1. Rejoice with Mary as she would rejoice with you. Be blessed, like her, with humility from God, so that you may serve joyfully and willingly wherever and in whatever role God has placed you.
  2. If Jesus shows up and you are a sinner, ‘tis more blessed to receive than to give
  3. By his first Advent in the flesh, through his second Advent with bread and wine and water and Word, we await his third Advent at the end.
  4. We will not become hopeless because the Lord is with us.
  5. God is not calling us to “grow up.” He is calling us to dependence.
  6. It is terribly easy to set up our theology as a buffer against the real coming of the Lord and its consequences.
  7. You are the friend in low places. It’s only from this place that you are free to look outside yourself for the remedy to the issues that plague you and humanity.
  8. The mind-blowing part of this entire story, though, isn’t that only one leper came back to “give thanks,” but that the Lord Jesus healed all ten knowing full well that only one would come back.
  9. We don’t start with behavior and work toward Christ. We start with Christ and everything works out from there.
  10. Through water, blood, and word, the Spirit never stops pointing us to Christ, and even more, giving us Christ.