This weekend, we begin a new sermon series which will focus on one person – the person of the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? What work does He do in our lives, in our church, and in the world? The Holy Spirit will occupy our time and thoughts for the next eight weekends, and well He should. He is the third person of the Trinity. He is God at work within every follower of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit plays a major role in the salvation of those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He live...
Sep 24, 2023•46 min
As we bring our summer-long study in Ephesians to a close this weekend, we fast forward thirty years from when the apostle Paul wrote Ephesians to when the apostle John wrote Revelation. Revelation is a fascinating Biblical book for many reasons, not the least of which is Jesus’ pointed observations of seven prominent first century churches. Jesus’ observations are in the form of seven letters contained in Revelation 2 and 3. Each letter is a personal letter from Jesus in which he both commends ...
Sep 17, 2023•44 min
Join us this weekend as we conclude our summer long study in Ephesians. It will be a powerful conclusion to a life-changing Word from God. As we dig into Ephesians 6:10 -24, we will learn how to wage and win a spiritual battle. We all face them. They are the battles that take place under the visible surfaces of our lives. They are the battles waged against the devil and the forces of evil, which are very real in the world. However, we must remember that greater is He who is in us than he who is ...
Sep 10, 2023•40 min
From this sermon on Ephesians 5, Pastor Paul leads us through some difficult concepts in the Scripture
Sep 03, 2023•40 min
Join the GCC family this weekend as we celebrate God’s blessing in our lives and return thanks to Him. We will celebrate together by sharing in the Lord’s Supper at all services. Bishop Randy Sizemore will challenge us from Joshua 3:1-17. Are you trusting God in your personal life in Christ? Are we trusting God as a church as we pursue the mission of helping people know and follow Jesus? We are excited for a powerful weekend of worship and the Word!
Aug 27, 2023•38 min
Are you converted? That’s a question seldom asked when talking about the Christian life, but it’s a good question. When you come to know and follow Jesus as Savior and Lord of your life, your identity changes. Conversion takes place. “You were once darkness…now you are light,” Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:8. Paul reminds the Ephesians who they were before Jesus changed them; he reminds us of the same truth. Our very identity is that we are LIGHT IN THE LORD in this dark world. As such, Jesus also s...
Aug 20, 2023•36 min
As we continue our study in the New Testament letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul continues his pointed and practical instruction on what the daily life of a Christian should be. Read Ephesians 5:1-7 as you prepare to worship this weekend. Clearly, we are called to imitate God as His dearly loved children. IMITATE GOD! What does that mean? In our culture, imitations can have a negative connotation. An imitation or imitator can be a counterfeit or a second-rate copy of the original. Not so ...
Aug 13, 2023•36 min
Whenever you encounter a “therefore” in the Bible, you should ask, What is it there for? The “therefore” in Ephesians 4:25 is intended by God to be a bridge to a very practical description of what the daily life of a Christian should be. Putting off the old self and putting on the new self affects every area of life, and in Ephesians 4:25-32 Paul gets right to the point. He calls us to reject hypocrisy and live consistently faithful lives in Christ. He calls us to put off the behavior that destr...
Aug 06, 2023•44 min
You’ve heard it before DRESS FOR SUCCESS. Whether you are going golfing, to a nice restaurant, work, have a job interview, or even to school. Certain people in certain environments expect certain clothing. Matter-of-fact, if you aren’t wearing certain apparel for certain places, you won’t be allowed in. Would it shock you if I told you how you dress matters to God? Not in how man thinks, but in another way! A few weeks ago, we began a sermon series on Ephesians. Ephesians helps us learn how to t...
Jul 30, 2023•40 min
What do you look for in a church? Now, let me rephrase that question and ask, What does God look for in a church? Read His Word and you’ll find that when God looks at a church, His concern is for the foundation of the church. God inspects the foundation of a church to ensure that it is a solid, safe church for His family. God wants his children – that’s you and me - to settle in and grow in a church that meets his “church-building” standards. What are those standards? Let’s turn the pages of Eph...
Jul 23, 2023•46 min
For the last three weeks of our study in Ephesians, we’ve had a front row seat to the Apostle Paul’s bold preaching about our glorious salvation in Christ. We’ve learned that in Christ lives are changed, the Church grows, the Gospel spreads across human barriers and around the world, and Christian community comes to life! And then it seems that Paul takes a breath – possibly even a step back – to bask in the unsearchable riches of Christ. With his mind and heart overflowing with God’s amazing gr...
Jul 16, 2023•40 min
"Join your GCC family this week as we turn the page to Ephesians 3:1-13 and discover the gift of ACCESS! God invites us to have personal, full and free access to Him. He invites us into a personal relationship and he welcomes us into daily conversation. We can boldly approach him with our cares and humbly confess to Him our sins. And someday, he will welcome us into Heaven. All of these “gifts of access” are part of the glorious salvation we have in Christ. God calls them the unsearchable riches...
Jul 09, 2023•50 min
Last weekend, Pastor Paul preached a clear, concise and powerful message of salvation from Ephesians 2:1-10. By nature, we are prone to wander away from God because of our sin, BUT GOD wakes us up and graciously draws us to Himself. We become God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. “Therefore, REMEMBER…” That’s how the Apostle Paul transitions from the first half of chapter two to the second half. “Therefore” refers back to the first 10 verses. Paul is saying, “In light of t...
Jul 02, 2023•32 min
It has been said, "Christianity begins not with a big DO, but with a big DONE." Christianity doesn’t begin with us; it starts with Jesus. Sometime between 60-61AD, a letter was written by a man named Paul from a prison cell. This letter outlines the finished work of Jesus. Over the past three weeks, we have explored Paul’s words, and this weekend, we will be in Ephesians 2:1-10. Pastor Skip Heitzig said Ephesians 2:1-10 could be summed up in four words… Wander – Wake – Wait – Work: our wandering...
Jun 25, 2023•41 min
This Father’s Day weekend, we continue our sermon series through the letter of Ephesians by looking at one of Paul’s two prayers. He is in prison in Rome and hasn’t been seen by the Ephesians for at least six years. Yet, in Ephesians 1:15-23, the Church finds its founding pastor on his knees. After a powerful introduction where Paul listed nearly all the blessings found in Christ, Paul stops and prays. He prays that the Ephesians would receive revelation from God to know all they have in Christ....
Jun 18, 2023•38 min
Join your GCC family this weekend as we continue to study the incredible letter to which we were introduced last weekend – Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. We learned that the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to Christians who were living in a culture of unbridled materialism and rampant immorality where money, sex and power dominated life. But while they lived in Ephesus, they also lived in Christ. They were saved and set apart to live faithful lives in Christ. So, after greeting the Ephesian beli...
Jun 11, 2023•42 min
This weekend, we begin a new summer-long sermon series that will take us through the New Testament letter to the Ephesians. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter while he was in prison in Rome for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wrote to a church that he knew quite well. Eight years earlier, he planted the church in Ephesus. He spent three years there helping them begin their journey of faith and guiding them in that journey. Then, in the closing years of his life and ministry, Paul wrote ...
Jun 04, 2023•36 min
Is your Bible alive? It’s supposed to be. Yes, we receive the Word of God through printed letters on paper, but it is more than that. Jesus is called the Word of God, and we know that Jesus is not dead, but lives forever, so we can also say that the Word lives forever. This weekend, we conclude our sermon series entitled STORIES OF HIS POWER by considering a dynamic movement of God that has been recorded for us in 2 Chronicles 34. 2 Chronicles 34 records a time when the Word of God was lost from...
May 28, 2023•51 min
Life can be hard at times, and for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the circumstances that make life hard are beyond our control and sometimes they are of our own making. Sometimes those circumstances come out of nowhere. We feel like we’ve been ambushed by the enemies of hardship or suffering. When that happens, where do you turn? The next fascinating story of God’s power is found in 2 Chronicles 20. It comes from the life of one of ancient Israel’s kings – a man named Jehoshaphat. It is a model...
May 21, 2023•43 min
Let’s unpack the next “Story of His Power” as we explore a wonderful story in 2 Kings 4:1-7. On the surface, we see God at work in three ways in this story. We see a miracle of God by which God powerfully fills a whole lot of jars with a little bit of oil. We also see God’s mercy by which God tenderly cares for the needs of a widow and her two sons. And we see God’s marvelous provision. The widow’s need was great, but her God was greater still! The real life lessons and challenges of this story ...
May 14, 2023•47 min
How do you handle sin? When you know you are actively sinning against God, how do you handle your sin? As we continue our series in “Stories of His Power,” we’ll discover both the power of confession and the incredible power of God’s grace when we confess our sin to Him. To fully grasp the dynamics of confession, both what it involves and where it leads, we turn to one of the Bible’s most sobering stories of sin and its consequences. Why not prepare for weekend worship by reading 2 Samuel 11 and...
May 07, 2023•44 min
Welcome to the next story of God’s power – the story of David and Goliath. There are many different ways to preach this story – different themes, different topics, different “big ideas.” The big idea that I want us to discover this weekend is the idea that God wants His people to be people of courage. To understand what that means and what that looks like, take time to read the story in 1 Samuel 17, and simply observe what’s happening with the people of God – that is, the Israelites – and the pr...
May 04, 2023•49 min
In today's service, we begin our new sermon series, "Stories of His Power." We'll explore how God's power shines through our lives, especially in our weaknesses. Together, we'll study the story of Gideon from Judges 6-8, revealing how God used a weak and feeble Gideon to deliver His people. Prepare for an inspiring and uplifting message that will help you embrace your weaknesses and trust in God's power.
Apr 24, 2023•40 min
This weekend, we’ll continue our celebration of Jesus’ resurrection and we’ll conclude the sermon series we’ve called “GOD: Learning to Know Him Better.” In this last sermon, we focus on the glory of God. God’s glory is a prominent theme in the Bible. Depending on the Bible translation you use, “glory” can be found in at least 350 verses. Like God’s greatness, God’s glory is unfathomable to the limitations of the human mind and yet it is also deeply personal and personally encouraging. We will g...
Apr 17, 2023•43 min
🎧 Tune in to our Easter Sunday Sermon podcast episode as we explore the transformative power of the risen King! Journey through John 20:1-8, reflecting on the miracle of the empty tomb and the victory over sin and death. This message will remind you of the hope and eternal life that the resurrection of Jesus Christ brings. 🌅 Whether you're driving, working out, or simply relaxing at home, allow this sermon to inspire and uplift you as we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. 💡 Don't forge...
Apr 09, 2023•43 min
The Scriptures are clear; God is many things; He is jealous, merciful, gracious, loving, and patient. But He is also wise. Why is God wise? Do you know why God is so wise? Is it because of His wise counsel, boundless understanding, infinite knowledge, His creation of the Heavens and the earth, the Church, or something else? This week, we continue our series on GOD by looking at the wisdom of God. And, we will look at what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:18 -31 as he considered man's wi...
Apr 02, 2023•41 min
Join us this weekend for an amazing story about God’s amazing grace. That’s the next truth we learn about God. He is a God of grace, and His grace is powerfully revealed in John 8:1-11. We’ll explore the truths that God’s grace is free of condemnation and full of freedom. And we will return thanks for His grace as we celebrate together the Lord’s Supper.
Mar 26, 2023•33 min
The next topic in our study of God’s attributes is his mercy. In his classic book The Knowledge of the Holy, mid-20th century pastor and writer A.W. Tozer defines God’s mercy in this way – “Mercy is the goodness of God confronting human suffering and guilt.” Mercy is one of those Biblical words that is filled with meaning. Mercy is filled with kindness, compassion, sympathy, pity, and love. God is rich in mercy and He expects us to be rich in mercy, too. Join your GCC family this week as we are ...
Mar 19, 2023•48 min
Our God is a just God. In His justice, He will give people what they are due whether punishment, or protection and care. Join your GCC family as we begin with Jesus in the temple in Matthew 21:12 -13 to discover what God’s justice means and what it looks like in real time! Our God is the Judge, but He is also the Restorer. Judgment and restoration are two sides of His justice. We will focus on the restoring justice of God and how He wants us to act justly in this world of broken, hurting people....
Mar 12, 2023•44 min
In church, we say, “God is good… all the time. And, all the time… God is good.” At the dinner table, children pray, “God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food, Amen”. Yet, we often misuse the word “good” for everything that makes us feel good. And take credit from the good God for the good things we enjoy. That’s why the Scriptures call us to see all good things come from God. Psalm 119:68 redirects declare, “You are good, and what you do is good.” James 1:17 says, “Every good and...
Mar 05, 2023•41 min
