Destination Church Spokane Podcast

If you want to live a life that reflects God, and if we together want to have godly relationships, there will be opposition. It's not a matter of "if," but "when" that opposition will come in our lives. Knowing who the real enemy is, and knowing the tactics and schemes of the enemy helps us respond well. Ephesians 6:10-20 is fuel for a relational, praying church, giving us...

How we serve and how we lead others in our own daily lives, in our church community, and in our jobs is an opportunity to reflect who Jesus is in our lives. Somewhere around 60 million people in the Roman Empire were slaves. These often-overlooked people are included in God's family and mission, and treated with dignity in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. His heart is to bring the transfo...

With so much dysfunction around the idea of what a father is and what a father should do, is there hope for fathering well in this generation? Yes! God is the one who equips even those who were raised in great dysfunction to be great parents. Fathers, God is the one who qualifies you, and He is the one who has all the grace you need for all he's called you to be and do.

Does God really expect us to obey our parents? What does it even look like to continue to honor our parents once we're adults? Jesus is the perfect example of honoring His father, and His example demonstrates how we can begin to honor God as well as our parents. While it may be difficult for some of us, especially those in a difficult or strained relationship, God promises that there is bless...

What does a real marriage look like? Does it look like a Hollywood movie? In Ephesians 5, Paul looks at this relationship and how God has designed it to point to Him. It's through learning how to submit in a Christ-honoring way, and learning to love in the same way Christ has loved us that we can see a marriage flourish. Today's podcast helps us to reflect Jesus through real-life marriag...

Do you ever struggle with knowing God's will for your life: what to focus on, and what not to focus on? You are not alone in that! In Ephesians 5:15-21 Paul doesn't give us individually specific direction, but gives us some important principles to live by. Listen today to learn how God has designed your life and your decisions to be shaped by His Word and His Spirit.

Have you ever imitated someone? Perhaps a parent or someone you really looked up to? Well, what if God wants us to imitate Him? That may seem really difficult, but in Ephesians 5 Paul lays out some steps we can take to grow in this. Recognizing things in life that are not like our Father, like sexual immorality, all impurity, covetousness (idolatry), filthiness, "foolish" talk, and crude...

What is God like? Can we really live like Him in the way we treat one another? As Christians what if we don't? God calls us to put on the new self and live like He does, learning not only how to put away falsehood, speak truth, to handle anger in appropriate ways, and to give no foothold for the devil, but also how to build others up with our speech, to forgive, and to live with kind hearts....

As God's people we are empowered to live differently in Christ. We are challenged to put away futile ways of thinking and living, throw off the old self, and to sink into our new identity in Christ. How do we do this best? Together, as a new community!

Do you think of the church as a gift of God to you?  Do you realize that God thinks of the church this way, and that He also has designed you as a gift to help the church mature? In Jesus' authority, generosity, and purpose, we have been given good gifts (people-gifts and leader-gifts) to help us all grow and mature as a church family.

Unity is natural to fallen humanity, though our hearts long for it! So how can we learn to walk together in a way that honors Christ? How do we maintain the "unity of the Spirit," as the Apostle Paul calls it? It will take humility, diligence, and much grace. In Christ and by His grace we can live and walk in a manner worthy of this high calling.

Have you ever met anyone who didn't want love? Everyone wants to be loved, and wants acceptance, strength, and sense of belonging! How can we foster an atmosphere in the church of love, strength, and fullness in Christ? Today we look at Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3 and see how prayer for one another can build us up, build us together, and build God's kingdom! it's in a praying...

It's always good to have our vision clarified and encouraged! Today's podcast is all about why Destination Church exists: "Helping people become joyfully devoted ambassadors of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory and delight of God our Father." We believe God is gathering real people from all walks of life who come just as we are, with all the distress,...

What's so special about Mary? God's favor is on her for sure. When God calls Mary for a great purpose, it's important for us to understand how ordinary she was; otherwise we may miss the point that this story is about Jesus. Just because she was ordinary, that doesn't mean God is! His Holy Spirit and His power qualified Mary to carry the impossible. This is still true today! It...

What was one of the first gifts Jesus received on the first Christmas? Or maybe a better question is WHO was one of the first gifts Jesus received? God chose a man named Joseph and gave him to Jesus to stand in the role of father, equipping him well for the job. Few people would have influenced Jesus as much as Joseph. Was he perfect? No, he needed a Savior just like all of us. Like Joseph, God is...

Is the church still relevant today? Many cultures across the world answer, "No." And yet, God speaks of a multi-faceted wisdom that He has chosen to reveal through the church. How can we discover and be a part of God's intent for the church? Paul's words in Ephesians 3:7-13 point the way.

What was a mystery to previous generations, God is now revealing through Christ. The mystery, as Paul declares it to the Ephesians, is that the Gentiles - the Nations of the world - are now co-inheritors together by grace, with full membership as chosen people of God. What's more, we are also "partakers of promise" with full inclusion in the gospel! We are not merely spectators, but...

A house is not the same thing as a home, is it? God is doing more than building a functional house; He's also building a home, and He's building us together into the household. Building us on apistolic and prophetic foundations, with Christ Jesus himself as the Cornerstone, we are being fitted together as a family on mission that carries God's very presence.

In Ephesians 2 Paul reminds the Ephesians that they were once Gentiles and separate from Christ, but now because of Jesus they have been brought near. Jesus, destroying the barrier of division and hostility, calls the Jews and the Gentiles together to become one new man,  one new people with Christ. Do you feel far from God? Without Christ we were separate from God, excluded from citizenship in Hi...

Do you ever feel dead? Or at least not very alive? Like you're stuck in your sin and just can't seem to live like you feel you should? The Bible says that before Christ we were dead in our sins, incapable of life. But in Christ we are now, by grace through faith , made spiritually alive, raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places with Jesus! What a wonderful gift it is to be ali...

Does God really want to be known? Does He really want you to know Him? The answer from Scripture is a resounding yes! As Matt Deisen from River's Edge Church encourages us in this week's message from the end of Ephesians Chapter 1, we discover that, through the Holy Spirit, we can know Jesus more deeply than the earliest disciples did prior to his death and resurrection. The implications...

Do you find hope in God's sovereignty? Do you think of yourself as having a significant role in His sovereign plan and purpose? Is there any evidence that we really are a part of His eternal plan? Yes, and the Holy Spirit is given to every believer as a downpayment on everything else that God has promised!

What does it mean for us when Paul writes to the Ephesians that "we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places"? Can it really be true that through Christ, the blessings of heaven are ours today? Yes, and we get to enjoy these blessings because we have been chosen in Christ! Paul goes on to claim that we are also predestined for adoption through Christ. This means t...

Paul's greeting to the Ephesians is absolutely loaded with wonderful promise and truth. In this introduction to his letter to the church in Ephesus, we discover the power of being commissioned by God, the joy of being called a holy people, and the security of being a people to whom God has extended his unmerited favor, divine enablement, and total reconciliation. And to top it all off, we are...

Is the typical church gathering today a good representation of what the Apostle Paul says it should look like "when we come together"? What should our gathering look like? Does it have to be the same for everyone and every church? No, but there are some exciting things that all of us can and should expect! It might not be what you think...