1. For Paul, the hope of the resurrection was the ultimate antidote whenever his circumstances tempted him to despair or to "lose heart."
  2. Don’t get in the habit (or, if you already do it, get out of the habit) of saying, “I could never talk about these things the way my pastor does.”
  3. Are you on the receiving end of freedom? Or are you trying to make yourself free?
  4. The love of God in Christ Jesus never changes. That love is for you.
  5. Regardless of background or beliefs, every American I talk to seems on edge, as if the sky were about to fall. But the sky is not falling.
  6. He shows up when we are at our worst to usher us back to his side, lead us to repentance, rescue us, and reclaim us as his own.
  7. The number forty calls to remembrance narratives of God’s great acts of redemption, but also our conformity to and participation in those narratives.
  8. We are the fruit that grows from the branch, which extends from the trunk of the tree, which is rooted in the soil that it grows out of, which is all Christ.
  9. Regularly reading and hearing God’s Word helps us to keep a song in our hearts.
  10. What if the dissonance in this calendrical coincidence can be harmonized into a deeper melody?
  11. At the Transfiguration, we say farewell to alleluia and hello to the horrific reality of our lost condition.
  12. One way or another, Rod always found a way to bring whatever story he was telling back to the gospel and God's grace in Christ.