[After saying that his disciples must remove any source of temptation, Jesus continued,] “For everyone will be tested with fire.” —Mark 9:49 NLT Key Thought The real character of our lives will not be left in doubt when we are tested. As one saying goes, “Trial doesn’t produce character but reveals it.” At the end …
[Jesus continued,] “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than …
[Jesus continued,] “But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck.” —Mark 9:42 NLT Key Thought So often in our passion to preserve the purity of the …
[Jesus said,] “If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.” —Mark 9:41 NLT Key Thought The kindness Jesus expects and rewards in his followers is very simple. God doesn’t forget kindness that is demonstrated with actions that …
[Jesus said,] “Anyone who is not against us is for us.” —Mark 9:40 NLT Key Thought Christianity faces enough opposition in the world without Christians fighting and devouring each other because they think of each other as enemies. Jesus’ words here are powerfully universal and clear — notice that the use of the word “anyone” …
John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” “Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me.” —Mark 9:38-39 NLT Key Thought …
John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” —Mark 9:38 NLT Key Thought Isn’t it amazing how quickly we can split up into our cliques and begin arrogantly doing, as a group, what Jesus had just …
Then [Jesus] put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.” —Mark 9:36-37 NLT Key Thought How we treat …
[Jesus] sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” —Mark 9:35 NLT Key Thought Jesus’ life was an ongoing demonstration of what he taught. The truth he lived and proclaimed is nowhere more evident than in …
After [Jesus and his disciples] arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. —Mark 9:33-34 NLT Key Thought Sin entered the world because human beings wanted to …