Hello Guys and Gals!
I would like to start off with Psalm 18:1-2:
1 "I love You, O Lord, my strength."
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I love how David, at the end of his life, looks back upon his life on his deathbed and writes this psalm! He describes God as his rock, or better described as a rock in the desert which provides shade so that life sprouts in the shade of this rock. He describes God as his fortress, or better explained as the only secure structure on which he depends. He describes God as his deliverer, the One who has delivered him out of the hands of his enemies. He describes God as the One in Whom he takes his refuge or seeks his safety. He describes God as his shield, or the barrier by which nothing can get by to attack him. He describes God as the horn of his salvation, or the instrument singularly responsible for sounding the clarion call so that he is saved from sin. He describes God as his stronghold, the place of security and strength upon which he could rest from all his worries and strife. Think about each and every one of these descriptions carefully as how David thought about God at the end of his life!
Now let us look upon Ephesians 6:10-17:
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
We are supposed to gird ourselves with the Armor of God so that we can stand! Yes, that's right... stand! We are supposed to stand against all that opposes God, His Son, and His Spirit!
Now let's take a look at Jesus' words in Matthew 10:32-39:
32 "Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.
33 "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.35 "For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
39 "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.
We are to confess that Jesus is our Lord before everyone, even if it puts our very own loved ones and family against us. We are to put Him first in all things!
So we are to Stand and Confess to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord!
Now let us look at a great man who did just that. Let us look at Elijah who Stood up to Baal and Confessed that God was greater than Baal. Let's look at 1 Kings 18:24-28:
24 "Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, He is God." And all the people said, "That is a good idea."
25 So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it. "26 Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, "O Baal, answer us." But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made.27 It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, "Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened."28 So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them.
We see here that, not only did Elijah stand and confess that God was greater than Baal, but he challenged Baal to a fight against God to see who was truly God. Further, we see Elijah taunting the prophets of Baal in front of all the crowd gathered that day to try harder and harder even getting them to spill their own blood to try and get Baal to answer them!
So now I get to the whole point of my message today. Is the situation in the Old Testament or even any in the New Testament any different from what is going on today? We have many other religions and other gods out there who are either claiming that they are the same as YHWH, the one true God, or that they're the true way to heaven and that following YHWH is the wrong path. And since Political Correctness entered the world, it is wrong to stand up and confess that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. On top of that, we are supposed to be considerate of their religious beliefs and not declare that they are wrong. Further, we are supposed to let them do anything they want to us: lie, cheat, steal, and even kill us Christians with the furtherance of their religion and we are not supposed to even defend ourselves against them.
I'm here to tell you right now that Allah is not YHWH! He never has been and never will be. The problem with the religion of Islam and their belief that Allah is YHWH is in how they have changed the characteristics of YHWH into some distorted misrepresentation of what God truly is. In doing this, they have defined Allah as something other than what He truly is and therefore have clearly said that they are not followers and believers of YHWH or Jesus!
Yet we, as Christians, are not supposed to speak out against Islam because theirs is a religion of peace. FALSE! Not only is it written in the Quran that they are allowed to lie to infidels, or non Muslims, to achieve the world wide dominion of Islam, but they are even encouraged to do everything they can, even killing when they see fit to do so!
Yet we see a similar situation with Baal in the Old Testament and Elijah standing up to that false god! What happened? Did God punish Elijah for not speaking to the followers of Baal in love? Did God punish Elijah for not being tolerant of their beliefs? Did God punish Elijah for taunting their priests in front of the crowds? No, He did not! As a matter of fact, God showed His power to those same crowds because of the belief of one man, Elijah, who Stood and Proclaimed the power of God to those believers of a false god!
I say to you today that God has not changed! He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He will show His power through the believers in Him if we Stand and Confess Him to the world! Shoot, let's even taunt the believers of false gods into a battle with our God! I say let us Stand up and Confess that Jesus is Lord and that He is the only way to Salvation and Heaven and that all other gods are false, especially Allah of that false religion of Islam!
Do you have the courage to do that today? I do!
I stand and proclaim that Allah is a false and impotent god who has no power! I stand and proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only way to Salvation is through Him and any who do not believe in Him will burn eternally in Gehenna, the lake of fire! I stand and challenge any who believe otherwise to a fight with my Lord and my God Who will utterly destroy any who stand in opposition against Him!
May God give you the convictions of your heart and the courage to do as I have done today and declare that Jesus is Lord and nobody can reach Heaven unless they come to Him for salvation!
The Lord bless each and every one of you this day!
