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 are called to believe in the church even when we don’t believe in the church.
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.
Repentance is not limited to a season.
You cannot sever the saint from the sinner. Christians remain both simultaneously.
God is a judge, but unlike you, God is just!
Despite the mathematical incongruity, the church confesses that Christ is one hundred percent human and one hundred percent divine.
In the upside-down wisdom of God, the place of the cross becomes the place of life, absolution, and triumph.
Luther’s final thoughts were not meant to bum you out or lead you to despair.
Christians don’t need a bucket list. We’ve got the whole bucket: the Word fulfilled, life fulfilled, and life in full.
Luther’s famous treatise contains great consolation for Christians struggling with grace, suffering, and hope.
The addict’s condition speaks a hard truth: that we are all beggars before God, every one of us bent toward the grave.