Pastor Jon Verwey
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42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.
43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
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45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.
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47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,
48 where “ ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’
49 Everyone will be salted with fire.
50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” — Mark 9:42–50 NIV
Does what I am doing move me toward Jesus or away from Him?
Does what I am doing make me more like Jesus or less?
Everyone will be salted with fire. v. 49
Being “salted with fire” happens when we offer ourselves to Jesus by submitting to Him and His ways. Then the trials of life become a fire that strengthens, purifies, and preserves us instead of destroying us.
…let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. — Galatians 5:16 NLT
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. — Galatians 5:22–23 NLT
Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other. v. 50b
And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another…— Hebrews 10:25 NLT
“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? v. 50a
Don’t manage sin—fight it, so that we can be a purified people who bring the life-giving presence of Jesus to the world.