1. Don't lose hope. Don't avoid church on Sunday morning.
  2. 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.
  3. 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?
  4. 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.
  5. 1517 would not exist without the leadership, friendship, and faithfulness of Pastor Ron Hodel.
  6. If God ever forgives you, it is not just allowing you to start over and try harder the second time, but it is a whole, new, complete justification that is given as a free gift and without any work of our own—outside the law.
  7. I write this as someone who’s genuinely concerned that American congregants are getting bamboozled by preachers who are giving them less than what they need Sunday after Sunday.
  8. Christ has received the mark of law that we might be marked with the gospel, with the sign of his holy cross on our heads and hearts as redeemed children of God.
  9. Pastor Craft: Essays and Sermons is now available through 1517 Publishing
  10. The youths that mock Elisha are representative of Israel’s collective contempt and disregard for all things relating to their One True God.
  11. Forgiveness of sins does not come in bits and pieces. There are no levels of forgiveness.
  12. One could reason that God might, at least, give the church a little worldly power.