In South Asia, 90 million children go hungry
every day.
And 135 million between the ages of 7
and 18 have never been to school.
Listen to this.
160 million child labourers in India, the largest
number of working children in the world, they
start to work at the age of 4
and 5, making 8-9 cents for the
whole day's labour.
And the statistics like this breaks my heart.
And when I read the scripture in 2
Corinthians 5, verses 14 and 15, it says,
For Christ's love compels us, because we are
convinced that one died for all, and therefore
all died.
And he died for all, that those who
live should no longer live for themselves, but
for him who died for them.
You got that?
We say, Brother KP, when you look at
pictures like this and these stories, how does
this all fit in?
You know, I remember, waiting at Bombay airport,
trying to catch my Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt,
Germany, looking at this newspaper.
And a picture on the front of this
newspaper of a little boy, 4-5 year
old boy, laying on the busy sidewalk on
Bombay street.
But beside him lays a dog, a female
dog.
And look at the picture, you'll see the
boy drinking milk from this dog.
And the caption reads, This dog is his
mother.
And the three column article explained about over
100,000 children that live on the streets,
not knowing who their parents are.
And I said to myself, what if this
boy happened to be my little son Daniel,
or my daughter Sarah.
I couldn't imagine, I couldn't handle it.
But the Lord used that, and many other
occasions like this, to help me understand.
I am so self-centered, so preoccupied and
consumed and drunk with my own world and
selfishness, that my heart cannot feel his pain.
And I must repent.
And I'm so glad for the emphasis Pastor
Steve has about knowing the Lord and repentance
and walking with God.
My brothers and sisters, Christianity, the authentic Christianity
is not about my forgiveness of sin, my
wholesome living and my good family, and then
finally make it to heaven.
No, it is much more than that.
Jesus came to die on the cross to
forgive my sins and set me free from
the grip of Satan, but also to set
me free from myself.
And I cannot experience that unless I make
a choice to say no to myself.
There was a time 30 years ago when
I was living in Dallas, I had 70
expensive neckties all from Europe, expensive suits and
library with books that I may never read
but look nice.
And I was becoming like anybody else.
I'm not talking about having nice things is
a bad thing.
No, I have friends who are multi-millionaires
who live for God and radical disciples and
impact the lost world.
But for me, in my evangelical Christianity, I
was so concerned about my own world that
I would buy a books after books when
half of the world have never seen one
page of the Bible.
And that's when the Lord said, Don't you
understand, son?
Half of the world go to bed with
empty stomach and naked bodies.
Don't you care?
And I saw my enemy was not devil.
It was myself.
And I said to my wife, I just
want a couple of ties and a couple
of jackets and a couple of trousers and
a few shirts and and sell the rest
and give it away.
Whatever.
Oh, the freedom I found to be detached
and removed from the pool of materialism and
the sickness of the case of this world.
And that's before the ministry began.
I'm still on that journey.
But I'm telling you this, when you look
at pictures like this and see the scripture,
no longer I must live for myself, but
for him.
That means not just lip service, but I
evaluate everything about my life in the light
of eternity and the lost world.
And if that be the case, how do
you translate this into practical life?
Life, that is the big question.
Well, for me, it's very simple.
You know, on the tape recorder, some of
the older people like me know the tape
recorder, the old cassette tapes and all that.
There's a there's a fast forward button, you
know, that CD mission also you have all
the sudden from from the first song.
You've got the last song.
Am I right?
Hey, push the fast forward button of time
for your life.
10 years from now, 20 years from now,
50 years from now, 80 years from now,
add 50 years to your present age and
ask the question.
This is all about the reputation, the honor,
the appreciation, the good look, the clothes, the
car, the house, the stuff that I'm living
for.
What is it all about?
It's all for nothing.
This is a brief pilgrimage.
A fraction of a second.
Don't waste your life.
Get to know him intimately.
Say no to yourself and walk away from
stuff and things.
That destroys your inner life.
And be willing to accept the cross for
him who embraced the cross and gave his
very life to see the world and the
laws come to know him.
And if that be the case, I tell
you, I want to embrace a little boy
like Naboon, a first grader who was in
one of our centers in northeast India.
He wore clothes, ate good food, had someone
to love him.
After he came to our center.
And he learned about Jesus healing the sick,
casting out demons and loving people, all those
things.
And one day he went home to his
poor parents and said, Daddy, Jesus can heal
mommy.
His mother was dying of some illness laying
on the mat in their hut.
And the father thought we had a medical
doctor named Jesus.
And then he came to our place and
said, Would you please have your Jesus come
and heal my wife?
Two missionaries went with him and explained the
gospel all about the Lord and prayed for
this woman laying hand on the sick woman.
You know what Jesus did?
You guessed it.
The Lord healed her right there.
And the whole family gave their life to
Christ.
And that was the reason for the first
church to be planted in the community, Little
Naboon.
And I like to see 100,000, 200
,000 little Naboons and little girls and boys
embraced and loved and cared for.
And someday through them, their people also will
come to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
I need to wrap it up.
He said, Brother KP, what you want me
to do?
How do I do something about it?
It's very simple.
Pastor Steve talked about it.
And I just want to mention this and
ask you that you ask the Lord what
you want me, what you want him to
do, what he wanted to do.
And he said, Lord, whatever you say, I
will do it.
That must be your response.
And there's a little card like this on
your seat.
Can you take it out?
Just a simple little card.
You can see it on the screen also.
Sometimes spirituality is intangible.
We cannot touch it.
But this is something no more living for
myself with my resources, with my time, with
my prayers, but for him.
That is his heart.
How do I do it?
My request is this.
If the Lord speaks to your heart, would
you decide to take one or two or
three or 10 or 15 children as your
children?
I have two children.
Both of them grew up in states.
They are missionaries now, 10 years on the
mission field, and they both got married.
So I have four children.
So my wife and I took four children
from these Dalits communities.
So we got eight children.
My wife didn't have to get pregnant that
many more times.
It was instant.
So if you are having two or three
or four children, take that many children to
be your children.
If you have grandchildren, 20 of them, take
20 grandchildren more.
And if you are not married, hoping to
get married, have 19 children, take 19 children.
Whatever.
And you say, do you have kids standing
out there?
Really, we do.
Don't get scared.
You find these little folders like this, hundreds
of these folders.
We have right now 20,000 children like
this little one, Pegu from Assam.
What a beautiful little kid.
I suppose the first time this kid will
have something to wear decent is when we
gave it to him.
Like this 20,000 children we have, that
no one is caring for them, loving them
and helping them.
Would you please decide to sponsor one or
two or ten or whatever.
There are people who support, sponsor 50 children.
I can't.
But you may be able to.
And when you fill out this card that
you got in your hand and say, Brother
KP, I can help one child or two
or whatever, and your name and address and
everything on the back of the card.
You know, you can do it through credit
card or whatever.
You bring it to the table out there.
You can take home with you your child
or your children today.
Start praying for them.
And the $28 he sent, every penny goes
to help those children.
Nobody take nothing out of it.
That is an absolute promise we make and
we do that.
And a couple of times a year, these
children will write you letters and you can
write back to them.
If you ever go to the field in
Nepal or India or wherever the kids are,
you can visit these children.
That is another beautiful thing.
And again, you don't have to give any
money today to get your children.
You can send the money later.
But you should take your children today with
you so you can start praying for them.
And I pray that the Lord's leading in
your life, whatever that may be, that you
will do this.
Stephen Curtis Chapman wrote these words.
I saw the face of Jesus in a
little orphan girl.
She was standing in the corner on the
other side of the world.
And I heard the voice of Jesus gently
whisper to my heart.
Didn't you say you wanted to find me?
Well, here I am.
Here you are.
So what now?
What will you do now that you have
found me?
What now?
What will you do with this treasure you
have found?
I know.
I may not look like what you expected.
But if you remember, this is right where
I said I would be.
What now?
I told Pastor Steve this morning.
I live with a constant burden and a
pain to think about tens of thousands of
these children.
Lost, helpless and hopeless.
What a privilege the Lord gave us to
love them and show them the way to
our Lord and their communities.
With your help and prayers, we can do
it.
And someday we will see all of them
around the throne.
And by the way, if you are interested
to get a copy of the DVD, we
have plenty of them.
You can take home one for free.
If you want to pay for this, fine.
We have materials also.
But you know what?
The most beautiful thing in the whole world
is to love Him who loved us.
And say, Lord, I am yours.
And all that I have, tell me and
I will follow you.
May the Lord speak to us and bless
us.
Amen.