The Word for Everyday Disciples with Dave DeSelm

When Jonah heard God’s call to go the Nineveh, the capital of Israel’s enemy, Assyria, instead of obeying, the prophet ran in the opposite direction.    The biblical narrator paints the picture with words packed with meaning.   Jonah 1:3 - He went down to Joppa. Jonah 1:5 – But Jonah had gone below deck where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.   Running from the Lord, refusing to do what He a...

The story of Jonah ranks among the best-known of any in the O.T.  It’s right up there with Noah and the ark, David and Goliath, and Daniel in the lion’s den.   Jonah’s story takes place about 770 BC. By this time the nation of Israel has been split into two kingdoms through a tragic and costly civil war. By this time both kingdoms were in spiritual freefall. Immorality and idolatry were rampant. I...

“Sweet spot.” Golfers understand the term. So do baseball players and tennis players. Connect with that prime inch of real estate and kapow!  Your arm doesn’t tingle and the ball doesn’t ricochet. You think, “Yes!!!”                What engineers have given to sports equipment, God has given to you. A zone, a region, an intersection in which you were made to live. And life makes sweet sense when y...

Not only are you a unique person, but you were also made for a unique purpose.  One of the factors in discovering that purpose, or “calling,” is understanding your PASSIONS. Another is unwrapping your GIFTS.     Today we come to the third element. Your STORY - those past experiences (both good and bad) that marked you and even made you into what you are today.     One of the finest illustrations o...

As you seek to discover your unique purpose, one way to go about it might be to think of three circles. Label them your PASSIONS, your GIFTS, and your STORY. Where those circles overlap often point to a person’s calling. In this message, we’re going to talk about our GIFTS. Spiritual gifts are special abilities distributed by the Holy Spirit to every believer according to God’s design for the comm...

God made you unique. Your very fingerprint shows that there is no one else like you.  You are one of a kind! As a unique person, you were brought into this world for a unique purpose.    So how does one discover what that purpose is? How do you find your unique calling? One way to go about that might be to think of three circles. Label them your PASSIONS, your GIFTS, and your STORY. Where those ci...

When you look at a tombstone, you often see two dates – the date of the person’s birth and their date of death. In between is this little line. A dash.   When you think about it, you have no control over either date. The only thing you have any say about is your dash - how you will live your life.  Call it your “dash” of life.  The word is appropriate because life is quite short. The Bible refers...

“There has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11 (NASB) An angel spoke those words and shepherds were the first to hear them.  But what was proclaimed back then to them is being proclaimed right now to you.  “There has been born for you …”  – a Savior …who is Christ … the Lord .    Here’s the thing, friends.  You need all three.   You need… a Savior to forgive you. That’s...

The reality of Immanuel is that this “with us” God can actually live “in” us. And when He does, He can then do something through us. In 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, Paul says anyone who is in Christ is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come. But it doesn’t end there, as wonderful as that is. He goes on to say that we are now given a new responsibility. We have been given the “ministry of reco...

Can you imagine what it must have been like to be Mary - to have the Son of God growing inside you? Can you imagine Him becoming bigger and bigger until He just had to come out?  What would that have been like?   In a very real way, that’s exactly what God wants to happen in you. He wants to put His very presence within you so you can bring His presence into the world.   Immanuel can live in you i...

We’re all familiar with the Christmas story. How a baby was born in a stable to a carpenter and his young wife. How angels announced his birth to some ragtag shepherds who show up to see the Savior they’ve been told about. How a group of wise men travels from afar bringing gifts for the infant King. But the real miracle of this story actually happened 9 months earlier when a teenage girl conceived...

In the last episode, we looked at the first three pieces of armor. Today we look at the last three. The Shield of Faith A Roman soldier’s shield would have been a large rectangle made from a hardwood such as oak and covered in leather. When soaked in water, this shield would not only deflect the enemy’s arrows, it could extinguish flaming arrows.   Just as a soldier must lift up his shield in batt...

We are in a very real battle. But that fight is not with a flesh and blood enemy, but with spiritual powers and principalities. In light of that unique conflict, Paul counsels us to put on the full armor of God that we might engage in battle effectively.   We’re going to look at 3 of those pieces of armor in this message and the remainder in the next episode. The first piece of armor Paul mentions...

Why is life so hard?  Why does it feel like we are in a battle - whether in our marriages, with our kids, on the job, and even in the church?  The answer is simple: We live in a universe at war.  The Bible describes how Satan fell from his place in heaven and now he and his army of demons roam the earth intent upon destroying God’s people.  We must understand that we have a very real enemy.  But J...

For many, this is a tough passage because Paul is discussing a topic that, understandably, hits a raw nerve: slavery.  Some might even go so far as to dismiss these verses as being short-sighted if not bigoted.  But to draw that conclusion would be to make a mistake and to miss the apostle’s point.   Paul’s purpose was not to offer a commentary on changing the social structures of that day but to...

A wise walk on a macro level is a function of regularly making right decisions on a micro level. There’s not one of us who has not and who will not face many decisions.  That’s not the issue.  The issue is, “How do we make good decisions?”    1.     Walking wisely is a function of seeking the mind of God. 2.     Walking wisely is a function of engaging with wise people. 3.     Walking wisely is a...

Today we’re going to be considering what it means to live as children of light. In particular, in the area of sexual purity. Paul begins by describing actions that characterize…  Children of Darkness. (Eph. 5:3-7) sexual immorality ( porneia )    Originally this word referred to prostitution. In the New Testament, however, it refers to all aspects of sexual sin including fornication (sexual activi...

A great rallying cry for this section of Scriptures would be, “Off with the old! On with the new!”  Off with the old clothes of godless living and on with the new wardrobe befitting our new identity in Christ. This can apply to a whole array of behaviors. The behaviors listed in Eph. 4:25-32 can fall into four categories. Let’s look at each one. 1.     Your Speech Paul refers to 3 different aspect...

Those who are in Christ have been given a new identity and we are called to live in light of that identity. Like a change of wardrobe, we are to “put off our old self,” stripping off certain behaviors and attitudes as a set of filthy, smelly clothes.  Off with the Old. In Eph. 4, Paul “insists” that believers must no longer live like the godless around us. Why? Because they have… ·      a darkened...

Each of us in the Body of Christ have been given a role to play so that together we can build up the Church, making it strong and mature. Those roles are: Apostle Prophet Evangelist Shepherd Teacher  Each of us has a primary gift.  It’s the one you are best at, most passionate about, and most refreshed by.  You might call this your “base ministry.”   But as followers of Jesus, we are not exempt fr...

In Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul lists five unique roles God has given each one of us in the Body of Christ. These spiritual roles are the unique callings distributed to believers that enable them to fulfill strategic functions for the church. These five roles are (Eph. 4:11): Apostle  Prophet  Evangelist  Shepherd  Teacher These are often referred to as the “5-fold Ministries” or the APEST (after...

In 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, we find lists of “spiritual gifts.”  Spiritual gifts are special abilities distributed to believers that enable them to perform special actions in the church. In Ephesians 4, however, we find, not a further listing of spiritual gifts ., but rather a listing of spiritual roles . Spiritual roles are the unique callings distributed to believers that enable them to f...

When a person joins an organization, he obligates himself to live and act according to the standards of the group.   The same thing should be true of believers. If you are part of the family of God, there’s an expectation that you will be loyal to your brothers and sisters and represent your Savior well.   In Ephesians 4:1-2, Paul implores – literally “begs” – these believers to live lives that re...

Has anyone ever told you that you have unrealized potential? Maybe it was in athletics or academics, or the arts. But for those in the family of God, you have the potential to make an impact for the Kingdom. Indeed, YOU can be a world-changer. We are reminded of this potential in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance fo...

As we continue our series from the book of Ephesians, we come to some of the most miraculous, hope-filled, life-changing verses in the whole epistle. These words are like a spiritual before and after picture.   Paul begins by describing what it was like for us when we were… Apart from Christ. He surfaces three aspects of our desolate condition in Ephesians 2:1-3.    ·      We were spiritually dead...