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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Everything in Scripture is God revealing himself to his people, you and me.
Christ Jesus brings his word and presence to where you are and he is even willing to do so through the likes of your personally present pastor.
Caesar boasted: “I came. I saw. I conquered.” Christ can rightly say: “I came. I saved. I ascended.”
The Holy Spirit isn’t so much the one you look at, as he is the one who turns you from looking at yourself and your sin to your Savior, Jesus.
Luther's emphasis on the need for sinners to have preachers who can provide them with the comfort and support they need for their faith in Jesus Christ and life is as relevant today as it was in his time.
May you believe, in this thin-line world, that this Jesus is for you, not against you.
Although Jesus bodily ascended and is hidden from our earthly eyes, he is not far off.
The story of salvation is the true story of God doing his unexpected work of salvation for us.
Paul is writing as a man who has already lived a life of law-keeping while denying the resurrection.
Paul thinks the consequences of Christ not being raised are worse for those who believe than those who never did if it were to be true Christ was not raised.
If it’s all a fiction spun by disappointed disciples, if it’s a mere symbol for the idea of an inner awakening, if it’s not a fact that Christ has been raised, then our grief and loss have no end, and we have no hope.
What if sin was truly removed and what if the one who took it from us had the power to conquer it’s curse and spit in the face of death?