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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On every page, in every theme, in every major character and every major plot twist, we are invited to see God’s unfolding work to make all things new and whole in Jesus.
You need an apocalyptic ‘decoder ring’ to figure out what is going on in Revelation.
The gospel of Jesus’ coming out of death and the tomb alive so that we might be restored to our identity as God’s children establishes the most enduring reality there is.
God has found a way to be God even for the likes of us. He has found a way to save sinners.
The Messiah is exiled from God on the cross as Israel was. Forsaken as Israel was forsaken. Cast away from Yahweh as Israel was. Why?
Christ has come to make every last aspect of your life the object of his eternal, never-ending, always transitive grace.
The Savior wasn’t always forthright with his intentions behind using and relaying certain parabolic narratives.
Easter must be seen in light of the cross. It must never overshadow Good Friday. They are a packaged deal!
Obviously, the LORD has no intention of slapping a bandage on creation. He will completely restore—it will be made new.
Jesus died for the people who put Him to death. Jesus rose for the people whose minds rejected the idea of a resurrection.
The sacrifice of Jesus stands completed, once for all, and we believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Jerusalem, temple, and king, all three bespoke of Yahweh’s kingship, as well as of His Kingdom and presence on earth and all the blessings bound up with it.