1. This is an excerpt from “Finding God in the Darkness: Hopeful Reflections from the Pits of Depression, Despair, and Disappointment” by Bradley Gray (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  2. You are not alone if you find it difficult to wrap your mind around the auspices of the Old Testament sacrificial system.
  3. Nothing moves or drives Paul more than preaching about “Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
  4. Even as he was dying, the heart of God poured itself out for the sake of sinners.
  5. The gospel's message is the scandalous announcement that Yahweh has stooped to our frame, to where we are.
  6. There is only one antidote to the venom of sin and death: the Savior who becomes the serpent so that every snake-bitten-sinner might live.
  7. Our Judge (the one who can condemn us) has become our Advocate (the one who doesn’t condemn us) because he is also our Substitute (the one who takes our condemnation).
  8. I write this as someone who’s genuinely concerned that American congregants are getting bamboozled by preachers who are giving them less than what they need Sunday after Sunday.
  9. Your Christian faith is a bloody faith, and that ought not make you fearful or scared or embarrassed.
  10. When we — sinful, reprehensible we — become the enforcers of justice, we never bring about true justice. We either go too far or not far enough.
  11. Everyone is living as a naked sufferer who’s been duped into believing that the nakedness of suffering has to be covered up.
  12. There is a power that is stronger and mightier than the power of separation in death. And that power is the power of God’s love for you and me.