Road to Reality - Critter Campaign Message — K.P. Yohannan

Displaying the love of Christ by caring for the poor and needy in Asia, next on The Road to Reality. Well, Christmas is just a few weeks away, and don't you just love this time of year? Many of us will be gathering with friends and family, decorating our homes, sharing gifts, but let's not lose sight of what it's really all about.

Today on The Road to Reality, we'll be encouraged to celebrate Christmas the way we should. This is the Radio Outreach of Gospel for Asia, and Brother KP Yohannan joins us in studio this week. Here he is to tell us about a wonderful opportunity we have to show the love of Christ to those who've never heard of Jesus.

Celebrating Christmas by Sharing Christ's Love

I'm sure you agree, for a lot of people, Christmas, this season, is one of the most precious seasons of the whole year. As a matter of fact, I remember in 1973, December, I flew from India to Germany, and that's when I learned, dear me, how these German people celebrate Christmas.

I never knew this season could be so elaborate, full of lights and sound, and I mean, it's like a whole new world I never knew about. It took me a while before I will get into the season of Christmas, thinking about it.

And of course, later I will say, Lord, it's absolutely amazing that during these few days all over the world, people will talk about Christ coming into the world. Oh, I agree. A lot of people celebrate Christmas in the most stupid, weird way in the whole world.

But for us, those who know the Lord, it means something so very special. I'm sure you agree. But I also want to talk to you about celebrating Christ, Christmas, in a way that will allow us to transform the lives of tens of thousands of people that never ever had a chance to hear the first Christmas story.

Reaching People Who Have Never Heard the Christmas Story

Well, I almost can hear you saying, but KP, what did you say? People that never ever heard the first Christmas story? That is true. I never forget, some years ago, a bunch of us were traveling from Ajmer, Rajasthan, which is the northwest of India, one of those cities, and we were driving toward another city.

And along the way, we saw this old man plowing his field, two oxen, and of course, you know, he's holding on the plow and plowing the field. And believe it or not, it happened to be the Christmas week.

And we stopped our vehicle, just walk around and, you know, relax. I decided to walk into the field and talk to this old man. I mean, he was really old. The Rajput, the turban on his head, and this oxen, and when I said to him something in Hindi language addressing him, he stopped.

I looked at me. Of course, he realized that I am not from his community. I am from South India, 2 ,000 miles away from his home. Then I asked him a question, have you ever heard of Christmas? He looked at me strange.

And then he said, well, what does that mean? Who is he? And he kept on asking these things. Of course, then I realized this man never ever heard the Christmas story. When I asked him if he heard the name Christ, he said, no, no one I know by that name here.

Well, that actually is the story of nearly 2 billion people that live in our generation. Are you surprised? Well, you shouldn't be. But think about Afghanistan. Some 20 million people live in the country and it is reported that less than maybe 2 ,000 Christians in the whole country and that also underground.

There is no visible church in the country. Well, then go to Nepal, Bhutan, and Burma, the subcontinent, those nations. Well, I've been there so many times, traveled throughout these communities. Well, now you'll recognize that I am part of a mission organization called Gospel for Asia.

And our commitment and call is to be part of your life together, somehow getting more people to hear that Jesus actually came into this world to die for them on the cross and he was buried and rose again.

And now they don't have to live in despair and hopelessness with fear of death and hell. Oh, it's good news for all people. So the next few weeks you're going to be celebrating Christmas. Well, I join you.

As a matter of fact, I can't wait to turn on my iPod and listen to all my favorite Christian Christmas songs. They are wonderful. But may I ask you a question? Would it be possible for us during this Christmas time to say, Dear Lord Jesus, I want to give you a gift.

Gift that will help others to know that you love them, that you cared about them, that you died on the cross for them, that you came into this world just for them. For God so loved the world. Well, I'm sure you would say back to me, Brother KP, I sure want more people to know about my Jesus.

I want them to know about the Christmas story. Well, in that case, let me tell you another story. It was the year 2008. Some of our missionaries were going about throughout some of the most unreached regions in Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Tibet, these places, telling people about Christ coming to this earth, loving them and caring for them.

Compassionate Relief and the Cow That Saved a Family

You know how they did it? They went to some of the poorest communities, people who are so destitute and hungry without any help, and they began to distribute material things such as sewing machine and clothes and chickens and goats and buffalos and items like these with the intention, we must help at least 50 ,000 families to break the cycle of poverty.

This Christmas will be the best Christmas for them because we will tell them why we do it. And I remember hearing the story about some of our missionaries going to this village, going to this little shack where this man and his wife and bunch of kids live.

Poor, dirt poor. And he happened to be one of those people they picked to give a cow. A cow, they can milk and sell the milk and make a living. And the moment they said, we are here to give you a cow and this is yours.

You have not paid one penny for it. The man began to weep. He just started weeping. And our missionary said, why? What did we do? Of course, you know, he'll wipe his tears and say, thank you for doing it.

This was the day I was going to commit suicide. Then he would explain the poverty, the suffering, the pain and the anguish. My wife and children, I can't bear it anymore. There's no work. My landlord has no work for me.

I don't know what to do. I just want to end my life. And now you people are here to give me a cow? That gave them the opportunity to explain to them. Christ's love and compassion and care for him and his family.

Of course, the story ends nice. He didn't kill himself. And his whole family come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that story can be repeated hundreds of times, thousands of times in many of these nations where 14 ,000 plus native or national missionaries are working, serving the Lord with Gospel for Asia.

You're listening to The Road to Reality and Brother K .P. Yohannan, who will be right back in just a moment. How would you like to reach out to a family, much like the one K .P. just spoke about? Through Gospel for Asia's Christmas gift campaign, you can share the love of Christ with a poor and needy family.

Talk about a gift that is meaningful and lasting. Around here, we like to refer to it as the Critter Campaign. On our website, you'll find our Christmas gift catalog, or you can select from a wide variety of gift ideas, and even order a gift there as well.

That's at winasia .org. 100 of your donation will be used to care for these dear people K .P. just told us about. Again, we're at winasia .org. And if you're in Canada, simply go to gospelforasia .ca.

Thank you for helping us reach the unreached with the Gospel of Christ. And now, once again, here's K .P. to tell us more about this great opportunity before us.

The Blessing of Hearing the Gospel

Well, I do not know if you ever travel to other nations like India or Tibet or China or the Muslim countries or India or Bangladesh or Africa. If you have, you will agree with me. You will say, Brother K .P., our people here in this country have no clue how blessed we are, how privileged we are to hear this Christmas story, to know the Lord, to be blessed so abundantly.

Oh, I agree. These are kind of hard times. What do you mean hard time? Well, you know, we used to go for a vacation 2000 miles. And this year we can't go for vacation. We just decided to stay home and have the two weeks of rest.

Think about it. Someone said the beggar you see under the bridge here in the United States or Canada happened to be like the richest man in many parts of the world to own a car, even an old car. You have to be the richest individual in many nations.

Yes, in this generation, in our world. So, we have so many things to complain about. Really? Not so. I agree with someone who said, I complained and murmured about the shoes I didn't have until I saw a man without legs.

Jesus' Mission to the Poor and Lost

My dear brothers and sisters, I speak to you on the behalf of people that are in such great suffering in our generation. And, you know, Jesus is all about caring for the needy and the poor, the unforgiven, the lost.

For he himself said this, Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. And I think you'll agree with me, the most important call on our lives, it is to manifest his life, his love to others around us.

But then others around us, yeah, I mean, our neighbors and people who are suffering here, but then let's think about people that never heard the gospel even one time in their life. And as we go to these multitudes in the mountains, in the valleys of Nepal, in Bhutan, in India, in Bangladesh, in Sri Lanka, a country that is almost destroyed by civil war and tens of thousands of widows and orphans and helpless people.

What better way the Lord has given us than this to say, you know, this is Christmas time. Jesus came into the world and this is the reason why he came. And we are here to share his love and his concern for you.

And they live in such abject poverty and helplessness. Oh, by the way, as a matter of fact, I think it is a silly thing. And it is a very sad thing for Christians to wait for someone like me to come and tell them, Hey, you know what?

You better do something about it. There's so much problem in the world and this and that. No, no, no. I think you and I ought to be looking, searching out for opportunities to demonstrate his life and his love for others.

Biblical Compassion for the Suffering and Needy

You remember in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 11, you read this passage where John the Baptist happened to be in prison and he really believed that the Messiah, the one he talked about, is going to come and just, you know, free him and everything will be all right, but nothing happens.

So he sent his disciples to Christ and asked the question, Hey, are you the real thing? Are you the Messiah? Or should we look for someone else? And Jesus says, You know what? You go and tell John what you see and what you hear.

And then he explains. Blind see, sick people get healed, and people in distress and hopelessness find hope and the good news is preached to the poor. And that is a proof you need. You see, sometimes evangelical Christians or more fundamental believers would say, Oh, Sodom and Gomorrah, they were destroyed by God because of their sin of the flesh and they explain and preach about it.

But you know what? In the book of Ezekiel, God says the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, it was that they did not care for the poor and the needy. They will not do justice for the helpless. Now, let me ask you if you will read the Gospel of Matthew chapter 9.

You will find there Christ's encounter with the suffering, the lepers, the blind, the demon possessed. And finally, when you come to the end of chapter 9 in the Gospel of Matthew, we read there, when he saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion for they were harassed, abused, mistreated, helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Child Labor, Poverty, and the Call to Act

My dear brother, my sister, just pause for a minute and think about some 150 million child laborers in our world. I ask you to go to your computer and look for bonded child laborers. You will find children tied up to steel post in carpet making factories.

Little children carrying heavy load of bricks on their head in brick making factories. You will find little kids, semi-naked, skin and bones begging on the streets. Well, if you saw the movie, The Slumdog Millionaire, you know what I'm talking about.

That is the harsh reality of multiplied millions, especially in South Asia, in such suffering and pain because they do not know Jesus loves them. They never heard the good news there is hope for the poor and the struggling.

And that's what Gospel for Asia missionaries are trying to do. So what am I trying to tell you? Well, here's an interesting verse. Book of Proverbs 9, verse 17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and He will reward him for what he has done.

The Christmas Gift Campaign and Gospel Outreach

So here is what my offer to you is. Gospel for Asia. During this Christmas season we have this beautiful thing called Christmas Gift Campaign. What we are doing is we got thousands of missionaries working among the most poor slum-dwellers and helpless forgotten people in many other nations.

And what we are trying to do is at least reach out to 100 ,000 homes of this kind of people. Some of them need some chickens, some of them maybe need a goat, buffalo, or some pigs, or a sewing machine, or whatever we can give them which will become the means for them to get out of poverty and hopelessness.

And then of course our missionaries will always tell them we do this because of Jesus and explain the Gospel to them and give them Gospel portions and often lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe it or not we have seen literally dozens of churches planted in the country of Nepal in India in many of these nations in the subcontinent through this yearly program we do that is showing Christ's love through caring for the poor and needy to break the cycle of poverty and these people are finding hope.

May I ask you would you please take this opportunity and go to our website and look for the catalogue I mean it is a marvelous beautiful catalogue that explains to you how you can buy a bunch of goats or chickens or buffalo or cows or sewing machines and blankets and whatever and every penny you give will go to help these people and I can assure you someday you will hear from Christ himself you know what I was poor and helpless and you cared for me.

I was naked and you clothed me. I had nothing to eat and you fed me I was lonely and forgotten and you came to visit me and I was poor and needy and I didn't know what to do and you came and provided the means for me to find hope and you will say Jesus that's strange but we never saw you in a situation like that and he will say well you remember that radio broadcast my servant he talked to you about people that do not know do not understand they are poor and needy and you are the one who decided to join in and go to the Gospel of Asia website and look at the catalog and join in in buying and helping to touch the lives of the poor and needy it just happened to be me you didn't know that you can read that in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25 so thank you so much for caring thank you for loving Christ thank you for taking time to celebrate Christmas the way we ought to celebrate Christmas and thank you for being part of Gospel of Asia our ministry and we love you very much and appreciate you more than words can tell you and let us make this Christmas the best Christmas celebration and I believe Jesus will be so pleased because we are now bringing this good news into the lives of millions that never heard the first Christmas story together we will make a difference.

God bless you and I look forward to hearing from you.

Well that's Brother K .P. Johannan here on the Road to Reality the ministry of Gospel for Asia. You know many in our world have lost the true meaning of Christmas but as Christians we know what it is and it's all about Christ.

K .P. just told us about the Critter campaign which is a great way to celebrate Christ and watch God transform lives in the process. At our website you can actually thumb through our catalog select a gift of your choice and send to a family.

This Christmas again every cent will be used to help a family in need. We're at winasia .org again. Our website is winasia .org. Those in Canada will want to log on to gospelforasia .ca. That's gospelforasia .ca.

As you make your gift list this season consider giving a present that God can use to change lives forever. Here's our phone number in case you'd like to call 866 WINASIA. That's 866 WINASIA and in Canada call 888 -946 -2742 888 -946 -2742.

Well next week we'll set out to gain an internal perspective through another road to reality broadcast with K .P. Ohana. It's the weekly radio ministry of Gospel for Asia.