This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.
On its journey from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul, this special place helps us understand the broader arc of Christian history, which goes on until Christ's return.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.

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Finding rest in God when the “what ifs”come calling
As much as we want the glory, riches, and knowledge of Dantes, what we need is Jean Valjean's candlesticks.
How can he say it? How can he say that Christ is after all the entire meaning of life for him, and that death is no real worry?
Charles V, for all his power, his lands, and his riches, was ultimately unable to hinder the spread of the precious Gospel.
Dyson demonstrated a pious persistence with Lewis, something we can emulate in our own friendships and conversations.
We must also address the stigma surrounding addiction within so many churches.
The issue is not the existence of so-called inner rings, but our desire and willingness to spend our lives in order to gain from an inner ring what is freely promised in Christ: hope, security, and identity.
What if Jesus had said on the cross, “Earn it”?
Jesus’s story in Luke 16 draws definitive attention to whom God helps — namely, God always comes close in order to help those who cannot help themselves.
It is of the utmost importance that pastors teach their congregation that through faith in Jesus Christ, they are fortified against the machinations of the adversary.
In that moment of greatest despair, we find the antidote for all our fears. We know we are beloved of God and there is salvation in Christ’s atoning death.
Honest confession brings us into the fatherly care of God where we are always greeted with grace, mercy, peace, love, and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.