Why the Cowardly Go to Hell

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. We've only got one life.

Let's make it count. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity.

Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire. And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Hey friends, this is Michael Brown, delighted to be with you as always. I've got a special broadcast for you today.

I'm not going to be taking any calls or responding to online questions or comments. But I believe that today's broadcast could be very pivotal in your life. It could be one of those things that God uses in the short term to produce a dramatic change and in the long term to produce lasting change.

So maybe you're just kind of casually listening in the background in your car as you're driving or you just got a podcast on while you're doing something else. Maybe it's time just to focus in. Maybe the Lord has set it up for you to be listening to this broadcast at this time. So just breathe a word of prayer with me. Lift up a prayer in your own heart that God would use this today to make an impact on your life. You know, I'm here on the air with you five days a week to help you thrive in God. Your blessing, your victory, your strength, your obedience to God, that's the win for me. To see you thriving healthy, strong in God, that's what's going to bring about the change that we long for in the culture. A healthy church thriving in God.

But the fact is we only have one life and it's striking to see how quickly that life can pass by. So I was teaching my monthly class during the school year in Fort Worth at Spiritual Leadership School for Mercy Culture. And I was getting there on Thursday, sat down to teach the second year class. So the pastor had talked to me about teaching at the school before the school was birthed.

I mean he talked to me about planting a church and then got my input and involvement in the church plant and then told me he was going to start a school. So then the whole anticipation of the school starting and then looking at the program with the leaders there and giving some input and then agreeing to come down once a month so they built a studio I could broadcast in the afternoons. So, you know, been there from before day one, right? And then start teaching the second year and it's my last class with them of the semester.

And I just got overwhelmed. I began to think, okay, next month, middle of the month, cleared my schedule. Our family's had it on the calendar for a long time now. Our oldest granddaughter graduates from Liberty University. Okay, I got to make sure I hold this together because my heart is just so overflowing. So she graduates from Liberty University, our oldest granddaughter. So all of you who are grandparents, right? And you know, you think your little grandchild born and all this now, going off to college, then graduating. Of course, every parent relates to that.

Your little one that you raised from an infant now to go off to college. She's graduating. How did that happen? You blink and it's gone. It's just the time went flying by.

How'd that happen? And I looked out at the second year and I thought, hey, I remember greeting you the first time I came down to teach. And, you know, yeah, I was with the leaders planning out, you know, giving input on curriculum and things like that. And yes, some will be invited to third year internship, but this was my last class with them and my heart just got overwhelmed. I want their lives to count. I want every one of them to make it. I want them to fulfill the purposes of God.

I don't want a single one of them to fall short. I've been in ministry long enough preaching since 1973, teaching at schools and leading schools since 1982 and seeing thousands go through our schools and be sent out. And some of them, they started well, but they didn't end well. Some of them destroyed their lives.

Some of them got overwhelmed by hardship and difficulty and didn't make it. And how my heart longed to see their lives count. And I just looked out and I thought once again, the years really go streaming by. Yeah, I know sometimes one day can take forever.

You know, you're just in a difficult situation. It just, it takes forever and nothing moves and the seconds feel like hours and hours feel like eternity. But then you blink and a year's gone by.

You blink again and multiple years have gone by. Friends, I want to run my race. I don't want to sit on the sidelines. I don't want to sit by and think about it and dream about it and plan for it.

Never do it. Paul writes in Ephesians, the fifth chapter, he writes to the believers there and he urges them to redeem the time in the NIV to make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. The psalmist prays in Psalm 90, the psalm attributed to Moses, obviously in the aftermath of the wilderness wanderings and the generation lost in the wilderness and dies in the wilderness and the brevity of human life. And Moses prays his prayer in Psalm 90, the Lord teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom and establish the work of our hands, just the work of our hands, establish it.

Prayers I've prayed many a time in my own life. So please understand, I'm not saying that we live in a frenzied way. I'm not here to put some kind of legalistic pressure on you that, oh, you wasted a second, oh, you can't waste a single second, oh, you can't laugh with the kid, oh, you can't smile, you just have to be serious. No, no, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that many of us waste so much of our life on trivial pursuits, on things of no eternal consequence, of things that at the end of the day didn't help us and didn't help others. At the end of the day, it was a large colossal waste. At the end of the year, at the end of our lives, we look back and think, what in the world did I do? I had so many opportunities, I squandered them.

I had so many hours to use, I squandered them. Now think of it like this, because I want to encourage you, this whole broadcast, and I'm going to give you some striking examples. In fact, I'm going to share some from my book How Saved Are We, written in 1990, the chapter Redeeming the Time. I have it on my heart to share some of that with you, because I just want to encourage you to live a life that's effective. I want to encourage you to live a life that's without regret, so that at the end of the day, at the end of the week, at the end of the month, at the end of the year, at the end of the decade, at the end of your life, that you can say, that was worth it. The way I lived was worth it. The way I lived made sense in the light of eternity.

So think of it like this. Have you ever come to the end of a night, maybe you said, you know, I'm just going to get along with the Lord, family's out, I've got a free night, I'm just going to spend the night in prayer and worship, I'm just going to spend the night pouring into the word. Have you ever gotten to the end of the night and thought, what a waste of time praying for hours. What a waste of time studying the Bible. Or maybe you went and ministered to someone that was hurting or sick, and you just poured into them, you gave of your life to bless them. Have you ever at the end of that night, I've been talking about if you prayed and you met with the Lord, you studied, you were enriched with the word, you ministered to someone, have you ever at the end of that night turned around and said, what a waste of time that was. What a waste of a night.

Ah, I don't think so. But how many times have you had a free night, wow, I've really been wanting to seek the Lord in prayer. I've really been wanting just to turn off the lights, put on some worship music and just meditate in His presence.

Well, I've really been wanting to dig into this, the Gospel of John and ask God to open my heart and mind. But I just happened to notice that it was an interesting thing on YouTube, that video that got my attention that led to another video that led to a, and before you know it, you've wasted four or five hours on nothing. I mean, I literally remember the times where that very thing happened to me, I was about to dive into something, maybe I was researching and something caught my attention, the YouTube video and next thing, literally, I'm searching for lions versus tigers, like in a battle. Where did that come from? I was thinking about a lion fighting a tiger.

Where in the world did that come from? This led to this, led to the distractions. And at the end of the night, after four or five hours of distractions, have you ever said that was worth it? Boy, was that worth it. That was a great way to spend my time. Same thing, you can watch sports event after sports event after sports event, spend an entire weekend, maybe it's like, wow, I got some time off. I just want to watch this one game with the one game and they're promoting the next game, but boy, the game after could be, well, the first two aren't good, maybe the next one will be better. And before you know it, wall to wall, you've watched sports the entire weekend and you haven't done anything productive.

Unless you just absolutely need the time off and complete rest because you're exhausted, which I understand. But otherwise, how often do we do that at the end of the night? We think that was well spent. That was well spent.

Well, some of us are going to live our lives like that, friends. Some of us at the end of our lives are going to think, I wasted what amounts to thousands of hours, countless days, whole years of time, I wasted on things of no meaning, of no consequence. You say, Dr. Brown, are you telling me that if I play with my kids, we're resting on the floor, that's a waste of time? Oh, that's a great investment of time.

Pour into your kids, hang with your kids, spend time together. Mike Brown, are you telling me that if I if I go out with my wife on a date night, we hang out, go to our favorite restaurant and and just take a walk in the park that wasted our time? No, no, that's an awesome investment of time. Boy, that's a critically important investment of time.

God bless you for making that investment. Not saying that at all. I am saying that many of us live without purpose in God. I am saying that all too many times we forget that we're only passing through this world. I am saying that many of us could not get to the end of our lives and say what Paul says in 2 Timothy 4-7, namely that he's kept the faith, that he's fought the good fight, that he's finished the race.

Some of us would have to say, you know, I'm not really in a race. And please understand, I'm not talking about everybody going on the street corner and preaching or selling their possessions and going on the mission field. God hasn't called most of us to do that.

And you have to run the race that God assigned you. It may not look big in the eyes of other people, but it's important to the Lord. And there's that old saying, find out what God would have you do and do that little well for what is great and what is small, because only God can tell. And you being faithful on your job and honoring the Lord and being a good witness and using your funds wisely and donating generously, that counts. Those are things that are big in God's sight. It's not just saying, well, I led 13 people to the Lord last week. That's glorious, but a lot of other ways we can serve God. I'm just urging you to step away, to stop for a little while, to reflect and to say the great quote, the most famous quote of my dear old friend Leonard Ravenhill with the Lord since 1994, but still preaching to us. Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for? The famous words of Leonard Ravenhill, author of Why Revival Tires, are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for? Or, in the words of W.E. Sangster, a Methodist preacher that Brother Len quoted in Why Revival Tires, how shall I feel at the judgment if multitudes of missed opportunities pass before me in full review and all my excuses prove to be disguises of my cowardice and pride? You may ask it again, are the things you're living for worth Christ dying for? So take some time and do some reflecting and perhaps the things that God could do in you and through you that would be more gratifying, wonderful than you could ever imagine. And perhaps you could bear more fruit than you could ever imagine.

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Again, 800-771-5584. The Truth Network presents Life 101, the basic rules for getting by and moving ahead in life. We've all faced times in life where we are completely overwhelmed with just too much to do. This is usually due to our own false beliefs that we actually have to do all the things that we're doing. In reality, some of the things we're doing or committed to are simply due to careless overcommitment. So how do you reverse it and find spare time?

Start with only one thing. Jesus said there's plenty of time in one day to worry about the things for that day. And since that's true, there must be something that you can cut out. Whatever it is, quit talking yourself into holding on to it. It may take a bold step to humble yourself and tell others that you're overcommitted. Then as soon as you can, drop out of that one thing that you really don't have to be doing. Afterwards, you will find more peace of mind and life will become less of a burden and more of a joy. Do it today.

Pray for wisdom to find that one thing in life that you can drop to achieve more balance in your schedule and more peace of mind in life. You are listening to the Truth Network. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Hey friends, I'm Michael Brown.

Welcome back to the Line of Fire broadcast. I'm here today to encourage you to run your race, to encourage you to make your life count, to encourage you not to live a life where, as the years go by, you're filled with regret and what could have been and what should have been. But you can look back and say, wow, I'm amazed. I'm amazed at the grace. I'm amazed at what God's allowed me to do. I'm amazed at the impact I've been able to make on different lives. I can assure you, friend, again, I'm not taking any calls today. This is just an extended word of encouragement and exhortation to each of you.

Look at it like if you've ever had an IV drip, maybe in the hospital or in your home or something where your body's weak and you're getting these vitamins or this healthy stuff infused into your body. That's what the Word of God will do. Jesus said, the words I speak, they are spirit and they are life.

And these words I share to you based on scripture with a lot of examples from history I'm about to give you, I believe they'll infuse you with life and that spiritual life can bring encouragement, hope and faith. But I'm quite sure on the day that we stand before the Lord, none of us will say, oh, I was too zealous. Oh, I was too passionate. Oh, I was too devoted. Oh, I took the things of God too seriously.

No, quite the contrary. And think of this with me for a minute. You tell me if you're a follower of Jesus, you believe the Word of God, you tell me if this is accurate. When we stand before God, if we could look into eternity, if we could see the eternal fate of the righteous, the eternal fate of the wicked, if we could see all that, do you think we'd live the same as we're living now or do you think we'd live very differently?

I say most of us would live very, very differently. Look at what Paul writes, then I'm going to share some excerpts from a chapter in my book, How Saved Are We, and I'll give you some relevant background on that in a moment. I know, I know, I know there's a lot happening in the news and a lot happening in the world, but today we're focusing on the Word and our spiritual life. Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 9, beginning in verse 24, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Now look at what he says, Run in such a way as to get the prize. In other words, I'm not competing against you, you're not competing against me, but we are each running the race of our own life. And even though we're saved and forgiven by grace, we will give account for our lives, not to determine whether we're saved or not, but to determine our reward or to determine the responsibilities God gives us.

However it works out, there is an accounting that will be done. The New Testament is very clear on that. So Paul is telling us that we should be in a race. Again, not living with a frenzied pressure, but with a relationship with God, with peace, with grace, we run.

I've taught students for decades, find a place of rest. You're forgiven of your sins, you're loved by the Father, your identity is not being a pastor or a father or a mother or an evangelist or a business person. Your identity is being a child of God. Find that place of rest and acceptance and then run, and then run.

Not to gain the Lord's favor, but because you have the Lord's favor. Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we, in other words, we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Paul is saying that just like an athlete is disciplined in all things, just as an athlete goes into strict training, so also do we live like that. We normally make the contrast between the earthly crown and the heavenly crown. They get an earthly crown, we get a heavenly crown.

They get a gold medal, we get eternal life. Yeah, that's true. That's the contrast. But Paul's saying, look at how an athlete lives. Look at the discipline. Look at the regimen.

Look at the training. Look at the sacrifice. They do it for an earthly crown. We do it.

We also live disciplined lives. When I sit with pastors and leaders and I'm having my giant salad and just living out my life and they ask me, do you have cheat days? I said, no. How often do you cheat on your wife?

No, no cheat days. Obviously having a dish of ice cream is not the same as committing adultery. I understand that. But since God transformed my life, those who don't know it, back in August 2014, delivered me from a lifetime of unhealthy eating. I wasn't a glutton as much as I was an unhealthy eater.

Chocoholic, pizza, all that, year in, year out. It takes a toll on your body. When God changed me, when God helped me, I realized, okay, no playing games, no going back, no compromise here. And it's changed my life. It's revitalized my life. I mean, I'm healthy and thriving and blessed and it's mind-boggling to feel younger every year. As I'm getting closer to 70, to feel younger every year and as full of vision, if not more vision I've ever had in my life and overflowing with faith and can't wait for this to run and go for it, supercharged, right?

I mean, it's amazing. But I tell these pastors, look, obviously I love being healthy and it's so hard being sick. Those of you that suffer, that are run down with chronic conditions, you've been in accidents, you're bedridden with pain, my heart goes out to you.

It's so difficult, so much you want to do, you feel like you can't do. And obviously I love being healthy and I want to be here for Nancy more than any person on the planet. And I want to be here for my kids and my grandkids. But beyond that, it's all about stewardship with my body because the calling of God.

I want to be here for all of you. I want to be able to give everything that God's poured into me these last 51 years. I want to have the energy to seek God and to go out and preach and to teach and to pour into radio and to go home and write and to go do a debate and to travel from this country to this nation and to keep running strong. It's stewardship to me. It's stewardship over my body.

It's being able to run my race. So it's a lifelong discipline. I enjoy it.

I'm blessed. I love eating the healthy foods I eat. But in that sense, it's a constant self-denial. But for the kingdom, for the kingdom, isn't it worth learning to enjoy healthy food rather than have a cheeseburger and fries so that you can have more life to give to others?

Okay, I can get off on a tangent, but I'm not going to focus there. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last. But we, we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, Paul says, I do not run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.

No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slaves that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. If you are like me, you lost some people that you love during COVID. Maybe people very close to you, maybe a family member, maybe a more distant relative, maybe an older friend. We lost some, some dear friends and some others very nearly lost. By the grace of God, they made it. And Nancy and I both got COVID the same day. That's when we realized we had it, tested positive for it, one shortly after the other.

The day after Christmas of 2021, right? And Nancy Simpson's were a bit worse than mine at the beginning. And then she got better pretty quick. Mine were really minor, but then I got really weak. And I, instead of getting better, I was getting worse.

What in the world is going on? Finally, my doctor encouraged me, you better go to the hospital. I could barely get out of bed. I went to the hospital and they said, yeah, you have COVID pneumonia, but that's not your problem. The problem is your heart. It turns out that I had been in AFib, atrial fibrillation on and off for several years and all the years of unhealthy eating and then sleep apnea, even though I use a breathing machine, it apparently messed with my heart.

I mean, that's the best we understand, certainly the unhealthy eating all those years being overweight, et cetera. And by God's grace, my heart's great. Been out of AFib for almost a year now, thriving, everything great. Hey friends, this is Dr. Michael Brown.

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Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Alright, are you ready to be challenged? Yeah, I know a lot of preaching for many years in America is just encourage, encourage, encourage, and kind of make us feel better where we are, but if where we are is not where we're supposed to be, then real love is going to wake us up, shake us, stir us, right? I don't know about you, but I love to get challenged in the preaching and the gospel.

I love to get stirred. I love to have someone challenge me to go deeper in God and to find out the possibility of what God could do in my life. And there could be so much untapped potential in you. There could be so much untapped use in your life that could be a blessing to others.

And even simply making a determination, okay, I want to redeem the time. I want to make my life count. I want to make the most of the opportunity in these evil days in which we live.

This has been the state of things for a long time on planet Earth. Evil days, making our light shine. Let's do it. Together, friends, we are making a difference. Hey, thank you for those who have joined our support team. A dollar a day goes a long way. All of you torchbearers, I love going out and preaching and folks come up and introduce themselves. Hey, I'm a torchbearer, so thank you for your support. And those joining our team, we will pour into you the best dollar a day investment you've ever made and the fruit you're going to see. All the reports that I'll give you in the days ahead of what we're seeing God do in America and around the world and in Israel, you share in it. So to join our support team, call 800-538-5275.

800-538-5275. I can assure you of this, when you stand before God, if you've given to the gospel, to our ministry or to any other good ministries, to your home congregation, you've given to the Lord, you won't regret it. You won't regret it. It's money well spent. It's an eternal investment. So you can join us 800-538-5275 or you can go to our website, askdrbrown.org and just click on give or donate monthly support or on the app.

The same thing, you can click to give, donate there. Alright, so I wrote How Saved Are We in 1990. It's a very challenging book. It's a very intense book. It has encouragement throughout the way, but it's not for the faint of heart because it'll really challenge you. And as I was writing the book, I was really convicted again about making my life count. So let me take you into the chapter Redeeming the Time. Early in 1832, 19-year-old Robert Murray McShane, just beginning his preparation for the ministry, entered these words in his diary, February 2nd, not a trait worth remembering, and yet these four and twenty hours must be accounted for. Will this be the verdict at the end of our days?

Not a trait worth remembering. Yet we must give account. We're often more concerned with the quantity of life than with the quality of life. We want to be healthy, active and strong, living our lives to the full, but we can live ninety years and still have an empty life. We can span a whole century and waste it all away. One diamond is of greater worth than a thousand ordinary stones.

W.E. Sankster said this, I quoted it earlier in the show, I want to quote it again. How shall I feel at the judgment if multitudes of missed opportunities pass before me in full review and all my excuses prove to be disguises of my cowardice and pride? How will we answer to God on that day?

But friends, our problem isn't only cowardice and pride. Some of us are sleepwalking our way through life. How will we feel at the judgment if multitudes of missed opportunities pass before us in full review and we find ourselves totally unaware that we ever had them? What an awful moment it will be for many of us when we see that life has completely passed us by and it's too late to do anything about it. Jonathan Edwards made seventy resolutions by which he patterned his life.

Here are just a few of them. Resolved. Never to lose one moment of time but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can. Resolved. To live with all my might while I do live.

Resolved. Never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. It was Jonathan Edwards who prayed, Lord, stamp eternity on my eyes.

He lived every day in view of forever. And listen to what Catherine Booth said, there is nothing like the light of eternity to show what is real and what is not. Many of us let the circumstances of the moment rule us. We're governed by the pressing needs of the hour.

We do not know how to make our schedules submit. We're too busy to accomplish anything of value for God. What matters the least occupies most of our time. What matters the most seldom gets done. Our life is a series of unfulfilled goals. There's plenty of action but little lasting satisfaction. Our lives are running us instead of us under God running our lives.

We need to ask ourselves some pointed questions. Are the things we're living for worth Christ dying for? Are we making the most of every opportunity? Are we living to bring glory to God? Do we realize that we're only passing through this world? In the words of Corrie ten Boom, beware the barrenness of a busy life. Friends, I'm sharing, commenting on the chapter Redeeming the Time in my book How Saved Are We. And I know these are challenging words but do we need to hear these or do we need to just tell someone to tell us everything's just great right where you are?

If they're not great, love tells the truth. The few short years we have on this planet could be marked by frustration and futility or they could be marked by fruitfulness and fulfillment. Who knows just how much could be accomplished through one life yielded to God? Who knows what God could do through you if you yielded your all to Him? Consider what you're missing.

This is Basilie Schlink. Consider what you're missing, both for time and eternity, if you love Jesus with only half a heart. Ooh, that was pierced like arrows. William Carey began his career as an uneducated shoemaker in England in the 1700s. He ended his life in India as the father of modern missions, serving also as professor of Oriental languages at Fort William College in Calcutta. And he was almost entirely self-taught. Who would have ever dreamed of such a thing?

To Carey, it was no surprise. This was his motto for life, expect great things from God, attempt great things for God. Yes, Mark 9.23, all things are possible for him who believes. While earning honors at Cambridge in mathematics and classics, Henry Martin was known as the man who never lost an hour. He continued in this pattern as a believer and missionary. When he died at the tender age of 31 after six short years of missionary labor, he had made excellent translations of the entire New Testament into Hindustani, Urdu, and Persian, in addition to translating the Psalms into Persian and the Book of Common Prayer into Hindustani.

The work of several decades was accomplished in less than 70 months. Just think of what we could do in many years of service if we maintained a steady pace for God and continued to fuel the fires of our heart. Let me read some verses, Romans 12, 2 Timothy 1, Galatians 6. I'm just going to break away from the chapter for a moment and say this. I'm doing a workout, right? In the natural, you want to go a little easier on yourself, right? You get a coach or you get somebody else pushing, you might push a little harder. So when I'm working out on myself, which is most of the time, I've got to push myself. And sometimes I'm ready to let up and I ask myself, how will I feel afterwards if I give it my all and push to the limit? Give it every bit of energy I have until I'm just laying on the ground.

It's like catching my breath, right? Won't I be really glad afterwards that I pushed? Won't I be really glad that I finished the task with all my might?

You know, it could just be whatever task you're doing. Sometimes we cut short, we don't do it quality. But afterwards we say, I should have, I could have.

So I say it again, don't live your life in such a way that at the end it's filled with regret. Back to how saved are we? We don't necessarily have to suffer what some of these men and women did to waste away and die of tuberculosis in a foreign land, to experience deprivation and malnutrition, to run ourselves into the grave in order to accomplish the work of the Lord. But we should be stirred to action by their total devotion to God. David Brown, a friend and fellow worker of Henry Martin, wrote to him saying, You burn with the intenseness and rapid blaze of heated phosphorus.

This was the fulfillment of the desire which Martin inscribed in his diary when he first arrived in India. Now let me burn out for God. George Whitfield also burned red hot for the Lord. From the ages of 20 to 56 he delivered about 30,000 sermons. Often preaching 40 to 60 hours a week, he preached to crowds of up to 40,000 without amplification with hardly any quote advertising. During his 34 years of ministry he preached in virtually every town in England, Scotland and Wales, visiting Ireland as well. Sailed the Atlantic seven times and won thousands of souls to the Lord in both Northern and Southern America, all the while using 18th century means of transportation.

So, as he passed away, Henry Venn said this, Who would think it possible that a person a little above the age of manhood could speak in a single week and that for years, in general 40 hours and in very many weeks 60, and that to thousands. And after this labor, instead of taking any rest, should be offering up prayers and intercessions, with hymns and spiritual songs as this manner was in every house to which he was invited. The truth is that in point of labor this extraordinary servant of God did as much in a few weeks as most of those who exert themselves were able to do in the space of a year.

And how did Whitfield accomplish so much in so short a period of time? Let's not forget that he also built and maintained a large orphanage in Georgia and then he carried out a massive correspondence with people in almost every corner of the world. It is true that he had an overwhelming burden for souls. He used to pray, Lord, give me souls or take my soul. But he also knew how to redeem the time for the Lord. Each night he would judge his actions for the day using a carefully thought out list of 15 criteria. It may be overwhelming for us to live like this, but this is how he did it. He asked himself every day, have I, one, been fervent in private prayer, two, used stated hours of prayer, three, used spontaneous vocal prayer each hour, four, after or before every deliberate conversation or action, considered how it might tend to God's glory, five, after each pleasure immediately given thanks, six, planned business for the day, seven, been simple and recollected, meaning self-controlled and everything, eight, been zealous and undertaking and active and doing what good I could, nine, been meek, cheerful, affable in everything I said or did, ten, been proud, vain, unchaste or enviable of others, eleven, been self-controlled in eating and drinking, thankful, temperate in sleep, twelve, taking time for giving thanks, according to William Law's rules, thirteen, been diligent in studies, fourteen, thought or spoken unkindly of anyone, fifteen, confessed all sins. That's his daily routine of accountability. Is it any wonder that he was a leading figure in the great 18th century revival in England and America?

But Whitfield did not sit idly on his laurels. At one point he noted, my constant work now is preaching about fifteen times a week, and my greatest grief is that I can do no more for him who has done and suffered so much for me. You know, I really feel as I'm speaking, aside from the general exhortation from many, there are some getting a real specific call to step out, to go for it, to hit the mission field, to give their lives.

Do what God calls you to do. Nopalea has helped thousands of people by lowering levels of chronic inflammation. I really enjoy being physical. It's something I've just always loved, but I've definitely had times where it's really crippled me up.

Being a horse trainer can be pretty physically demanding with all the duties that I have, not just riding horses for a living, saddling horses, caring for the horses. I feel like Nopalea just took the edge off, and then it's continued to keep me from getting sore. Nopalea has been a huge blessing. Now there's a solution by lowering levels of chronic inflammation.

Nopalea, made from the super fruit of the Nepal cactus, containing a unique group of bioflavonoids clinically shown to reduce chronic inflammation. In a random double-blind placebo-controlled study, it showed a reduction of elevated at-risk C-reactive protein levels, resulting in an improvement in range of motion in the back, neck, and joints, and an overall improvement in the quality of life. It's fun to be on the golf course again. I'm able to swing the club freely.

Hopefully I'm hitting better golf shots. Nopalea has allowed me to get back on the golf course, enjoy the game that I love, and maybe even give me that little edge to beat my friends at the game. Nopalea has helped thousands of people by lowering levels of chronic inflammation. To place your order, call 800-771-5584 or online at TriVita.com. As a new customer introductory offer, use promo code BROWN25 for a 25% discount on your purchase of Nopalea. And 100% of your first order will go to the support of Line of Fire.

Go to TriVita.com or call 800-771-5584. Again, 800-771-5584. This is how we rise up. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

All right, I hope that those of you that just get a few minutes when you're in a car or when you're doing something for kids from school or doing things that in the midst of a whole show with one focus, that you're getting some nuggets even if you're grabbing a few minutes here and there, those that are able to listen and watch the whole broadcast may just drench you with spiritual exhortation to make your life count. I want to go back now and just finish these examples. So George Whitefield, who went for it like few people, went for it, 1714 to 1770. In 1753, at the age of 39, he wrote, Let none of my friends cry to such a sluggish, lukewarm, unprofitable worm. Spare thyself. Rather, spur me on, I pray you, with an Awake, thou sleeper, and begin to do something for thy God. This is Whitefield. And in 1754, having recovered from some serious illnesses, he wrote to Charles Wesley from America, My health is wonderful, though I ride whole nights, and have frequently been exposed to great thunders, violent lightnings, and heavy rains, yet I am rather better than usual, and as far as I can judge, and not yet to die, oh, that I might at length begin to live.

I am ashamed of my sloth and lukewarmness, and long to be on the stretch for God. Whitefield! When Whitefield was urged to slow down and take better care of himself, he replied, It is better to wear out than to rust out. And to this day his ministry still shines. It was from John Wesley, Whitefield's contemporary, so Wesley 1703 to 1791, that he learned the importance of a disciplined and regimented lifestyle. This was Wesley's rule of conduct.

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. In Wesley's 53 years of ministry, he died at the age of 88. He raised up and organized a radical army of lay preachers, traveled about 5,000 miles a year by horseback or carriage, preached over 50,000 sermons, wrote 233 books and pamphlets ranging from biblical commentaries to medical treatises, as well as read and reviewed everything of interest that was published in Europe.

He pushed his 5-foot-4-inch, 120-pound frame to the limit and stored up for himself an eternal treasure that will never fade or perish. In 1771, John Fletcher described Wesley as flying, quote, with unwearied diligence through the three kingdoms, calling sinners to repentance and to the healing fountain of Jesus' blood. Though oppressed with the weight of near 70 years and the cares of nearly 30,000 souls, he shames still by his unabated zeal and immense labors all the young ministers in England perhaps in Christendom. He has generously blown the gospel trumpet and rode 20 miles before most of the professing believers who despise his labors have left their downy pillows. As he begins the day, the week, the year, so he concludes them still intent upon extensive services for the glory of the Redeemer and the good of souls. It was John Wesley who said, Though I am in haste, I am never in a hurry. And why was that? He said, Because he never undertakes to do anything unless he can do it with perfect kindness of spirit.

Amazing. Though I am in haste, I am never in a hurry. May his example challenge us today. December 18th, 1831, after spending an evening too lightly, Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in his diary, My heart must break off from all these things. What right have I to steal and abuse my master's time?

Redeem it! He is crying to me. What is he crying to us? So friends, that was from my chapter Redeeming the Time and How Saved Are We.

I hope it ministered to you and stirred you. And I want to emphasize this again, we don't work harder to get God to like us. We don't fast and pray and push and witness and serve so that God will like us. God loves us more than we could possibly imagine. We're not doing this. I'm not writing new books and putting out new articles and going on new radio stations and traveling to more nations. I'm not doing that for the purpose of getting God to like me.

I'm doing it because he loves me and because Jesus died for me and I want my life to count in the light of eternity. And every person that I meet and they tell me how we've been a blessing to them, it's further encouragement. Go for it.

Go for it. And as Nancy encourages me to get alone and seek God and be with him because everything flows out of that, I want to make a greater impact. So I was being driven to the airport by a student in one of the ministry schools where I teach. And he said, Dr. Brad, how much do you travel? What's your schedule? And right now, as I'm speaking to you from Hawaii, actually, as you're listening to this, I'm in Hawaii. I'm in the midst of a very intense 12-day trip, three days teaching in Dallas, two days teaching in Fort Worth. Then Friday night, last Friday night, flew to San Francisco, then spoke three times Saturday, twice Sunday, then flew from San Francisco to Kona in Hawaii.

As you're listening to this, I'll be live with you tomorrow, Wednesday, God willing, from Kona. Pouring into leaders from Hawaii and from around the world, flying from there back to Virginia to speak at Liberty University right before our granddaughter graduates. I promised, by God's grace, I'd get there before she graduated. So it's taken four years, but finally I got an invitation. I said, I'll be there.

I don't care if there's three people. I got to keep my promise to my granddaughter. Then driving home the next day, radio from our studio, then flying back to Fort Worth to speak twice Sunday, then fly back. So I'm in the midst of a really intense 14-day schedule and enjoying it and blessed and seeing amazing fruit.

And I hope you've been blessed by the broadcast from different parts of the world and America. But I say all that to say that my travel schedule is normally not this intense. And I was explaining I'm trying to slow down in my travel schedule to get more time with the Lord and to spend one weekend a month just in prayer seeking the Lord.

And Nancy had really challenged and encouraged me to do that a couple years ago, so I've been implementing that. So I told him I'm slowing down, trying to travel a little less. And he said to me, oh, oh, so you're kind of winding down and getting ready to retire? I said, no, I haven't hit my stride yet. I'm trying to hit my stride. So, friends, oh, there's so much God wants to do in your life.

And you say, look, Mike Bratton, you don't understand. I'm going 24-7. I'm homeschooling three kids.

I got two younger ones in diapers. By the end of the day, I'm happy to just find the bed to collapse on. I don't have eight hours to pray.

I can't be at the soup kitchen. Oh, I'm not talking about any of that. You make your time with those kids count. You recognize every moment that you're investing is an eternal investment. And then as God gives you opportunities to do other things, you do them.

You say, you don't get it. I'm working two full-time jobs and a part-time job, and it's barely time to breathe. I'm not laying a trip on anybody. I'm just encouraging you to look at your life and ask, does it make sense in the light of eternity? Because I know many of us waste days, weeks, months, years, and many of us live with a lot of regret at the end.

It doesn't have to be that way. And many of you are spiritual underachievers. You underestimate what God could do for you. You underestimate the role you play in other people's lives.

You underestimate the importance of your life. You might say, look, I'm just a business. God called me to the business world. Yeah, I get to share my testimony with fellow workers and things, but I'm not an evangelist preaching to millions of people. Yeah, but maybe you're a godly husband and a godly father and setting an example to raise up world changers. And maybe as you give generously from your hard-earned money to your local church and to missionaries you support, you're helping change the world. You know, a pastor came up to me recently and told me that God spoke to him to give a large chunk of money for a radio expansion.

I started crying because I said, you have no idea. I am so burdened to reach more people. And when you give, you understand what's happening is you give, lives are being touched. Don't diminish your giving. You support your church and support missions.

You're taking your hard-earned money, hours, and turning it into extending, furthering the gospel. I'm just saying, friends, live consciously about eternity. Live consciously about what can happen through your life. Live consciously and ask yourself, at the end of the day, at the end of the week, was my life lived well? And if things are so busy and you are so pressured and running and running, step back and say, Lord, is this the pace I'm supposed to be on? Am I just running around in circles or am I bearing fruit? And God will lead you.

God will show you. I tell you what, it's been a pretty intense broadcast today, I understand, so I'm going to tell you just a cute little story. So, I'm sitting around with a pastoral team in California and they just brought in all the salad stuff I like and they were all having salads together, so we were all eating healthily. And they were probing me about my diet and lifestyle, so I'm telling them the changes. I used to have a few headaches a week, basically having had a headache in almost nine years with healthy eating and all the changes and all the positive stuff and so on. And then I mentioned to them, so I was encouraging them, the pastor said, yeah, I got to get back, I'm eating more healthily, I was eating better, then I got out of whack. And so we're just talking about all that and how much sleep I need, my exercise routine and things. And then I said, you know what, and I added in these wellness supplements that have really made enhanced things even an addition. So, I tell them by the time we were done with lunch, they had all gone.

I just found it cute. Well, all the ones I saw, maybe a couple around, but the four or five guys I could see, they had all gotten online. They had all gone to TriVita.com, and they had all ordered the three supplements that I personally take every day. The nitric oxide for the oxygenation and blood flow, the myo-health amino acids for muscle buildup and skeletal strength, and then the nopalea, the anti-inflammation. And of course, I told them, use the code BROWN25, 100% of your order will be donated to the line of fire. Yeah, 100% of your first order will be donated to the line of fire. And I said, check out the supplements. I just found it cute because I kind of sold them on healthy eating. I mean, they knew it, and exercise. They were in good shape to start, but I sold them to go deeper, to go for it even more.

And then they all ordered. I said, hey, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee if you're not happy. I said, but worst comes to worst, you just donate it to help us reach more people by radio. But I think you'll really enjoy the supplements. So if you haven't checked these out yet, so my routine, the nitric oxide, myo-health, and nopalea. But you can call, ask all the questions you want, 800-771-5584. And remember, this is how, not only are you helping your own life with these healthy supplements, but you're helping us reach more people and spread the fire and help deepen and further this Jesus glorifying gospel-based moral and cultural revolution trend that is unfolding in front of our eyes. So 800-771-5584, telling Dr. Brown sent you, go to Trivita, T-R-I-V-I-T-A, trivita.com, use the code BROWN25. All right, we should be taking your calls live from Kona, Hawaii tomorrow. May you be blessed and may your life count. Another program powered by the Truth Network.