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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There is no life when one is separated from the Promised Land because that will be the place where God will send His Messiah.
Pentecost is the event which jolts the world into taking note that something entirely new is taking place.
Somedays we are simply looking for a mark, a rock at the foot of a tree, something to direct us forward, a few words to let us know we are going in the right direction.
We confess the ascension of Christ every Sunday in the words of the both the Apostles’ and the Nicene Creed.
In Christ, we live beneath an open heaven having the definitive proof in the cross of Christ that God is outrageously for us, not against us.
Israel is all the people who believe in the LORD and gather at His throne. It is no longer a national distinction, it is one of faith.
This Psalm identifies who the people of the Covenant are, and who they are not, and orientates them in relationship to the LORD God.
If we humans willingly operate by the testimony of men in all sorts of matters, then how much more should we readily embrace the testimony of God concerning the death, resurrection, ascension, and rule of His Son?
The One who has defeated sin, death, and the Devil himself is now living in Heaven and praying for you.
God always keeps his promises even if/when we don’t. God is always faithful even if/when we aren’t.
Jesus will suffer, die, and rise again for them. By this love, they are forgiven. By this love, they are made His friends: Friends of God.
Love, as it pertains to divine qualities, is an unconditional love, love to the loveless and unlovable, divine love. God is agape. God is love.