Today's special music is a good friend
of ours, from India, from Bangalore.
But he's not there very much. He is the
world's most traveled musician. And
that's not an opinion! He's... Actually, I
received a world record... he's been to
every single country in the world.
He plays for the poorest of the
poor, the richest of the rich. He's open
for everything. From the World Cup to the
Olympics. He gets through here about once
a year, on this very important and
special day. His name is Benny Prasad. He
will be... just added he agreed to do
this. At 6:30 tonight, if you come to the
meeting early at Thomas Road, he's going
to do a mini-concert, right before the
meeting. Welcome, all the way from India,
one of the world's best known musicians,
Benny Prasad!
[Applause]
Thank You Johnny. Good morning everybody!
Come on, you can do that better! Good
morning everybody! Yes, that was a quick
lesson on good morning. Well, I want to
thank Jesus for giving me this gift of
life. And every time I come here I'm just
so thrilled to see so many young people,
on your way to missions. if you have not
decided, today's your deadline for that,
actually. And, you know, it's so
wonderful to live! I just celebrated my
38th birthday. And, at the age of 16,
the doctors had given me 6 months to
live. I was born with asthma. And, from
the age of 2 till the age of 16, I was on
wrong medication, on high dosage of
cortisone steroids. And, as a result of
that, 60% of my lungs got
damaged and my immune system broke down.
And I developed rheumatoid arthritis. At
the age of 12, by accident, I was hit
by javelin and my spinal cord was
damaged. And everything went wrong in my
life. Well, that's what the human said. And
my father, being an aerospace scientist,
he expected me to become like him. And I
became the scum of the family. I was
thrown out of school in my 10th grade,
saying that "you are not worth studying,
you are useless, you are good for nothing."
These were the words that were spoken
over my life for 16 years, where
medically they told me you will not live
any longer. In education, as well as
society and family, they looked at me and
they said: "Benny, you are a shame and a
curse to the family." And, having no hope,
no talent, no life, nothing left in me, I
contemplated to commit suicide, at the
age of 16. Even if you're really
sitting down and wandering "Benny, can God
use me in missions?", I want to tell you
that there are so many Benny's like me
out there, who needs the Gospel. And you
are one among them who can really go and
share that Gospel. And, at the lowest
point of my life, when I wanted to kill
myself, I heard the voice of Jesus-Christ
saying: "Benny, even though you are called
useless, I still need you. "I said: "Jesus,
why do you need me when the whole world
says I'm useless?" He said He could
transform my life and make me a new
person. I said "Okay, I have nothing to
offer; all that I have is
a broken life and 6 months to live." He
said: "That's enough for me to start a new
work in you!" And that's what He has done.
I gave my life to Jesus-Christ. And
I've already
surpassed the expiry date that
the doctors had put on my life, actually.
And I'm just so thrilled to live
this. And, in 2004, I asked Jesus: "What
is your call for my life?" The Bible says:
"God's ways are higher than man's ways
and His thoughts are higher than our
thoughts." And I want to tell you a
Christian life is the most exciting life
to live. And a life that is surrendered
in Christ is just so adventurous. My life
is more than James Bond movie. Because
it's a reality. James Bond is only a
movie, mine is a reality. And, in 2002,
with 25 dollars a month, being a
??? missionary, I asked Jesus: "What do
you want to do with my life?" because my
dream was to go to one country. He said:
"Benny, I want you to travel to every
country by 2010!" I said: "Jesus, this is
impossible! Till today, there has never
been one example in the history of
mankind. Whether it is Michael Jackson or
Mariah Carey, or whoever it is, they have
never been to every country in the world!
How can I, being a broken person, be able
to achieve this?" He said: "Benny, what
is impossible for you is possible for me!"
And what it takes my dear friend, today,
is to surrender your brokenness and your
life into the hands of Jesus. And He will
shape it after His will. And so I said:
"Jesus, as long as you are my provider, I
will be your traveler." We had a good deal.
I said: "I will live a life of faith and
you provide for me." So today, this is my
one passport; this passport is my travel
record to every country in the world.
On 22 of November
2010, I arrived in my last
country, Pakistan. And I broke 6 world
records. And, one among them, was I became
the fastest man in the history to travel
to every country, in the shortest time.
245 nations, including Antarctica, in
66 months and 22 days. If Jesus
can use my life to make history for his
glory... I'm sorry I don't have time to
wait for your clapping. I'm not trying to
be rude... But if Jesus
do that in my life, today He has a plan
for your life. And He took me to amazing
nations. One among them was North Korea.
Last year, I was invited by the
government of North Korea to come and
perform for the 100th birth anniversary of
their founder, Kim Il-sung. 834
performers were chosen from all over the
world and I was the only Indian chosen,
from my country. And it was a great
opportunity to play but more so an
opportunity to share the Gospel. Yes, if
you share the Gospel, you don't need to
be a prophet to understand that you will
be killed. But I understood in the Word
of God that, if anyone tries to save
their life, will lose it. If anyone loses
their life, for the sake of Christ, will
find it. So, I informed my parents, there's
a big possibility that I might be killed
in North Korea. "So if you don't hear from
me on the 17th of April that's a
mutual understanding that either I am
killed or in prison. And I will see you
in Heaven. Because for me to live is
Christ and to die is gain. "So I went to
North Korea, so excited to live and to
die for Jesus. Two spies followed me every
single day of my life, every single
minute in fact. When you have 2
ungodly spies following you
all the time, what do you do?
You share the Gospel.
Because they're always with you.
They will never leave you.
They might forsake you but
they will never leave you. And, since
they're always with you, what a great
opportunity to talk about Jesus. You
don't need to go to North Korea to talk
about Jesus. Jesus is putting a nation in
your heart. Be obedient to Him. Say "yes" to
Him. And I got into trouble. Sure, next day
my interpreter went and inform
to the official that Benny is doing this
because I used her to translate my
testimony to the spies. Now, I'm in big
trouble. It's sure, I'll be killed. But
the right perspective is what a great
opportunity to stand in front of the
official. And I shared my testimony,
knowing that I might be killed. But the
official asked me a question: "How could
you be so sure you heard the voice of
Jesus at 16? It could have been your own
imagination." I told him: "Sir, my own
imagination told me to kill myself. It is
the voice of Jesus that gave me life and
life in abundance." And he heard my
testimony. And I want to tell you my
friends, be courageous, even to the point
of death to share the love of
Jesus-Christ. Don't ever fear
for your life because Jesus is
in charge. I was not killed in North
Korea because it was not my time to die.
He knows my time, actually. And in the
end, 12 musicians were chosen out of 834
performers. And I was one among the 12, to
be awarded by the government of North
Korea. I played "Shout to the Lord", a
song which I'm going to play. "My Jesus, my
Savior, Lord there is none like You" in a
nation like that, on their national TV. If
God could use a Christian and Indian to
perform on this guitar... a guitar which
God helped me to design in 2004 for the
Olympic games in Greece... If God could
pick a broken worthless child like me,
written off by society, to design the
world's first guitar with drums inside,
there is nothing impossible for Jesus to
do in your life. If He could pick up, give
me a passport like this, 14 books, to go
and share the Good News to the nations,
there is nothing impossible. I am just so
excited. And I'm going to play the song.
"My Jesus, my Savior Lord there is none
like You." And again, with arthritis, when
I play this instrument, even the medical
doctor say this has to be God, and God
alone. And just to conclude with, when I
broke the world record, I had a hat wich
said "Thank you Jesus". And CNN was the
first news channel to interview me. And
they said: "Sir, that is a religious
statement. Please, take off your hat
because we are a secular channel." and
I'll tell you you want to share the
Gospel, share it creatively. Nobody can
stop you. And so I asked Jesus for an
idea because the whole world is going to
interview me for achieving this feat. And
I want to make sure that Jesus is known.
I am not ashamed of the Gospel. He gave
me life when doctors gave me 6 months
to live. He gave me protection. He gave me
this beautiful future. How can I keep
Jesus secret. No! It is sin for me to keep
Jesus just to myself. So He gave me this
beautiful idea of designing this new hat.
And my hat says: "Thank you Jesus, I am an
Indian." This is not a religious statement,
it is a patriotic statement. And hence
nobody can stop me. You know, nobody can
stop me from wearing these things.
And, even news channels, they
would come up to me and say: "What is this
on your head?" I said: "Well, I'm proud to be
an Indian." The cameraman says: "Do a close
up on his hat, also." At the United Nations,
they told me: "You cannot share about
Jesus." I said: "Fine." But I wore my hat
which talked about Jesus all the time. My
friends, if you really want to talk about
Jesus, nobody can stop you.
So don't use excuses.