Central Church Podcast

Hannah continues the “A Sound Mind” series by discussing faith, mental health, and the importance of bringing grief, anxiety, and depression honestly to God. She describes lament as a prayer that holds sorrow alongside faith, drawing on examples from the Psalms and Jesus’ life, and outlines a practice based on Psalm 13: address God, voice a complaint, ask for help, express trust, and choose how to continue.
The message concludes with an invitation to write or share a lament and seek support and prayer rather than carrying pain alone.

0:07 Loving God with Our Minds

3:11 When Grief Overwhelms

8:35 God Wants All of Us

10:17 Learning the Practice of Lament

14:02 Lament in Scripture and in Jesus

18:02 Jesus Weeps with the Grieving

23:39 Jesus’ Lament on the Cross

28:02 Faith Without All the Answers

30:03 Sorrow Wrapped in Faith

36:10 A Practical Guide to Lament

43:00 Practicing Lament Together

In this episode, Pastor Chris begins a new series called “A Sound Mind,” looking at mental health and the Christian life through Scripture. The church should talk about anxiety, depression, and spiritual wholeness, and these kinds of teachings are designed to work in tandem with therapy and medication.

0:08 Mental Health and Sound Mind

5:23 Scripture Speaks

7:31 Timothy’s Anxiety

12:36 Spirit Over Fear

18:42 Captive Thoughts

29:05 Think on Truth

33:13 Spirit-Guided Healing

35:31 Renewing the Mind

37:18 Centering Prayer

In this episode, the sermon opens in Micah 6:1–8, where God brings a case against Israel and asks what he has done to burden them. Pastor Toney explains that the passage is like a courtroom scene and focuses on the people’s question of what they should bring before God.

The message centers on Micah 6:8 and the call to “love mercy,” using the language of justice, kindness, loyalty, and faithfulness to describe God’s character. It then turns to Luke 10 and the parable of the Good Samaritan, where Jesus shows mercy through practical care for a wounded man.

The sermon closes by saying the goal is not simply to do good things, but to become people shaped by God’s mercy, justice, and compassion.

Chapters:

0:07 Cosmic Courtroom Opens

2:53 Parents and Protests

7:58 The Real Question

12:18 What God Requires

23:00 The Good Samaritan

31:23 Shaped by Chesed

In this episode of the Central Church Podcast, Pastor Hannah explores what it means to “do justice” as followers of Jesus, beginning with Micah 6:8: to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. She contrasts retributive justice with God’s restorative justice—a justice that moves toward what is broken, repairs harm, and works toward wholeness and shalom. Looking at Jesus’ mission in Luke 4, Hannah shows us what God’s justice looks like in action and challenges us to respond through surrender, prayer, and practicing justice together in community.

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:07 - A Better Kind of Justice
06:04 - God Already Told Us
13:18 - Restorative Justice
17:22 - Look at Jesus
22:54 - Jesus Makes Things Right
26:58 - Practice, Not Just Words
30:58 - Pray for Transformation
34:10 - Justice Together
40:31 - Available to Be Used

For more information and resources, visit centralchurch.cc or email [email protected]. See you next Sunday!

In this episode of the Central Church Podcast, Pastor Chris continues our series “The Questions of Jesus” by exploring one of Jesus’ most revealing questions: “What do you want me to do for you?” Looking at two encounters in Mark 10, he contrasts James and John’s request for power and position with Bartimaeus’ desperate request for mercy and healing. Through these stories, we’re invited to examine what’s really in our hearts and consider whether we’re coming to Jesus from a place of privilege and self-interest or dependence and trust.

Chapters:
00:00 - Jesus’ Servant Kingdom
11:02 - James and John’s Ambition
21:21 - Bartimaeus Calls Out
29:35 - What Do You Want?
33:49 - Following the Way

For more information and resources, visit centralchurch.cc or email [email protected]. See you next Sunday!

In this episode of the Central Church Podcast, Casey continues the Questions of Jesus series with Mark 8:34-38, exploring Jesus’ question: What does it profit us to gain the whole world but lose our soul? Casey challenges us to consider what we may be willing to trade for comfort, success, security, influence, and recognition, and asks who we are becoming in the process. He connects Jesus’ teaching to His temptation in the wilderness and reminds us that following Jesus means surrendering self-rule, taking up our cross, and choosing obedience over the shortcuts that promise fulfillment without surrender.

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction and Announcements
05:57 - Young Ministry Changes
08:00 - The Cost of Discipleship
15:59 - Temptation in the Wilderness
22:42 - Nothing Worth Losing Your Soul
27:15 - Take Up Your Cross
29:41 - Grace, Not Self-Improvement
33:05 - Communion and Surrender

For more information and resources, visit centralchurch.cc or email [email protected]. See you next Sunday!

In this episode of the Central Church Podcast, Pastor Hannah reflects on Matthew chapter 6 and Jesus’ question, “Why do you worry?” She explores what it means to live with a divided heart when our attention is pulled in a hundred different directions by work, family, finances, relationships, and the future. Rather than dismissing anxiety or suffering, Jesus invites us to examine what has our attention and discover another way to live—one centered on God’s care, provision, and kingdom.

Chapters:
00:07 - Divided Hearts
04:44 - Worry in the Crowd
10:53 - More Than Anxiety
16:34 - Look at the Birds
24:22 - Today, Not Tomorrow
31:34 - Peace Recentered
32:12 - Philippians Prayer Practice
36:40 - Another Way to Live

For more information and resources, visit centralchurch.cc or email [email protected]. See you next Sunday!

In this episode of the Central Church Podcast, Pastor Rodney continues our Image Bearers series by exploring what it means to truly reflect God's image in our everyday lives. Looking at Jesus' response in Matthew 22, he challenges us to honor earthly authority while giving our ultimate allegiance to God. Along the way, he asks an important question: Whose image are you really reflecting? As followers of Jesus, we're invited to resist building our own identity around culture, politics, personalities, or personal preferences, and instead allow Christ to shape us into people who display His love, grace, and truth.

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:08 - Tax and Allegiance
02:21 - What It Means to Be an Image Bearer
08:21 - From Image to Idolatry
13:30 - Who Is Shaping Your Image?
17:53 - Caesar or God?
21:23 - What You Treasure Shapes You
24:31 - Returning to God's Image
28:36 - Commit to the Process

For more information and resources, visit centralchurch.cc or email [email protected]. See you next Sunday!

In this episode of the Central Church Podcast, Hannah begins our Image Bearers series by exploring Genesis 1:26–31 and what it means to be created in the image of God. She reminds us that our identity isn't something we have to create or discover, it's something God has already given us. Although sin distorted God's image in humanity, Jesus perfectly reveals what God is like and, through the Holy Spirit, restores us to reflect Him more faithfully every day.

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
01:25 - What it means to be image bearers
13:10 - Created on purpose
18:41 - The fall and broken identity
27:49 - Jesus, the perfect image
32:09 - Restored by the Spirit
37:23 - Living as image bearers

In this episode of the Central Church Podcast, we conclude our series through Colossians by exploring Paul's final instructions to the church in Colossians 4. As the letter comes to a close, we're reminded that a Christ-centered life means keeping our eyes open to what God is doing all around us. Through devoted prayer, grateful hearts, gracious words, and everyday opportunities to love others, we're invited to participate in God's mission and reveal Christ in ordinary places.

Chapters:
00:23 – The Word of the Lord
01:51 – New Baby, New Family
05:15 – Why Endings Matter
15:41 – Reframing the Household Code
20:20 – Open Eyes, Open Hearts
24:35 – Speak with Grace
30:06 – Keep Your Eyes Open
32:47 – Responding in Communion

For more information and resources, visit centralchurch.cc or email [email protected]. See you next Sunday!