This is an excerpt from the introduction of Stretched: A Study for Lent and the Entire Christian Life by Christopher Richmann (1517 Publishing, 2026).
We can bring our troubles, griefs, sorrows, and sins to Jesus, who meets us smack dab in the middle of our messy mob.
Confession isn’t a detour in the liturgy. It’s the doorway.

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Unlike human marriage, which is marred by sin, Jesus never seeks to divorce us due to irreconcilable differences.
“Unveiling Mercy: 365 Daily Devotions on Insights from Old Testament Hebrew” by Chad Bird (1517 Publishing, 2020) is now available for purchase.
A life of faith is a life of wisdom, which is a life lived knowing that it is God’s authority — and his alone — that prevails as the consummate active power in the cosmos.
When we genuinely measure ourselves, we will find ourselves dreadfully lacking.
The tragedy of this parable is not the failure to serve. It is the failure to truly know your Savior.
There is life after death and, more gloriously, there is life after life after death, the resurrection of the body.
Obviously, the Day of the LORD looks frightening according to the words of Zephaniah the prophet. The question is: “For whom?”
As we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray to God our Father. We come to him as his children, adopted into his family. We pray to our Father who loves us perfectly.
Whoever your president is, you have a King. A King who elected you.
Faithful preachers should remain steadfast in the biblical categories and terminology and preach the reality of death.
Because Israel has turned the eschatology of the Day of the LORD into “escapism” Amos turns that notion on its head in his prophecy.
Mindful that the pagans’ understanding of death is a finality, Paul says, “NO!” Death is not the end of humanity in God’s new world.