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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We do not believe that the virgin mother bore a son and that he is the Lord and Savior unless I believe the second thing, that he is my Savior and Lord.
God sent his Son down into the hidden places of our dark and dirty world to find us, and to the cross to wipe away our sins forever. That is what this story is all about.
We have needs every day, but we also need a daily reminder that God loves us and he wants us to depend on him for our everyday stuff.
This advent we will take a closer look at the four names given to Christ by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah Chapter 9. For Christ is not only Immanuel, or God with us, but he is also Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. His rule is not what the Israelites of Isaiah's day, the Jews throughout Jesus' life, nor even we today, expect. He comes to us as a servant and as a child and yet more wonderful, mighty, everlasting, and princely than we could imagine.
Even when you’re praying and you feel like you’re not getting what you want, God loves you. God hears you.
In a year in which every day seems to blur together, Luther's orders of daily prayer help order our daily lives.
God is holy, nothing I say or do or pray is going to make God any more or less holy. So what are we praying when we say, “hallowed be your name”?
We stand before God with a unique set of problems, diseases, and sins. The comforting truth of the Incarnation is that Jesus took my flesh. All of it.
Jesus overcame sin, death, and Satan on the cross. His bloody suffering and death marked this sinful world's defeat.
Jesus has the best Dad ever, but He doesn’t keep His Dad all to himself. Jesus shares His Heavenly Father with everyone who believes in Him.
As we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray to God our Father. We come to him as his children, adopted into his family. We pray to our Father who loves us perfectly.
Prayer dares to call the impossible into reality. It trusts the One who can do all things to do impossible things. It rests its hope on God’s power and not man’s agency.