As Joan of Ark was dying at the stake, she said this quote.

Every man gives his life for what he believes
and every woman gives her life life for what she believes,

Sometimes people believe in little or nothing,
and yet they give their lives to that little or nothing.
One life is all we have we live it and its gone.
But to live without belief, is more terrible than dying,
even more terrible than dying young.

What do you burn for? What do you burn for?

Jim Elliot said the famous words,
years before he his martyrdom,
that man is no fool,
He gives what he cannot keep, and to gain what he cannot lose.
And he prayed,as a young man,

God,I pray, light these idol sticks of my life, and may I burn up for thee.
Consume my life my God, for it is thine,
I seek not a long life but a full one, like yours Lord Jesus.

Nate Saint, along with Jim Elliot and three others, American missionaries
were all martyred by the Auka Indians, in 1956 in Ecuador.
It was only after many years, that Steve Saint, Nate's son,
Nate was the pilot, found out all the details of what had happened.
the killing of his father and others.
When I just read the account a few weeks back of the details of the martyrdom,
it was an overwhelming thing to read it was painful, it was tragic,
it was tremendously moving.

One of the men, the last one, instead of running into the jungle
where he could have easily gotten away,
he just waded out to the water, and in his broken dialect said,
"Why are you killing us, we're not hurting you?
And waited there till they came and speared him too.
And no sooner had they killed the last one,
each one, the different ones, began to hear singing,
and they looked up and there were these glowing beams in the trees,
singing and praising God.

Then when they were waiting and hiding ,
waiting for the retaliation, nobody came to kill them.
They began to realize, something is different about these people,
that’s why they were so open the Gospel when they came back.
It's an extraordinary story.

Listen to what Nate Saint wrote years earlier,
people who do not know the Lord
ask why in the world do we waste our lives as missionaries?
They forget they too are expending their lives,
and when their bubble has burst
they will have nothing of eternal significance
to show for the years they have wasted.

Everybody’s bubble is going to burst,
everyone us at the end of our lives-its gone!
Than what? What do we spend our lives for?
What do we pour ourselves out for?
What do we give ourselves to?
Having a full life is not necessary a long life.
I want at the end of my life to say I have fulfilled the purposes of God.

What’s it going to be like if one day you die and you make it into heaven,
and you made it in,
on that final day you look around and there's that table you have heard all about,
and its time for the marriage supper of the lamb,
and angels are gathering around and they are placing everyone in their proper seats,
they say, Come here this is where you are seated for the marriage supper.
And you sit down and you don’t recognize anyone around you
but they are all former Christians
all on fire for God,
people that got saved in their life and they made it in,
and across for you, a little girl and you look at her, and you say,
Hi, what’s your name?
And she says, Rebecca.
He said, Rebecca, where are you from?
She says, Rome.
Then he said, “Rebecca, would you talk to me for a few minutes of how you got here?
She said, Well we had a really hard life,
my daddy when I was 8 years old, I had to go to this big arena and
I watched lions eat my daddy.
With my own eyes, I watched lions eat my daddy.
They killed him cause my daddy loved Jesus
and I never cried so much in my life as I did that day.
Two days later they came back for me and my brother.
They took us to the same arena where my daddy died
and there was thousands of people cheering.
They paraded us into the arena
and there was no one there but just us in that big arena and and all the people
and then I looked around and saw these doors opening up around the arena
and at every door came lions
and I had never been scared in my life.
They had told me, that if I "JUST DENIED JESUS"... I could live,
but I COULD'NT DO THAT,
HE WAS EVERYTHING to me,
HE WAS MY REASON FOR LIVING.

I died that day and the angels came and ushered me into heaven,
and I have been waiting here for the marriage supper.
This is so special.
Then she says
And how about, you whats your story
Friends look at me,-YOU BETTER HAVE ONE ...
You better have one,
you better be able to say something!

As a matter of fact did you know
that 160 thousand people were martyred in 1996 for the cause of Christ?
One minister was killed In Kali Columbia where building a church,
WHY WAS HE KILLED?
Because cartel members, drug addicts were being saved, dealers were being saved.
What did they do?
They killed the pastor.
(a girl speaking)
“He told me just drop him off, but he said,
No, Just leave me here I can just walk.
(Then a gunshot, which killed him)
And that was the last time I saw him.

*I want you to think about what this means....
My life for the Gospel,
My Life for the Gospel!*
With his death, it encouraged us to want to do the same
TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR THE LORD
and not just die for HIM,
but to live for HIM, can be harder that dying for Him.

*I want you to think about what this means....

We are going to see increasing opposition to the Gospel message
in days to come in America,
because gospel message is going to become increasingly biblical,
the gospel message is going to become increasingly radical and revolutionary,
and the gospel messages going to become a threat to this world system.
The Gospel is going to become an increasing threat to worldliness, materialism, and greed,
and the gods of sports, entertainment and fashion.
The Gospel is going to become an increasing threat
to the rising tide of Satanism and false religions
and the results would be the same as in the book of Acts.
Uproar, persecution, and great moving of God.

I believe we've come to the time of the accumulated prayers
of the saints are arising in one generation
and God is going to answer all those accumulated prayers and
remember all those covenants
and is going to come down on you guys.
I am telling you young kids that the greatest awakening is coming in your lives
to this generation that is proceded
by generations of mothers and fathers who have been crying out
for the manifestation of a generation that would bomb the earth,
I tell you what,
we stand on the shoulders of forefathers and foremothers who paid the price.

What happened to those 11 ruffians that went after Jesus
and followed Him all the way to the cross,
because we know what happened to Judas,
but what happened to the rest of them?

Andrew died in Greece, he was crucified on an X shaped cross,
felt unworthy to die on the same type cross as his Lord!

Bartholomew was preaching in India,
he died a martyr’s death- he fileted alive with knives.

James the Elder was martyred first he was slained by Harod Agrippa.

James the Lessor was crucified in Egypt and his body was sawed in pieces.

John the Revelator an attempt was made on his life by given a chalice of poison
from which he drank and God spared him and died of natural causes.

Jude was killed, he shot with arrows at Mount Ararat.

Matthew laid down his life for Jesus,
history records that he became a missionary and disappeared during his labors.

Peter was martyred, he requested that he might be crucified upside down
and he felt he was not worthy to die as his Lord died.

Philip died by hanging
while he was dying he requested that his body be wrapped not in fine linen
but in paprus for he was not worthy
for even his body to be treated as the body of the Jesus had been treated.

Simon the Zealot tradition said he died on the mission field as a martyr.

Thomas traditions says that he was commissioned to build a palace for the King of India,
there he was killed with a spear, as a martyr.

You guys,

You guys inspire me,
I want to be able to talk to them, I want to be able to look at them and
I want them to look at me and say well done Steve

I WANT YOU TO RAISE YOUR HANDS TO GOD

Say this with me:

Heavenly Father, search my heart, examine me even
Now, but this is my desire.
My LIFE FOR THE GOSPEL.

Whatever it takes Lord,

make it real that I may live
a life that makes sense in the light of eternity.

JESUS- *MY LIFE FOR YOU*.