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To Live Is Christ
K.P. Yohannan

K.P. Yohannan (1950 - 2024). Indian-American missionary, author, and founder of GFA World, born in Niranam, Kerala, to a St. Thomas Syrian Christian family. Converted at eight, he joined Operation Mobilization at 16, serving eight years in India. In 1974, he moved to the U.S., graduating from Criswell College with a B.A. in Biblical Studies, and was ordained, pastoring a Native American church near Dallas. In 1979, he and his German-born wife, Gisela, founded Gospel for Asia (now GFA World), emphasizing native missionaries, growing to support thousands in the 10/40 Window. Yohannan authored over 250 books, including Revolution in World Missions, with 4 million copies printed, and broadcast Athmeeya Yathra in 113 Asian languages. In 1993, he founded Believers Eastern Church, becoming Metropolitan Bishop as Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan I in 2018. Married with two children, he faced controversies over financial transparency, including a 2015 Evangelical Council expulsion and 2020 Indian tax raids. His ministry impacted millions through Bible colleges, orphanages, and wells.
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of not seeking approval from others but instead seeking the honor and approval of Jesus. He shares a personal story of his 84-year-old mother's wise words about the temporary nature of this world and the need to focus on eternal matters. The speaker also highlights the urgency of sharing the gospel with those who are lost and in need of forgiveness. He recounts a powerful encounter with a woman who had sacrificed her own child in search of forgiveness, and how he shared the gospel with her, bringing her comfort and assurance of God's forgiveness. The speaker concludes by encouraging listeners to surrender themselves fully to the mission of spreading the gospel and reaching the lost.
Sermon Transcription
Gospel for Asia presents To Live is Christ with K. P. Yohannan, president and founder of Gospel for Asia, international speaker and author of over 150 books. We now join K. P. as he shares the Word of God with a local congregation. I want us to read a Bible verse from 1 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 is 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, OK, 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 is 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 am an old, old man, although I am 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 refine. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. All that sounds very nice and spiritual. But I ask the question, how am I going to become like Jesus? What is Jesus like? And I think it is very plain and simple. Jesus lived His life constantly, always perpetually with eternal perspective in mind. He said, I am not trying to be the king here. This is not my kingdom. This is not what I am about. I am here for a short time and I am 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, 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 and all the brothers. 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, eh? 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 as a ransom 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 catch 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'm 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 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 kind of things. Devil is bad, okay, I understand that. But the poor devil get blamed for everything under the sun. Yes. 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 a life for sacrifice and death. We blame the devil for the whole world going to hell. 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. Yes. 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 in 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? I 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. 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. Letter came from a dear brother, a native missionary, that worked in Haridwar by river Ganges. During that couple of weeks time, 35 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 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 cannot 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 her the gospel. Her sins are forgiven two thousand years ago, I explained to her. The God is not angry with her. God didn't make her poor. He writes, 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 rich 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. 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. 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 are a little fellow. You are 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. Can you please go? He went to Boondi. Rented a place for about five dollars 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 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 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 they 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 that 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. You want to see face 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 started weeping through the whole service and taught God's word. When it was over, this brother said, This is the 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. You read the Acts, 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 broken hearted 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 said 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 preach 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. 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. Said, 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. The man had hundred sheep. Remember that parable? How many got away? 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'm 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 and came home. Today, 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 these people? People ask me, Brother KP, where do you come from? I said, Can't you see on my face? India. But where in India? Oh! You want to know where in India? I come from the extreme southern part of India in the state of Kerala. That is where Christ's disciple Thomas came in AD 52. Believe it or not. It's true. I gave my life to the Lord when I was 8 years old through my mother's influence. The place I come from, you want to know? Go and find the oldest Tarzan movie you can find. All black and white. That's the kind of place I grew up. You know, these clothes you see I'm wearing? This is not mine. We don't wear these kind of things. We have a wrap around, you know, barefooted. My wrap around clothes and all this stuff. I do it for you. And I have 5 brothers. I'm the youngest in our family. And my mother, a devout follower of Christ. My father died in 74. He knew the Lord just before he died. But my mother, all her life, I remember, she followed Him very close. The memory of my mother, every morning about 4 o'clock she would get up and read her Bible and pray for a couple of hours. Then she would wake up the whole family for family prayer. I didn't want to wake up, but I had to. And after she finished the cooking and washing everything, she would take her Bible and go from house to house and tell people about Jesus in my village. When I was just after 16 years of age, I felt the Lord was calling me to give my life for mission work. So I came home one afternoon and told my mother and father, if you allow me, I want to be a missionary. Before I could finish my sentence, my mother said, you please go. I said, uh-oh. Now I know she never liked me. So I took off. Went to North India for two years, working with Operation Mobilization. And came back to see my parents, skin and bones, tired, worn out. The first time she saw me, she began to weep. The following day, nobody in the house, she was cooking in the kitchen with the firewood, you know, the typical, the old way we do things. She said, son, come and sit here, and I want to tell you something that you did not know about. And I sat beside her. This five feet, two inches tall, skin and bones, little fragile village woman, with a glow on her face, the love of Jesus. In her own native language, she began telling me the story. She said, son, I have six boys and you are the youngest. I said, mother, obviously that is true. She said, all my life, my dream was one of my sons to become a missionary. And I prayed for all my sons, but one by one they went to business and farming and all these different things. And when we were born, growing up, I lost all my hope. We were shy and timid, and I thought God would never answer my prayer. But then I decided as a last attempt, I would fast and pray. And my son, for three and a half years, every Friday, I only drank water and fasted all three meals, crying out to God, Jesus, call one of my sons to become a missionary. And the day you came and said you want to go as a missionary, I knew God answered my prayer. In 1990, I was flying from the United States to South Korea to speak in a mission conference, and when I reached Bombay, India, I got the message my mother was sick. At the age of 84, she had never been sick like that, with a heart problem, taken to the hospital. I cancelled my trip, went to the hospital, spent a week with her. That weekend, my mother died. Funeral took place. Now I must go back to America. My oldest brother called younger brothers, including me, to talk about our mother. One of my brothers had a question. How much money did our mother leave in the bank? All her sons would give her money every month to do whatever she wanted to do, and so we imagined she must have a huge amount of money sitting somewhere in the bank. Answering the question, my brother pulled out his old, worn-out little booklet or piece of papers, and he said, there's nothing in the bank. He said, what happened to all the money? He said, I found this under the pillow of our mother's bed. In it, she had scribblings of names of dozens of young people. Some studying in the Bible school to go to the mission field, some already on the mission field, and against their names, 200 rupees, 500 rupees, and all the different money she was sending every month without telling one human being on earth. And I began to weep. The reason being, I remember one time when I was back home visiting my people, and I saw my mother wearing a blouse with stitches from here to here. You know, the needle stitch. And I was so angry. I said, mother, what is wrong with you? What happened to your head? Don't you have any feeling for your sons? The whole world will think that we don't take care of you. You are putting cow dung on our face. You put shame upon our head. Mother, don't you have any feelings about us? You can buy a new dress every month if you want. Why you do this to us? She smiled and said, You little fellow don't understand nothing. Someday you will understand. And now I sit in the room as though my mother speaking to me again. My son, all my life I lived for the eternal purposes of God. Yes, I could have purchased a new dress every month. But I chose to wear old clothes and stitch it when it's torn. I never told anyone what I was doing. But son, now you understand. The house, the dreams, the dresses, approval of men, opinions of other people. My son, it means all nothing. It's nothing. Now you understand. How many times did I hear my mother just during the day saying that Bible verse again and again and again and again. Her favorite Bible verse. Psalm 73 verse 25 Whom have I in heaven but you and on earth I desire no one beside you. After having spent a little time in Europe before coming to America I picked up a habit using a certain brand name deodorant soap from England that I love. You can buy it in America. Dollar 50 cents per bar. And that I did for the first several years of my life in America. A bookworm, any book that you find on any subject if I could buy it, I will buy it. It was impressive. Somebody came to my house and saw all the translations and books I had. And I didn't read half of them but I made a good impression. After a few years of living like that one day the Lord said to me, Son, half of the world have never seen one page of the Bible. What are you doing with your life? And I cried out to God on my knees and said, Lord, take eternity and stamp on my eyes for I cannot change myself. I am so self-centered. In His mercy and grace and compassion and love He began to change my heart. Next time we went to the store I didn't buy the dollar 50 cents deodorant soap. I switched to ivory. 35 cents and I don't like ivory either. I am not promoting that soap. Some of our brothers are working in northwest of India on the street preaching the gospel. A Hindu Brahmin, a landlord came by and got a gospel tract in Hindi language. He was running away from his home to commit suicide having cancer in his body. First time in his life in the late 50s an older man read with his own eyes God came to this world for you Jesus died on the cross to save you from sin and hell and He wants to save you if you call upon Him. And there is a prayer he can pray to Jesus on the street that afternoon this man knelt down in his own native language crying out to a God he never prayed to ever in his life asking Him to come into his life and forgive his sin and save him. He got up something happened peace came into his heart and he didn't commit suicide he ran home and went to the same hospital and told the doctors doctor I feel so good can you check me what we can do you are sick we did everything we can no, no, no doctor you please one more time so he persisted they checked him up down everywhere inside out they said what did you take there is no trace of cancer in your body you are completely cured and the man pulled out the booklet in his pocket that he was reading and said doctor this healed me they thought he went cuckoos with the address on the booklet he went to a mission station told our brothers what happened to him they began to explain to him the gospel more about Jesus the man began to weep out loud and said oh now I know this Jesus is my God then he said you know what I am a landlord can you come and make all my people Christians how literally understand how this thing work two of our brothers went with him began to preach the gospel and to date they got at least hundred and fifty or more people saved and baptized and the man gave the land the money the whole thing build the first church in the community but the question how did that all happen one gospel tract that cost less money than what I pay for chewing gum and I like chewing gum I am not saying don't chew gum if you want no problem but what I am telling you I was crazy enough to think in those terms saying Lord everything I do now in my life I want to evaluate in the light of eternity I must conclude with some applications those who claim to be followers of Christ must live like him and I am convinced the saddest thing Christ feels he weeps over saying look upon the land of India Bhutan Burma the Muslim countries people that do not know the gospel don't know his name they are dying in darkness like the woman at river Ganges and I want him to break my heart with the things that break his heart so what do I do I recommend that if the Lord give you the grace take one day of the week to fast and pray for people that never heard the gospel ask God to give you the countries the name of the people groups information we can help you with tremendous information to pray for just one day of the week and if you are trying to lose few more pounds add one more day my second recommendation to you is that you will ask the Lord Jesus how do you want me to live my life in the light of the fact that half of the world never heard this gospel and they are hungry and destitute ask him to give you understanding how to live your life I cannot tell you the car, the house and what you should do that's none of my business nobody's business as a matter of fact but let him tell you how you can simplify your life so that others can hear the gospel and you know my sister you don't need another diamond ring he loves you anyway you see my brother this tie here kind of broad if you got one like this you keep it and it will go narrow and it will come back again that is the world of fashion you can hold the car lay your hand on it in Jesus name it will run again but let the Lord guide you I wrote the whole book about it by the way thirdly most of you 99% of you will not go to India, China, Bhutan, Burma Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan you will not go there to live please go if you can but tonight I want to ask you something my mother she never left my village in her entire life but she had missionaries all over India winning people to Christ people that she will never meet in her lifetime on earth never touched them but she knew someday she will meet them in heaven would you please please I fold my hand before you tonight and ask would you ask the Lord what you will do as he guides you to link your life with missionaries on the field we got 11000 missionaries in India and China and Bhutan and Burma and Bangladesh all these places native missionaries living like the people talking their language suffering and paying the price of preaching the gospel we got thousands now in the schools getting ready to go to the mission field but they cannot go no one to help them to go you say brother KP why not the sad thing is they have no one to help them even with the train ticket it takes about as little as 30 dollars a month you can help one of those missionaries get to the place where no one ever went before and preach the gospel and plant the church when they plant the church you don't need to help them anymore they can keep on preaching and doing the work of the Lord and expand the work my wife and I with our 2 children began to support 4 native missionaries when they were going to school in Dallas my kids used to go to the streets and pick up beer cans and coca cola cans aluminum cans and sell them and bring the money so we can support 4 missionaries 30 dollars a month and all those 4 missionaries began to plant local churches in India, Bhutan India, Bangladesh all those places and today my kids are in India serving God would you and your family if the Lord is speaking in your heart decide to do that you say brother KP how do I do that the answer is this on the tables back there we have a card with a blue stripe on the top in this card there is a place for you to say starting now I will help prayerfully sponsor help sponsor 1 missionary or 2 whatever number of missionaries you want to support 30 dollars a month then you write your name and address and you give it to the people manning the table and they will give you your missionary to take home with you today if you support 5 missionaries you will get 5 of these folders their testimony, where they work for the Lord where they are going and it is an authentic real thing every penny you give go to the mission field, no one take nothing out of it 100% go to the mission field and you will hear from the missionary what God is doing through their life and how they plant churches everyday we see nearly 6 churches planted on the mission field through these missionaries that are on the mission field and if the Lord is leading you would you please don't rush home tonight but go to those tables take these cards and fill it out and get your missionary and take it home with you tonight you know sometimes some TV preachers I don't watch it anymore anyway they say please send your money if not I have to go off there and usually I talk back to them please go off there, don't bug me it is as though God is in some big trouble that he made some commitment he cannot keep that we have to pester people, tell stories and emotionally stare them up and put them in a corner listen, tonight you are free to go home without doing one thing but you know what now since I am 50 years old I remember my 84 year old mother what she said more often than I want to hear it and my son someday you will understand it and I say to you my wonderful brothers and sisters that know Jesus this world is not our home nothing we have we brought with us and we will not take nothing with us and everyday I wake up and say Jesus today I seek your honor your approval I don't seek no one's approval I don't care for anything and I go to bed every night I say Lord I walk through this day I love you more than mission work the whole world please help me walk with you and one more word I say Jesus I have one desire to see you face to face please help me remain faithful and tonight I ask you I say to you all the bible knowledge all the studies all the knowledge in the world will not help you unless you choose him above knowledge and do what he asks you to do the way he asks you to do it and that's all I ask shall we pray Jesus if only you can open our naked eyes we will see you standing somewhere in the corner here or sitting on one of the stairs or Lord I don't know where you are standing but I am sure if you open our eyes we will see you and Lord you look upon us not with condemnation or hate or dislikeness and Lord none of us can say we did everything well we are a bunch of failures and Lord if these people know the way I know myself it will be horrible yet Lord you love me so much you love us not because we give you this or that or do this or that it's so unconditional Lord that's the reason we can fall at thy feet and embrace you and say Jesus you mean to us more than life itself but Lord let it not be so that our confession of knowledge will be spirituality but Lord let it lead us to obedience embracing the cross paying the price and walking away from our own self Lord our own egos that we long for Lord to fulfill please Jesus set us free from our own self centeredness tonight I want to thank you for this wonderful fellowship these my brothers and sisters that you call from all over to love you, to know you, to worship you and thank you for my precious brother your servant his life that produced so much food that remains I pray watch over his life, his family the entire leadership of this fellowship and everyone Lord each family may you draw them so close to you that they will be able to say to you sometime Jesus take eternity and stamp on our eyes we think about India tonight China tonight Bhutan tonight, Bangladesh Afghanistan, Pakistan Oh God millions that never heard your name cause our hearts to break, to stand in the gap that someday we will meet them also in heaven and dance forever thank you tonight for everything Lord, may you take these commitments that is made tonight quietly in the hearts and make it authentic in Jesus name Amen Music If God has touched your heart with the burden to help reach the unreached, won't you sponsor a native missionary today? Gospel for Asia sends 100% of your native missionary support to the mission field Music You may be interested to know that Gospel for Asia has a number of books and videos that will help you in your KP's best selling book The Revolution and World Missions is a must read book for Christians of all ages It has been used by the Lord to challenge and encourage the lives of believers all around the world If you would like to order any of our publications or if you are interested in obtaining more information about Gospel for Asia please visit our website at www.gfa.org www.gfa.org or you may call or write us in the U.S. call 1-800-WIN-ASIA or write Gospel for Asia 1800 Golden Trail Court, Carrollton, Texas 75010 or in Canada please call 1-888-WIN-ASIA or write Gospel for Asia 245 King Street E Stony Creek, Ontario L8G 1L9 Music
To Live Is Christ
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K.P. Yohannan (1950 - 2024). Indian-American missionary, author, and founder of GFA World, born in Niranam, Kerala, to a St. Thomas Syrian Christian family. Converted at eight, he joined Operation Mobilization at 16, serving eight years in India. In 1974, he moved to the U.S., graduating from Criswell College with a B.A. in Biblical Studies, and was ordained, pastoring a Native American church near Dallas. In 1979, he and his German-born wife, Gisela, founded Gospel for Asia (now GFA World), emphasizing native missionaries, growing to support thousands in the 10/40 Window. Yohannan authored over 250 books, including Revolution in World Missions, with 4 million copies printed, and broadcast Athmeeya Yathra in 113 Asian languages. In 1993, he founded Believers Eastern Church, becoming Metropolitan Bishop as Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan I in 2018. Married with two children, he faced controversies over financial transparency, including a 2015 Evangelical Council expulsion and 2020 Indian tax raids. His ministry impacted millions through Bible colleges, orphanages, and wells.