In this sermon, K. P. Ohanan shares his personal journey of faith and his passion for spreading the word of God. He reflects on the importance of living a life dedicated to serving the Lord and fulfilling His call. Ohanan emphasizes the need for Christians to prioritize the salvation of the lost and to be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the Gospel. He encourages listeners to fear the Lord and to recognize the blessings they have received, urging them to become a blessing to others by participating in mission projects and sharing the love of Christ with millions of people.

Welcome to Road to Reality, the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia. Today Brother K.P. Yohannan asks, what does it mean to fear the Lord, and how does fearing God impact my life? These are difficult questions, but essential to our walk with the Lord. Let's join Brother K.P. as he shares stories from his life in this second part of his message entitled, The Fear of the Lord. It is not the quantity or quality time, it is not the books, it is not the church, it is not what you know, what you don't know, it is your life, not information that make the difference in your family and in the work of the kingdom in your generation. I came to America and I say this not with smile and lot of joy, and after a while here I just want to become like any American. When I first came to America, I thought hot dog was dog meat, honest, honest, I really believe it that way. It took me a while to figure out no, hot dog was not dog meat. I was in a seminary and start living my life and called the pastor church there and all those things and I will not go into all the details, but all of a sudden I got into the life of materialism. Quite a bit of money was given to us through my wife's people in Germany, so I did not buy nothing on credit. Only I will buy the most expensive Rolex watch, my suits, Neiman Marcus, 70 neckties, brand new cars, a house, a library of my own, seven or so most expensive leather bound Bibles, nothing wrong with having nice things in life, Newsweek, Timex and sports, stuff that I don't care nothing about, sports, what is this, I don't know, but I had them in my house, people walked in and said, wow, this guy is really, wow, oh I was sound, fundamental, born again, evangelical, preaching, teaching, but what else you want in America? Two years went by, I found I could not cry anymore, I did everything right, I said everything right for me and one day the Lord began to say to me, son, what is this all about? Some 60,000 people in India die every day and plunge into hell and what are you doing with your life? Is this what I called you about? And first time he hit me like a rock would fall on my head, hell and I realized Jesus died for this whole world and people that do not know him, they are going to hell and not for two days, not for one million years, not for ten million years, but for billions or trillions of years, no, never to end, weeping and crying out just for one drop of water and I said, do I really believe in this thing, do I really believe in this thing, oh, I wish, I wish before God, I could convince myself that there was no hell, so I could escape from this torment, but in the end, just like you who say, we are the people of the Lord, I said, I am a preacher, a follower of the word, Romans 1, 2 and 3 convinced me there is no other way, only Jesus and that began to alter my thinking and I said, Lord, I can't believe I did this, don't misunderstand, don't write me off, I am not against your, bought your nice house or your Rolls Royce or whatever else you got, that is none of my business, but for me to have something else and I realized that I am a follower of Christ, I must obey him, I must commit my life to him, it is the grace of God, it is the grace of God that he allowed me to come before him and I prayed a simple prayer and I said, Lord, take eternity and stamp on my eyes, I no more want to separate my life from ministry, ministry is my very life and I began to weep, my heart began to break and I said to my wife, Gisela, I just want to keep couple of ties and couple of jackets and couple of shoes and sell all the rest, give it away and I looked at my seven expensive leather bound Bibles on my shelf and I remember as of today, I was right there on the carpet, tears running down, saying Jesus, forgive me for doing this, when I was in China some time ago, met Chinese brothers who said to me, thousands and thousands of congregations all over mainland China and they said to me, Brother KP, we are lucky if you have two Bibles to the name of each congregation, some congregations have just one Bible, one thousand people in the congregation, I said, what do you do? They said, we tear 10, 15, 20 pages and distribute to people to copy and come back and give it back, we hear shortwave radio and copy the Bible and I said, Lord, when half of the world have never seen one page of the Bible, what right do I have to live like this? And for me, it was no more just a job to do, a thing to say or explain, but it was life and everything was changing and we made it a point, my wife and I, that when our children are born, we want them to serve the Lord and from the day they were born, we start praying, Lord, save them as soon as they can say Jesus and then call them to be missionaries and every night, because my life being completely, I mean, moving around all the time, you know, traveling and speaking and my wife, a very godly woman, and every night we would pray and sometimes a few times when I was given the privilege to pray before my kids go to bed, my son don't remember this, as a tiny boy laying in his bed, I would come and kneel beside him, he's so deep in sleep and my head hovering over him, I said, Jesus, all I want is to call this life to serve you. If need be, take him somewhere. If he dies for you as a martyr, I will have no complaint. Take him, Jesus. When they were very young, they gave their life to the Lord and when my son was seven years old, at Christmas time, he came to me and said, Daddy, I want to buy a gun. I said, Danny, he said, I said, you want a gun? He said, my friend Daddy is next door, you know, friend, he has a gun and I said, Danny, he said, how much does it cost? He said, 76 dollars. I said, Danny, that's more than a real gun to kill someone with. And of course, it's a very fancy, nice toy gun, I guess. And we made it a point, my wife and I, we will never impose our values on our children but just walk before them. We never make demand on them. You know, the whole world is going to hell, you can't have a hot dog. So I said, son, that's fine. You want a gun? He can buy it. He got the money and I prayed with him that night and next morning, he came to me, kind of, you know, seven year old kid. He said, Daddy, I want to talk to you. You know, Daddy, after you went away from the room, I kind of was thinking about it. I buy a gun and it will be gone in a short time but Daddy, I thought about Uncle Paulo's, the island of Rameshwaram, where millions of Hindus come to bathe themselves in the river and the ocean for forgiveness of sin. They do not know Jesus. Daddy, I want to give all my money this Christmas to buy Bibles for that missionary who is working in Rameshwaram. When he finishes high school, I said to him, Danny, you are a very bright student, one of the best in your school. There are some places you can get full scholarship, whatever you want to be, doctor, lawyer, teacher, anything you want. I have my commitment to you to let you do that with all my heart. You pray and tell me what you want to do. It took him two months. One day he came to me and said, Daddy, I want to talk to you. I said, yes, son. Daddy, Jesus has called me to serve him on the mission field. I want to go to India to study in our Bible school. What I am telling you is this. You cannot live for materialism, still live in Ur of the Chaldeans, still hold on to your ambitions of that sport or this thing or that thing and that long list of nice things you want to buy, the fancy car or whatever stuff you are living for. No, sir, you will live like any other American and die and lose it all. The only way to make it, I challenge you and plead with you is to commit your life, that is your service. And because blood was the price, he paid to purchase you and your children will see that and without you beating upon them, they will follow in your footsteps. Just the day before I left for this meeting, rather day before yesterday, this letter came from Burma, from our leader there, Naucham. I quote from this letter, many times we were stoned while preaching, forced to leave the place that we ministered and the villages we lived in, threatened not to win any more souls, denied to sleep in their houses or eat food, commanded and forced by the army to public labor like building railroad tracks, high inflation, sickness, lack of transportation and the hot climate, our constant hardship we face on the mission field. But we are assured by the Holy Spirit that the more we suffer for Him, the more rewards would be arranged for us in heaven. Three of my co-workers lost their lives within the last one and a half years while serving the Lord in their mission stations. Among them, Brother Khawong Wah, our most effective worker, though gone to be with the Lord, the seed they have sown will bring forth good and plenty of fruit, souls for a kingdom. Amazing, in a short time, these brothers established 25 churches and baptized 345 new converts in these villages. You listen to those words of what they are saying, reminds me of the Moravian brothers 200 years ago, one of the greatest group of men, a church that was born on planet earth. Two of the members heard about a slave colony in West Indies and they sold themselves as slaves never to come back so they can win those slaves to Jesus Christ. Two Moravian brothers heard about a colony in Africa where no one was allowed to enter or return because they are all lepers living there. They volunteered to go into those colonies to become lepers so they can win those that do not know Jesus. How shallow is our commitment. We're listening to K.P. Yohannan from Gospel for Asia in a message entitled, The Fear of the Lord. In a moment, we'll rejoin Brother K.P. If you'd like a free copy of Brother K.P.'s book, Revolution and World Missions, visit our website, gospelforasia.org or call us toll free 1-866-WIN-ASIA. And now, let's rejoin Brother K.P. When God said to Abraham, take your son, your only son, offer him up as a sacrifice, he didn't say that to anyone, didn't make a big deal out of it, hurt deeply, accepted the pain and followed the instruction. And God said, Abraham, that's it, don't do it, don't kill him. Now I know you are the fearer of God. Is your knowledge of the Lord motivates you to offer your life and everything you have or you're holding something back? I want to ask a few questions and pray with you here. One, have you given up the right to run your own life? You have to think for yourself and answer that. Who makes the decisions for you? When was the last time you said, Lord, this vacation we are planning, but what do you think about it? When was the last time you said, Lord, my car is getting old and looks terrible. I'm going to buy a new car. What do you think about it? Maybe he will tell you, lay your hand on it and rebuke it and run again. It's so funny. I don't do that anymore. I confess those early days when I was so incredibly changed by the Lord, I walked around for months without getting a haircut because I was saying, Lord, can I go and get a haircut? And I didn't hear no voices. Then I realized his voice in the barbershop, they are going to get a haircut. But you know what? The tragedies we are giving left service to the Lord, but not at all in Lordship over every decision we make. Listen, become a friend of God. John 15, Jesus said, you are now my friend and you will go forth and bear much, much fruit. That is ministry, not the money you give, not a bunch of stuff you do. No, sir, it is deep walk and understanding of the Lord in your personal life. Do you hear from him? Is he able to tell you, come here, go there, sit here, don't do this. Do you know him in your heart? Think about it. Secondly, is selfishness holding you back from serving him? To those much is given, much shall be required. We don't like to talk about accountability in the sense, God is a consuming fire. He is going to hold you responsible. A day of judgment is coming. You are standing for him. I start talking like this, this guy is a Baptist. Where did he come from? Hey, listen, it is all in the Bible. It is all in the Bible. Even for every word that we speak, we shall give an account. Matthew 12, 36, Paul and Romans, according to my gospel, that day in which every imagination of the heart shall be revealed and judged. God is a consuming fire. His love is merciful. But don't fool yourself. You are an all-American macho man. Listen, it means nothing to God. It means nothing to God. Fear him and that's admonition. But I am asking you, are you more important than the call of the lost world that do not know Jesus and perishing? What is holding you back? Third, do you realize God's call on your life? He has blessed you. He has blessed you. And he wants now to make you a blessing to millions in this generation. A man called me up while ago and said, Brother KP, I just finished reading a book, Revolutionary World Missions, and he started crying. And he said in the end, Brother KP, I'm 65 years old, I'm getting older and soon I will have to say goodbye to everything. And when I stand before the Lord, I want to take all these people with me. I just want to stand before him with millions of people from all these people groups he talks about. Can you tell me how I may do it? I said, I would. Yes, I will tell you. I told him about the mission projects and all the wonderful things God is doing on the mission field and told him about a project on the Life of Jesus film thing we are doing. And he said, How much will that cost? I said, Well, about a quarter of a million dollars for that particular project. He said, Oh, okay, I'll pray about it and call you back. I said, You don't have to pray about it, send me money. No, I didn't. I said, Fine. A couple of weeks later, he called me and said, Brother KP, we just sent you a check for $235,000. Can you get those? I said, Yeah, we will. Within three, four months time, we had the films in the hands of the missionaries. A year later, we did a study from the mission field. One year later, what happened to those films? Now listen to this. Every month, no less than 100,000 people come to Jesus in India, in the tribals and the unknown regions and come into know Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. When I came to America, I used to buy a deodorant soap. My funniest story, because I learned from England before coming to America. A deodorant soap, you know, the soap you take bath with. You understand English? In America, it costs $1.50 every time you buy that particular deodorant bar soap. And I was buying it. No, no problem, piece of cake. That's American. And when the Lord convicted my heart about the lost and dying millions, how I must rearrange my lifestyle. Next time he went to the store, I switched from that most loved, wonderful soap to Mr. Ivory. $0.35? So you say, wow, that's very spiritual nonsense. Hey, having no car, no house, no soap, no clothes is not spiritual. Don't misunderstand. That's legalism. That's falsehood. But this is my little story I'm telling you. You know why? In Rajasthan quarter, a Hindu man in his late 50s, just a while ago, he was on the way with a bottle of poison in his pocket to drink and commit suicide. A Hindu Brahmin. He had cancer in his body. He didn't want to bring shame to his family. He was on the way to kill himself. And our brothers in North India was preaching the gospel. 120 degree Fahrenheit temperature. This man came up and got a gospel tract in Hindi language. He read the thing. First time in his life he reads about a God who came into this world to die for him and save him. And he prayed the prayer right on the street that he read from the booklet to Jesus. Peace came in his heart. He ran back home. When the doctors, they checked him up, down, inside, out. They said, what did he take? Nothing wrong with you. He pulled the booklet out of his pocket and said, doctor, this healed me. They said, dear God, this man had cancer. Now he's mentally ill. And he went to a mission station and said, this is what happened to me. And they explained to him about Jesus, what the Lord did for him, the whole thing. He started weeping. Oh, this Jesus now is my Lord. And he said, I'm a landlord. I got plenty of money. Can you come and make all my people Christians? Two of our missionaries went with him, preached the gospel. A glorious church established in that village where Jesus name was never mentioned in the history. All that began with one single gospel tract worth the price of a chewing gum. Live, live your life as a service to God, because 100 years from now, you ain't going to be here. Yes, if the Lord didn't come back, the tree may be here. This ground may be here. But you know what? You aren't going to be here. The house, the cars, the ambition, the dreams and all the stuff you are gathering and reputation and all the phony face you put up and act out. Nothing is going to be here. It's all over. Blood was the price my Lord paid to purchase me. I am not my own anymore. Whatever he wants, that's all. What is holding you back from that kind of commitment? It's not a one time commitment, but daily commitment. Well, I must end my talk with you by simply saying, no authentic ministry apart from the cross. Except the cross, it will do surgery without anesthesia. You have to make some decisions to say goodbye to some friendship. Some habits. The way you spend your resources, your lifestyle, your ambitions, your plans, your dreams. Don't call me Lord, Lord, but do what I say to you. Those are words of Jesus. After all, what does it matter when time comes to an end? Only thing matters, you stand before him who purchased you. You should be able to just leap up and hug him and say, Lord, all my life as a stranger and pilgrim on earth, I long to see you face to face. Finally, I'm home, not alone, but with so many that you were able to bring into the kingdom because I gave my life. He took it as a piece of bread. He broke it and I was hurting. It was sad. The times of fasting, the times of weeping, the times of prayer, the times of sacrifice, it was hard, but Lord, it's all worth it. It's all worth it. Now for all eternity, I'm here. Gospel for Asia. 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. For your free copy of this life changing book, simply go to our website, gospelforasia.org or call us at 866-WIN-ASIA and request Brother KP's book, Revolution in World Missions. Thanks for listening to Road to Reality, the radio ministry of Gospel for Asia.