day at work.

2.         The Gospel frees us to serve others wholeheartedly. The second part of Matthew 22:37 calls us to love our neighbours. You can love and serve your co-workers and bosses - even the toughest ones. Why? Because we love Christ and we work for Him. Our work cannot earn us acceptance – God doesn’t need our good works BUT our neighbours do! And now we are free to love and serve them genuinely and wholeheartedly as we work - not to impress them but to do good to them. Practically, this can look like: remembering their birthdays or anniversaries, encouraging them when they do great work, helping them in their work, sharing the Gospel with them! And we can do all of this without expecting anything in return because we are promised our inheritance in Christ.

3.         The Gospel frees us to trust God in our work. Proverbs 19:21 says, ‘Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand’. Our ultimate Boss is in control and sovereign over all things! He has already secured our future and our future inheritance in Him.  So even though work is entangled with thorns and thistles -  we can rest in the reality that we are secure in Christ. So as we work hard for God, and potentially face hardships like losing our jobs, or not getting the promotion, we can trust God and that His purpose will stand. Practically, this can look like…praying! We can pray to the our sovereign God and entrust it to Him.

4.         The Gospel frees us to rest from our work. Jesus says, ‘come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’. Jesus wants us to rest. Work is going to be wearying and burdensome and we aren’t called to endless labour. We must see our rest as a gift and an opportunity to rest in Him - to be dependant on the Lord in our work WHILE we rest from our work and enjoy the fruits of our labor

5.         The Gospel frees us to do our work well. Titus 2:9 says, ‘Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour’. We are called to work hard. The greatest motivator for this is wanting to impress and bring glory to our ultimate Boss: Jesus! We should do our best work because we work for the King. Practically, this can look like: being creative and competent in serving our earthly masters. If you’re in the medical industry, treat and diagnose your patients well. If you’re a tradie, build whatever you’re building, or wire whatever your wiring to the best of your ability. If you’re a teacher, teach your students diligently. If you’re a full time mum, serve and love your family with creativity and joy. Work hard, be competent and strive to do everything so that it is well-pleasing.

6.         Lastly, the Gospel frees us to enjoy work. 1 Tim 6:17 says, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” Working for anyone or anything other than Christ will disappoint. BUT working for Christ is the greatest - and joy will follow. Here’s our promise: in this world, our work on this side of eternity is entangled with sin BUT there will come a time where we will receive the inheritance as our reward (Col 3:24). All our work in heaven will be fruitful, and above all, we will only be working for Him and Him alone!! What joy there is in that promise!! As we set our eyes on that future – we can be joyful in the midst of hardship in the present.

We look forward to you joining us as we continue the “Sanctifying the Ordinary” series. This week, we will be looking at the topic of Singleness.

Mission Prayer is on this Friday.

Everyone in the church is invited and we’d love for you to join us in praying for the lost.

When: Friday, April 21st, 7:30pm

Where: Song’s place

Hope to see you all there!

G2G will be on this Sunday from 4-6pm.

Parent participation is not required for this week’s session, so feel free to drop your kids off for the two hours or you are also welcome to stay and mingle with other parents who may also be doing the same.

We look forward to seeing you and your children there!

If you have any questions, please reach out to Joel Seric on 0488 745 974.

On Sunday, we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord Jesus! The kids performed an item to “Nothing But the Blood”, Riley preached on the peace that the risen Christ offers us, and we ended the service with four baptisms! We celebrated Marsha, Joven, Kristine and Amy as they publicly declared and displayed their faith in Christ and His finished work through being baptised.

It was a day filled with joy as we celebrated together and were reminded of that which is of first importance to our faith: “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

We will be starting a new sermon series this Sunday, titled, “Sanctifying the Ordinary”. Richard will be kicking us off this week, preaching on the theme of Work and how we can sanctify the sometimes very ordinary work we are called to do.

Regos for our Together Conference this year are now OPEN!

This will be our second annual Sovereign Grace Churches Australia conference. The aim is to gather with all of our churches, and friends of our churches, here in Australia for a weekend of fellowship, worship, and making memories together!

Together 2023 will be running from July 21-23 and will be held at the Collaroy Centre in Narrabeen.

This year our theme is: ‘Zealous for the Name of Christ’ where we’ll be discussing the often forgotten virtue of Godly zeal. We will have the privilege of having a special guest from the U.S. join us, Jeff Purswell. He will explain what Godly zeal is and then apply it to various areas of our lives so that we will live all for the name of Christ.

We would recommend registering sooner than later as all the Deluxe Rooms have already been BOOKED OUT and almost half of the Hotel Rooms have been booked.

Please also note that you must still register children under the age of 3 even though their rego is free.

For more information and to register, click here.

If you have any more questions about the conference or registration, please contact Rebs at admin@sgparra.org.au.

We look forward to seeing you there!

A reminder to book your FREE tickets for the Gathering Around the Gospel Concert with Bob Kauflin! We are looking forward to worshiping with you all!

Details: Saturday April 29th, 7.30pm, Fox Valley Community Centre

Tickets here:

https://sg.elvanto.com.au/form/8cbb4e68-8948-40aa-9bcd-c9d76c2892ca

As many of you know, Bob Kauflin will be coming out to Australia at the end of April this year! This will be an exciting opportunity to get to learn about all things worship through song. One way we will be doing this is through a training morning with Bob.

This is open to all band + PA members, so please book it in your calendars as it will be an invaluable time of training and teaching!

When: 9am-12pm, Saturday 29th April

Where: Iron Street (27 Iron St, North Parramatta)

Easter is easily one of the most important dates on our calendar each year, and this year is no different! We are so looking forward to marking the death, burial and resurrection of our Saviour with a Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday service at Iron St:

Good Friday Service: 7th April at 10am - This service will be more quiet, sombre and reflective with no 5 minute break.

NB: Kids in K-2 will be in kids work for the whole morning, Y3-6 will be in for the whole service.

Easter Sunday Service: 9th April at 10am - there will be a kids item and baptisms.

NB: Explorers (K-6) will be in SG Kids the whole morning.

Please feel free to invite friends and family along to both services! This will be a wonderful opportunity for all to either be reminded of the Gospel or to hear it for the first time.