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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Jesus gave His disciples the Lord’s Prayer as a gift. It’s really our prayer when you think about it.
When Jesus spoke about mustard-seed-sized-faith that moved mountains, He wasn't making a quantitative statement as much as a qualitative one.
The kingdom of Christ is realized where nothing but comfort and the forgiveness of sins reign not only in words to proclaim it, which is also necessary; but also in deed.
Forgiveness, not love, can restore a relationship that’s top-heavy with negative emotions.
The question is this: Is it possible to truly believe God will give us a desirable answer to our prayers, and at the same time be OK if He doesn't?
We still think that if we just teach people to "be good" we are getting them closer to God, which is like saying if only this dead person could be propped up to exercise, he would start moving again.
Jesus does not say to us, “Try really hard, and you will be better.”
We walk to the cross by the faith that God bestows on us, not by our own power, reason, or might.
What do we say when a Christian admits the church has driven them to atheism? And they don't mean ideologically.
After the glory of our flesh has gone the way of wilted grass and faded flowers, and we’ve long forgotten all our efforts at self-justification, the word of the Lord remains.
God isn’t fooled by our fake piety. He would rather have us venting honestly than faking it.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love. I loved deeply, but I was also aware of the much deeper reservoir of self-love that kept me from ever loving fully.