Mark Chapter 9 Verse 30

• Ok…AMAZING here. We read this automatically as “He didn’t want anyone to know understand or to acknowledge or to have knowledge of what He was about to say.” Which confused me…BUT…The Greek word for “know” is ginosko so this is not know of factually or in terms of information but rather experientially. Why is that amazing??!!! I’m glad you asked!! This is the whole reason why He went to the cross…so that He would bear our sins, bear our shame, bear our penalty and we would have the option, the choice, the opportunity to not know to not experience it ourselves. Notice Jesus did not want anyone to know this death…

Mark Chapter 9 Verse 31

• He predicts His own death perfectly which is humanly impossible unless you are suicidal. And also He tells them He will die and then rise. This is what makes Jesus different. There have been folks to say they were God, that they are the Savior, the answer, the cure, the power and the glory…yet the grave ate them up…not Jesus. He DEVOURED the grave…He overcame death and in that we know He has overcome sin and evil…and so He alone is worthy to be sought as Savior. He alone was able to get up out of the grave. So talk to Him! Stop talking to dead people, to stone statues, to dream catchers or fat golden figures on your dash board, HA! They cannot hear, they’re dead. They cannot respond, they’re dead. BUT > JESUS can! And He will…

Mark Chapter 9 Verse 32

• Fear is so stupid man! It isn’t even real! Have any of you seen that movie “After Earth” with Will Smith? That movie got cruddy reviews but I loved it! “Root yourself in this present moment!” Get out of the future for a minute is the implication. Quit worrying! Quit fearing! Decide today that fear is not real…it is your emotions and survival instinct causing you to make rash decisions and it’s a choice! Trust God with your future man…and the fear becomes so very secondary…Right here what awesomeness would they have learned if they would have just asked!? What life are you missing out on today because you’re just too afraid to ask?   Oh my friends will think I’m a weirdo. Fear. Oh my life will have to change…I’ll have to stop defiling myself, my children, my wife, my husband…GOOD! Why not then? Fear…
• Fear can take a hike…its not from God…God has not given us a spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound mind…so stop fearing tomorrow, stop fearing your friends, your neighbor, and start fearing God who was and is and is to come … and if you will notice, shame will flee, weakness will flee and the power to get it together will arrive man…not an un-chaotic life, who cares…you’re not supposed to have it together in a fallen world, think about it…you don’t fit in…but you have it together spiritually and therefore come what may…you are rooted in this present situation and invisible to evil…like Mario when he blinkin’!

Mark Chapter 9 Verses 33 – 34

• Jesus already knew and we know that by what He is about to do…He already knew they were disputing about who is the greatest teacher, the greatest evangelist, the strongest, the best looking, the greatest leader…So why ask? Because Jesus is a freedom Agent…in fact He is THE Freedom Agent and He was trying to shatter the chains of their fear…
• They’re afraid to ask Him things…why? Because they perceived their questions to be stupid, trite, maybe even adolescent. But Jesus’ desire for them and His desire for us…just be real man…be who you are, where you are and simply come to Me…So He shows them and us how…

Mark Chapter 9 Verse 35

• A rabbi always sat down when he wanted to teach a lesson of great importance. And here He reveals, the cornerstone of any building, of any family, of any team, of any friendship, the cornerstone bears the weight of the others…not the other way around. Think about it and I know I’ve said this before…I hope it makes sense…to be the selfless one in the bunch, the selfless mother, the selfless father, the servant friend, the servant employee…to be the servant of all, you must be the strongest of all…does that make sense? The lowest brick bears the weight of the highest brick…
• But we want to be the highest don’t we? We want to be the top rung, the big cheese, top dog…and in worldly terms that means how many people can you position yourself on top of…but in reality, that’s weakness. That’s infant-like and a cry for worth and attention that is not intrinsically present. Jesus is the chief cornerstone and He showed us power as He walked His own cross to His own murder…and then after breathing His last for the sake of love and freedom and salvation of others…He walked right out of death…stomping its neck out on the way…the true leader is the least and yet in heaven he or she will shine like the morning star forever and ever!

Mark Chapter 9 Verses 36 – 37

• What’s Jesus talking about? Does this have anything to do with what He just said about being the servant of all…yes, absolutely! What can a child do for you? Can Link provide for me? Can he teach me a lesson? (I bet he’d like to) Can he even take the trash out? Clean up a mess? Wash the dishes? Fix me some dinner? Buy me some dinner? No! He can’t do any of those things and therefore whatever I do for him, what must be the motivation? It ain’t to receive anything in return! That’s for sure!!
• Jesus is teaching them about love you see. About relationship. About pouring yourself out and loving hard man! Hoping for nothing in return but the well being of the other person. Being FOR them…The freedom and joy of the other person…that is so very Godly! You can’t love enough! You can’t strive hard enough to love! You can’t out-do when it comes to love but man I encourage you to try…how wonderful this profoundly eternal picture of service!!!

Mark Chapter 9 Verses 38 – 41

• I want to hi-five John. Do you see what just happened? “They were afraid to ask.” We just read. “They kept silent.” We just read. And then Jesus rather than rebuking them (which is probably what they expected), He sits down and teaches them how to be right…instead of beating them up for what they’ve done, He teaches them what they should do…I love that and notice, it’s John who immediately receives the message!
• How do we know that? A change in his behavior. Such a power pattern here. He is fearful, he does wrong, Jesus offers truth and correction and encouragement…John receives John changes. I pray that is the pattern for us all even today!!
• And so no more staying silent, he asks what’s on his heart in kind of a confession. Jesus, that church down the street uses a piano and doesn’t allow guitars…they preach 20 min sermons instead of our 40 min sermons. John, the church down the street isn’t the enemy! We serve One Lord, we battle One enemy. Pray for them…so cool!
• And here comes the enemy…

Mark Chapter 9 Verses 42 – 48

• Now look, none of the disciples cut off any body parts…except for Peter chopping off Malchus’ ear…so Jesus isn’t telling them to sharpen their swords against themselves…what He is saying is fight the real enemy and do it radically. Hard decisions, tough consequences…relationships lost…opportunity lost (pictured by the hand and feet as the hand works works and the feet carry us), experiences and things to see removed actively (pictured by the eye as our eye transmits our environment to our brains visually)…but what God has for us…better…so lose the relationship (I ain’t talking about your wife/husband), lose the opportunity, lose the experience…better to do that then to go hell Jesus says…
• So amazing how Jesus says to go to such drastic measures to avoid a place that many say does not exist…well it does…a place where the worm does not die…signifying eternal decay, eternally being eaten up…and the fire is not quenched…fight the real enemy man…sin in your own heart! So that we might be the salt of the world…

Mark Chapter 9 Verses 49 – 50

• Salt preserves, salt seasons. It enriches. It’s required for life. And saltiness is a result of what we’ve seen here in this Chapter man…hearing the Word of God, believing and making those changes…radically addressing sin in your own life and loving in such a way to hope to not be repaid…and the result…peace. First with God, then with one another…and once peace arrives, you’re unstoppable, rooted in this present moment or closeness to God.