Next Step Press is committed to helping you take a small next step following Jesus. Our mission is to cultivate individuals and communities that infuse collaboration, innovation, and delight into the adventure of following Jesus. As part of that mission, we are pleased to announce a new resource for anyone who wants to experience discipleship with less burden and more delight.
Delight!
Discipleship As The Adventure
Of Loving And Being Loved
by Justin Rossow
About Delight!
You bring God joy.
And God intends the feeling to be mutual.
This book will help you lean into Joyful Delight, Thoughtful Delight, Playful Delight, Delicious Delight, and Desirable Delight in your life with God. Delight! invites you into a real, accessible, and down-to-earth way of experiencing the adventure of following Jesus.
Of course you will know struggle and failure. Of course you will know grief and shame. But you don’t have to carry the burden of getting your faith walk right; you already make Jesus jump for joy and sing his happy song. The Creator of the Universe thinks you’re something special. Even when life is confusing or difficult, the Spirit is shaping you with care and delight.
Are you tired of religion? Are you beat down by anxiety or doubt? Do you long for something more in your life of faith?
Lay down your burden. Take a deep breath. And let’s explore what it means to follow Jesus on the adventure of your life—an adventure marked by challenge and repentance and difficulty, but marked most fundamentally by mutual delight!
The LORD will take great delight in you; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11)
Bonus Features
Delight! comes with a reading plan and discussion questions, making it a perfect resource for reading with a friend or small group.
The Next Step Podcast, available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Pandora, and Anchor, will be dedicating Season 3 to the Delight! book.
The Next Step Community Facebook Page and blog offers Delight! related content and tentative plans are being made for a Visual Faith companion to Delight! for the spring of 2021.
For sermon series materials or bulk pricing on orders of 50 or more books, please email Innovation@FindMyNextStep.org.
From the Book
Following Jesus isn’t supposed to weigh you down; it’s supposed to make you dance.
Following Jesus isn’t supposed to limit your fun; it’s supposed to open you up to freedom you have never known before.
Following Jesus isn’t a burden to carry, even when you carry your cross; to follow Jesus is certainly to know suffering and trouble and dying to self and struggling with doubt, but fundamentally—fundamentally!—following Jesus is about delight.
Jesus delights in you; and Jesus loves it when you feel the same about him. That’s what following Jesus is all about.
What People are saying:
In Delight!, Justin Rossow widens our lens for understanding grace as he explores the delight God has in us and the delight God gives to us. The impact will ripple into every area of your spiritual walk. Delight! brings both lightness and depth to the Scriptures and to our relationships with our Great God.
Heidi Goehmann, author of Altogether Beautiful: A Study of the Song of Songs and
He Calls Me Loved: A Study of Isaiah
Have we lost our sense of delight? Today delight seems to be reduced to each person’s version of personal happiness. Or delight is simply missed altogether because we are too busy and anxious to notice it. In a deeply reflective and devotional way, Rossow puts delight back on the agenda of the theology of the Christian life. Taking us on a biblical journey of discovery around God’s vision of delight for us, he invites us to receive this gift, revel in it, and, yes, delight in it!
Leopoldo A. Sánchez M., author of Sculptor Spirit: Models of Sanctification from Spirit Christology and Teología de la Santificación: La Espiritualidad del Cristiano
I have spent a great deal of my life believing in my head that Jesus loved me, yet living practically as if I were always on the verge of being in big trouble. This book offers a refreshing, biblical vision of how to live a life captivated and covered by the love of God. Even more astonishing is the discovery of a God who is full of delight.
Jamie Wiechman, cofounder of Breathe Life Ministries, www.breathelifetoday.org
Three years ago, a prayer warrior sent me a private message from afar: hephzibah. “My delight is in her.” Every time I read this message my heart is full. I draw closer to the Living God. I understand more deeply our Creator’s nature and call. And yet, I’ve never heard another person in the church talk about Delight. Not until Justin Rossow’s book arrived unexpectedly—like manna, like grace—in my inbox. Oh, the life-giving words on every single page! I truly believe that if a few thousand churches were to read this as a study it might change the face of American Christianity today. I hope yours is one of them.
Heather Choate Davis, songwriter for Life in the Key of God and author of Happy Are Those: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life
“Jesus loves me, this I know…” Except I didn’t know; not really. Delight! showed me in a new way that God doesn’t just tolerate you or grudgingly let you in because you believe: God wants to be in relationship with you. Did you know you can make God laugh? Make the Spirit happy? In this book I learned that saying yes to relationship with God doesn’t just save you, it makes Jesus smile with delight. Rejoicing. In heaven. About you. About me. This is good news.
Conrad Gempf, author of Mealtime Habits of the Messiah and Jesus Asked: What He Wanted to Know
Every once in awhile a book comes along that changes the narrative. With a fresh, hope-filled perspective and life-giving personality Justin Rossow unveils an invitation that is really hard to refuse. Come along with Jesus for the adventure of a lifetime! Delight, not duty. Ahhhhh. So refreshing!
Jeff Meyer, author of Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute and founder of The Dream Accelerator
With playfulness and scriptural acumen, Justin reminds us that God throws parties—the best ones—and we’re all invited. This is no Pollyanna book, though: it’s a dazzling, tenacious, and robust call to live in a delight that is far stronger than fear. Reading Delight! will breathe new life into your adventure of following Jesus.
Steve Wiechman, cofounder of Breathe Life Ministries, www.breathelifetoday.org
About the Author
Rev. Dr. Justin Rossow preaches, teaches, presents, and writes at the intersection of Scripture, culture, and metaphor theory. With 20 years of ministry experience focused especially on discipleship, Justin brings a refreshing and encouraging voice to the adventure of helping people delight in taking a next step.
Justin is known for his insight and energy, and writes like he talks: with humor, humility, and profound dependence on Jesus. His PhD in Theology and Culture helps bridge the academic and the practical; in his writing you’ll find depth, nuance, immediate application, and just plain fun.
Justin and his wife Miriam live in Michigan with their four children. He is the founder of Next Step Press and The Next Step Community.
Get your Delight Kindle edition now!
Paperback release pending.
Wow! Super exciting reviews! Can’t wait to dive in!