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 whole Old Testament leans with this unanswered and open-ended question at the end: Is he here yet?
Christmas is a season of irony and song that helps us to know the sacred past and the truth of the Gospel of our salvation.
If Jesus shows up and you are a sinner, ‘tis more blessed to receive than to give
The lesson of Malachi reveals God’s love for his people. When the people ask for proof of God’s love, he reminds them of their election.
A sign was given to Ahaz to point him toward the greater sign given in a manger and that Bethlehem’s Messiah is the sign we look forward to seeing in the sky when Jesus, our Emmanuel, comes again.
We will not become hopeless because the Lord is with us.
When the church is a political actor, the gospel doesn’t have the final word.
It is terribly easy to set up our theology as a buffer against the real coming of the Lord and its consequences.
Christ the King’s return will show us what we can only imagine. He will be a king and His a kingdom will be unlike any we have known.
The Church stands firm on the word of promise that Christ will one day return to change what we know by faith into sight.
The Church stands firm on the word of promise that Christ will one day return to change what we know by faith into sight.
For Christians, Advent is the time when the Church patiently prepares for the coming of the Great King, Jesus the Christ.