Earlier this year, we studied the apostle Paul’s life, preaching and writing in detail. Paul always had one great central message. He used all his learning, his extensive knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures and his speaking skill to convince his hearers that Jesus was “the Christ,” God’s anointed king. His message has long outlived those seemingly more powerful, important people (like Agrippa) who scoffed at his faith in Jesus.

• Scholar N. T. Wright noted that Paul’s preaching from the Scriptures wasn’t just a few proof texts. “It was a matter of the entire plan of God, the whole sweep of the narrative, the story of Israel going into the dark tunnel of slavery in Egypt only to be rescued at the Passover, of David fleeing from Absalom only to be reinstalled after a great victory, of Jerusalem being destroyed and the nation carried away captive to Babylon, only to be brought back and rebuilt after a tribulation everyone thought would be final … of a story whose main themes were all about suffering and vindication, disaster and reversal, death and resurrection.” In other words, Jesus as “the Christ,” crucified and risen, embodied the essence of all of God’s saving action. In what ways has Christ brought the power of “reversal,” of hope, into your life?