1. When and how did the church start this season of anticipation?
  2. All our sin and shame is answered for in the death and resurrection of our Lord.
  3. Help comes for those who cannot help themselves. When we bottom-out and come to the end of ourselves, that is where hope springs.
  4. You are the friend in low places. It’s only from this place that you are free to look outside yourself for the remedy to the issues that plague you and humanity.
  5. Preachers and church workers must also hear the gospel preached to them.
  6. Through water, blood, and word, the Spirit never stops pointing us to Christ, and even more, giving us Christ.
  7. 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.
  8. The reason that God’s commandments are not burdensome is that Jesus has fulfilled them.
  9. The love mentioned in 1 John 4:15-21 fourteen times (!) is a love that needs no apology but is determined at all times to sacrifice for the other.
  10. 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.