Christianity does not locate freedom in radical autonomy. It does not tell either men or women that happiness consists in escaping obligations arising from relationships we did not entirely choose.
Jesus never promised me a World Series championship. He never promised that my children would always succeed or that life would go according to plan. He promised something better.
In Jesus, God acted first, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:5).

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Jesus never promised me a World Series championship. He never promised that my children would always succeed or that life would go according to plan. He promised something better.
We draw near because Christ our Mediator has gone where we never could, and he has brought us with him.
We live in the “already” but “not yet”. Peace is already ours but not yet. The resurrection is already ours but not yet. Justice is already ours but not yet. Until then be comforted by the fact that you are reconciled in Christ on account of his life, death, and resurrection.
When Jesus washes you with baptismal water, you can rest assured that the Lion of Judah is on the move.
I pray my children see God’s faithfulness not in the riches of this world, but in the riches of grace through Christ Jesus.
It appeared everything would work out perfectly when Ivan the Great married Sophia Palaiologos. But when inheritance was discussed the problems arrived.
No one is harder to convert than a religious expert.
Through baptism, absolution, and the Lord’s Supper, Christ meets you with his radical forgiveness which changes everything, even the self!
Do not disregard Luther’s early disputations, but appreciate their specificity and recognize their pastoral and theological continuity with his later works.
Humanity, despite our best efforts, cannot answer the question as to why God allows evil to occur.
This is an excerpt from the third chapter of By Water and the Word: God’s Gift of Baptism for You by Brian Thomas (1517 Publishing, 2026), pgs 52-60.
May we, as preachers, rise and proclaim that Jesus Christ is sufficient for all our spiritual hunger.