Daily Devotionals

Read Acts 14:1-20

PAUL

Remarkably, though laying lifeless in a pool of his own blood, Paul got right backup and walked back into the city from which he had been dragged and left fordead. I mean, is this missionary determined or what? True grit.

Read Acts 13:45-48

PAUL

When Paul was rejected, he didn’t quit. As my good friend and wise mentor, Howie Hendricks, often says, “Where there’s light, there are bugs!” The brighter Paul’s light, the more the bugs. And in that situation, those bugs had stingers filled with poison.

What grit! Paul didn’t back down an inch in his response to open rejection. The result? Not surprisingly, the Gentiles in the crowd rejoiced in the good news he had for them. How exciting! What started as a smouldering ember of religious curiosity burst into flames of faith.

Read Acts 13:14-32

PAUL

Paul’s message emphasized the gospel to the lost and grace to the saved. That is a wonderful paradigm for any minister or ministry to adopt. As I’ve studied the life of Paul, particularly in his later years, I find two prominent themes woven like thread through the tapestry of his ministry.

Read Acts 13:14-52

PAUL

Paul and Barnabas arrived at Pisidian Antioch, weary and aching from their perilous march through the mountains. Still, they wasted no time in making their way to the synagogue early enough to find a good seat to listen to the reading of God's Word. They made their destination by the Sabbath.

Read Acts 12:25; 13:5, 13-15

PAUL

Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark left Cyprus and sailed to the southern coast of Turkey — a land then known as Pamphylia, whose rugged coastline ascended sharply into the towering heights of a mountain range steeper and fiercer than the eastern Tauras near Tarsus, and more terrible than any hills known to the Cypriot Barnabas or the Judean John Mark.

Read Acts 13:6-12

PAUL

This was no time for Paul to be tolerant or passive. We live in a culture that virtually deifies tolerance. One lady recently said to me with a broad grin, "I love everybody; I even love the Devil." I call that "tolerance gone to seed." Make no mistake, we're not to love the Devil, nor are we to love everything everybody does. Christ commands us to love people, even our enemies, but that doesn't mean we shrink from standing up for righteousness.

Read Acts 12:25-13:5

PAUL

Keeping the clay of your will supple and flexible calls for constant attention along the way. Once you grow hard and brittle to God's leading, you're less usable to Him. I want to take the truths we've wrestled with here and make them into a softening ointment you can regularly apply when a change is on the horizon. The ingredients in the ointment you need to apply include a pinch of the negative and a smidgen of thepositive.

Read Acts 12:25-13:3

PAUL

I need to make a couple of observations about the nature of ministry. The way God chooses to lead His ministry is often difficult to get our arms around. Finding direction in the corporate world comes somewhat easier. There’s a clearly stated bottom line, shareholders to report to, and defined markets that guide company decisions.

Read Acts 12:25-13:3

PAUL

While they were ministering to the Lord-fasting, singing, teaching, witnessing, and praying—theHoly Spirit said, “OK, hitch up the wagons, fellas...westward, ho! I need Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Read Acts 11:19-26

PAUL

In every ministry, there are at least three essentials that produce an atmosphere of joyous co-operation. They are objectives, people, and places.