Listen to Today's Devotion Hospitality and hospital come from the same Latin word, for they both lead to the same result: healing. When you open your door to someone, you’re sending this message: “You matter to me and to God.” Do you know people who need this message? Your hospitality can be their hospital. All you need are a few basic practices. Issue a genuine invitation. Let your guests know you want them to come. Make a big deal of their arrival. One of God’s children is coming to your house! Address the needs of your guests. Modern-day hospitality includes the sharing of fo ..read more

Listen to Today's Devotion Our society is set up for isolation. We communicate via e-mail and text messages. Our mantra: “I leave you alone. You leave me alone.” Yet God wants his people to be an exception—people of hospitality. “Every day in the Temple and in people’s homes they continued teaching the people and telling the Good News—that Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 5:42 NCV). Even a casual reading of the New Testament unveils the house as the primary tool of the church. The first generation of Christians was a tinderbox of contrasting cultures and backgrounds, united through the clearest of m ..read more

Listen to Today's Devotion What if the missing ingredient for changing the world is teamwork? “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action” (Matthew 18:19 MSG). This is an astounding promise. The Jerusalem church found a way to work together. They found common ground in the death, the burial, and resurrection of Christ. Because they did, lives were changed. And as you and I do, the same will happen. The congregation is a microcosm of God’s plan. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. And when we do, “G ..read more

Listen to Today's Devotion None of us can do what all of us can do. Remember Jesus’ commission to the disciples? “You”—speaking to all of you collectively—”will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8 NIV). Jesus didn’t issue individual assignments. He works in community. “Jesus is the head of the body, which is the church” (Colossians 1:18 NCV). I am not his body; you are not his body. We—together—are his body. But this body has been known to misbehave. The brain discounts the heart – academics discount worshippers. The hands criticize the knees – people of action criticize people of prayer. It is a clear ..read more

Listen to Today's Devotion Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again” (John 6:35 NLT). You know, the grain-to-bread process is a demanding one. Bread is the end result of planting, harvesting, and heating. Jesus endured an identical process. He was born into this world. And then he was cut down, bruised, and beaten on the threshing floor of Calvary. He passed through the fire of God’s wrath, for our sake. Jesus “suffered because of others’ sins…He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18 MSG). Bread of ..read more

Listen to Today's Devotion Reading from Acts chapter 2 (NIV): “Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind, came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” What a moment on the Day of Pentecost! Whatever could this mean? Peter responded to that question with a trio of God-given endorsements of Christ. He talked about when Jesus healed bodies and called life out of L ..read more

Listen to Today's Devotion Pentecost was the busiest day of the year in Jerusalem, and Jesus’ followers were gathered in prayer. Not separated from society, but smack-dab in the center of it. Once God had them where he needed them, the Holy Spirit came upon them suddenly. First as wind, then as individual tongues of fire. Individual flames hovering over each person. “And they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4 NKJV). People from all over the world heard the wonderful works of God. Whatever could this miracle mean? God loves the nations. He has a red ..read more

Listen to Today's Devotion “God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27 NLT). I invite you to pray this prayer with me: Loving Father, you made me, so you know very well that I am but dust. Yet you have called me into your kingdom to serve you at this specific place, at this specific time, for a very specific purpose. Despite my ordinariness, I belong to you—and you are anything but ordinary! Help me pour out your grace and compassion upon others that they, too, may experience the richness of your love. Through me, my Father ..read more

Listen to Today's Devotion “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NIV). Does Jesus still use simple folks like us to change the world? You know, we suffer from such ordinariness. But God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. So don’t let Satan convince you otherwise. He will tell you that God has an IQ requirement or an entry fee. And when Satan whispers such lies, dismiss him with this truth: God stampeded the first-century society with swaybacks, not thoroughbreds. There is no evidence that Jesus chose the ..read more

Listen to Today's Devotion Can God use us? I have 120 answers to that question—the charter members of the Jerusalem church (Acts 1:15). They had nothing more than this going for them, and that is a fire in the belly to change the world. Luke recorded their stories in the book of Acts. It cracks with the sounds of God’s ever-expanding work. Would God do with us what he did with his first followers? You know ours is the wealthiest generation of Christians ever. We have enough food to feed the hungry. We have enough bedrooms to house the orphans. I don’t mean to oversimplify these terribly compli ..read more