Central Baptist Church, Portsmouth, Virginia

As we approach our celebration of Resurrection Day, we’ve been studying through Mark’s gospel. Particularly, the passion week. This Sunday, we’ll look at the crucifixion. Mark leaves out detailing the horrific pain of the crucifixion, instead he highlights the obedience of Jesus. I hope you’ll join us this week as we join with the church around the globe proclaiming Jesus is the Son of God.

We’ve all suffered to varying degrees. Most of us would just avoid suffering altogether if we could, but in this life it is unavoidable. Jesus, the suffering servant, calls his followers to take up their cross and follow him. His example prepares us for how to suffer Christianly. Amazingly, Christian suffering results in hope. So, as we examine the suffering of Jesus on Sunday I have this confidence that we will walk away hope filled.

We’ve all had moments where we’ve failed. We’re not the only ones. Missionaries have felt the sting of failure. Jesus’ disciples, all twelve, knew failure. However, a relationship with Jesus changes our identity from failure to more than conqueror.

As we continue missions month here at Central. I’m so excited that this week we will have the privilege of John Lennon bringing us God’s word. John and his wife Rhanda are missionaries to Ecuador and they were commissioned through the ministry of Central. He continues to be a faithful encourager and friend to me. I’m sure you will be encouraged as John opens up Mark’s gospel with us this Sunday.

There is something about having a meal with someone that helps people let their guard down and open up. Often times you can learn details about someone during the course of meal that would just never come up otherwise. Sometimes as you learn about others, you also learn about yourself. We’ll see that this week as we continue our study in Mark’s gospel as Jesus as a meal with his disciples.

Sooner or later every one of us faces difficult circumstances that we feel ill equipped to handle. How do get prepared for circumstances like that? Well, Jesus prepared his disciples for difficult times that would be far beyond them. That preparation is so valuable for us today.

Have you ever been around someone who is simply exceptional at their craft? One of the reasons they are is generally because their eyes have been trained to see things that rest of us miss. An exceptional mechanic, doctor, athlete, teacher, all see things in their field that most of the world doesn’t even know what they’re looking at. During our next study in Mark’s gospel, Jesus will train his disciples and us to see what truly matters in life. It will be eye opening.

Have you ever been challenged by someone? Maybe they ask you a question and it is a trap to reveal some gaps in your thinking. Jesus can relate. He was often asked difficult questions, but unlike us he always had just the right answers. His answers reveal our own potential blind spots and challenge us to prioritize life differently. This Sunday’s message will be a fascinating look into how Jesus dealt with skeptics and how we should live based on the wisdom he shared.

Have you ever felt like you’ve lost your mojo, your secret sauce, your groove, and just don’t have “it” like you used to? Maybe it was the grinding stress of discouragement, slowly eroding your faith in God’s power to work through you. Or maybe it was one big storm that took the wind out of your sails. Thankfully, God has empowered us for the mission He’s called us to, and He knows exactly what we’re going through. And Jesus Himself faced down unthinkable challenges during His life on earth. So we don’t have to stay stuck in a rut. This Sunday, we’ll gear up for our mission by looking at one of the biggest challenges Jesus faced.

Have you ever been in a situation where you are asking the wrong question so you’re not getting the answers you had hoped? Or worse still, you are giving the wrongs answers and therefore not getting the results you had hoped. We know the importance of asking the right questions and giving the right answers, but what are the right questions and answers. This week, as we study the next section in Mark’s gospel, Jesus will give wisdom so that we can ask and answer correctly the most important questions of life.

What defines your life? What in your life would you give up everything to protect? A young man had to wrestle with that as he dialogued with Jesus. He gave up everything to protect his wealth and in the end he was sad. When we find our identity in anything or anyone other than Jesus that’s what ultimately happens.

GOAT, greatest of all time, has become a popular acronym in our culture. We use it to talk about athletes and actors. As it turns out Jesus had something to say about true greatness. His definition redefines what the world would say with practical wisdom for all of us.

This Sunday we are jumping back into our Empowered series on the book of Mark! We often live our lives rushing from one event to the next, feeling captive to the demands of our schedules. We’ve been conditioned to believe this is just what a “normal” family does. But you weren’t made for this constant spin cycle! Starting this Sunday in Mark 9 we will see that we were made for more that the hamster wheel of life. Jesus empowers his church to live sacrificially as we serve others. So, join us as we discover what the Empowered life is all about.

Happy New Year Central! May your new year be filled with blessings and may you grow even closer to God! With a new year comes new plans and goals. What would it look like if we were to allow God to make the plans and for us to be willing to be used by Him in 2023? Join us this Sunday for the 10:30 service to make sure our new year plans are not about us using God the way we see fit, but instead allowing God to use us the way He sees fit.

Merry Christmas! This weekend is one of our most special weekends of the year. This will be a unique service where we light our final advent candle and have some fun as we worship Christ, our king!

Charles Dickens', A Christmas Carol, is the most popular Christmas play of the season. There is something so captivating about the story. Scrooge begins by declaring Christmas is a humbug, a fraud. Instinctively people have a visceral reaction to such a thought. Everything from the lights, the decorations, the music, and the food tell us there is something special about this season. However, what truly makes Christmas special is the true light from heaven – Jesus Christ.

In many ways Christmas is the most beautiful time of the year. It’s that time when houses are lit up, Christmas trees are put up, and decorations abound alerting us that this is a special season. But, with all the glitz and glamour, all the lights and decorations, there is just one true light. If we miss Him we miss more than we realize. However, if we receive the true light we gain more than we ever imagined.

The world is full of darkness. We look around and we see the darkness of broken relationships, the darkness of broken-down bodies, the darkness of broken hopes and dreams. At the dawn of creation, as the darkness hovered, the first words spoken by God were, let there be light. It was as if God the Son pulled back the curtains of time and space and revealed the splendor of who He is before he ever spoke the physical world into existence. He filled the universe with the light of His presence. This Christmas season we are joining with John as He first introduced Jesus and inviting you Into the Light. The Christmas message provides a light of hope for a broken humanity. And the thing about light is – light always defeats the darkness! So, come into the light with us this Christmas season!

We have made it to the half-way point in Mark’s gospel. There are 16 chapters and we are studying the end of Mark 8 this Sunday. The half-way point also marks a major shift in the book. The focus will turn from rightly recognizing the person of Jesus to rightly recognizing the mission of Jesus and the mission he empowers his disciples for. This is an important section and timely reminder of what’s required for genuine discipleship.

November 20, 2022