It All Starts With Loving Him — K.P. Yohannan

It was Jesus Christ who said, if you love me, you'll obey my commandments. It all starts with loving Christ, as we see next on The Road to Reality. Gospel for Asia now presents The Road to Reality with Brother K .P. Johannan.

The Last Days and the Temptation to Love Self

This is your host, Richard Bews. Here we are again. As Paul II's letter to Timothy, chapter 3, we're told that in the last days men will be lovers of themselves. Well, we see that lived out in our day and age.

Revelation's Call to See the Church From God's Perspective

A couple of years ago, at our Renewing Your Passion conference, the Lord impacted many lives. And today we're pleased to bring you one of many messages delivered at the conference. K .P. takes us now that golden chapter of Revelation 4 and encourages us away from self-centered living and towards loving and obeying Jesus.

A Lifelong Calling to Reach the Unreached

I've been serving the Lord now some 40 years. My journey began quite young. Over the years, as the Lord placed this call upon my life to see the most unreached reach of the gospel. And I continue to live for that, like I dream about it all night long and work for it all day long and travel no less than 300 ,000 air miles a year, speaking and sharing and talking around the world.

Concern for the Body of Christ in the Last Days

But I must tell you, over these past 10, 15 years or so, at least 10 years, my heart began to feel a very deep burden and concern for the body of Christ at large. Both here in the United States and overseas and in my own native land of India and wherever.

The World Pulls Believers Away From Their Beloved

That is, somehow these last days, there is going to be greater temptation and pull of the world to call us away from our beloved. The one who gave his life for us and blood was the price he paid to purchase us.

But as Paul said, he said, I'm so afraid and scared that just as Satan beguiled Eve, deceived her, so he will seek to rob your tender affection you have toward the Lord. The enticement of the world and the voices we hear from all around us is constantly calling us to walk away from him, take our focus, attention from him and put it on something else.

It could be the things of the world, friends or comfort or ease, take care of yourself. And I don't know how to explain this to you. Go to a typical Christian bookstore, you'll find the thousands of titles released constantly and millions of dollars are spent for this.

And most of it talk about one thing, how to take care of ourselves. So little do we read about forsaking all, dying to self, embracing the cross and understanding the grace of God as the Bible teaches it and walking with him.

Encouragement to Keep the Lord Before Everything

And so I pray, Lord, that the brother says that we live with people like you, that somehow we will have a small part in encouraging you to follow him and keep the Lord before you more than anything else.

Revelation 4 and God's Higher Perspective

I'd like you to turn your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 4. Now here we read about this interesting statement where the Lord Jesus Christ is saying to John, come up here and I will show you what must take place after this.

That you'll find in the very first verse, the last part of the verse. John had no clue or understanding the real state of the church or what is going on by his own reasoning or horizontal understanding.

Nor did he know what was going to happen in the years to come. And the Lord is calling him saying, I will give you insight to the real state of the situation. What's going on? Come up here. Often the Lord's call for us, he's calling us saying, come away, walk away and come up and see things from my perspective and you will be able to respond to it.

The way I want to respond to it and live the way I want it to live if you will do that. This is quite interesting. You'll find in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 verse 27 about Moses. The man who was destined to be sitting on the throne and had everything going for him and quite well established and he walks away from all this stuff.

And then the scripture says, Moses left all those luxuries, comfort, promises, everything of Egypt because he saw him who is invisible. That's a strange statement. How do you see someone you cannot see?

Moses and Abraham Choosing the Eternal Kingdom

Abraham with all the comfortable circumstances and established family situation. It's like in America they say every six years people move from one city to next city and all that. But those days they didn't do that.

Like, you know, I mean in some European countries or in India or some most Asian nations. People live in one place forever. We build those houses to last for three, four hundred years. But here we build them for, you know, 20 days.

Not really. But Abraham now walks away from all these things. We don't read about how he did it exactly until you come to book of Hebrews. It says, Abraham saw a city that has foundations and the builder and maker is God.

Therefore he regarded himself as a stranger and pilgrim on this earth and he lived in tents. He saw something that nobody else could see. A place where God himself built with his hand which will not perish in time.

Christ's Death and Deliverance From Self-Centeredness

Having God's perspective and the way God sees things changes us to live a life totally different from anyone else. Now Jesus came and died on the cross to forgive our sins and take us to heaven. This is, we all believe in that.

But more than that, he came also to deliver us from our own self-centeredness and help us to live the way he would live right now if he was living in this generation. So we read in first John, as he was in the world so are we now in this world.

It is Jesus, his heart, his life. Now in my earthen vessel, I feel it. I live for him. I walk with him. I hear from him. I act on those things that he would want me to act on the way he want me to do that.

Beholding Christ in Scripture and Being Transformed

In 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18, it's a very interesting verse. If you are looking at your Bible, you may want to mark that Bible verse. It's quite a fascinating verse. It says, beholding us in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being changed or transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

That's when we look at the Bible, it is the mirror because James says that. As you look in the mirror, we see his face. I mean, when he got up this morning, obviously, you may have gone to the bathroom.

He's supposed to do that and looked in your mirror. When you looked in the mirror, did you see my face? Hope not. I didn't see your face. I saw my face. But the scripture, the Bible, it says when we look into the scripture, the mirror, the word of God, we see the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Knowing Christ Rather Than Merely Studying Theology

The Pharisees, as you know, studied the Bible, memorized it, dissected it, wrote commentaries on it, and Jesus, you know, you fellows, you think by doing that, you will have life. But the problem is this, they testify of me, but you will not want to come to me.

So it is possible to spend your life studying and studying and researching, memorizing, you know, all the theology and miss the Lord himself. You can find what you want if you go and look for it. But if you're looking for what God is talking about, the whole Bible, you see the face of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit is to help us see his face in the world, then transform us from within so that our nature will change and we become more like him.

Someone said, one look at self and ten look at Jesus will keep you going. But let us not come to the place where conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit is misunderstood as legalism, and the scripture is very clear about that.

Becoming Like Christ Through Total Surrender

But knowing the Lord and learning about him and understanding him will change me to become not self-centered, but others-centered. But becoming like Jesus is not just a small matter of I will do this, I will do this for Jesus.

No, it is much more than that. It is saying, Lord, my hands, my ears, my tongue, my resources, my wife, my children, my decisions, my dreams, my ambitions, my honor, my reputation. Lord, it's all about you, what you want me to do, and I will do whatever you say, Lord.

And if that be the case, the Jesus or the New Testament you will find saying constantly, I do nothing of my own. I seek nothing for myself. I am all about laying down my life for others. I came to seek and to save.

Someone who would spend all night long praying the man Jesus, agonizing all night long, and next day walk around healing the sick and caring for the poor, wiping the tears. Nothing about himself, but about others.

To be like Christ is to say no to self. In this world of ours, we're constantly encouraged to live for ourselves. That's our natural inclination. God's desire is that we move away from self-centered living and instead be focused on the needs of others.

Brother KP will be right back. But first, we'd like just to take a minute of your time to tell you about a book that KP wrote a while back that would serve as a great companion to this study. It's called Revolution in World Missions.

I loved reading it myself. As KP was encouraging us to let go of self-centeredness and to be more eternally minded today, I couldn't help but think of that book. That's the direction KP takes in Revolution in World Missions.

God has used that book in countless lives. You can order your free copy by going to gfauk .org. And please do tell us if God uses it to bring about a change of direction for you. That would really make our day here.

Just go to gfauk .org and ask to receive Revolution in World Missions. It's our free gift to you. Now, here once again is KP.

Learning Obedience Through Suffering and Daily Self-Denial

You ever read the scripture that says, Jesus learned obedience through suffering? You know the scripture? There's a Bible verse like that. King James also is like that. NIV, any translation you read. Jesus, God on earth, learned obedience and he learned obedience through suffering.

What do you mean? Well, just a few hours he was abused and beaten and ridiculed, and they put him on the cross and he died. So, he was to learn obedience on the cross? For what? Listen to me. From the day he was born, for 30 years, then another three and a half years, on a daily basis, he embraced the cross.

Saying not to himself, dying to whatever he wanted and wished as a man. Not my will, but your will. And he grew in understanding of dying slowly, daily, and learning finally to the place. Father, if there's some other way, that'd be wonderful, but here I am.

I choose to lay down my very life, your will, not mine. Godliness and being like Christ never comes in two days and three days, in one month and four days or two years. It is a life of learning and growing constantly.

Compassion for the Suffering and the Lost

But what concerns me the most, often our Christianity that we are accustomed to, we are brainwashed with books and television preachers and music and whatever. It makes us constantly think about ourselves, so that we rather weep over our son or daughter who is going astray.

We fast and pray for that little kid who is in trouble. But when you see on the television, over a million people displaced in a cyclone, over 100 ,000 children walking on the streets crying, mommy, daddy, but they can't find them.

When you find out the crisis of millions that are dying and going into Christless eternity, we watch those things and we say, can't believe these dumb people are doing it again. What's wrong with these people?

What's wrong with the government? Don't they care? Life goes on as always, but there are some, and some of you, I suspect, after you saw that news piece on television, the next few days your children are asking the question, whatever happened to daddy?

He looked so gloomy, mommy. He used to sit with us for morning breakfast and dinner. Now he's not eating anymore. And mommy, is he mad at you or mad at us? What did he do? And finally, the mother says, my son, my daughter, you really want to know what happened to daddy?

Yeah. Well, you remember three days ago, we saw the story from Burma, the cyclone. You remember we saw the bloodshed taking place in Sri Lanka and what's happened in Iraq? Yeah. Well, that night when we were going to bed, daddy was crying and his heart is deeply in pain.

And the truth of the matter, that night he got up about one in the morning and he was not in bed. And four in the morning, I found him in our living room with his face in his hand weeping and was praying for these people.

And he decided not to eat for next three, four days, but fast and pray. And that's what happened, daddy. Some years will go by. Now those children grow up. They are teenagers and in their twenties and thirties.

And their lives are so radically impacted with the reality of this Christ who gave his life, not only for us, but for the whole world. And their lives are so in tune with the living Christ. And someday when somebody asks, how on earth you chose this narrow road?

What happened to you? They will say, well, the story goes back 20 years ago and they are led to the story of the dad. Please, I beg of you not to take these words as a way to put you on a guilt trip or put you in a place where we have some agenda to get some money out of you.

None of those things. God will always do his work, whether we do something or not. He has his agendas all figured out. But it's a privilege for us to be part of what he's doing. But I'm more concerned about my understanding of him, that how my heart can change and become like him.

The Church's Crisis of a Cheap Gospel

Listen to these words from a friend writing about the state of our church. This is about American church. So if you are from other country, you can put your country's name in this place. The American church is experiencing a crisis.

For years, we have preached a cheap gospel and peddled a soft savior. We have taught salvation without self-denial and the crown without the cross. We have catered to the unsaved and compromise of the world.

And now we are paying the price. Our instant salvation message has dishonored God and confused men. Our faulty seeds have produced a flaky harvest. What a pitiful crop we are reaping. As American believers, we spend more hours watching television, but minutes watching in prayer.

Did you know there's a study released not too long ago? Average believer in our nation here spend just an eight minutes a day in prayer and pastors pray less than 12 minutes a day. It may not be about you or your pastor, but it's kind of a general survey.

It goes on. Are hungry for sports page, but have little taste for the word. Spend more money on pet food than on foreign missions. Love to feast, but hate to fast. Welcome God's blessings, but are weary of his burdens.

Is this what Jesus died for? Is this our new life in him? Stop for a moment and think. Anyone who spends more time playing video games than seeking God in prayer has no right to call Jesus Lord. Anyone who takes delight in today's perverted soap operas is serving another God.

Anyone who cannot die to sports for a season is worshiping idols. It's a dangerous statement in this country. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him because friendship with the world is hatred toward God.

Examining the Evidence of New Life

In reality, whose friends are we? It is time for some serious soul searching. What kind of born-again experience have we had if it calls for almost no personal sacrifice, produces virtually no suppression from the world, and breeds practically no hatred for sin?

How can we claim to be born from above? Where is the evidence of our new life nature? We call ourselves citizens of heaven, yet our hearts are caught up in earthly treasures. We sing, we are the people of God, but we are entertained by the worst of the devil's children.

We claim to be dead to the world, yet we are more interested in temporal fashions than in eternal souls. Something is wrong with our salvation experience. Bad fruits means bad roots. We say, Jesus. We say, just confess Jesus as Lord and you are in.

He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven. We say, just pray this prayer and it is done. He says, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take his cross daily and follow me.

We say, just come to the altar. It will only take a minute. He says, make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. The question is, who do you think is right?

We'll leave you to think over that question. This is The Road to Reality, a ministry of Gospel for Asia. K .P. Johannan is our teacher, and we've just heard part of a message he gave at our most recent Renewing Your Passion conference in Dallas.

Maybe after listening today, the Lord has stirred your heart and encouraged you to get involved in reaching those that need to hear his good news. We'd love to suggest a few ways you can do that. If you would visit our website at roadtoreality .org .uk or call us on 01904 643 233, here's an opportunity to be a blessing to others.

In South Asian culture, most widows are viewed, unfortunately, as a curse and shunned from society. They're sometimes ignored by relatives too. I also think of the abandoned children of Asia who face similar conditions.

They often have to fend for themselves without food and shelter. At our website, roadtoreality .org .uk, we can tell you how you can ensure that they are taken care of and shown the love of Christ. Again, we're at roadtoreality .org .uk, or if it's easier, just call our number 01904 643 233.

That's 01904 643 233. And you can get short, timely messages from K .P. Johannum and Gospel for Asia on Twitter at GFA underscore UK, or join us on Facebook under Gospel for Asia UK. Next week on The Road to Reality, Brother K .P. will have the rest of his message called It Starts with Loving Him.

We invite you back for that. The Road to Reality now is brought to you by Gospel for Asia. It's been wonderful to have you with us. It's me now, Richard Bewes, saying goodbye, and let's meet again. God bless you always.