Central Baptist Church, Portsmouth, Virginia

Have you ever heard the phrase “for this reason”? Or maybe “I told you all of that so that…”? That’s how Paul begins chapter 3 of Ephesians. All of that foundational knowledge of shifting from more effort to more Jesus and from more volunteers to more masterpieces served to set the stage for what Paul would write next. It’s some of the most gripping prose ever written.

Have you ever felt like a stranger? It's awkward and uncomfortable. It's not your place, your area, your people. In this sermon we see how God took strangers and made a family. It's our last look at the need to shift from more volunteers to more masterpieces.

“I did it!” Those are three very powerful words. They are words that each of us have probably declared proudly at one point or another. Being able to say those three little words bring us feelings of confidence, joy, accomplishment, and relief. But what happens when we can’t say those words, and all we are left with is a defeated “I can’t do it”? It’s a vulnerable place to be, but it forces us to look outside of ourselves for the solution. In this sermon, we continue our walk through Ephesians and see how God responds to the biggest “I can’t do it” of all.

Last week we commissioned a lot of missionaries. Be sure to share your stories of celebration and struggle so that we can encourage one another as we take the fullness of Jesus into our own mission fields. God has made us for mission! We’ll see that over the next three weeks as we explore the shift of moving from more volunteers to more masterpieces.

God has called us all to be everyday missionaries wherever we live, work, study, and play so that the fullness of Jesus can fill everything in every way. If you are serious about the masterpiece mission God has designed for you, we would like to affirm God's gifting and calling on your life by commissioning you to make disciples in your sphere of influence.

Do you ever feel like you’ve got a million things on your mind or on your to do list? Are there emails sitting in your inbox that you feel like you should get to? It’s so easy, and all too common, to become so engulfed in the day-to-day that we lose the obsession of Jesus growing ever larger in our minds, our hearts, our homes, and our church. We’re tempted to settle for a little Jesus. Join us as we build one another up to shift from more effort to more Jesus.

What is your reason for being? Jesus designed His church to take the fullness of Christ into every corner of culture and every sphere of society. That is a huge calling and God handpicked you to be a part of it. We're praying our theme will shatter your small dreams and God will awaken you to the reality that you were made for more. Join us as we begin our new sermon series and theme for the year, Made for More.

There are so many distractions in our world aren’t there? What if we’re missing things God wants to teach us because we’re so busy doing good things, but we miss the best thing? The problem isn’t unique to us, people have dealt with this for centuries. Join us Sunday, we’ll be amazed by all 66 books of the Bible as we consider what it's like to learn from Jesus Face to Face.

It is said that people are like icebergs. We reveal about 15-20% of what is really going on in our lives. The other 80-85% we keep hidden below the water line. Imagine someone coming along who knows everything you've ever done, the full 100%, every last skeleton exposed. And right when you're about to be embarrassed and ashamed, they say I love you anyway.

Sometimes we can’t kind find what we’re looking for because we are looking in the wrong place. Where do you look when you want to celebrate? We’ll talk about that as we celebrate together this Sunday.