Church Family: Do you see the moment God has given us? Right here, Pender County is among the top three fastest growing counties in North Carolina, with Pender’s population rising over 21% since 2020, adding tens of thousands of new neighbors in just a few years. This is not an accident; the Lord has placed GCT as a living witness in a county that is swelling with people who need hope, a church fa...  Read More

Church Family:The providence of God is not cold fate; it is His sovereign and loving hand wisely governing every detail of our lives. Sometimes in this life there befalls us a difficult providence of God. This is when a challenging or seemingly negative event in life, which is still under God’s sovereign control and part of His divine plan, is directed toward us by God’s loving and purposeful hand...  Read More

Church Family: Following last Sunday's worship service, we discussed the financial steps that will bring our building project to completion. Providentially and expositionally, the next Scripture we get to in the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 6:1-4, in which Jesus encourages a deeper commitment through the discipline of giving. He desires that our giving would be motivated by the personal reward o...  Read More

Church Family: The Gospel is shocking! Astonishing! Outrageous! Words fall short! The Gospel of God bursts onto the scene as His divine rescue for sinners like us who deserve nothing but His wrath, yet Jesus arrives with joyful, overflowing, eternal mercy! Abundant joyful hope surges through every vein of the gospel, so let it surge through our spiritual veins as well.Picture Paul, foaming at the ...  Read More

Church Family: Loving our enemies is not optional for disciples of Jesus. It is one of the clearest ways we show we belong to our Father and not to the spirit of the world. Jesus teaches in Matthew 5 that true righteousness transforms the heart, not just the actions. He reveals the deep roots of sin: anger that fuels murder, lust that gives birth to adultery, deceit that twists promises, retaliati...  Read More

Church Family: Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:38-42 pierce our daily lives with countercultural clarity: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye.’ But I tell you, do not resist the one who is evil... If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” In our world of quick comebacks and vengefulness, whether at work, on Highway 17, on social media, or in family conflicts, ...  Read More

Church Family: Allow me to make a claim; there is no sin more tolerated or widespread among Christians than legalism. Our struggle at GCT most likely will be legalism not wokeism or liberalism. Most of the time we look at legalism as just someone being overzealous rather than them perpetuating anti-gospel sin. We tend to look at adultery and theft as more heinous than legalism. But look at Jesus’ ...  Read More

Church family: Jesus calls us, His Church, to use God’s law lawfully (1 Timothy 1:8), especially for the unrighteous among us, not for those who have already been declared righteous in Christ. Understanding God’s epic love story of law and Gospel helps us apply it rightly and avoid the legalistic trap of misusing it. Otherwise, we either miss salvation altogether or make ourselves a legalist, putt...  Read More

Church family: Do you struggle with lying? Most of us don’t want to admit it, but if we are honest, every one of us battles with truthfulness in some way. Dishonesty is a manifestation of our sinful rebellion against God and desire to advance our own interests above others. This is our reality that Jesus came to change. Maybe we exaggerate a story, hide a mistake, or promise something we never fol...  Read More

Church family: Divorce can be one of life’s most painful experiences, often following years of hardship and deep emotional struggle for spouses and their children. As a pastor, I have seen how complex and heartbreaking it can be to discern when divorce is biblically justified. Even after careful study of Scripture and related writings, the answer is rarely simple.Last week, we began our discussion...  Read More

Church family: About 1 in 3 of our families at GCT have gone through the heartbreak of divorce. This isn't theory; it is our story. It's important to remember that divorce has significantly impacted the lives of many people in our church family. If you have been through divorce, please know or be reminded that you are loved fully. There are no scarlet letters here at GCT.As a pastor, few subjects ...  Read More

Church Family:  Despite the world's noise, welcome to the joyful 2026 New Year! Jesus Christ, head of our church, reminds us again that we are God's living household, a radiant pillar and buttress of truth, overflowing with His grace, mercy, and peace (1 Timothy 3:14-15; 1:2). He draws us together to love deeply from pure hearts and clear consciences, building one another up in sweet harmony—this ...  Read More

Church Family, As we welcome a brand-new year, my heart is full of excitement for what God is doing amongst us as GCT. In recent years, several men have come to me to discuss their calling from the Lord into some level of pastoral ministry. These conversations have led me and the elders to great conviction from the Lord to raise up these godly men to preach, teach, and shepherd God’s people in the...  Read More

Church Family: Christmas is the story of God’s joyful redeeming love in Christ Jesus—a love so beautiful that angels announce it, study it, and overflow with joy over it. From the fall to redemption, the angels saw humanity rebel against God, God promise a Savior, the Son of God humble Himself to become human, and then suffer and die, rise again, ascend in glory, and save sinners in a way that mak...  Read More

Church Family: Last night I witnessed my friend Paul Godridge fully experience the incredible Christmas gift in Jesus Christ. As Paul passed into eternal life, no wrath awaited him, no judgment did he face, and he had no reason to fear death! On the other side of Paul’s life on this earth is one thing and one thing only: a radiant, loving, and joyful God who has forgiven all Paul’s sins, welcoming...  Read More

Church Family: The greatest danger to our celebration of Christmas isn’t the culture “out there” but what happens in our own hearts—we grow bored with the most breathtaking story in history. As followers of Jesus, we must fight, spiritually and intentionally, to keep Christmas about what God meant it to be: the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s glory isn’t a decorative theme added to the story...  Read More

Church Family: Most weekdays before I hop on Highway 17, I pull up the “Hampstead Traffic” page on Facebook. It is rarely uplifting—not so much because of the traffic, but because the comments are a loud reminder that the native tongue of our sinful hearts is grumbling, complaining, and whining. Scrolling that page often exposes my own struggle and, at the same time, stirs a fresh resolve to grow ...  Read More

Acts 6:3 – “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.”Church family, when you see the word deacon, what comes to mind? Maybe you think of the political power center in a church; this is the “board” that tells the pastor what to do and makes decisions behind closed doors that no one really knows about....  Read More

Church Family: Lust is the wild, restless craving for what’s not yours! Lust is wanting things that don’t belong to you. Lust means being dissatisfied with what you have and wanting more, letting that desire motivate you. Lust is wanting what you want because you want it and nobody and nothing else matters. In Matthew 5:27-30, Jesus deepens our understanding of the seventh commandment by teaching ...  Read More

Church Family: When you are angry do you explode like a volcano, or do you simmer like water just under a boil? Maybe you become icy like an iceberg?Anger is more than just some internal feeling. Anger is an emotion that deeply affects your life and every relationship in your life. Anger can take over your entire body, your thoughts, your actions, and your words. Anger is an emotional power from t...  Read More

Church family: Every Christian struggles with the question, how does the Old Testament Law relate to my life? Are Christians still obligated to follow parts of the Old Testament Law, or is it completely irrelevant to them? As antinomianism (being against God’s Law) becomes more common today, it is increasingly vital to address these questions.Which of the 613 Old Testament Laws from God still appl...  Read More

Spiritual darkness! You see its effects everywhere and every day. The Bible speaks of spiritual darkness as a state of separation from God characterized by deception, moral blindness, often under the influence of demonic forces opposing God’s kingdom (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 4:4). Darkness involves rejecting the truth and favoring evil deeds over light (John 3:19), leading to a hardened hear...  Read More

Church Family: In July 1939, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young Lutheran theologian and pastor, left New York only one year after arriving for seminary training, only to return to the intensifying madness in his native Germany. The prospect of war was imminent. Before coming to the US, Bonhoeffer had been pursued and silenced by the Nazi regime for his opposition to its persecution of Jews. He had been ...  Read More

Church Family: I want to share with you a common story that highlights the difference between peace-faking and peace-making.Jack and Jill experience conflict and strife in their relationship, and they are both believers who desire to honor God in obedience to His command for them to be peacemakers. Jack and Jill, even in their conflict, seek peace that flows from righteousness and purity, as taugh...  Read More