Road to Reality - Which Road Will You Travel On — K.P. Yohannan

Which road will you travel on? The pathway of self-centeredness or the road of discipleship, following in the footsteps of Jesus? Contemplate that with us now on The Road to Reality. Gospel for Asia presents The Road to Reality with Brother K .P. Ohana.

A warm welcome to you. Today we open the doors of our studio and K .P. will join us for a special timely message about walking in obedience to Jesus. In case you're not familiar with the work of Gospel for Asia, in short, the aim is to share the good news of Christ with those who've never heard His name.

Our Lord Himself said, if you love me, keep my commandments. So if you truly love Christ, that will be demonstrated through your walk. Let's look together at our call to obey Christ.

Information Is Not Spirituality

And follow Him. Here's K .P. I'm sure you heard the saying, enough is enough. Well, you can use that for a whole bunch of things. But today, when I think about that statement, I'm going to think about how much more information, teachings, Bible studies, conferences, consultations and counseling do we need before we will walk in the reality and in truth.

You see, when I first came to the United States, of all the places happened to be here in Dallas, Texas, to my great surprise, I learned that there are over 14 full-time Christian radio stations, 24 hours preaching every kind of doctrine you can imagine, music of every kind.

I mean, some music that is old and hymns and then contemporary Christian music. You know, then you have, you know, the latest Christian rock. I mean, I still don't know what they are singing, but kind of loud and kind of, you know, sometimes I think it blows your brains out, but kids like it, I guess.

But whatever it is, I mean, I can't believe it. One time I heard a guy saying, well, you know, if you send me $20, I will send you the information and anointed oil. You can put it on your head and your hair will grow and your problems will be resolved.

I mean, personally, you laugh about it. Believe it or not, it's unbelievable the amount of information we have here over the Christian radio station from the most conservative evangelical radical Christian teachings and preaching exposition of the scripture to some of the most liberal goofy stuff.

But when you think about people living in the Indian subcontinent or in mainland China or the Muslim nations, you can't even imagine that most of these nations do not allow a Christian radio station in their country.

It's a wonderful thing that today, Gospel of Asia, we are able to air 110 languages broadcast to 14 nations. And believe me, like the people of India, we cannot air the gospel from within India, but we are to do it from outside of the country.

Well, the thing I'm trying to tell you is that how blessed we are. We can't even imagine that a nation such as this, that we have such opportunity and freedom and liberty to air the gospel, listen to the gospel.

Well, you know, I think about something quite interesting. Some years ago, we sent out a letter to our friends saying that, you know what, if you have books sitting around, Bible commentaries, dictionaries and devotional books and whatever that you are not using it, would you send it to us?

We will send to the mission field. You can't believe it. Within a few months, we had over 100 ,000 volumes, people sending into our office here. And I was quite amazed by that. Just imagine, I mean, think about how many Bibles do you have in your home?

I imagine half a dozen. But would you believe if I told you this? Possibly half of the world today, they have never seen one page of the Bible. So let me go back to the first statement, enough is enough.

So the question I ask, how much more teaching and preaching and singing and all the books that are given to you, how much more stuff, spiritual teaching do we need before we will learn to walk in obedience?

As a matter of fact, I'm quite concerned about it. That is, for a lot of people, information has become spirituality. Knowing about spiritual things, they think that will make them spiritual. Interesting, isn't it?

Pharisees in Christ's day, they knew their scriptures quite well. As a matter of fact, they wrote so many commentaries, it's unbelievable. We talk about them often. And Jesus talked to these people and said, you guys, all of you, you all of you are going to hell.

Well, I'm paraphrasing it. The reason he said, you search the scriptures, you study it, you memorize it, you explain it, you teach it, you do all these things, thinking that by doing all these things, you will find life.

But the scriptures talk about me and you will not want to come to me. You see, my dear brothers and sisters, somehow we as Christians, we often live in this world of illusion. That is, every day we need to take a few more pills of some spiritual truth to keep us going till the next day.

It's kind of coffee and a lot of people addicted to coffee. They just need to drink that thing to keep them going. And I know a guy actually who seems to walk around always with a coffee cup in his hand.

And it kind of keeps them alive. So it is with a lot of people. But Christ of the New Testament calls us to obey and to follow in his footsteps. Now, the question is this. Why we are not able to do that?

Obedience, Missions, and the Cost of Discipleship

Why after knowing all the truth about prayer, we are not able to take a day or two to be alone with God in prayer? Why after all the learning about mission world, the prospective course, the unreached people groups, Afghanistan with 20 million people with less than maybe a thousand Christians in that country and no known church, over a billion people of the world are people of Islamic Muslim faith, hard and difficult barriers and one of the most impossible group to penetrate.

And half of the nation of India, 500 ,000 villages still don't have a missionary nor a church and I mean information like that on and on. So the question is this. Why are we not moved to tears and have a broken heart to pray and fast and make it our number one priority to get the gospel out through our feeble lives?

I'm not saying, okay, give a whole bunch of money that is going to be the answer to world evangelism. No, I think it is a life commitment of a believer knowing that in a few years, I am no more living here on earth.

I am a stranger and pilgrim on this earth. I am walking through this earth and I want my life to count and the model I have is the Jesus Christ who is my Lord and asking the question, how he lived on earth and what is it he asking me and how I must live.

The Radical Sayings of Christ

No, I'm not trying to put you on a guilt trip or condemnation trip on any of those things, but don't you agree that somehow obedience today is misunderstood as legalism. Therefore, we say, you know what, I don't want anybody forced me to do anything.

I don't want to be put on any kind of trip. So we reject the whole thing. Well, I want to ask you a simple question. What do you think about the sayings of Christ? Things like, unless you love me more than father, mother, son, daughter and your own very life, you cannot be my disciple.

In King James, you read, unless you hate your father, mother and so on and all that, who want to accept those things? And then one time he said, unless you drink my blood and eat my flesh, you cannot be my disciple.

One young man came to him and who seems to have a lot of money and security and Christ said, oh, by the way, you can just keep your clothes that you're wearing and sell all the rest. Give it away. Then you come and follow me if that's what you want.

Of course, you know, he didn't do that. No, I am trying to promote a legalistic religion. Again, I'm trying to communicate something very simple. That is that we cannot experience the authentic Christianity that is described in the New Testament without embracing the cross, without saying not to the flesh, without saying not to reputation and honor from other people, without saying, you know, enough is enough.

I am going to say not to myself and start paying the price.

Saying No to Self and Yes to Christ

Saying no to self and yes to Christ, that's how to get on the road to reality. Brother K .P. O 'Hannon will come back with the second half of this message in just a moment. You know, it's important to follow Christ's example, to be sure, but it's also wise to teach our kids to do the same.

We have a fabulous new resource that will help to inspire your children or grandchildren or any other child in your life. It's a book called Even Donkeys Speak. This children's book is a collection of stories straight from the mission field.

And as you and your kids read these exciting stories of God at work, you'll be greatly encouraged and no doubt stirred to a greater commitment to Christ. The suggested donation for Even Donkeys Speak is just $7 .99.

And that's available through our online store at winasia .org, that's winasia .org, or call toll free 866-WIN-ASIA. If you're a resident in Canada, go online to gospelforasia .ca or call 888 -946 -2742.

Well, as we get back into the study now, K .P.

Righteousness by Faith Rather Than Legalism

Draws our attention to Philippians. Let me say this to you also. In the book of Philippians chapter three, Paul said this, I do not seek my own righteousness. That means reading the New Testament or knowing the requirement of our Lord for those who are following Him, we can get into the place of working these things out in our own flesh and thus come under the old covenant, which is, you know, legalism, which is more dangerous and worse than anything else.

So no, I'm not saying now you say 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, I'm gonna do all these things. No, 1, 2, 3, 4, I will not do these things. No, I'm saying being a follower of Christ means the love of Christ and commitment to Him as a person is so pure, so motivating, so energetic, so compelling that no sacrifice is too much.

As a matter of fact, there is such joy in serving Him. By the way, you remember this guy in the Old Testament, his name is Jacob? Who can forget him? He fell in love with Rachel, beautiful girl, and he wanted to marry her.

Jacob's Love and the Joy of Sacrifice

Of course, the price he must pay was seven years of labor, hard work. Laban, Rachel's dad said, all right, yeah, you can have Rachel, but this is what you should do. And Jacob served him like a slave for seven years.

Then, of course, you know, he gets married to find out he got the wrong girl. It was Leah, her sister, who was not that good looking, and he gets mad. He said, what on earth have you done to me? And Laban says, son, don't worry about it.

You want Rachel? Yeah, you can have her, but seven more years. So, the poor man, in love, deeply in love with this beautiful girl, spent 14 years of his life like a slave working. But the scripture says, all those years looked like just a day because he loved Rachel.

So, when you hear about suffering in Afghanistan or Africa, or the unreached people groups in the Middle East, how do we respond to that? Well, you turn the alarm clock on to wake you up one o 'clock in the morning, not out of, oh man, alive, I had to do it again.

No, you do it saying, Lord, I'm so blessed to have this energy, this freedom, this opportunity to get up and spend a few hours on my knees praying and interceding for the lost. And you say, Lord, I'm so glad that I didn't have to take this vacation and spend my $4 ,000 climbing the rocks and going to all these weird places.

No, I have the privilege to give this money to print Bibles and send missionaries and print your word and send more radio broadcast to the unreached people groups. And Lord, these two weeks of vacation, I'm going to be home in a comfortable setting and be praying that you'll do wonders in my world.

You see, it all depends on how we look at our life and what we are called to do. Are we going to look at from carnal perspective, or are we looking at it from his perspective? Well, Amy Carmichael, you know her name, someone who was so devout to Christ, gave her life to serve Christ in India.

Amy Carmichael and Costly Service

Oh, the years she spent in agony, battling illness, pain and suffering, yet she will continue serving her master without giving up. And what was the motivation? It was not legalism. It was not force and compulsion and guilt.

No, it was her understanding of her master. No wonder why she said one time, we have seconds to work and eternity to enjoy. In one of her poems, she wrote these words, a prayer, by the way, from prayer that ask that I may be sheltered from winds that beat on thee, from fearing when I should aspire, from faltering when I should climb higher, from silken self, oh, captain free, thy soldier who would follow thee, from subtle love or softening things, from easy choices, weakenings, not this way when the crucified, from all that dims thy calvary, oh, lamb of God, deliver me.

Living Differently From the World

My dear brothers and sisters, when we make a commitment to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, may I remind you, you may not have all the friends in the world to inspire you and encourage you because majority of so-called Christendom still like the world.

Yeah, they are so happy to have their sins forgiven and think about someday heaven, but their lives are just like anybody else in the society, no difference. They gather together for Bible study, of course, yeah, study a few verses, but the chit-chat and the little things they enjoy, the house, the carpets, the new things they're buying and selling and all the stuff.

No, I'm not against all this stuff, but I'm simply asking you, when was the last time someone broke down weeping saying that, I just saw on the news of people that got killed for the sake of faith in Orissa.

I just heard about over a thousand houses being destroyed that belong to the people of God and I just can't handle it. Let us pray. Let us do what we can to touch the lost world. And again, this is not something that you can make a legal statement and say, now you do this, you don't do this.

Reading the Gospels and Second Timothy

Rather, I would encourage you to take a few minutes and read through the four Gospels with a pencil in hand and look at the statements of Christ, the kind of life he's asking us, the way we should live.

Then if you will, go to 2nd Timothy and read that brief four chapters that Paul writes to this young man, his son in faith. And, you know, I read 2nd Timothy, I don't know how many dozens and dozens of times from the age of 18, I've been reading it forever.

When you read it, you get a sense in Paul's writings, Timothy, you may be the only person who will do this, but be willing to do it. Let others do whatever they want to do. Things are not going to be as you think.

But for you, my son, stand alone, count the cost, be disciplined, be willing to cleanse yourself from all these dumb, stupid things and be that individual fit for the master's service and for his glory.

Eternal Perspective and a Life Given to Christ

So today I ask you, thank God for all the radio broadcast and television programs and books and concerts and Bible teaching and the open door we have here for the Gospel. Don't reject any of these things.

They're all good and wonderful. But may I ask you also to consider these feeble words of mine, maybe a lonely voice somewhere in the wilderness, please listen to me. 100 years and now, nothing really matters much.

Who cares about what degrees you got, how much money you made, what people thought about you, the impression you're trying to make on people and all the other stuff that we worry about. Hey, listen, take more time to be alone with the Lord.

Learn the art of meditation and be his so completely. Ask him to break your heart with the things that break his heart and ask him, oh Lord, let my earthen vessel, my this little life be so completely yours.

Whatever you want in my generation, Lord, do it in me and do it through me. And if that be the case, I can tell you after 40 years of serving my Lord every single day, I realize today is another day. Hundreds of thousands of people will die without knowing my Lord, without ever hearing the first Christmas story.

And I must pray for them. I must do whatever I can and make whatever sacrifice out of joy, knowing that someday I will meet them also in heaven. And our children, our families, our relatives, our neighbors, people that we work with and wherever we are, we are their hope and our prayers, our life, our words and our kindness, our mercy, our boldness and whatever we are, let that be Christ for them.

And I know you take it serious and appreciate your willingness to listen to these words and my prayer is that the Lord give you grace as you continue to walk with him and he will. Amen.

Well, a convicting challenge from K .P. Ohannon here today on The Road to Reality. It's a message called, What Road Will You Travel On? Now, this is a presentation of Gospel for Asia, and this ministry is all about changing lives, both for this life and eternity.

One avenue the Lord has led us down is called Bridge of Hope. Now, our hearts desires to bring hope to the most poor and needy of Asia. Many of them are children, and that's where Bridge of Hope comes in.

But we need your help to do this. And for just $28 a month, you can bring hope to a child in Asia through Gospel for Asia's Bridge of Hope. You'll not only help to meet their physical needs, but their spiritual needs too.

To sponsor a child, go online to winasia .org. And while you're at it, look for the link, Gracie is Blind. It's a PowerPoint presentation he'll not soon forget. And we're also very excited about the release of a children's book called Even Donkeys Speak.

Maybe you're looking for a way to communicate the message of Christ to the next generation. This is a great tool, and it's available right now at winasia .org or call toll-free 866-WIN-ASIA. If you're in Canada, go to gospelforasia .ca or dial 888 -946 -2742.

And be sure to come back next week for another refreshing time in God's Word and encouragement from K .P. O 'Hanlon. That's right here on The Road to Reality.