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 not only unites us to himself by the death and resurrection of his Son; he unites us, the church, together and to himself under Christ as his children.
That is the good news that ifies all hand wringing and wipes away every tear from every eye.
Love is to be the interpreter of law. Where there is no love, these things are meaningless, and law begins to do harm.
If our churches are split along generational lines it's because we've turned our backs to the cross. We've shut our ears to the Good News about Jesus Christ, who judges the world with equity.
Love for our neighbor can be taxing. We may even decide it’s not worth the cost. But in this moment I found a blessed reminder of how different God's love is, and how our value rests in Christ alone.
The God whom I met without a preacher is neither revealing nor hiding—but now, with a preacher, he has become my hiding place!
God's Word reveals the truth about us. We don't much care for God's Word. We prefer the yes and no of our personal taste buds.
He would not go back on his word, for his word is the word of the Father and the Spirit, and they all say “come.”
We're not called to be obedient consumers. We're free in Christ to love and serve our neighbor according to his need
The kingdom I seek is the lower-case realm ruled over by the almighty upper-case Me.
Ultimately, you are not your problems. You are not your weaknesses. You are not your sins. You are sanctified. You are the recipient of God’s abundant, forgiving, amazing grace.
When it comes to God’s word, our help only obscures his power and grace.