Mark 6:7-29
Jesus “began to send them out two by two and gave them power over unclean spirits.” Don’t forget the supernatural power you can walk in today…be bold when God gives you the chance to set others free.
Jesus gave them instruction on where to go and how to react when (not if) they were rejected.
Herod (a name used by a number of Kings in the Herodian dynasty) “heard” of Jesus. Anybody hearing of Jesus through your life this week?
Herod loves to listen to John and even “when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly.” So it appears Herod was not only a listener but a doer of the word of God.
BUT he committed adultery with his brother’s wife
John preached against that and Herodias wanted to kill JB. Her hatred simmered and her sin boiled over into a scheme.
She had her daughter dance for Herod who made a foolish and rash promise that eventuates in JB being beheaded.
Bottom line: Read a Proverb a day and you should never commit adultery. The consequences are horrible…for everyone! Our sin, if left unchecked, will take us and others down dark paths with devastating consequences. Remember, short accounts with the Lord, no secrets, no compromises.
Funny, how Jesus saw John the Baptist in Matt 11:11 as the “greatest among those born of women…” Why?
Because John was chosen to be the forerunner of the Messiah. He was the last Old Testament prophet (breaking 430 years of silence after Malachi), wedged right in the beginning of the New Testament….a faithful guy fulfilling his call no matter what, fruitfully to the end…with cricket legs and honey cakes into his beard…would have been funny and hard to concentrate while he talked to you…
You too have a magnificent call from God…let’s try and be faithful regardless of the prison, persecution, or pummeling the enemy puts you through…because…”whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he, (JB).”
That would be YOU…