1. Jesus’s story in Luke 16 draws definitive attention to whom God helps — namely, God always comes close in order to help those who cannot help themselves.
  2. It is of the utmost importance that pastors teach their congregation that through faith in Jesus Christ, they are fortified against the machinations of the adversary.
  3. Christ shows up in the middle of our storms and our nightmares. That’s where he sets up shop.
  4. Lewis takes us to the planets to satisfy our cravings for spiritual adventure, which, as he says, “sends our imaginations off the Earth,” in the first place.
  5. God comes to us through the flesh and blood and spirit of Christ precisely where he promised to be manifest to us and for us.
  6. 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).
  7. I’ve experienced firsthand the promise that God never leaves a congregation empty-handed.
  8. The only place to begin a discussion of human/creaturely identity is with our relationship to the God whose breath filled dust, brought us to life, sustains us and gives us a hopeful future.
  9. 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.
  10. The resurrection of Jesus encompasses the total and comprehensive glorification of a human being, not merely his restoration.
  11. The Holy Spirit unleashes his power through us, his vines, and we then get to watch as his fruits blossom and ripen.