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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In His grace, Jesus promises that all who come to Him in faith will live abundantly and eternally.
Through the often abominable and lamentable and occasional commendable season, there is one who remains unmoved by it all.
When the One who created the world comes to you, there is reason for courage and never reason to fear.
But Jesus didn’t see it that way. He saw his arrest not as the kingdom’s program being thwarted but as it being “fulfilled.”
The acquisition of salvation, the giving of salvation, and the keeping of salvation are entirely dependent upon the Savior himself.
Because Jesus turns desolate, dying places into holy landscapes of life.
What Luther is doing in his Catechism is teaching how the gospel is an action of the whole Trinity, not just one of the persons.
The only one rightful heir of the kingdom of God, inherits from us, our cross, and descends into the kingdom of the damned.
I would understand if you were a bit offended. This looks more like Game of Thrones than the Kingdom of God.
This opening section of Ephesians is a virtual treasure trove of gospel promises, praising God for who He is and the abundant blessings He pours out upon His saints.
Mankind’s “thoughts and ways” on the matter of pardon and forgiveness do not even come close to exhausting, let alone fathoming, God’s “thoughts and ways.”
Jesus will bring good news, send His disciples to bring good news, and, in His death and resurrection, become good news for all.