We Have Met The Enemy

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. It's good to have you here. We're going to begin a new series today called Resolve, as you see. Because, well, when I grew up, so many people talked about making New Year's resolutions. I think that's kind of fallen away, hasn't it? Why? Who wants to do it? Who keeps them, right? How long do they last? I still do notice, usually, that the gym is really busy in January. But by February, it's half empty again, right? So, yeah, we struggle with resolving anything in our lives, making a resolution and having it actually solved in the end. Now, you saw in the little video that AJ helped me put together, lots of issues in this world right now that need resolution, need resolving. But nobody seems to be solving many of those, right? And that's the question. Can those things be solved? Will they be solved? And the Bible actually gives us much hope on that. The answer is yes. God is bringing a resolution. God is bringing a solution, a salvation for every one of those things in the end, ultimately. They have been solved upon the cross, and they will be totally resolved when He comes again in glory. And God's future with us is going to resolve all those issues. And if you don't get anything else, I just want to give you that hope today. Because the message we're having today is a little harsh, I think. Well, the words of Jesus are one of the more difficult passages that we're going to be looking at. He didn't just say it once. He said it a multiple of times. But we're going to be reading in Mark chapter 9 from that. Some of you have heard this before, this cartoon by Pogo that said, We have met the enemy, and he is us. That was 1971, by the way. 1971. For Earth Day, that Walt Kelly wrote this animal comic strip, Pogo. And at the time, he was taking Oliver Perry's quote. I don't know if you knew of who he is. He was an admiral, I believe, in the Navy. In 1812, at the battle for Lake Erie, he said, We have met the enemy, and they are ours. So Pogo turned it around, and I think in a good way for us, We have met the enemy, and he is us. Terrible, terrible grammar. But, do you know what it's supposed to be? They are we. I know this is kind of weird. We have met the enemies, and they are we. Or he is I. I don't know. I mean, you tell me, because it's not woe is me. It's supposed to be woe is I. Who's a grammarian in our midst? Anybody? Yeah, well, we'll let it go. Everybody knows it as he is us. But I think that's a good paraphrase of what we're getting at today. When we're starting to talk about this idea of resolving problems, It's so easy to point the finger out there somewhere, wherever that happens to be. You can say it's that group, that nation, that ideology, that ism, that boss, that worker, that repair person, that corporation. You know, we can point the finger elsewhere. I think that tends to keep things from being resolved when we do that. What we find out in the Bible is that this is where I need to start. And this is the hard part of the lesson. Now, Jesus says it in some pretty harsh language today. I think Jack Parr, some of you know who he was. Have you ever heard of Jack Parr, Zach? Yeah, he was the original Tonight Show host before, right? Johnny Carson. And you don't even know who he is. Do you know who Jay Leno is? Okay. We have to go down the generation. See, I told you I was born in the Jurassic period. So, he said this, Looking back, my life so far seems like one long obstacle course with me as its chief obstacle. Now, if I remember, Jack Parr's life was a little messy. And so is mine. You know? The biggest problem is me. So today we're looking at ourselves as the chief obstacle. Before you go anywhere, and if you want to ever do, like, resolving a conflict between individuals, you've got to start with yourself first and see what your part is in it. It might only be 10%, but you still have to own that 10%. Whatever it is, you've got to figure that out first. Because if you go in, guns a-blazing towards somebody else and saying they're the problem, first and foremost of all, guess what happens? It will not get solved. It will not get solved. It becomes almost like a conspiracy of keeping things going. And I have a feeling there's some people in our society right now, they call them conflict entrepreneurs, really. They're making money off of keeping the conflict going. Okay? A lot of money. Man. Or a lot of hits on their social media accounts or whatever. We're going to look at that down the line, but we have to start with us first, with me first. So we're reading a very, one of the difficult sayings of Jesus in Mark chapter 9 today, verses 43 to 48. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it ...