2010 Senior Pastors' Conference - Session 5 - K.P. Yohannan

Chuck Smith says that in the records of eternity, the work of GFA in India will go down as one of the most important movements in the history of the church.

KP Yohannan is the founder of Gospel for Asia.

{{Chuck then turns it over to KP}}

·         KP tells the joke of the minister and the Hindi…”Shall we gather at the river…”

·         GFA has a year-long school of discipleship in their US offices in Dallas, TX.

·         ACTS 4

·         As we study these things, we must not make the mistake of studying for the purpose of just increasing in learning – but of hearing the Lord’s voice, and obeying.

o   You may be gifted with tremendous knowledge and being a great orator of the Scriptures

o   But what makes the difference is how we give ourselves to the Scripture – to read and obey.

·         Jesus said He was sending us as sheep among the wolves

o   We can wish He’d said He’d send us as wolves among sheep!

o   But He didn’t.

·         Jesus said: “do not love your life (hold on to it), but give it away.”

·         KP is recounting about the missionaries they’ve sent out who are now waiting for us to join them in glory.

·         The call of the Lord is not just to have a nice, wonderful life and then one day to make it to heaven

o   It is to follow Him daily, to take up our cross.

·         In every chapter of Acts, suffering, persecution, and tribulations are mentioned.

o   It seems that life seems to go on the track of these things in the service of the Lord

o   One place: “count it worthy to suffer for His sake.”

o   “Hallelujah! We are given the privilege to get beaten up and to suffer for His name’s sake!”

o   “Those who lay down their lives for My sake will find them.”

·         The persecution in India has escalated by orders of magnitude.

·         KP is sharing the story of an old man who is being surrounded by men who will kill him

o   He asks for a few minutes to pray before they kill him

o   They allow it; he prays with them around him, swords and knives ready to kill him

o   He prays in thanksgiving for His salvation, rejoicing that he is about to see Him, and praying for the blessing and salvation of the men who are about to kill him, and for Jesus to protect and provide for his wife

o   He opened his eyes, looked at the men, and said, “now you can kill me.”

o   Leader of the gang said, “how can we kill someone who looks like our father?”

o   When asked later, the old man was asked, “were you not afraid?” He replied, “I was, but I was more concerned for my wife.”

o   He had remembered what his pastor had told him – that our lives belong to Jesus, to serve Him and lay down for Him.

·         Whatever Jesus wants – that’s really all that matters.

·         The key, the principle of the Apostles’ spiritual authority – these believers accepted suffering joyfully, because they knew that the darker the time, the brighter Jesus will shine forth.

·         The Moravians’ motto: “Our Lamb has conquered, let us now follow Him.”

·         Most of the people who commit suicide don’t do it because they’re sick and poor

o   They do it because of their mental anguish, that they lose hope

·         The jars of Gideon – the light could not shine forth until the jars were crushed, broken, shattered.

·         KP talks about learning to thank the Lord for what He allows him to go through, that he might come to know and understand Him more.

·         Being a pastor responsible for the Lord’s work, you only know the agony that you’re going through

·         People misunderstand often that living for the Lord doesn’t mean life without problems and difficulties.

o   “if you have faith, everything will go well and you’ll have no problems.”

§  …NOT!!!

o   It comes down to this: do I want the fellowship of His suffering, or do I want the easy road?

·         KP’s challenge: learn to accept the difficulties and the problems, knowing that they are gifts from the Lord, that we might know Him more.

o   We don’t have people chasing us with machetes – but we have the privilege of learning to embrace the inconveniences and annoyances for the sake of the Lord and for the sake of those who don’t yet know Him.

o   Spend time – quality, quantity time in prayer.

·         It is worth it to give it all and lay down your life to serve the Lord Jesus and bring souls to Him.

·         America is a strange place – we are enamoured with things, stuff, names, association with big things…          

o   But the Gospel call is a call to dying to self and living for Christ.

·         Does ministry, the call of God cost you anything?

o   Any suffering, and inconveniences, anything at all?

·         God is looking for men who will say, “my life is not my own.”