1. If we just say to God, “We don’t get it, please explain,” he will. He will send us a preacher to point us to his words for more clarification.
  2. 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).
  3. The needs of the people remain the same, but now the people are you and me. We still sin, and that sin causes so many challenges in our lives.
  4. It’s scary to share my struggle and to show that I have cracks because once I’ve shown my cards, I open myself up for judgment.
  5. We don't make Church "happen." Only Christ can do so. It's his happening.
  6. Unprompted, without any warning, for no reason at all, without any instigation say, "I love you." And that will wash over your parents like a beautiful absolution.
  7. Even if the numbers are bad, the news about Jesus crucified for sinners and raised to new life hasn’t become any less good.
  8. 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.
  9. Rightly distinguishing between law and gospel, as Paul helps us see in 2 Corinthians 3, is, quite literally, a matter of life and death.
  10. God gives us the power and authority to proclaim the forgiveness of sins to burdened sinners who entrust us with their pain, guilt, and defeat.
  11. The sign of the cross, according to the earliest centuries of Christians, is “the sign of the Lord,” and every baptized Christian was “marked” with it.
  12. Repentance is meaningless unless we are willing to acknowledge who we are: sinners needing mercy.