Will You Publicly Acknowledge Who Jesus Is?

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“I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.
As the crowds following Jesus began to increase, he started upping the ante in what it would mean to follow him.  He know that those who publicly confessed faith in him would soon do so at the risk of their lives.  The persecution of followers of Jesus started right after Jesus rose from the dead and grew stronger throughout the rest of the first century.  Jesus makes it clear how important it is to acknowledge him before others regardless of the cost.  
It is increasingly hard to acknowledge to Jesus today in a world that is increasingly hostile to Christians.  The media makes fun of Christians and others think Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites, racists, or worse.  The easy thing would be to hide out in our "holy huddles" and be afraid to even mention the name of Jesus.  But Jesus didn't call us to be meek or afraid to stand up for Him.  Notice it is politically correct to say God's name in public, but not the name of "Jesus".  That is a different ball game.
We all remember the story of Peter, who told Jesus he would NEVER disown him.  But when push came to shove and Peter's neck was on the line, he disowned Jesus three times.  Fortunately the Lord restored Peter after his resurrection, and Peter preached the gospel until his own death confessing Jesus as Lord.  
Finally, in verses 11 and 12, Jesus concludes by saying, "Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
It is the Holy Spirit who "en-courages" us to be bold and acknowledge Jesus before others.  And this isn't in a "preachy", "in your face" kind of way.  I think there will be times in our lives where we will be called upon to speak up and name the name of Christ.  The Holy Spirit will give us the nudge, and the question is whether we will take a risk and to testify to our belief in Jesus.  The good thing is that what the Holy Spirit leads us to do, He empowers us to do.  
My experience is that it has been quite exhilirating to stand up for the Lord.  I haven't done it all the time, but when I have done it I have felt the Lord's pleasure.  I think the time is now for Christians to stand up for what they believe and not be intimidated by the current atmosphere of hostility directed at Christians.  After all people, of other religions and ideologies are more than happy to stand up for what they believe publicly and demonstrably. Then, why shouldn't we? 

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