Dare to Stand

Over the course of time, men and women from all walks of life have been asked to stand up for one thing or another. Some of these stands were for religious reasons, some for political, and even some were for basic human rights. Many of these stands have had lasting impact on the way we live even still today.

Esther stood up for a whole nation. She stood in the gap and protected her people from the evil influences that were affecting the king that she served. She not only stood up but she did so at great risk to her own life. You see she knew that without her stand there would be no future for her people.

Patrick Henry in the days of the revolutionary war stood up and was counted by saying "Give me liberty or give me death." This became a battle cry for not only our nation but also for many others over the past couple of hundred years.

Rosa Parks in the years of the Civil Rights movement refused to sit at the back of the bus wanting only to be treated as a human and not as a person of color. Although she took that stand it still took some time for those rights to start being seen and allowed even in our country.

All of these stands just seem to pale in the light of the stand that Christ took for us on the cross. He stood in our place taking the very sins that would con dim us to death and made them His own. In spite of the fact that He prayed "Father let this cup pass from me." He was willing to take our place and give up His deity, all of the power that went with it and then even as a man He gave up his life. He then took a stand in Hell and took the keys to both Hell and the grave and ascended into Heaven. We now know that He sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. Through His stand we now have the hope of eternal life and freedom from sin.

We have now been asked to take a stand for our community. We are being asked what we are willing to do to make a difference in this community? Also are we willing to give what it takes to see it through? We have some awesome opportunities on the horizon here at our church that could make a world of difference in this community. We could possibly become one of the greatest influences this area has ever seen for the positive. We all know that not all of the stands being taken in our area are positive so we need to stand up and show our community we are for real and we are here for the long haul.

Right after Paul tells us in Ephesians to put on the whole armor of God he then tells us that having done all, to stand. Stand.

Now we are faced with the choise, where will we stand?