Is Anything Too Hard For The Lord?

Church Family: 
One of my favorite parts of Scripture is when God asks direct, mic-drop questions. In Genesis 18:14, God asks: Is anything too hard for the Lord? Questions like these illuminate our limits, our dependence, and God’s limitless sovereignty. God uses them to focus our attention on His unmatched ability, to silence our pride, and to instill humility. He wants us to rely on His power and grace and then return Him the glory as He accomplishes what we cannot. Often, God leads us down seemingly impossible paths to show us nothing is too hard for Him.

Together as GCT, we have spent 15 years laboring to plant a joy-filled, Jesus-centered, Bible-saturated, gospel-proclaiming, people-loving church in Pender County. God has grown a group of about 14 people into who we are today. He did this, and He sustains this. This is His body—the Body of Christ. We have met in living rooms, the Pender County Senior Center, coffee shops, McDonald’s, the Pecan Grove Clubhouse, the beach, Kiwanis Park, another church building, and most recently at an elementary school as we have sought to be a gospel outpost in Hampstead. Is anything too hard for the Lord?    

Since about year five, we conceded that we needed our own church building. We prayed for the opportunity to purchase land or a building that would serve as a gospel outpost for years to come. Three years ago, we entered a contract to purchase land next door to South Topsail Elementary School (STES), to be a permanent home for our GCT. After two years of planning with architects, engineers, and contractors, and coping with numerous delays, we finally have our building permit and can break ground! By God’s grace, our new space will be used for worshipping, proclaiming the gospel, building relationships, making disciples, loving our neighbor, training leaders, sending missionaries, and planting churches. Is anything too hard for the Lord?    

God truly is at work among us, in ways seen and unseen. Some fruit is obvious, some only He can measure, but all deserve His glory. He has increased our joy, grown our endurance in trials, filled us with His love, given us victory over temptation, drawn us to repentance, reconciled and restored relationships, and renewed our hope. He has used us to plant gospel seeds for generations. He has saved souls, given us love for His Word, answered prayers, come alongside us in sanctification, healed hurts, called us to use our gifts, built community, commissioned missionaries, helped build a church in Myanmar, provided life-saving help to Christians in war zones, united couples in marriage, blessed families with babies, sustained us through a pandemic, and made disciples—all through His supernatural power. Is anything too hard for the Lord?

And now we start to build a building of our own in the second-fastest growing county in North Carolina, in the seventh-fastest growing region in the USA. This is not some neutral, impartial, disinterested building. This is a platform where Jesus’ story will continue to unfold in ways big and small. This is a place where our church family will gather to worship the Triune God. From this space we will proclaim and teach the life-changing gospel to the next generation. This space will encourage the church, the people of GCT, to gather to be enriched in community. It will be a building used to redeem culture in southeastern NC through justice, mercy, and truth. This space will be a place to equip others and send them out as missionaries and church planters. Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Do you know the answer to God’s question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” No. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. I am excited—and grateful—to share that our gracious God has given us this opportunity to build a building. It is only by the abundant grace of God that this has happened. Let’s enjoy it. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.

See you Sunday, breaking some ground: Steve