Central Baptist Church, Portsmouth, Virginia

This week Pastor Steve takes a look at the statement from Jesus, "I thirst". We also get to hear from Ron Minton, our missionary to the Ukraine, on how he and his wife, Nancy, are making disciples.

We’ve all dealt with struggle and hardships. No one is a stranger to pain and despair. It may surprise you to know that Jesus can relate. As we continue to look at what Jesus said from the cross we’ll see that he knows heartache all too well. What’s more, he knows the way out. He can navigate us through difficult seasons of life so that we can be overcomers. Check out this week’s message to learn...

As we continue Missions Month here at Central in our series of the Seven Sayings from the Cross. We will take a look at Jesus’ third statement, “Woman, behold your son.” Together, we will see Jesus’ compassion on full display. Even in the pain, stress, and extreme pressure He endured, he still showed compassion to others.

Our days are full driving by and walking past so many people who are nameless to us. This Sunday, as we look at Jesus' second statement from the cross we'll meet perhaps the most well-known nameless person. And we'll be encouraged that no matter how loud life may get no one is ever nameless to God. He's always present in every moment of everyday.

Sin is deadly and grace is extremely expensive. On the cross, all of the sin of humanity was placed upon the Lamb of God who takes it all away. From that cross Jesus made 7 statements. Statements that demonstrate both the ugliness of sin and the cost of grace. Together, we’ll study those 7 statements and discover how Jesus is calling us to be people who experience grace and then pay the cost to ex...

Every once in a while we read something so striking that it causes us to reread it, to ask questions, to make sure we understand it. This week we as we continue our Minor Prophets study we will begin looking at the book of Nahum. It's a short book full of beautiful and yet brutal poetry. It's a book that almost stops us in our tracks as it is designed to cause God's people to trust...

Every once in a while we read something so striking that it causes us to reread it, to ask questions, to make sure we understand it. This week we as we continue our Minor Prophets study we will begin looking at the book of Nahum. It's a short book full of beautiful and yet brutal poetry. It's a book that almost stops us in our tracks as it is designed to cause God's people to trust...

Last week, Clarence helped us wrestle with the fact that life presents some hard, difficult questions. We saw the importance of remaining faithful even when so many of our questions are unanswered. This week, as finish up our study of Habakkuk we’ll see that God desires for us to move past our confusion to place of thriving. The conclusion to God’s conversation with this prophet is wisdom we all n...

Do you remember when life was simpler? You know, that time when it just seemed that you had the answers to most of life's questions. That is definitely not the case now, in fact it is quite the opposite. Often, life does not make much sense at all as we have so many questions and the answers to those questions just don't seem to be sufficient. The lack of answers can sometimes leave us i...

This week we wrap up the Minor Prophet of Jonah.

We all want God’s favor and his blessing on our lives. However, sometimes we fail to realize what that favor and blessing often entails. This week we’ll begin looking at the familiar book of Jonah. It’s a story we know well, but some of the lessons from the book can take a while for us to learn. Join us this Sunday as we dig into this most well-known minor prophet. A prophet we often relate to all...

Often times in life there are certain things in life that we want so desperately. Then, once we get those things we realize what we wanted isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Join us Sunday morning as Micah pleads with a group of people who have everything they want, but are missing what they truly need. As you read Micah it’s a lot like reading the headlines of the day.

We get back into our study of the Minor Prophets with Micah.

Happy new year Central! As we start off 2022, you might already have a plan of how 2022 is going to go. You might even have some new year’s resolutions already going strong. But what happens when things don’t work out according to plan? What if we find ourselves in the worst-case scenario? We might be tempted to try to work things out on our own or even fold under the pressure. Thankfully, there i...

Merry Christmas! I hope you that you and your family have a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus, his life, and the life he gives.

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...

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...

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 j...

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 t...

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.