In this sermon, the speaker shares a powerful story of a young girl named Rebecca whose father was killed by lions because he loved Jesus. Rebecca and her brother were later taken to the same arena where their father died, and they were faced with the choice of denying Jesus or being eaten by lions. Despite their fear, they chose to remain faithful to Jesus and were martyred. The speaker emphasizes the importance of having a story and a belief worth dying for, and highlights the sacrifice of many martyrs around the world who have given their lives for the gospel. The sermon encourages listeners to examine their own lives and consider what they are willing to burn for and give their lives for.

As Juniver was dying at the stake, she said this quote, Every man gives his life for what he believes, and every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing, and yet they give their lives to that little or nothing. When life is all we have, we live it and it's 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 Elliott said the famous words years before his martyrdom, That man is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. And he prayed as a young man, God, I pray, light these idle 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 Elliott and three others, American missionaries, were all martyred by the Aka Indians, 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 the 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 until they came and speared him. And no sooner had they killed the last one, each one of 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's different about these people. That's why they were so open to the gospel when it 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 we waste our lives as missionaries? They forget they too are expending their lives, and when the 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. Every one of us at the end of our lives, it's all gone. Then 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 necessarily a long life. I want at the end of my life to say I fulfilled the purposes of God. If our lives come later still, Not forever in the imposters whom we ask our way to be, But the still path of rugged poverty, May we tread it joyously. What's it going to be like for you if one day when you die and you make it to heaven, you made it in, and on that final day, you look around and there's that table you've heard all about, and it's time for the marriage supper of the Lamb. And angels are gathering around and they're placing everybody in their proper seats. They say, Come here. This is where you're to sit at the marriage supper. And you sit down and you don't recognize anybody around you, but they're all former Christians, all on fire, people that got saved sometime in their life and they made it in. And across from you, a little girl, you look at her. You say, Hi, what's your name? And she says, Rebecca. You say, Rebecca, where are you from? She says, Rome. And you say, Rebecca, would you talk to me just for a few minutes of how you got here? She said, Well, we had a real hard life. My daddy, when I was eight 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 because my daddy loved Jesus. And I've 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 and that big arena and all the people. And then I looked around and I saw all these doors opening up around the arena. And out of every door came lions. And I've never been so scared in my life They had told me that if I just deny Jesus, I could live. But I couldn't do that. He was everything to me. He was my reason for living. I died that day. The angels came and ushered me into heaven. And I've been waiting here for the marriage supper. This is so special. And then she says, And how about you? What's your story? Friend, 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 160,000 people were martyred in 1996 for the cause of Christ? One minister was just killed in Cali, Colombia where we're building a church. Why was he killed? Because of cartel members. Drug addicts were being saved. Dealers were being saved. What did they do? They killed the pastor. He told us to drop him off. But I said, no, just leave me here. I can walk. That was the last time I saw him. I want you to think of what this means. My life for the gospel. My life for the gospel. The 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. It couldn't be harder than dying for Him. We are going to see increasing opposition to the gospel message in days to come in America because the gospel message is going to become increasingly biblical. The gospel message is going to become increasingly radical and revolutionary. And the gospel message is going to become a threat to this nation. This world system. The gospel is going to become an increasing threat to worldliness and materialism and greed and the gods of sports, entertainment, fashion. The gospel is going to become an increasing threat to the rising tide of Satanism and false religions. And the results will be the same as in the book of Acts. Death, uproar, persecution, and great moving of God. And I believe we've come to the time for 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 it's going to come down on you guys. I'm telling you young kids, I believe the greatest awakening is coming to your lives, to this generation. But it is preceded 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 have paid a price. I will hear the prayer Not for real thought, prayer shall do But for strength that we may give Live our lives courageously May our strength and God's weakness In our one Christ be What happened to those 11 ruffians that went after Jesus and followed him all the way to the cross? We know what happened with 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 was filleted alive with knives. James the elder was martyred first. He was slain by Herod Agrippa. James the lesser was crucified in Egypt. His body was sawed in pieces. John the revelator, an attempt was made on his life by giving him a chalice of poison from which he drank and God spared him. He died of natural causes. Jude was killed. He was shot with arrows at Mount Ararat. Matthew laid down his life for Jesus. History records he became a missionary and disappeared during his labors. Peter was martyred. He requested that he might be crucified upside down. He felt he was not worthy to die as his Lord had died. Philip died by hanging while he was dying. He requested that his body be wrapped, not in fine linen, but in capris, for he was not worthy that even his body should be treated as the body of Jesus had been treated. Simon the zealot, tradition says he died on the mission field as a martyr. Thomas, tradition says that he was commissioned to build a palace for the king of India. There he was killed with a spear as a martyr. Man, you guys, you guys inspired 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 I want them to 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, that 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.