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.
Even when the bitter places sink down deep into our bones, the Restorer never relinquishes his grip on you.
To Live Well is therefore not a general advice book, but a message suffused with the gospel.

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Grace comes for every foolish, self-absorbed sinner, for every “Nabal,” and announces that there is one who has already taken it upon himself to shoulder all of our wrongdoing, paying the price for it through the sacrifice of himself.
As Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf of spring.”
The Parable of the Lost Sheep bursts through the confines of convention and demands that we embrace the messiness of life and the unpredictable ways in which God's grace and forgiveness operates.
The Lord’s Prayer is liturgy and catechism, action and instruction, praxis and theology.
Prayer is not just about asking for things. It's about receiving what has already been given to us in Christ.
God cares about our real life where we actually are. He is present in the everyday.
God is the end of living, the destination, the point of it all.
Tim wanted everyone to know to the deepest part of their being that they were justified by Christ alone.
The Lord’s prayer is a prayer in perfect accord with the will of God, and Jesus gifts it to us to plagiarize at will.
Luther's emphasis on the need for sinners to have preachers who can provide them with the comfort and support they need for their faith in Jesus Christ and life is as relevant today as it was in his time.
The Lord knew how it felt to be a rejected stone.
Walther’s living legacy is his enduring teaching on how to distinguish the law and the gospel in the Church’s proclamation.