1. Even if the numbers are bad, the news about Jesus crucified for sinners and raised to new life hasn’t become any less good.
  2. A Christian is a man who desires to enter heaven not through his own goodness and works, but through the righteousness and works of Christ.
  3. The further up and further into the season of Epiphany we get, the bigger the grace of God in Christ is, the brighter the Light of Christ shines, and the more blessed we are in Jesus' epiphany for us.
  4. This is an excerpt from “The Alien and the Proper: Luther's Two-Fold Righteousness in Controversy, Ministry, and Citizenship,” edited by Robert Kolb (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  5. The sign of the cross, according to the earliest centuries of Christians, is “the sign of the Lord,” and every baptized Christian was “marked” with it.
  6. Take courage, you who were lost: Jesus comes to seek and save that which is lost. Ye sick, return to health: Christ comes to heal the contrite of heart with the balm of his mercy. Rejoice, all you who desire great things: the Son of God comes down to you that he may make you the co-heirs of his kingdom.
  7. When the church is a political actor, the gospel doesn’t have the final word.
  8. When and how did the church start this season of anticipation?
  9. For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of him who works.
  10. The good news is that with our God there is always more: more than we deserve, dare, ask, or expect, more than we can see, hear, feel, or think.
  11. Every incendiary move of God’s Spirit is accompanied by a group of penitent people rediscovering the power and preeminence of God’s Word.