1. This is an excerpt from “Finding God in the Darkness: Hopeful Reflections from the Pits of Depression, Despair, and Disappointment” by Bradley Gray (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  2. A pastor is sent to proclaim the unconditional grace of God, reminding us again and again that it is our Heavenly Father who reaches out to us in love through his Christ-won forgiveness, and not the other way around.
  3. While we wait in tribulation for our white robes (or pants) to be washed in the blood of the Lamb, we confess to one another our seen and unseen stains.
  4. The Holy Spirit unleashes his power through us, his vines, and we then get to watch as his fruits blossom and ripen.
  5. It’s not our eloquence or persuasive rhetoric that changes hearts, but the Word of God that pierces through the hardened shells of unbelief and breathes life into the dead bones of sinners.
  6. This is an excerpt from chapter 9 of “What Can Really Know?: The Strengths and Limits of Human Understanding” by David Andersen (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  7. The Lord’s Prayer is liturgy and catechism, action and instruction, praxis and theology.
  8. No matter how far away they wander, God always hears the prayers of his children.
  9. Prayer is not just about asking for things. It's about receiving what has already been given to us in Christ.
  10. God cares about our real life where we actually are. He is present in the everyday.
  11. The Lord knew how it felt to be a rejected stone.
  12. Jesus cries on the cross for us. He suffers and cries and dies in our place. He is forsaken by his father so we don’t have to be.