The Adventures of Paul – November 13, 2022

Acts 28:16-31

Pastor Tim Nguyen

I think for most of us, life tends to be mundane. Life is not just one long string of Instagram highlights. We might have a few highlights each week, but for most of us the vast majority of our time is spent doing things that don’t photograph well.

On the flip side, maybe Instagram was onto something, even a Biblical idea that our life could be really great.

Maybe the truth is in the middle. Much of life LOOKS boring. But it can be great while looking boring. I believe we can thrive in the ordinary moments of life if we can appreciate the opportunities God gives us every day.

My big idea today is, in order to make the most of every circumstance, we should:

1. Look for golden opportunities

2. Look for ordinary opportunities

We’ll see this in our Bible story.

The Adventures of Paul – November 6, 2022

Acts 17:24-32

Pastor David Cay

Perhaps the most important misunderstanding and one that we need to deal with is the ones that deal with the character of God. There is a big segment of people that believe God is immoral like a violent dictator. Other people think he’s an imaginary friend that helps you get through problems.

But the Bible teaches something different. Our Bible story today teaches us that:

1. God is good for us

2. God can be proven (arguments and evidence for it)

Our Bible story comes from Paul’s adventures in the book of Acts. Paul has been going around cities telling people about Jesus. He gets to the City of Athens and it’s very different from the other cities he came from. It’s very famous for its culture and for their philosophy. Paul soon finds himself debating with the leading philosophers of his day. Paul presents a different idea about God than anything they had heard before.

The Adventures of Paul – October 30, 2022

Acts 14:11-18

Pastor Tim Nguyen

When the Christian life is lived well, and we actually participate and take in what God is offering, it’s this super awesome and rewarding adventure. It gives us purpose. Makes us grow. Brings people together. But it’s very common for Christians to completely miss the point. You could say they lose their way. And so, we’re going to address this in hopes that we’ll have a better chance of staying on track.

Our question today is, “How do Christians lose their way?” I believe two very common mistakes we should be wary of is:

1. We can be distracted by pleasure.

2. We can be discouraged by pain.

In our story today, we get to see two outstanding Christians overcoming the temptations of pleasure and pain.

The Adventures of Paul – October 23, 2022

Acts 13:1-3

Pastor David Cay

So, my question today is what makes a great church? Is it the cool band and fancy lights or is it something else more important? This is an important question because the church is God’s primary way of saving the world.

If we want to join God in his work, we need to take our part in the church, and we need to understand what we’re working for. So, this morning we will learn from the Antioch Church, one of the greatest churches in the Bible.

Let’s read from Acts 13:1-3:

The Adventures of Paul – October 16, 2022

Acts 9:10-18

Pastor Enoch Chee

I want to ask, How can we know what to do? I’m talking about the art of decision making. Obviously we all have to make decisions. Some decisions are relatively small like what to do with a twenty dollar bill. And other decisions are a lot bigger. We have decisions for school and work and relationships and family and lifestyle. Decisions that shape our lives and affect other people. And, so much depends on our ability to make decisions. But fortunately for us, the Bible gives us the tools we need in order to make great decisions.

I believe between these two kinds of directions, we can always know what to do at any moment. We might not know what we should do tomorrow, or next year. We might not make the most efficient plan. We might still have setbacks. BUT I believe we can all know what God wants us to do at this moment. And in any moment we can live with divine wisdom. And over time if we listen to divine wisdom, we can live our best life.

And so I have two points to make from our Bible story today .

1. God gives us specific directions

2. God gives us general directions.

The Adventures of Paul – October 9, 2022

Acts 9:1-9

I chose this story, not just because it was such a dramatic encounter with God, but to show us that we often encounter God through other people. This might surprise us because we have this prevailing thought that it must be dramatic.

But we find time and time again from the Bible and from experience is that we encounter Jesus through our interactions with his people and if we can understand that we can be wiser and more capable of joining God in his work.

So today, through our Bible passage, I want to show you that we often find Jesus among his followers. And when we encounter Jesus, he CONVICTS us and he COMPLETES us.

The Adventures of Paul – October 2, 2022

Acts 7:58

Pastor Enoch Chee

I find that even when we are older we still need to ask questions, because there are still things to learn. And there’s important knowledge out there. Knowledge that would make our lives better. Which brings me to my main question today, how can we save a soul? In other words, how can we help people to find new life in a relationship with God?

I think most Christians would agree it would be great to help someone find new life with God and live forever. And it would be especially great if we’re helping people who are close to us, like our family and friends.

But the problem is, most of the time we don’t see a way to convince people to believe what we do. And it can be discouraging. And it’s normal to be completely stuck when it comes to having those really important conversations about faith. And I get stuck too. But our Bible story today gives us some underrated tools for helping people to start a relationship with God.

My big idea today is, we can help people with EVIDENCE and with EXAMPLE. And our Bible story today teaches us these tools.