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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In response to the Lord's undeserved love, Manasseh looked to him as the true God.
God’s people get the warm feast of victory, while God’s meal is prepared cold.
Uzziah was showing the most dangerous kind of pride – a pride wrapped up under the guise of religious service.
Lent isn't simply a season. It's the Christian life in microcosm.
This is the third installment in our Lenten series, Through the Tombs of the Kings, where Steve Kruschel explores God’s faithfulness to Judah’s kings—and to us—through life, death, and the burial of his Son.
Apart from the confession that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God who suffered and died for the forgiveness of sins and rose again to justify the ungodly, there is no Christian faith.
This is the second installment in our Lenten series, Through the Tombs of the Kings, where Steve Kruschel explores God’s faithfulness to Judah’s kings—and to us—through life, death, and the burial of his Son.
Is there a significant difference between changing your mind and doing penance? Absolutely.
This is the first installment in our Lenten series, Through the Tombs of the Kings, where Steve Kruschel explores God’s faithfulness to Judah’s kings—and to us—through life, death, and the burial of his Son.
The cross traced in ashes isn’t a badge of honor or a mark of our works. It’s a reminder of Christ’s work.
Repentance is not limited to a season.
Despite the mathematical incongruity, the church confesses that Christ is one hundred percent human and one hundred percent divine.