Central Baptist Church, Portsmouth, Virginia

Christmas is full of celebration and singing, but what would all of that be without the food?!?! Christmas is also a time of feasting around the table with family and friends. And as we ask the question where is Christmas going - we’ll see that it’s headed toward quite the feast.

We’ll all have our favorite Christmas songs. Those songs that you can listen to on repeat this time of the year. Christmas is going to a place where we all have the same favorite song to sing. It’s a song of worship to the only one to receive glory and honor and power and might forever. Our singing looks forward to the grand chorus of creation worshipping our creator.

Christmas is that time of the year when we want everything to be just right. We want to find that perfect gift, throw the perfect party with the perfect decorations. We know it's a season of celebrating, singing, and feasting together and we don't want anything to detract from the joy of the season. Our longing for the "perfect Christmas" is actually an echo of a deeper longing. It's an ache for Jesus to complete in his second coming what he inaugurated in his first. We hope you'll join us at Central this Christmas season as we go through several passages from the book of Revelation. There we will see that the celebrating, singing, and feasting together which began at the first Christmas will continue through all eternity because of the one who was born so long ago, Jesus, will make everything just right.

We all want to be a part of something special. Something that brings hope and healing. God designed the church to be such a place. A place built out of flesh and blood rather than brick and mortar. Join us this Sunday as we explore more how this church truly is better together.

If you’re a parent you likely have dreams for your kids. They could be dreams of success, of happiness, of salvation, and church attendance. Those are all good dreams, but has it ever occurred to you that God has dreams for your kids too? He does. What’s more is He has chosen you to help make those dreams a reality. This Sunday we’ll talk about how we can raise our biological and spiritual kids to be a part of the great collaboration. Families really are better together.

We often have great intentions for making disciples. We are familiar with the great commission to “Go and Make disciples”, we’ve been taught the great commandment to “love God and love others”. Yet, despite our best efforts and our grandest intentions our disciple making seems to lag behind. What’s missing? Together! Jesus commissioned his disciples to go together, he prayed that we would be one just as the Godhead is one and that we would win the world through our unity. We really are better together. Be sure to join us this Sunday as we start our new sermon series Better Together.

We’ve all been interrupted. Most of the time it is harmless, but sometimes it’s not. Amos is speaking to Israel when he is rudely interrupted. You’ll have to see how he handles that scenario as well as the amazing message of hope that concludes this book. I hope to see you this Sunday as we finish up with the book of Amos.

We’ve heard a lot how God chooses to use everyday people to accomplish extraordinary things. We’ll see that again this week, as God used a faithful shepherd named Amos to deliver a gripping message to Israel. The book of Amos gives us practical insight into how to have difficult conversations and how to steward the blessings we’ve been given. It also gives us great confidence that God can use us to make an impact. His prophecy is one you won’t want to miss.

We have all taken a stroll down memory lane and become nostalgic about the past. Did you know that God has done that, too? This Sunday, as we conclude the message from the prophet Hosea, we will see God as parent who remembers what is like when His kids were little. That walk down memory will encourage us to run toward the call of God.

We’ve all experienced being ignored or not being heard. What lengths would you go to to get someone’s attention. Probably not the lengths that God went to through his prophet, Hosea. I hope to see you this Sunday as we explore the gripping story of this prophet’s life.

We all know that certain boundaries, certain limits are healthy. Healthy people have boundaries, healthy people have limits. Even in relationships there is such a thing as too many flowers, too many phone calls, too many messages, too many unexpected visits. That can cause things to get weirdly uncomfortable real fast. So, what do with a God who knows no boundaries who has no limits? Well, the end of the prophet Joel helps us with that.

There are certain phrases and images that find a way to etch themselves into our hearts and minds. As we continue our study of the minor prophets we will be spending the next two weeks exploring the prophet, Joel. He writes in such a way that his words tend to stay with you. He paints images so vivid that they don’t go away. These images are profoundly helpful as they instruct us how we should relate to God.

This week we jump into the first of our minor prophets as we study the prophet, Obadiah. As we jump in we’ll see that we are wading right into the middle of sibling rivalry that spiraled into a terrible family feud. This feud resulted in pride, unforgiveness, violence, and more. But the prophet tells us these problems don’t simply characterize this family, but all nations. This Sunday will be quite a challenge and a lot of fun.

Over the last year and half our culture and our world has been told about the importance of distancing and isolating. For longer than that, we’ve been trained to be very introspective and to discover our own identity. At the core of humanity is this bent toward safety and self. However, when Jesus prays in John chapter 17 He prays for something so much more. He prays that the church would come together and be known by her unity. It is that unity, Jesus says, which teaches the world about God. We are called to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer. So, during this next year we’ll explore God’s call for community in the Minor Prophets as we unite Together for the 757.

We are wrapping up our Disciples making Disciples series this week in exciting fashion. We’ll see being a disciple maker requires the qualities of a soldier, and athlete, and a farmer without those qualities you risk never completing the task. However, when we are focused God creates a legacy of impact that reaches down the generations. Make sure to take part in this exciting conclusion.

Have you ever been caught off guard by something or someone? It’s not a very fun feeling, is it? Sometimes we can be caught off guard when disciple-making opportunities are right in front of us. No matter where we are in our walk with Jesus we always need to be praying for God to open doors. We’ll learn that from Paul, a master disciple-maker, this week.

If you’ve ever seen an animal in captivity and then seen an animal in the wild you know there is a big difference. The animal behaves differently and depending on the animal we respond differently. Well, this week we are examining what it’s like to live free, in the wild, as opposed to the safety of Christian captivity. It’s going to be exciting.

We’ve all had conversations that have changed the course of our lives. We’ll always remember where we were when we heard certain news or talked with people in a certain way. This Sunday we’ll talk about a conversation like that. It’s a conversation that Jesus just had to have.

Have you ever had high expectations for something only to have them exceeded by the actual event. Jesus sends his followers out to represent him and that comes with a lot of expectation. It can stir up fear, excitement, adventure, and the list goes on. This week we’ll explore how Jesus sent his first disciples out. That experience provides us with some fascinating discoveries with how we’re sent as well.

Have you ever had your heart broken? Have you ever experienced the sting that is so deep that the hurt and pain seemed to linger around? If so, you are in good company, Jesus experienced heartache also. Jesus had a heart for others. As we continue our series, Disciples Making Disciples, we will see how Jesus showed compassion to all people and challenges you to do the same.