We stand for Christ. We plant our flag and are prepared to die on that hill. We don’t back up or back down when we proclaim the power and glory of Jesus. Jesus Christ of Nazareth was crucified, and God raised Him from the dead, Jesus was rejected by men but became the cornerstone, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:13).
Not everyone agrees with this or likes this message. People are persecuted, thrown in jail, kidnapped at gunpoint, or killed for this message. Peter and John proclaimed these truths but the authorities (the priests, the captain of the temple guard, rulers, elders, scribes and the high priest and his royal family) gathered together, arrested them, and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we must speak of what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:18-19).” We must tell of Jesus.
We will face hostility when we stand and proclaim the name of Jesus. The world does not believe in Jesus. The world wants a nice and kind Jesus, a meek and mild Jesus, a non-offensive Jesus. But we say Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, and there is no way to get to God except through Him. We sin and rebel against God; Jesus is the only way to have forgiveness and peace with God. There is salvation in no one else; there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. Narrow is the gate and hard is the road that leads to life, and few find it. Have you found it today?
Hostility to the gospel is real. We do not live in a Christian nation. We are exiles and strangers in a strange land, but we continue to speak the word of God with boldness. We pray to our Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, that we will stand and proclaim His glory. We love and pray for those against God and against us. We pray for their ears to be open and hearts to be soft to the good news of Jesus. Not everyone wants to hear and many will be hostile, but we press on. We stand for Christ.