Take A Stand

Take A Stand (Matthew 14: 1-12)

Nothing in this world is as important as Jesus’s Kingdom

It doesn’t matter what you have accomplished here on earth

How much money you have made

Jesus is our king and he is king of all kings

We are going to talk about John the Baptist and the vicious murder that took place

We can learn a lt of the way that he lived and died

If we will remove ourselves and focus on what scripture tells us

This can help us take a bold stand for Jesus

Today and every single day of our lives, we are in a great spiritual struggle

Spiritual warfare is no joke

It is as real as it gets

We face it every day and the more that you do for God, the more Satan will come after you

Ephesians 6:10-13 Paul revealed our true enemies

Flesh is not our enemies

It is Satan himself, it is rulers of the darkness, it is spiritual wickedness

Spiritual warfare is real and we are taking it lightly

I have seen stuff that I can’t explain

Years ago, If you was to tell me some of the things that I have seen happen in my life to be true, I would have laughed at you

Listen to me right now my friend, we are at war and we are fighting every day this battle

So many people follow the devil willingly and many more are following him unwillingly and don’t even realize it

This world is in trouble and it seems as nobody cares

Nobody seems to be fighting against him

As if we have gave up

Wake up my friends - God is real but Satan is real as well

We are taking it lightly, we better open our eyes

These people we are talking about that murdered John the Baptist was spiritually blinded by the devil

We are acting like it doesn’t happen today in 2026

Stop reading this as if God is dead and Satan is dead

Jesus said it best in John 15: 18-21 - if the world hates you, just know it hated me first

It is like he knew this was going to be a problem in today’s time

He left this bible for us to read, to study, to help prepare us

They crucified Jesus and will not hesitate to crucify you

If God wouldn’t spare his own son, stop acting like you are better than Jesus, you are not exempt - open your eyes

1-4)

John the Baptist is in prison b/c he took a stand for Jesus and stood against King Herod

He confronted him for marrying his sister in law (Herodaias) which was his brother Philip’s wife

He told him it wasn’t lawful to have her

Herod divorced his first wife and married Herodaias

John the Baptist publicly told him that it was unlawful for him to do this

So, Herod had him put in prison just b/c he could

Please Recognize that we are all in a great spiritual struggle

5) Herod wanted to kill John the Baptist

But he was afraid of the people

B/C they considered John the Baptist to be a prophet

Believe it or not but a lot of people today wants to harm other people are afraid of the law

They are afraid of what other people would think or say about them

Keep in mind, not one time was Herod afraid of what God could do to him

And neither are the people today

Some reason, we tend to forget about what God thinks or what God is capable of

6-9) On Herod’s birthday, Herodias’s daughter danced for Herod and it pleased him

He was so pleased, he told her that he would give her whatever she wanted

Herodias made her daughter ask for the head of John the Baptist

You want to talk about evil and manipulation at it’s finest

Of course, Herod could not go back on his word and granted the request that she had made

This is where we are at even in today’s times

Instead of doing what is right, the right thing just don’t matter to some people in some situations

Evilness is a different animal and it does not discriminate

10-12) Herod sent for his people to go behead John

They did and his head was brought back on a platter and given to the girl

The girl then gave it to the mother

They buried the body and they went and told Jesus about it

I would say that there was no remorse from Herodias

She got what she was asking for

Let me share something with you

When we let wickedness and evil into our hearts

When sin takes place and it will when you allow those things to come into you