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 laments of the Hebrews called upon the LORD God to remember His people who are suffering, be faithful and deliver them.
On the one hand, forgiving as Jesus commands us feels impossible. But on the other hand, forgiving as we have been forgiven is the most natural thing in the world
We entered the hospital with a jumbled ball of questions, uncertainties, and anxieties. We left with a master class in effective communication.
Jesus is the anti-Cain: a giver, not a taker.
The German Bible made Sola Scriptura a reality for all believers.
Luther's September Testament not only shaped the reformers’ theology but also was as big an influence on the German language as Shakespeare was for English.
When we cry to the Lord in our trouble, he will send us a preacher with words that deliver us from destruction.
Jesus came to His own people to bridge the rift which exists between humankind and God.
Certainly, Jesus’ parable provides a dire warning for where, not wealth, per se, but obsession with it, will lead.
God did what we could never do. He made a promise that endures forever and is eternally significant.
Hymns were a means by which people were brought into direct contact with the Gospel that brought justifying faith. Set to music, they could readily memorize it, take it home with them, and rehearse its messages around the hearth and at work.
Hope is found precisely while we’re dead.