This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.
On its journey from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul, this special place helps us understand the broader arc of Christian history, which goes on until Christ's return.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.

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The Lord did for Hannah what he loves to do: he shifted everything into reverse, making the bottom the top and the top the bottom.
The crucified and risen Christ comes to renew, restore, and build up.
Below is an excerpt from the personal devotional included in this year’s 1517 Advent Resources.
Christ is the beating heart of Christian faith and its only object.
Christ is always the ultimate for God's children, but we sometimes struggle with things that come before.
This article is part of Stephen Paulson’s series on the Psalms.
To preach Christ and him crucified is to keep the message simple and accessible.
The sinful nature loves self, and pride is its native tongue.
This article is part of Stephen Paulson’s series on the Psalms.
In the Bible, we meet the God who also does not prance around naked as a jaybird.
God’s headline for his church prioritizes the person of Jesus and his purpose to demonstrate God’s power by dying and rising again for our salvation.
The gospel is his weapon that beats back the darkness — “I AM the Resurrection and the Life. Bow your head, bend the knee when I walk by.”