Speaker Series 2013 - Frank Sontag and k.p. Yohannan

Good evening. Good to see you all here. It's great to be in the house of the Lord, isn't it? Amen.

You know, I think, I was just thinking as we're worshiping here, I think I have the best job in the world. You know, I have an opportunity to connect with so many ministries and that's what we get to do on the radio. We get to present these great ministries to you all and to people throughout Southern California and it's just a privilege to partner with Calvary Chapel South Bay.

As you probably know, Pastor Steve's program, Light of the Word, has been on our station for five or six or seven years, something like that. And not only is that great, it's great to have him on the air, but we've become pretty good friends and you know what a wonderful guy Pastor Steve is and he's just one of these guys that's just come around me and said, I think you need some love brother. And I said, you know what, I think I do.

But he's just, he's not shy. He just comes and gives you a big hug and wants to know how you're doing. So it's just great to be here.

I think probably because I know Steve pretty well, I kind of feel like I know y'all. So anyway, thank you for coming tonight. How many of you are listeners to KKLA? Many of you? Oh gosh, God bless every single one.

You and you and you. God bless you guys. As you may know, we had a talk show in the afternoon.

We have a talk show in the afternoon for many years and we've had a variety of talk show hosts there. Most of them have been in there for about 10 years. We had a guy named Warren Duffy in the 90s and then we had Frank Pastore in the 2000s.

And when Frank left us last year, we went on a search around the country to find another talk show host, which is not easy. You got to have somebody who's good at being a radio guy, which is a very rare breed of person, and then somebody who knows the Lord and can communicate his love to people. And so we had 150 resumes from around the country.

We talked to a bunch of people. And wouldn't you know it, that the person the Lord brought to us was right under our nose. Frank Sontag.

Frank has been in this market for 28 years on KLOS radio, rock and roll station. God has redeemed him and I'm very excited to hear his story, as I'm sure you are as well. I think there's these magazines out in the foyer.

This is the KKLA magazine. Anyway, Frank Sontag's testimony is in here, but you get to hear it right now. So Frank, come on up.

Wow. How are you all? So good to see each and every one of you. It's just amazing to stand up here and as Terry said, just be present in the house of the Lord.

It's just so amazing. I have a story to tell and I'm so honored to be able to share it with each and every one of you. You know, as Terry was talking about, the position in the afternoon has been filled by a handful of people before.

Most recently, Frank Pastore, who I met in April of last year. And so you know a little bit about my background. I dropped out of college twice because I was terrified to take a speech class.

You laugh. It's the truth. If I had time, I would tell you the lies I told my teacher because I ducked out of speech class.

But I dropped out twice and we talk about the Lord having a sense of humor. Here I am on the radio for, as Terry said, 28 years and it's just amazing to get behind a microphone and share. So that's what I'm about to do.

Early in my life, I was raised in a faith. We came out here from Cleveland, Ohio in 1965. I went to a private school, high school in the San Fernando Valley.

And in 1972, when I graduated high school, I made a decision. I was going to walk away from the church and would never, ever, ever in my entire life ever go back. I made that vow to myself for reasons of which aren't important right now other than I was done.

In 1984, I had an incident happen in my life that I survived a motorcycle crash by which all accounts I shouldn't be here. You would think that I would have found the Lord then, but I was a stubborn, rebellious, fleshly man who loved my sin and I went just the other way. I spent some time in the winter of 1984 reflecting on my life and I discovered a spiritual path that the world embraces.

You know it. Truth in all religions. No one in particular.

And when I heard that Jesus Christ is the only way, like the world, still so much of the world now, I saw that as intolerant. I saw that as just not where I wanted to go. So I came back in the spring of 1985 after I moved away and I discovered radio.

Really strange series of events happened, but I eventually ended up at 95.5 KLOS, which I will tell you and remind you that 95.5 KLOS and 99.5 KKLA are pretty close and I've blown the call letters a couple of times already on KKLA, but for 28 years I made KLOS my home. As Terry said, it's a music station and I worked my way up. I was a producer, a screener.

I did a talk show there for 21 years, a show that we covered a lot of world events, social, economic, political, but it was a spiritual show and I was a man that talked a lot about the new age, the worship of self. Some people would call my program that we're Christians and I couldn't hang up on them fast enough. I look back on it now and I think, Lord, I was so lost and you were so patient with me.

So I did this program for 21 years. I taught new age principles. The LA Times called me a new age guru.

I stood in auditoriums to scores of people and told them that the way to peace in this life is to find yourself. I guess I was kind of a closet Buddhist, chanting to no one, which was convenient. I loved my sin and I read a lot of holy books.

I read the Upanishads, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, but when it came to the Bible, I wanted nothing to do with it because this man Jesus, this God Jesus, is trouble to anyone that loves their sin and I was not ready to give up my sin. So as I did this program and as my life unfolded, I met my wife at a new age seminar. We had that bond of spirituality but wanted nothing to do with the one true faith on this place we call earth.

Our son was born and a handful of months later, my best friend who had given his life to Christ a few years previous to that, along with his brother who was a Christian pastor, decided that we would spend the day in California on the golf course. Anybody that plays golf, you know by about the back nine when you're making the turn, you ask yourself, why am I out here trying to hit this little white ball when we could be doing other things like eating food. So we decided to call it after nine holes and go have lunch and what ensued was a very lively discussion about life and meaning and why are we here and Pastor Dale leaned right up into me, right in my face, very lovingly and he said, Frank, I don't want to bum you out.

I know that you have found your way through spirituality in the new age but if you were to not make it home, you have a wife, you have a young boy at home, a baby boy, if you were to die, would you be right with God? And I instantly said, absolutely, no hesitation. And as I shared that, something inside me didn't feel right. Kind of felt like too quick of a response and I think Pastor Dale sensed that and he said, look, if you would, as a friend, be kind enough to consider that, well it just happened before you started your car, when you drove home.

And I said kind of patronizingly, I would do that. So we talked for a while longer and it was time to say goodbye and I walked to my car and went to turn the ignition on and oh yeah, Pastor Dale, I'll kind of sit and meditate. And when he said meditate, it was kind of like a little dig because that's the faith that I followed.

He said, would you meditate on what we talked about? So I did. So I sat in my car for a couple of minutes and I began to get very hot. And my first thought was, am I sick? Do I have a fever? Did I get too much sun? I didn't have a cap on that day and no, I felt fine.

And then I heard something that changed my life forever. I heard, are you ready to submit to me? And I knew who it was. I had complete free will, no coercion, no fear.

I could have just as easily said no and I know he would have still loved me, but I said yes. And then he said some words that forever, completely will change my life till he takes me home. And before I share with you what he said to me next, I want to tell you again, I never have opened a Bible in my life at that point.

I had no reference to biblical scripture. I did not want to open that book because I know if I did, I would have to spend some time thinking about possibly changing some things in my life. So as I sat there and after I said yes, he said, pick up your cross and follow me.

I had no idea what that meant. And I hung up the phone with my buddies after I shared what occurred. And before I did, I told them I want to go back to church.

And I remember when I said that, I thought, goodness gracious, Frank, what's happened to you? Pastor Dale said, I want to mail you a Bible. And I said, okay. I drove home.

I got home and my wife was not happy because we met at that New Age seminar. We spent some time apart. She was none too pleased that I began a new life in Jesus Christ.

But about 10 days after this incident, the Bible came and I remember seeing it. And there was something about it just, I don't know if it was the color or the texture or the cover, but it was almost as if I just couldn't open it quick enough. So I read it a little bit that night before I got up at three o'clock in the morning and I began to flip through the Bible.

And the chapter of Luke kind of came into my sight and I was flipping through and I came across scripture that I stared at and I couldn't believe what I was reading. Anyone that knows Luke 9.23. And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. I couldn't make that up in a million years.

I got that on my knees. I said, Lord, I don't know what's happening, but I'm all yours. From this point on, as long as I take breath, I will follow you no matter what.

And I will say in the last handful of years, he has not only shown his presence immensely, but I remember a conversation I had with a friend of mine shortly after this incident that I shared with him. And he said, well, if you're happy, that's cool. Well, as you know, when our Lord says, pick up your cross and follow me, it's not about happy.

It's not about fun. We're even guaranteed in the book trials and tribulations will happen. And I have had my share and we're told to call it joy indeed.

So here's where my story gets really interesting. Some time went by and I began to attend church. My wife said, I want to go to church with you.

So she went and slowly the Lord worked on her heart. And in July of 2011, my wife gave her life to Jesus Christ as well. Here's the fun part.

I had done a talk show for 21 years in this town. And my friend said, Frank, you need to put something up on YouTube. You need to put your story up on YouTube.

That's what you do in LA. You put something on YouTube. So I had stopped talking.

I did public lectures for 24 years. And after this particular life changing moment, I got quiet. It's like, what am I going to talk about? I'm not talking about self anymore.

I realized what a fool I was to even go down that path. And so in April of last year, after I put something up on YouTube, I got a phone call from a man that you may recognize his name. His name is Frank Pastorek.

And Frank called me and said, bro, you got to come on my show. I saw what you did on YouTube, kind of crazy, but you got to come on my show. I said, okay.

So in April of last year, I made my way down to the KKLA studios. I walked in and there was Frank as large as life, smiled, waved at me, and listened to him broadcast a little bit. And it's interesting.

Before I gave my life to Christ, I would listen to Frank Pastorek and I couldn't stand him. I gave my life to Christ and I listened to Frank Pastorek and I loved him. Gee, what's different? I was different.

So in April of last year, I sat in the KKLA studios for one hour and gave my public testimony for the first time, as I just shared with you. And Frank and I had a wonderful time together. We talked about some things off the air and had some laughs.

And at the end of the interview, he said, I'm going to have you back on in three months. In radio, it's kind of protocol to be courteous to your guests. And my instant thought was, oh, that's nice.

You're not going to have me back on. But that's cool. I'm fine with that.

Praise God. I gave our father all the glory. Phone rang in July.

Pastorek again, bro, three months. Let's go. Okay.

And I remember driving to the KKLA studios thinking, what am I going to talk about? And my wife said, you know what? I want to go with you. I want to take pictures. Okay.

And she came down. There was Frank again with his typical wave. And right before it went on the air, I'm sitting in the studio with Frank.

And my wife is in another booth. And he sees her and goes, big smile on his face. She comes in, sits down next to me.

Now, my wife isn't here tonight. But if you know anything about my wife, which you don't know anything about my wife, she's very shy and unassuming. And this is not her idea of what she wants to do, let alone on a radio program.

Frank sat her down, cued up the microphone. He's adjusting. And I'm thinking, oh, my goodness gracious, Frank is going to put my wife on the air.

Not only did Frank Pastorek put my wife on the air, we were on the air for two hours that day. He had her talking about her new life in Christ, struggles in a marriage. She said the words, I will always remember, I hated my husband.

She looked at me. She goes, I don't anymore. He's really nice now, but I hated my husband.

So at the end of that time, Frank said, you know, we're going to have you back on again. Part of me was thinking, well, maybe we are going to be back on again. The following month, I was let go of my job at KLOS after 28 years.

I've never been unemployed in my life, never got let go of a job in my life. And so some time passed, and in the middle of September, I was motivated to call KKLA and just meet with management, just kind of introduce myself. The truth of the matter is, I loved KKLA the moment I walked in there, and I wanted to get back in that radio station.

And we had a good conversation. It was in the middle of the afternoon. Pastore walks down the hallway, walks in, sticks his head in, goes, you're not taking my job.

What are you doing here? And so we spent some time together, and then I left. My wife and I were back on a few weeks later in September. I was talking about what it's like to lose your job and all that, and it was the last time I saw Frank.

The morning of November the 20th, I was sitting in my car with my wife. We were about to go into a Christian counseling session, and I told her, I said, it's really weird. I feel like I'm supposed to call KKLA.

And she said, well, call. I picked up my phone. I was about to dial.

My phone starts to ring. It's Chuck Tyler, our program director, and I answered, and he said, Frank went down last night on his bike. Would you be interested in filling in? And I said, yes, absolutely.

I began filling in at KKLA on Thanksgiving of last year, and 28 days after that phone call, 27 exactly, Frank passed and went back home to the Lord on December 17th. And many of you know, because you're KKLA listeners, that over the last handful of months during that time, KKLA began to have people fill in on that program, and I could share a lot of stories about how hard that was for management. I can't imagine what that was like to lose our brother and our warrior like Frank.

But here's the last part on the bottom line. As I filled in and did that program over the months, the Lord grew my heart for that show. And I actually thought when I let go in August, was let go at KLOS, I thought I was done with radio.

I actually was thinking, I'm going to go back and be a basketball coach, which I've been in my life as a college basketball coach for a while. Anything but radio. And here I am filling in at KKLA, and I'm just watching the Lord grow my heart, and I'm thinking, Lord, I don't know what you're up to, but I'm all in.

And May 6th, I got a call at home, and I thought it was the thank you, but no thank you phone call. Some of you may know what that's about. I didn't answer the phone, but I got down on my knees in the bedroom, and I said, Lord, if this is what I think it is, please give me the grace and the humility to be thankful and not break down and beg, please consider me again.

I call back, and program director said, how much time do you have? And said, as long as you need. And I realized that was kind of a strange question, and he told me that I was picked to become the new afternoon host on KKLA. A man that used to hang up on Christians, and now I host an incredible radio program on Christian radio.

And I will tell you, there isn't a day that goes by, a moment that goes by, where I pray before I go on the air, and I say, Lord, I don't know why you picked a fool like me, but I'm all in. And so, I just want to thank all of you, not only for supporting our radio station, but being patient with me in a new season and a new ministry. We loved Frank immensely, and many things happen in life that are just hard to figure out, but I am grateful to be behind that microphone, and as long as he gives me breath, I promise you I will serve him and serve you with everything I have for his glory.

So, with that, I just want to thank you for your patience with me and your attention, and I pray this new season is fruitful. We've already had some really interesting things happen on the program. I'm really interested to see where the Lord takes this program and takes our city and our state.

And the last thing I'll share with you is, I am a man that is hungry for the Word of God, and I pray that his presence in the Holy Spirit completely descends in our towns and cities and our state, because we are so ready to worship him anew and follow him. And I pray for revival. I pray for people that are being persecuted all over the world, and we follow the one true God, God that I rebelled against my whole life.

I stand here and I tell you, he's such a good God. He's such a loving God. Please pray for me.

Pray for our new ministry. God bless each and every one of you, and thank you for being here tonight. See why that's the greatest job in the world? It's just neat to see the way the Lord brought him, and it's exciting.

We're kind of on an adventure together, and it'll be interesting to see what the Lord does. But I would echo what Frank would say. We do appreciate you praying for us.

We are doing our best to be salt and light in Southern California, and this area is getting a little bit darker as time goes on, and the light shines brighter as we're faithful to him. So we go from Los Angeles with Frank Sontag to India with our next speaker, and this guy is one of my heroes. K.P. Yohanan runs a ministry called Gospel for Asia, and if you've been hanging around here for a while, you've probably heard K.P. He's been here before.

If you haven't heard him before, you're in for a real treat. One of the reasons he's a hero of mine is I'm involved in a ministry that operates in India, and as we've been doing evangelism and church planning there, we keep running into this organization called Gospel for Asia. And so it was just really great a couple years ago that K.P., who has a radio program that runs on 900 radio stations around the world, he chose to be on KKLA as well, and you can hear his program Sundays at one o'clock.

But I just thought it was really great the way the Lord would bring that together for me, and I think you're going to be blessed to hear from him. An author of more than 200 books, he travels around the world. They've planted churches, I think, in 60 countries.

This guy's a modern-day Paul as far as I'm concerned. Would you give it up for K.P. Yohanan. Frank is taller than me.

When I grow up, I'm going to be like him. Anyone here, you saw me or heard me speak here in this church? Would you raise your hand? All right, all of you raise your hand, you'll go to heaven. The rest of you after tonight.

Pastor Steve, such a great friend, an amazingly strange human being. In a good way. We love him dearly and been here many, many times and deeply appreciate this fellowship.

And, you know, Frank, you are real. And you don't run into people that are solid through and through. And I am so grateful for the way you shared tonight.

And you could have said a million things tonight to have people focus on you, and but the Lord's grace and may the Lord continue to walk with you and you walk with him. I have my imaginations, but it's all good. And radio, you know, I've been doing radio nearly 30 years.

I know I look 20 years old, but I tell you, whether you believe it or not, television and internet and all these stuff going on, it's very, very significant. But as the world is concerned, I do not know any medium that is so powerful as radio. And I do a broadcast in Asian nations, which is in 110 languages.

No, I don't speak 110 languages. I do one, but our people translate that and add their things to it and do it. But we get 1.5 million response a year from people.

It's not done for Christians. Only 30% of our content is for Christians, discipleship, other is for salvation and people to know the Lord. And KK, I mean, I know a ton who deals with our radio department.

We are delighted and really appreciate your allowing us to be on the radio here. And, you know, please pray for the Christian radio and television stations and etc. in the United States.

There's a saying in my native language, you do not easily appreciate the fragrance of the rose flower that grows right in front of your home. Now, don't try to translate that. That simply means you take so much for granted.

And I just came from Washington, D.C., spending all day with the, you know, a group of people talking about the future of the media. You know, and I pray that the radio stations will continue to function in this country. And the, you know, the board of directors meeting the NRB, we chose a new president, Dr. Jerry Johnson, a godly man, a very sober leader.

But you want to pray for Dr. Pai. He is appointed by President Obama as the head of FCC. And he came and spoke to us.

He's a son of immigrant from India. I was absolutely amazed the number of Bible verses he quoted. And I think he grew up in a Catholic home.

But my assessment, he must know the Lord. And he, I don't like to talk about it tonight. It's almost frightening the way some people like to see Christian radio stations get shut down.

And this, you know, please do keep praying and pray for Dr. Pai. He's the brilliant, just 42-year-old man, but deeply committed to Christian radio. And pray for the future of Christian radio in the United States and all over the world.

Like in India, we still don't have the freedom to have a Christian radio station. 1.2 billion people live there. And this gospel must be preached.

And radio is one of the best things God has given us. All right. Now, the next few minutes, I'd like to have this conversation with you.

You know, this life of ours, as C.S. Lewis said, we are living in the enemy's territory. Surprised? The God of this world controls everything. Education, politics, whatever.

Whatever temporary victory you think we have using politicians or whatever means, it is temporary. And during our life on earth, we must acknowledge the city of God is not America or Germany or India. This world is not our home.

We are assigned with the responsibility to enlist as many people as possible, by all means, to become part of the city of God, which is the only permanent thing. And that's the reason why our focus in life must be just as Christ lived on earth. The sad thing is, much of, at least quite a significant part of the American gospel, it's very pragmatic and very much based on our culture and horizontal and here and now, health, wealth, good family, well-being, homeschooling, and none of those things are bad.

But believe you me, 100 years from now, you are not going to be living in the house or driving the car. We are moving forward to something more real. And that's the reason why I think the scripture portion that Frank read for us tonight, I marked it in my Bible, one of my favorite Bible words.

And Jesus said, if anyone want to come after me, he must deny himself. You know, I was barely 17 when somebody gave me this little book called True Discipleship by William McDonough. Oh, by the way, I got books to sell.

Revolutionary World Missions. This is now in, I think, a dozen languages in America and Europe and all that, over 3 million copies in print. And on the back of it, you'll see two photographs.

One is when I was 21 years old, a really handsome person. And the next picture is when I'm 60. You know, you can choose which one you want.

But we get letters, emails from people, you know, literally thousands saying how this was used to change their life and God used it. Lots of stories. The newest book, No Longer Slumdog.

This is a takeoff from Slumdog Millionaire movie. There are 62 million children in India who are child laborers. There are 15 million bonded child laborers.

Every year, 15 to 30,000 young girls between 9 and 14 are sold into sex business just to bomb a city alone. Recent studies, 90 percent of those girls are HIV positive now. How do you respond to this? For God, God so loved the world, whether the Indians, Albanians, or Germans, or Russians, Mongolians, people, all, all people belong to God and us.

And that's the reason the ministry, I'm part of Gospel for Asia. We began to reach out to these children. We rescued now so far 67,000 children, established in 500 homes, not just physical needs and clothes and food.

It's all we do, education, but also Jesus. You would be, yeah, amen. And this, this will brighten your heart and thrill you because of the stories without end of incredible stories of people and children, you know, that would help you.

And one of the newest book is Touching Godliness. My deepest concern for the people of God that knowledge will not be enough for us, which is important, but lead us to Him, the one that we long to be like. And when we see Him, we shall be like Him.

And when you see Him, you don't want to say, oh my God, I didn't know Jesus, you are like this. You can be partakers of His nature now. But how do you do that? I mean, what is the way? And tonight, the words Frank Red had a lot to do with it.

And this book, Touching Godliness. And by the way, all these books, I think they charge two, three dollars or eight dollars. Anyway, I recommend you go and steal all these and take it home.

If you have no money, you give. If no money, you take it. Anyway, they are not giving many money for any of these books.

So I give you permission to take it. Okay. Now we'll be very happy to have you take, you know, any money you give.

So go to the Lord's work. You understand my English? Oh, thank you. Thank you.

And so one thing is that I couldn't get to this church today to see you and laugh with you if I didn't leave Dallas, Texas, where we are based. I can wish all I want and fast all I want and cry all I want, even English or Indian or Hindi, whatever language. It just won't work.

I have to get out of my home and office and go to the airport or get in the car and leave Dallas to come to Los Angeles. I like to come to California, one of the main reasons, in and out. Yeah.

But the truth is, unless you deny yourself, I deny myself, we cannot follow him. That is the only fundamental principle about following the Lord. And Jesus called his disciples and said, come and follow me.

And says they left all and everyone and followed him. Question, what does that mean for us? A thousand things, but tonight I want to have this emphasis on the heart of our Lord for a world that he loves and he died for. But he now waits, may I use the word carefully, helpless, waiting for his body, the hands and legs to move, to accomplish his deepest passion for them to know him and not to go to hell.

Please understand, the world is not Los Angeles, not America. I must say it is not India or Germany where my wife comes from or some other country. It is the world.

Some years ago, I was sitting in my office in Dallas and my wife came to the office and looked in and handed me a letter to read and said, you want to read this. And then she said, please don't speed read. And I looked at her thinking, what's wrong with you? She walked away because she knew I learned speed reading and do that.

Well, I finished reading the letter. I was no more sitting on my comfortable chair. I was on my face weeping.

No, that was not a letter saying that you dog, I'm leaving you or you creep, you're not good. No, no, no. The letter came from one of our missionaries that served the Lord by River Ganges, Haridwar.

And he writes this letter about one of his experience. It was during the large Hindu festival called Kumbh Mela, where some 30 million people traveled from all over the land, many of them walking to get to this holy river, dipping themselves, believing that a wash in the river would be the means for forgiveness of sin. And he writes in the letter, all day he was out there distributing gospel tracts and witnessing about the Lord.

And the evening as he was coming home, he saw a young woman sitting by the bank of the river, weeping uncontrollably, the same thing pounding upon her chest. According to the culture, it will tell you something happened to that woman that is worse than death itself. So he writes, I went and asked her, why are you crying? What happened to you? And she responded to him saying that, you see, we are extremely poor.

My husband is so ill that he can't work anymore. My sins are so many that nobody knows about. In other words, culturally she is saying, maybe all the problems came upon my home, everything is because of me and the curse.

To find a solution to the problems of my home and to find forgiveness for my sins, I have given the best offering I can give to Goddess Ganges. My six-month-old, my little son, I just threw him into the river. Paragraph.

I sat beside her, opened the Bible and explained to her, God is not angry with you, He didn't make you poor. Your sins are forgiven. All you need to do is to believe.

Jesus died for your sins. Then he writes, she wiped her tears, looked into my eyes and simply said, but why didn't you come to me half hour sooner? I didn't have to do it. It is too late.

It is too late. She went back crying again. My brothers and sisters, I say this story to you not to create some kind of emotional feelings to get some money out of you or make you do something for me, no.

But I need you to understand, if Jesus Christ died on the cross, he was buried in Rose again and he's the only hope for humanity to be spared from the horrible clutches of demons and bondage and eternity in hell. No sacrifice you can make. That's too much to win someone to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And Jesus wait for us to have his passion, his heart for the Lord. And that little woman's story only tells the condition, the desperation, the longing of two billion people that still wait to hear the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do you respond to that? How do we act on this kind of reality? I think there are many, many ways you can respond to this.

And because of the time constraint, I didn't want to go into a lot of explanations. But I think the fundamental principle I ask you to think about the Lord Jesus Christ. How did he live on earth as a man? The book of Hebrews says that Jesus is my forerunner.

He's the one who ran ahead of me saying, come after me. He was a man, completely, fully a man leaving aside his God powers, living the life that tells me how the Father wanted me to live here on earth. Not that I'm perfect, no, but it's a journey that I must make.

How did Jesus live? You read the four gospels. Some years ago I took a pencil and decided to go through the four gospels and read to learn about the man Jesus. Not the God.

He is my God, he is my Lord. But I just want to see how he as a man lived. And as I read through this and marked those verses, I was absolutely challenged to see, you know, I cannot follow him unless I become my own enemy, denying myself.

And I wish I could tell you the journey I made and some of these things you can read in these books I have. But here is what you read, for example, in the gospel of John chapter four. Jesus sits by that well in Samaria.

You remember the story? And the disciples went off to buy a hamburger and chocolate shake and French fries. Yeah, that is in Greek. And they comes back and seeing from distance, Jesus is talking to a female.

And culturally, you are not supposed to do that. And they said, oh my goodness, what is he doing? But they didn't want to say nothing about it. It is written there in your Bible.

They said, you know, he is the boss, just leave it alone. And then they walk over that thought and say, Jesus, here is the food, please eat. But the problem was he is the guru, he is the master.

Only after he eats, they are supposed to eat their food. So they are quite selfish, I think, about it. And Jesus responds, listen to this.

I have food to eat that you do not know nothing about. Simple translation, I already ate. And the disciples said, man, that is a real bummer.

And they said among themselves, did someone bring him something to eat? I mean, it is a simple, normal question. And Jesus says, I know what you are saying. My food is to do the will of him that sent me and finish his work.

Now, this is real complicated. He was hungry, he was thirsty, and he sent us to buy food, we bring him. He says, you know, he already ate.

Now he says he ate God's will. That is exactly what he said. And it confuses them to know where to figure this out.

And then Jesus says, look, let me talk to you about it. You say, four months, then the harvest. But lift up your eyes and see the field is white for harvest.

Don't wait. And I send you to reap on which you have not labored, and you will enter into my joy. What is he talking about? In simple terms, he says, when you went off to take care of the physical needs, which is the basic essential for survival, you know that.

While you went off to do that, I happened to talk to this lady, her face became the window for me to see multitudes and millions like her on the way to eternity without knowing the Father's love. That realization and encounter simply destroyed my very appetite. And he says, if you are willing to lift up your eyes from your little family, your personal dreams and ambitions and health and wealth and concerns and worries and opinions and all the stuff you live with, if you are willing to look away a little bit, become unselfish and deny your world and look, you will see the same thing I am able to see, the man Jesus who walked on earth with the Father's heart.

My question to myself, am I doing that? I came to America in 1974 to go to seminary, and soon, within a couple of years time, I was desperate to become like any American. Nothing wrong with, you know, I, when I first came to America, I thought hot dog was dog meat. Really, no one could, Frank, this is an honest truth, no one could convince me hot dog is really what you think it is.

And soon I learned my way and quickly I understood, and the first time I drank Dr. Pepper, I threw up and I said, somebody's trying to kill me in America. But I learned, no, now I order Dr. Pepper, where do I go? You know, I mean, you know, through my, you know, bless God for my, you know, in-laws in Germany, and we didn't have to buy anything on credit, anything like that. I began with a Kmart, ended up with a Neiman Marcus.

Any watch wasn't good enough, I had to have the most expensive Rolex watch. And I read a book, Color Me Beautiful, learned about what my color was, and it took me some half hour to figure out what clothes I should wear to make me look good, and some of you men look like you are lost, ask your wife. And I was not doing any sinful things, not doing any wrong things.

I was, you know, in seminary, and soon I was passing a Southern Baptist congregation in Dallas, and so, you know, I was, you know, I mean, keep in mind, eight years of my life, I lived on the streets of India, Nepal, and these nations, beaten up and facing the agony of the lost and weeping on the streets and sharing the gospel, now having come to America, within two and a half years time, I was losing everything to the extent I found I couldn't cry anymore. I preach about hell, heaven, missions, the whole world. I mean, see, if that happened in America, like you, born and raised in this culture, you can understand that.

Not someone like an alien like me, but it happened. But God, in his mercy, like Frank was talking tonight, in his own way, began to talk to me. I never forget this.

I was in my comfortable study with, you know, a library of my own, writing something with my favorite fountain pen, Mont Blanc. Somebody would pay $600 to buy a fountain pen. Yeah, that foolish I was.

And I remember the strange experience. Somebody walked up to me in that private room, door closed, asking me the question, so you like that pen? I literally said, I do. I do.

And the next question, who's going to use it 100 years from now? I mean, I'm not a spooky person. I am not a weird guy. You need to know that.

I'm not one of those person interpreting dreams, no. But it was so shocking and so sobering, I literally held up the fountain pen, looking at it. That question, again and again, I can hear in the inner chambers of my heart, who's going to use it 100 years from now? That was one of the incidents.

The Lord gently began to speak to me, son, what on earth is happening to you? Half of the world go to bed with empty stomach and naked bodies. Here, look at the way you live. Half of the world have never seen one page of the Bible.

And I got seven expensive Bibles sitting on my shelf and books that I may never read, but I'd like to have them. Please don't misunderstand. I am not against, you know, BMWs or nice homes and cars.

By the way, that pen, I still have. I asked him a thousand times, you want me to give it away and sell it? He said, no, keep it. But every time I write with it, it reminds me of the day he talked to me.

That was in 1978, end of that year. See, my brothers and sisters, none of us are strong enough to live a life wholly separated for his sake, unless you are willing to take the sharp razor blade and do the surgery on yourself of materialism, opinions of other people and love of life and affections and relationships that hurt your passion, his passion to reach the lost world and be his. And that was the turning point of my life.

And I said to Gisela, that's my wife, just a couple of jackets and a couple of ties and a few trousers and a few shirts and everything you can give away or sell whatever. And I don't say this to tell you if you give away your clothes and cars and house, you'll become spiritual. No, if that is the place, people in Africa and Bangladesh, India, more spiritual than you, people live on the streets.

No, I'm not promoting that. I have friends who are multi-millionaires who got their own private airplanes and company owners and drive expensive cars. But some of them are most devout people following the Lord with the call God gave them the way they conduct their life and share their resources.

So I'm not affluent or rich. But you have to choose your way and you need to know how you are walking. And I had to choose my way.

I'm not promoting what I did for you to do. But I tell you what, the greatest joy of my life, I remember, finally, I felt so free to be his. And believe it or not, from then on, I always had two jackets.

And one of them get old and wear out, I get new one. Recently, I got this new one. I said, I had to wear this sometime.

So I decided to wear this tonight. But it's not the jacket, it is not the car, it's not the watch. It is why we do what we do.

Exchanging all for his namesake, whatever that means. Let me move fast, bring some application. I encourage you to please think about adding little more time to your prayer life.

Now, prayer is not screaming at God and begging and pleading and say, oh God, please. No. Basically, it is entering into his heart's concerns.

He may tell you about something, you should pray for that. You never even imagine. But you can't hear him.

You know, average Christians in America, it is now reported pray less than eight minutes a day. And you parents, you can do everything in the world to make your children to be godly by sending them to this seminar, that seminar, this trip, that ice cream trips and this trip and whatever. You know what? You can do whatever, but it's not really going to work.

82% of young people that grow up in evangelical churches leave the church when they leave home. And I can tell you, it starts to scare you. What is wrong with us? You know what? The way to rescue your children, the family, this nation, the world is basically on our knees.

I'm not trying to condemn you, criticize you for what you are not doing, but may encourage you to start saying, Lord, give me the grace to spend an hour with you a day alone. And read God's word and ask him to put burden on your heart. See the television news and radio, newsweek, whatever you see.

And when you hear about Afghanistan or Turkey or Iran or the war going on or election day, instead of going after, criticizing and fighting, why don't you start using that as prayer letter and ask the Lord to give you grace. And I would encourage you strongly to take one day of the week for fasting and prayer. Just one day of the week.

And if you fast one day of the week and if you die, you please let me know. Yes. And you'll be surprised.

Sometimes the Lord gives you the grace to spend three, four days in fasting and prayer. And please don't condemn yourself or criticize yourself. All of us are on this journey, but begin to do that.

It is extremely important that we cannot know God unless we are with him. You can be in the Bible and not with God. And please, I encourage you.

Number two. You know, I'm convinced what Jesus said is true. You cannot serve God and money.

He should have said you cannot serve God and devil. Why did he say you cannot serve God and money? The reason is the worst enemy of your godliness, your knowing God is materialism. It is money, whatever you can buy to make life more comfortable.

When was the last time you actually knelt on the carpet or been on your face, sit on the floor to spend an hour with the Lord? It's a lost art, isn't it? And what I'm trying to tell you, you have to, and I have to understand that, you know, if you got a car that, you know, making little noise and coughing and having some diarrhea and all that, why don't you say, Lord, I have the money in the bank and I can go and buy a brand new car. It's not the wrong thing to do, but Lord, I'd like to send this money and use it to print Bibles and help those poor children on the streets or have some young people go overseas to serve you. And Lord, I'm going to lay my hand on this old car, you make it new.

You'd be surprised how God can do some things. Amazing enough. And you think about your vacation coming up to Grand Canyon.

I don't know why people go there. Maybe I've never been there for some reason. But it is a wonderful thing for a vacation.

But think about it. That week or two weeks, you are saying, Lord, I'm going to spend to go on the streets of Mexico among millions of people dying on the streets and starving. I'm going to be with them and pray and do something and use resources.

You know, think about it. Some vacation is bad or wrong. But you see, you look at your clothes.

Now, some of you are already collecting catalogs to buy stuff for Christmas. And your bathroom is filled with catalogs. Burn them all.

And by the way, you believe, you see this frame of my specs. You look at my photograph when I was 21 years old. They were having the same frame.

He's coming back in style again. You know, this narrow tie, what do you call the slim tie? You know, in the old days, they had these little slim ties and you never could see it for years. Now, it's all coming back.

They're wicked businessmen. Don't believe them. Keep your old clothes.

It'll come back in style. Yes. An amazing thing, simpler for your life.

All I have to worry about, six, seven shirts and three, four trousers and a couple of ties that I wear out of desperation and two jackets. I don't have to worry about half hour color coordination. It's amazing how wonderful life is.

I drive a 1960 Volkswagen bug that I think Jesus made. It runs fantastic. And you know, please understand, you know, I make a joke out of this.

But really, I challenge you to simplify your life. You'll be more free. And you don't need a lot of stuff you think you need.

Life is beautiful when you keep it simple. But it is much more beautiful when you do it for the sake of Christ and the lost world. And I have a whole book.

I have a whole book on this road to reality. If you want to get ideas how to live that life, you can get a copy of the book Road to Reality. If it is not there, you can go to the website and get that.

It's all free. Download all my books, by the way, so you know that it's all there. And number three, the third thing I encourage you to do is, you know, if God calls you to go to Afghanistan, Albania, China, India, Nepal, please do.

That's a wonderful thing to do. But 99% of you will never go to these nations to live the rest of your life. But if you can go even for a few weeks, that's fine.

But I encourage you to think about Romans 10. How will they hear the gospel unless somebody go and preach? But how will they go unless someone send them? What I'm trying to tell you, you can, amazing enough, partner with native missionaries, people in their own countries, to preach among their own people. Go near culturally, cross culturally, and reach the lost world.

You know, time goes by. We have some 16,000 brothers and sisters in these nations, in the most unreached regions, preaching the gospel, and seeing some 17 churches planted every single day among people that never had a church before. I never forget a couple of years I spent in northwest of India.

In one place, one of our missionary was assigned to preach the gospel, having finished his three-year Bible school. We have 52 Bible schools where some 7,000 young people go through the training. When they finish, they go to the mission field.

And this young brother went to this area to plant a church. But forever, nothing seems to happen. He began to fast and pray, saying, Lord, do a miracle.

And one day, he was going house to house. He saw one family that he saw. Everybody looked like somebody died, so gloomy and sad and kind of depressed.

He said, what happened to you people? They pointed him to the buffalo in front of their house in the little place laying. And he said, you know, this is the way we make our living. You know, milk the buffalo and sell the milk and make a living.

And our buffalo is sick and is dying. We don't know what to do. And he said, I will pray to the Lord Jesus Christ that he will heal your buffalo.

He never ever prayed for an animal before. And he said to him, Lord, if he ever did anything like that, this is a wonderful chance. I need you, Lord, to show yourself mighty and loving to these people.

He went and laid a hand on the sick buffalo who was just laying there dying. And before he could finish the prayer, the buffalo jumped up. And that helped him to share the gospel more with the people.

The whole family gave their lives to Christ, then more people. And today you go that there is a church, people by hundreds worshipping Jesus. And we name the church the Buffalo Church.

Amen. And I need to conclude. If the Lord speaks to your heart about whatever he tells you, even if it is difficult, please do it.

Asking grace, it cannot be out of guilt and condemnation and force and works. No, his grace he gives. And you seek his face.

And my prayer is this, that tonight one of the decisions you will make will be, Lord, I cannot go and live in India or Bhutan or Bangladesh or Pakistan, but Lord, I can pray for one of these brothers and sisters and help them. And there's a card that I think they gave you, a little card like this, that if you didn't, you can get it on the table. It says, yes, I want help.

Starting now, I'll prayerfully help sponsor one national missionary $30 a month, whatever. And by the way, there is a photograph here of someone I know personally. He planted five churches so far, having finished his Bible school from place to place going and preaching the gospel.

And how great it would be one day when you get to heaven, you will recognize maybe you are the person and your family praying and supporting one of these brothers. And if you like to do something like that, you can fill out the card that you like to help one of these or two or three. There are some people that support 50, 60 missionaries.

I don't know how the resources do that, but I'm glad for them to do it. And I encourage you to pick up this card and sign up for one or two or three or whatever number of missionaries. Just $30 a month, you become part of a great move of God in our generation.

And when you do that, they actually give you the photograph and information of the missionary that you help. There are one or two or three people joins with you in doing that so that he can do that. By the way, in a short time, when they plant a church and have enough believers, you don't need to give them money anymore.

We have right now over 4,000 congregations on the mission field that we used to help. We don't help them anymore. Now they are giving money to support missionaries like in Burma and Nepal and all that.

It's not a welfare program, but you become the reason for us to start churches among people that never had a church before. So you don't have to give any money to get this profile tonight or the missionaries you pray for and support. All you need to do is to bring the card.

Oh, by the way, 100%, every penny you give actually goes to support the missionaries. Nobody takes nothing out of it. We got 160, 170 some people on our staff in Dallas in our mission headquarters.

Everyone raised their own support, and we don't steal your money that you give to support these children or missionaries. By God's grace, we do well. And just one more thing.

If you have young people, 18 years or older, who finish their high school, send them to us for a year of special discipleship school in Dallas. We take 30 or 40 young people at a time, and now it has been extended for three years, one year or so, or the time they'll be overseas, as a matter of fact. It's called Gospel of Asia School of Discipleship.

If you have kids, you want to get rid of them, please pick this up. Just brainwash them and send them to us. And we will send them back to you totally transformed and changed for the glory of God.

Hey, what a blessing to be here. You love the Lord, otherwise you wouldn't be here tonight. I know that.

And if I said something that make you feel any less than that, please don't let the enemy hurt you like that. You love him, and he loves you. And that's the reason we are here tonight.

And I plead with you to continue the journey, and the Lord give you the grace to deny whatever you have to deny and give up. It's worth exchanging plastic toys for the real thing. And it is wonderful to know him and love him.

And I pray tonight some of you will decide to help us to send more missionaries to the unreached and reach the lost, even while we live here. Let us pray. And Father, thank you.

Oh Lord Jesus, the Son of God, thank you. Thank you. Holy Spirit, thank you.

And Lord, we are your sons and daughters. And tonight we say to you, Lord, let our hearts break where the things that break your heart. May loving you become the reason for us to hate everything that you hate.

And I pray you bless your people. Lead us further into yourself, that we may know you better. Oh Lord, use our feeble lives to reach the most unreached, untouched, unforgiven.

Wait to hear your name in the land of India, and Pakistan, Muslim communities, and among the tribals. Oh God, please show us the way. Thank you for your grace.

And we say this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.