The Word for Everyday Disciples with Dave DeSelm

She is mentioned more than any other character in the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus, yet she is often overlooked. Her name is Mary Magdalene. 

She had been there at the foot o…

The Apostle Paul knew what it was like to live under the “performance plan” – to try to be good enough, to jump through all the religious hoops in order to be “righteous” before God. 

Then one day, he…

Our world revolves around “the performance plan.” If we work hard enough, perform well enough, and impress the powers that be sufficiently enough...we’ll make the cut. 

It’s not surprising, then, that…

Philippians chapter 3 begins: “Whatever happens, dear friends, be glad in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you this and it is good for you to hear it again and again.” (TLB) 

Whatever happens…re…

When Jesus ascended into heaven after the resurrection, He put the entire future of His Kingdom movement into the hands of a group of ordinary men and women. They had no wealth, no position or power,…

In our last episode, we began talking about what it means to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you…” (Phil. 2:12-13). We said that if we hope to see th…

Makeover shows have been exceedingly popular television viewing for decades. Do you remember the show, “Extreme Makeover”? They took ordinary people and completely changed their appearance. The trans…

Have you ever wondered, “Is it worth it?” Is all the sacrifice and effort for the Kingdom really worth it? Is all the ridicule and mockery for following Jesus worth it? 

Well, friends, today we are g…

All our lives, we are encouraged to climb up the ladder. The word “up” has come to be cherished in our society. It’s a word reserved for winners, heroes, and overcomers: upscale, up-and-coming, upper…

In Philippians 2, Paul calls his friends – and us – to live in a totally countercultural manner. This “upside-down living” is the very opposite of what our society sees as normal. The irony is that b…

What do you think God’s favorite word is?

While we aren’t given a direct answer to that question, I’d like to hazard a guess. It’s a word found in the first two verses of Philippians 2: “….make my jo…

Paul had told his friends, the Philippians, how he had suffered for the sake of Christ. Now, he tells them that they will face the same struggle.

Rome, at this time, was the mightiest power on earth.…

When Paul wrote his letter to his Philippian friends, he was under house arrest in Rome, chained constantly to a Roman guard. But Paul saw this as an opportunity for the gospel. He had a captive audi…

There are many kinds of prayer and many reasons for prayer, but most of the time, it seems that we pray when there is a need or crisis. Such prayers are appropriate and powerful! But is that all God …

Have you ever started a good work and not finished it? Maybe it was a New Year’s resolution that started well, but quickly faded. Or a home project that began with good intentions but was never compl…

Grace and peace. With this simple phrase, the Apostle Paul opens his letter to the Philippians. In fact, it’s how he opens every letter we have recorded in Scripture. Grace and peace.

Typically, lett…

There was once a group of people - a church - who dared to live out fully the gospel that had been shared with them.  Two thousand years later, we still read of them and can learn from them how we, t…

Our world is a messy, broken place filled with messy, broken people. But if the birth of Jesus tells us anything, it tells us that God is not afraid of a mess.

Born in a stable, wrapped in rags, and …

In the last episode, we talked about Caesar Augustus, ruler of the vast Roman Empire at the time of Jesus’ birth. One of the ways he made governing this massive area more manageable was to establish …

We will be looking at a very familiar portion of Scripture today, but I’d like to put a twist on it by starting with a verse that, as a recovering control freak, I’ve had to lean into again and again…