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Road to Reality - Christ's Call - Part 2
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 fasting and praying for the salvation of souls. He challenges the audience to dedicate one day of the week to fasting and praying. The speaker also urges believers to consider going to places like India, Afghanistan, and Bhutan to serve God and share the gospel with those who have never heard it. He highlights the significance of the 1040 window, which includes countries with a large population of people who have not heard the gospel. The speaker encourages believers to prioritize reaching the lost world and to use their resources to support missions work.
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Welcome to Road to Reality, the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia. Today, Brother K.P. Yohannan asks, is it possible to live the abundant life Jesus promises? And how can I overcome sin that continually hinders my walk with the Lord? Listen in as Brother K.P. shares his secrets to living the victorious life in the second half of this message entitled Christ's Call. This one missionary who was employed by the government of India, making big money, a beautiful wife, two beautiful children, living in Delhi in the capital city. He heard the call of God for the slum people. He took his wife and kids, went to the slum. Our leader said to my wife, Andy, if you just walk on the edge of the slum, you have to close your nose. You cannot breathe. It is so dirty, so stinking, pollution, open sores and bodies, yet in that one small slum over 5,000 families live. And the missionary took his wife and kids and decided he will live among those slum people in that little hut, sleeping there, eating their food, and if need be dying there for the sake of him who left all and gave his life to reach the lost and this world, including you and me and our children, our family. It was not easy. It was deliberate embracing of the cross, not forced upon him. Within a few months time, he was able to baptize quite a lot of people and the church was born right in the middle of that slum. People coming half naked, children with a bloated stomach, hungry and dying, but now come and sit on the dirt floor, clapping hands and worshipping Jesus. You know what? They are looking not for a better, healthy future here. They are looking for something far beyond and glorious beyond all this. And that is the call of Christ that he put upon our life. But you know what? It is, this is of a truth. My wife can tell you this. And my wife can tell you this too. Having traveled quite a bit, lived in America quite a bit, it is not my choice to come to America. No sir. I come here because I want to obey my Lord. The two, three weeks I spend here to travel, like to speak, then I jump back to China or India or some other place and come back again to do the speaking. So this is one of those little hauls I have to be here to speak to you. The reason I come here is this. Soon, very soon. Soon, very soon. Listen to me. Time shall no more be. You ain't going to be here. But you will face the Lord of Glory face to face. A man called me from Houston, Texas some time ago and said, Brother KP, I read your book. And he started weeping. I thought I told him something terribly bad. Then he would catch himself. He would keep talking. He said, Brother KP, I am over 60 years old. And I am just so broken hearted. He said, I am a believer. I know Jesus. But soon my life will be over here. And I stand before the throne. And I realize, if only I could invest my life today, millions of people from China, India, Bhutan, Burma, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, all these places, from every tribe, every kindred, from every nation, people that never, never, never heard the name Jesus will be there. And oh, I just thought about that. And I am so grieved that I wasted so much of my life. Finally, he said, KP, sorry for weeping like this of you. Sorry for being so emotional. But I am just calling to ask you, is there anything I can do, anything I can do to become real and touch the lost world? I said, you know, the first thing is, you must, by the grace of God, make a decision that, Lord, I want approval from you and no one else. So much of Christian work originates in the flesh and carnality. Lord, I only want your approval. I said, make the commitment to the Lord. Walk with Him with the purity of heart and integrity and holiness and honesty. Even if you do nothing in the world, that is more important. Secondly, I said, if God is speaking to you, take your resources. If you cannot go to India or China, the best thing you can do, live a simple life and give your resources to reach the lost world. And he asked me more questions. Within a couple of weeks' time, he sent a check to our office for $235,000. That money was to go to buy the Life of Jesus film in 8 different languages for illiterate, the tribal, the poor, the suffering people in slums and the un-riched areas. Our missionaries took this and began to go and preach the gospel. A year went by. I told my people on the mission field, would you please do a study, because we have very serious accountability system kept up, asked to see what is happening on the mission field. I said, I want to know what is happening with that projector, with that film and what God is doing with that project. They wrote a report back. And I was shocked. The report said, every month, no less than 100,000 people come to the Lord Jesus Christ by watching the Life of Jesus. And I said to myself, man, this guy, what a privilege. What a privilege the Lord gave him in this side of life. The Bible says, you take care of your wife and children, and you be a nice family man and nice guy. So I am going to put my money in the CD, Doody, whatever account, and take care of me. That is where Indians talk. No, sir. No, sir. But I am pleading with you, so that demons will not deceive you right now and take your thoughts somewhere else. I am not here after anything from you. A man from Florida called me up a few years ago and said, Brother KP, I want to send a check for the ministry. I said, what are you talking about? He said, one million dollars. I said, can you repeat that? He said, one million. Being so curious, I said, where did he get the money from? Because I am not supposed to ask that, because it is private. Because I know the guy. He lived in a frame house, drive an old pickup. And he said, Brother KP, nobody knows about this thing. It is inheritance we got through my wife. And we looked all over America to find a mission, preaching the gospel, in a 1040 window, or places where no one ever heard the name Jesus. And we came to the conclusion after one year of search, that Gospel of Asia is the place to really invest this kind of money. I said, look Chuck, if this is all the money you have, I cannot tell you to send it. You give me three days to pray. I told our office staff to fast and pray. I was in Akron, Ohio to speak at a mission conference. And I was going up the elevator, and the Lord very clearly asked, I can hear now. Clearly, He said to me, are you listening? I said, yes, Lord. You need to call Chuck today. I said, yes. Tell him, all he can take from him is the money you need for the project you are praying about. And we were praying for a project of a training center in India to train workers. It cost about less than $300,000. And I said, Lord, it's not fair. I want that money, and him, and his wife, children, everything. No, I didn't argue. I said to myself, this is funny, we could use $10 million that day. And I went back to the office and told Chris Davis, our office manager. I said, Chris, I'm sure the Lord spoke to my heart. This is it. He said, fine. So I called him up and said, Chuck, I'm glad for your money, but I can't take all the money. The Lord told us, we can only take this much money from you. And I said, I can give you other mission organizations' name and address, if you want to call and give it to your money, that's fine. But just for us, this is what we have to do. A lady from another part of America gave me a huge diamond ring. I grabbed that thing. And she said, I want this to be used for printing gospel tracts on the mission field. I take it to Dallas, gave it to Chris to sell it. And then she appraised it $20,000, the thing worked. Wow! And that night, I couldn't go to sleep. Somebody troubling me and my conscience. The first thought, send the ring back, send the ring back. Devil, I rebuke you! And the voice said, it's me, it's me. And I said, Lord, you mean that money can be used to reach millions of people, gospel tracts? The Lord said, I understand, send that back. Next day I went to the office, I said, Chris, don't argue with me, I just understand. I'm a spooky maybe, but I have no rest. We need to send this ring back. She said, what? She said, now you brought this thing in your pocket, now I have to insure this thing and send it back. Send it back. And of course that night, I said, Lord, what am I going to say to this lady? She's going to think we reject her thing because we don't think it's worth anything. The Lord said, tell her, I see your sacrifice as Abraham did. It is yours to keep now. I'll tell you what to do with it later. And I wrote the letter with my own hands. A year later when I was there to speak in a mission conference, I saw this lady. Then I learned the story. As a young girl, she left the United States with her husband to the mission field in South America somewhere, among the tribal people. Her husband died on the mission field. The only thing she ever had was a ring handed down to her from her parents. Alone living in a one room house back in America as an older woman now loving Jesus, her and God. And I said, Lord, I'm grateful that you gave me the heart to listen to you. I'm not after anything from you. But I'm so concerned when I see a church like this and the appearance of affluence and the nice things and all the stuff you have. I pray you will not forget the world out there that do not know Jesus and they are going to hell and forever. If one man went to hell and cried out for a drop of water to cool his tongue it is not one it is multiplied millions and the tears would be forever I want to die but there's no death and Jesus my Lord died for them and I cannot sit and be at peace that's how I became a crazy maniac, radical and I have one thing on my mind to live for him and challenge you to come along and walk on his narrow road. Simply visit our website at gospelforasia.org or call us at 1-866-WIN-ASIA We'd love to send you a copy. And now, back to Brother KP. I've got two children, Danny and Masada 20 year old boy and 17 year old girl From the day they were born my prayer was Lord please save them and call them to be your workers When they finished the high school they both took the flight and went to the mission field now serving God in India My son is in a place where I was beaten up and stoned and persecuted numerous times and I said Lord if he must be killed and martyred on the mission field I'll be the first one to jump up and down thanking you for the privilege you gave us to give our life for you American Christians, my brother, my sister Are you godly enough to keep the alarm clock, to wake you up to weep over the lost world, to fast before the lost world and for God I know those are strong words Unless you are sensitive to the Lord you can easily misunderstand I'm here to put you on a guilt trip or condemnation trip We have a problem in America, in our church We misunderstand obedience for legalism and bondage, I'm telling you a day soon coming you will regret and repent, too late it will be over the wasted life we spend for ourselves here A world out there that do not know Jesus and our priority number one, number one must be Lord I love you, as a result of that I give all to touch the lost world And where is the lost world the 1040 window, nearly 2.7 billion people in India, in Iran in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, part of Africa in Bhutan, in Bangladesh, that's where people that never heard the gospel and that's where you put your radio broadcast on, that's where you should spend your money on Many of you are praying for the lost world Many of you are giving to touch the lost world May God give you more grace to do more Conclusion Some applications One, I would encourage you to get a world map People ask me all over the country, KP where did you buy this map Oh, we just got one done This is a first church, first meeting that we are offering What is new about it? This tells you how to pray for the lost world Color coordinate, whatever coordination you want to do Put it in your house NBC, CBS, newspaper, magazine, whatever radio news you hear about Rwanda, Bangladesh, whatever Let the news become prayer letter for you Ask God to break your heart with the things that break his heart His heart is breaking over the slums The 100,000 died in Rwanda And the blood flowing situation The cruelty in Sri Lanka Or Afghanistan or Bangladesh That's where his heart is And you look at the world with you and the children And if you came to a house in Dallas You take a shower now The shower curtain is made a world map While you take a shower you can pray for Burma Or Mongolia, or Afghanistan Be a radical, all out, crazy individual For Jesus Don't try to keep up with the Jones next door That Jones is not going to make it anywhere And so I will plead with you Get a world map By the way, this map, I don't know, shops sell them for $15-$20 We are trying to give all the materials It's about $5 a piece You can buy your own map and put it in your house Your children, your husband, wife You look at the world and say, Lord, I pray for Afghanistan Bihar, or Pakistan, whatever So become a world Christian, not worldly Christian Second Second, live simple That means, you know, there was a time I say this not out of great pride or joy I'm broken over this thing and I think about it There was a time, I was living by the lake 10 acres of property, 3200 square feet house A grade lumber I bought from Arkansas Just to build a house Best, most expensive carpet The most expensive items you can buy in America Money was sent through my father-in-law and all that in Germany So I can buy all this stuff That's no fun And I lived like that for 2 years of my life But finally, when Jesus said to me Son, how can you live like this with dry eyes And a strong heart When the world is going to hell He didn't condemn me, He didn't beat me up on my head It was His love And I said, Lord, stamp eternity on my eyes My life immediately began to change Not that selling my property, my house, my cars, my clothes Made me any spiritual nonsense Poverty and having no money means you are spiritual Bangladesh, Africa, India, more spiritual people I have friends who are millionaires who are living for God And giving all to serve and reach the lost world You know, we give here out of abundance In India, in Burma, in Pakistan and other places They give the little rice they have to cook for their children One meal a day, that's all they may have They take out one handful of rice And put it aside for mission work They give out of nothing and sacrifice Hey, live simple You don't need another diamond ring, a new car, new house Hey, listen, how much you need Trim down your life, simplify your life Let no one dictate to you what you should do Let Jesus tell you and you follow His instructions If I were to tell you how to do it, I recommend you to read this book Wrote Reality, Coming Home to Jesus, Unreal World And I wrote this book as a result of that Long journey, one year, and thousands write to me Said, Brother KP, read the book We save now thousands of dollars every month that we are wasting How to simplify your life, you may want to get and read the thing It's not free If you don't have any money, you can take one free also It's about six dollars Third, take one day of the week to fast and pray Some of you need to lose half a pound, add one more day Remember I told you about art of following the Lord Learning to walk on a narrow road The cross, hey, the cross is not somebody saying Hey, here's a man, take your cross Nobody dump cross on you You go after it You wake you up in the middle of the night to pray for the Lord You decide to fast, not to lose weight But for Afghanistan, India, whatever burden God put upon your heart You know what, we are trying to save America by marching to Washington Instead of fasting and praying for two months I'm challenging you to find a way You don't need to spend one day of the week to fast and pray Fourth, if God is calling you to go, go somewhere to give your life and serve God But finally, the most important thing I want to conclude With next two, three minutes is this Most of you will never make it to India Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, none of those places But Romans 10 says All those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved But how will they call on Him They never heard His name How will they hear without a preacher or a missionary How will they preach except they be sent The skit and lineage When I first met them began to support several native missionaries People from India and other countries They pray for those missionaries in their family prayer time Every month they send the money they can send To support those missionaries And each missionary plant at least one church per year On the mission field Your greatest investment in this side of life for eternity And today I ask you If the Lord is speaking to you Not out of guilt or because of any other reason I tell you God is not in any trouble I am not in any trouble either It is our privilege There is a card given to you in the bulletin Would you please pull it out If you don't have one you can get it when you go out from the service Look at this card I care about the lost and forgotten millions of Asians I will help native missionaries reach their own people for Jesus Starting now I will prayerfully help sponsor one missionary Or you can support more than one $30 a month or whatever money you want to put there And in the back of the card It explains the logic and how it is done To send an American overseas to a missionary You take $70-$80,000 per year It takes less than $1000 To keep a native missionary full time A whole year preaching and planting at least one church Because they live simple They live like their people in all these unreached areas So I would encourage you Like many of you are already doing Would you please today decide Lord I want to be a sender of one of those missionaries As a tangible way of living for you and reaching the lost world All you need to do is fill your name and address And there is a medical doctor that supports 80 missionaries He and his wife and kids from Fort Wayne, Indiana And my wife and I support 4 missionaries My kids used to go and collect beer cans, pepsi cola cans From the streets and sell them, bring the money to us So we can support those missionaries also Now they are on the mission field And I ask you, please do not rush and walk away from this meeting Ask Jesus Because he said, what you have done to the least of these My brothers, you have done it for me We have brought with us hundreds of these missionaries We have 2,000 missionaries who are ready to launch out to the mission field To reach the lost They cannot go unless we help them When you bring your card Say brother KP, I want to support 1 or 2 or 10 missionaries We will give you your missionary to take home with you today Yeah Put it in the refrigerator in your Bible, start praying with your family I can't tell you the joy that comes When you look at the 4 pictures beside our dining table in Dallas And look at their faces and see what God is doing through them Our life is mixed with them, their life with us And you can do the same You will hear from us every month The envelope that comes, tell you about how you can send your support to the missionary And 100% of all the money you send Go to the mission field Nobody takes 1 penny out of it for anything All our people in Dallas, 45 people, they raise their own support We don't take anything out of this And you can be sure that go to the mission field And I wish the Lord and I pray Would help you to know what He is asking you to do From your heart and He will speak to you Would you please ask the Lord About helping and praying for these missionaries Right now on the field You're listening to K.P. Yohannan from Gospel for Asia In a message entitled Christ's Call If you've been challenged by Brother K.P.'s commitment to authentic Christianity Visit our website, won't you? Gospelforasia.org We'd love to send you a free copy of his most popular book Revolution in World Missions Now this is the story of Brother K.P. as a young evangelist in India And his calling to launch a worldwide organization, Gospel for Asia Now in this book you'll find stories of God's amazing work In the lives of people here in the West and on the Indian subcontinent That thousands have written to us over the years With the same testimony For your free copy of this life-changing book Simply go to our website, Gospel for Asia Or call us, 866-WIN-ASIA And request Brother K.P.'s book, Revolution in World Missions Thank you for listening to Road to Reality The Radio Ministry of Gospel for Asia www.gospelforasia.org
Road to Reality - Christ's Call - Part 2
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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.