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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True religion or true faith is heavenly. It understands that mankind’s only hope has to come from outside of itself.
The central message of Christianity is not a worldview, a way of life, or a program for personal or societal change; it is a person and the message of the cross.
This article is part of Stephen Paulson’s series on the Psalms.
Despite the best efforts of that council to silence Jesus of Nazareth and his message, it wasn't enough. Jesus was alive.
There is a bit of Narcissus in all of us. We are all lost within ourselves.
What a small thing in the big picture to give his head for the Head of the Church who would give his life for John and all sinners.
Nature ends in stinging judgment from its Creator.
As both law and gospel are proclaimed, judgment and deliverance are miraculously pronounced over the hearer.
The one who delights in the law of the Lord learns to fear his own good works and trust God outside of them.
The gospel is his weapon that beats back the darkness — “I AM the Resurrection and the Life. Bow your head, bend the knee when I walk by.”
When the historical importance of revivalism is understood, one can appreciate that the question, “Could America experience another revival?” is also a question about the fate of Christianity in America.
It is Jesus himself who is the ladder by which sinners get to God, not by them climbing up but by God climbing down.