1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. What we are asked to believe as we ponder the birth of this child is that in his coming, a new creation has dawned.
  4. The Advents of Christ (past, present, and future) elicit faith in the word of Christ, confirmed by his presence.
  5. Pastor Craft: Essays and Sermons is now available through 1517 Publishing
  6. Getting ready for Christ’s coming is a practice in humility.
  7. Each week during this year’s Advent series, we will take a look at a specific implication of Christ’s incarnation. This week, we will discover how God reaffirms the goodness of his creation by making all things new in the incarnation.
  8. “The days are coming,” and God said it. God, who kept his promise that Christ would come at Christmas.
  9. If Jesus is indeed the same yesterday, today, and forever, everything his enfleshment brings is already assured: life, salvation, and forgiveness.
  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.