1. This is an excerpt from part two of “On Any Given Sunday: The Story of Christ in the Divine Service” by Mike Berg (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  2. Paul is writing as a man who has already lived a life of law-keeping while denying the resurrection.
  3. This is the prelude of Easter. Is a dead Jesus still resting in the tomb? No!
  4. This is an excerpt from the prologue of “On Any Given Sunday: The Story of Christ in the Divine Service” by Mike Berg (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  5. We don't make Church "happen." Only Christ can do so. It's his happening.
  6. I hate to break it to you, but "are" is not an action verb. "Are" is a being verb.
  7. As disciples of Jesus, our righteousness cannot be performed before others, because our righteousness was already performed by Jesus.
  8. If you interpret James, as most do, as an encouragement toward proving your faith by your works and then say it is your "favorite" then you are proclaiming that your favorite thing about the Christian faith is the practical outworking, the proving your faith by your works.
  9. Even if the numbers are bad, the news about Jesus crucified for sinners and raised to new life hasn’t become any less good.
  10. 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.
  11. To believe God is love and thus loves you is a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit.
  12. We too are God’s baptized, beloved, blood-bought believers. And no one can ever take that away from us.