1. Like the serpent on the pole, God still puts real-life things up for us to look to for salvation.
  2. Jonah’s biggest blunder was a failure to understand that God’s grace is always undeserved and always falls on those who are unworthy of it.
  3. 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.”
  4. Are you on the receiving end of freedom? Or are you trying to make yourself free?
  5. This is the sound of freedom. The Eternal One died so that we who are dying might live eternally with him.
  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. At the Transfiguration, we say farewell to alleluia and hello to the horrific reality of our lost condition.
  11. He was rooted in his own tradition but gracious with others when they wanted to learn about his faith or their own.
  12. In a world—and even a church—full of distractions, thank God for Rod Rosenbladt. He pointed us to Jesus and Jesus alone.