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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There are many funeral songs I wouldn’t be caught dead singing. Why? Because my funeral will not be about me.
Dear church, do not get sidetracked. This is about far more than terrorism, racism, gun ownership, and the like. This is about the evil of the human heart.
It seems that no matter where we look in this world, we never quite find what we really need.
One of the interesting things about Paul’s writings that is not noticed enough is that Paul doesn’t really have an “application” section.
There is no pain like the pain of being mistreated by those who, above all others, you expect to love you unconditionally.
No, when the Lord is ready for battle, of all creatures, he commissions Mary’s little lamb.
Have you ever played hide and seek with a 2-year-old? News flash: They’re terrible at it.
I became like God’s child David, whom the Lord pardoned of his adultery and murder. I became like Noah, Abraham, Judah, Aaron, Gideon, and so many more wayward children.
God cannot love me unconditionally without prerequisites, especially after all I’ve done, can He?
Stephen Fry, the English actor, author and game show host once disparaged the “grammar Nazis” who felt it necessary to enforce all the rules of language but who had forgotten, or just didn’t care, about the joy of language.
Take away the water, words, bread and wine. Can you be a Christian without water, words, bread and wine?
Either one of those verses alone is scary; but both of them together are terrifying!