It’s been a while since I started off a sermon with a really bad joke. I know what some of you are thinking: The only kind of joke you’ve ever heard me tell is a really bad joke. Well, here goes again.

A dog walked into a Dodge City saloon and ordered a root beer. The barkeep snickered, “We don’t serve dogs and we don’t sell root beer in this saloon.”

The dog said, “I’ve got money and my money is as good as any man’s. Give me a root beer!”

The bartender was tired of talking so he reached under the bar, pulled out a gun, and shot the dog in the foot. “Now,” said the bartender, “get out of here and don’t ever come back.”

A week later, the dog came back, this time wearing his gun belt that holstered two guns. Not seeing the man who shot him behind the bar, he walked up to the new bartende…