1. This hymn is not for people who feel strong, but those who are weak.
  2. Luther's emphasis on the need for sinners to have preachers who can provide them with the comfort and support they need for their faith in Jesus Christ and life is as relevant today as it was in his time.
  3. Christ's words of exclusive salvation are not just a warning but a sure promise for you.
  4. The drama of Scripture is about God renaming us by bringing us into his image-bearing family once again. And it would take “a name above all names” to accomplish it.
  5. By mandating the promise, Christ states something stronger than just an invitation.
  6. This is an excerpt from the introduction of “Common Places in Christian Theology: A Curated Collection of Essays from Lutheran Quarterly,” edited by Mark Mattes (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  7. What we discover in O’Connor’s stories and Martin Luther’s theology is that God’s grace is elusive because the human heart is resistant to it.
  8. Sunshine and rain, food and harvests, family, friends, and health, love and joy. All these things and more he gives, not because of what you do or don’t do, but because he is generous and gracious.
  9. The hardest thing you and I will ever be called to do is to believe that it is done already, that it really and truly is finished.
  10. When I finished this book, I loved the Bible, and the Bible’s author, even more. And I can’t imagine a better endorsement than that.
  11. 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.
  12. We too are God’s baptized, beloved, blood-bought believers. And no one can ever take that away from us.