The Word for Everyday Disciples with Dave DeSelm

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 o…

“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 bei…

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 ne…

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…

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 t…

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 s…

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 a…

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 B…

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 n…

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 iss…

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. …

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 …

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 behavior…

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 …

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…

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 Ephe…

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, t…

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 …

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…

Most of the time we pray on what might be considered “felt need” prayers. We’re facing a crisis, we have practical needs, we’re trying to cope, so we pray. We ask God to intervene.  

But have you ever…