A minister was preaching a sermon on “living water.” At one point he said, “God’s living water is like the water flowing in the Mississippi River. It’s free.” After the sermon a skeptic came up to him and observed, “If the water in the Mississippi river is free, why do you pass the plate to take up a collection during the church service.” Unfazed the pastor replied, “Well, while the water is free, you do have to pay to get it piped directly to your door.”

(Topper Council, Southland Baptist Temple, Paducah, KY; via Sermon Fodder and Joke A Day Ministries)


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If you think issues of uncleanness are limited to the ancient world, consider this cover story headline last year from an issue of U.S. News & World Report: “The Future of Water: Costly – Dirty – Scarce.”

The article began with an account of dirty water in Atlanta, where in some neighborhoods it had been flowing brown from the tap. From time to time, “boil water” advisories had been issues to let residents know the water was not safe to drink. The situation may grow worse as 700,000 miles of aging pipes and mains throughout America decay and reach the end of their life spans. One federal official called clean water “the biggest environmental issue that we face in the 21st century.”

-Today in the Word, p.20



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When we read that Jesus is the Water of Life we think of all the usual things
that water does: quenches thirst, cleanses, refreshes, makes life possible. We
draw a parallel between those functions and what Jesus can do in our lives.
There is one function of water we may miss. You can cut steel with water! It’s
true. We have long known that water can cut through stone, but under extremely
high pressure jets of water can cut granite, marble, steel and titanium. So
Jesus can pierce the hardest heart. Nothing is more powerful than our Lord.


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