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 true masterpiece of the Bible’s narrative is that we are blessed not in the way we want but in the way God gives freely on account of Christ alone.
The Kingdom will be manifest when the King wills it, and rest assured, He is a good King.
The Word and the Spirit go together. The Spirit, the breath of God, illumines and makes alive through the Word of God; both written and external, that is, preached and sacramented.
In the Reformation, as in the tabernacle, God gave skill, artistry, and craftsmanship to put his Word in images so that through art, his Word would be revealed.
We need to hear the gospel because it is good news that is not from you, or about you, or because of you.
Stoicism’s opening premise fails to understand that, from its conception, the heart is a thorny bramble.
Paul is talking about military-level allegiance here, the strongest kind of allegiance sworn to a king.
Jesus cares about the daily details of ordinary bodies and creaturely comforts, just as He cares about the eternal well-being of our souls.
The book of Ruth wants us to know the wisdom of waiting on the Lord and to trust that the Lord will provide redemption through an heir who will bring salvation.
For as you pick up the Holy Bible, God’s Word to you and for you in Christ, the words of the prophet Isaiah echo in your ears, "The Word of the Lord Endures Forever."
Christ is not an idea. He isn’t a concept. He isn’t a religious notion or sentiment. He isn’t a product. He is the Savior, flesh and blood.
This ministry of the Gospel, this standing in the stead and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, is demanding business and is entirely unsuitable for the weak-willed or those who compromise with the zeitgeist of the day.