1. The one who embodies the dove, that is, the Holy Spirit will be mounted upon the staff of Calvary.
  2. There is power in the name of Jesus, and we love to manipulate power for our own ends.
  3. Following Jesus, we gimp our way down the dark and slippery paths of life. As we do, we discover, ironically, that the longer we follow him, the weaker we become, and the more we lean on our Lord.
  4. FLAME uses Scripture and church history to argue that baptism is a gospel gift, not our work.
  5. God has a plan for this world that he put into place from eternity, a plan that is carried out in Jesus Christ and promises unimaginably great blessings for believers.
  6. The Trinity is a handy shorthand for all that God has done to justify sinners.
  7. Our only hope in life and death is that God loves sinners, who fail and forget constantly, with a love that is just as constant.
  8. After the big, splashy, exciting day of Pentecost in Acts 2, church life faded into the ordinary life of ragtag sinners encountering the God of the cross coming to them in seemingly unawesome ways. What can we learn from this?
  9. That on Pentecost God’s Spirit should function through a dozen seeming inebriates should be no surprise when this same God saves through the ignominy of the cross.
  10. Just as the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, so we, through the working of the Holy Spirit, recognize our Lord in the Word and Sacraments.
  11. God's Son comes to deal with the infestation of sin, but in an unforeseen twist of grace, he’s the only one who goes under the knife.
  12. I wanted the devotions of this book to be a source of strength for everyone who has waited all night to see the sun come up again.