QUOTE
In short, I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion… I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept [cf. Mark 4:26-29], or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.

Luther, Martin. LW 51, 76
cited by: Korthals, James. How the Reformers Dealt with Change in the Church, p. 108
Spring 2005. WLQ, Vol. 102, No. 2

QUOTE
When we meet God in his Word, the result is a Copernican revolution. God takes his rightful place at the center of things. We return to our rightful orbit around him.

Cherney, Ken, Man’s best friend, p. 8
August 2004. Forward in Christ – Editorial Comment, Vol. 91, No. 8

ILLUSTRATION FOR LIVING WATER
Some time ago I saw a travelogue on television concerning a group of explorers who were searching in Africa for a vanishing tribe. In the course of their travels they came across some natives who for centuries had made their home on the banks of this one particular river. This in itself did not cause wonder, until they were showed the polluted stream. It was filled with dirt and every contamination imaginable. The natives had developed a method of swishing over the top of the water to get the bigger chunks out before scooping it up to drink.

One of the explorers took his canteen and poured out a large cup of crystal-clear water and handed it to one of the aged women of the tribe, whose face was as wrinkled as a prune. She took the cup, pressed it to her lips, and didn’t put it down until she had drained it. Then through an interpreter she said that she had never dreamed that there was anything in this world as sweet and wonderful as that.

I thought then: how like the world without Christ! They too drink from polluted streams—just swishing the ‘chunks’ out of the way because they have never known anything better. However, when they finally taste the crystal waters of eternal life, they proclaim that they never before realized there was anything so sweet and wonderful. That old woman was forced to go back to her polluted waters. But, thank God, we who have partaken of the ‘living waters’ of salvation need never go back.

Our Daily Bread

NEWS AS ILLUSTRATION
(Jerusalem) Israeli researchers have germinated a sapling date palm from seeds 2,000 years old, hoping its ancient DNA could reveal medicinal qualities to benefit future generations.

…[They] used seeds found in archaeological excavations at Masada, the desert mountain fortress where ancient Jewish rebels chose suicide over capture by Roman legions in A.D. 73. She said they were the oldest seeds ever brought back to life.

Weizman, Steve. Date Palm Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seed
June 13, 2005. Associated Press – Science

Comment: Isn’t it amazing the power that God placed in the plants of his Creation. Though we live in a world of death, God’s gift of life is a remarkably strong survivor. It reminds you of Peter’s words: “you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (I Peter 1:23).

AESOP ILLUSTRATION
An Ass having heard some Grasshoppers chirping, was highly enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of melody, demanded what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful voices. They replied, “The dew.” The Ass resolved that he would live only upon dew, and in a short time died of hunger.

Aesop. The Ass and the Grasshopper

Comment: Throughout history man has attributed spiritual strength to the wrong sources. If we rely on people to tell us what food will feed us spiritually, we’ll get the wrong answers and starve our souls. Only God can provide food for our souls.