1. The gospel is for sinners – both the tax collector and Pharisee, both in need of the Great Physician.
  2. God chose Russell Brand, chose to defy his fast-escaping life and drink up all his swift-running sin in the River Thames.
  3. Elsewhere makes promises that can’t be kept, but God’s promises are secure, reliable, and certain.
  4. This article is written by guest contributor, Christopher J. Richmann.
  5. Like the serpent on the pole, God still puts real-life things up for us to look to for salvation.
  6. Bathed in the waters of baptism, you are placed in God's path of totality, a path he won for each and every one of us.
  7. Don’t get in the habit (or, if you already do it, get out of the habit) of saying, “I could never talk about these things the way my pastor does.”
  8. The seemingly small, the particular, the previously overlooked, magnifies in importance.
  9. We can interpret "be the Church" as either law or gospel.
  10. One way or another, Rod always found a way to bring whatever story he was telling back to the gospel and God's grace in Christ.
  11. A “good death” and “good life” are not accomplished through personal striving but are grasped by faith in the promises of God.
  12. God gives his church a story that helps to make sense of this life.