Church family: Imagine living with a condition that made you an outcast. You couldn't go home to your family. You couldn't worship with the community. You couldn't walk through town without announcing your condition: “Unclean! Unclean!” You lived outside the camp, separated from the people you loved. That was the reality for the man Matthew introduces in chapter 8. “And behold, a leper came to him...  Read More

Church family: Have you ever watched someone drift away spiritually? It usually doesn't happen all at once. They don't wake up one morning and say, “I'm leaving Jesus.”They just slowly disconnect.They stop being known.They stop being honest.They stop letting people speak into their lives.Sin becomes private.Prayer becomes occasional.The Bible becomes easier to ignore.And often nobody really notice...  Read More

Church family: An anonymous engraved stone in the Lutheran cathedral in Lübeck, Germany, dating to 1173 AD, contains these examining words:Ye call Me Master and obey Me not,Ye call Me Light and see Me not,Ye call Me Way and walk not,Ye call Me Life and desire Me not,Ye call Me wise and follow Me not,Ye call Me fair and love Me not,Ye call Me rich and ask Me not,Ye call Me eternal and seek Me not,Y...  Read More

Church family: There are several ways to dissect a Christian. You can divide a Christian into mind, body, and spirit and then make observations about what you find in each of those areas. Or you can question his thoughts and his reasoning to see what he thinks about God. Or you can examine his heart to see what he feels about God. Or you can simply squeeze a Christian really hard just to see what ...  Read More

Church family:Wolves in sheep’s clothing are dangerous because they don’t look like wolves. They dress themselves in the appearance of gentleness, truth, spirituality, and even love. They may have millions of social media followers, draw large crowds, and even land books on bestseller lists. They speak the language of Christianity, carry the Bible, and may say many things that sound right, but ben...  Read More

Church Family: What if the most dangerous road is not the one that looks openly rebellious, but the one that feels familiar, respectable, and safe? That is what makes Jesus’ words at the end of the Sermon on the Mount so sharp. He is not merely speaking to people outside the church or far from religious things. He is speaking to people like us who hear His words, know His name, and assume we are a...  Read More

Church family:Most people in this world know the Golden Rule. Even those who do not follow Jesus know it and even expect Christians to live by it. The world may affirm Matthew 7:12, but does it truly practice it? Not fully, and if we are honest, neither do we. But the Golden Rule is more than good advice; it is God’s expectation for how we relate to every other person as citizens of His kingdom.Ce...  Read More

Church family: One of the clearest and most personally shaping studies of my life has been our time in the Sermon on the Mount this past year. Jesus’ words continue to challenge my thoughts and actions, sometimes before I sin, and sometimes, by His grace, after. Even then, He is still sanctifying us.Have you ever thought about how Jesus wants the Sermon on the Mount to shape the way we gather as G...  Read More

Church family: Take a moment to think about this: the greatest invitation in the world is extended to us from the God of the universe, our Heavenly Father, "come and ask me for good gifts” (Matthew 7:7–11). Jesus invites us to come to our Father again and again to ask, seek, and knock with confidence. Of course, this is not a blank check for everything on our wish list. It is an invitation to keep...  Read More

Church family: As we enter our new building, we do so with full hearts, deep gratitude, and joyful celebration. This moment has been long hoped for, prayed over, and worked toward, and in His kindness the Lord has now brought us here. Sunday is a day to rejoice together in His faithfulness. When I sat alone in the sanctuary Tuesday evening, reflecting on this blessing, I was struck by the windows,...  Read More

Church family: Have you ever noticed how easy it is to judge someone else while giving yourself endless grace? Judgmentalism looks down on others, assumes the worst about their motives, and speaks as though it can see their heart clearly enough to pronounce final verdicts. In doing so, it wrongly makes us a very poor version of God. Scripture reminds us that God alone is Judge and that we are not ...  Read More

Church family: Do you struggle with anxiety? At its deepest level, anxiety forms a worldview: no one will meet my needs, no one can rescue me, and no one sees my distress. I am left like an orphan in a chaotic world ruled by chance.Anxiety often shows itself as a divided mind, pulled in many directions by worries we cannot control. It lives in the future, imagining danger and destruction before it...  Read More

Church family: Think with me: what words would you use to describe your relationship with God?Scripture invites us to embrace an astonishing truth: through Jesus Christ, God is not only our Creator and King but our Heavenly Father. You are a child of God!This week I have been studying the beautiful gift of knowing God in this way. He chose the name “Father” to show us His daily care, love, and pur...  Read More

Church family: What a joy it is to enter this new season together as God’s people at GCT. For fifteen years, the Lord has faithfully led us, and He has brought us to this moment for His purposes and His glory. As we prepare to move into our new church building (hopefully June 28), let us not simply enter a new space; let us embrace a renewed call to live as God’s holy people, set apart by His grac...  Read More

Church family: Fasting has always been countercultural. It pushes against Western values by calling us to self-denial and sacrifice. It is neither easy nor comfortable, unlike the convenience and ease our culture often celebrates. And those values have also made their way into the Western Church, yet Jesus fasted and He calls us to do the same.At the very start of His ministry, the Son of God was ...  Read More

Church Family: Picture an enemy lurking at the edges of your home and church, sowing doubt and trying to twist what is good into evil. This is the daily battlefield we inhabit. Jesus teaches us to pray with eyes wide open to that unseen conflict. “Deliver us from evil” is our call for God’s forces to move forward, confident that the LORD of hosts enters every dark place ahead of us. The Lord’s Pra...  Read More

Church Family: Are you battling temptation right now? Temptation is the quiet, deceptive voice in the tug-of-war of the human heart. It shows up when we are angry and want us to lash out, when we are tired and want to quit, when we are lured and enticed to compromise, hide, procrastinate, or live as though God were not present. None of us is untouched by it. Temptation lures us toward what will ru...  Read More

Church Family: As De Witt Talmage wrote, “There is no emotion so completely unselfish as motherly affection. Marital love expects the return of many kindnesses and attentions, but the strength of a mother’s love is entirely independent of the past and the future, and is, of all emotions, the purest. Your child has done nothing in the past to earn your kindness, and in the future your child may gro...  Read More

Church Family:Before we forgive others, remember this: in Christ, we were forgiven first. Forgiveness doesn’t start with our strength, maturity, or emotional readiness; it starts at the cross, where Jesus bore our sin, paid our debt, and set us free from condemnation. We don’t forgive to earn God’s favor; we forgive because we have already received it. A forgiven mindset changes how you experience...  Read More

Church Family:“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) is not just a line we recite; it is a prayer that will change your life. Many of us wake up in the morning feeling that we do not have enough. Before our feet hit the floor, we carry quiet worries: I didn’t get enough sleep, I don’t have enough time, I don’t have enough energy, I don’t have enough money. Jesus meets our anxious thinki...  Read More

Church Family: Over the past several years, GCT has experienced significant growth, which has brought the need for meaningful changes in how we care for everyone who calls GCT their church family. Unfortunately, I have not done a good job of sharing the task of “shepherding the flock of God that is among us” (1 Peter 5:2). By not delegating well to other elders, I have left some pastoral needs unm...  Read More

Church Family: Everyone has a kingdom. Your kingdom is the sphere where what you say, do, and decide makes a difference; it is the space in this world that you have been entrusted to steward. Your kingdom is everything you have say over: your time, words, resources, decisions, and relationships. And Jesus demands that we are to radically rethink how we live in our kingdom as we pray, “Our heavenly...  Read More

Church Family: On resurrection morning, the silence of the tomb was shattered. Jesus Christ walked forth, triumphant over death, declaring, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18). The resurrection of Jesus Christ is meant to change every single thing in your life. Yet so often, we forget what resurrection power really is. We forget what we have been given and w...  Read More

Church Family: I am presently sitting in a hospital surgery center waiting for news on my mom's somewhat minor surgery. I am surrounded by other patient's loved ones also waiting for their news. Understandably, many here are burdened with anxiety and fear. You know when you experience that deep sense of unease in your mind and heart, a troubled spirit caused by uncertainty or disbelief; when God f...  Read More