Book Review: Revolution in World Missions

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Do you have a desire to truly win people for Christ?  You should pick up a FREE copy of Revolution in World Missions by Dr. K.P. Yohannon.  I’m often skeptical of free, but this book is an incredible look at world missions from the perspective of Dr. Yohannon, the founder of Gospel for Asia.  He is originally from India and the stories he shares paints a whole new understanding of what it means to support indigenous national missionaries who are sharing the gospel with their countrymen.  I really enjoyed this book and it came alive even more since I was reading it while my family was in Ethiopia adopting our son.  I had the chance to see up close and personal what it means to be a Westerner trying to build relationships here in a country that does things so differently than I am used to.  What a privilege it is to join God at work in what He is doing around the world by supporting the missionaries that live amongst their countrymen.  I highlighted several things while reading and have posted them below…

  • They were not saying, “I’m willing to go,” but rather “I am going.”
  • I am convinced that these are only the first few drops of revival rain.  In order to make the necessary impact, we must send out hundreds of thousands more workers.  We are no longer praying for the proverbial “showers of blessings.”  Instead I am believing God for virtual thunderstorms of blessings in the days ahead.
  • It was as if God had removed my eyes and replaced them with His so I could see people as the heavenly Father sees them—lost and needy but with potential to glorify and reflect Him.
  • The battle against hunger and poverty is really a spiritual battle, not a physical or social one as secularists would have us believe.
  • The only weapon that will ever effectively win the war against disease, hunger, injustice, and poverty in Asia is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  To look into the sad eyes of a hungry child or see the wasted life of a drug addict is to see only the evidence of Satan’s hold on this world.  All bad things, whether in Asia or America, are his handiwork.  He is the ultimate enemy of mankind, and he will do everything within his considerable power to kill and destroy human beings.  Fighting this powerful enemy with physical weapons is like fighting an armored tank with stones.
  • I found that believers are ready to get involved in almost any activity that looks spiritual but allows them to escape their responsibility to the Gospel.
  • The secret of following God’s will usually is wrapped up in rejecting the good for God’s best.
  • God always chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.  He shows His might only on the behalf of those who trust in Him.  Humility is the place where all Christian service begins.
  • Why do you think God has allowed you to be born in North America or Europe rather than among the poor of Africa and Asia to be blessed with such material and spiritual abundance?
  • In light of the superabundance you enjoy here, what do you think is your minimal responsibility to the untold millions of lost and suffering in the Two-Thirds World?
  • Throughout Scripture, we see only one correct response to abundance: sharing.
  • God gives some people more than they need so that they can be channels of blessing to others.  God desires equity between His people on a worldwide basis.  That is why the early Church had no poverty.
  • 2 Corinthians 8:13-14
  • 1 John 3:14, 17-18
  • James 2:14-17
  • God is calling us as Christians to alter our lifestyles, to give up the nonessentials of our lives so we can better invest our wealth in the kingdom of God.
  • Churches today are not experiencing the power and anointing of God in their ministries because they do not have the humility to wait on Him.  Because of that sin, the world remains largely unreached.
  • John 16:33
  • “There is no doubt that the possessive clinging to things is one of the more harmful habits in life.  Because it is so natural, it is rarely recognized for the evil that it is.  But is outworking is tragic.  This ancient curse will not go out painlessly.  The tough old miser within us will not lie down and die obedient to our command.  He must be torn out, torn out of our hearts like a plant from the soil; he must be extracted in blood and agony like a tooth from the jaw.  He must be expelled from our souls in violence as Christ expelled the money changers from the temple.”  A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of Holy
  • A spiritual battle fought with spiritual weapons will produce eternal victories.  This is why we insist upon restoring a right balance to Gospel outreach.  The accent must first and always be on evangelism and discipleship.
  • We will not even begin to make a dent in the kingdom of darkness until we lift up Christ with all the authority, power and revelation that is given to us in the Bible.
  • When God changes the heart and spirit, the physical changes also.  If you want to meet the needs of the poor in this world, there is no better place to start than by preaching the Gospel.  It has done more to lift up the downtrodden, the hungry and the needy than all the social programs ever imagined by secular humanists.
  • Just as the need is great, so is the possibility of Christ’s power and love to be known.
  • As Christians, we must follow the example of Jesus.  I do believe we must do all we can to relieve the pain and suffering around us.  We must love our neighbors as ourselves in all areas of life.  But we must keep supreme the priority of sharing the message of salvation with them—and we must never minister to the physical needs at the expense of preaching Christ.  This is biblical balance, the true Gospel of Jesus.
  • The challenge of Asia cries out to us.  The enemies of the cross abound, but none of them can stand against the power of Jesus’ love.  The problems we face are indeed great, but they can be overcome through the dedicated ministry of national missionary evangelists.
  • What should intrigue us—especially here in the West—is the way the indigenous missionary movement is flourishing without the help and genius of our Western planning.  The Holy Spirit, when we give Him the freedom to work, prompts spontaneous growth and expansion.  Until we recognize the indigenous missionary movement as the plan of God for this period in history, and until we are willing to become servants to what He is doing, we are in danger of frustrating the will of God.
  • Jesus set the example for indigenous missionary work.  “As my Father hath sent me, “ He said, “even so send I you” (John 20:21).  The Lord became one of us in order to win us to the love of God.  He knew He could not be an alien from outer space so He became incarnated into our bodies.
  • The Great Commission reveals the reason God has left us here in this world, the main activity of the Church until Jesus returns as the King of kings to gather us to Himself.  He desires us to go everywhere proclaiming the love of God to a lost world.  Exercising His authority and demonstrating His power, we are to preach the Gospel, make disciples, baptize and teach people to obey all the commands of Christ.
  • Today I am calling on Christians to give up their stale Christianity, use the weapons on spiritual warfare and advance against the enemy.  We must stop skipping over the verses that read, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me,” and “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Matthew 16:24, Luke 14:33).
  • My message to the West is simple: God is calling Christians everywhere to recognize that He is building His Church in Asia.  Your support is needed for the national missionaries whom God is raising up to extend His Church—but not to impose your man-made controls and teachings on the Eastern churches.
  • The Church in the West is at the crossroads.  We can harden our hearts to the needs of the Two-Thirds World—continuing in arrogance, pride, and selfishness—or we can repent and move with the Spirit of God.  Whichever way we turn, the laws of God will continue in effect.  If we close our hearts to the lost of the world who are dying and going to hell, we invite the judgement of God and a more certain ruin of our affluence.  But if we open our hearts and share, it will be the beginning of a new blessing and renewal.
  • The way each of you lives is where we begin our crusade to reach the lost of this world.

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