1. We don't make Church "happen." Only Christ can do so. It's his happening.
  2. Even if the numbers are bad, the news about Jesus crucified for sinners and raised to new life hasn’t become any less good.
  3. There is a revival, no less real and even more definitive, taking place in every church, every weekend, where God’s people gather around his gifts.
  4. The sign of the cross, according to the earliest centuries of Christians, is “the sign of the Lord,” and every baptized Christian was “marked” with it.
  5. Despite our best efforts to avoid him, King Jesus remains very much unavoidable.
  6. Take courage, you who were lost: Jesus comes to seek and save that which is lost. Ye sick, return to health: Christ comes to heal the contrite of heart with the balm of his mercy. Rejoice, all you who desire great things: the Son of God comes down to you that he may make you the co-heirs of his kingdom.
  7. When and how did the church start this season of anticipation?
  8. For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of him who works.
  9. Help comes for those who cannot help themselves. When we bottom-out and come to the end of ourselves, that is where hope springs.
  10. Preachers and church workers must also hear the gospel preached to them.
  11. Through water, blood, and word, the Spirit never stops pointing us to Christ, and even more, giving us Christ.