The Consuming Fire and the Holiness That Comes Down
By Bradley Gray
10/02/25
23mins

The Consuming Fire and the Holiness That Comes Down

He doesn’t consume us, even though that is what we deserve. Instead, Jesus comes down to us and consumes all our sin by taking it on himself.
When Pastors Are Abused by Their Congregations
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
10/01/25

When Pastors Are Abused by Their Congregations

This article is the first part of a two-part series. The second part will take a look at when pastors abuse their congregations.
An Excerpt from Untamed Prayers: Psalm 123 and Psalm 136
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
09/30/25

An Excerpt from Untamed Prayers: Psalm 123 and Psalm 136

The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335

All Articles

Dominick Santore
Dominick Santore
01/26/16

It's Okay to Move

It's a January day in New York City and the building I work in is just off the water. What this means is that it's cold out and not just cold but cold with a biting wind. As the phrase goes, "you can feel it in your bones."
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
01/19/16

Meeting Jesus at Mile Twenty

They may also be fellow sufferers who’ve hit their own bottom with you. Whoever they are, they wear the mask of Jesus the crucified. In them and through them the Lord is at work to love you.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
01/11/16

The Gospel in Hebrew: How Ten Hebrew Words Preach Christ and His Work

These words sum up the whole person and work of our Messiah. Here is the Gospel in Hebrew.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
01/06/16

Today is the Birthday of Light

A star appears in the East. A spotlight over its Creator. A single constellation bows over that Light of Light from whom darkness flees.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
01/05/16

Reconnecting Through My Father's Ghosts

I’m still piecing together fragments. I’ve spent my life collecting scraps of personal stories that will explain my father to me.
Steve Byrnes
Steve Byrnes
12/30/15

Reflections on a Cold Silent Night

There are so many paradoxes that we can appreciate as we seek to grasp more of the meaning of the miracle of Christmas.
Erick Sorensen
Erick Sorensen
12/25/15

And the Darkness Has Not Overcome It….

It had just been a few weeks in my friend’s life since he had been converted to the Christian faith. He was very much still learning the ropes of what it meant to be a Christian.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/22/15

The Dad Who Didn’t Have to Be a Dad

It’s one of my favorite family pictures. Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on a couch are my granddad, my dad, me, and my son. A four-generation snapshot: Lee Roy to Carson to Chad to Luke.
Bonnie Petroschuk
Bonnie Petroschuk
12/21/15

Upside-Down Kingdom

On that night in Bethlehem so long ago, not even your mother who held you in her arms understood that you had come to turn the world upside down in a through-the-looking-glass sort of way.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/18/15

Two Pregnancies, One Hope

The mother of this prophet is visited by the Mother of God. In the coming together of these two pregnant women, we see the coming together of the old and the new.
Paul Dunk
Paul Dunk
12/17/15

Minimizing Our Healing

700 years before the first Noel, the prophet Isaiah prophesied that Christ would bear our grief and deliver us in grace. Scholars often refer to Isaiah 52:13-53:12 as the "fifth gospel" because it describes both that Christ was crucified and why Christ was crucified with incredible detail.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/16/15

Rusting Chariots Found at the Bottom of Baptismal Fonts

He has Israel right where he wants them: a body of water in front of them, their enemies behind them, and God above them, ready to save. Our Lord is always undoing us that he might redo us, killing us that he might enliven us.
1517 is a Christian non-profit (501(c)3) multi-media organization. Our mission is to declare and defend the Good News that we are forgiven and free on account of the death and resurrection of Jesus alone.
1517.org
Search
Academy
Donate

1517 grants permission for our free online resources to be printed, photocopied, and otherwise used freely for private and church use. We require that authorship and source (1517.org) are referenced and maintained. These resources may not be sold or included in any publications for sale.