While I was attending Bible College, I worked with a girl in a job on Campus who had an insecurity problem. I will call her Brenda. Every time a man asked her out for a date, she would agree to go, but then would not show up for the date or would postpone it. Understanding what this was centered in, I said to her one day during work, Lets go to lunch. I have something I want to talk to You about. While we ate, I said to Brenda,

Brenda, if you have never been hurt, then you have never loved anyone. You cannot love someone truly without the possibility of getting hurt.

Mothers and fathers are painfully aware of this reality. As they raise their children, many times in order to truly love that child results in their being hurt by that child. Especially is this true during the teenage years.

How does this relate to Christianity? The Bible tells us about God's love for us in Romans 5:6-10,

"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God DEMONSTRATES HIS OWN LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."

When did Jesus die for our sins? Was it when we decided to repent and turn to Him? No. Paul tells us in this passage in Romans that it was while we were living in sin. It was while we were enemies that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins.

What did it cost Jesus to save us from our sins? It cost Him His very life. It cost him more than that. Jesus was practically beaten to death before he was put on the cross. God did not give us a costless redemption. If he had, we never would have received it or given it any attention. What is it that caused us to take note of the salvation that God bought for us through His Son Jesus Christ? It is the very fact that God humbled Himself by taking on finite humanity with all of its limitations and did not draw upon his divinity while a man and allowed us to beat Him and nail Him to a cross, a cross his sinless nature did not deserve. The CROSS is what manifests to us God's real love for us. We say to ourselves, God really loves me! He died on the cross for me!

How does the cross demonstrate God's love for us? What does it tell us about God's love? It tells us that even though God is a just God, pouring out his wrath upon man is the last thing on his mind. God does not want to send anyone to hell. God does not want to judge anybody. So violently apposed to this is God that he became a human being and allowed us to take violence upon him to reveal how much He loves and wants to have relationship with us. He did this so we would repent and turn back to Him so He could bless us and so that He would not have to send us to hell. Jesus does not desire to send anyone to hell. How do we know this? We know this because He allowed us to totally abuse Him to the point of death and He tells us that all we have to do to be saved is believe that that is Him, the Son of God, dying for us on that cross and we will be saved. Jesus’ very death on the cross is what humbles us and causes us to melt in repentance and gratitude at the foot of the cross.

I have been in many major cities of this country and talked with Pastors about Evangelism. When I do they tell me how they and other pastors meet regularly to pray for revival in their communities, but very few of them tell me about how they are out going door to door sharing the love of Jesus Christ with unsaved humanity. Why? They want revival in their cities and America, but they want a costless revival. They do not want to pay or sacrifice anything for that revival.

What is the problem with America today? Why is America rejecting the Christian principles our forefathers gave their lives to defend? Because they do not see any Christians in this country willing to cross the street for what they believe let alone dying for what they believe. They do not see that Christians really believe that there is a Heaven more real than the temporary pleasures of this earth and as a result sacrificing all that they have on this earth to have Heaven. They see Christians in America just as selfish and materialistic and self grabbing as they themselves are.

"The kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it." (Matt 13:44-46).

Why is America rejecting Christianity and God? Because there is no such thing as a Safe & Costless Christianity. They do not see Christians willing to give up anything for the kingdom of God. Why aren't people turning to Jesus in this country? Why? Because Christians are doing everything but going out and aggressively sharing the love of Jesus Christ with others.

The first century Church literally turned the Roman empire upside down from a pagan society to a government declaring Christianity the only recognized religion in society. What brought this about? It was the fact that Christians so believed in what they professed that they were willing to lose all that they had including their lives to hold on to that confession. The Apostle John writes in Revelation 12:11,

"And they overcame him [Satan] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death."

Brothers and sisters, Pastors and friends, do you want to reach America and bring it back to God? You are not going to do it without it costing you something. You are not going to do it unless you are willing to lose something. You are not going to do it unless you give up this life. You are not going to do it unless You pay for it. It is going to cost you something. How do I know? Because I have been regularly, weekly sharing my faith aggressively with men for thirty years and continuing to do so has cost me dearly. Jesus said,

"Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in Heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 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; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household." (Matthew 10:32-36).

Once while working in a grocery store I was eating my lunch. I had an hour and saw a man sitting by himself doing nothing. I saw it as an opportunity to share Jesus with him. When I looked up I saw to my left my manager and a supervisor talking. The Lord said to me, Do not fear them. I got up and went over and shared Jesus with this employee using a Salvation Tract. Before I was through he bowed his head and accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord. An hour later my boss called me to his office and fired me for bringing Christianity into the work place.

"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also." (John 15:18-20).

Many times I have lost jobs because of my Christian witness. At times this has led to my being so broke that I ended up homeless. The bible teaches that a person who truly walks with Jesus will have no where to lay his head.

"And a certain scribe came and said to Him, ‘Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘The foxes Have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’" (Matt 8:19-20).

Do You want to see America reached with the Gospel and turned around? It is not going to happen until America sees that you believe in Your Christian Faith so strongly that you are willing to give up everything this life stands for to share the love of Jesus Christ with others. I know, because being faithful to consistently share my faith with others has so far cost me everything a person can lose in this life except my life itself and pray daily to Jesus for His grace to be ready to die for Him if He calls me to do it. But though I have lost all there is to lose in this life, and even now I live on the minimum of sustenance, yet I have had the joy of seeing many come to a saving knowledge of who Jesus is.

Do You think I am sharing a foreign Christianity? Study the life and ministry of Paul in the book of Acts. Paul’s reaching the Gentile world was not without cost and hardship. Eventually it cost him his life. Whenever Paul would go into a new town he had a group of Jews who followed him just to hassle him. They would tell the people lies about Paul and turn the town against him. Many times Paul was whipped and stoned and thrown into jail. I have had the joy of being imprisoned once for my Lord. It was anything but a negative experience. Paul Writes about his ministry and travels,

"I... in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was ship wrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren. I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for the Churches." (2 Cor 11:23-28).

Does Paul say that he regrets his experiences in the Lord? No. What does he say? He writes in Philippians 3:7-11,

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

Paul did not run from suffering and loss for his faith, he COVETED it. He wanted to experience all that Jesus experienced in His humanity for us so that he might be completely one with Jesus. Secondly, Paul recognized that it was through his imprisonment and sufferings that others not only came to Jesus, but that other Christians were motivated to go out and preach the Gospel without fear. He writes in Colossians 1:24 and Philippians 1:12-14,

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the Church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions."

"Now I want you to know, brethren that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear."

Only when the brethren saw Paul putting the importance of the Gospel above his very life did they then find the courage, through Paul’s example, to go out and preach the Gospel without fear, even if it meant losing all that they had.

One of the primary seeds in Paul's life that prepared him to receive Christ was his witnessing the stoning of Stephen for his faith in Jesus which Paul sanctioned (Acts 7:54-60). When the jailer in Acts 16:22-34 saw Paul and Silas's faith as a result of their suffering and imprisonment, he was saved and his whole household.

Why was Paul willing to lose everything including his life for the cause of the Gospel? Because Paul was a true believer. He really believed that this life was temporary and would pass away but that Heaven is forever and never passes away and proved it by investing in the future life, not in the present life. I believe this is why God gave Paul so much space in the New Testament that we have today. I believe God wanted us to see and learn from Paul's example of his faith and walk with God and imitate it. While in prison, Paul wrote the Church about his life and example, "The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you." (Phil 4:9).

Do You know what most Christians say to America today through their selfish self-centered life-styles? This is what they say: America, this life is all there is. There is no after life, so you better invest in this life now! That is exactly what most Christians in this country do. They are not willing to walk across the street let alone give their lives for the cause of the Gospel. They say to America in essence, We really don't have any faith at all, and America responds accordingly.

America does not see Christians who really believe in what they profess. The only way that America will turn to Jesus is when they see American Christians not only professing that they believe that Heaven is more real than earth, but when they see Christians proving in life-style this confession by investing everything that they have into the Gospel and by losing if necessary everything that they have for the Gospel. Only then will America come to know that Heaven is more real than earth and therefore a better investment then in this temporary life. They are not going to believe and turn to Jesus until they see that we really do believe in our life-styles and actions as well as word. As the old saying goes, I hear what you do, I do not hear what you say.

My message is not a popular message among Christians in America. This is because Christians in America don't want to sacrifice anything to bring another person to Jesus. They want to live a costless Christianity. This is not possible if we want to bring others to Jesus. This is what Jesus was talking about in Luke 18:8 when He said, However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? When Jesus comes back, will he find a Church in America putting their trust in Him for their present and future needs and investing in the Kingdom of God? Or will he find a Church with no faith in the life to come at all and instead investing and putting their trust in a bankrupt world system?

Brothers and sisters, there is no such thing as a safe and costless Christianity. In order to truly walk with Jesus and consistently share Jesus with others, it is going to cost you something, everything in many cases. Brothers and sisters, if we are to turn America around, it is not going to happened without it costing You and I something. Sharing the love of Jesus Christ with another human being is the most loving thing you can do for another human being; but if it has not cost you something you have not loved anyone. If you have never been hurt, you have never loved anybody. You cannot love without it costing you something and eventually being hurt in the process.

Brothers and sisters, I implore You in the name of Jesus Christ, give your lives and your time and your resources to the sharing of the Gospel with others. Let me tell you how I live my life: I work at a regular forty-hour a week job. When I come home at night I have a Quiet Time in the Word with Jesus. I then spend a half hour in prayer. I next study the New Testament in Greek, Christology and Apologetics. I then eat. For the next three hours I write Christian literature, like I am doing right now, mainly for Evangelism and reaching the lost with the Gospel and for training and encouraging Christians to reach others with the Gospel. I go to bed and get up at 5:00 A.M. and spend a half hour in prayer seeking the Father to draw me close to Him, to make me one with Him, for Him to reveal his heart, mind and emotions to me. It was during this time one morning the Father told me to write the content of this Chapter. I then spend another half hour studying Christian apologetics for the defense of the Gospel. I then go to work. Friday nights I relax and play, but on the weekends I spend my mornings again studying and writing on the Gospel and my afternoons out on the streets, malls, beaches, etcetera sharing the Gospel with anyone who will listen to what I have to say. I come home and work some more on my Christian writings. I eat, study, write and go to bed. Sunday afternoon I again go out somewhere and find someone to share the Gospel with. I relax the rest of Sunday, have my Quiet Time with Jesus, relax and go to bed and start my weekly routine all over again. Jesus said,