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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We don’t flinch at sin. We speak Christ into it.
The Church speaks not with the cleverness of men, but with the breath of God.
This is the second installment in the 1517 articles series, “What Makes a Saint?”
This is the first installment in the 1517 articles series, “What Makes a Saint?”
The doctrine of the Trinity is not so much the story of a “who-dunnit” as it is the story of the “who-is-it.”
What I was missing—what so many are missing—is a Church that doesn’t just speak about Christ, but delivers him.
Every time someone is baptized, every time bread is broken and wine poured, every time a sinner hears, “Your sins are forgiven in Christ,” Pentecost happens again.
When Jesus ascends, he does so, bearing gifts for you.
Should you then abandon David’s plea that God use his law against his enemies and send a Legal Avenger? No, the law must be preached to the Christian (insofar as he is not one).
The Christ who rescues does not wait for you to be clean. He comes to clean you. He does not need your strength. He brings his own.
“The fear of the Lord” is our heart’s awakening to and recognition of God’s outrageous goodness.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.