1. His love for you is so deep that in his mercy, while you were yet a sinner, God sent his only begotten Son to die for you.
  2. Forty days after giving birth, Mary, along with her husband Joseph, presented their firstborn Son at the temple and "bought" him back with a sacrifice of two small birds. This is known as the "Presentation of Our Lord."
  3. Rightly distinguishing between law and gospel, as Paul helps us see in 2 Corinthians 3, is, quite literally, a matter of life and death.
  4. God gives us the power and authority to proclaim the forgiveness of sins to burdened sinners who entrust us with their pain, guilt, and defeat.
  5. The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.
  6. Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.
  7. The reason that God’s commandments are not burdensome is that Jesus has fulfilled them.
  8. Both now and forever, the bruised and crucified Lord nailed to a cross is our assurance of deliverance.
  9. Righteousness before God is possessed only by grace and that through the currency of faith.
  10. Sometimes in hanging on to our useless guilt, we are idolaters. We believe our sin or conscience is more powerful than our God.
  11. We can appreciate what we have received from God, we can receive it all as free gift, but only when we stop investing in fool's gold.