Advanced Home Page
Needed School Material
Weekly Assignments
Sections & Chapters

bullet

Field Tracts:

Salvation
Forgiveness
Evangelism

Textbook Illustrations
Certificate of Achievement

 _________________

layevangelism.com

Basic Evangelism
Training Program

Author
Contact
 Order Books
Bible Internet Quick R
Topical Scriptures

1 Corinthians 9:11
"If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we should reap material things from you?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Relationship With Jesus
The Key To Effective Ministry

Section 11, Chapter 4

There Is No Such Thing As A
Safe & Costless Christianity

Page 4 of 1, 2, 3
Study Questions

Richard Wurmbrand did defend the cause of Christ before this congress and as a result Sabina did lose her husband. He ended up spending fourteen years in prison before she got him back, three of those years in solitary confinement. She herself eventually ended up in prison for her faith also.

Their Son, Mia, ended up an orphan wondering the streets because he could not get an education nor a job because his parents were committed Christians and would not support the communist regime. They were considered common criminals in society. One day her son came to visit her. A guard stood between them and continually interrupted their conversation making intelligent conversation impossible. Sabina finally cried out to her Son,

"Serve Jesus and put him first above all else!"

Mia responded back,

"Mother, if you and Father can serve Jesus under these conditions, then I will to."11/23-24

That was the day Mia gave his life to Jesus. He has been serving him ever since and is now a full time Pastor. Only when their son saw that his parents were willing to give up everything for Jesus was he then compelled also to give his life to Jesus.

How unlike American Christian parents. Many times when I talk to them about getting involved in Evangelism their response is that their ministry is their children to give them a good home. They cannot risk losing that, their jobs, because then how would they support and take care of their children?

I agree that taking care of their children is their responsibility, but not to the compromise of truth and their relationship with God. The question American Parents need to ask is do they want to leave their children with beautiful things, property and homes that are temporary and that will pass away and be burned with fire along with the earth in the end? Or would they rather by their self sacrifice and example of living totally for Jesus with all their hearts and everything they have say to their children,

Children, Jesus and Heaven are more real than this temporary earth and therefore should be invested in with all that you have and your very life rather than this temporary life which will pass away.

They may not come to Jesus while under your roof, but later when they become miserable when they find that the world does not satisfy with all of its things, they will remember how happy and fulfilled you were with nothing and realize that Heaven really is more real than this temporary earth. When they do, they will give their lives to Jesus and invest all that they have in the kingdom of God for an eternal reward that will not pass away.

Would you like to know what turned me around and brought me to a place of living totally for Jesus with all that I have spiritually, soulishly, physically and materially? It was a phrase given to me by a Catholic Nun when I was in Junior high that never left me until I gave my heart to Jesus when I was a Junior in High School. The phrase was:

ONLY ONE LIFE,
IT WILL SOON BE PAST,
ONLY WHAT IS DONE
FOR CHRIST WILL LAST

Brothers and Sisters, this is not a day to be soft or passive about the Gospel or preaching the Gospel. Jesus has not given the trumpet call of victory and that the battle is over. The battle rages stronger and more blatantly than ever before and unless you and I get involved in the battle, we will be overcome by the battle. There is no middle ground! A passive decision today is a decision against the cause of Jesus and his Kingdom. You are either with him and the battle of the souls of men or you are blatantly against him. Jesus said,

"For whoever wishes to save his soul shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul for My sake shall find it. For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds.

Jesus plainly tells us that if we make this life our focus, we will lose our souls. But he also plainly tells us that the one who gives up this life and his soul in this life, that that is the person who will gain his soul forever. There is no such thing as a Safe & Costless Christianity. Jesus said you are either for and with Him or you are for and against him. There is no middle ground. Jesus said,

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor boiling-hot, I would that you were cold or boiling-hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither boiling-hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.  Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent." (Rev 3:15-19)

Does this sound like a mamsey pamsey costless Jesus? No. Jesus said He would rather you be boiling-hot or cold for him. This is not a day to be lukewarm. This is a day to get boiling-hot for Jesus. Unbelieving man has become very hot for his cause. Wake up Christians in America and smell the coffee! Jesus Is Coming Sooner Than You Think! People are going to Hell because they do not know Jesus and they do not know Jesus because we are not out aggressively preaching the Gospel to men.

"Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude is parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol [hell] has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure; and Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry, and the jubilant within her, descend into it." (Isaiah 5:13-14).

KEEP A HEART FOR THE BATTLE!

As You finish this school of Evangelism, do not set aside what you have learned, make a decision now to not only get involved in Evangelism regularly and weekly, but permanently. Make a decision to not only get involved in the battle of the souls of men, but make a decision to stay involved in the battle of the souls of men and keep a heart for the battle no matter how tough the battle gets. When needed, take rests, a vacation, but even when you decide to do that, decide when you will get back involved in the battle and then determine and purpose that you will and acknowledge the Lord in that decision.

How does one stay involved in the battle? You stay involved in the battle by making a decision when and how often during the week you are going to go out and share the love of Jesus with men and then deciding that you will not allow anything, anyone or any loss keep you from spending that time sharing the love of Jesus with men. That is how you get involved in the battle and stay involved in the battle.

Stay Jesus’ disciple and invest your life and time in His Kingdom. If you do, when you get to heaven, Jesus will more than compensate you for your losses here and bless you and reward you one-hundred times more than anything you could gain on this earth by living for yourself. It is true. We know it is true because Jesus came back from the dead to prove to you and I that it is really true. When Jesus comes back, will He find faith in you? He will if you make a decision daily to be involved in the battle and stay involved in the battle and to make Him your source, not the world.

Recommended Further Reading:

  1. In God's Underground, by Richard Wurmbrand
  2. The Cost Of Discipleship, by Deitrick Bonhoffer
  3. Through The Fire Without Burning, by Dumitru Duduman
  4. Giants of the Missionary Trail, by Eugene Harrison
  5. He Came To Set The Captives Free, by Rebecca Brown, MD
  6. With And Without Christ, by Sadhu Sundar Singh
  7. The Light and the Glory, by Peter Marshall
  8. The Final Quest, by Rick Joyner

Study Questions
Back to Pages 1, 2, 3; Home Page
Bibliography & Notes
Section 11 Chapters

Top of Page