In this sermon entitled "Seek Only God's Approval," Brother KP Johannon addresses the question of knowing one's purpose in life. He shares a story of a man who came to him in deep pain and confessed his failure and loss. Brother KP reflects on the reality that many people start with dreams and ambitions, but circumstances or their own decisions cause their plans to collapse. However, he emphasizes that even when our original purpose is lost or marred, God can still fulfill His perfect plan for our lives. He encourages listeners to turn to God in their failures and trust in His grace and ability to bring about redemption and transformation.

Welcome to Road to Reality, the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia. Today, Brother KP Yohannan asks, do you know your purpose in life? With practical insights into our hearts and God's overarching plan, Brother KP reveals the direction and freedom we find in following the narrow road. We join him now as he shares this important message entitled, Seek Only God's Approval. Years ago, a man came to me all alone, and he said he wanted to talk to me. And right after saying that, he brought down weeping. An older man, three children, and I couldn't figure out what was going on until he finally voiced his deep pain in a few words. I lost it all. I failed. Still, I couldn't figure out what he was trying to say. I calmed him down. It took a long time before he said, I fell in adore to him. Full-time minister, pastor of a church, known very well for his gifting and talents. And at that time, I didn't know even how to counsel him, because this is totally alien to my thinking. But God gave me the grace to say whatever I said and prayed with him. I suppose even to this day, I may be the only human being that may know this incident, apart from him. But later I will learn, he recovered so fully. God's grace and usefulness of his life may be multiplied dozens of times, more than I can imagine or I want to accept, because of my rigid views about things. But then I dealt with brothers on the mission field, who fell in tiny little problems, not in major robbery or murder, but stealing thousand rupees or a few little things or said a few lies. Years went by. I am surprised that these fellows are not in the ministry. And sometimes I think, what happened? The fellow who should have lost out completely and got wiped out from ministry and got sick body and mind and be destroyed, thriving, and God is using to touch the lives of thousands of people in North India, while the little fellow who stole couple of dollars lost out completely. How do you explain all this? And the more I think about it, I realize that a lot of people live, whether we say it or not anyone, with the feeling that I have failed. And failure basically is a part of life itself. And some fail miserably. And the latter days of their life or what happened after that is much more glorious, while others who failed maybe in a tiny little way lose out. The difference is the way they respond to failure and falling in sin or having had that major disaster in life. The question is who has not failed? We all have. He without sin cast the first stone. Have you ever committed murder? He said no. Well, Jesus said if you got angry with your brother, not just externally but internally, you have already committed murder. The truth is we do live with failure, no matter how old we are, where we are in life, but the devil uses it as a powerful weapon to keep us down. And he will continue to remind us of that. As a matter of fact, you know the amount of self-rejection, self-pity, guilt, condemnation, hopelessness, and remorse and blaming somebody else. If only I didn't talk to the person, if only I didn't say this, if only, and we live with that quietly, sometimes we can't even sleep. But you know, God, I believe, is in the business of making total failures into most beautiful people. The vessel that was marred was later made into a much precious valuable vessel. And I have come to the conclusion failure is one of the most sacred tools God uses in our life to make us more like Jesus on the inside. There are people that are very strong. They say, I am morally upright, I never did one thing wrong, I live straight and clean and I mean look so wonderful. But it seems most of these people are left out from God's elite army. A few he picked up, people like that, but he had to lead them to deep pits until they are broken down into powder and zero, so he can start again working with them. Illustration, Paul. And he can take a lot of people like that. When you look at the Bible, it's filled with illustrations of people who failed. Jacob, you know the amazing thing is this fellow, God, even before he was born, made plan in eternity what he was to be. The elder shall serve the younger. But would he be content with that? No. He not only became a crook, a liar, a deceiver, a cheat, you know culturally speaking, for him to do what he did to his father, you cannot even imagine this in that culture. And such courage he had to pretend, say I am your older son. And what he did, he lost 20 years of his life, constant pain, agony, living like a nomad, missing everything in life for all those years. And finally, the man who said Esau to his father came to the place and the angel said, look, what is your name? For the first time he would say, I am a failure, I am a crook. I am smart, able, intelligent, but I lost out. And that's where his name was changed to Israel, Prince of God. This morning the text I want to look at for our study is actually in John's gospel chapter 21. You don't need to turn to that necessarily, in the whole chapter by heart, most probably it is Peter's. He tried to hold out as much as possible, but Peter got something worse than everybody else. He denied Christ, not once, but three times. And finally he said, I am going back to fishing. Translate that in simple words. Listen fellows, you guys are alright, you made it. You are moral upright, you stayed with the stuff, you fought the battle, you never lied, cheated, you never denied, you never committed murder, you are perfect, I am just a loser. God cannot use me anymore. I lost it all. I am going back. David one time simply said in despair, oh, if only I had wings like the dove, I will fly away and find a place to rest all alone. The question is, what do you do when the vessel is marred? The original purpose is lost. When I was a little boy studying in school, walking to the high school, sometimes we would take the shortcut and had to go by a porter's house. And if we had a little time left, we little fellows would stand around the coconut tree and watch this man and his wife making these little clay pots. And I saw how many times he works with it, all of a sudden this thing mess up, he take the thing and throw it away. Many people start in life with dreams and commitment, ambitions, but somehow, whether by their own deliberate decision or by circumstances, knowing, unknowing, somehow, the whole thing collapses. And then we sit in agony, if only that didn't happen. What do you do when the origin of the beautiful plan is gone? Jeremiah chapter 18 talks about that. When the locust and the kangaroo worm has eaten the fruitful life, Joel chapter 1, what do you do? Years of fruitfulness overnight is devoured by the enemy. You have no control over it. When the reed has fallen by unexpected storms of the enemy, either severe criticism or betrayal or discouragement or deep turmoil and all of a sudden the reed has fallen and the next morning people walk over it. What do you do when you didn't even think it would happen, but denying Christ like Peter? What happens when co-workers look down on you because you don't perform so well? They label you as a failure, half-hearted. John Mark Acts chapter 15 says, look fellow, get out of this place, you are not qualified to be in the ministry. What happens? Divorce hurts deep and you live with turmoil and guilt. John chapter 4, five marriages. The one you have now is not even your husband. Can God still fulfill his perfect plan for our lives? Remember I said, perfect plan. The best plan, not the second best. The vessel is marred, so now he makes something else out of it that is not as good as the first one. The question remains for us is, where do we go from here? Is there a way out of this mess? How can we recover and recover fully? Can we still fulfill God's perfect plan? The best he had for us, not the second best. Is the supporter going to make something different, little lesser than the first original dream he had on his heart? Or is he going to make something better than what he had planned? The answer to this, I want you to know, a thousand times yes, he makes something better. And the only thing you have to do, I have to do, is to believe. It depends on if we can believe. God's hero seems to be a whole bunch of failures. Unless you process this and hear this whole tape, you can simply misunderstand me. Oh, so the way to be a hero and an overcomer is to fall in sin and be the worst failure. Well, tell you the truth, you kind of may end up thinking like that, because that's the way the whole picture is. Take from the beginning of the book to the end of the book, the Bible, and go through this, with this thought in your mind. God never created anything void, empty and evil. It began like that, through the fall of the most beautiful angel God created, Lucifer. The earth became void, filled with darkness and chaos. So what is God going to do? To throw it away? No. Let there be light. And after everything he did, he said, Ah, it's marvelous, it's wonderful. In California language, it's cool. The life that is so filled with chaos, lost the beauty of the original, God recreates it, such a way it becomes the place where his son's bride is going to be given the place to live. It is not a second best thing. Then you go on to Adam and Eve, Genesis 1.26 says, God made them in his own image. He took the clay in his own hands and said, Ah, it looks like me. But what happened? They lost out. What is the next thing to do? You read in the most wonderful prophetic scripture, in Genesis 3.15, of the promise of the seed of the woman, talking about Jesus Christ. So is the cross God's second best? Because he lost the first plan, the man he created failed miserably, and had to be driven out of the garden of Eden, flaming sword to be kept there, they cannot come back anymore. If we say Christ the Messiah and the cross is the second choice, second best, then that is blasphemy. The lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13.8 No, the cross is not the second best. Thank you for listening to Gospel for Asia's broadcast of Seek Only God's Approval by K.P. Yohannan, founder and president of Gospel for Asia. In a moment we'll rejoin Brother K.P. We'd like to offer you a free copy of Brother K.P.'s most popular book, Revolution in World Missions. Simply visit our website at gospelforasia.org and click on the free book banner or call us at 1-866-REVOLUTION-IN-WORLD-MISSIONS And now, back to Brother K.P. Where do you want to go to Abraham? What a mighty man of God. As a matter of fact, the whole Christianity, we are the children of Abraham, those who believe, Galatians chapter 3 and Romans chapter 4, Hebrews 11, it seems the whole Romans is based on faith. The one man. But it all began with lies and deception. Tell those fellows you are my sister. And then he had a sexual relationship with the servant, not with his wife. And got a child. What more degradation, what more pathetic condition you want somebody to have like that? And God pick him up and use him? And bring forth his son into the world through that line? Well, the answer is, externally, internally, Abraham came to the place, finally, it says in Romans 4, he recognized, he was totally a gone case. And that's where it all began. And God said, alright, now you get circumcised. Genesis 17. Philippians chapter 3, Paul says, and we are the true circumcision who place no confidence in the flesh. So Abraham, I am looking for someone who is a loser, so I can start from zero. And I tried everywhere possible, it took you quite a bit, but now you know it's a gone case. Now I can start to do my work. You know, it's interesting in the Psalms, it says, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Well, I thought this rascal's name was changed to Israel, the Prince of God. How come God goes back and say, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and not Israel, Jacob. How come God identifies his almighty name with a deceiver, a crook, and a liar who waste 20 years of God's time. The answer is, God is saying to me, listen, I'm still the God who makes failures in the Prince of God. I'm still the God who take broken lives. I'm still the God who picks up Jacob. And I identify my name with Jacob. Well, what more do you want? Take Moses. Read the book Exodus. 40 years he would waste. What an incredible length of time. He is a hero. Believe it or not. Every way possible, he is. Yet again will I love her. Words from the living God about Israel. Read the story of Israel. Oh my. The journey they took. All the vulgar and the open wound and the pus oozing out and the idolatry and all the wickedness. Worshipping idols and human sacrifice. Everything they did. Unlike Peter, three times he denied Christ. His friend Judas denied too. That fellow hung himself. And Peter I'm sure was tempted to go and kill himself. But look like it's kind of funny that God would give him the key to open the kingdom of the church. He is the one who was given the key to open the door in the book of Acts. I mean, anyone should be given. It should be someone like John, the beloved, the one who seems to have stayed straight, not the one who denies Christ. I don't understand it, but I do. Thomas, thank God, he came to my village in AD 52. But would I send him with Gospel of Asia to be a missionary overseas? No matter what I say, he always questions, always doubts, always pour cold water on every positive idea. I mean, he talked about faith. This fellow didn't have, he wouldn't even say the word. But Jesus would pick him to go to the worst of the worst region and that's Thomas. Who wrote the Gospel of Mark? Anybody remember? The one who got rejected from the Gospel team, John Mark. As a matter of fact, Paul and Barnabas, his best friend, they separated over this one young fellow. But later, Paul says, Oh, bring John Mark with him. He is useful. You want to take time and read through the Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 and underline the names of the failures in that. You find incest, prostitutes, crooks, liars, everything you want to read. All in Jesus family, the line through which he came. So I'm talking to you today about failures. What do we do next when we fail? One time? No, again and again and again. God has a beautiful plan in and through our failures. One is to make us holy. Strange, isn't it? Having made man in his own image, why temptation given to him? I mean, is a man made perfect? No sin in him. Why temptation given to him? Have you ever thought about that? Temptation is the way through which God build into our life, his life and holiness based on our personal independent deliberate choices. Temptation was given for Adam and Eve to choose God's side to experience God's life reflecting God's life which is the result of his own choice. Jesus learned obedience through suffering, it says in the New Testament. Through the days of his flesh on earth, he suffered. Please understand, that is not physical beating and nailing and all the stuff. You study Hebrews, the passage you find, it is talking about his continuous refusal to yield to temptations, thus saying no to his own flesh and desires and accepting the suffering. Jesus never sinned. He faced all temptations that we faced but he never sinned. But we fail because we are the children of Adam and Eve. But through failures God helped us to understand the need for us to become better. Now it is a strange thing, law was given for man to know you are hopeless guys. There was no need for law, the Bible says if it was not to make us understand we are hopeless, we are sinners. Without law, there is no way to know we are sinners. You study Romans. Failures in the life of believers is God's way of telling us we need his grace. We cannot make it on our own. Also it teaches humility. Moses, the meekest man on earth, he became meek through his pain and suffering and failure. Peter, you read his writings, no more arrogant fantastic fighter but very gentle and very broken. Genuine victory over sin always accompanied by deepest humility. This is where failures have a part to play in our self confidence and God destroying it. Then I believe failures in our life God uses to fulfill his perfect plan. Our logic doesn't help here. We should see failures from God's perspective. What is God's perspective? Thousand years is like a day for God. One day is like thousand years. Man is eternal, not temporal. God has given us this time in life here to make us ready for eternity and everything he is doing in my life, in your life, even failures is to prepare us inside for eternity. It is good I read this verse for you so that misunderstanding is eliminated. Romans chapter 3 verse 7 and 8 For he who could not judge and condemn me as sinner, if my dishonesty brought in glory by pointing up his honesty in contrast to my lies if you follow through this with that idea, you come to this the worse we are, the better God likes it. But the domination of those who say such things is just. Yet some claim that this is what I preach. Those are words of Paul. Now you want to read Romans chapter 6 verse 1, 2 and 3 and all that. Paul is saying because I talk about grace of God, because I talk about the fallen man, the lost out man, the unwanted man God bestows much more grace. I am not saying, Paul says, that sin more so the grace will abound. He said that is not what I am saying. I am not saying that. I am saying the opposite. I am saying no one is righteous. We have all failed. But you don't have to continue live in sin and failure. God continue to make us better people. Human logic cannot grasp the grace of God to fallen man. Nothing is impossible with God. Not even to bring us into His perfect will. After we have failed so miserably and repeatedly only our unbelief can hinder Him. Read the story Psalm 78 of the people of Israel. The guy who made the biggest goof up in life, he responded saying, Lord, I lost it. Please, here I am. Ruined, marred, pick me up. And he did. Failure was not the end of his life. It was the beginning of God's greatest work and grace. Thank you for listening to Road to Reality, the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia. If you have been challenged to buy today's message, we'd love to send you a free copy of Brother KP's most popular 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. Now 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 866-WIN-ASIA and request Brother KP's book, Revolution in World Missions. And please, listen in next week at this same time to hear Brother KP conclude his message, Seek Only God's Approval.