In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of having the right attitude and outlook in life. He uses the analogy of wearing colored glasses to illustrate how our perception and evaluation of situations can be influenced by our values and principles. The speaker also highlights the need for believers to be different from the world and to have a strong foundation in Christ. He encourages dependence on God as the ultimate source of strength and guidance in our lives.

Being strong in the grace of God, next on The Road to Reality with Brother K.P. Yohannan. Welcome to The Road to Reality with Brother K.P. Yohannan, President of Gospel for Asia. Today, we're going to bring you a message out of 2 Timothy on the attitudes of the Christian leader. What should the attitude of the Christian leader be towards the work of the Lord? How are they to maintain their strength in the Lord? And just how do you fit into all this? Questions we'll seek to answer next. As we begin, Brother K.P. draws a distinction between outer habits and inner attitudes. Please join us. Turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy for this edition of The Road to Reality. So when we come to chapter 2, in this marvelous letter, Paul wrote to a young man named Timothy, explaining about being a godly Christian leader, a servant of the Lord. In this, he deals with the attitude of a Christian leader. The two words we can keep in mind, one is habits, then attitude. Habits is something that, if you have a habit, that is something that you can imitate and copy. You know, like people join the army, or navy, or military, or whatever. You know, the guy has long spring hair, and he wears all the colorful check shirts, and all whatever else is. But the moment he joins the army, the same day, he goes and sits on the high chair. The barber comes with this clipper, and his whole fabulous movie star hair is gone. Then the next thing you know, the fellow goes and puts on his uniform. So what happens? Immediately, he falls in line with the rest of the thousand soldiers. It is something that you can copy. Habit always has to do with behavior. Behavior has to do with your input. You are exerting yourself to make a choice to be a certain thing, for a certain time, or circumstances, or entity. So you can copy behavior. Habit, in the long run, is permanent. But even then, it can be mixed up. But attitude is more of a second nature of the individual. It is part of their life. It has become internal. It's working out of the reality, and values, and principles that one has. So in chapter one, Paul talks about the inner, stable reality of being a follower of Christ, a servant of the Lord, a leader. The basic, deep root character. But now, how does it work out? How do you project it? What is your attitude? The attitude is the living out of what is in you, the part of your makeup, your thinking. It is not just copying behavior and being like anybody else, because that monkey is doing it, this monkey is doing it. You know, there's a saying, monkey see, monkey do. That is not what it is. It is you are always having this fixed response to people, situations, good or bad, whatever. Your attitude is sober. A good attitude. Now, it also has to do with our outlook to things. We see the world not as it is, but as we are. You see, you look at somebody, and you make evaluations based on not what that person is thinking. Here is a person who has hippie long hair and unwashed face and wearing some dirty clothes. And the first thing you think, first thing I think, my goodness, what is wrong with this fellow? Is he a hippie or what? Drug addict or what? But the truth of the matter, the guy may have gone to university and got his PhD and was a professor. He gave up all those things because he was tired of this phony, plastic, materialistic living. And he took on himself the form of a beggar, wearing these clothes and don't care about his body. But he spent five, six hours in prayer before Jesus. He's a devout follower of Jesus, fall in love with Jesus every day. And he cares about nobody, nothing in the whole world. But what did I think about him? A drug addict. What is wrong with this rascal? How did he come to this meeting? Because I interpreted his life the way I see it. My value, my understanding, my evaluation, I used to explain. It's like if I'm wearing a glass that is now colored with yellow or red or pink, I look, I see you pink. You know the story about the man who had this cow that he tried his best for the cow to eat dry grass, hay, and the cow wouldn't eat it because the cow always ate green grass. In the end, the farmer was smart, so he got a pair of glass for the cow and put green lens on it. And the cow looked at the dried up grass, the hay, and saw it to be green grass. And the cow ate it. So we see others through what we are wearing. And what we are wearing, our cultural background, our upbringing, our teaching from our pastors, or our family, or our specific rigid or liberated background. You see, this is how it is. And we judge and make conclusions. But when you talk about attitude, it is not just we live with any paradigm, any attitude and say, well, what can I do? That is my attitude. No, your attitude and your paradigm may not be correct. A good attitude is one that investigates and studies and research and say, I want to make sure that my paradigm, my perception, my understanding is correct. So how do you do that? You take into you principles, values, glasses, colors that help you to neutralize extremes and come into balance with God's truth, which is always accurate. That is what here Paul is trying to do with Timothy. We will begin with verse one. Notice, he simply says, you then my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. If you are looking at the NIV Bible, I don't know what translation he got. I'm sure it's all the same. You then my son. Literally, that verse reads more or less like this. You therefore, because of this my son. New American Standard version has a better explanation of that. You therefore, my son, be strong. Again, let me remind you of the four places where Paul uses these two monosyllabus, two tiny words in the Greek language. Yes, Timothy, the whole world may go astray, all these different things, but for you, you be different. Let others do whatever, but you, for you, be different. That is still the call of the Lord. So what must be our attitude, our perception, when you look at God's work? How do we respond to it? With what we must respond to it? What color of glass I must wear? What nature of outlook I must have to the work, the one who is involved with it, my responsibility, how do I do it? And for our work as Gospelfagia and the movement, what God is doing today, I think it is so crucial that we get a better understanding of how this thing works. First of all, dependence on the Lord and him alone, that God is our source. That's the first thing Timothy must keep in mind. As a Christian leader, young or old, may this be the first attitude we have, no matter what, my dependence, the source of information, the source of strength, the source of evaluation, the source by which I judge other people, evaluate their life and ministry and good and bad, whatever else, is not based on my culture, somebody else views, some commentary, some magazine. No, it is the Lord who continually gives me the input to understand his thinking, his ways, his strength to handle it. Very simple but profound if we understand it. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. In Jesus, his grace, his strength. Paul, how many times declared this for himself? When I am weak, then I am strong. I can do all things through Christ who continually pour his strength into me. Paul said, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can understand it? Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9. Cursed be that individual who leaned on the arm of the flesh. Naturally, you and I, we have the tendency, first response, the first foremost response to anything from me, from you, is always how I can do it, what I must do with it. I get a headache, the first thing, where is aspirin? You get sick, the first thought, where is the nearest doctor? When somebody offend you, first thing, why did he do that? He didn't understand me. It's me, I, what I can do. It is not, I got a headache, I need to talk to the Lord first. The Lord is my healer. No. Need money? The Lord is my source. No, no, no, we don't think about it. That is the way humans work. It's so true, isn't it? Our natural tendency is to try and solve our problems with our own strength and wisdom. And there is more to come in the next few minutes. You're listening to The Road to Reality with Brother K.P. Yohannan, founder and director of Gospel for Asia. If you're unfamiliar with the mission work of Gospel for Asia, please stop by our website at gospelforasia.org. It's there that you can order a free copy of Brother K.P.'s life story called Revolution in World Missions. Again, the website address is gospelforasia.org, or you can call us 866-WIN-ASIA. That's 866-WIN-ASIA. As we return to Brother K.P. Yohannan, he reminds us that we are engaged in spiritual warfare and to rely on the strength and grace that the Lord will give. Here's Brother K.P. once again. You and I are living not in peacetime. It is war. Who is warring against us? Demons, not one or two, but millions and billions. As a matter of fact, when you took the train, a whole bunch of demons traveled with you. Because Satan is not omniscient. Satan cannot be everywhere. His hierarchy cannot be everywhere. Only God can be everywhere at the same time. So he has agents because they are very eager to hear what's going on here. Really. The unseen world is more real than the seen world because it is unseen world that created the seen world, the Bible says. We think tangible is less important than abstract, but abstract is more important than tangible because it was created by the unseen world. That's what the Bible says. So demons are not just illusions. They are very powerful, intelligent beings. So who is warring against you? Jesus heard the voice from Peter. Jesus, please don't even think about it. Don't let it happen to you. And Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. You seek not the things of God, but of man. So when you think about quitting the ministry, you think you just cooked it up because you ate too much rice last night or chapati? A bad dream? No, no. It's demons. When you think about cursing your wife and you don't love her and you don't want to live with her, who is doing it? No, it is the devil who is doing it. When you have problems in the family, in the right, the ministry, things are going on, you have problems, sickness and headache and bitterness and anguish and all kind of problems, who is doing it? It's not your neighbors. It is the devil doing it. The devil is behind all this nonsense. We don't understand this. So we start taking the flesh and angry and upset and we fight and try to get the job. This is the way humans work. A Christian leader always is tempted to use his money power, his influence, his connections, his power and authority. Hey, listen, I am the leader in charge. You better keep your mouth shut and do what I tell you to do. If not, I will report on you and I'll kick you out. See, that is a pit of hell. He is borrowing strength from the position God gave to him and attacking God's work. You see, that's how the devil does it. He never thinks about going to fast for a day for the brother or the family to solve the problem. He now uses his title. I am the state coordinator. I am the principal. I am the leader. You better do. I tell you what, if I find out one person like that, we should get him out of the ministry and leadership right away because this is actually nothing to do with God or anything of the kingdom. So you are a leader in God's work. I'm a leader in God's work. What kind of leaders are we? Are we always falling back on the arm of the flesh, energy and things we can do? I tell you, serving God is more than being clever and crafty and smart. As a matter of fact, one of my prayers to God, God, please, please never let me be so clever in doing your work. I want to be a dumb little child. Let mistakes be made, but I don't want to be clever. I'm so afraid of people who are clever because I know in the end they will destroy everything. God has no place in their life, in their ministry. So what am I saying? Timothy, 30 years long I ran the race and fought this fight. I don't want to be clever. I want to remain innocent, little childlike, depending on the Lord and on no one else. You know that scripture in Chronicles, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord. I think there's in Psalm somewhere also, I'm not sure. See our attitude to money, our infrastructure, our accomplishment kind of tells where is our dependence. Paul talked about this treasure in earthen vessel. It is not gold and silver and bronze and steel. No, this vessel is made of clay. It is made from the most worthless dust, and in this vessel is the wonderful treasure, so that the glory may not be of the earthen vessel, but of the Lord, Paul says. Do you recognize that? The responsibility God gave you, the leadership, the teaching opportunity to be helpful to other brothers, to serve. Do you understand? You are not the gold vessel in it. You have nothing. It is an earthen vessel, and what belongs to that vessel in it is not yours. It is the Lord who committed that to you, all from Him, for Him, through Him, and for His glory, not for you, not for me. Sometimes we are saying, you know, I did it. I am the one who, you know, one of the funniest things my wife ever said about me, in one of the large Christian leaders meeting, pastors meeting, 1,500 people, she was giving a testimony, and about God's grace and glory and all that, and she right in the middle said, if the Lord didn't call my husband to be a missionary, a preacher, he would have been taking care of buffaloes. But absolute truth, if it was not the Lord who called me to serve Him from a tiny village, 14 kilometers from here, half the year, the whole village underwater, no road, no electricity, no gas, no car, nothing ever come to that village during those days, and the Lord should pick me out of that village, take me to North India, and call me to serve Him. So now, what I must say, oh, I did it, this and that. You know what? It is easy to preach and teach, but I'm telling you, it takes God's grace to live with humility. He cannot create it and buy it. In the work of God, one of the danger Christian workers face is when God does something through them, all of a sudden, they begin to take glory. I did it. I am gifted. I am talented. It is my position. It is my decisions. It is my cleverness. It is my ingenuity. It is my talents. The Lord should make you sick and lay you there somewhere in the hospital for a few months to find out how great you are. So, Timothy, you are young, you are sick, you are weak, you got a messed up family background, a Jew and a Gentile father and mother. Timothy, you are a low caste. That's what it is all about. He was a rejected caste. Did you know that? The Greeks, the Gentiles said, you are a betrayer. The Jewish people said, you are a dog. That is what Timothy was. From the least and the lowest class in the society. The rejected, the outcast. That is what Timothy's family is from. If you didn't know that, you study it. Timothy, you are so full of complex. It is good. It is wonderful. Paul, what is wrong with you? Being the least and the lowest and the outcast and the worst and then no qualities in him to be doing anything. Yes, Paul says, it is wonderful. Why? So that God will bring all the glory to himself through the wonders he will do through this weak earthen vessel. Timothy, I am the one who was born to a millionaire. Timothy, I am the one who got the PhD from the best university. Timothy, I am the one who was one of the members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council in the nation. Timothy, I am the one with sanguine, pragmatic temperament and ability. Timothy, I am the one with type A personality, born leader. Timothy, I am the philosopher, the thinker, the theologian. But Timothy, it didn't work. For three years alone, I was sitting wondering what to do with my life. And then the Lord spoke to me and said, Paul, I want to use you, but you must give up all these things and become a zero. So Timothy, I decided to take all my degrees, all my positive background, all the abilities, all the skills and talents and temperament, which was all wonderful, and I wrote on it, cow dung. Have you seen people hanging their certificates on the walls from this university, from this college? Have you ever seen people taking cow dung and dry it and frame it nicely, and under there says, the cow dung, right there saying, KPO and then cow dung. Anyone do that? No. But that's exactly what Paul did. So if you walk into Paul's office, you will find him sitting there, scribbling away, partially blind. I am one of those people who believe that Paul had very difficulty with sight. And you look over, because he just came from somebody else's office, you know, the high priest and all the theologians and all the mighty Christian leaders and you, all over the wall, MA, PhD, DD, all these degrees hanging all over there, and you are so impressed by all these things. Then you walk into this Paul's office, you know, a man kind of sitting there, scribbling away something, and on the wall his degree, cow dung. Who wanted him? Timothy, that's what I did. And recognized in me dwells no good thing, Romans 7. And Timothy, you didn't have to go through this kind of mess that I went through. I had all these, but I have to throw it away so that I can come to the place where you are without having to throw anything away. So you are more blessed than I am, Timothy. But let me remind you, be always aware, be careful, be deliberate, live your life, your ministry, in dependence on the Lord, not on anything else. You've been listening to The Road to Reality with Brother K.P. Yohanan, President of Gospel for Asia, and we've been listening to a message from Brother K.P. entitled The Attitude of a Christian Leader. This study in the book of 2 Timothy is one that Brother K.P. drew from in writing his latest book called Against the Wind. You know, we all face obstacles in life, be it sickness, disappointment. In this eye-opening book, K.P. Yohanan challenges you to consider how you are running the race that God has set before you. Against the Wind encourages us to finish well in a world of compromise. You can order Against the Wind for just $15 through our website. It's gospelforasia.org, and it's there that you can find other resource materials to encourage you from music to reading, such as The Road to Reality. Again, you can get more information through our website at gospelforasia.org. It's there that you can order a free copy of Brother K.P.'s live story called Revolution in World Missions. Again, the website address is gospelforasia.org, or you can call us 866-WIN-ASIA. That's 866-WIN-ASIA. And then join us next time, won't you, for more teaching and updates from Brother K.P. here on The Road to Reality, sponsored by Gospel for Asia.