Free Methodist Church Of Santa Barbara

Mark 9:42-50. When I was in high school, I read a book by F.F. Bruce entitled, The Hard Sayings of Jesus. It was about how Jesus made statements which are difficult for us to decipher or cause conviction in our souls. As we read the gospels, sometimes there are longer passages that we would rather not deal with and would like to skip over. To use Pastor Nikki's analogy from last week, to fast forward, so we can move on. The passage we study this week might be one of those for us. Jesus is talking about sin and hell, topics most people don't want to have anything to do with, let alone delve into. Yet, delve into we must if we are to understand our Lord and what He is trying to communicate to us in this passage. I encourage you to read the verses in Mark 9 in anticipation of our wrestling with it on Sunday. The Holy Spirit brings understanding and will show us truth from this scripture. May God in His fullness meet with us as we gather in His name for worship.