"DO NOT lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt 6:19-21).

You see brothers and sisters, I do believe that Heaven is more real than earth and for this reason have committed every resource that I have and every dime and free waking moment of my life to the investment and preaching of the Gospel to men. I do this because I also believe that there is an eternal hell and that men without Jesus, will go to hell forever. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 1:9,

"And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."

Hell is just as real and eternal as Heaven. Hell is more real than this earth because the earth will pass away. Hell is forever. Men on this earth without Jesus will spend eternity in Hell.

Brothers and Sisters, Heaven is more real and a million times more glorious and more fulfilling than anything this life has to offer. How do I know this is true? Because Jesus came back from the dead to prove to us it is true. When you get to Heaven you can then have your expensive vacations, Porsches, beautiful mansions, etcetera; but right now, Jesus needs you to invest in Heaven by giving your life, time and resources to the preaching of the Gospel to men. Until you do, America will not turn back to God, but will instead continue on its pagan path and eventually will take the step of eradicating Christians completely from America in order to live with themselves and their selfish self-centered pagan life-styles. How do I know? Because They are already doing it in the job market. You can get involved in the battle now or suffer later without reward.

Jesus tells us that if we do not get involved in this battle of the souls of men we will be overcome by the battle. Jesus said, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls." (Luke 11:17). We will be overcome by the things of this life, by the security of jobs, by the worries and the riches of this life. To stay involved in the battle you must stay involved in the battle. Only those who stay involved in the battle will keep their priorities of life straight and stay involved in the battle. This is what Jesus was talking about when He said you cannot serve God and man. You cannot have one foot in the world and be true to Jesus at the same time. Either Your allegiance is to Him or it is not. There is no middle ground in the economy of God's kingdom.

What happens to Christians and Churches whose main focus is not Evangelism? They focus instead on non-fruitful doctrines and sit around convincing themselves and each other that they are better than those guys over at the other Church because they believe this doctrine or that doctrine (Nausea and Barf!).

What happens to Christians and Churches whose focus is Evangelism? Their concerns and priorities become, Jesus, please show me how to help this man and woman see that you are the answer to their needs. Jesus, please show me what your Word teaches on this subject that is blocking this man and woman from releasing their faith in You. Instead of your focus being some issue or doctrine to convince other Christians you are better than them, instead your focus is Jesus, what can I do or say that will release this person's faith in You so he or she will give her life to You?

The Apostle Paul wrote about His life,

"But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the Gospel of the grace of God." (Acts 20:24).

Love is a decision of the will, not a feeling. Jesus did not say, Oh boy! I get to go to the cross and suffer and die for people who want nothing to do with Me! Jesus made a decision of his will against his feelings to obey His Father and suffer and die for us. He did this because He knew it was the only way to bring us back to Himself and deliver us from an eternal hell. The writer of Hebrews tells us about this act of love Jesus did for us, "Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb 12:2).

While preparing to go to the cross, Luke wrote concerning Jesus in the Gospel of Luke 22:41-44,

"And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, "Father if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Your will be done." Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground."

Does this sound like Jesus was over joyed at the prospect of suffering and dying for us on the cross? No. Like any normal human being, his flesh and soul abhorred the prospect. But in obedience to the Father, Jesus went. He went because He was acting out of love, not feelings, for your and my salvation. The writer of Hebrews tells us,

"In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." (Heb 5:7-9).

What does the Bible say about living for ourselves and focusing on ourselves. The Apostle Paul writes,

"Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." (Phil 3:17-20).

This earth is not our destiny. HEAVEN is! When you get to Heaven, then you can have your Porsche, houses, jewelry, vacations around the universe. But right now Jesus needs your help desperately to reach men and women with the saving message of the Gospel so that their eternity can also be Heaven instead of the eternal lake of fire.

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand was a Jew before he became a Christian, who suffered as a Jew in prison during the second world war. After reading the New Testament and being strangely drawn to Christ, Pastor Wurmbrand said to Jesus, You'll never have me for a disciple, I want money, travel, pleasure. I have suffered enough. Yours is the way of the Cross, and even if it is the way of truth as well, I won't follow it. Jesus’ answer came back to him in the form of a plea: Come my way! Do not fear the Cross! You will find that it is the greatest of joys.^11/13 He did decide to give his life to Jesus and follow him and eventually spent another fourteen years in imprisonment under communist rule because he refused to reject Jesus and his walk with him.

Through many years Pastor Wurmbrand and his wife, Sabina, were a great support and encouragement to me through their books and monthly news letter titled, The Voice of the Martyrs.¹² His books helped me to realize that my life was a picnic compared to the suffering and losses these people endured.

In 1972 I went with a Christian singing group to Hawaii to suffer for Jesus (lol!) and to preach the Gospel. We were there for thirty-one days. During the first two weeks it seemed to my friend Gene Wilson and I that many in our group were too easily distracted by the sights and activities of Hawaii. Thus our reason for being in Hawaii, to preach the Gospel, seemed to be blunted by these distractions. This concerned my Friend Gene and I. As a result, one night Gene and I got together and really poured out our heart to God in prayer asking Him to do something to awaken our group spiritually and bring us back to the place of complete commitment and focus for our reason for being in Hawaii which was to preach the Gospel and bring the lost to Jesus.

One morning, soon after we prayed, I got on an elevator after eating breakfast to come back to my hotel room. As I got on, an elderly lady got on with me. I had my Bible with me because we had such a busy schedule that the only time I could find time for a quiet time was while I was eating breakfast at the restaurant. As we were going up, the elderly lady looked at me and asked me what the book was I had in my hand. I told her it was a Bible. Her response was, Oh! A Christian! Please! Come up to my room!

At that point I did not know if I wanted to go up to her room, but it struck me that she looked familiar. I told her my name was Dale Kruse. She replied back, My name is Mrs. Richard Wurmbrand. I could not believe my ears! She and Richard were passing through Hawaii on their way to the Philippines and had just happened to stay in the same Hotel we were in. I had the morning off and she and her husband were on their way to Marine Land. She asked me if I had ever met her husband. I said no but that I had been supporting their ministry for several years. She then asked me to come along.

I then knew that the answer for our group was Pastor Wurmbrand himself. I asked him if he would come and speak to our group. He said he would. After he shared some of his experiences in communist prisons for his Christian faith the group was obviously moved and became sober. It took the suffering of a Christian brother to wake them up to what was and was not important and what their focus should be while we were their. From that day on everyone in the group was completely unified and committed in prayer and activity for one purpose: to bring men and woman to a saving knowledge of their Savior and Lord which cost them nothing more than walking across the street and asking anyone permission to share their faith with them.

When Communist Russia was handed Rumania by Churchill and Truman, Wurmbrand tells the following story in his book In God's Underground,

"In 1945 a Congress of Cults was called in the Rumanian Parliament building, with 4,000 representatives of the clergy filling the seats. Bishops, Priests, Pastors, Rabbis, Mullahs applauded as it was announced that Comrade Stalin (whose vast picture hung on the wall) was patron of the congress—they preferred not to remember that he was at the same time president of the World Atheist's Organization. The trembling old Patriarch Nicodim blessed the assembly and the Prime Minister, Groza, opened it. He told us that he was a priest's son himself, and his lavish promises of support, echoed by other personages who followed him, were appreciatively cheered.

"One of the chief Orthodox bishops said in reply that in the past many political rivulets had entered the great river of his Church—green, blue, tri-colored—and he welcomed the prospect that a red one should join it, too. One leader after another, Calvinist, Lutheran, the Chief Rabbi, rose in turn to speak. All expressed willingness to co-operate with the Communists. My wife, beside me, could bear no more. She said, ‘Go and wash this shame from the face of Christ!’

"‘If I do, you'll lose your husband,’ I replied.

"‘I don't need a coward. Go and do it!’ Sabina said."^11/13

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:

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).

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.

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