One of the most seductive traps into fleshly ministry is the belief that we must gain God’s acceptance by our accomplishments. The accomplishments might even be spiritual goals—winning souls, building a Sunday school class, raising godly children. But if we undertake them to gain the Father’s acceptance, we’re working in the flesh and missing the joy of the acceptance provided through Christ.

On a scorching hot Monday in July of 1958, Louis Johnson and his family arrived in Tucson, Arizona. By the following Sunday, Pastor Johnson had reserved a room for the first church service in the Pueblo Garden Elementary School. Pastor Johnson and his oldest son knocked on eight hundred doors the following week, inviting everyone that was home to attend a new church plant. Twenty-eight people attended the first service in 1958.

Who is God using to bring you low today? Perhaps it is a proud Peninnah to taunt you along the way. How about a jealous Haman plotting to hang you out to dry, Or a disloyal Absalom cursing you like a Shimei?

If you were choosing men to turn the world upside down, who would you pick? What vocation would you draw from? I might pick lawyers (they know how to press a point), political activists (they engage fully), writers (their pens triumph even the sword), investors (they understand that large undertakings require capital), or CEOs (they get the need for oversight and administration). But Jesus chose fishermen.

Just the word hospitality sounds warm, fuzzy and inviting! Hospitality says, “Welcome!” If you’re like me, you have good intentions! You want to do right; you want to be a blessing, and you want to encourage others. Well, good intentions get us nowhere. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

A few things in life are absolutely tragic. Some things are mysteriously strange. Many, however, are just plain funny. There isn’t a day that passes in which I fail to see, hear, or read something that makes me smile. And because laughter is such effective therapy, I’m grateful that God dispenses this divine medication so frequently.

Growing up in the average Australian household means a life void of religion, God, or faith. By the time Robert Bakss of Sydney, Australia, was eight years old, his parents had divorced, and he found himself in not one, but two of these average Aussie households. “I went through a bit of an ordeal then,” Robert recalls, “I was going back and forth between two homes, a dysfunctional sort of home life.”

Do you ever feel inadequate for the demands of the day? I do—every day! The longer I serve the Lord, the more I recognize my need for His power. Also, the longer I serve Him, the more I recognize my need to trust His power.

Neither I nor any other human being is the source of your liberty. I cannot extend liberty to you, and I cannot determine whether or not you have a clear conscience. We have liberty in Christ.

As a pastor who too often counsels people affected by the dark side of the Internet, I am very aware of the dangers posed online. Wandering hearts, inconsistent identities, even child predators—all of these find themselves very much at home online. (Of course, they find themselves at home offline too, but the internet does provide easy access for amplification of these sins.)