TIME: The one thing we always want more of but can never get enough of. We're taking a deep dive into...you guessed it...TIME.

The writer of Ecclesiastes teaches that there is a TIME for everything under the sun: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

During this series, we're going to answer one of the hardest questions: what do we do with the short amount of TIME we've been given?

TIME: The one thing we always want more of but can never get enough of. We're taking a deep dive into...you guessed it...TIME. The writer of Ecclesiastes teaches that there is a TIME for everything under the sun: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. During this series, we're going to answer one of the hardest questions: what do we do with the short amount of TIME we've been given?

TIME: The one thing we always want more of but can never get enough of. We're taking a deep dive into...you guessed it...TIME. The writer of Ecclesiastes teaches that there is a TIME for everything under the sun: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. During this series, we're going to answer one of the hardest questions: what do we do with the short amount of TIME we've been given?

TIME: The one thing we always want more of but can never get enough of. We're taking a deep dive into...you guessed it...TIME.

Our focus this year is on establishing the Kingdom of God, which is here but also has not yet come. By starting small, the goal is that we both reach people and serve people. Our faith only has to be as small as a mustard seed, but even just an ounce of faith has the power to move mountains and help build the Kingdom of God to become more of a reality in people's lives.

Have you ever noticed a chain of events in your life? Where one seemingly small act or moment snowballed and determined the entire outcome of a season in your life? In Acts 16, there was a huge chain of events that brought the apostle Paul and his companions into the depths of a Roman prison but simultaneously brought hope to a number of different “prisoners”. Explore this Actstension with Paul’s crew on another missionary journey as Pastor Dave takes us deeper into the Acts of the Apostles!

Rome was the promise for Paul’s ministry, but wreckage was the process of getting there. Although any sort of collision in life is devastating at best and nothing we would ever desire for ourselves, for Paul it was the means for revealing God’s miracle power and plan for His life and those around him. Whether it was the Alexandrian ship in Acts 27 or his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul lived his life wrecked. From raging seas to house arrest, Paul embraced the wreckage because he knew that it enabled him to leave a legacy worth following. With his last few years spent in Rome he did not waste his time focused on praying for his own needs and bondage, but rather remembered the Lord’s people and their beautiful days ahead building Christ’s Church.

Red gloves lifted in victory unleash a roar from a crowd waiting in anticipation for their champion to take home the belt! This moment is the picture-perfect snapshot for the front page of any magazine, newspaper, or social media post. It’s the moment that every fighter lives for.

During his two years under house arrest in Rome, Paul wrote a series of letters (referred to as “Prison Epistles” today) that shaped the early Church in a profound manner. Though this was not a typical prison sentence, the title “Penned In Prison” alludes to Paul’s mental and emotional imprisonment. With one hand bound to a soldier and the other holding a quill, he began to pen a letter that would have a ripple of impact, not only on members of the New Testament Church, but also on our hearts today. One dangerous letter that Paul authored in the midst of what we read in Acts 28 is focused on two important leaders of the Church at this time in history: Philemon and Onesimus.

Close your eyes and remember this moment: You’re driving with your family, packed in a minivan (if you ever had one), and you’re in vacation mode. Dad is driving, Mom is directing, the kids in the back (you) are screaming. Vacay-perfection. But then there’s a moment in which things don’t go as planned. Dad misses a turn, the cell service is awful, and now you and your fam-packed minivan are lost. This Actstension brings us along a similar journey to find our long-lost brother Sosthenes. (We say 'long-lost' because in Acts 18 the brother was lost until he encountered Paul. It isn’t until reading 1 Corinthians that we see him go from 'lost-brother' to a 'blood-bought-brother.')