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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Our Father works through us to meet the needs of others and to meet our need for Savior Jesus.
Jesus, Who is truly God, became a regular Joe (or Joshua as the case may be) for us.
Our gods expect us to be perfect, pure, and in constant control of our feelings and thoughts.
Jesus is the great Houdini of the grave for us. And through His death, He gives us the Great Escape from death that leads to the great joy of the Resurrection.
The absence of a feeling is not the absence of Christ, but as emotional, rational, and spiritual beings, we cannot say that the presence of Christ necessitates the absence of emotion.
We are no longer controlled by sin as He moves our lips to speak love and forgiveness. We are passive as He acts out His words and His salvation for us.
Christ exchanged His excellent love, His wonderful heart, for my shameful adultery with you.
We are dangerously good at focusing on our exciting, or boring, walk of faith.
Christ intercedes on your behalf before the Father for all the sins that work guilt deep down in your soul.
We thus come together to eat and drink, exchange gifts, serve one another, and even while celebrating, we proclaim the Gospel of Christ to one another.
Christ has come, does come, and will come. He has set you free from the prison of sin and death.
I bet you have seen this verse pop up in Bible study before.