This sermon challenges believers to choose between dying in religious formalism and wasted opportunities or dying in devoted service to God's mission. It highlights the stark contrast between the suffering and spiritual need in the world, especially in nations like Pakistan, Indonesia, and India, and the complacency and lack of risk-taking in many churches. The speaker urges a radical commitment to the Great Commission, risking everything for the sake of those who have not heard the name of Jesus and for the lost in our communities.

Are we going to die in our religion or are we going to die in our devotion? I see God's people surrounded by a world where the nation of Pakistan is still struggling from an earthquake that swallowed up 80,000 people just like that, almost all of whom did not know Christ. I see the nation of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim dominated nation, that over the last couple of years has seen a quarter of a million people die in natural disasters, tsunamis and earthquakes, leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless, susceptible to all kinds of diseases and hungry, almost all of those quarter a million having little to no knowledge of the name of Jesus. I see a nation like India where there are more people living below the poverty line than there are people in the United States altogether. A world where half the people are living on less than $2 a day. I see a world where our dogs and our cats are eating better than our brothers and sisters in the Sudan. Where last week, last week alone, 50,000 people died of AIDS. Last week alone, 100,000 children died of hunger-related diseases. In addition, hundreds of thousands of others that were trafficked around the world for human sexual exploitation. And our biggest concern last week was how our football team played. And on top of all of that, thousands upon thousands of our brothers and sisters who are imprisoned and persecuted, in addition to over a billion people who haven't even heard the name of Jesus that's on our lips. I see all of that. And then I look back. And in the church that we have created and we are leading, I see so few of our churches risking everything for the mission. We have retreated into our nice, big buildings where we sit in our nice cushioned queues and chairs where we are insulated and isolated from the inner cities and the spiritual lostness of the world. And when we should be on the firing lines for God, when our people should be on the firing lines for God, most of them are still in the nurseries of our churches drinking spiritual milk. And we face two options. We can retreat from this mission into a land of religious formalism and wasted opportunity. We can risk everything to find purpose for which we have been created. And I say let's risk it all. For the sake of a billion people who haven't heard his name, I say let's risk it all. For the sake of millions in our country who are headed to a Christless eternity, I say let's risk it all. For the sake of the lost people you and I know and our families and our neighborhoods and our communities, let's risk it all. For the sake of our lives, our families, our churches, our children's lives, let's risk it all. Because ladies and gentlemen, let me remind you that our God is gracious. He is merciful. Our salvation is not at stake here. That was sealed with the cross. He is gracious and merciful. But I am convinced that if we retreat from this mission, he may lead us to watch the man who rose and know where he will die. Are we going to die in our religion? Or are we going to die in our devotion?