Many Americans have come to see Christianity as an extracurricular activity and so consequently being willing to surrender one’s life to Christ has become little more than a novel idea. Jesus said in Mark 8:35-36, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” In this passage of scripture the Lord is telling us that in order to gain eternal life you have to be willing to surrender your life to Him and His gospel ministry. Jesus has called every Christian to be a witness to the gospel but how many are willing to surrender their lives to it? There was a time that I was confronted with this question at the beginning of my ministry. God was using me to minister to gang members on the south side of Oklahoma City when a couple of preacher friends of mine asked me a similar question, was I willing to give my life for the Lord and His ministry? This wasn’t a question of affirmation it was a question to bring my attention to the dangers of what I was doing. I was on the streets going to the places where I knew gang members were at to reach them with the gospel message. One day while sharing my experiences with a few preacher friends of mine I was warned that one day I was going to found dead under a bridge somewhere because what I was doing was dangerous. At that time in my life I was literally willing to enter the streets where I had come from and to give my life for those young men that the Lord was leading me to. Years later I got married and had a family so my view on things somewhat changed. The Lord says in 1 Corinthians 7:32-34, “But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.” When I was single I only had to worry about myself but when I got married I had to worry about my wife and family as well. Therefore, I had to pull back from doing things that put me in harms way. That didn’t mean that I quit serving the Lord because nothing has ever kept me from that. What it meant was I had to be more careful. I am old and aging now and I don’t know that I have the courage of a young man but I am definitely willing to serve the Lord with my dying breath. When I was in my late twenties a popular magazine did a survey asking young people what they would die for. The majority of those young people said that there wasn’t anything, not even family that they would die for. They were unlike the three hundred Spartan soldiers that defended theThermopylaePass against up to one hundred and fifty thousand Persian soldiers to the death. They were not like the up to two hundred and fifty seven brave men of the Alamo who defended the Spanish mission from one thousand and five hundred Mexican soldiers for ten long days with their lives. Down through the years there have been multitudes of great men that have sacrificed their lives in service of the Lord Jesus Christ and God Almighty and as I see the stage being set for the Great Tribulation I wonder if God may not be calling some of us to do the same. It seems that every time that I mention this the immediate response is that Christians will not be present in the Great Tribulation because the Rapture will occur. American Christians for the most part don’t fear persecution because we have never really had to face it. For years this was considered a Christian nation and most people professed to be Christians or at least believe in God and Jesus. Today that has changed. We are no longer a Christian nation and most of our young people are becoming hostile toward Christianity because our adults have failed to lead them to God and the Lord Jesus Christ. American society will accept a form of Christianity that is all inclusive and non-convicting but if you become a Bible believing, Bible preaching, Bible living child of God then you become an outcast of society and rejected for your faith. Even then the question remains, how far will you go for your faith? One day I was preaching to about fifty gang members when I asked them, “How many of you would die for Jesus. If solders came into this place and said thateveryone that renounced Jesus could leave, how many of you would leave?” Everyone stood up and said that they would die for Jesus rather than renounce Him. The Great Tribulation may come faster than we think and the Rapture will happen but the Bible is not specific on the date. There may come a day when we have to die for Jesus or renounce Him. What will you do when and if that time comes?