On ANZAC Day yesterday, we as a nation commemorated the ANZAC troops who landed in Gallipoli, Turkey on this very day in 1915.

Remembering their sacrifice and service helps not only to keep their stories and this history alive, but also serves as a fresh reminder that many of the freedoms that we get to enjoy today came at a cost.

And ultimately, we are reminded to give thanks to the Lord of all creation, who has providentially acted - for our good and His glory - through these courageous souls.

May we remember them
Lest we forget.

Hi Church,

I am writing to share some exciting news. Our pastor, Riley Spring, has been appointed as the National Director for Sovereign Grace Churches Australia. This is a significant honour and a great responsibility, and we are delighted that he has been selected for this opportunity.

Riley’s passion for advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ through planting and strengthening churches will be harnessed in this role. Evidence of this grace is our church plant, Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta. His giftings will enable him to lead and equip our two family of churches in Wahroonga and Parramatta, as we look forward to what God has planned for us in Australia.

This also means that Dave Taylor, senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Wahroonga, will be able to devote more of his time to his role as a local pastor and as Global Missions Director for Sovereign Grace Churches.

Dave and Riley have made a brief clip explaining the role, listed below.

However, I want to emphasise that Riley’s main priority and heart in service and leadership remains with SG Parra. This role will see the furthering of Gods kingdom in Australia and in our local congregation.

In fact, one of the core reasons he can take on this new role is because of the faithful service of all of you. After much prayer, counsel and affirmation from the pastoral team and deacons of our church, it became clear to us that his calling was to serve our local church and to do what he can to help plant and strengthen churches throughout Australia. 

This new role will require a portion of his time and will involve various travelling responsibilities, and the related work will be compensated from SG Australia. For example, this has allowed the hiring of Rebs Song as an administrative assistant, so that Riley can devote more of his time and energy to pastoral care, prayer and preaching for SG Parra.

It is with confidence in Gods goodness that He will use Riley and our church community to further His kingdom. As such, I ask for your continued prayer and support for Riley as he takes on this additional role.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments concerning this new role, please do not hesitate to be in contact.

Regards,

Richard Song

The Gathering Around the Gospel Concert with Bob Kauflin is finally upon us!

There are still some free tickets up for grabs! We are so looking forward to worshiping with you on Saturday!

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

Tickets here:

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

Registrations for our Together ‘23 Conference have begun rolling in! This is a friendly reminder to register for the conference if you’ve yet to do so.

The aim of Together is to gather with both 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.

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!

Life Groups are back this week! Life Groups are so vital for us as a Church as they allow us to take the joy of Sunday and work out in smaller communities where we can know each other more deeply and help each other out more personally.

As much as is possible, it’s our aim for every member to attend Life Group or Growth Group, every time it’s on! This isn’t a rule or a new law, rather, we’d love that these special times go in our calendars first because they’re so good and so vital for our growth AND they are a key way we each play a part in serving each other in the church.

For some, this is made difficult because of shift work, travel, or baby sitting needs. To help you, we’ve attached the Term 2 Schedule below so that you can look ahead to when your group is on and organise your calendar/sitting around that if possible.

It’s so great when the most amount of people can be regularly be at group where possible!

I hope Life Groups and Growth Groups bless you once again this term!

This week Riley will be looking at ‘Singleness’. A very important topic that affects us all as a church.

Maybe you’re new to our church, new to faith, need a bit of a refresh on the basics, or just keen for a bible study…then ‘Just For Starters’ is a great place for you to begin.

Joel Seric will be running this 7 week study taking you through topics like:

1. Saved by God

2. Trusting in God

3. Living God's way

4. Listening to God

5. Talking to God

6. Meeting with God's family

7. Meeting the world.

These will be held at 9am, downstairs at Iron Street beginning April 30th.

Order a coffee and head on down!

Come join us for the Gathering Around the Gospel Concert with Bob Kauflin!

There are still some free tickets up for grabs! We are so looking forward to seeing you there!

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

Tickets here:

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

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.