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Reverend Riley preaches on the need for spiritual revival and the overcoming of complacency in the church. Taking his text from Isaiah 5:13, he declares that God's people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. He then moves to 2 Kings 2:19-21, where the men of Jericho tell Elisha the water is bad and the ground barren. Reverend Riley argues that many churches are like that city: pleasant to look at but producing nothing because the spiritual water is polluted. The cure, he says, is salt — and Jesus said, 'Ye are the salt of the earth.' The preacher calls on the congregation to become 'salt bearers' — to bring fresh enthusiasm, renewed commitment, and living faith to the church so that the man of God can cast that salt into the waters and declare, 'Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters.' He insists that a pastor cannot do it alone; the people must bring the salt. Using the illustration of a bland, unseasoned pot roast, he challenges the church to stop settling for tasteless, powerless services. The spiritual purpose is to stir the congregation from inertia into active partnership with their new pastor, making the church a place where the water of life flows freely and the ground becomes fruitful again.