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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Absolution is the word God speaks to cause his sin-dead creation to live.
Those called out for their sins, who find themselves knee deep in their transgressions, always need grace.
It’s God’s love that sets us free to love in the first place.
God has a strange delivery system, the foolish preaching of the cross and foolish preachers for Christ’s sake delivering it.
Jesus rejects what we believe is most necessary and instead points us to his pain, suffering, death, and self-sacrifice.
You can’t bear your own sins, to say nothing of getting rid of them.
Repentance means to turn or change your mind. It is not a turn from sin to righteousness. It is a turn from sin to the righteous Son of God who has defeated all sin.
The truth is we’ve always mixed up the roles of penitent and priest.
The true liberty that Christ gives to us through the gospel is not political. It is spiritual freedom. It is freedom from fear of God's judgment and wrath.
If sin is only a matter of “doing,” then “undoing” and/or “redoing” would serve as the equivalent savior necessary to find redemption.
Being able to tell the difference between truth and lies is at the core of repentance.
The petition not to be led into temptation is found in just the right place within the seven petitions.