1. 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.
  2. We can’t predict the harvest. We can only sow.
  3. We don't make Church "happen." Only Christ can do so. It's his happening.
  4. 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.
  5. Even if the numbers are bad, the news about Jesus crucified for sinners and raised to new life hasn’t become any less good.
  6. 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.
  7. To believe God is love and thus loves you is a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit.
  8. His love for you is so deep that in his mercy, while you were yet a sinner, God sent his only begotten Son to die for you.
  9. “So loved,” then isn’t about how much but instead simply how.
  10. Love is pointing to Jesus who said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
  11. Rightly distinguishing between law and gospel, as Paul helps us see in 2 Corinthians 3, is, quite literally, a matter of life and death.
  12. 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.