Road to Reality - to Live Is Christ - Part 1 — K.P. Yohannan

Welcome to Road to Reality, the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia. Today, Brother K .P. Yohannan asks, what does it mean to be like Christ? With powerful stories from his own life and from the mission field, Brother K .P. exposes the reasons why so many of us struggle with sin and miss the abundant life Jesus promises.

Let's join Brother K .P. as he shares the Word of God with a local congregation in this timely message simply entitled, To Live as Christ.

First John, chapter 1, verse 6, whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. And that scripture in the Living Bible reads like this, anyone who says he's a Christian should live as Christ did.

Isn't that simple? If I say, and I know I say this, I believe in Jesus, I am his follower, then I am told, okay, wonderful, you are saying that, but would you make this decision and choose to live as my son lived?

It says in 1 John 4, as he was in the world, so are we now in this world. You know there's a lot of talk about predestination. The only predestination that I can find is in Romans 8, it says, we are predestined that we may be conformed to the image of his son.

That is true predestination. So next time somebody fights about it, you tell them that. I heard a little chorus long ago. Now when I say long ago, don't think I'm an old, old man, although I'm old. I was 18 or 19 years old, that is a long time ago.

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, all his wonders, compassion and purity. O thou the spirit divine, all my nature refined, let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. All that sounds very nice and spiritual, but I ask the question, but how am I going to become like Jesus?

What is Jesus like? And I think it's very plain and simple. Jesus lived his life constantly, always perpetually with eternal perspective in mind. He said, I'm not trying to be the king here and this is not my kingdom, this is not what I'm about.

I'm here for a short time and I'm here for a purpose, that is to accomplish the plan of my father and he had always that on his mind. A friend of mine, when he was a young Christian, seeing the carnality in the older Christians, preachers and Bible teachers who were loving money and position, power and jealousy and strife and unforgiveness and living for the things of the world and he went to God and cried out and said, Father, why is it that people that know the Bible so much, they memorize it, they can quote the scripture, they know all the doctrines, Father, why is it that life is so like this, full of strife and jealousy and all these other things?

He says, the Lord spoke to his heart and said, Son, they spend time with the Bible, they don't spend time with me. Then he made a statement to me, he said, my brother, I have an advice for you. If you want to know God, you love Jesus and study him and imitate him and if you want to be smart and famous and so full of knowledge, then you study the Bible.

Weird, yet how true it is. Yes, the Bible, the learning, the knowledge should help me to love him more intimately and follow him with all my heart, but often it don't happen. So what is Jesus like? Son of man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give his life for others.

I came, he said, not to seek nothing for myself. Son of man came to seek and save that which was lost. Christ's life was always continually a life that lived out for others and not for himself. So all day working, but then night, instead of sleeping he will pray all night, because next day he must touch the lepers and heal the sick and preach the gospel and help those who are lost and find them.

So he said, as the Father sent me, I am sending you also. Some of you may remember the name Keith Green. Anyone remember his name? He was a strange character, some people think. A dear friend who went to be with the Lord, he wrote many songs and he sang, and I don't do that.

But in one of his songs, these words are very powerful. Do you see, do you see all the people singing down? Don't you care? Don't you care? Are you going to let them drown? How can you be so numb not to care if they come?

You close your eyes and pretend the job is done. Oh bless me Lord, bless me Lord, you know it is all I ever hear. No one hurt, no one ache, no one even sheds one tear. It is bless me, bless me, bless me.

In one of my meetings some years ago, somewhere in the United States, a lady came to me after the meeting and said, would you please pray for me? I said, may I know, madam, what you want me to pray about?

She said, I got a demon of smoke, would you lay your hand on me and cast out the demon of smoke? I mean, that's the first time in my life I ever heard anything like that. So I kind of got shocked. So I said, madam, demons, yes you can cast out, but not the flesh.

You crucify the flesh and the desires of the flesh. She got confused. We blame the devil for all kinds of things. The devil is bad, okay, I understand that. But the poor devil gets blamed for everything under the sun.

The church is so totally disobedient in picking up the cross and willing to lay down their life like Amy Carmichael Jetson and thousands who march the way of the cross and were martyred. Instead of committing our life for sacrifice and death, we blame the devil for the whole world going to hell.

The devil is bad, I admit. But I'm telling you something, your enemy, my enemy, more than you realize, is not the devil, it is our own self-centeredness. And Jesus came not only to save me from my sin and hell, but during my life in this pilgrimage to set me free from my own self-centeredness.

But in the measure which I allow him, he can do the job. And there's a world out there that Jesus is saying, as the Father sent me, you go and you be my hands, my ears, my nose, my heart, my feelings, my tears, you be the one to call them to the Father.

But do we listen to that? No. We say, I have to take care of myself, I want to be blessed, and after this, that, that, and we kind of shove it off, not taking the pain, the anguish of the cross to touch the lost world.

A letter came to me some years ago from the mission field, and my wife brought it to me and said, would you please read this? And I was sitting in my office in Dallas in a comfortable chair. I finished reading the letter, I was weeping on my knees.

The letter came from a dear brother, a native missionary, that worked in Haridwar by River Ganges. During that couple of weeks time, thirty-five million Hindus walked and traveled by train and bullock carts and buses from all over the country to go in this dirty, polluted waters of River Ganges, washing themselves for the forgiveness of sins.

This one missionary, working among these people, telling about Jesus, one evening he was coming home and now in the letter he writes the experience of what happened that evening. He said, I saw this young woman sitting by the bank of the river, weeping uncontrollably and pounding upon her chest.

Knowing something so terrible happened, I went to her and asked, why are you weeping? What happened? She replied, my husband is sick, he can't work anymore. My sins are so many that nobody knows about.

To find forgiveness for my sins and solution to the problems of my home, I have given the best offering I can give to God of Ganges. My only son, my six-month-old baby boy, I just threw him into the river.

Next paragraph, I sat beside her, explained to her the gospel. Her sins are forgiven two thousand years ago, I explained to her. That God is not angry with her, God didn't make her poor. He writes, as I explained the gospel to her.

All of a sudden she wiped her tears and looked straight into my eyes and said these words, didn't you come to me half hour sooner? I didn't have to kill my child. I never heard this before, but why didn't you come to me half hour sooner?

She went back crying again. Now I was on my knees saying Jesus, I surrender every drop of my blood, every fiber of my being, my wife, my children, all that I am, for two billion people like her crying out, why, why?

And Lord, till the last second of my journey, I will want to give myself to see those people reached with the gospel. I find my own self-centeredness becoming the hindrance from doing what Jesus asked me to do and to be like him.

Thank you for listening to Road to Reality, the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia. Today's broadcast, To Live as Christ, is a message by Brother K .P. Yohannan, founder and president of Gospel for Asia.

We'd like to offer you a free copy of Brother K .P.'s most popular book, Revolution in World Missions. You can get it at our website, gospelforasia .org, or call us, 1 -866-WIN-ASIA.

And now, back to Brother K .P. One of the first places I went to serve God when I was a youngster was a place called Boondi in the northwest of India. Hard, staunch, difficult Hindus, seven brothers and myself with Bibles and tracts and Gospels with our old beat-up vehicle, we went to this place.

We got beaten up very bad. Without mercy, we were beaten. One brother, blood began to ooze down from the beating. Without mercy, we had to leave the place. Some years went by, a young brother from one of the Bible schools, a 19-year-old young brother, after finishing his studies, said to our leaders, Jesus wants me to go to Boondi.

They said, you? You're a little fellow. You're only 19 years old. Boondi is a dangerous place. You don't go. He said, but I prayed the whole year. Jesus wants me to go to Boondi. The senior brother said, son, are you sure Jesus told you to go to Boondi?

He said, yes. Then you please go. He went to Boondi. Rented a place for about $5 a month. After a few nights, in the middle of the night, someone came and busted the door open and he found himself surrounded by six, seven men.

One tall Rajput with a turban on his head pulled this brother up by his leg, this skinny brother, and said, you young fellow, tomorrow you leave this place. If you stay here, we can tear you apart like we do with a chicken.

We don't want your God. We've got plenty of gods and goddesses here. Tonight we will not kill you, but tomorrow you leave this place. He got scared. And I would too. And you would too. Next morning he took the first bus and train and ran back to the mission station and told our brothers, trembling with fear, they came last night.

They said they will kill me. And it was easy to believe because some years prior to that, another brother who went to the region for preaching the gospel, he was martyred. So they said, what are you going to do?

I don't know what to do. They are going to kill me. Again the senior most brother said, son, I want to ask you one question. Did Jesus ask you to go to go to Boondi? He said, I know. He told me to go to Boondi.

That is only a burden I have. Are you sure? He said, I know. But they are going to kill me. He said, son, you go back to Boondi. Most probably they will come back to you again. Yes, maybe there is a possibility you may get killed.

But remember, heaven is a much better place than Boondi anyway. You wait there for us and we will come later. And the senior most brother who told him that has a scar on his forehead. As Paul said, the mark of the cross, persecution that he faced for preaching the gospel.

The young brother knelt down and then laid hand on him, prayed for him and sent him back to Boondi. He got in the bus, weeping, believing that he will never see them again alive. He reached Boondi. Sure enough, after few days, the same people came back and said, why are you now going to make us murderers?

Didn't we tell you not to come here? He listened to all their mighty speech and very calm, sober, he said, you know what, the sooner you do your job, it is better for me. Heaven is a much better place than your Boondi anyway.

What do you do with a fellow who want to get killed? Yes, he faced some persecution, some problems. Some years goes by. I get a telephone call in the middle of the night. Hello, I said, yes. Brother KP speaking.

Brother, we want you to come to Boondi. I want to put the phone down. He said, no, no, brother. We want you to inaugurate the church that is in... The story changes. Next month I flew to Delhi, took a train and went to Boondi.

Ah! You want to see faces glow with love of Jesus? Come to Boondi and see the first generation converts. 150 some adults and wives and children worshipping Jesus. So intense. Not for 2 hours, but goes on 3, 4, 5 hours.

And I sat there weeping through the whole service and taught God's word. When it was over, this brother said, this is a man who said he will tear me like a chicken. How is it possible? Paul, please Paul, you are the best teacher, theologian, pastor, leader we have.

Don't you go there and get killed. Please, Paul, don't. He relaxed. Paul said, ah, thank you. I know you are telling the truth. The Holy Spirit spoke clearly. That's true. But, I do not regard my life dear unto myself.

All I want is to give it away. Jesus, I want to be like you. Hey, my brother, my sister, I am not here to put you on a guilt trip, intimidate you, get something out of you and run to the next place. That's not my purpose here.

But I want to ask you one simple question. When you heard over 100 ,000 people died in Rwanda in a few days time, when you heard in a week over 100 ,000 swept away from Bangladesh into the oceans and millions left homeless, when you heard every church in Afghanistan was demolished, not one Christian living in the country, where were you?

What happened to you the following day? Did your son ask you, Mama, why are you not eating today? After three days, your son said, Daddy, it seems that you are not eating any food. What happened? Are you sick?

Then you say, My son, you remember we watched the news and saw what happened? Yes, Daddy. Son, I am so brokenhearted over the millions that are perishing that I decided to fast and pray and stand in the gap on the behalf of the world that is going to hell and forever without Jesus.

That's the only reason. When was the last time you as a family sat down and said, let's talk about it? Half of the world go to bed with empty stomach and naked bodies? Some 80 ,000 die every day and slip into hell?

You and your wife and kids and as a family, when was the last time you made a pact, a discussion and say, We will live as strangers and pilgrims on this earth with sacrifice and commitment and tears and fasting and touch the lost world with our lifestyle?

Two brothers we trained in one of our schools and send them out to work among the Muslims, the people of Islam. Hussain and Salsal, their names. Hussain was married with two little kids. Salsal was not married.

During the day, they preached the gospel in this community and lead people to Christ and quite a few came to know the Lord. During the night, they teach the Bible for these new believers. One morning as they were going about their ministry, a group of men met them.

They greeted them with kindness. Namaste. Oh, so you are Hussain and you are Salsal. You came to tell us about your Jesus. Our brothers thought they were very friendly, nice people. Yes, we are so happy to be here to tell you about Jesus.

No more exchange. No more conversation. The leader pulled out a dragger and stabbed into the heart of brother Hussain. He fell in a pool of blood while Salsal grabbing hold of him, weeping. They stabbed him six times.

Believing that both are dead, these men fled. Salsal, it took months to recover but Hussain died on the spot. Leaving his wife and two young kids behind. Hearing about the news, after a few weeks, her father, a Muslim who is not a Christian, traveling from his distant village came to see his daughter.

And this is what he said. My daughter, thank God the devil is dead. Now you come home with me with my grandchildren. Now you, my wonderful sisters, wives, young girls, you listen to the answer. This young wife, in a strange place, no relatives, no one to show any kindness, replied to her father.

Said, my father, you don't understand. The Jesus my husband loved, I love him dearly. The people that he loved, I love them. I cannot come home. I have to stay here and continue the ministry my husband started and died for.

Loving Jesus more than life itself. A man had 100 sheep. Remember that parable? How many got awake? One. And what did the shepherd do? Did he say, ah! One. I got 99. Oh, that one is a stupid one. It is really crazy all the time.

Anyway, let it go. We go and jump and die. Okay, go. I am going to have a nice wonderful sleep. You know, my wife says, I snore. But I tell my wife, I never snore. She says, how do you know? I never heard me snore.

So the shepherd gave up that one sheep. Did he? He left the 99 and went after the one until he found it and took it up. The story is not one outside the fold. One inside and 99 out there. One billion people in the land of India.

Half of them never heard the name Jesus even one time in their life. Forget about redemption, sanctification and all the doctrines we fight and squabble about. 22 million people in North and Bihar without one church, one missionary among that many people.

17 million in Afghanistan without one known Christian. Who must begin to feel the burden and commit our life to touch.

Thank you for listening to Road to Reality, the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia. If you've been challenged by Brother KP's call to take up your cross for the sake of the lost world, we'd love to send you a free copy of his book, Revolution in World Missions.

Now this is the story of Brother KP as a young evangelist in India and his calling to launch a worldwide organization, Gospel for Asia. In it you'll find stories of God's amazing work in the lives of people here in the West and on the Indian subcontinent.

Thousands have written to us over the years with the same testimony. This book is literally life changing. For your free copy, simply go to our website, gospelforasia .org or call us 1 -866-WIN-ASIA and request Brother KP's book, Revolution in World Missions.

Please listen in next week, won't you, at this same time to hear Brother KP conclude this compelling message, To Live is Christ.