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  Acts 18:24-26 Click here to listen to today’s devotional My grandma wanted to watch a movie with us one night. So, we took her pick and had a blast. As the movie went on, she kept saying she didn't remember certain parts. She didn't remember the movie being as funny as it was that night. Turns out, we were watching the director's cut. The director's cut is the same story, but there are additional scenes added that you didn't know about. New conversations, details, or experiences help develop and make more sense of the story. Apollos had a faith like that. Acts describes him as eloquent, passionate, and deeply knowledgeable in the Scriptures. He boldly taught about Jesus. In other words, he wasn't a beginner. But then Priscilla and Aquila invited him into their home and, as The Message puts it, "told him the rest of the story." Now, they didn't tear down what he already knew. They expanded it. They gave him the director's cut. How many of us ...

  Psalm 105:1-6 Click here to listen to today’s devotional Chances are, your religion is boring. But that doesn't have to keep you from what is exciting. A.W. Tozer once said, "Boredom with religion is conceivable, but being bored with God is not. Those who have encountered God and his mighty, awesome presence could never come to the point of boredom. Religion, however, with all of its tiresome dos and don'ts, sets us up for such boredom. Anyone who tries to follow his religion religiously experiences great moments of boredom in the minutia." I wonder how many of us mistake our boredom with religion for boredom with God. Do you know the feeling? The songs don't move you anymore, and even the prayers feel recycled. Yes, you know when to stand and when to sit. You know the stories and all the church answers. Your faith can become so familiar that you stop expecting to be surprised. But there's no room for boredom in Psalm 105. Listen to the action: "Give th...

  Matthew 15:32-39 Click here to listen to today’s devotional It surprises some people to learn there's another story about Jesus feeding thousands with a few pieces of bread and fish. In Matthew, it happens only one chapter after the more familiar feeding of the 5,000. Why do we tend to remember the 5,000 and forget the 4,000? Maybe we just like bigger numbers. But I've been wondering if Matthew wants us to connect this second feeding story not only to the first one, but also to the story immediately before it. Jesus encounters a Canaanite woman desperate for her daughter to be healed. Their conversation sounds like a debate about dinner. Jesus tells her, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." Ouch. But she doesn't walk away. "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Touché. Jesus heals her daughter, a Canaanite daughter. Then Jesus keeps walking and soon thousands of peopl...

  Acts 2:37-42 Click here to listen to today’s devotional Peter had just stood up to tell the story of Jesus, and then lands his sermon with a sentence that feels like a punch to the chest: “God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” “Cut to the heart,” the people ask, “Brothers, what should we do?” What do you do when you realize you got something wrong? You believed something you no longer believe. You had an attitude you’re embarrassed to admit. You hurt somebody. You spent years walking in a direction that wasn’t taking you where God wanted to go. Peter told them, “Repent and be baptized.” There’s some holy irony there. Peter has just told them, “You crucified Jesus.” Now he tells them to be baptized in Jesus' name. The name they rejected became the name they were about to center their life around. That’s repentance. We sometimes think repentance means a religious apology. While confession matters, repentance goes further. Repentance is changing you...

  Romans 1:8-15 Click here to listen to today’s devotional I took a head start on my new church. They didn’t know it, but before I ever unpacked a box or preached a sermon, I was already praying for them. I’ve made it a personal commitment that no one prays more for my church than I do. Now, I don’t say that to brag about my prayer life. I say it because I want prayer to be underneath everything we do. If something beautiful grows here, I want us to remember where it came from. The apostle Paul seems to understand this. Before he ever arrives in Rome, he tells the church, “I remember you always in my prayers.” Recognize that he hasn’t shared a meal with them. He hasn’t sat in their homes or learned all their names. But he has already carried them to God in prayer. Soon, I’m going to invite my church to join me. I always welcome the prayer competition. Try to out-pray me. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? We become a church full of people trying to pray more for one anothe...

  Joshua 18:1-3 Click here to listen to today’s devotional We were eating our eggs and bacon at a men’s Bible study, reading Joshua 18, when I kept going back to something Joshua asked the people: “How long will you be slack about going in and taking possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you?" Remember, Joshua was one of those brave spies in Numbers 13. Back then, he would have been about forty, part of that original group sent to scout the land. Now, he’s an old man. And yet, it doesn't sound like he's softened his passion. He still speaks with urgency and fire. As the leader, he expects that God’s people should step forward into their promise. That means a lot to me in part because I’ve heard the warning several times in my life, “Just wait until you get older.” As if age automatically drains your joy. But I don’t think that’s the way it has to be. I’ve been fortunate to know many older saints who didn’t just get older; they grew olde...