VOICE OF THE TEACHER: part 6

Mark 9:33-50
March 15, 2009
with Adam Waters

Some of my favorite movies growing up were the ALIEN movies with Sigourney Weaver. The first one was very suspenseful (cat and a costume), but the second one really had the movie take off into the mainstream with a group of marines with machine guns and flamethrowers and grenades. One of the funniest things is that as I read this week’s text, all I could think about was a line from ALIENS: “Stay Frosty.” They wanted their group to be on their toes. To be alert and prepared for whatever challenge they faced. FOR US TODAY: What does it look like to belong to Messiah? Well, on some level it takes us staying “Frosty.”

READ: MARK 9:33-50

During the spring and summer months, I really love to grill... I told a story of using my smoker for the first time. The hours of prep and cooking it takes to make sure that the pork is full of flavor and juices and seasoned just right.
Friends, you and I are to be the flavor of the Kingdom of God. You and I are to be “Salty.”

THE TEACHER’S VOICE
How do you lose saltiness?
• Focus on others instead of yourself.
– That guy’s healing in your name?
– Matthew 7:1-5
– Causing someone else to sin.
• Focus on your flesh instead of purity.
– Set your standards HIGHER for where you go.
– Set your standards HIGHER for what you look at.
– Set your standards HIGHER for you do with your hands.
– Matthew 5:21-30 – Anger and Adultery

How do you stay salty?
• Focus on the Messiah’s VOICE of whom you belong (stories from 9:1-32)
• Focus on humility (9:33-37).
• Focus on purity (9:49 and remind of Mark 7:20-23).
• Focus on the flavor (9:50 and Matthew 5:13-16).
• Focus on community (9:50 and Ephesians 4:2-7).

We must tune our ears to a different station…
· We are challenging you to live like what God has to say actually matters!
· If what he is saying matters, then we need to realize that the Kingdom is missing something without our efforts. Our efforts to infuse our community with flavor, purity, humility, teachable hearts… our efforts to “stay frosty.”