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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God’s design in the Law is to enable man to know himself; to perceive the false and unjustified state of his heart; to discover how far he is from God and to disdain his own goodness.
Jesus curses our cultural expectations. He says "woe" to those who are rich, satisfied, joyful, and praised. The good life of our world is not good for discipleship.
The miraculous catch of fish happens not just once in the ministry of Jesus but twice. And, interestingly this miracle happens twice to the same person. Simon Peter.
Aquinas would craft a systematic theology that did with the matter of faith what Aristotle had done with the natural world.
Even for idolatrous sellouts like you and me, God’s position has not changed. Even though we may have forgotten him, he never forgets us.
The same Christ we proclaim to the people in our pews is the same Christ who is for those not in our pews.
During this season of Epiphany, we experience more than the revelation of who Jesus is. We also celebrate how Jesus makes God fully known.
Our only claim to fame is that we have been claimed by a God who is consistently drawn to losers!
You are not in debt to sin. You don’t owe it anything. There’s no reason for you to serve it.
Jesus turning water into wine calls for you to believe: To believe in Him.
Not only does God reveal the identity of Jesus in this season through what we see and hear Jesus doing and saying, but God also reveals His gracious will through Jesus despite what we see and hear.
While the world and other religions might be fine with considering him everything but, the foremost thing our Jesus came to be and still remains is Jesus, Savior.