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[0:00] Hello. It's a great privilege for me to be here to share some words from the Bible with you.! It's my first time. I'm sorry if you don't understand my Branglish which is Bulgarian English.

[0:17] But I need to cope with me for 20 minutes. So I want to give you, to start by giving you a shocking story that happened to me this summer in Bulgaria.

[0:28] In July I was in Black Sea and there was waves and big waves and the swimming was forbidden. So the guards did hard work all day long till 6 p.m. to keep the people out of the sea.

[0:47] And at 6 o'clock, three kids, when the guards went off, three kids got in. So I'm not sure if you ever experienced what the red current or whatever it's called that is pulling you in.

[1:03] And we went with my brother to tell them to come out. Because they were quite further in. And they wouldn't listen.

[1:14] And the further I went to warn them, I noticed that they are drowning. They just couldn't come out. So we went with my brother and thanks God we managed to save three kids.

[1:26] Which was difficult. We almost drowned ourselves with my brother. But I want to link this story with the great commission which God is giving to the apostles.

[1:38] Because the way it works is if we hadn't saved these kids, they would be dead now. And if we don't fulfill the great commission that Jesus is giving us, a lot of people will go to hell. And these are people who we love.

[1:55] Our friends and part of the family and neighbors and colleagues. So I want to focus on two things today. To explain briefly how the great commission works.

[2:10] But I want to focus on the practical implications for us. So first, notice who is he. And he said that he has all the power in the world.

[2:24] Notice what he promised. He promised always to be with them. Never to leave them alone. And what do they are supposed to do? To go and make disciples.

[2:35] But what do disciples need to do? Just to go to church or to be baptized? No, they need to keep the commandments.

[2:46] Not just some day when we go to church. Monday to Saturday. Every day till the rest of our lives. So, I have three simple points.

[2:59] First, has the great commission been fulfilled around the world? This is go and make disciples. Secondly, has the great commission been fulfilled in UK?

[3:10] And thirdly, is it being fulfilled by us personally? By each one of us individually? And go back to the first question.

[3:21] Has it been fulfilled around the world? Of course it has been fulfilled. Otherwise we wouldn't be here. We know how apostles were teaching. How the first Christians devoted themselves to the apostle teachings.

[3:35] We have 21 centuries church history already. Because of the fulfillment of the great commission. And so let us remember what happened. The Holy Spirit came in the day of Pentecost.

[3:48] It was a miracle. Three thousand people were converted in that day. I would love to have been there. This is probably the most charismatic day in humanity. But, these first three thousand people were called Christians.

[4:02] Something happened to them. And what happens is the Holy Spirit made them think. People around the world go and don't think. But these people were made to think.

[4:15] That's why they answered the questions. What should we do? And Peter told them repent. So that's the first thing. The apostles are fulfilling the great commission.

[4:27] By preaching the gospel. And if we go to Acts chapter 2, 47.

[4:38] It says, And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. That's every single day people were saved. And if you go to the book of Acts.

[4:52] There are seven references. Like the church is being carried out by the apostles. And the church blossoms. And the church grows.

[5:04] And multiplies in numbers. There are wonderful seven verses. I can give you references later on. So, I always love the book of Acts. Because it's always first days.

[5:15] The first church. The first Christians. The first martyrs. The first deacons. The first sermon. Everything is first day. But, we see later on divisions.

[5:26] We see what happens in church history if you go back. That when the Pope forbid to read the Bible.

[5:37] And use it as an instrument. That people would believe that the salvation comes through. Submitting to the Catholic Church.

[5:48] And if you are cast out from the Catholic Church. You lose your salvation. It was a terrible time. But, what happens after that.

[6:00] Is God used Martin Luther. A German monk. Who God used. To stand against all the hypocrisy. And said. This can't continue anymore.

[6:12] So, interesting. When I went with my wife to our honeymoon. We went to Rome. And we went to Verona. And different churches. And one of our Christian guides.

[6:23] Showed us. How much they changed. Even the pulpit in the churches. Was not in the central position. But was secondary row.

[6:34] That was on the side. When you walk in. You won't even see it. When you see it. You will see. Probably Virgin Mary. You will see her holding baby. You won't hear the cry stretched.

[6:45] In the church. Which was sad for us. But. That's what happened. And thank God. That he used Martin Luther to change that. And. If we look around.

[6:56] And you will see. How. Billy Graham went. Took his crusades. From country to country. And he preached the gospel. And that's how he was fulfilling.

[7:07] The great commission. And I've heard about. A church in Alabama. That. Had about ten members. Now this church. Has four thousand members. And what we do around.

[7:21] The world. Is we spread the gospel. By giving out. The free literature. Books. We even do door knocking. Disturb people.

[7:33] Tell them about Christ. And. We go to prisons. We go to hospital. We go to schools. We go to university. And do. Christian unions.

[7:45] But look at. Look go back to the first century. Even though there was still. Apostle. Apostle. Or alive. John. The false teaching. Started creeping in.

[7:56] Even in first century. And. Even now. In UK. If you ask. If you see statistics. Generally speaking. Christianity. Is not the main religion.

[8:07] Although we are supposed to be a Christian country. What. It's not the Buddhism. What people believed. Is that. God wants them to be happy. And to be good. And loving. But this is not Christianity. This is false. Christianity.

[8:18] Christianity. Christianity. Is not what people do. Christianity. Christianity. Is what Christ did for people. And this is what people get wrong. Christianity. Is Christ going on the cross. Taking the punishment we deserve for our sins.

[8:30] And. People very often associate the church with the. Crusades. With the inquisitions. With the Pope. With the Vatican. And so. That's why I want to move to the second point. What do you think? Is not what people do. Christianity.

[8:41] Is not what people do. Christianity. Is what Christ did for people. And. Is what Christ did for people. And. Is not what Holocaust. people very often associate the church with the crusades, with the inquisitions, with the Pope, with the Vatican and so that's why I want to move to the second point what do we do in UK? And I'll tell you something that I didn't know until I went to the Bible college. The Bible college that I studied was planted by a very well known preacher called Dieth Lucas who started a ministry in the 60s or 70s and there was a church in the city with 6 or 7 elderly people. This church has over a thousand members now. When he was asked what he did he said I preach fully faith, faithfully preach the word and the word did its work.

[9:35] So he was fulfilling the great commission by just preaching the gospel. And you know what? You are really blessed here in UK because where I come from during the Ottoman and during the communism churches in Bulgaria struggle a lot Christians were persecuted here nobody persecutes us or at least not yet so let's not take this freedom for granted let's use it and being an immigrant is not easy everything is difficult different for me here. Different culture different food but thanks God my best friend the Queen gave me a British passport so I kind of join in and I don't find it difficult to share the gospel with anybody it doesn't matter whether their skin color is were they rich or young or poor or old or it doesn't matter for me and it shouldn't matter for any of us because

[10:44] Christ didn't say go and preach to this and this preached all around the world and when we go back to Acts and see verse 8 from chapter 1 he said that you would go back to the whole world not just Judea and Samaria and this is what we we see in verse by verse chapter by chapter in Acts until 21st century and very often people tell me I'm afraid to do it afraid from what?

[11:16] we don't live in Iraq or Afghanistan nobody is going to kill you if you share the gospel or people say I'm ashamed ashamed from what? Apostle Paul says I'm not ashamed to share the gospel because it's the power of salvation why do we need to be ashamed if the apostles are not ashamed?

[11:34] they were ready to die for it they died for it actually they knew that the moment they die they would meet with Christ so they were not afraid they were not ashamed why should we?

[11:47] or some other people say we are busy we go to work and we all go to work and but if we say that we are busy now because we go to work when are we going to fulfill the great commission?

[12:04] when we retire? is that what we say to Christ if he comes back now? we are too busy? or if we are already retired we are left with no excuse we have experience and time but someone would say well there is a work to be done and you are telling me this in my lunchtime break give me a break I don't want you to see it this way it is a command fulfilling the the great commission but I want you to see the way it is it is an enormous privilege to be God's ambassadors in this world we are not working for Samsung or for Sony or for Shell or for Apple or for Aston Martin we work for God what can be better than that?

[13:05] and you have no idea how much easier it is to share the gospel in UK than in in Bulgaria we don't have in my country 500 years of Protestant heritage and some something someone might say but we don't live in first century things are changed there is so much brainwashing on the TV and all this anti-Christian propaganda it is bad influence homosexual marriages abortion and so on I know it is not easy but it is much easier than Bulgaria and I want to that I want to tell that I am so encouraged to see how people do it in UK when I studied in the Bible college there were Christians students from all around UK different churches and I spoke because I love sharing the gospel and I spoke to each one of them what they do in their church how they do it and I was so encouraged to see that all of them are involved in some kind of activities invite people invite friends and they invite them to share the gospel then take them to the church for further discussions with the pastor with the elders and that is great it really makes me feel sad though when I see churches converted into flats so we really have work to do and by fulfilling the great commission we can stop seeing these churches converted to flats unfortunately there is a decrease in

[14:49] Christianity in UK and it is not the same as it was during the times of Puritans and during the revivals so that is why I would ask you to be careful what you read and what you allow your kids and your grandkids to read not to miss reading the Bible in the evening before they go to bed this is very important because we establish in our faith they are not and it is up to us to do it and this is one of the part of the fulfillment of the great commission moms can talk to even school and do other moms in schools in parks it takes 10 to 15 seconds to invite somebody to come to church which brings me to our last point are we personally fulfilling the great commission think about how to share the gospel with everybody no exceptions everybody you might think he would never believe he would believe or he is so stubborn or he is a scientist and so on everybody no exceptions just pray that God will prepare their hearts and use any opportunity to do it and I can give you some practical advices and it is just

[16:18] I want to understand you this you don't have to be a preacher or to have studied in a Bible college or to be a pastor or deacon or elder to share the gospel everybody can do it it is so easy it is so simple I need a good public speaker neither a good preacher but I just love sharing the gospel with people and that is why I went all the way to Jerusalem to see the empty grave of Jesus so am I going if I am going to speak to you at the end of my life about the empty grave I need to see it and so not to be convinced but to use it as a good illustration and I have to tell you a story that when I entered the grave I didn't expect to see the body but I saw a verse that says he is not here because he is risen and that brought me back 2000 years ago when the angel whispered these words and believe me it is so special experience it can replace it compared with anything and so let me give you some practical advices there are three things that you need to share with people when sharing the gospel and when I preached in

[17:34] Bulgaria last month I even get my kids to do some visual aids and so the first thing is the creation so kids do this everything creation so the second thing was the fall and the third thing was the redemption so let me explain briefly this so the first thing is to tell people you can't really share the gospel unless you tell them that we live in the world that God created so he created everything unfortunately they did not submit to his command not to eat the fruit of the knowledge in evil and that's what we call the fall that's why we are in this shape now because we are sinful people we do what we want not what God wants and every one of us does it you don't need to teach a young baby to sin it's in their heart so that's the second thing that we need to tell people because unless we tell them this our rebellions we won't be able to explain the key or the puzzle of the

[18:42] Christianity is Christ the sacrificial and the atoning work of Christ what he actually did on the cross and that is taking the punishment we deserve for our sins and depending on the situation when you have with people depending what you have what time you have you might need to listen more you might need to tell them stories about God making covenant with Abraham God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses but the most important thing is to bring them to Christ people do two common mistakes they talk about the love of God and they forgot to say that God is angry when we sin you can't share the gospel without telling them the punishment that is awaiting unrepentant sinners secondly when people give their testimony they focus on how bad they were and how good they are now that's wrong it's what God did in our hearts that's what we need to talk about it's all the glory bring to

[19:46] God so! the question we need to ask ourselves though is have our hearts been transformed because some of you might know the story of John Wesley he was going all the way to the ocean to America to share the gospel and do evangelistic teachings without being converted until one day he discovered that he needs to be converted himself so that's the question we need to ask ourselves and if there is somebody here who hasn't done this yet who hasn't committed this life to Jesus just ask us after the service we will be happy to say that to give you some advice because at the end of the day we live once and the Bible says that after that everybody will die nobody can escape that and after that becomes judgment and I recently read one of the books by Dr.

[20:54] Marty Lloyd Jones a great Welsh preacher from the previous century and he said that at the end of we are not travelers at the end of our lives our soul will go on the last journey and it will go alone so think about we all believing or not believing in God we are going to meet him and he is reaching out to you now call his name and be saved 15 years ago when I came to England I was playing a dangerous game I realized that I played this game for 25 years I was so arrogant that I was bargaining with God if you do this and this for me I will do this and that can you believe that until one day I was listening a song that says God is so good he took my sin and now

[21:55] I am free and believe me I was 31 years old and I fell down and started crying and since that day I have been experiencing indescribable joy joy that I want to share with everybody in this world and so coming to our conclusion I want to give you some examples of sharing the gospel with people when I came in 2001 and got converted I was working for less than the minimum wages and I was studying half day English half day work sometimes night shift work sometimes early shift and it was very difficult and one of my colleagues in the language school here in Ealing asked me why are you so happy why are you always joyful I mean your work is terrible you're underpaid your relatives your family is away and I said well let me tell you why and I told him about God how difficult is that oh my new approach that I do recently is talk about heaven it doesn't matter what people talk about you don't have to have occasion like

[23:18] Christmas like Easter which are the best occasions never ever miss to invite people and to talk about God but it's very simple just give me any subject any discussion just give me any discussion any point sorry oh that's that's a difficult one believe it or no I don't like football but but it's always bad I always talk to people when they mention something about football people said listen I don't like football but I'm very impressed when Brazilians team and they gather on the pitch and they pray and let me tell you why they pray who they pray what they win how God is blessing them so it's simple as that you can change any discussion and say there's a pollution there's a corruption there's murder there's rape and whatever in heaven it's not going to be like that how simple is that so and to finish

[24:19] I want to give you another story I spoke with a friend recently and he said I'm an engineer and for me it's difficult to believe in an invisible God I know there's a supreme being we are not alone there is something I'm not an atheist but I just find it difficult and I told him this we spoke on the phone and said I will ask you to repeat after me if you want if you not I will send you a written prayer and just say it in your own time and it was just simple like he told me that he has family problems he told me that he has different difficult issues with health and I told him just say God if you really exist help me reveal yourself to me I know that there is something I don't know you I want to know you please forgive my sins because I've done terrible things in my life that I'm not proud of help me to deal with my family with my health issues and I just told him just ask

[25:32] God to do it God has done it with so many people around the world he would do it for you he would never turn down your prayer and so I want to finish with this as I started remember if I hadn't been put on that beach at that moment when the kids are drowning they would have been drowned now and so that's what we do if we don't talk to people they would go to hell and so there are two responses the father of these children said I went to share the gospel with him he said I'm a biologist I'm a scientist and I explained him the gospel there are two responses to say I'm a scientist or like people in first century in chapter 2 of Acts they said to Peter what should we do!

[26:26]  and Peter tell them repent and the moment we repent we hear his voice he said come welcome I've been waiting for you let's pray