1. We must also address the stigma surrounding addiction within so many churches.
  2. The issue is not the existence of so-called inner rings, but our desire and willingness to spend our lives in order to gain from an inner ring what is freely promised in Christ: hope, security, and identity.
  3. Honest confession brings us into the fatherly care of God where we are always greeted with grace, mercy, peace, love, and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
  4. I’ve experienced firsthand the promise that God never leaves a congregation empty-handed.
  5. God’s published will offers us anchorage, the anchorage of Jesus Christ, in the midst of chaos, reminding us that there is a greater purpose to our lives than the pursuit of worldly success or fleeting pleasures.
  6. While we wait in tribulation for our white robes (or pants) to be washed in the blood of the Lamb, we confess to one another our seen and unseen stains.
  7. The Holy Spirit unleashes his power through us, his vines, and we then get to watch as his fruits blossom and ripen.
  8. Everything in Scripture is God revealing himself to his people, you and me.
  9. It’s not our eloquence or persuasive rhetoric that changes hearts, but the Word of God that pierces through the hardened shells of unbelief and breathes life into the dead bones of sinners.
  10. God's faithfulness is constant and consistent. It knows no season. His love for us doesn't fade with the summer sun.
  11. The Lord’s Prayer is liturgy and catechism, action and instruction, praxis and theology.
  12. Prayer is not just about asking for things. It's about receiving what has already been given to us in Christ.