The Word for Everyday Disciples with Dave DeSelm

One of the biggest concerns most people have is the economy. And rightly so. The statistics are troubling. Huge numbers of Americans are deeply in debt, declaring bankruptcy, and living way beyond their means. The consequences of poor decisions about money are devastating. Why do we struggle so much with money? It’s because we’ve allowed our culture to form the question instead of God’s Word. The...

When it comes to living wisely, there is no more important area than the matter of your time.  Your time equals your life.  You can run out of money and still have some life left.  You can run out of friends and still have some life left.  But once you’ve run out of time, you have no life left. We’re told in Ephesians 5:15-16 to live “not as unwise, but as wise.” It then goes on to say “making the...

The Bible gives us a filter that can help us evaluate every decision we make in every arena of our lives – whether it’s our finances, our relationships, our schedule, or our careers.  It’s the simple question, Is this wise? There are three ways we can approach this question that can help us make wise decisions. 1.     In light of my past experience, what is the wise thing to do? Philosopher George...

We’ve all made dumb decisions. Choices we wish we could take back and do over.  Some merely embarrass us.  Others tragically scar us.  Nobody ever plans to mess up their life, but few of us ever plan not to. But God’s Word offers us a filter that will help us make better decisions. It’s easy to remember…but a challenge to live out. Why? Because we all are really good at deceiving ourselves. In fac...

God modeled taking a day of rest way back in the beginning. But He knew that wouldn’t be motivation enough.  So He mandated a day of rest in the ultimate list of laws, the Ten Commandments. We find this list of guidelines for God’s people in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, but the nuances we see in the two renderings of the Sabbath command give us unique insight into God’s heart for us. In Exodu...

From the beginning of time, God established a rhythm of rest and work that He knew would result in life, health, and fruitfulness for all of creation…especially mankind.  In fact, it matters so much to Him that we learn to live by this rhythm, that He put it in the law. The Ten Commandments.  Think about it. Right alongside “Do not murder, do not steal, and do not commit adultery” is this… “Rememb...

From the beginning of time, God set a rhythm into motion. A rhythm of rest and work that He knew would bring greater joy and fruitfulness for His creation. Then He modeled that rhythm for us so we could imitate Him. Six days of work and one day of rest.  We call that day of rest “Sabbath,” and it is the first thing in the Bible to be called “holy.” Literally, set apart as special. In fact, God man...

After 20 years of separation, years of believing his son was dead, Jacob is finally reunited with his beloved son, Joseph. And what a reunion it was!   But as beautiful as this reunion was, it pales in comparison to the reunion that awaits those who are in Christ. It foreshadows the day we will say goodbye to goodbyes and be forever with the Lord, reunited with our loved ones now waiting for us in...

When you have the right kind of big brother, it can change anything.  Have a bully on your block?  Big brother can take care of him.  Lose your lunch money?  Big brother can float you a loan.  Fall down on the ice?  Big brother can help you up.  Big brothers at their best can be a blessing of the highest order. Could you use one in your life right about now? Of course! We all could.  For Joseph’s...

I grew up playing with a blow-up Bozo the Clown punching bag. I loved that I could punch it, bop it, and kick it…and it would always bounce back up. No matter what I threw at it, you couldn’t keep Bozo down. Oh, that we could be like Bozo! When life hurls its punches, we get knocked down. And many of us have a hard time getting back up. We just stay down – beaten, bruised, defeated. Joseph is a lo...

Up to this point in this series, we’ve been looking at the story from Joseph’s point of view. In this episode, we turn the tables and look at the story from the viewpoint of Joseph’s brothers. We learn that these men who had victimized Joseph had been haunted by guilt.  But God wants to heal them too. He wants their hearts whole no less than He did Joseph’s. But first He had to awaken their consci...

One of the most amazing parts of Joseph’s story is his ability to forgive those who hurt him so deeply. Most of us have the tendency to bury our hurt until it becomes a roiling cauldron of resentment. Whether it’s a recent offense or an ancient one, resentment only makes one person miserable, and that person… is you.   But God’s desire is that we move out of a house of spite and into the place of...

One of the sad realities of life is that we all get wounded. You can’t live in this world without getting hurt. But an even sadder reality is that much of that wounding comes from those who are supposed to love us most – our family.  That was certainly true for Joseph. And in this episode, Joseph is forced to face his past when his brothers show up out of the blue – the ones who had sold him into...

When life is going our way, it’s easy to say, “God is good!” But what about when life is hard? When pain and struggle, sorrow and loss fill our days? Is God still good?  In this episode, we learn that Joseph believed a couple of basic truths about God. First of all that God is always God. To his way of thinking, there’s never a time… there’s never a place…when God is not fully in control, totally...

Up to this point, it’s felt like the story of Joseph has been nothing but bad news. One painful experience after another. But all those events have been leading up to this moment.   At last, all the links in the chain of God’s sovereignty are about to become clear…and it’s the greatest story of promotion in the Bible. In one day, Joseph went from being in the pit of prison to being second in comma...

Wait.  In our hurry-up culture, it’s almost a dirty word. Yet waiting is not the exception in life, it’s the rule. Some of the greatest of God’s heroes had to wait a long time before His plan for them came to fruition.   One of them was Joseph. Ten years have gone by. Ten years of servitude and imprisonment. Then just when he thought there might be hope of getting out of prison, he is let down aga...

God had big plans for Joseph, but Joseph wasn’t ready for them yet. He had to go through a time of training first. After being betrayed and sold into slavery, he was falsely accused and thrown into prison. But this prison proved to be the place where God developed Joseph’s character. See, not only was God with Joseph, God wanted to do something in Joseph so He could do something through Joseph. As...

The Bible gives us multiple examples of individuals who experienced unimaginable loss only to discover that not only was God bigger than their loss, He was with them in their loss.  One of the best of these is the story of Joseph. At the age of 17, he was betrayed by his very own brothers and sold into slavery.  He ends up far from home in the land of Egypt with nothing but the clothes on his back...

He was just 17 years old when his jealous brothers sold him into slavery and for the next 13 years, Joseph went from one pit to another.  Perhaps you know what it’s like to live life in the pits. Life in the pits is an unexpected tumble. One day the sun is shining and next the clouds roll in and the bottom drops out.  Life in the pits has an uncertain future. “What will I do now?” That which seeme...

The Bible tells us that what awaits the believer in Jesus is so amazing, it’s beyond comprehension. But it also gives us glimpses of what heaven will be like.  In heaven, you’ll be wondrously transformed. You’ll be thoroughly joyful. You’ll be ceaselessly productive. And you’ll be intimately cherished. With this hope and confidence set before us, how should that impact our lives here and now? Know...

The Bible has a lot to say about hell. In fact, Jesus talked more about hell than He did heaven. He described hell as a place of physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual suffering.  Which begs the question: how could a loving God send anyone to such a horrible place?  Ultimately, God doesn’t “send” anyone to hell.  A person chooses it.  Love cannot be forced and when a person says, “God, I d...

We begin at the end. You’re dead. Now what? There are several popular beliefs about what happens when you die, such as reincarnation, universalism, annihilationism, purgatory, and soul sleep. But the Bible teaches that three things will happen when you die: 1.     Your spirit will depart from your body. 2.     You will immediately know your eternal destiny.   3.     And you will follow one of two...

This is a story of resurrection. But not the story you were expecting. It’s actually a prelude to that story. It’s the story of Jesus and His good friend, Lazarus.  Jesus proclaims these amazing words: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” Then He asks this question. “Do you believe this?" That’s a question we all must answer. Do YOU b...

In the fog and darkness of that Friday afternoon, it looked like all was lost. But nothing could be further from the truth.   Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” Paid in full!  All the failure and foul-ups that defined you BEFORE you came to faith in Christ and those that have haunted you AFTER you came to faith in Christ were all dealt with on the cross.  It really is PAID IN FULL! Jesus defeated?...

Two people encountered Jesus at the same dinner party. One was a woman with a “bad reputation.” The local prostitute. The other was Simon. A Pharisee.  She washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, kissing his feet, and pouring precious perfume on them. Simon snubbed Jesus, denying him the customary courtesies of a host to his guest.  Their responses to Jesus couldn’t have been more different. Why?   Jes...